Colours

Act 1: Azure

1. Prelude / Sprout
2. Chapter 01 / Decay
3. Chapter 02/ Garden (coming in 2024)

Chapter 01

Decay

Onyx decided to sit down. The terrain was different here as the ground fell gradually away him. He looked across at the Decay that spread itself, seemingly forever. Ashes and rubble from past glories formed a vast sea of grays and whites. The movement from dust clouds made the world around him undulate. For brief moments the dust would clear a little and let him get a better view of his surroundings. This would be swiftly replaced with new dancing dust clouds that would engulf him completely, making it difficult to see very far in front of him.

The hilltop he was sitting on seemed a little less faded than the rest of the expanse around him. There was a tiny hint of colour that was left behind, like the dying embers of a fire. Onyx took the glove of his right hand and pushed his hand into the sand beneath him. He could barely register any activity at all.

He removed his hand from the sand, brought it just before his face, turning it slowly, inspecting it to see if he had missed something. He then dusted his hands against each other. Dust exploded briefly into maroon coloured flecks of life, moving and dancing in the air, before falling back again onto the ground without a trace. Grey and lifeless.

The Decay covers an immense urban expanse, tied together through a network of makeshift huts, small shacks and a sea of rubble, the remains of buildings of every architectural definition, either empty and abandoned. Yet within this urban decay, a form of life was flourishing. Millions upon millions of tourists flocking to see and interact with the rubble, paying tribute to what was.

Even among all this chaos, there was no real vantage point anywhere to be found. For that, Onyx had to rely on his eyes in the sky, his Wings. He tilted his head up, his eyes rolled back and turned a cloudy white. He was no longer on the ground but soaring high above.

Trying to separate the signal from the noise was where Onyx’s wings came into their own. From above it was trivial to zero in on zones of potential that would otherwise remain unnoticed. They gave him the ability to not only see far but across the spectrum.

In his hunt for remaining Colours, Onyx had been lurking on the fringes of the decay for what seemed like an eternity. Was it time to start making his way further into the inner circles? Was this seemingly fruitless search proof that his work in the Decay was finally done? And then he saw it. The faintest of auras. Blink and you miss it.

Onyx knew that he had to react quickly. His consciousness instantly reverted back to his body, he got up and began sprinting. In that same moment his Wings also began their decent, falling through the air and attached themselves onto Onyx’s back, fusing together with in a bright flash.

He traversed through a wasteland, teeming with people. Onyx had been here before, when it was still teeming with a different kind of life. He knew this spot well. While it’s grandeur remained, in the form of scale, it’s vibrancy had completed faded away.

Onyx waded through hundreds, maybe thousands of ‘tourists’ that walked around aimlessly, gawking at the remains. Giggling. Taking pictures. Some studied remains with intensity. It was a circus. It did however offer a smoke screen that cloaked the main attraction.

Onyx was standing in front of an incredibly tall and ornate gate that stretched high into the sky. On either side of the main entrance, the walls were covered in animal statues. Baboons, cats, monkeys, falcons, hippos and lions, all intricately connected with each other.

Onyx followed the flow of the crowd, allowing them to guide him inside. Surprisingly the building looked much larger on the inside than it did on the outside. The main entrance opened up onto a series of halls connected to one another that got larger as they got deeper into the building. Tourists lined every available space in the hall, they bobbed en masse, like waves in the ocean.

He continued with everyone for a little while, moving from hall to the next, deeper and deeper inside he went, until he peeled away into a corridor to the side. The difference in activity between the main halls and this corridor was stark. He was the only person there. He walked alone for a little while coming to a tiny chamber filled with candles, and there at the end sat Azure.

Onyx stood at the entrance of the chamber, he could see her a little better. The candles offered some light, but it was dim. Azure was sitting slumped on her throne. She had her hair up in a huge bun on her head, it looked like a bees nest. She looked frail, wrapped herself in a thick cloak.

“Millions flock to this place. They are not here for me. No, they are here for themselves. And yet here you are child, my first visitor in as long as I can remember. Come child. Come closer to we can discuss our future. for mine is linked to yours.”

Onyx moved closer into Azure’s view, “Hello, Azure. It’s me, Onyx.”
“Onyx? Onyx who?”, she said.
Onyx walked closer to her, knelt down and held both her hands together, “Let me remind you.”

1. kaa010
2. Prelude published throughout November 2021
3. Chapter 01 published throughout November 2023