The Healer Awakes..

[godheals]

Characters: Raphael and you!
Setting: Around the Tower.
Format: I'll start in prose, but I'll match you!
Summary: Raphael wakes up in the Tower and explores, all while wondering why he can't connect to God.

Technically, Raphael couldn't sleep or feel tired. He was the angel of healing-it would be weird if he had to rest or felt exhausted. So, the fact that he woke up in a bed in an unknown place was troubling, especially with the fact that he couldn't feel a connection to God here. For some reason, somehow, it was cut off. Not one to panic, Raphael looked at the notes that were lying in front of him. The first contained some useful information about this place..but the other..it couldn't have been. He didn't remember God ordering Michael or Lucifel to start the end of the world..but this severed connection to God..could it be that the world had ended? But if so..then why was he here? Puzzled, Raphael got out of bed, not bothered by the fact that he was wearing a white jumpsuit. As long as he was wearing something, that was fine by him. The collar puzzled him though. He wandered out of his dorm floor and onto the hall, looking for other people and some answers. Maybe the other angels had been brought here, even if he couldn't sense them.

While the fact that he couldn't sense any souls from the people wearing red collars, the infirmary was a familiar environment. While there may not have been any sick people here, they may have been a few who knew what was going on, so Raphael will be here, healing whoever he can and trying to find some answers.

The books Enoch had written in Heaven were useful, as they provided quite a bit of information, so if you wander in here, you'll be able to find Raphael, looking over the shelves, trying to find something to explain his arrival here..and his severed connection to God.

Raphael wandered in here and, curious about the viewfinders, looked through one..only to feel a terrible, horrid pain and..sadness overwhelm him. Was the world over? If God had ordered the end of the world, that was fine..but he couldn't feel the connection to God or his other angels..he could only feel the loss of those connections, and..the pain of that loss. It was a new emotion, and not one that Raphael wanted to explore in-depth. He quickly looked away, trying to get control again, trying to calm down a little.

Comments

[godheals]

"I see..I wonder what it is then? It cannot be good if it does taint your Arch though."

Raphael felt the urge to look back, but he didn't turn back and just kept on following Enoch through the featureless floor until they reached the meadow. He saw the blue gems in the meadow, but was a bit puzzled.

"I see. I shall try to keep that in mind. However, what does happen if you pick one up?"

[warriorscribe]

"It will grow teeth and bite you, and then vanish with one of your possessions. It will leave it somewhere in the tower."

Enoch led Raphael to a place that was reasonably free of rupees and sat down, sighing at the warmth of sunlight, however artificial, on his body.

"...They make decent improvised weapons against other monsters, though, if you can kick them into them."

[godheals]

"It would not do to have an angel of healing be attacked. I shall keep that in mind."

Raphael followed Enoch and sat down beside him before smiling at his advice. Of course Enoch, of all people, would figure out how to use these monsters as weapons.

"I shall also remember that. They do look like they could make good weapons, if kicked properly."

[warriorscribe]

"The monsters aren't so numerous during the day - I normally rarely encounter them, and few are dangerous if left be. The one that attacked us earlier is one of the rare ones that are aggressive in the daytime."

Enoch leaned back on his hands, looking up at the drifting clouds. Despite his posture, his tone took a turn for the grave.

"But at night, Animus itself seems to turn against you."

[godheals]

Raphael just watched Enoch, his hands in his lap as he listened to the man speak and took in the information.

"I see..how does Animus turn against you at night?"

[warriorscribe]

"The monsters are numerous, and deadly. There is one that creates an illusion, a vision of something terrible...and there is one that-..."

Enoch swallowed and shifted again, this time leaning forward, his shoulders very slightly hunched and his head down. His hands grasped his forearms tightly over his knees, fingers trembling.

"It has long claws that drip with paralyzing venom. Once you are at its mercy...it..."

It was always a painful memory to reawaken. Always something that he hated to recount, but he almost always did so without stumbling quite this badly. It was harder to tell it to Raphael. Harder to make it so obvious he'd been through such an ordeal when the angel seemed to be making progress in the empathy department.

Harder to tell a friend of the dangers that may lie in store.

"...when you are at their mercy, they eat your skin. Only your skin. They'll leave you there, paralyzed, unable to so much as scream." He didn't realize the shaking had spread from his fingertips to his arms to his torso. "...You have no choice but to wait for someone or something else to kill you."

[godheals]

As Raphael listened to Enoch's description, he noticed Enoch's shaking and managed to put the two together. Clearly, Enoch did not like this monster, which was understandable. Trying to offer some comfort to his friend, he put a hand on Enoch's shoulder. Hopefully, with that, Enoch would stop shaking and come to his senses. Or calm him down a little bit. Hopefully.

"That is a terrible monster. I shall watch for it and make sure that it does not attack me..and I shall aid anyone who has faced the creature. However..what horrible vision does this other monster create?"

[warriorscribe]

Clearly Raphael hadn't put two and two together entirely - had Enoch mentioned death?

Regardless, he does seem to calm a little, and speaks with more composure, if weakly.

"I saw a friend from Meridian, dead. When I stepped over her body I found Armaros and Lucifel's corpses thrown together like they were bound for some common grave. It seemed real; when I held them I felt them...but then I saw a small man-shaped creature laughing. At first I thought he had killed them, but when I caught and killed him, and the corpses vanished, I realized it was an illusion. But I'd forgotten the other creatures were behind me...one jumped on my back and paralyzed me with its claws before I could throw it off..."

He swallowed heavily and leaned into Raphael's hand.

He didn't realize that his story had a flaw to Raphael's perspective; how could the creature have cut him with its claws with his armor protecting him?

[godheals]

He had..but his wording was a little fuzzy. The aid he would give people facing the creature would be aid in the rescuing department, not the fighting or healing. That was, of course, assuming Raphael encountered anyone facing one of those monsters.

Raphael listened to Enoch, and when the man leaned into his hand, he held it a bit tighter. Not so much as to hurt Enoch..but to make sure that his hand stayed there and helped. This was what humans did sometimes when comforting each other, right? Of course..normally they would squeeze the shoulder lightly, but Raphael hadn't quite caught up on that yet.

However, he was an angel of healing. He would learn eventually. But..he did catch the flaw in Enoch's story.

"I am sorry that happened to you, Enoch. That must have been terrible. However..if your armor was protecting you, how could one of these monsters cut you?"

[warriorscribe]

It wasn't as if Raphael could squeeze much through the pauldron of his armor anyway.

"It wasn't. There are some levels of this tower where all inhuman abilities lose function. It even applies to weapons. My Arch will not activate, and my armor vanishes and can't be recalled until I reach a level that allows it."

[godheals]

This was startling news. It meant that, on some floors, that Raphael couldn't heal and live up to his name-his only connection to God, who was most dead-turn into a swan or sensed the Darkness. It would be as if he were human in abilities. Raphael didn't mind humans..but if he couldn't heal on some floors, then what was the point of his existence? Why save him?

He didn't know. The solution was to avoid those floors of the Tower at all costs.

"..I see..that is terrible. Is there any reason why this happens?"

[warriorscribe]

Enoch shook his head. "I don't know. They simply...behave that way."

[godheals]

Raphael nodded his head and..sighed. It was a little strange, as Raphael almost never sighed..but a situation like this warranted it.

"I see..I shall to avoid those floors then."

[warriorscribe]

Enoch glanced over at him at the sigh. Distress immediately...oh, he didn't want to do this to Raphael. But...it was better he learn from him than experiencing it without knowing.

"Currently the member of our hosts who designs this place is overseeing us...but I've never seen him contact anyone unless he's specifically asked for during someone else's month..."

[godheals]

Raphael had actually calmed down a little..and while this information was distressing, he would just have to make sure he kept off those floors.

"I see..is there any reason he designs it this way?"

[warriorscribe]

Enoch shakes his head. "No...not that I know of."

[godheals]

In response, Raphael nodded.

"I see..I shall have to ask him then when he appears."

[warriorscribe]

"He...rarely does. I've only seen him when someone has asked another person to speak to him."

Now that he thinks about it, the sheer amount of things they don't know about Riki is kind of unsettling. At least he knows Jason is cruel, but not knowing what Riki is like...

[godheals]

"I see..and whom must you ask to speak to Riki?"

[warriorscribe]

He thought he said this too, but...maybe Raphael just wasn't as calm as he seemed yet. "Any of our hosts but Riki himself, it seems. The man keeps well to himself."

Blegh..I keep feeling like I'm making him sound more foolish than how he actually is..><;

[godheals]

"I see..and where can you ask our hosts?"

..Have fun introducing him to the network, Enoch.

It's okay, maybe try to reread threads (or parts of threads) before replying?

[warriorscribe]

"The only way to know you've reached them is through the suggestion box on the first level. It's clearly labeled and has the forms beside it. The other way...is the network. One of the notes tells you how to access it, but...it doesn't explain how to communicate through it. I'll teach you."

He will have fun, actually. He likes teaching.

I probably should..usually I can keep all of this together..but I guess I'm starting to lose it. ><;

[godheals]

The mention of a network puzzled Raphael. He didn't really know much about technology and modern appliances since he didn't need to know much about them..but this was a time where he did.

"Thank you. I would appreciate that.."

It's all right for Tohko since she seems like she can lose track of a conversation but...Raph?

[warriorscribe]

And Enoch had, of course, forgotten that such a word was itself futuristic. He'd been living with it as one of the minor, mundane facts of life for several months now.

Oh, right, now that he's brought them up, he should at least tell Raphael about the administrators.

"Our hosts are five: Riki, Dax, Jason, Ruana, and Zo. The first four watch us in that order, and Zo protects the tower and is responsible for bringing us here."

Yeah..it really doesn't suit Raphael at all. ><;

[godheals]

Raphael nodded at that information. "I see..I suppose I shall have to thank Zo then, if I can ever make contact with him."

After all, if Zo hadn't brought them together, they would have died along with God and his universe.