The Cipher [MPC#50 Contest 1A]
May 1, 2018 15:03:54 GMT
Post by Cion on May 1, 2018 15:03:54 GMT
_THE CIPHER_
'Neither part of Earth nor truly an area of the digital world, The Cipher is a realm in between, within and outside these two plains of existence, and perhaps even more yet unseen. This outer rim is only accessible through rifts in space-time which began sporadically appearing close to occupied areas a short time ago for reasons unknown. Those who venture inside and return to share their experience never do so unchanged, nor with confidence in the reality of their journey.'
ISOLUS
The only landmass of 'The Cipher', Isolus is a large, perfectly circular island surrounded by an eternal, translucent ocean. Those who are strangers to this new realm soon realize that neither sun nor atmosphere exist, instead being able to see the untainted beauty of the cosmos. Two moons perpetually circle the island from afar, one gently glowing blue and white with the texture of binary code, while the other is a mass of varicolored stones and smolder. Returning the attention to the environment at hand makes travelers fathom that everything has the color of cinder, including themselves, for penumbra lingers on forever.
A moment later and wonder will often fade for unease, as motionlessness and blankness appear to have everything under their sway. No breeze moves the ashen branches of stark and stiff trees, not a single insect exists to hum its melody, and every noise produced is muffled and hushed, including the beating of your own heart / core. Taking a look at the flora allows people to see a faint, purple shimmer; streams of data existing instead of veins and nerves. To the boon of most visitor's sanity, at least the island's biosphere is not in perfect patterns, and terrain is quite cragged.
With the first few steps taken, a strange sense of effortlessness always overcomes the souls of adventurers, as if unbound by mortal hardships such as hunger, thirst, exhaustion and sickness. With ease of spirit comes the hindrance of a weak haze that engulfs any and all in microscopic, incandescent dust and static. Not having to fear any threats from hostile inhabitants, there is but a single, visible path which leads to the only location of true life in this world.
TOR
At the shores of the eternally stagnating island lies the modest settlement called Tor. Forged out of ragged digizoid, its buildings are small yet unlike any genre known to humans and digimons, inconsistency often clashing with ecclesiastical architecture. Its few hundred inhabitants are ancient digimons of at least the level Mega, usually higher, yet they no longer resemble their common counterparts.
Like everything in this sunless dimension, they too have been consumed by the omnipresent umbra, freeing them of their colorful radiance and their origin. How they became citizens they do not remember nor care for, nor do they seek anything from realms outside let alone do they desire to return to the cycle of life. They are neutral to outsiders, but gladly welcome transcendent digimons with the power to alter pockets of reality who can see beyond good and evil.
No longer bound by archetypes and pasts long having ceased to be, they found a higher purpose in eternally venerating what they know as the source of all present, past and future.
SHRINE OF HIRANYAGARBHA
The shrine of the entity Isolus' inhabitants revere is certainly an unusual sight to behold, for it is nothing else than a pedestal of stone. Located at the shore of Tor, it is a daily ritual to sacrifice parts of your life force to the primordial they call Hiranyagarbha, or Hira for short. This is done by summoning its manifestation through willpower, which is a rift not connected to the digital world. Repetition of this action lead to the digimons within 'The Cipher' to become umbra, and any pilgrim is welcome to receive the same blessing and absolution whilst keeping the freedom to stay or return.
What Hira is remains a mystery to everyone, but be it a sentient creature, primordial force or something else entirely is irrelevant. In the end, its followers know their sacrifice is not in vain, for it enables life to flourish elsewhere. Neither Yggdrasil nor the very embodiment of darkness themselves, and what they represent, are of concern to those meditating at the shrine, as good and evil are to them mere constructs of Hira's seed to make sense of their lives. True wisdom and elation to them lies not in moral superiority, but an understanding of how the universe functions.
THE STORAGE
In the middle of Isolus lies what appears to be an extinct volcano which upon further investigation turns out to be a massive ravine. Constantly enshrouded in a purple haze, unstable fragments from different periods of time and worlds, some real, some fictional and others never seen nor imagined before, litter this graveyard of information. Titanic pillars in the shape of helices engraved with binary code serve as points of reference as to not get lost. Manifestations of humans, digimons and other life-forms roam the area, repeating a single moment over and over again, unaware and unable to interact with their surrounding area.
While worshipers of Hira believe that this is the true purgatory of all life and history, in which not only souls but all faded joy and overcome sorrow return to await their rebirth as something else without being aware of it, outsiders seldom share this faith. A place of no unfulfilled dreams, lingering essence can be manipulated through force of will alone to create any item or personal heaven imaginable. However, it is impossible for any object belonging to the storage to leave 'The Cipher', no matter the method or the intensity of the longing.
THE WEB BEYOND
The path to enlightenment nobody has ever managed to travel successfully, an event that is likely to never happen. Entering this fluctuating labyrinth only requires you to leap into a pond of water inside The Storage, be it alone or in the company of allies. A deep, dark web of eventualities, travelers must not merely face their own transgressions and fears, but the accumulated woe of all that has ever caused anguish and agony. Lifeless embodiments of suffering will constantly and unceasingly attempt to return pilgrims to reality, outmatching in numbers and strength any army of humans and digimons alike.
The ordeal can take days or weeks, yet be it through demise within or reaching its end one is bound to awake as if freed from a delirium. Not a single second will have passed in The Cipher or in other realms, nor will the leap into the pond have ever occurred in the first place. Visitors may try indefinitely, yet the result is unlikely to change, no matter how appealing the supposed reward is. In the end, those limited to minds cannot perceive things from the outside, and treading the same path never leads to a new destination.
THE SOURCE
Many legends tell of a location or force outside the known universes from which our existence originated. Such ideas had been held by digimons and humans alike for eons and still remain a part of everyday life for many. The votary of Hira believe that it is accessible by traversing the web and reaching its true end. Some say the one who is worthy will be rewarded with an all-encompassing understanding of everything, while others say that the might to transform reality or create new ones is the ultimate gift of creation. Unfortunately, not a single entity knows the truth.
[Rewards: 5000 Bits + 500 for Profit]
[Rewards: 5000 Bits + 500 for Profit]
