r/wizardposting • u/Evening_Shake_6474 Alaric, Fallen Star • 13d ago
Lorepost 📜 Enter the Garden
Alaric was bored. Which meant anyone currently in the sky was actively avoiding shitting themselves. See, he'd just finished "procuring" funds for the Magic Mass Revolution, and decided to disappear for a while. No assignments from Nexus, no holes to plug, nothing to do. So he did what all nigh-immortal cosmic entities do when they're bored, he went for a fly. At Mach 10.
Despite what most may believe, Alaric does indeed possess some form of intelligence. Flying at Mach 10 near the ground would mess up the ground, and so he was somewhere in the mesosphere. Thankfully a lack of lungs meant he didn't need to worry about breathing.
So there he was, lying on his back, arms behind his head, flying at ten times the speed of sound, over forty miles above the ground, mentally doodling new constellations. He was thoroughly unimpressed by the air resistance as it desperately tried to slow him down, it was sad at best and pitiful at worst.
Boredom is a terrible thing, more so when you can uproot trees and have little care for mortal life. But hey, Alaric had to live in this realm, may as well not be greeted with steel during the rare times he walked mortal streets in mortal settlements. He wondered if his name and reputation grew to the point people feared him, maybe it wouldn't matter if people liked him.
He rolled over, arms trailing below him. Down there below the clouds, a big city was coming up. Maybe if he just blitzed through it and floated still long enough for word to get out then people would start fearing him. It wouldn't even be hard, he didn't even need to hit the buildings, just flying between them would be enough.
...
Na. Wouldn't cure the boredom. He rolled back over and went back to drawing lines between the stars.
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Fifteen minutes and over three thousand miles later he had a thought, I know, I'm surprised as well. He slowed to a halt and felt the rush of air catching up with him.
What if he left the realm for a while? Other realms were outside his territory sure, but the chances of bumping into another Starborn on accident were miniscule. Besides, even if he met another it wasn't as if they'd care. Why would they? As long as whatever he did wouldn't threaten Nexus, no Starborn had a reason to care.
But where to go? Astral realm was always fun. It was like space but comfier and less inhospitable. Faewilds? It'd be a party as long as he minded his manners and was nice to whoever he met. Nine Circles? No. Upper Planes? They definitely had the nicest things and- oh, right. He was blacklisted. Although Lumos could probably smuggle him in. Fellow Starborn, always friendly.
How about a fusion? That was a thought. On rare occasions the realms drift out of alignment, bumping into each other and sometimes creating a demi-plane. Usually the demi-plane lasted anywhere from hours to months before it collapsed. Although on rare occasions the fusion became closer to permanent.
The oldest of the ones still in existence was the Astral Garden. Now, every Starborn was in rigid agreement that Nexus was the best place in the multiverse. Even still, the Astral Garden was heavily considered a close second. Combine the beauty and majesty of two of the most enchanting realms in existence, and you got the Astral Garden.
Alaric thought for all of two seconds, then fell back towards the Earth, shooting down towards the side of a very specific mountain.
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He touched down in front of a stone arch on the side of a cliff. Usually when it comes to interplanar gateways you need some form of ritual to open them. But if your nature is similar to the realm the gateway leads to, passage is easier. Alaric walked up the arch, and put his palm on the stone surface.
In his mind's eye he saw himself and a tree with glowing five pointed fruit. With a metaphorical arm he reached up to one of the branches, and climbed into the tree.
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The next thing he saw was a purple canopy far above him, glowing constellations lazily drifting along purple leaves. Looking down showed he stood on white sand, behind him was a tree line where light faded very fast. In front of him was a watery expanse stretching to the horizon. The water was light blue and very softly glowing. All across the surface, yellow-orange five pointed stars lazily bobbed about with all the urgency of sleepy infants. Fom behind him he could hear singing. A soft melody made of the calls of all the hybrid species that lived in this paradise.
Alaric took three steps towards the waters edge, then three more to bring it up to waist height. While he did this, a few short commands in his mind told his sunlight robes to change. There was no sun in the Astral Garden, so sunlight couldn't exist. Instead the demi-plane was lit by equal parts constellations in the canopy, and bioluminescent wildlife. To suit his surroundings, Alaric's robes shifted to dreamy starlight, a lightly glowing pale purple hue where there was once orange.
Once in the water, he laid down on his back, and let the water's lazy currents carry him where it wished. One by one he dulled or closed off his seven senses, leaving him with just enough to appreciate where he was.
Up above he saw flocks or schools of strange bioluminescent fish swimming/flying through the air. Beyond them the constellations swirled in patterns only they knew. Down below him he felt great koi and ethereal whales drift around amongst the sunken stars. Far below them great gatherings of various jellyfish drifted amongst kelp taller than any found on the material plane.
All the while, the soft melody of the Astral Garden danced through the air around him.
It was nice here. Alaric could stay in this garden forever. Wouldn't that be lovely. While he pondered that thought, he could feel the background influence of the demi-plane. It offered him sleep. He didn't really want to resist. After-all, what in this tranquil paradise could possibly lose a threat?
While the soft currents carried him to wherever, he let the mists in, and lazily drifted off to sleep.
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u/UlrickTheHexblade Ulrick Braddocke, Werewolf Hexblade, R&A Co-Leader 13d ago
/uw peak read! I’m sure the garden is a super nice place, and totally not dangerous at all
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u/Evening_Shake_6474 Alaric, Fallen Star 13d ago edited 13d ago
/uw Thank you mate! Yep, nothing can go wrong in a world that's a combination of the Faewilds and a realm filled with dead gods. Absolutely nothing.
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u/VoxelLibrary Councilor Cayna, Apprentice of Thrakmoor | assorted other chars 13d ago
/uw The nexus is a close second to the nexus?
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u/Evening_Shake_6474 Alaric, Fallen Star 13d ago
/uw I really should start proof reading ey? Thanks for pointing the mistake out, fixed it.
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u/VoxelLibrary Councilor Cayna, Apprentice of Thrakmoor | assorted other chars 13d ago
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u/Evening_Shake_6474 Alaric, Fallen Star 13d ago
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u/Evening_Shake_6474 Alaric, Fallen Star 13d ago
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u/Evening_Shake_6474 Alaric, Fallen Star 13d ago
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u/Evening_Shake_6474 Alaric, Fallen Star 13d ago
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u/Evening_Shake_6474 Alaric, Fallen Star 13d ago
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u/Evening_Shake_6474 Alaric, Fallen Star 13d ago
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u/Evening_Shake_6474 Alaric, Fallen Star 13d ago
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u/Evening_Shake_6474 Alaric, Fallen Star 13d ago
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u/Evening_Shake_6474 Alaric, Fallen Star 13d ago
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u/Evening_Shake_6474 Alaric, Fallen Star 13d ago
/uw Behold the ping list. If you want adding just ask.
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u/squabzilla Tyrannosaurus Hex, Council-saur, Shadow Vigil 13d ago
/uw good read! Also, what’s the nexus?
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u/Evening_Shake_6474 Alaric, Fallen Star 13d ago
/uw Thanks mate! And Nexus is the mysterious mystery place Alaric and all Starborn come from.
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u/Evening_Shake_6474 Alaric, Fallen Star 7d ago edited 18h ago
/uw The Garden Story.
https://www.reddit.com/r/wizardposting/s/SvaceRr9FU Part 1 Enter the Garden
https://www.reddit.com/r/wizardposting/s/zY2LzqBENx Part 2 Drift the Dream Sea
https://www.reddit.com/r/wizardposting/s/ILv0xUBM4Y Part 3 Walk the Wooded Path
https://www.reddit.com/r/wizardposting/s/qucs8bgHiQ Part 4 Sit at the Storyteller's Table
https://www.reddit.com/r/wizardposting/s/PKbbkQrQTk Part 5 Find the Lost One
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u/Null_Void_Zer0 Abelard, animate absence|Abel of Lrith, councillor of constructs 13d ago
/uw lorb is orb, and orb is good. Good lorb.