Gateway

[Laraqua]

Mike stumbles and falls as stone floor becomes scree. He hits the dirt, hands grinding against hot stones, and as he pulls back he can see himself in a narrow laneway with tall wooden buildings leaning drunkenly toward him in a medieval style. There's fire everywhere, blurred like fluid, slowly charring the wood, and he can feel the heat from it lick his face in waves.

[royya]

Wha ? Where am I? Oh. Haaa! It burns
Mike stands quickly and begins to run instinctively out of the laneway along the buildings. He tries to avoid touching the wood as much as he can he tries

[Laraqua]

The waves of heat brush against his skin as he runs out onto a rubble strewn street sided with wooden medieval buildings. There's a flutter of wings and burning pigeons streak across the sky overhead as a church bell from the church across a small square begins to toll. Nothing seems familiar on this cobblestone square.

[royya]

What is this place?
Mike is panicked as he was just a moment ago in the cellar.
He instinctively make run to the church, someone clearly rang the bell a moment ago, someone who can help him … hopefully.

[Laraqua]

The church doors shimmer in the heat but the steps themselves are, thankfully, clear of those horrible heat waves that undulate and pulse all about him. The doors are hot to the touch, the wood blistering before his very eyes, but the stone building looks otherwise safe from the fiery inferno that surrounds it.

[royya]

Mike tries to bash the doors open with a kick. If he is not successful, he will return to the square and look for another safe place

[Laraqua]

It took a couple of sharp kicks to send the doors crashing open, revealing a Catholic church similar to so many that he has seen before, with rows of wooden benches heading down and a large wooden carving of Christ upon the cross at the far end. At least the church is not yet on fire.

[royya]

Christ
Mike exclaims as he enters the church.
Hello?! Anyone?! please help!
He looks around as he walks quickly between the rows of benches, trying to spot a door somewhere.
Someone clearly rang the bell to alarm the people of this town and Mike tries to find that someone. But a minute ago he was in the cellar … Mike is puzzled but with the fire around him he knows that it is not a good time to think about it.

[Laraqua]

There seems to be no doors within the church. The church itself is rather immaculate and everything looks to be just where it should be, other than the complete lack of doors or people. There's something strange about this place. It feels almost as though he had run onto a Hollywood set.

[royya]

Darn!
Mike says, goes to the door leading outside and takes a peek, to see if he can make a safe route on the street.
Hey!, the kids !!!
He says to himself, how come they are not here.
Clive, James ?!?! are you here ?
He shouts to the street.

[Laraqua]

The only response to his words are the dull crackle of fire. It's so hot here, but there's no sign of the buildings actually being affected or devoured by the flame.

[royya]

What is this? Where am I?
Mike says to himself. No chance he fainted and is a sleep. He tries to touch something hot to see if it's real. Maybe he'll wake up.
maybe I can return to the alley I was in?
He thinks to himself as e goes outside and see if he can retrace his route

[Laraqua]

It's not difficult to find his way back to the alley though it appears to be a blind one. There's a wall that blocks off his retreat. The burning houses release a lot of heat, leaving him slick with smoke stained sweat. Reaching towards the fire finds that the heat doesn't seem to increase by much but it's still hotter than makes him comfortable. Looking down the road, it seems that it curls back on itself so that he can see one length in a possible square. The road to his left turns left and the road to his right turns right in a ] shape.

[royya]

Mike backs away from the fire, making his way running to the right.

[Laraqua]

He races his way around to the right and runs....

out onto a rubble strewn street sided with wooden medieval buildings with a drunken lean, each aflame. There's a flutter of wings and burning pigeons streak across the sky, drifting away into ash and shadows overhead as a church bell from the church across a small square begins to toll. Everything seems familiar on this cobblestone square yet he can't quite seem to recall why. He's been here before but ... when? A moment ago? A year? No, not a year. He was in the basement of the orphanage only ... this morning? Yesterday? Time seems to dilate and warp the more he tries to place memories upon the timeline of his life.

[royya]

What, I just been here ... I'm running in circles, what the hell ?!?!
HELP!! HELP!!! Somebody !!!
Hearing the bell again, Mike runs into the church again.

[Laraqua]

His words echo back at him strangely. The church hall seems to be just as he'd left it only ... only the Christ-figure hanging from the cross seems difference. Its wood seems more brown, more tanned, and seems to bubble strangely from the heat.

[royya]

Mike decides to run back outside and to the alley he came through in the first time. He arrived from there so the exit should be over there as well.
I wonder where the pig is?"
Hey Pig!!Are you here?!
He shouts

[Laraqua]

The alley is strewn with the bodies of lost children, laid each atop the others, buzzing with flies which add a drone to the silence. Their clothing is buzzing with maggots. The bodies look ... wrong. They are blistered and twisted, their limbs at odd angles as though broken...

....in seizures. The bodies held down, switching, spasming, and the bones breaking. Snap, snap, snap. The eyes rolling in skulls. The spittle foaming on their lips....

...and then he is gazing at them again as they lay there silent and still, with fires raging all around them. Even the sound of the buzzing flies has stopped, although he still sees them.

[royya]

What the hell ?
Mike says as he comes closer, trying to identify the children.