Emo Kid's Awakening

[18:20] * Emo_Kid walks the streets of New Orleans, earbuds in as he leaves his last class for the day. The boring professors at his hickcommunity college haven't improved his mood, but very little does. He's on his way, however, to one place that does give him a little bit ofpeace. Shadow of the East, an antiques store specializing in Asian antiques. The crotchety old shopkeep has chased him out a few times already, but that hasn't deterre
[18:22] <Emo_Kid> Deterred him yet. Sweat drips off of his head from the muggy Louisiana September, doing strange things to hisbargain-bin black hair dye. The old man doesn't exactly run the AC very high if he doesn't have to, but it's better than being out in the sun. Soon enough, he's on the right block.
[18:23] <~Pilz> As you enter the shop, the door swings through several orientally-patterned bells which hang from the rafters, carefullyselected to sound out a melody that is destinctly chinese, though how you get that impression you don't know.  The shop itself is set into a row of other shops, all side-by-side. While the building is ample for the merchandise...
[18:26] <~Pilz> ...collected within, but the actual shop space is small, and filled far beyond capacity with antiques standing on antiqueswhich hold antiques.  The tables hold vases which hold glass flowers, for goodness sake.  But as interesting-or dull-as the front of the shop may be, behind the counter is a small room filled with old books and scrolls...
[18:27] <~Pilz> ...something you know having caught a glimpse of the inside on one of your previous forays into the shop.
[18:28] <~Pilz> Today, The proprietor, a man whose name you do not know, is just coming in from that very room, a large, somewhat fake smile on his face.  The man must think he's being alluring to a potential customer.
[18:28] <~Pilz> "HELLO" *He says with a steryotypical asiatic accent* "Welcome to my antique emporium!  How might I he-"
[18:28] <~Pilz> His smile turns to a frown
[18:29] <~Pilz> "Oh.  It's you.  What's the matter?  Need a bathroom to wash off all that mud in your hair?"
[18:29] * Pilz he sighs
[18:29] <~Pilz> "Just try not to break anythi-"
[18:30] * Emo_Kid mutters. "I wasn't going to"
[18:30] <~Pilz> There is a crash from the back room.  The man jumps, and carefully sets down a box he was carrying.
[18:30] <~Pilz> "AAAAYIAAAA! OPAL!  STOP TOUCHING!"
[18:31] <~Pilz> The man runs into the back room, slamming the door behind himself.
[18:31] * Emo_Kid stares, shrugs, then goes back to looking around. At least it'll keep the old man off his back for a little while.
[18:33] <~Pilz> There's plenty to look at.  Vases, Talismans-some of which the chinese community swears by, or so you hear-fans to keep the heat at bay, ornamental wall hangings done with silk...Still, much of it you have seen before.
[18:34] * Emo_Kid browses anyway. The stuff is neat, even if he has seen it a few times before.
[18:35] <~Pilz> As you search, you come across a desk.  Curiosity takes hold of you, and you open the drawer.  Inside is a small talisman, a stylized dragon emblazoned onto the jade.
[18:36] * Emo_Kid peeks at the thing. Good thing the old man is busy, or he'd be jumping all over him right now.
[18:39] <~Pilz> The workmanship of the talisman is quite stunning, to be frank.  The dragon seems to be formed of cut jems laid into thejade, but you can't tell how they got the jems into the jade.  It doesn't seem to have been tooled, and certainly the Shop's proprieter wouldn't accept something made with modern synthetic fabrication techniques...
[18:40] <~Pilz> ...Perhaps there's something on the back?
[18:40] <Emo_Kid> Perhaps indeed! He picks the talisman up gingerly, and turns it around to get a better look.
[18:42] <~Pilz> There is something on the back.  A strange shape, a stylized palm (The part of the hand, not the tree).  The talisman feels warm in your hands, warmer than jade should feel...
[18:44] <~Pilz> ...and what's that buzzing noise?
[18:45] * Emo_Kid looks around. Where's that coming from?
[18:45] <~Pilz> Oh, there's a fly stuck to some flypaper on the ceiling.  Ew.
[18:45] * Emo_Kid looks. That's weird, who puts flypaper on the ceiling?
[18:46] <~Pilz> (Er, flypaper strip.  It's hung from the ceiling)
[18:46] <Emo_Kid> (REDACT)
[18:46] * Emo_Kid looks. Oh, just a stupid fly.
[18:47] <~Pilz> Huh, that's cool, the ceiling is mirrored.  You can see the fly from both sides and...wait, did the talisman just move?
[18:48] * Emo_Kid looks back down to the talisman
[18:48] <~Pilz> The dragon stares back up at you.  Wait, wasn't the palm part facing upward?  And why is it glowi-OH SHIT
[18:48] <~Pilz> A beam of light and heat soars out of the talisman, headed straight for your face!
[18:49] * Emo_Kid recoils, trying to put his hands up to shield his face...
[18:51] <~Pilz> Everything goes black, and then...no heat.  Not anymore.  Looking around, you see that the store has vanished.  A bleaklandscape, covered in soot, stretches all around you under a bleak sky.  Shadowy figures move in the distance, but the only thing you can make out with any certainty is a bizzare black tower that reflects light back at you.
[18:51] <~Pilz> Though where the light is coming from, you cannot say.
[18:52] * Emo_Kid looks around, shaking slightly. What the fuck is going on?
[18:53] <~Pilz> There are no answers apparent.  The shadowy figures on the horizon twist and move in a grim dance, going about whatever macabre business they have in this desolate world.
[18:54] * Emo_Kid just starts walking. Whatever the hell is going on here, he's not going to figure it out just standing around. Curiously, his feet seem to be moving towards the tower almost on their own...
[18:57] <~Pilz> Your feet crunch and clack as you walk.  You glance down, and can't help but notice that where you tread, the soot has shifted, revealing what was once covered: countless bones of men and beasts.
[18:58] * Emo_Kid shivers at the sight. As morose and depressing the media he tended to consume were, they didn't quite compare to this. He keeps walking.
[18:59] <~Pilz> Pressing on hurredly, you make good time.  Indeed, the tower seems to approach you as you come to it, and within a fewminutes you find yourself standing at the base of the structure, miles high.  It should have taken you hours to get here.  Still, the door-made of some heavy metal-is open, and the tower itself seems to be urging...
[18:59] <~Pilz> ...you to enter, despite its gothic and forboding archetecture
[19:00] * Emo_Kid doesn't seem to have a choice. He starts walking once more, through the front doors...
[19:01] <~Pilz> As soon as you set foot on the steps to the tower, you can feel it.  A throbbing within the metal.  Somehow, you know...ifyou wanted, you could make even this mighty structure move.  The bones in the ground, the lead (Pb) towering into the sky...all of it is like putty in your hands...
[19:02] <~Pilz> ...If you but reached out and took a handful, it would work with you, not against.
[19:02] <~Pilz> Entering the tower, you see that it is empty inside, save for a spiral staircase that streaches up, up, up!  The only featurewithin the tower are...words.
[19:03] <~Pilz> Lines and lines of them.  In every concievable language, and some you can't even begin to recognize.  Names and dates, judging by the format of those words you do understand.  Names and Dates...
[19:04] <Emo_Kid> Names and dates....like graffiti? People making their own mark on this tower? But that's impossible, how could anyone else have ever been to...wherever this is...
[19:04] <~Pilz> ...The walls here are covered with them.  But what of higher up?  Higher up, the walls may be bare.
[19:05] * Emo_Kid starts walking up, just to see where it goes. No way to go but forward.
[19:06] <~Pilz> Each stair pulses as you set your foot on it, as if egging you on.  You feel your legs grow weary, you are gasping for breathbut, for reasons you do not know, you press on.  Finally, you come to a spot.  A clear spot.  One, small area, just big enough for one morename and one more date.
[19:08] * Emo_Kid puts his hand out, and starts writing. He's not sure why, or how. Especially since he doesn't have a pen or anything like that.
[19:13] <~Pilz> Apparently, you don't need one anymore.  The lead indents as your hand passes over it.  Your name, today's date.  All in a script that looks like your own handwriting, but polished, somehow.
[19:13] <~Pilz> As you finish the last of the inscription, you feel the floor drop out from under you and you fall, backwards, down the center of the tower.
[19:14] * Emo_Kid cries out in terror as he falls. This has to be the end, no other way around it...
[19:14] <~Pilz> "Hey!  Kid!  Young man!  Wake up!"
[19:14] * Emo_Kid opens his eyes again
[19:16] <~Pilz> Suddenly, you're lying on your back on the floor of the shop.  Oddly, it looks as though part of the floor is now parallel toyour feet...which are at a 90 degree angle from where your gut tells you the floor is.  A rather bemused looking shopkeeper is standing over you, inspecting the strange bit of flooring
[19:16] <Emo_Kid> "W-what the hell was that?"
[19:17] <~Pilz> "You woke up."
[19:17] <~Pilz> The man glances down towards you
[19:18] <Emo_Kid> "No...I meant the wasteland, and the tower..."
[19:18] <~Pilz> "Ah.  That.  Wasteland, hmm?  That explains this."
[19:18] <Emo_Kid> "It...it does?"
[19:19] <~Pilz> The shopkeeper points towards the flooring.  Upon closer inspection, you see that it has shot upward and the top has taken the form of a hand, the other side of which is smoking.
[19:19] <Emo_Kid> "Where did that come from?"
[19:21] <~Pilz> "You made that.  Now stop lying there, you're not hurt, and you look like a slob."
[19:21] <~Pilz> The shopkeeper looks at you with a twinkle in his eye.
[19:21] * Emo_Kid pauses for a moment, before pushing himself to his feet.
[19:22] <~Pilz> "Come with me to the back room.  There is much to talk about.  Oh, you can call me Two-Shoes."
[19:22] * Emo_Kid nods. "Um...I guess you can call me Emo Kid, since everyone else does." He follows the man.
[19:23] <~Pilz> "What does that even mean...Emo...one of your american "Subcultures, I assume!  Such nonsense."
[19:24] * Emo_Kid mutters "Not nonsense...". It's barely audible.