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You wake up to the blaze of the sun in your eyes. Good morning.

Alaparos didn't usually have these type of thoughts, but he was sorely tempted to murder whoever came up with the concept of waking up in the morning with the sun. Sometime during the night, his curtains had shifted just so that sunlight peeked through the slight parting between the cloth, casting rays of light onto the bed, and more importantly right into his eyes. It was equal parts annoying and comfortable and perhaps that was the worst part of it all. The sheets that had soaked up the sun's rays were nice and warm, bringing with it the scent of the new day and fresh laundry done the night before, a luxury that Alaparos indulged in for a few more minutes, content in twisting his rolling coils among the warm fabric. But on the other hand, having the sun in his eyes was really quite annoying. It had roused him from an odd reoccurring dream he had been seeing as of late, the details of which were already beginning to evaporate within the morning rays, an unknown name on his lips and his hand outstretched to the lonely and cold side of the bed. Or perhaps it was a new one, where someone had spoken to him about the past, of flames and righteous anger and mysteries long unsolved. Truthfully, all these dreams slipped through Alaparos' fingers like sand, pooling on the blank floor in an incomprehensible pile each one indistinguishable from the next. All he could remember was the old forests a brisk walk away from the main campus that he used to frequent. It was nice, a sort of quite place that he could turn to whenever University got too hard and he desired to simply immerse himself within nature.

The insentient presence of a sunbeam falling over his eyes had other plans, however, unwilling to leave him to his musings and blinded him the moment Alaparos tried to crack his tired eyes open. Okay so that wasn't happening any time soon. Rude. With a disgruntled murumph, Alaparos began to untangle his body from the nest of blankets he had accumulated during the night. It felt like a crime to let each sheet fall off his body and onto the floor as he slithered out of his nest. Stretching with a little groan and not hearing any of his joints pop, Alaparos huffed in confidence and began to fold up his blankets. Corner to corner, flip, press, flip press, the process repeated itself again and again until seven neatly folded rectangles of cloth sat atop the soft mattress which is frankly absurd. Who slept with seven blankets anyways? Alaparos apparently, as the aforementioned centaur dragged his hooves towards the bathroom to fix his tussled mess of hair into a semi-appropriate form. It was a tried and true habit by now, shoving himself into a bathroom that barely fit him to look at a mirror that showed his chin and nothing above, brushing out the numerous tangles in his voluminous hair before giving up and gathering it up into an acceptable half ponytail, falling back asleep in the process of tying it up, only awoken by the harsh snap of the hair elastic against the back of his hand. Gently washing his face, he dabbed on eye primer before drawing on a simple flick of eyeliner with a practiced stroke of his wrist. The gloss was applied in a similar quick fashion, a glide of the tube over slightly bitten lips. With the cosmetics out of the way, Alparos yawned again as he ducked under the door frame to get to the kitchen. He absolutely didn't trust himself to cook anything in his half asleep state, drifting in and out of consciousness as he fumbled along the counter for the breakfast bagel he had prepared yesterday. On his way to food, Alaparos also hit the coffee machine, his half awake brain coming to life just long enough to set up a mug of coffee before it was back to searching for breakfast now with the hum of the machine to keep him company. Eventually Alaparos did find his breakfast bagel, hand accidentally sweeping the food off the counter in an attempt to grab it. But with all things in life, Alaparos liked to think outside of the box for solutions and in this particular situation, he decided (for whatever reason) that batting the bagel with his tail (an appendage more suited to battle and a weapon in it's own right) would be a good idea.

Spoiler alert. It wasn't and Alaparos was left looking at his ceiling slightly forlornly as his bagel ricocheted off of it and plopped back down very sadly on the floor. He could only sigh and thank his past self for saran wrapping his breakfast. Small mercies.

---

Thud. Touseled blankets, pillows thrown off the bed, and a pile of cloth with a crown of horns were the only signs of life in the otherwise desolate hotel room. The royal clothes rolled over and away from the bed. A groan rumbled from within the mass as it stretched out and revealed itself to be a humanoid. Eyre slowly massaged the back of her head while she brought herself to sit up. Memories of last night pooled in as she coaxed and warmed up her mind. She stopped easing the pulsing pain in the back of her head to reach behind her and grab a small journal only a few centimeters longer than her hand. She paged through the journal and stopped at a blank page towards the end of the book. She instantly started to write using a pencil strapped onto the book. Eyre wasn't fully processing what she was writing, only recording her dreams and memories from the previous night. It was full of errors and vague wordings, but the young goat wanted to record them before they swam away from her. "Dreams are one of the oldest kinds of magic," Eyre's mother would tell her as she went to sleep. She wasn't sure if her mother was right, but it was entertaining to read her dreams later on in the day when she was more awake, misspellings and all.

She closed the book with a resounding thud. Eyre stood up, stretched, and grabbed her cuffs that were also on the bedside table. She latched the cuffs on her horns, the clean clicking clearing her mind from the fog of sleep. The sun spilled in from one of the windows, giving the room a warm source of light. It reminded Eyre of the sun refracting into the shallow waters during the first hours of the morning. Eyre made a note to call home sometime.

Eyre cleaned up the mess that was the bed and gathered up the rest of her things. She made no time to prepare herself for the outside world and went out of the hotel room to go check out. She had to leave early in order to make her delivery in one day. If she remembered correctly, the delivery was located in one of the towns near her old school. She wanted to go pay a visit to her alma mater, probably for the nostalgia. Either way, she needed to get this delivery done and she wouldn't work on an empty stomach. She checked out and drove to the nearest gas station.

---

Orange light spilled into the room, the gentle sun’s warmth promising a mellow heat for the day. Finch’s buttons were fixed on the ceiling, the fabric of her head scrunched as if eyebrows were furrowed. Images from last night swamped her mind, images which should have filled her with energy, rather than this draining apathy she felt. “This sucks.” Finch hissed into her sheets. She wasn’t sure why she was in such a sour mod, but she wanted it to be gone. She stood up and scanned her pillows which were covered in flakes of straw from her hair. Lazily scooping them into a plastic bag hanging from the corner of her bed, she looked back at the sun and sighed contently. The lone reminder that she was in the right place, the sun. Somewhere out there, her father might be looking at the sun too; it made her feel less lonely. Finch’s stitching pulled back in a smile

---

A new dawn...
Azure's eyes flickered as he woke up. The sun in his eyes as he woke up was always an unpleasant feeling to him for someone who loved to nap. He let out a great yawn, as he stretched his legs out in front of him... another day of trying to accomplish what he needed to do; get back to his friends...
He had been trying to fight the urge to sleep his usual amount, which was generally most of the day. In fact...he had been surprised that he was allowed to sleep in a room like this and not out in the woods... considering his appearance. He had read enough that sometimes people just didn't allowed...wolves like him to sleep in homes. But ah well...this world seemed to be odd in it's own right anyways. He had noted that creatures of all walks seem to reside in this area. And even go to that university...that university...
He then swung his head over to the small staff that he carried. Thanks to his experience there, he was much more able to use his water/bubbles to heal. Which probably allowed him to step back and well...leave the leadership to others?...then again, he hadn't truly made any acquaintances here, let alone friends. Probably because he was usually seen sleeping. He grabbed the staff and swung the strap which was attached to it over his neck before plodding out of the room to get breakfast.

---

Lusana woke up with a flash of sunlight in her eyes. She hated when that happens, but it was sort of like a wake up call for her. She immediately got up and went into the bathroom to change out of her pyjamas and into her normal clothing. While she was there, she decided to wash her hair and face to wake herself up more. The water from the shower head dripped onto her hair and face and it felt refreshing. She poured some shampoo on her hands and rubbed it into her hair. She then grabbed the shower head and rinsed off the shampoo's bubbles. When she was finally done, she wrapped up her hair so it could dry easily and left the bathroom. She stepped out onto the carpet and walked downstairs to the kitchen to make herself breakfast. The light was turned off, signifying that her parents left to go do work. She turned the light on and immediately walked over to the fer left cupboard to get a bowl. She then opened the cupboard above her and grabbed a box of cereal. She checked the box to see if there was enough left, and surprisingly there was. She poured the cereal into the bowl and grabbed milk out of the fridge. She poured the milk into the cereal and walked over to the cutlery drawer to grab a spoon. Lusana then walked over to the dining room to eat her cereal as she looked out the window near the table she sat on.

As she ate, she wondered about that dream she had. It felt strange and unusual, definitely a dream she hasn't experienced before. Sure, being a Poltergeist, you can get some weird lucid dreams, but nothing has been as weird as this.

---

Hokori had woken up bright and early to help his parents with their daily to-do list,be it shopping for clothes,ingredients for today's meal or even tending the crops. He felt pretty satisfied with himself having graduated from Votum with relatively high marks and was now patiently waiting to get one of his many job applications accepted.

The hustle and bustle of the shopping district was came as to no surpise to Hokori,especially at this time of day. Numerous people could be seen entering and exiting the stone buildings as well as walking up and down the main road. After completing more than half of his list,he eventually returned back home. He placed his groceries on the table and before he could sort them out an unfamiliar voice started talking to him, and it seemed awfully nearby. After pointlessly looking around his house,the voice mentioned that it is in his head. He patiently waited for Oneiro to finish his introduction before he could speak.

"Can you...hear me? It's awfully rude to intrude in a person's mind just like that,even if you stated your reasons. You're lucky I can't dispel this type of sorcery..." he angrily kept muttering while walking towards the woods Oneiro mentioned. "You better not try anything funny or I'll have no trouble seeking help from a higher class wizard." he grunted.

The steam of the kettle swirled around Finch. The heavy air reminded her of the dream she experienced last night, the feeling of confusion and blindness as she was faced with a sneering voice. She faintly remembered the sensation of that voice telling her to go to a spot near her old university, though she couldn’t be sure. Maybe she should go there anyways, it’s not like she has anything better to do. Reaching towards the kettle, she poured herself a mug of tea. Her mind wavered as she dropped sugar and a teabag into the mug, swirling a spoon until the water was dark. What was that name that was on the tip of her tongue? The milk spilled into the tea-sugar-water as she desperately wracked her brain, or rather, the equivalent of a brain, for the correct collection of sounds. Returning the milk to the fridge, she snatched the mug and returned to her bedroom to put on some proper clothes with the aim of leaving the house soon.

With the sound of Hokori’s voice, something definitely stirred within the forest. The flick of leaves, the stream of wind... something about it carried some type of magic.

---

The trip to the gas station was uneventful, Eyre got her breakfast, paid for gas, and sat in her truck to eat her breakfast, an English muffin with sardines and simple toppings sandwiched in the middle. Most people she came across didn't appreciate the meal, but to her, it was a good combination of land food and sea food, even if the fish weren't all that fresh. Eyre read the latest log of her dream journal as she ate. It was normal for the first few dreams, near nonsensical but probably had some trivial meaning, but the last one got her attention. Eyre had finished eating by then, tossing the wrapper into a bag in the passenger side of the car. An entity named Oneiro gave her a monologue, and sleepy Eyre had remembered most of it. She had even underlined important things within the entity's dialogue itself, something that was lacking in all her other entries.

"The woods by Voltum, eh?" she said to herself. "Well, give me a few hours to deliver these books and I'll be there," she started her truck, the machine purring in acknowledgment. The trip would be quiet, one of the few times it was, in her life. She figured the rest of her day would end up being loud, or at least eventful, so she kept the music off and simply basked in the silence.

---

With the morning's coffee running through his veins and a squished bagel eaten, Alaparaos had enough energy for his mental processes to kick in again as he let the familiar torrential waters and smooth stones that consisted of his magic roll over him. Fresh rainfall and petrichor wafted through the small apartment as the spell seeped deep into Alaparos' bones. It didn't hurt. Not anymore. Years of having your bones forcefully fused together and bent in ways they simply weren't supposed to in order to make room for foreign organs got old really fast. But if there was something that Alaparos disliked about the whole process would be the consistent headache that raged on as his four horns fused with the bone of his skull. A voice that was foreign and nostalgic at the same time laughed at him for that, calling him a thick skulled idiot affectionately and Alaparos couldn't really argue with that. It was a silent process, the only sound being the final resounding crack as his spine snapped into place and a normal if not slightly short human was left sprawled on the floor in the palace of what was once a towering monster. Magic was handy enough that Alaparos was wearing comfortable clothes even in this form, saving himself the trouble of having to dress himself while in this inconvenient appearance. It was a simple yet warm outfit, a cream shawl thrown over a pale grey sweater and an ankle length dark brown skirt completed with classy boots. The exact kind of clothes that he liked and he was thankful that his control over this one particular spell was advanced enough to do this. The early days of trying out his human disguise were embarrassing to say the least. With a grunt, Alaparos dragged himself across the floor towards the door, where his KSL sat folded up. Straightening the walking aid out, he hefted himself up onto the seat, letting out a small sigh when he did so. Legs were really more trouble than they were worth and he found it annoying to walk with, even if the chronic pain whenever he did so didn't exist. Making sure that his legs were comfortable, Alaparos carefully unhooked a bag hanging by the coat rack, brown and nondescript. Within it was a few books as well as a phone, keys, and his wallet. Setting the bag onto his lap Alaparos gently wheeled himself out of the apartment. While he had technically graduated, Alaparos still frequented his alma mater since he was on his way to writing a published paper. Although magical theory was a wide field, magical theory concerning the sea and other worlds, dimensions, timelines, and even the past were scarce at best and Alaparos planned on changing that.

Rolling down the familiar streets of the university campus, Alaparos greeted those who waved to him as he made his way towards one of the many libraries within the university. The one that held most of the books concerning Magical Theory was located conveniently near the forest by the edge of the University's property and Alaparos made a mental note to visit the forest after his visit to the library. There was simply a pull surrounding that place and perhaps he was foolish to follow that pull but he could be likened to a moth following the light, flitting from one pace to another without a clear sense of direction. Whatever caught his attention he would follow and the forest certainly had ensnared his mind ever since this morning.

Human appearance:(x)

---

Τrusting his gut, he froze in place, carefully looking around. Hokori hadn't even gotten that deep in the woods yet,the campus was still in sight had he looked hard enough. He slowly placed his hands on his robes' deep pockets,letting them rest in there while deeply breathing,hoping to get a rest from all that walking.

In actuality, what he was doing was reaching for his wand, preparing himself should anything attack. He really wanted to ask this Oneiros person what in the world was happening and elaborate on how angry Hokori was at him but the sudden rustling of leaves and whistling wind suggested otherwise.

Votum wasn’t too far away, she could walk there pretty quickly - being close to the ground has its perks. Finch still lives in the house she rented for University, as she grew quite comfortable there. Finch enjoys taking walks, not ones that are too long though because being tired isn’t fun in her opinion, which is why she decided to live there. The feeling of the sun’s warmth against her was definitely calming her, the stupid feeling of following the directions of her dream fading into the idea of just taking a walk. She blinked, looking up to find trees looming above her. Oh, right. I guess she was already there.

The scarecrow suddenly felt that sinking feeling again, that regret and confusion which pulled her to the floor. That was when she felt it. Magic, stirring in the wind all around her. Being an animated scarecrow, Finch felt like she was being drawn into the green depths, however it was screaming at her to leave. “H-hello?” She called into the trees, taking a hesitant step into the grass.

---

Round about time he got a coffee and some toast, he suddenly remembered something from earlier. Some sort of...dream? He normally hated coffee, but it had helped him from time to time... he had been told to go somewhere.... He decided to go there, barring his usual cautiousness. He slowly plodded to the woods, ignoring all the gazes upon him. It was probably due to his unusual colouring...

---

No response, just what she expected. Not much could break her enthusiastic personality when in public, but when she felt magic like this from something which came from her own head, it wasn’t anything to snicker at. She shook herself, sending a few flakes of hay into the grass. She grumbled some curses under her breath and took a floating leap further into the forest. “Hell-o-o-o?!” Finch yelled again, her fear melting into hot frustration. Someone, or something was creating this magic, that much was easy to detect. She pondered whether other people would be in this forest, briefly wondering what the confrontation where she explains she was ‘merely doing what the voice in her dream told her to!’ Hah, that would be funny.

---

The struggles of life were one thing to deal with, being a seven foot tall beast of a person. However, the struggles of waking up were infinitely worse. Derek stood slowly, swinging his heavy legs over the side of his bed and setting his feet on the cold ground. Stranding up slowly, Derek grinned as his back let out a series of loud pops. Derek, large as he was, did have some difficulties finding clothes that fit him quite right. Though, it didn't really matter, as his protective shell of armor worked as clothing as well. Groaning and stretching once more, Derek blinked the sleep from his eyes and tugged on some light clothes, though they had been modified to accompany his armor. Speaking of which... Derek stepped up to an intimidating set of black armor with bull horns and a face mask. Lifting one heavy piece at a time, he slowly hid his true self under the metal. His true self, though... A rather normal man, maybe a bit taller than most and quite a bit larger in muscle and bone mass. His body was sculpted by years of packing the heavy metal shell around, each muscle working to carry him through the day. His eyes, a striking violet, his hair cut fairly short and black as the midnight sky. Atop his head, hidden among his hair, there was one thing that set him apart from any other giant or man; two long, pointed ears laid nestled among his locks, hidden from the world by his helmet. Granted, he couldn't hear too much with his helmet on, but he doubted he'd be able to with human ears. Being a demi-human, he'd never really thought of it. His mind wandered to the dream he'd had, wondering what exactly it had meant.

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Sunlight, a pleasant thing. Sunlight in eyes! Unpleasant, very much so. With a grumble, Vale shifted himself to hide his eyes from the brutal mercilessness of the light. The light colored scales reflected the sun beautifully, though absorbed enough heat to get the cold blooded beastman to move further into the patch of life giving heat. As his scales warmed, the serpentfolk sighed and shuddered. Still too cold. As his blood started to warm, Vale couldn't help but let his mind wander into his dream. A clawed hand reached into the large curls of snake around him, finding his tome and opening it. Faces writhed within the book, their eyes and mouths empty, aside from the paper of the tome's pages. All was well there, then. Vale felt himself shift, his mind suddenly waking up. He was plenty warm now, warm enough to move himself into a sunnier area.

"Who's there?!? Make yourself known." he quietly said as he tried to mask his fear. He made a couple of steps, trying to see if there was anything or anyone behind any sort of tree or whatever. His left hand firmly grasped the wand in his pocket,still hiding it, while removing the right one from his pocket. No matter the situation he had to remain calm and maintain his pride.

That wasn’t the voice from her dream, she was quite sure. Or maybe not. Finch clutched her arm and walked towards the voice she heard. Was the scenario she just imagined actually real? The scarecrow revealed herself, standing face to face with an elf she would describe as skinny. She scanned his blond hair and blue eyes squinting as if trying to get a read on them. She felt magic, but it wasn’t the magic she was following. “Who the heck are you? What are you doing in a forest like this, just randomly, wandering conveniently at the same time as me?” The words spilled from her mouth before she could even recognise them. She decided that if she barraged the stranger with questions, she wouldn’t get any in response. Her floating fingers tapped along her wooden arms, she wore a bored yet suspicious expression.

---

Derek hiked a knapsack over one shoulder, the bag's straps hooking over the handle of his sword. The massive blade hooked nicely on two small hooks on the back of his armor, small holes near the handle of the sword looping over the hooks to hang. The sword tipped his slightly off balance, and the tap-tap-tapping of the bag against his back could get annoying, but it wasn't a long walk. In fact, it was just around the corner, to the bus station. Of course, he'd been seeking a way to get into the university, as it was evidently very promising for physically combative students. Derek grinned under his heavy armor and face mask, the metal allowing only two slits to see from.


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As Vale started to heat up from the sun, he started to move around more. First, he collected a few strewn objects from the stones around him, shoving them in a simple bag that he tied shut after carefully organizing everything in it. His book had gone in first, the powerful tome something he'd rather keep safe. Slinging the bag over one shoulder, the serpent started to look around, judging the distance and time that it would take him to reach the university. The winged snake was young, too young to fly, but old enough to take on masses of enemies if he so desired. Stretching out his lengthy body for a moment, Vale tilted his head. Simply listening could tell one so much about their surroundings. Very far in the distance, he heard voices. Closer, breakfast. A large beast of prey was stumbling through the underbrush nearby. Slithering from his stone perch, Vale started to approach the closer sound.

As much as he wanted to sigh in relief that it wasn't a creature with harmful intend,he was surprised by her height and scarecrow-esque appearance. "Hmph,where are your manners,lost child? My name is Hokori Ivellios,remember it well. My business here is...well...it isn't exactly clear,you see..." he replied to the girl,shifting his tone as if to refer to Oneiros while elaborating on why he was there. "In any case,you seem even more suspicious...children your age should absolutely not wander around these parts."

Finch widened her button-eyes. “What?!” She spat, jumping upwards to look at the elf face to face. As she started slowly drifting down, she hissed, “Of my age? I’m probably older than you! Okay, I do tend to forget my age, but that’s beside the point! I’m a fully grown adult! I’ll try my best to forget your age.” She landed gently on the ground and folded her arms, childishly pouting. Her wild acts may be realistic, but her sewn-heart was pounding.

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