The Prince of Blossoms leapt through a gap in the Labyrinth of the Elements and toppled into nothingness. There was darkness. Then shapeless color. A twisting sea of shadow and void. Then suddenly very solid ground just beneath him. Twisting like a cat he landed in a crouch. Soft plush grass was beneath his feet.

There was no sign of the elementals. It seemed leaping through a hole into nothingness did not lead to a set location but rather was just an escape. The Prince of Blossoms was very confident on this point because he could take in the entirety of his new locale by simply turning his head. This small island he found himself on could be crossed by walking a few dozen steps in a single direction. Aside from the healthy green grass underfoot, the only other feature of the place was a clear blue pool that took up the center of the tiny island. Beyond the meager confines of this island was only the black of void and a bright midday sun that cast the island in a warm glow.

On the far side of the island a man was sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet dangling into the water and a fishing rod was comfortably nestled in the crook of his elbow while the line trailed off into the water. Tipping back a reed woven hat he blinked at the Prince of Blossoms. "Well, not every day that someone falls out of the sky."

The Prince stood up straight, perfect in poise, after having landed despite the height like a cat. It wasn't muscular power or sheer endurance that took the blow, so much as sheer grace that let him land as light as a feather.

The Prince surveyed his surroundings quickly, although was certainly surprised to see someone else here. Especially one with the form of a man and no elementals and such to be found. Good to know about the cracks though...they could lead almost anywhere it seems and that was something he'd note for later.

The Prince walked casually toward the man, displaying no fear but equally trying to maintain a polite and non-hostile posture.

"What can I say? I am a personage of many talents. And apparently...falling through dimensional cracks isn't THAT big of a deal. Although I do say it was a most interesting experience." the Prince replied, civilly.

"Although might I ask, good sir, what you are doing here out in the middle of nowhere? You don't seem particularly distressed or uncomfortable." he asked curiously. "Beg my curiosity for asking so suddenly - I mean no harm."

"Sure looked like an interesting experience," the man said with agreeable head. nod. Shifting his fishing rod to be more comfortable he made no move to stand up. "Me? I'm just fishing. I took a nap a few hundred years back and when I woke up it seemed me and this island had drifted off. It's nice here though. Quiet, sunny, warm. I suppose I should get back to things before long, but it can wait awhile longer."

The fishing rod in his elbow twitched and the line went taut. Reaching up, the man grasped the rod and gave it a few leisurely jerks, then something bubbled up from the clear pool of water and broke through the surface with the line. It looked like a glass sphere, no, a snow globe, for inside it was a tableau of a miniature landscape. As the line pulled it into the air the globe grew and expanded until it filled the entire space above the pool. The interior of the globe was now clearly visible. It was a sandy shore, a dozen figures with heavy robes were conducting some sort of ritual before a crudely carven statue that was jutting up from the sand. Then the globe popped and dissipated, but the trace it had left behind remained, it was as though the Prince of Blossoms had actually visited the place.

New Realm Available: ??? (The Sandy Beach)

"Plus if it starts to get dull then the things I fish up entertain me." The man added. "If you want to rest your feet you're welcome to take a seat and do your own fishing for a spell."

The Fishing Hole

A god may cast a line into the tranquil waters. Baiting it with souls, there is all manner of things they may dredge up. It takes 200 souls to bait the line. Roll a 1d100 and see what you get.

0 - 40 - Thirty years pass in your realm, no bites on the line
41 - 65 - Fish up a 15% Skill Advancement
66 - 80 - Fish up visions of a foreign realm
81 - 90 - Fish up an artifact component
91 - 96 - Fish up a Mythic Beast
97 - 100 - Fish up Essence

This was no normal island floating in the void. There was something deep and primordial about it. And he wondered on the nature of the man before him as well.


"If you've been here for several centuries, then you're no mere mortal. And you sure as heck don't seem stuck here either. But I am not sensing you're a god either for some reason. If I may be so bold as to ask...what manner of being are you then?" the Prince asked, while sitting down on the grass politely.

He held out his hands, and several large branches sprang forth from the ground from the grass. Small, fibery twine-like matter grew from the tips of them before ending in wooden thorny hooks. They detached from the grass suddenly, becoming fully grown and fully functional fishing rods, made durable and reinforced with divine power so they were as strong as any metal rod and hooks and synthetic string. Perhaps much stronger, when actively under the Prince's direction.

"Regardless, I think I shall fish for a moment before continuing my travels. I had simply hoped to make pleasant small talk in the meanwhile. You can call me the Prince of Blossoms, the True God of Blossoms. What can I call you good sir?" he asked as he looked at the image-connection globe that was fished up of the Sandy Beach. The Prince was naturally inclined to explore it and see what that was about, as if the robed men in ceremony weren't intriguing enough.

"Yes...let us see what I can fish up from this mysterious and enigmatic pool." the Prince said as he stood up, set up several fishing rods on the shore and then caused them to root into the ground with his divine power, firmly cementing them there while reinforcing their durability with his power. He held out a hand and soul energy manifested as wisps of gobular light that floated over like willow-wisps onto the ends of the hooks on the rods, before they were magically cast into the water.

The prince watched carefully and controlled each rod via his power.

"Me, I'm the idea of fishing," the man replied. "The personification of spending a sleepy afternoon by a river, a lake or a seashore. I suppose you can call me the Angler. It seems an appropriate name." Certainly not a god then, but nonetheless something strange and unique. The Angler was an embodiment of a concept that walking and talking.

Taking up the offer to fish, the Prince of Blossoms conjured up several fishing rods. Planting the butt of the rods into the first, the other end dangled into the pristine waters of the fishing hole. Then they waited.

Time passed differently here. The sun overhead moved and while it sank low to the horizon several times and lit up the sky with beautiful colors, it never fully set. Most of the fishing rods remained inert. The Angler didn't have any more luck himself. It was starting to feel that this had been nothing more than a pleasant distraction until one of the rods twitched. The tip bent and dipped. The Prince had caught something!

Grabbing up the rod, the Prince of Blossoms wrestled with the line. Far at the other end he felt the resistance of... something. Tugging on the rod, gradually it rose. Up and up through the waters, eventually the surface broke and a heap of driftwood bobbed to the surface. While at a glance it appeared to be simple flotsam, there was power in the timber of this wood. Unrealized potential.

1000 souls spent on the fishing attempts

Mythic Being: You can craft a mythic being using the materials fished up, the only requirement is that it must maintain an aesthetic of driftwood.

"Looks like you caught a big one," the Angler commented from the opposite side of the pool, tipping his hat up to get a better look.

"Well met the, Mister Angler. And as thanks for your company and for your inspiration, I will grant you the privilege of being the first to bear witness to the birth of a Sacred Divine Mythic Beast!" the Prince said excitedly as he turned to the pool.

The Prince of Blossoms held out a hand, and the floating driftwood that he had fished up suddenly got swept up by his divine aura, as it flared outward and "scooped" it up out of the water. This was no ordinary piece of wood though, for even as it hovered in the air 5 feet above the surface of the pool it sparkled with traces of primordial power similar to that which had lingered in the sparks his sister had gathered to forge her own mythic dragon. This was made evident as the water that was on the floating piece of driftwood did not fall down into the pool, but rather...droplets of water from the pool "feel" upward in defiance of gravity, as droplets swirled and spun around the wood like it were some tiny planet with watery rings.

The elemental affinity of this piece of primordial stuff was fairly obvious, as if its origins weren't indication enough: a blend of elemental water and wood. Was a water/wood hybrid affinity not an ideal expression for primordial essence that took on the form of driftwood?

And so the Prince thought to himself WHAT sort of create this water/wood primal matter could become. SHOULD become. And then his thoughts wandered to his sister and her fiery dragon. And he nodded silently to himself, as he realized dragons really were a perfect symbol and divine servant for gods like himself and his sister. It just felt right. And so, with that eureka realization in mind he willed his divine aura to flood the primal driftwood with his divine energy to create for himself a dragon. But not a copy of something that has come before, but rather something new and exciting that more fit his own regal aesthetics. And this primal wood was an absolute serendipitous find, for was a water/wood combination not the perfect reflection of Irani and its themes itself?

And so the wood began to glow with sacred pearlescent light as energy from the Prince's Aura infused the Primordial Driftwood. It began to amplify and ignite the elemental affinities of water/wood within it, first drawing on its thematic nature as something that was wood molded by water, before igniting its primal energy with the energy of Blossoming. The wood began to suddenly expand and grow larger and larger as water streams surged upward from the pool down below, turning the driftwood into a large wooden core surrounded by a large shell of water. The whole thing looked remarkably like an egg, that floated in the air for some time while slowly glowing brighter and brighter before it finally literally hatched open and out sprang a Celestial elemental Dragon!

The Newborn dragon was huge - as large as Ana's fire mythic dragon - and it floated and few through the air in defiance of physics! It's scales were a light green, reminiscent of lilies and kelp. And while the thing was alive and biological, its scales had a flowing aesthetic of water-worn wood while its eyes glowed a bright watery-green color. This celestial dragon embodied a mix of wood and water affinities in a holistic blend that somehow worked...just like it did with the primordial driftwood that once served as its core.

"I am the True Prince of Blossoms, and am your creator. I have granted you life with my sacred light and a core of primal elemental essence, and your purpose is to be the Divine Sacred Guardian Beast of the Realm of Irani. I grant you a name as well - from here on out, you are Jylis Danna'd, the Celestial Dragon of Wood/Water. Live in dignity and honor the land and your god, and know that you have my favor." the Prince spoke to it.

The Prince Creates Jylis Danna'd, the Celestial Dragon of Wood/Water.

In the hands of a god that humble driftwood drudged up from the depths of the watering hole became something greater. Energy enveloped that wood and became the core of something much greater. The forming shape spilled out beyond the edges of the tiny suspended island. Long, serpentine and covered in water-worn wooden scales the entity twisted and curled around the island, its body encircling the watering hole like a living wall. Above the curling body a great head manifested to peer down, its eyes as large as plates looking over a long toothy maw.

This was Jylis Danna'd, the Celestial Dragon of Wood/Water.

Angler leaned back at the sight of the great head that reared up, but with the great wyrm coiled about the entire island there was no direction one could move that was not toward the newborn dragon. "Well... that's a big one." the personification of fishing declared aloud, a true master of understatement.

The great dragon regarded the Prince of Blossoms curiously, and dipped its head as it was given clarity of purpose.

The Prince nodded enthusiastically at the Angler, his cheazt filled out a bit in pride at a job well done despite his best attempt to hide it.

"Yes it is, isn't it! This fishing pool certainly holds much curiosity for me that's for sure. And the celestial dragon is something far beyond what I could normally make with souls alone. I'd normally need raw essence to form such a creature, so I'm actually very fortunate to have fished this up and suspect the chances of me doing so again would be extremely slim if any." the Prince said, grateful that he had this opportunity.

"And I'm grateful to you too, Angler, for the inspiration. If you are the embodiment of the spirit of fishing, then you have certainly inspired even a god." the Prince added graciously.

He turned and looked at the celestial dragon as it in turn floated down from the air to regard and commune with its creator.

"You are simply marvelous! Look at you...mythic flesh and blood mixed with driftwood styled scales and elemental affinities. You indeed hold my favor! My only regret is that sadly, I have birthed you into a world that is far more dangerous than it looks at times. But I have given you power and form akin to that of a living artifact in exchange for your the steep purpose of Divine Guardian Beast that I have tasked you with. Come - I shall send you to the side of my main self back in Irani, my home realm. I am preparing to awaken, even as we speak. Now go - your services and guardianship are about to be needed." the Prince said as he snapped a finger and a portal appeared in the air in front of the celestial dragon for it to pass through, which would take it to the Prince's side as he awoke. He closed the portal, keeping his self behind in the Fishing Hole.

"Mister Angler? You have inspired me to check out the results of your catch as well. The Sandy Beach that you fished up...I was able to form a connection with it before the conduit faded away. I know! As a show of my favor with you, Mister Angler, and thanks for the inspiration I will check out the Sandy Beach and tell you a tale of my exploration of it. That way, surely, you'll experience some sort of self-satisfaction with your catch, yes? I can tell you're no prisoner here but equally that you don't intend to leave for the time being. So I will explore your catch for you, and hopefully my tales are suitable repayment for the inspiration you have shown to this wayward god today." the Prince said as he suddenly sent a self over to the Sandy Beach.

The Prince sends Jylis Danna'd, the Celestial Dragon back to himself in Irani before projecting an instance of himself onto the SANDY BEACH via the connection that the Angler fished up.