For some reason…

Rain spun around again, looking at the walls and floors of the bright white room. As he did so, he was also putting one foot in front of the other, making his way to one of the three doors--the middle one, to be exact. When the door was finally reached, Rain turned the doorknob almost without thinking and walked through.

…I don’t feel like I’m on Earth anymore.

He heard a soft crunching when the soles of his boots met the ground. Rain looked down at the source of the sound.

Grass…?

“Oh great! You’re finally here.”

A gruff voice came from behind him. Rain turned around, expecting someone to be standing in the doorway. But, there was no doorway. There was no door. It was as if the room he was just in had never existed. Instead, he found himself staring into the eyes of a bear that was standing on the same small, circular, floating platform as him.

“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you?” it spoke again, but its mouth didn’t move.

Its eyes seemed unemotional, never blinking, never looking around. The pupils in the midst of the brown irises seem to peer effortlessly into one’s soul. Its fur was a darker brown, trimmed neatly all over, save for the few strands between two small ears at the top of its head that seemed to serve as ‘hair’. It was about as tall as Rain himself, but a lot wider.

What in the world…?

“What are you staring a--…” The bear sighed and raised its paw to its forehead, “Yeah, yeah, I forgot; you’re a newbie.”

It took a step back, clearing its throat and spreading its arms wide as if it were expecting a hug from the newcomer.

“Welcome to the Dome! This is not a dream, yadda yadda yadda, you were just in an unassigned dorm, blah blah blah, enjoy your stay! Now,” the bear dropped its arms to its the sides and began walking--or wobbling, Rain couldn’t really tell--past the newcomer, “if you’ll just shut the hell up and follow me to the cafeteria, everything will become crystal clear soon. Or not so soon; you seem like the hollow-headed type.”

Rain stood in place as he watched the bear wobble over to the edge of the circular platform. He chuckled to himself; there is no way that this could be a dream. I mean…a guy in a bear suit? Come on. The bear at the end of the platform stopped its wobbly activities and turned around to face Rain.

“Will you stop standing there gawk--Oh, for crying out loud. Yes, I am a bloody guy in a bloody bear suit, happy? Now hurry up!”

I suppose it couldn’t hurt.

Rain walked up to the bear, as soon as he did so, an elevator made of glass rose from the depths. It was small, as if it were made to fit the two of them specifically. The two stepped in when the doors open. As they did so, Rain noticed the inside of the elevator was completely different from the outside. Inside was silvery, not transparent at all. It just seemed like a normal elevator on the inside, but on the outside, it was like a glass cube.

He had to stop his mind from pondering about how this was made possible, otherwise it just might have exploded on him.

“Going down! Hang on to your hats!” As soon as the guy pushed the button, he put his hands on his head, attempting to keep the bear-head in place. While he was doing that, the elevator was descending at an alarming rate; Rain’s feet began to lift off the ground slightly. He hadn’t risen more than an inch when the ride finally stopped. The bear stepped out quickly, walking into an almost fully crowded area, similar to a noisy shopping mall, but much, much larger.

Rain’s head was spinning now. His sixth sense was in a rage; angels and demons and everything in between. It seemed like they were all over this place, nearby and far off, above and below, everywhere. Their presence bombarded him so much that his eyesight waned as he stumbled towards the man in the bear suit who had not stopped walking since their arrival.

“Hey…” Rain muttered, “Wait up…”

I must look like a drunkard. He walked, tripping over nothing, trying to catch up with the bear. Everyone else moved at their normal pace around him, no one stopped to look or help. Everyone just kept moving along. Rain looked up for a second. His eyes met those of the bear.

There was silence now. The sounds around them were slowly blotted out as a small staring contest ensued. The bear suddenly raised his paw.

Rain blinked.

SLAP!

“What the hell was that for?!” His left cheek turned a bright red from the rather painful hit from a furry paw. The bear shook his head in response and turned around, beckoning Rain forward. Rubbing his cheek, Rain noticed that he could see all around him clearly, unlike a few seconds ago when he stepped out of the elevator. His sixth sense was still active, yes, but it was…calmer, somehow. Continuing on, he quickly caught up to the bear while an array of questions piled up in his mind.

What is this place? Why did my sixth sense rage like that? Did the bear-guy have something to do with calming it down? Who is this guy, anyway? And where the hell is he taking me? Moreover, why the hell is he wearing a bear suit?

He looked at the person in the bear suit. He walked--or wobbled--in an amusing way; his head went from side to side while he took very small, but very quick steps, his feet hardly lifting off the ground.

Rain’s observation was interrupted when he noticed how large the next room was. The floor was white and clean. There were tables everywhere, with lots of people having their meals or moving about. Everything seemed to be there; humans, angels, demons, hybrids and even races of people Rain had never seen before. Some people were in suits, but some were wearing medieval armour, others were wearing seemingly futuristic clothes.

For a brief second, Rain caught a glance of a person with a familiar smile and green hair.

Is that…Zorlo?

At that moment, he felt something hit his chest lightly. When he looked down, he saw a young girl looking back up at him.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he smiled, “did I bump into you?”

The girl was about a foot shorter than Rain. She had dark, silvery hair which ended at her shoulders, framing her face, which had small, pink lips, a small nose and sea-green eyes. Her clothes consisted of a white, hooded, armless shirt and long, dark brown leather trousers, with black, knee-high boots.

“It’s okay,” she responded, smiling, “I’ve never seen you here before. You must be new here!”

Rain nodded, “Yeah…I guess I am.”

“Okay, this place is kind of like…a universal gathering of warriors, something like that…And, well, the first thing you should do is find your teacher. He or she will most likely be over there, by the teacher’s table.”

Rain’s eyebrows rose slightly at the word. …‘Teacher’?

She pointed to a large, round table that was almost in the center of the room. Around this table sat seemingly important and very powerful-looking beings. Near one of these people stood the man in the bear suit, who had taken off his headpiece. He bowed to that person--a woman--and spoke a brief word with her before standing aside, eyes to the floor.

“Oh, about the person in the bear suit,” the girl continued, “he’s one of the messengers. I think he actually thought that you were going to be a lot younger. Don’t worry about him, as you go through, you’ll earn his respect. That’s easy. But the person that you’ll have to really work hard for to gain their respect is your teacher. And I know who’ll most likely be yours…and she’s…well…not really…um…”

She shook her head and exhaled, heading past Rain, “I wish you good luck with that!”

“Th-thanks!” he called after her. The girl turned around and smiled, waving her hand in the air.

Right. Teachers, messengers…bear suits, Rain chuckled, what’s next? He made his way over to the messenger, who stepped forward when he noticed Rain walking towards him. The Latina-looking woman with dark hair and purple peacock feathers leaned back on her chair and gave Rain a scrutinizing look, from the bottom go up.

“Ms. Madrigal,” the messenger spoke without looking at either of them, “Mr. Rain Seraph. Mr. Seraph, Ms. Madrigal.”

Rain smiled at her, extending his hand. ‘Ms. Madrigal’, huh? She’s glaring at me in a wipe-that-stupid-smile-of-your-face kind of way, he chuckled nervously, “Nice to meet you.”


OoC: Okay, my post is ready to be shredded, beaten and squashed, m’dear! The girl is an npc I just randomly made up while watching my current wallpaper >.> And I just wanted the ‘creature’ to be something a little…unexpected, I’m sorry. xD

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["Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet"]