imepro | Heaven (Reply)

As of Day 315, there's now a crack in the sky from which light beams from in Honmachi Sakura Park; the light, if you get closer to it, is in reality a golden chain attached to a giant anchor that's squarely in the crater of the Dead Zone. The anchor itself is larger than any person in imeeji, and those with corruptions who touch either the chain or anchor are burned. Such burns are incapable of being healed by sensitIVs, and must be healed by normal methods or otherwise surgically removed and replaced, or healed via holy water. The chain itself, mariner links pulled taut, almost looks like a ladder or a staircase—and indeed, you could take it all the way up to the cracks if you wanted to. From here, you can see the beginnings of what appears to be filigreed bars of gates at the cracks, where the chain ends:

The Gatehouse (for mortals)

At the entrance of the crack, where the chain ends, are two gates. The first of the pair is filigreed, pearlescent and raised, open and inviting. Should a character turn around, they'll see the crack where they can go back, and beyond it—there is the abyss. Go forward, however, and the second gate has been reeled open, silvery chains wrapped around the winch. They'll also find a broken stone within the masonry at their feet, just in front of where the second gate would be.

Please use this thread for reference on what your character will be able to find at the Gatehouse. If your character makes any changes to the Gatehouses, please comment here.

The Courtyard (for mortals)

Beyond the Gatehouse is the Courtyard, which is eerily silent—reminiscent of the time that Tokyo-F was plastic, for there are no ambient sounds, nothing that would indicate that this place has any life—though unlike Tokyo-F, there are plenty of signs that people were here before.

Since Day 315, the light here has been stirred; most things are still bright here, though not nearly as much since people first visited. The air is still palpable, and breathing it in feels sharp, inducing the same sort of ticklish sensation that one would feel upon drinking a carbonated beverage. It clings to the throat, heavy, though not lasting in pain at all.

Trees line the marbled square, stone slabs jutting out from the walls that the previous occupants evidently used as tables, for silver platters sit on the slabs along with trinkets, glistening in the sunlight brightly—perhaps even too brightly. On the platters are various fruits, as well as pitchers; unrelatedly, there are various trinkets too. The food isn't just localized to the stone tables; cloth is spread on the ground near a few trees with those silver platters as though one were having a picnic before abruptly leaving. Some slabs have what looks like game pieces, markings etched into the stone. There are also, it seems, various sticks and balls and little nets set up, as though this courtyard was for people to play games in.

There is a finite number of platter-fruits, pitchers, and toys available. Please comment here if your character takes any of these things, or otherwise makes any other changes to the Courtyard.

It should be noted that fruit harvested from the trees will regrow every odd-numbered IC day, so there is a theoretical infinite number of fruits growing from trees.

From here, there are a number of entrances, though most gates are completely sealed shut. Most of the time, there's just one hallway; it stretches on for a long while, but characters will eventually find themselves in the Fountains. However, sometimes one may find another gate open by happenstance as well—these gates always result in a winding, endless hallway that characters could be lost forever in, only to find themselves in the Fountains somehow or in the Gardens or, perhaps most infuriatingly, back in the Courtyard where they started.

Please use this thread for reference on what your character will be able to find at the Courtyard.

The Fountains (for mortals)

Past the hallway is what seems to be another courtyard of sorts, though this one seems to be less for playing and eating; here, there are flower-shaped fountains that depress into the marble like so, only rose-shaped. Each outer petal has a lining of water running through, and every inner petal is another step deeper into the fountain; by the third step, one would be deep enough that they could take a bath in this fountain. All told, there seem to be five of these fountain-baths in this room.

And perhaps bathing is what this place is for; etched into the marble in the front of the room is some sort of scripture, difficult to read—if one concentrates, one can see the shapes move to become readable:
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.
And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Characters may remove corruptions by submerging themselves entirely in the holy water. However, not every corruption can be removed, at least not at that time—corruptions that are too close to a character's heart, or otherwise corruptions that a character has internalized to be part of their self-image, may not be removed. (This is to allow players to keep what corruptions they like and remove the ones they don't; players may feel free to have an "arc" where the character can't have a corruption removed now but removed later after a journey of self-realization for the Symbolism™.)

Please use this thread for reference on what your character will be able to find at the Fountains. If your character leaves anything behind, or otherwise vandalizes the Fountains, please comment here.

The Gardens

The Gardens—or in other words, your character's heart made into physical landscape. It will always appear as a lush, wild-looking garden at first, but upon touching anything, it will all disappear into blue flame, leaving behind the true nature of this place: your character's subconscious, their inner self. Characters may not be able to find the gate out of this place immediately, and they'll find themselves falling into a deep slumber if they don't get out quickly enough. Even if they do manage to leave, though, they may find themselves feeling a prickling sort of sensation—and later on, they'll find markings of two flowers somewhere on their body, irremovable until such a time that they find themselves called to the Dead Zone and fall into a deep sleep, at which point characters will be called to enter their heart through their dreams. In other words, the tattoos will remain until the character undergoes a Heart Game.

Upon entering someone else's Heart Game or after entering Heaven for the first time, characters may also reach the Gardens in their sleep—if your character would otherwise not enter Heaven post-Day 326 Heart Games, they may still find flower markings on themselves after a dream in the Gardens.

Please use this thread for reference on what your character will be able to find at the Gardens.

The Sentinels

Of course Heaven has its own security system. In the Courtyard and the Fountains, as well as any given hallway, there is a chance that one of the Sentinels will appear to chase any intruders out. The longer a character stays, the more likely it is a Sentinel will show up and yeet them.

Interacting with a Sentinel in any meaningful way seems to be impossible. However, they will take a single moment of pause if presented with an item from Heaven, before continuing with their mission to yeet all intruders.

Please use this thread for reference on how your character can interact with the Sentinels.

The Abyss

Beyond reality's cracks is the abyss. It is not Hell, exactly, and it is not Heaven.

Perhaps, if one were to fall deep enough into the abyss, they would find themself in Hell.

That is assuming they live that long to get there.

Please use this thread for reference on what your character will be able to find about the Abyss.