ℂℴvᴇᴎ: hell on vangare ⊰closed ⊱

[Satellite O Love]

In hindsight, he probably should have expected something like this to happen. He’d been so focused on leave and get the hell out (for good measure), that even the sight of a dragon hadn’t been able to shake his mind off of the immediate goal. But he should have had the presence of mind to puzzle together the fact that Nova’s usual stuttering, halting statements hadn’t been among the many hurried words his mind had attempted to calculate as they’d all prepared to leave. He could really only recall the burden of Simone Mesa on his back and the terrible burning and pain localized around the cut that he’d wrapped.

It was probably Nova’s blood. The boy sometimes cut himself in the midst of doing his bizarre fighting moves. Nothing major, but enough to get the ends of his blades wet with his own life’s essence and increase the damage on whomever he happened to cut afterwards. Larus had forgotten that, over time, it had the tendency to make him feverish. He couldn’t blame Nova, though, he had only been doing his job.

All that aside, the blood loss had also been fairly crippling. Larus knew for a fact that he could really only afford to lose about two pints before he was dead to the world (and on his way to the next if he didn’t get treatment). Now that he did the math: based on the severity of the cut, the time he spent fighting, and the exertions he put his body through on top of stress that had accumulated for well over two days, it was obvious that he would have been out of it before the end of their mission. Not that it was anyone’s responsibility but his own to make sure all the loose ends were tied up (though some might argue they were the elder Knights’)…

“Why didn’t someone at least tell him we were leaving?” Larus muttered to himself as he futilely tried to work the ties of his boots with the most ridiculously overbandaged hand in existence. He bit his lip in frustration and nearly kicked off the shoe, but footsteps brushing against the pool of shadows in the corridor outside his room sent some amount of reason coursing around his fuzzy brain and he froze in place.

Did someone come home while he was getting dressed? He was sure that the majority of the active coven members of the Cervantes clan and their children were at the banquet that he would be attending shortly. The only people left were the few hired hands and the extremely old or fickle family. He quickly sent his mind zipping around its usual path around the Cervantes manor – in the kitchen he felt the sparks from the cooking fire as Maddie lifted the pot to take it from one end to the other while Theseus whistled some inane tune under his breath as he knitted or did whatever-it-was 188 year old men did to pass the time. Sleeping – Sleeping – Snoring – Talking to the Cat – Cleaning – and

“Larus? Why is this door locked?”

Damn. He’d been too slow. His mind played back what he’d technically been mentally absent to hear and, indeed, his brother had authoritatively shaken the door handle before rapping on the wooden surface and calling out. He felt an absurdly familiar rush of guilt and adrenaline as the other man tried the locked door for a second time. Leave it to Oskar to make him feel like he was twelve again.

Though he knew that Oskar was still too disconnected from Coven matters to actually attend an event like that, he was still tasked with taking care of the former high priestess and Larus had felt him leave the evening before. But he hadn’t had the presence of mind to follow Oskar to try and get an idea of his schedule. Apparently, he had the morning off. And was again insistently knocking on the door.

“Larus. Open up.”

Could he get away with pretending that he was unconscious? Probably not, since if he was well enough to be running out, he’d have his usual low-level awareness of the shadows directly around him. So he’d just have to move his plans up. He forgot the issue of his shoes, only quickly pulling on his left one before he grabbed the coat he’d slung across his bed and pulled it on in a rush. Oskar’s knocking was getting more insistent which meant it wouldn’t be long till he went and actually got a key.

The pounding stopped and Larus took the time to smooth the covers of his bed before it was time to go. He couldn’t help but grin as he melted into the shadows of his room; he was well and truly gone and it wouldn’t appear that he was in a rush when he left. It was a nice revenge after the hell he'd put up with from Oskar for the last two days. The whole matter was bitterly amusing in a way that might not be so funny once he was fully himself again (but for now it was a definite knee-slapper of a situation). Oskar had, in no uncertain terms, confined him to his bed since the moment he was back at the Granate Coven and Larus had only stayed because he was unwell and too busy trying to figure out if he was actually here or with Nova. He’d awakened fully the night before and though he was still feverish and shaky from residual blood loss and the after effects of normal fatigue and illness, nothing could keep Larus still if he got it in his head to go somewhere or do something.

He reemerged in an uninhabited, shady part of the forest. He was under a fine canopy of foliage; it was the only sort of place in Granate that was both outdoors had had stable enough shadows for Larus to jump around blind. His feet found the ground again, but he had an ungainly moment where he had to lean against the nearby back of a tree to steady his balance. His left boot, in particular, was so loose that he’d practically stepped out of it in transit.

“Well, first thing’s first,” Larus sighed as he went to work unwrapping the never-ending wad of white linen that had been wrapped around his already-mangled right hand. About halfway through the fifth tangle, he realized he could just use his blade to get it off. He huffed, irritated at how slowly he was reasoning and pulled out his weapon to cut off the rest of the bandages. Once his right hand was free, he got a good look at the cut. It was deeper than he’d originally thought and mostly-closed, but Larus’ wounds were stubborn. He thought better of it and grabbed a tangle-free wad of the stuff and lightly bound it before he pulled on his special glove. No witch or wizard in polite Granate society was aware of his missing fingers and he didn’t want to draw looks or bizarre questions.

He then sat down to finish tying his boots. As he did, Larus caught another glimpse of where Nova was, but it was just as confusing as everything he’d been seeing since he first realized that he could actually connect with Nyx over long distances. He couldn’t even rightfully recall naming the little bird creature the Lady Tarien had given him such, but the sound echoed across his mind like ripples just before he’d passed out. He had sent the shadow bird to keep Nova company, perhaps in an effort to tell him to meet with them back at Fang.

His only solace in leaving his son behind had been that Nyx allowed Larus to keep an eye on Nova whenever he could get her to answer his call. It had been mostly uneventful when he’d first realized he could do it consciously – walking on the edge of battlefields, hiding from regiments of soldiers, more endless walking – but sometime between yesterday and today, Nyx had disappeared completely into Nova’s shadow and all Larus received were the usual glimpses and impressions he got when he was using that part of his power.

Perhaps he just couldn’t fully control it yet. Nyx was a somewhat constant drain on his attention and tugged at his power so perhaps the avian companion was hiding in an attempt to help him. Or perhaps Nova was possessed again, in which case Larus would have to go get him personally. First, though, he had to check in with the High Priestess.

Even turning his mind back to her caused color to intensify in his cheeks (already somewhat rosy from his current condition). He certainly was no child, but he felt his current mortification where she was concerned was justified. It had been the day immediately after they’d come back (he’d passed out about halfway back and so wasn’t awake at all when they’d first arrived). All he could really remember was the feel of someone rubbing their thumb idly against the back of his left hand and the occasional turning of a page. When he’d finally gotten his eyes open and focused enough to figure out where he was, the scent of lavender hit him like stray bolt of lightning and Larus instinctively turned his heavy body toward the unexpected guest.

He supposed it was his deluded state that had her looking so relieved. Kozue was a polite person, but he somehow felt at the time that her relief was more than just a professional courtesy. She had gently closed the book in her lap and leaned forward to say something that he couldn’t remember, but was sure was just as professional and polite as was possible from someone sitting at his bedside. Honestly, Larus wasn’t sure if he had been in his own bed or in the Coven itself, but then that was a stupid question because people would ask too many questions if they found him laid up in a public area like that. But she’d said it, and he was sure he’d smiled if his face worked at that time and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Then he’d opened his mouth and --- and --- AND --- he couldn’t remember, but he hoped to the various gods people in their Coven worshipped that it hadn’t been something ridiculous like “I may be dying or just severely drugged by my brother, but in case it’s the former, I wanted to tell you I’ve had this embarrassing, persistent crush on you for – oh, over half my life”

“Ughgagarargh,” Larus said, not caring that it wasn’t anything resembling a word. He banged his burning forehead on his knee just thinking about it. So he had a few theories. One – he’d dreamed up the whole ordeal and so would have nothing to feel mortified about even if he couldn’t recall what was said other than he might have uttered something revealing and embarrassing; Two – she really had been there and he’d muttered nonsense and so would be mortified but not “find a dark hole and never come out” mortified; Three – she really had been there and he’d said what he was strangely certain he’d said and now he’d never live it down.

But he had business to attend to: a son to find, a daughter to continue to look for, and a High Priestess who needed to debrief him about his time in Fang. Larus also needed (desperately) to see how the coven had fared in the absence of so many of its strong members in light of an unknown threat. Then there were his contacts, the important parties he’d been watching, news about the war, the list went on and on. He couldn’t sit in the middle of the forest angsting like a heartbroken novice about what he did or didn’t say to Kozue. She was a professional, grown woman and even if he’d made her uncomfortable she would be able to work through it just like he was.

He, of course, smoothed down his hair and coat lapels just to make sure he was as presentable as he could be (for no real reason!) before he disappeared back into the shadows from whence he came in search of said High Priestess. Though someone incredibly corny might say his unusual swiftness in finding the owl-charming Stettner was the power of “love,” in reality it was because hers was an unmistakable silhouette. The large hat and presence of a bird were more than enough to clue him into her presence even with the barest of glances. She was standing some distance from the countless masses of humanity at the banquet itself, but she wasn’t alone. Larus materialized in the shadow of a large tree and then walked out as casually as if he’d been there all along.

As he drew near, the identity of the people along with Kozue were easily apparent – the Mystic Minerva Greaves, Warden Kendall Rhett, and the Knight Van Haden. As he drew even with the group, Larus noted the tiny pair of feet he’d felt while zipping his mind along to find her. Favor. Her big eyes reminded him of Seraphina’s – bursting with cleverness and promise, though less haunting. That was a path he didn’t wish to approach right at the moment, though, and so he forced himself to keep focused on talking to Kozue.

Difficult. Just the sight of her face had him wanting to flush and immediately turn on his heel and (perhaps) send her a letter at a later time; but Larus was nothing if not incredibly willful and so he kept his face its usual Cervantes mask of neutrality (with a hint of a smile) and he bowed his head at those assembled.

“Forgive the intrusion, but I couldn’t resist saying hello. I believe this is the first time we’ve been able to meet since you officially became High Priestess, Lady Stettner. I just wanted to congratulate you.”

✚LOCATION:Amarile Forest, near banquetxxxxxxxxxx✚COMPANY:High Priestess Kozue, Knight Van Haden, Warden Rhett,
Favor Rhett, and Mystic Greavesxxxxxxxxxx✚MOOD:IneedtofindnovaseraphinaohlookitskozueIwanttosleepandneverwakeupdamnyou

oskarheyitshimnofocusnovahandhurtsnyxfacilitydarknesspainthrobbingzhupoessessionohlook
kozueagainIwonderifallthehalfgiantsgotoutIneedtochecklaterohandthenthatcoupleIfoundtheother
daynovaseraphinakozueembarassmentfallfallfallfallnottherenottherenottherenottherenotthenerpain

HP:✚✚✚✚✚✚✚✚✚✚ tab tab MP:✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦

OOC: Larus gets out of doing a timeskip because he was incredibly woozy by the end of the whole Fang Affair – hooray! And he’s far less serious than he usually is because he’s still not feeling well/is worried about nova/ is also worried he can never look Kozue in the eye again. He’s not good with personal relationships, obviously. He’ll pull it together for business.

Surprisingly enough, while not fragile, Larus isn’t used to doing so much in such a short span of time and he’s certainly not used to so much hand-to-hand combat. He usually sends out his magic and works on things from afar with little interaction even with the people he’s investigating. So running around like some sort of action hero was pretty taxing.

First matter: The answer to Larus’ rhetorical question is that he had Nova’s Quammie. He just hasn’t seen it yet because they obviously took of what he was wearing before when he got home. He’s still pretty sick, so while his mind is getting sharper, he’ll be a little forgetful till he’s fully healed.

He waited till he was outside the grounds to take off his bandage because – I kid you not – a true Cervantes can hear one unwrap from any corner of the house. Not all of them are exceptional healers, so many get by on being sort of field medics and treating wounds/diseases with hopefully something better than the oftentimes horrific methods that were used during this general equivalent time period. He’s also wearing two gloves, not just one. The special one is filled in at the pinky and ring finger so people don’t know he’s missing them.

Kozue Flashback: He was so loopy (like, drinking after taking two Vicodin on an empty stomach loopy) when she was there that everything was rainbows and ponies in his head. He doesn’t remember much, but knows he must have said something embarrassing.

He also says what he does at the end of the post because he hasn’t “officially” congratulated Kozue since he’s been “sick” for well over a week. REMINDER: The only people who know that Larus is more to the Coven than just a consultant/head of a revered family are Kozue, Naito, Nova, and some of the Cervantes clan. Ulrick and co on the Fang journey certainly could guess, but if they say anything then Larus will END them. I think Koko and I agreed that Kozue took them aside and told them that they aren’t to reveal what little they know about Larus’ actual job.

[Koko the Boss]

Lis'Marie watched Kozue's grip tighten around her staff at the end of the quammie call then spoke up, "What does Knight Van Haden believe he can accomplish by running into the Reaper's Crypt alone? Lady Andradite's daughter is far from stable. From what you disclosed to me, her condition could worsen and for her to go as far as murder Lestor without remorse..." Lis'Marie shuddered, her feathers ruffling with the image printed out in her mind as a result of Kozue's description. That's the thing about divination magic, sometimes you see things in people's past you may wish to have never known.

Kozue's voice eloquently flowed out her lips in response to Lis'Marie, "Humans, we think logically but behave on emotion - when I looked through Simone's experience in Fang I could read Ulrick's expression towards her. There's something hidden deep but I'll have to question the metal mage of his motives at the proper time. As for Simone Mesa..." Kozue shook her head in pity, discolored eyes darkening in concern over the entire matter. The jewels and feathers on her extravagant hat clinging together from the sudden movement. "...What High Priest Reginald did to her, I fear he may duplicate onto other mages. The worst case scenario being he turns his whole coven into senseless beserkers, full of blood lust like Simone. Innocents would get in the way and the whole of Vangare is already losing lives to the war between the three kingdoms.."

"..The heavens forbid Arianlord is summoned by those idiots and even the great demon himself will be disappointed that Vangare is just a bunch of corpses he can't toy with." Lis'Marie's yellow eyes darted up to the morning sky in prayer that nothing close to that situation would come to fruition. "At times I can't tell who the greater evil is, High Priest Reginald or High Priestess Nilin. However this debate is slowly becoming clearer." Both High Priestess and owl companion brooded over the grave idea, their bodies still and eyes haunted as they stood underneath the tall trees of Amarile Forest. The rest of the coven was enjoying the festivities but the ugly truth of reality never fled Kozue's side. Contemplating future paths and possible outcomes had gotten Kozue this far in the game of life but the more she weighed the intricacies, the more bleak the future looked for her coven and the world.

A cool breeze weaved through the trees of Amarile Forest, along with it an escalation of jovial music and cheers from the breakfast celebration. For the past decade House Granate had worked hard to retrieve the keys before House Fang, but every attempt at besting them ended in lives lost. Only one key remained before House Fang could summon utter darkness onto the lands. But yet here they were, celebrating over a small victory, a union and alliance with Half-giants, the return of Lady Andradite's child. Small steps forward are better than stumbling back. Kozue tapped the bottom of her staff against one of the tree roots, it echoed out a small series of thuds that brought Lis'Marie's attention back to the High Priestess. "..Lis'Marie...Call me a fool, but, I still believe...There is still a chance for us all," Kozue whispered under her breath.

Lis'Marie's yellow eyes sparkled in awe and amazement over Kozue's ability to find a shred of hope amid the presently opaque facts. It was a fine quality the woman possessed, one that some may call naiive yet a factor every leader needed to push forward. "High Priestess Kozue Stettner. You are the second greatest fool I know right behind High Priest Naito Decimo." The two long time friends burst into polite laughter, a hint of truth behind the folds of the owl's tone. Lis'Marie maintained her balance over Kozue's shoulder while looking out to the direction of the rising noise. Koko River bank was coming to life and even the sounds of the rushing water fell on deaf ears to the laughter and music. Kozue smirked at her friend before making her way back to the community of tables, food, music and participants of the banquet.

The green haired mage received toasts and cheers upon her entrance back to the Granate and Half-Giant revelry. A cordial smile graced her lips in response as the long train of her sparkling dress glided behind her through the lush grass. The morning rays of the sun hit her dress in a way that made her shimmer angelically. Pink and purple eyes met the gaze of the crowd, their visages remarkably euphoric. Kozue acknowledged the crowd with a brief nod before casting her attention towards Minerva who she had to cut communication with due to the incoming call from the Reaper's Crypt. "I apologize for my abrupt leave of absence, Mystic Greaves. have you found the food and drinks to your liking so far?" The High Priestess herself took a moment to reach out for slice of fruit to replenish her energy. She wondered if Minerva knew that Celeste was busy handling the guest Cress and Lady Tarien, or if Celeste was too busy to update her best friend.

Again her aliquam glowed for an incoming call but this time Kozue chose to stay in her place in Minerva's company. Celeste's voice came through the aliquam on Kozue's staff, she sounded slightly worried, "Sister. I'm here inside the Crypt. Knight Van Haden is leaving to meet with you as we speak. The condition of the Mesa witch could be better, but since I was in the care of Cressus Edge and Tarien Don'Nodel of the Sajinni, they had to accompany me here. What is our current plan as of right now? I thought it was important that Simone talks with Master Cress and Lady Tarien." A sigh exited her lips, sometimes she wished her sister addressed her more formally as High Priestess, especially when on duty. Kozue paused a moment to think about her next move and wondered what the two guests needed to speak to Lady Mesa about.

She was happy to hear Knight Van Haden was making his way to her. Upon his arrival she had to order Ulrick and Mei Lun (Silence) to keep certain aspects of their mission to themselves. One factor being Larus' participation, his membership in Lynx sat at the highest level of confidentiality and secrecy. If the Granate public were aware of his participation in the mission then too many questions would be raised. Both Ulrick and Mei Lun (Silence) swore to keep his part a secret, neither indulged in questioning the Priestess' reasons out of respect. "Thank you, Mystic Stettner. After their conversation please escort Master Cress and Lady Tarien to the breakfast, I'm sure they are hunger. Make sure that Lady Mesa is still restrained when you leave, we can't have her roaming freely until she is cured. See you soon." Kozue closed off the line and turned to Minerva, "Celeste will be here shortly, I'm confident you two will respectfully enjoy this banquet without there being problems right?" Kozue offered Minerva a graceful smile while knowing Celeste and Minerva together were a handful despite their ages. Lady Andradite's daughter Simone reminded her a lot of those two in a sense that the three acted on impulse, emotion and targeted opportunities for mischief and fun. Minerva and Simone were even acquainted, their relationship taking a violent turn the day Simone decided to exit the coven in search for Estella despite the council and her mother's wishes. Children.

A rather tall shadow closed in through Kozue's peripheral vision. She turned her attention to the six foot, two inch tall warden of the coven. His four year old clung to him, happily messing around with Lady Greaves as her father attempted to strike a calm conversation, "Good morning, High Priestess." Kozue smiled warmly at the humble warden, despite the loss of his wife Chasley he still managed to be a role model to his daughter, outstanding member to Granate and close friend to Celeste. Sometimes Kozue wondered if the two would ever come to terms with their emotions. Anyone with a level head on their shoulders could see the way they looked at one another, not to mention that Celeste acted like a school girl around the blonde mage. "Beautiful Day." She heard Kendall mumble as his daughter asked for Aunty Celeste.

Kozue giggled and affectionately smoothed out Favor's hair, "No need to fret Favor, your dear aunt Celeste will be here soon with some of our guests okay?" She brought her hand back to her side with the other still grasping her ornate staff. "Good morning, Warden Rhett. I see your daughter is as enthusiastic as ever. Raising such an adorable child must be fulfilling and encased in fun?" A day never went by where Kozue didn't think about having her own family. She admired Kendall Rhett for his devotion to his daughter, and dreamed of a day she could hold one of her own. Neither her nor Celeste were married or had children to have as heir. Thankfully their youngest brother had both, he was married and had offspring to offer to the Stettner name.

Kozue debated leaving Minerva, Kendall and Favor's company to go make her morning speech but discarded the idea once she thought about waiting for Naito to arrive and even sensed another pair of eyes on her. Standing in place with Minerva, Kendall and Favor in her immediate area, Kozue turned her head to identify the source of her intuition. Lis'Marie hooted out in reaction to another mage approaching, the owl's yellow eyes glaring daggers at the blue haired Knight who simply stared back with hard green eyes. "High Priestess Kozue." He bowed politely to Lady Stettner but something about his demeanor told the High Priestess that he was far from composed inside. His actions were already questionable but now wasn't the time to discuss private matters to the Knight. It was not opportune to scold him infront of the coven and half-giants at a jovial time such as this.

"Good morning, Knight Van Haden. We'll require important discussion after this banquet, understood? Running into the belly of the best against orders is unbecoming of a man with your stature. But for now, join your coven family in this celebration that you and your team made happen. You all risked your lives and now we have a fighting chance." Kozue placed her hand upon Ulrick's shoulder and smiled proudly at him like a mother to her son. Ulrick, Mei Lun (Silence) and Tarien returned as heroes, Kozue made sure to make a formal announcement of their success in infiltrating Fang and rescuing Simone Mesa the day they arrived back. Lestor's death was grieved and a tree was planted in his name and honor by the Elder tree - a tradition to honor a fallen ally that was not part of the coven. Cress was announced as a guest and friend to Simone Mesa while Nova was noted to be missing in action and Larus kept secret.

Kozue's hand left Ulrick's shoulder and pointed towards the others in their immediate radius. "Knight Ulrick, have you been acquainted with these lovely folk? Mystic Minerva Greaves. Warden Kendall Rhett and his daughter Favor Rhett." The High Priestess politely walked off to grab a cup of tea and allow them time to introduce and mindle. She quickly sipped the tea, relishing in the warmth brought by the dark liquid then placed the empty tea cup down and returned to the group.

She listened to them talk, silently observing them when another familiar voice hooked around her, coiling and tugging at the golden chest she kept her emotions locked in. "Forgive the intrusion, but I couldn't resist saying hello. I believe this is the first time we've been able to meet since you officially became High Priestess, Lady Stettner. I just wanted to congratulate you." Larus Cervantes, head of the noble Cervantes Clan and Vice Director of Lynx. When he had arrived with the rescue team she ordered the presence of his brother Oskar to be taken away from Lady Andradite's side and relocated to take care of Larus the team. The way her heart plummeted down at the sight of him so badly wounded caused her to question her own actions and feelings towards him. The words he had expressed to her while in the infirmary echoed in her mind but she wondered if he even remembered what he said to her that night.

She spent hours by his side as he lay unconscious, taking turns holding his hand or reviewing the reports written by Ulrick and Mei Lun. As Director of Lynx she had to take initiative in blotting out Larus from the official transcripts before handing it down to the council and public. It hurt her to know that no one else would know he heroism or sacrifices he made for this mission and even other missions. "I appreciate the kind courtesy of your greeting, Lord Cervantes." Kozue gracefully curtsied to Larus in sync with him as he bowed. Their movements appearing to follow the same rhythm to anyone carefully observing. She smiled at Larus but the smile quickly turned to respectful concern. "And I am glad to see you well and walking...Though I'm certainly surprised your brother approved of your condition so soon. I do trust in his professional decisions, after all he is the expert. Ah, and you probably already know Warden Rhett, his daughter Favor Rhett, Mystic Greaves and Knight Van Haden? Have you had a taste of any of the delicacies yet?"

tab tab LOCATION: Amarile Forest』『COMPANY:Kendall, Minerva, Larus, Ulrick

▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬
xHEALTH ( HP )ＣＥ: ██████████ 100/100 tab MAGIC ( M P )ＴＡＮＣＥ: ███████████ 100/100
▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬
tab tab Kozue Theme Music & Outfit: Press PLAY & DressUP





" Kozue Dialogue" █████#67AC47

"Lis'Marie Dialogue" █████#3D5229

"Larus Dialogue" █████#04048f

"Kendall Dialogue" █████goldenrod

"Celeste Dialogue." █████#ED3CCA

"Ulrick Dialogue" █████darkblue

[IILovelyAmarathII]

Aaren's small ears perked up in excitement as heard the high priest hitting his staff down on the ground. His face made a serious scowl that in stewed anger and irritation at the highest. His teeth grinded as he had felt the embarrassment, trying his hardest to push it aside. Silver manna glowing from palms of his hands. Aaren was pissed. More than pissed. Furious. He felt that the High Priest himself was just throwing words at him just to be getting his gears moving. Him and Reginald were forced to rivals because of their family lines.

The Cavallaros were strong, and Aaren always had made sure that he remembered that. Even though, in all honesty he didn't really give a s**t about being a knight or high priest. To him, he if he really want to he could have taken the role out of Reginald's little hands a long time ago. He just Chooses not too. Leading and doing paperwork wasn't much of his style.
He loved the fact that as outer court mage, he had more freedom than a knight or high priest or priestess. Responsibility wasn't much of his thing either. Hell it was hard enough on him as it maintaining the family name in 'Good status' as it is.
The nerve of this man...heh He really thinks I'm a blundering idiot doesn't he? I have much as right to be on that platform. My mother was the one who created the damn thing in the first place. Let me remind him who exactly the Cavallaros are!

That anger soon faded into spitefulness as Marcus was itching to have his place as a knight again. He was just about to grab him by the collar himself when the white haired beauty did the job for him. His embarrassment and anger both faded away when he watched her grab his childish looking brother.
He bowed to her as he watched her put her hands over her hips in disappointment. Oceanic blue eyes met her golden ones as she looked towards the Magical Mirrors as they were only half done. Chuckling, he looked back the High Priestess and he had moved his way off the platform and taking Marcus along with him.
Coyly he said to her :
" The Mirrors would be a easy fix. My dearest high Priestess, after all we both know with the mind that I have. You and everyone will be able to enjoy every little detail that happens in that pit. My brother and I will make sure of that."

Aaren was disappointed the fact he was dismissed off of the platform. He wanted to make a snide remark about how his own mother Elizabella Callavaro had the platform built a couple of decades ago, but he thought now those facts didn't really matter. Nonetheless, He could never disobey his High Priestess, Nilin. Over time they had became quite close.

High Priestess Nilin and him had many talks. She often wondered what were Aaren's true motives considering she felt like He needed to be a knight. She also had often wondered why he was so unmotivated when came to fighting in his family rivalry. She laughed at him once when he had mentioned that all he wanted to do was experiment. He wasn't to fond of the rivals his family had with the other families.

He had told her one time in one of their conversations : "IF we're all going to bring Arianlord to this this world I rather not waste my time fighting with my own coven. I would rather find easier ways to help us all destroy the enemy. There was one trait I always loved about my mother. Even though she is known for showing-off, she just has this humbleness about her that every good leader needs. The man that's working behind the scenes is going to be you go to guy when all would seem lost. I'm that go to guy that you will need go to ask about another strategy or another plan. Use me as you wish High Priestess Nilin, because someday I will become that last trump card."


He had walked briskfully to the magi in charge of the mirrors. At the corner of his oceanic blue eyes he watched the twins made their own appearance as well Lady Sevnja. As he was walking toward the location of the mirrors and the magi as he watched the three potential knights in the distance. A warm smile came across his face has he saw the blue haired woman standing in the crowd. His ears perked up and a irritated scowl came across his face at the sound of the mousy voice of that annoying sounding woman. Vivian Cidthrope. She was notorious for being loud and obnoxious Or that was what he thought of her, but he had this was the view when it came to a lot of the members of his coven as he had saw them all as either : annoying, loud, Cocky, and obnoxious. There was only a select few that Aaren did not find annoying though. Even though, He himself knew that he could be all those things as well at times and yet this even made him annoyed with himself.


Also, he really disliked the twins. He knew damn well that her brother Valentine was just too nice and Aaren had always felt this eerie feeling around him that he didn't like. If and when they would pass by each other. His headache was slowly re-appearing as he heard the even more screams and the shouts of the magi. Rubbing the temples of his head all he could think about were these things.
I hope Lady Sevnja shuts that annoying woman up, and monkeys can do better than these damn fools.

Giving them a smirk he just rolled his eyes. He scaristically clapped out loud in their measly efforts. Clearing his throat he said insulting the magi. "Look, why don't you idiots let Daddy Aaren handle all of your problems. Macrus and I are here to make it all better." He had showed his pearly whites as he grinned and began laughing at them. The magi looked up at Aaren and Marcus and gave the both of them glares. Tossing the rest of the mirrors at Aaren.

The magi walked away with one of them saying. "If a Lord wants to do our job a peasants job, by means you can do it!" He grabbed them and began laughing some more. With his right hand he began feeling for his goggles. He grabbed his goggles that hung around his neck and placed them over his eyes. Aaren was known as master craftsman in fang . Hanging up a few mirrors would be a trivial task. Turning back to his younger brother he said sternly. "Let's get this done, so we could at least enjoy ourselves shall we."


Aaren gave the Mirriors to Marcus to hold as Aaren began to levitate. He would take a couple of Mirrors from his brother and levitate around the area placing them all in a diamond like shape. With Aaren's abilities and smarts they had only spent at least a good ten minutes putting the mirrors in place.

Aaren and Macrus had made their way to a couple of empty seats that a couple of council men had offered because of they felt the need to reward the brothers for place the mirrors in the best view for everyone to see.
Aaren watched the fight between the two toned color haired man and the red-haired man.

Aaren was quite amused with the other red haired man with the hints of blue as droppings of blood splashed him and his brother. Aaren went to lick his cheek and smirked at the man has he took in the blood of the chimera. Aaren couldn't stop grinning for this man's victory as he thought that He seemed be formidable person to have in fang. He thought

That was one tasty Chimera. Thank you I haven't had Chimera in a while.


A lot of clapping and whistling came from council men and women. Aaren looked at the man meeting his gaze for a moment, but his eyes looked for where the high priestess and high priest would be. Aaren saw him waiting looking for his further instructions. He held his chin in his left hand and rested it in his palm and rested his left arm on his knee. Oceanic eyes were examining the man in curiosity as the fight of the outer court had ended. Whispering back at Marcus that sat next to him he said.

"Rainbow head has a lot going for him doesn't he? I really like this guy Marcus. What about you? I wouldn't be surprised if everyone would be scared to fight him after something like that."







`•.¸¸.••´´¯``•• .¸¸.•´`•.¸¸.••´´¯``•• .¸¸.•´`•.¸¸.••´´¯``•• .¸¸.•´`•.¸¸.••´´¯``•• .¸¸.•´`•.¸¸.••.¸¸.•´`•.¸¸.••´´¯``•• .¸¸.•´`•.•

『 Location 』 Prim Forest/ Sitting with Counicel men and women watching the fights. 『With』 Marcus,Nilin, Trystan in his view and many spectators 『Mood Furious/ Disappointed/Amused/Curious 『Apearel 』 Aaren's outfit『 Theme 』The Killers- All these things I have done

Chailya of Water

Uchiha Itachi Jr

LadyTarien

[Satellite O Love]

He regretted dodging away from the far more ancient soldier – the one with the missing head. If that one had gotten ahold of his body, it would have been a confusing few hours, but Nova would have taken himself back pretty easily. Old ghosts, spirits that were merely shocked or panicked about their own deaths and more-or-less were stuck in a loop were very much like cornered animals, but ones that had been so weakened that all they could do so was squeal and flail. They had no purpose. Fresh spirits, particularly those of mages tended, to stick longer since they natively understood what it was to be in a body imbued with magic. The brief thoughts that ran through the Granate mage’s mind while he’d been taken over more-or-less amounted to irritation that he’d been caught by a spirit that would be far worse for his health and sanity in the end. Valdis would just be along for the ride, as usual unless it was a rare time she had the energy or interest to interfere.

It was a surprise he woke up the way he did. From cursing his fate to just standing. He blinked once and adopted his usual expression of barely-contained terror. His body was numb (no surprises there, ghosts slowed his heart and plummeted his body temperature), his vision was slightly blurred, and the sudden, shuddering breath he took seemed to fit well with the fact he was crying (out of both eyes. While that sounded physically impossible, the other one’s tears were always red) Crying? He vaguely glanced down at his outstretched hand and found he was holding a small set of medals. What? What had that damn ghost been doing to his body? And how in the world did he manage to take care of his own business so quickly?

It was then that he realized there was a man standing in front of him. He raised his head, and his visible eye widened in obvious confusion since he had no idea who this new person was (it wasn’t really a surprise since it had happened countless times to Nova in general). He was a mage judging by the flickering aura Nova glimpsed before he had really focused on the other man, as was the figure standing behind him. The man with the purple hair had an expectant sort of expression on his face, but all Nova could do in response to that look was stutter, “Wh... wha....wh...wh...whaa...?”

Being Nova, he couldn’t even properly articulate a question about where he was and who he’d managed to befriend(?) while that ghost had been walking around in his meatsuit. He glanced down at the medals again and closed his fingers over them briefly before he pressed them back into the hands of whoever this was who had probably given them to him – ghost him – whatever. He needed to get out of here. He had no idea who these people were, where he was and, most importantly, he needed to get away from these people before he did something he would regret. His head whipped around as he tried to get his bearings and it was then the rest of the environment hit him with the usual force and enthusiasm of Minerva during one of the many sparring matches he hadn’t been able to sneak away from. Fire – smoke that made his eyes water again, the sounds of boots echoing on hard floors from afar, a cloying and unfamiliar scent, singed flesh, and blood.

Blood. Nova raised a hand to his neck as his throat suddenly tightened and his mouth instinctively watered.

“Mi-a, -e ot a pobem!”

“Wa nw em aut to arge e or.”

The men were saying something to one another, but his heart was suddenly hammering in his chest and all he could really hear were the countless shuffling of bodies outside and the strong scent of vitality that came off of even these two men he was currently confined with. Nova glanced up sharply at the feel of the taller man’s hand as it briefly pushed his shoulder to get his attention and he spoke again, “Ma… re ae ossboen o- re, a nt -n ave ar-or. An- ian ems to ve suffed ome kd of … errrrr… de-poesion. id… ki,” He snapped his fingers in front of Nova’s eyes and the young man shook his head in response. His words weren’t making sense to Nova, just part of the noise that was getting louder and louder in his head. “an u i-ht? ny od ith a rd? Hell, n ou un fst? Aybe ou ca-ip ot te or ad aw soire ile Mia nd I arge ceain eath? rp.”

His hair wasn’t purple – it was red. Valdis had tinged Nova’s vision to the point that he could barely see. Still, he could tell from the tone of this man even if he couldn’t understand the words that there was trouble on the coming and he was doing his best to prepare the confused young mage in some way. He clumsily caught the man’s arm as he stepped forward and managed to stutter, “I d-d-d-on’t k-know what’s going on here, bu-but, you should g-g-get away f-from m-m-me.”

He physically pushed the other male back then and turned around so that he could try and keep control. He just needed to keep it together for a little while longer. Nova’s mind was too fuzzy to make judgments about the possibility he was doing the right thing, but the best he could do was just to trust his instincts. His instincts were telling him that whatever he smelled in here was off and that these two men were not welcome here. Moreover, they hadn’t attacked him.

It was enough.

“Skvzprmt lu uriv, Gfi, I’n hgzigrmt gl hnlowvi z yrg. Czm dv qfhg tvg gl rg? Iu Fzyrzm… gsv prw… dszgvevi… rh wldm uli gsv xlfmg, sv’h wldm uli gsv xlfmg. Lvg’h qfhg wl gsrh,” That from the man closer to the door, the one that smelled like exhilaration with a trace of fear.

The purple-haired man replied, “Frmv. Czm’g yvorvev I’n xszitrmt gl nb wvzgs drgs hlnvlmv gszg dzmgvw gl proo nv z uvd slfih ztl. Clfmg lu gsivv?”

Nova shook his head again and took one last breath as he felt his skin begin to crawl and harden. His sleeves were still ripped from the ordeal in Fang, so this time the blades had absolutely no trouble breaking free of his garments. Unlike his experience in Fang, his dark eyes turned yellow and were no longer alight with the reason of Nova the man. Rather, they were dazzling with madness and hunger perfectly suited to the sly grin dawning on his coldly beautiful features. He couldn’t recall why he hated this, but then again he couldn’t really think like this. All he knew was that there were people ready to begin surging into the area; bodies upon bodies that he could tear, slice, and consume.

The two were going on about something again, but Nova only ignored their ranting and crouched by one of the tables in this irritatingly cluttered room and waited. He could hear the shuffling outside, the men breathing heavily as their muscles tensed for the ordeal ahead. Bow strings were drawn tautly, blades out and pointing toward the battle. Then came the sound of a particularly hefty man kicking down the door and that was all Nova needed.

He burst out of his crouch, pushing aside the darker-haired man as he all but tumbled into the tight corridor. Pain blossomed in his right shoulder and he realized that he’d managed to get right in the line of sight of one of the archers. He could only smile at the burning sensation of pain as he threw himself at the archer and pushed the back of his blade cleanly through the man’s neck. He pulled the still twitching body in front of him to block another hail of arrows and then turned to the next target.

It was beautiful, really. He could hardly just concentrate on one man alone to slake his thirst. Not when there were so many willing to rush to their deaths. He did a dance (of sorts) to send them off – weaving between blades and taking whatever hits were necessary to ensure that he could lance someone’s neck just long enough to take a sip. Feeding briefly on the men as he went allowed whatever superficial wounds they gave him to heal, with the unfortunate side effect of making him more reckless as he went in for his next kill. The tight corridor was really a terrible place to fight. With his blades fully extended, he could cut halfway through the legs of at least four men without much effort. The guards or whatever they were seemed at a loss, especially when they realized that the more they cut insignificant parts of him, the wider his motions became so he could douse them in as much of his shockingly painful blood as possible. Before long, the hallway was as red as his field of vision – though it was no longer a mistake of perception. Though he was brutally efficient at killing, the monster wasn’t particular or vindictive about it. He even allowed anyone who wanted to run the opportunity to do so – the faster they left, the faster he could sit down and truly feed.

✪HUH:Bloody Hall : D!xxxxxxxxxx✪MEAT?!:MEAT!xxxxxxxxxx✪GRAWR!:DINNER TIME > D

OOC: This a fairly short post for some of mine lately. Frenzied!Nova can be a little difficult to write for and I also don’t want to get too much into detail about the things he does since this is technically a 13+ site. Suffice to say, that is one rank smelling hallway by now.

Anyway, to normal post notes:
*Nova’s like a free pass for laziness in this case, but in a frustrating way. The information “Fabian” heard in Gur’s post was awesome and definitely useful to know, but Larus didn’t really hear any of it because he was both running a fever and busy maniacally laughing about sneaking out of bed and Nova doesn’t share memories with ghosts, obviously.

*As for crying from a missing eye – I’m calling magical and feline precedence. My cat who is missing his right eye, gets gunk and wetness from both.

*The dialogue between Gur and Mika here was provided again by the wonderful Gur. I messed it all up because Nova being surrounded with the smell of death and the promise of more death in a weakened state isn’t really up to interpreting it correctly. So it starts out just delayed fragments of speech and turns into gibberish because his head goes very funny when he’s mutating. I hope my efforts add to the atmosphere, at least a bit ; D

*The actual dialogue he gave me is worth a read

Mika, we’ve got a problem!”

“What now? I’m about to charge the door.”

“Mika… there are crossbowmen out there, and you don’t even have armor. And Fabian seems to have suffered some kind of … errrrr… de-possession, I guess. Kid… kid” (snaps fingers) “can you fight? Any good with a sword? Hell, can you run fast? Maybe you can zip out the door and draw some fire while Mika and I charge certain death? Crap.”

“Speaking of fire, Gur, I’m starting to smolder a bit. Can we just get to it? If Fabian… the kid… whatever… is down for the count, he’s down for the count. Let’s just do this.”

“Fine. Can’t believe I’m charging to my death with someone that wanted to kill me a few hours ago. Count of three?”

“Fine. And I still want to kill you. So don’t you die on me, you hear?”

“That… makes, like, no sense Mika.”

“Save the comments about my sanity for after we get out of here. Ready? One… Two… THREE!”

*It can be assumed that Gur and Mika moved out of the room and onto their business as soon as they could. I mention at the end that Nova didn’t stop anyone from going because he’s really more or less focused on eating and while the battle’s fun, he certainly can’t fit all that in his stomach so it’s going to be a waste either way (he doesn’t want to make it more of one. Mutation Nova is incredibly stupid. He has zero reasoning skills and no loyalties unless you’re very, very connected to him. Even then, he tends to only snap out of it after he’s done something he’ll regret.)

*Finally, the little bar that's a giant mess is my new Nova sanity bar! He has zero right now, so it reads "frenzy." I'll add it to his normal format as well.

[Koko the Boss]

Heavy footsteps of soldiers running by the tent and pounding of hooves from the war horses thundered around the immediate area and reaching the sensitive ears of the lycan prince. The bloodshed between the three kingdoms and political disarray had upset the peace and balance their ancestors worked so hard to achieve. Only the naiive would believe that the Great Vangare War and the threat of a greater demon's arrival was all just one big coincidence. Alecion did not believe in coincidences, he had his own suspicions and questioned everything from the incredulous assassination of his mother to the news of mages causing destruction in Zhu. Strong hands scrunched a medium sized towel to skim the surface of his flesh. The cotton material picked up the blood, sweat, dirt and grime that had accumulated from the battle against Adara and her soldiers. Now that the bandages had time to settle in their places, he reached for a sleeveless shirt and slid it over his shoulders and torso. The dark blue shirt contrasted against his amber eye which deliberately gazed on Morded and Ember with a hint of caution and weary. The story Morded had told contained well known mages within the history of Civok's military and a fate that left the kingdom, no, possibly all of Vangare and the world in a vulnerable state of affairs. Jumping back through his history of the continent, he recalled there being a demon by the name of Arianlord jotted somewhere between the piles of pages and lines of historical content. The lycan prince scratched at his eye patch absentmindedly then folded his arms over his chest in deep thought. There was a lot of responsibility he had to take on as both a Prince and General of the Civok royal military but what Morded had proposed now brought on a load of responsibility that could not possibly rest on his shoulders alone. If a demon truly were to be resurrected onto the mortal realm then surely it would take the unity of all three kingdoms to defeat it. After all demons were monsters of pure chaos and destruction, they harbored no mercy for the creatures of life and light whether they be the 'pure' humans of Zhu or the elves of Maizen. Demons would not discriminate, certainly not a Higher Demon.

Alecion stood in his place in the middle of the large war tent, muscles tensing and amber eye glistening in inner conflict. His slave turned attendant, Umbra, also positioned herself in a statuesque poise. Both prince and attendant centralized their focus on the white haired mage with the bandages over her eyes. Ember pensively sat on the bed with the tips of her fingers gliding over the piece of paper. Her touch appeared as gentle as a mother brushing hair away from her infant's face, calculated and smooth. Morded, Umbra and Alecion held their breaths in anticipation for the final word and when it finally came, a noticeable wave of emotions crashed against the prince."This symbol, is that of a rampant wolf. Its eyes hold hatred, greed and power. This Coven strongly dislikes House Granate. They want power, and Arianlord can grant that to them. But with this power, I fear a great evil to cloak over Vangare. With a great deal of evil, the world will be unstable and cause destruction." The prince exhaled slowly and cracked his knuckles. Ember was correct with her prediction of the picture. And with her answer a series of answers and revelations enlightened the questions and dark voids within the Prince's mind.

" So then this is all true. The ravings of Adara Neptane all those years ago were true. But it seems her hatred has been displaced and blinded by her emotions and ignorance to all the facts. If only she knew everything and what this wolf coven aims to do...perhaps she would re-think everything. But to convince the Kings and Queens of all three kingdoms as they war with one another...nearly impossible. " In response to Ember's description, Umbra's deep blue eyes glazed over and watered. The elf quickly closed her eyes before any tears could make their way out of the waterline. Alecion shook his head and paced around the tent. The thought of Vangare falling to pieces because of this demon caused him to involuntarily bare his fangs and pupil to visibly constrict. His thoughts suddenly took a turn to his mother, Queen Emera Direclaw. His mother had worked so hard to keep the peace between the three kingdoms, she traveled throughout Vangare for the purpose of maintaining a positive relationship and yet she had been struck down and assassinated. The universe works in mysterious ways but Alecion would be damned if he let his mother's death pass without finding the true culprit. His gut told him that it wasn't either Maizen or Zhu - what purpose would they have to kill her anyway? So then what if the real culprit was this dark coven with the wolf symbol? The same one Adara Neptane had claimed to exist and kill her family? All possibilities and only one truth that still remained out of his reach. At least for now.

Ember's urgent and stern voice broke through the prince's thoughts, "Prince Alecion, we need to stop Fang. Or thousands of people, Mazien, Zhu and Civok a like will die. I can't afford that to happen. The kingdoms need to merge together, to stop Fang. If not, Arianlord will slaughter everything in it's path." Alecion nodded in agreement knowing that she couldn't see his body language but still chose to say nothing as of yet. He needed a strategy to get everyone to work together and until then there wasn't much he could do. He wasn't the type to charge into a battle without thinking ahead, afterall his father chimed in how that's not how wars are won. The blind mage slid the paper off her lap and onto the cot then placed the cup and plate down as well. ""Please, excuse me Prince Alecion. I need some air, Ember stated under her breath. She stood up, turned on her heel and exited the tent without another word. Alecion was surprised she knew where the exit was and where to go despite her lack of vision. The few blind individuals he knew of would use walking sticks for precaution but the way Ember moved was as confident and secure as anyone with regular eyesight. She truly was amazing.

Morded shifted from kneeling to an upright position on his feet, his expression portraying the same serious and concerned expression reflected off Ember's tone. "Prince Alecion, you say that you are only just a mere prince, but Ember and I believe in you. As we both know that you will become a fine king of Civok. You heard our pleas, and Lady Ember has revealed to you even more proof that what I shared with you is true. You may take what has been shared with you today how ever you chose, but I feel that you can accomplish the impossible. Please, take a few minutes to review what you have heard. Excuse me, I shall check on my companion." Alecion watched the dark haired mage take his exit from the tent before the Prince himself collapsed onto the nearest cot in exhaustion. Physically his body was tired from the day's earlier battle with Adara which was supposedly still taking place. But mentally and emotions he was drained from the load of information and responsibility just dumped on him. He was at the very least grateful that the two gave him time and space to think things through without hovering over his progress.

" As ridiculous and as outrageous as their proposal and story sounds...I believe them. My gut tells me they are being true and genuine. But how am I supposed to unite the kingdoms when greed, pride, hate and power are interlocking at every path? The leaders of all three kingdoms have a reason to dig their heels in war and bloodshed." Alecion clamped his hands over his face. He felt pregnant with frustration and anxiety, all of Vangare, possibly the world could meet its demise if all the leaders did not set aside their differences.

Umbra hesitated but finally spoke up in a low voice,"...It's unlike you to lose your spirit when faced with adversity, my prince. " The dark skinned elf paused to look at the exit of the tent, as if weary of outsiders listening in, then reeled her gaze back to the distraught prince. Her voice cracked and fingers curled up in much more hesitation to what she was about to say, " If...If you believe what they say to be true, if you believe it in your heart. Then you know the right answer. Perhaps you need to regroup with your Father, sister and brother in the capital.... Bring the royal family together, talk it over and go from there..." Alecion's eyebrows furrowed in curiosity over Umbra's strange tone of voice and body language. He sat up and observed her carefully but she did not flinch or look away. Whatever she was hiding and keeping to herself was obvious and even seemed to be bothering her. But alas, the prince believed she would talk to him when the time was right, fishing it out of a stubborn mule like her would be a waste of time.

The prince jumped off the cot and made his way towards the bundle of fresh military uniform and armor. " You're right, Moka-ar. Please, go now and locate a messenger. Tell him to bring word to my father, brother and sister. I'm requesting an immediate royal family meeting to discuss the fate of our kingdom and Vangare. "

" As you wish, my prince. " Umbra nodded and bowed her head. She turned on the balls of her feet and stalked out of the tent. Her deep blue eyes caught sight of Morded and Ember by their horses and was about to look away when she made eye contact with Morded. Morded appeared to want to say something to her but a look of fear rose to her face and she rushed off to find the fastest and nearest messenger. The way the young elf was acting towards both Morded and Ember was strange indeed, a mystery that even the Prince could not put his finger on.

Several minutes passed before the prince exited the tent, now adorning his military uniform and armor for battle. The letter from this Kozue Stettner rested in his pocket along with the rolled up picture of House Fang's crest. Alecion's boots thudded against the ground as he made his way to Morded and Ember, his face just as serious as theirs but now a look of determination overtook the worried expression he maintained earlier. His large scythe rested on her back, fastened by strong leather belts to stay in place and at the ready for battle. " I've come to a decision. " His right hand curled to a fist and pounded against his left shoulder as his left arm angled behind his back, a military form and position that displayed the honor of Civok and partaking of an oath. Something that Morded would surely recognize from his military days with Civok and know that the Prince meant his words. " As General of the Civok Royal Army and Prince of Civok, I swear to do my best in ending this war and uniting the kingdoms to this threat. " His amber eye rested upon the two for a moments pause before relaxing his arms to his sides. He think pulled out a large white envelope with a red seal on the back glueing it together. " Morded, Ember, I refuse to sit aside and let Vangare fall apart. But there is a lot to be done before we can safely assume that the Kingdom's would form a treaty and put their swords down. For one, I need one of you to join me and my ranks as a consult to provide proof and help me with any knowledge I am ignorant to in regards to the covens, arianlord and so forth. First I plan to speak to Adara Neptane, then to return to the capital and convene with my royal family. Whoever is to return to this House Granate, I'd like for that person to relay this letter I've compiled to your High Priestess Kozue Stettner. What do you two say?"

　


♚　　　　OOCsorry for the wait　❚　COMPANY Umbra, Ember, Morded ❚　LOCATION　Zhu and Civok border　❚ ↙ ↙ ↙ P R I N C E o f C I V O Kprince. prince. prince. prince.　
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
　　　　　　　　██████████ HP 　　　　　︱　　　　　　██████████ EN

Okami_Lone_Wolf

||Lovely_Amarath||

[Okami Wolfen]

Reckless and weary,
The truth has been buried,
Held down by the hand,
That refuses to carry.
The burden you built,
The lies, do you hear me?
The insult, the white flag,
You refuse to carry.

Oº°‘¨ ¨‘°ºO Oº°‘¨ ¨‘°ºO Oº°‘¨ ¨‘°ºO Oº°‘¨ ¨‘°ºO Oº°‘¨ ¨‘°ºO Oº°‘¨ ¨‘°ºO

Dark toned fingers lightly brushed over the short fur of Zephyr's muzzle. The stallion let out a snort noise and then his ears flicked a bit as Mordred had followed after the white haired mage. His finger gently brushed through her hair in a way to try and calm her down. In all honesty, Ember was calm, she just hoped that Prince Alecion would think hard about it before brushing the magi off like their story was a nuisance to him and not worth his time. Mordred spoke in a tone, usually for only one that needs to hear, that was soft and low. "We did our best today. Especially you, Lady Ember. Weather we like it or not, this war. All of Vangare now lands in the hands of Prince Alecion himself." With a gentle sigh, Ember turned and looked at her companion. "That is what I am worried for Sir Mordred. We just put a crap load onto a single man. The only thing that is really going to get the kingdoms to come together better, is if he believes our story. And in order to convince the kingdoms, let alone his family, that what we preach is in fact; true." She stated and then laid her head against the horse. She gently ran her fingers through Zephyr's mane. And she felt Mordred turn towards the Prince's tent. Thus again Ember felt a tension in the air, he must've looked at Umbra.

Why did the mage believe that she had met this women before? Yet she knew for a fact she didn't know Umbra. It was like that feeling you get, you can feel like you know someone, yet it's the opposite. Ember just brushed it off and turned to Mordred once more. "High Priestess Kozue needs to be informed that we have contacted Prince Alecion and informed him though. Maybe use our aliquam in order to do so?" She asked her fellow mage. She then felt the vibration of heavy boots approach the magi. It was the Prince due to the heavy steps and the way she observed his movements back in the tent. Being blind wasn't a bad thing, in fact it helped her also remember vibrations of some people as they walked or ran. She usually took it into account with those she was getting close with or about a mission with. But with living in Granate since about eight years old. She studied everyone's vibrations and had been able to tell if someone would approach her and tried to be sneaky about it. Everyone always asked how she was able to do it, but it was a secret she usually kept to herself.

"I've come to a decision." Once the Prince approached them, he stopped and seemed to have bent over in a stance. Then his voice rang through Ember's ears. It was a sound she couldn't get enough of. Almost like when she was a kid and had a sweet. She couldn't have just one, though over the years she began to eat sweets less and less. Not that she was trying to stay in shape, mostly because she grown tired of sweets. Though, her analogy for his voice and sweets kind of made no sense now that she thought about it more. "As General of the Civok Royal Army and Prince of Civok, I swear to do my best in ending this war and uniting the kingdoms to this threat." Ember could hear the seriousness in his tone of voice. He, as much as what seemed the rest of Granate, didn't want innocent people to die from the forces of Arianlord. Mordred feels the prescnce of the Prince and he turns and faces the lycan. He sees the determination in his amber eyes and watches as the price does what they call the Honor of Civok back when he was in military. After hearing the prices speech, does the same movement back to him and says "We swear, Lady Ember, myself and all of House Granate will seek to help you in ending the war and to once again unite the kingdoms. To aware them of this threat that lay in our hands."

It seemed in unison they both stood out of the stance and upright. "Morded, Ember, I refuse to sit aside and let Vangare fall apart. But there is a lot to be done before we can safely assume that the Kingdom's would form a treaty and put their swords down. For one, I need one of you to join me and my ranks as a consult to provide proof and help me with any knowledge I am ignorant to in regards to the covens, Arianlord and so forth. First I plan to speak to Adara Neptane, then to return to the capital and convene with my royal family. Whoever is to return to this House Granate, I'd like for that person to relay this letter I've compiled to your High Priestess Kozue Stettner. What do you two say?" Mordred stepped forward and gave a gesture to Ember, "Ember here will be best person for the task at hand your excellently, as I shall take this letter back Granate and get in contact with my high priestess. Do you need the priestess to meet with you and your family?" Ember was about to hesitate but maybe it would be better if Mordred went back to the Coven. He seemed to be able to speak with Kozue way better than Ember may be able to. So in fact she agreed with his decision on the matter of who was going where. Ember gave a small bow, "I promise, Prince Alecion, on my life I will help you bring the kingdoms together and defend Vangare from Arianlord." She said and then stood upright.

A gentle hand rested on Mordred's shoulder for a moment, "Do have a safe travel back. And we'll keep in touch via our aliquams." She said calmly and let a smile cross her face. She moved her hand to the baby sloth and gently petted him before her hand dropped down to her side. Though Mordred grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a goodbye hug, he pulled back a little and then smiled down at his companion. Of course he knew she wouldn't be able to see it, but the gesture was there anyway. "Take care of yourself, Lady Ember." He dropped his arms to his side then gave Prince Alecion a firm handshake. "Please take good care of her. All Granate cherish her deeply. We're all like a family. I also give you my best, your excellency." He said sternly then repeated with the Honor of Civok military pose and then jumped up onto his stead and rode off towards their coven's home.

Ember sighed with relief and turned to the Prince. "Where do we start first Prince Alecion?" She asked and stepped forward. The white haired mage was ready for any task at hand. And would be till this war would end. She would do everything to protect the Prince and any of Civok on this mission. Ember would continue to follow up on this mission and keep in touch back with Granate. The blind witch would not allow this mission to be a failure.

Oº°‘¨ ¨‘°ºO Oº°‘¨ ¨‘°ºO Oº°‘¨ ¨‘°ºO Oº°‘¨ ¨‘°ºO Oº°‘¨ ¨‘°ºO Oº°‘¨ ¨‘°ºO

I'm letting you go,
And all that you showed me.
I'm letting you know,
That you don't control me.
The feeling is cold,
And life is unfolding.
Reckless and weary,
I'm desperately holding on.
Erase My Scars :: Evans Blue.

♫Mood:: A little worried
♪Location:: By Horse's posts.
♬With:: Mordred and Prince Alecion
♩Hp:: 100/100%
♭Mana:: 60/100%
❖Am able to puppet Mordred!>w< so excited lol Hope this post was good!

[Uchiha Itachi Jr]

Marcus looked at Nilin as she moved towards him and caught him real quick and dragged him back over towards them and moved them in a different direction. He didn't know who the woman was but he supposed she was very important from how his brother spoke about her and to her. It seemed she had been a high priestess. From what his brother had told him, it seemed like she had been the head of the coven along with Reginald who was the man who spoke earlier. Reginald was a bit more scary than Nilin, however his gut instinct told him that wasn't exactly right. Nilin looked like she could kick a** and be just as scary if not more when the need arisen. Being dragged along with his brother he watched the man place the mirrors in place.

It was a very simple task only it seemed the simpletons of the outer court who were in charge of the endeavor couldn't handle even that. Marcus was slowly learning that you couldn't depend on everyone. Watching his brother rather easily place the mirrors into their places, he only smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. Even he could have done such a easy task he supposed if he concentrated on the multiple mirrors. Looking towards his brother upon the use of his name, Marcus simply listened to his words and looked towards the blood that splattered towards them. The blood would hit his brother, however just before the blood would splatter on Marcus it would merely evaporate. It was a technique that he had learned about heating up an area around him with extreme heat to evaporate or burn objects. It was fairly simply for the young mage.

Watching his brother lick the blood however grossed him out abit. He didn't know of his true nature entirely or that it was completely normal to do such a thing being a phoenix, however he was slowly learning. Apparently their mother who was on the council was furious about the attack on the coven and wanted retribution for her youngest son being 'killed' and the half giants and Granate escaping. She visited the boy once only to become frustrating on him not remembering a thing. She knew however that eventually his memories would return to him so there wasn't much to worry about. His mother made sure to explain the noble families within the coven and their significance. So Marcus was just observing those figures with the crests associated with the family. So far he had seen both of the powerful families already and wondered if they truly had a rivalry against them. Honestly Marcus liked Reginald for some reason so he wondered if the man returned the feelings.

Thoughts - ≈ - Scoping out everyone. - | - Magic/Health - ≈ - MP: 90/100 HP: 100/100 - | - ｗｉｔｈ - ≈ - Aaren & Nilin

[Lady Tarien]

The Cycle ever Turns, Ending as it Begins.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

+++++Tarien followed with Cress and Celeste, her attention focused on the earth beneath her bare feet. It was disturbing, being so out of sync with the world around her. Normally she would have been restored by now, surrounded as she usually was by her brood, but that was not a luxury of the Mother Realm. The scent and sound of running water became stronger as they walked. The avocado hued hair guided them to a bridge spanning the river. Tarien gazed down into the water, yellow eyes following the movements of the fish within as her stomach rumbled lightly. Her metabolism boosted impossibly high to help her heal and re-energize was not very helpful at the moment. Soooo hungry. Her thoughts turned to young Nova, his surplus of magical energies would be amazingly helpful if he didn't mind sharing. She have to ask about him, once she had a little more to eat. It would do no one any good if the two of them set each other off.

+++++The cool soil of the islet muttered against her skin, trying desperately to tell her something. For all it's efforts she just couldn't understand. Kneeling down she laid her half healed hands into the top soil, it hurt, but it helped. Simone. Blood. Anguish. “Shhhh, I am going to her now,” she whispered, rising, and carefully brushing what dirt she could from her fingers. Maybe she should have left the bandages on, but whomever had wrapped them seemed to think more was better, and left her with oven mitts. Catching back up to the humans and Regaltz as Celeste requested their silence on this location. She couldn't stop the giggle that escaped her at the swords answer, but bit her lip when that hot pink gaze turned to her and nodded. Really, asking a dragon if it could keep a secret, mortals were so cute at times. She treaded easily through the darkness, pupils dilating wide. The male and female were intent enough on the path they missed the animalistic light reflecting in her eyes.

+++++The rather particular lighting of this cave was stunning, the accompanying song of water drops quite pleasant to the ear. “What an absolutely lovely place for a dungeon.” she thought sincerely. Vicktor would love this place, it's cold cruel beauty. Off hand she could name several who'd love to make this their lair, herself included. The inset bones were a nice touch. Round and round they went, ever deeper down the stone stairwell. At one point she began to slide her fingertips along the wall, it was cool and comforting. Beneath the earth, it was easier to hear it urging her along, feel it's concern for her health, and she stopped to lean into wall, press her face against the cool stone. It's touch was soothing and she sighed before hurrying along. She came upon the pink eyed mage, speaking sternly to two males. They let her by, but eyed the ginger and blonde wearily. Indulging in a little childishness, she stuck her tongue out at the two and skipped along behind their new escort. The whole big, bad, soldier personas ruined by the scent of fear that clung to them.

+++++At last, they had arrived. Simone and Ulrick caged together, Ulrick looking a little worse for wear, and her precious Simone licking at his blood. The air was heavy with the metallic aroma, and her stomach growled again. The conversation that ensued was irrelevant to her, but she listened anyway. To know was better than to not. The message Celeste sent her sister caused Tarien to hiss in irritation as the magic carried her words away. It meant that she'd have to suffer the shrill garbled reply this Kozue would send. Why couldn't they just speak telepathically, the thought made her shake her head. The little purple stones were efficient she supposed, even if they did sound like pissed off mockingbirds. Cress stepped forward as Ulrick took his leave. The look he gave her conveyed not only his desire to speak with her, but all the conflicting emotions running rampant within him. As his gaze dropped to her neck, Mallik made his own little appearance, but that was to be expected. The last time he'd seen the mating mark it had been little more than the old scar Vicktor had given her so many lifetimes ago, no, wait, it had been bleeding and raw. His foolish attempt to usurp the bond by biting the unawakened seal just before the duel.

+++++Her hand rose to trace the familiar edges of the raised and pitted tissue. Shouting broke her from her memories as Simone verbally layed into Cress. Even as blinded as she was from the magic around her, the chaos infecting her child was vivid. Tossing the vestune to the side, angry blue eyes turned on her, “And Tarien Don'Nodel of the Sajinni, what are you, a dragon? You said we were kin right? You must be lying because I'm human! You're all just a bunch of liars!" Tears came to her yellow eyes as she looked upon the heir of Tally's legacy. She hoped the girl's words were wrong, that she was more. “My only lies are those of omission or misdirection, childe. Yes, I am a dragon. Ancient even among my own kind.” she spoke softly, but her voice carried strength as she approached the young witch, “I offer you your birthright, if you have the courage to take it.” She lifted her arms slightly, injured palms forward and exposed her throat, stepping within easy reach of the wild woman. Slowly lifting her right hand to her mouth, she pulled at one of the half sealed wounds, fresh blood rising to her skin. In the strange light of the cavern the prismatic shine was lost. “Sate your lust, my flesh and blood I offer freely.” The words rang out, a power in them. The Mesa girl reeled as if struck, then fell upon the small blonde.

+++++Pinned to the floor, Simone's hands snatched at Tarien's wrist. The savage treatment breaking open other cuts, as the chaos took hold within the dark skinned mage. She felt the greedy pulls at her cuts, the tongue trying not to let any waste, and the small figure shivered, eyes closing. The wardens, Celeste, and Cress began to rush forward as time stilled for the dragoness. Her free hand rose to brush back the black hair falling over the draconic ear cuff and lowered to cup Simone's cheek. When she opened her eyes, all she could see was the angry red threads woven into the girl's mind and soul. They were burning, caught in the power of creation flooding the body and mana of Tally's heir. Tarien felt her body weakening, falling back into the fragile and vunerable state she had just woken from, but the taste of this magic was familiar. The one Simone had called Reginald. Sinking into the bond forged by skin contact and blood, Tarien pushed at the darkness fighting for control of her childe. He would not take two of her grandchildren from her. But as the girl was descended of Tarien, so too was she descended of Tarien's Mate. The Lord of Destruction. The insidious magic was awakening that dormant aspect within her.

+++++Fool he to think he could control the creature that his spell would create, ha, he'd unleash a raging, frenzied, death dragon on his house. Focusing, she drew a deep breath and held it. Cress was nearly on top of them, she didn't have much time left. What little mana she had condensed in her chest, a bit of her own soul infusing it. Her skin lit up, and her mouth opened wide. Shining mist, flooded the small area around them, spinning like a dervish as it rose to the ceiling, colored by the radiant ambient light. Simone screamed, and the drifting consciousness of Tarien wished she could ease the pain this would bring. A spark, to bright to look at directly floated between the two, it shot into the girl's open mouth. The blue eyes filled with multi-hued light. The dragoness's hand fell to the ground, released that the mage could grab at her own throat. The red lines of madness became visible to all present, they gleamed thick and bright against the tanned skin, and glowing eyes. They stretched out, as if pushed from the opposite side, thinning and finally shattering. The glittering shards falling onto the prone blonde's form.

+++++Cress cried out, as he fell to his knees beside them, his worry and concern written all over his face. Simone's hands reached up, gripping her face, shaking, and screamed again. The birth cry of the first new dragon's soul born in millenia. Power shook the world around them, concentric circles of sparkling dust whipped about on the floor. The ceiling directly above crumbled, the grit and rubble flung to the far sides of the chamber, a chasm opening up to the bright blue sky. Sunlight cascaded down, as the back of Simone's top ripped apart to make room for the rapidly growing wings. They fluttered lightly, like a butterfly's, then stretched out. Confusion, panic, and joy crossed the mage's face as the wings began to beat, gusting the air around them, and lifting her. She reached out, clinging to Cress, and to Tarien in an attempt to stay earthbound, but the primal forces had her tightly in their sway. Up she went, taking the two with her. Red, black, and finally blonde hair streaming as they left prison far behind.

+++++The Mother Realm had not hosted a dragon's birth or it's first flight in centuries. It had, however, witnessed the death's of several and with those death's suffered the loss of the creation magic that dragon bore host to. Vitality had long been being drained from the world with the departure of the Flights to Vendier, but as a dragon's death dims the world, so does the birth of one renew it. The waves of energy pouring off Simone surged outward, across the forest and all within it. The trees gleamed brightly, the wildlife cried out happily, the streams, brooks, and even the river itself burbled with the music of life. That which the demon Jecht had siphoned all life from grew lush once more. Tarien opened her eyes, and smiled. She had dared to hope, and was overjoyed. So rare a thing to happen, she could count the times on one hand. A long path awaited this one, her now long life would not be an easy thing, but Tarien vowed that she would be there, to nurture, teach, and guide her grandchild. She hugged the young dragon-born, tears spilling down her cheeks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I Fear not Death for I have Lived, Reborn to Love, Again and Again.

** Mana Pool: 5/100% ** {==========}** ** Health Pool: 70/100% ** {==========} **

Location: Reaper's Crypt / The Open Sky
In the Company of: Cress, Celeste, Two Wardens, and Simone / Cress and Simone

[Stardust Drifter]

Cress tumbled back wheezing for air, gasping. His eyes filled with hurt, concern, and fear. Simone had become something dangerous, a woman without reason! He felt helpless, and responsible. Through long red bangs he stared at her, wondering what to do as air filled his lungs.

His eyes widened when Tarien strode past him, calmly. Dragon? Birthright? What were they talking about? Tarien was an adorable petite woman! How could she be a fictional, extinct, creature!? "H-Hey what are you doing! She'll kill you!! Stay back!!" he gasped in a raspy voice coughing a bit, but his words fell on deaf ears. Simone suddenly began to surge and tackled the woman like some kind of puppet being controlled. Slowly getting to his feet he grunted, still feeling a bit woozy from almost being choked to death!

Like slow motion he ran to them. That poor, defenseless woman, she would be killed! Cress had to save her, to make sure another life wasn't taken by--

Tarien's skin began to glow as she took in a breath, by the time he reached them a mist erupted from her mouth encircling around him, and Simone clouding his vision a bit. Coughing the mist tasted sweet and oddly renewing in his mouth. He felt a bit strange, as if something began to surge through his body. There was a shining light, and he saw the evil that had corrupted his friend's mind. Tears poured from his eyes in sadness and terror, the looked like roots all over her body. Yet then shattered and dissipated in flashy sparkles.

"Simone!! Tarien!!!" he cried falling to his knees as a sudden overwhelming aura forced him to the ground! Deep concern in his voice, and his eyes, Cress was so speechless. Simone began to flail about madly and he was trying his hardest to reach out to her. There must have been some kind of curse put on her! What if she was dieing..what if!?

Power surged all around them, the ground shook, the ceiling gave way, Simone's cries suddenly softened as a pair of large wings burst from he back. Cress's face fell in total shock, his mouth hung open as he stared. What the hell was going on!? Simone had wings, heck she even looked shocked by it, pleased, and pained.

A large gust of wind blew his hair around as her wings began to pull into the wind. The aura of power around Simone was too great but he found himself weakly standing. Preparing to try and stop her, she kind of beat him to the punch. Feeling her hand pretty much latch onto his to try to stay on the ground the next thing his feet were slowly leaving the ground.


Celeste started to grow smaller and smaller as they began to soar higher and higher. Out of fear, because Cress was kind of afraid of heights, he gripped Simone's arm holding his hand. They were now floating above the prison, some of the people below staring at the spectacle. Glancing up he saw that her wings were giving off some kind of visible aura, which pulsated with each flap.

Glancing over at Tarien, with eyes of slight shock and fear, she looked pleased and was crying. Cress turned his eyes to Simone and met hers. They sparkled with life, and slightly glowed, but was she...back to normal now? Well normal on account she had wings. Still as he continued to stare he could tell the malice was gone from them. More tears flooded from his eyes as he tried to speak to her, but not being able to find the words.

Cress felt so guilty, would she ever forgive him? "Well apparently we are flying now? My I have to say the city looks lovely from this angle!" mused Regaltz who rattled in his hilt. Rather enjoying the view Cress suddenly realized they were in the air. Clinging desperately to Simone he closed his eyes, like a timid child would seeing something frightening.

"D-Don't remind me!" Cress cutely squeaked.

"Ooh look I can see the festival grounds over there! Don't be such a ninny, open your eyes and see for yourself!" the sword said almost laughing.

"S-Shut up Regaltz!!!" he meeped his heart pumping fast in his chest. Hopefully they would land on solid ground soon. When they did...he was going to need some answers.

At least now, Simone was healed. That at least took some of the pain from his heart.
----------------------------------
HP: 100/100
EN: 100/100
Location: Sky clinging for his life!
Company: Regaltz, Tarien...Simone with wings!?

Feeling: Shocked

(OOC: )

[Grrrr the Gur]

▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅
Gur Drikrtend
▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

Gur wondered why bad things happened in threes, or sixes, or however many bad turns of luck they’d had since entering the wood building that housed the drug production facilities for the Zhu Jaimen. He stared at the confused face of the boy that Fabian had so unexpected become, and had to guess that he had somehow triggered the sudden disappearance of the fire mage's ghost from the boy’s body by handing the boy… Fabian… whichever you wanted to call it … the set of medals they’d found on Fabian’s corpse.

The boy clutched the medals in his fist for a moment, then suddenly reached out and handed them back to Gur as if anxious to get rid of them. He looked like he was waking up from a nightmare to find himself in another nightmare. And, if Gur could read anything in that face,anxiety and panic where probably ninety nine percent of the mix. He could see it in the grimace, in the shifting eyes, in the boy's attempts to take in the room, Gur and Mika all simultaneously. Of course, the fact that half the room … more like two thirds at this point… was a blazing inferno, the heat from it hot enough to singe hair, and smoke mixed with air depleted of oxygen by the fire was making it hard to breathe… well, that made panic a reasonably justifiable reaction. Maybe Gur should try it.

Gur called out “Mika, we’ve got a problem!”

Mika had been squaring his shoulders, both swords out in front of him, using that non-style of his that was irritatingly non-traditional, and more irritatingly, extremely effective. Mika glanced at the conflagration behind them and said “You think? What now, I’m about to charge the door” .

Gur’s eyebrows rose. “Mika… there are crossbowmen out there, and you don’t even have armor." Gur shook his head. “Anyway, Fabian seems to have suffered some kind of … errrrr… de-possession, I guess.” Mika shrugged and turned back to the door. Gur, at a loss for how to get Mika's apparent disregard for his own mortality, and for the odds, under control, turned back to the boy.

“Kid… kid,” said Gur, snapping his fingers to try to get the boy to focus and snap him out of his increasingly agitated scanning of the room. Gur could see he was glancing between the fire and the door, and since the kid wasn’t running for the door, he had to know that the sounds of boots on wood outside where not firemen coming to the rescue. Gur went on “Can you fight? Any good with a sword? Hell, can you run fast? Maybe you can zip out the door and draw some fire while Mika and I charge certain death?” One good eye did finally lock on to Gur, but he didn’t read comprehension in that stare. No luck there. “Crap” Gur spit out.

Then the boy grabbed his arm and said “I d-d-d-on’t k-know what’s going on here, bu-but, you should g-g-get away f-from m-m-me.”. And Gur noticed that the bandage over the other eye had been knocked askew at some point during the confrontation with Gotzz, not enough to give him a full view but enough to hint at what was beneath it. That wasn't the empty socket he expected, but something that glittered like gold. Ghosts, demons, a seemingly schizophrenic kid with a gold stone in his eye socket muttering vague warnings... Gur mentally upped the "things going wrong" to double digits.

Gur had an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach, but the boy physically pushed him back and turned away. At the same time Mika called out “Speaking of fire, Gur, I’m starting to smolder a bit. Can we just get to it? If Fabian… the kid… whatever… is down for the count, he’s down for the count. Let’s just do this.” Gur hesitated… Sker had said the boy had a ghost and a demon in his head and that would normally be enough for him to take the boys' warning seriously. But the noise outside the doors to the hallway sounded like the Jaimen were getting ready to burst into the room, and Gur decided that was a bit more pressing.

Gur turned back to Mika and said “Fine. Can’t believe I’m charging to my death with someone that wanted to kill me a few hours ago.” He drew his sword and added “Count of three?”

Mika was still facing the door, shoulders still squared, tensing, getting ready to charge. He said, without looking at Gur, “Fine. And I still want to kill you. So don’t you die on me, you hear?”

Gur was focused on the door as well, going through the same mental prep that Mika had to be doing. When they went through, fractions of a second in response time could make the difference between life and death. He needed his full game on. He was a spring, wound tighter and tighter, he would explode through that door like it was tissue paper. Gur heard a strange ripping sound behind him that had to be coming from the boy, but he couldn’t allow his focus to waiver. Gur took a deep breath, but despite the fierce concentration, Mika’s words still registered, and he threw back “That… makes, like, no sense Mika.”

Mika nodded but said “Save the comments about my sanity for after we get out of here. Ready?” Gur was tensing. He nodded. He was a spring… and Mika started the count “One… Two… THREE!”

But they were too late, distracted by Fabian’s transformation too long. The Jaimen had enough time to get a few crossbowman lined up and a particularly beefy looking Jaimen stormtrooper kicked the doors open in the millisecond before Gur and Mika charged.

And then the proverbial s**t hit the fan. Or more accurately, the boy… except it wasn’t… hit the Jaimen… except they weren’t the Jaimen, or at least ceased to be Jaimen when the thing that had been the boy ripped through them like a hundred cleavers chopping through meat simultaneously. Gur had barely registered the flash from behind him, Mika getting pushed out of the way, and then something only vaguely humanoid but a hundred percent terrifying went flying into the breach created by the Jaimen stormtrooper, looking like a glass figurine that was all hard blue glass and razor sharp blades, except that it bent and gyrated, blindingly fast, and where it went limbs and blood flew in equal measure. Gur saw it take an arrow that didn’t slow it down. And where the thing’s blood splattered, wood and fleshed started smoking, and the owners of that flesh lost interest in fighting and became fully focused on screaming and pain. And mixed in with the sounds of dying and fear and pain was the chitenous sound of the thing’s body and a very satisfied, almost joyful hissing and growling that was equally disturbing because of its joy in the bloodletting and it’s complete lack of humanity.

Gur looked at Mika. Mika looked at Gur. A severed head came flying in through the door and rolled to a stop at their feet. Gur and Mika looked at the head, then each other again. And then they were both running for the door. Gur actually slid into the far wall when he went through the door to the cooridor, unable to get traction on the polished wooden floors that were slick with blood. Mika grabbed the doorframe and used it to arc himself around and point himself at the door out of the building, a neat trick given he still had both swords out.

Gur had a flash of the thing, fortunately on the side of the corridor that lead further into the building, but it seemed more interested in feeding on the dead, or near dead, than on fleeing targets, and he pushed off the wall and stumbled his way out, trying to weave his way through the bodies and parts of bodies littering the hallway. He joined Mika outside, where five uncertain Jaimen with swords were looking between Mika and the flaming building. Mika stepped forward and one of them went down, Mika using one sword to knock the other man’s out of position then spearing him through the chest. Gur took another with “Wind parts the rain” and followed through with “farmer pitches hay” on a second, the three-point attack not enough to kill the second man but enough to put him down and out of the fight. By the time he turned back, Mika had dispatched the other two.

There was a sudden “whump” in the distance and Gur and Mika could see a tower of smoke and flying debris. Kuklo had told them when he let them through the front gate that he’d found some of the black powder that exploded when exposed to flame… Kuklo had called it “gun powder” … and had rigged some diversions if things went south. That was before Gur, Mika and Fabian… the boy… the monster… had split off from Kuklo, Rei and Chi. Apparently, the camp alarms qualified as going south.

Gur glanced back behind him. The building was flaming up, the door he and Mika had exited from blew open, and he sensed movement in the now blazing corridor. The creature was being forced out by the heat.

Kuklo had no idea just how far south things had gone. None.

Gur and Mika started running for the entrance where they'd agreed to meet the others.

Thoughts - ≈ - Terrified - | - Magic/Health - ≈ - MP: 100/100 HP: 100/100 - | - ｗｉｔｈ - ≈ - Nova and Mikahail

[Priestess of Athena]

Xt
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════





The fighting had barely commenced when a very familiar voice rang across the circle. "You say moron. But only a real moron would sleep with a Granate b*tch and still call himself a House Fang member..." Despite the usual pleasure that Reginald felt when he heard that voice or its male counterpart, his face grew dark. His eyes flashed coldly at the woman who had spoken.

“Vivian! Despite the opinions you’ve been making known to the coven, Simone was a loyal and eager member of Fang. You will not continue to degrade her, either in this coven or especially to the man she loved. She wanted to be part of our family, but Granate took her against her will.” He glanced at Virgil, curious to see the flame-haired man’s reaction. If things went as Reginald expected, the slight happiness (or perhaps annoyance, it was so hard to tell) Virgil had been feeling at Marcus’ apparent rebirth would be quickly burned away into a consuming fury directed at the dark-haired female. Especially with Reginald’s added reminder that Simone had indeed loved Virgil and was taken from him. As the anger grew in Virgil, Valentine moved forward to wrap his arms around his sister. Soothing away her insane ranting, or at least that’s what the coven would think. As much as Vivian was feared and hated, Valentine was liked. Only Reginald understood Valentine’s true nature and that was after knowing Valentine for his whole life, and sharing in some of his less-than-golden deeds. To the rest of the coven he was unusually kind for Fang and eager to help. Only the most paranoid members disliked him.

A blur of red shot past Reginald. It seemed Virgil had given into his fury. Reginald’s eyes slid over to Nilin, wondering if she would attempt to stop the man from his warpath. The High Priest certainly had no such intention. It seemed they were once again of a like mind, as she made an announcement. "There's been a change of plans," she stated firmly. "Instead of the Knight Trials beginning after the Initiate Trials end, it will begin now as well." A small smirk grew on Reginald’s face. Now the fights would be really interesting. A few initiates paused in surprise at the announcement, and were rewarded with painful blows from their opponents. Reginald couldn’t help but chuckle at one small woman who was bowled over by a giant rock that was smashed into her. If it hadn’t done brain damage, she’d remember to never let anything distract her in a magical battle again.

Then a particularly annoying face attached to purple black and purple hair came onto the platform. Despite dear No Name also accompanying Gabryel, Reginald couldn’t help the slight flicker of a sneer appear on his face. Only Gabryel would really notice it though, and mostly because he expected such a reaction out of Reginald. The man gave his respects to Nilin before turning his attention to Reginald and formerly answering his summons. Naturally in the most obnoxious way possible. “I’ve brought Knight NoName as per your summons, High Priest. The fact that you sent an envoy ensured that this purple-haired idiot could report for duty in a timely manner. And I only ran into five walls on the way – a personal best.” Gabryel spoke, the sarcasm dripping off his voice with the last sentence. At that Reginald’s mouth twitched once again, debating between a sneer and a smirk. The messenger boy was not supposed to hear that tidbit. But he supposed it made no difference, they both were rather aware of their mutual dislike despite their formality in public.

Reginald declined to answer, determining the comment not worth it. Instead he shifted his eyes to look past Gabryel at No Name. “She’s still a little shaky from the head wound, but she’s up and walking around at least.” The purple haired twit informed him. And the twit smirked at him! Firmly refusing to give Gabryel the satisfaction of acknowledging that he saw the smirk, Reginald contented himself with the promise to find a way for Gabryel to be punished. Reginald forced the empty grey of his eyes to instead observe No Name and see if she was indeed shaky as Gabryel suggested.

No Name herself seemed to be refuting his claim, eager to declare her readiness for battle. "I am a lot more balanced than you could ever dream of, even with this ol knock on my noggin." She declared to Reginald and Nilin, using her fist upon her head to prove her point. "Don't believe a word he says Regi, I'm as good as ever, don't let these bandages fool ya."Reginald’s lips pursed a moment at the nick name Regi, but that was No Name for you. It was impossible to hold her to any standard really. And she was so endearing, especially with the way she could handle a blade in someone’s gut. He let Regi slide, though there would be hell to pay should anyone else even consider repeating the nickname. A lesson his mother often liked to repeat, “Nicknames are for friends, friends are for the weak. Are you weak?” He pushed away the memory. Just because he liked No Name somewhat didn’t mean he was growing weak.

Well either way Virgil had already engaged the twins in their battle for the position, and Svenja needed an opponent. “No Name, I’m pleased to see you as energetic and eager as always. The knight fights were somewhat informally started, Virgil’s temper was coerced. He’ll be focusing on the twins so if you could please do focus on Svenja, the stern looking little one over there. Though there is no need to push yourself if you are indeed still recovering. You can rest and whomever does not earn knighthood here can cover your duties, though not your position, until you feel you are ready to commence slaughtering and torturing again in full capacity." He gave her a rare, thin smile. She was covered in bandages after all, and it would be idiotic to risk losing another knight during their ceremony to replenish their numbers. Then his eyes narrowed again as he looked at Gabby. He still had to pick something to do with him.

And speaking of people who’d annoyed him… He glanced over to see how the Callavaro brothers were doing. After Marcus had gotten a little overly eager at the fights, Nilin had decided to send him off with his older brother. Perhaps Marcus had to deal with all those teenage hormones again. That sounded dreadful. And there was big brother Aaren, doing the menial task of placing mirrors. Reginald couldn’t help but snort when one mage made a snide comment about “lords” and “peasants.” True the Cavallaros were a Revered family like Reginald’s and the twins after being members of the coven for a few generations, but they tended to hold onto some noble blood claim in Mazien. Reginald wasn’t sure of the exact details of how their family had earned lordship in the elven kingdom, but either way it didn’t matter in coven grounds. Noble titles only mattered in the politics they carried weight in, and there were no Mazien politics in Fang. Yet some mages seemed to dislike the Cavallaros purely for that silly purposeless title. Somewhat like Aaren holding onto their family rivalry and disliking Reginald due to it. Reginald mused it would be disappointing if Marcus lost the general amiability that he and Reginald had built over the years.

Murmurs from the crowd distracted him from his musings. His eyes returned to the circle directly in front of the platform where the paper man’s pet was fighting with the multi-haired foreigner. Reginald glanced at Gabryel’s hair and then back at the sunset of a head belonging to the giant in front of him. Hopefully the similar two-toned hair didn’t mean he shared Gabryel’s talent at being a prat. The man did seem to have a talent for fighting. Unfortunately it seemed primarily physical, and Reginald had no interest in such menial ways of fighting. He looked at the enchanted mirrors, viewing the various battles shimmering through them and the glimpses of the knights as they shot in and out of view of different ones. Only the rustle of paper announcing Ash’s return to the book brought Reginald’s attention back to the behemoth’s battle. Surprisingly the paper man was pleased. "When it dies, I'd love to dissect him, he holds some unique secrets" The beak like maw spoke to the high Priest, "But until then, he definitely fills the shoes for my venture." Dissect the man? Ash had some weird tastes. Unless the man was not fully human? Magic didn’t exactly stay in the body after death so either Ash just enjoyed picking people apart or there was more than met the eye here. Reginald regarded him with new curiosity.

The man’s hand descended on the chimera as its agonized life was slipping out of its crushed form. Magic began to lace out from the man’s hands. Very interesting… Reginald leaned forward, wondering what sort of magic the man was casting. The magic sank into the beasts body. And it exploded. Blood intermixed with the occasional piece of tissue sprayed outward to soak the crowd and the platform. Reginald looked down at his blood splattered garment. His gaze returned to the man. He gave a slight nod of approval. No one would be formally accepted until the end of the ceremony, but a good show deserved some recognition. Reginald had started to be worried he’d worn his specially enchanted golden robe for no reason. A simple dunk in water and the blood would come right out of the golden cloth, even if it had sunk into the jeweled accents that decorated it.

Reginald wiped some blood off one of the large jewels decorating his fingers and glanced back at the mirrors. First he checked how the knights were doing. Still in full swing. Always fun to watch. His eyes drifted across the other mirrors’ surfaces. Hmm… Two fighters were sticking to heavy fist blows. That would simply not do. He drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. Then a sly smile grew as he glanced at Gabby. “Aaren.” He called, now that the man was done. “If you’d be so inclined, I have a proposition for you.” He pointed to the mirror in question. “The two potential initiates there are being dreadfully physical. Would you care to battle the brown haired one in circle 24? And make sure to show him how a magical battle goes. The hard way if you must.” He turned his head towards Gabryel. “And Gabryel.” His crocodile smile grew slowly on his face. “I’m sure you’ll be happy to help the other one. The big one.”




══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════



§: PRIM FOREST x §: NILIN, ASH, COVEN MEMBERS, INDUCTEES x §: BUM BUM
々MP々99%x ☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀
々HP々100% ☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀

OOC:

[IILovelyAmarathII]

As the green haired woman closed her Alquierm. Turning on her heels she began running towards Tarien and Simone. Stopping in her tracks she watched as the tan-skin mage pinned the petite blonde woman down. Gripping on her claymore tighter, she watched carefully in awe as She watched Tarien move Simone's raven hair out of her face and creases her cheek. Celeste felt the rush of wind coming from Tarien has she watched her take in all of her breath in from her lungs. She took a stance at the ready and pulled out her claymore and held it beside her. Waiting and watching. Celeste then felt the feeling of refreshness and joyfulness hitting her whole being. She felt the ground roaring from beneath her feet. Celeste mounted in Claire into the ground to get a better grip and not falter down to the ground.

Bright pink orbs brightened in amazement. She couldn't believe had seen with her own two eyes. She was utterly confused on what was happening, it was so fast. She watched Tarien's skin glow a bright golden aura around her and her mouth opening wide. Mist was coming from it. The mist's brightness hit her eyes and Celeste closed them tightly for a spilt second. In that second she heard the screaming of Simone, and she forced her eyes open. A spark of manna was in between the two and the young woman's mouth fell wide open. Celeste watched in shock and awe. She couldn't quite comprehend what was happening around her.

She gripped tightly on to Claire her claymore, and lime green manna filled her palm of her left hand and her of own wind magic. She began swirling it around her sword. Celeste began floating upward in the air a couple feet preparing herself. She watched as the tan-skin woman grew wings right before Cress, Tarien, and everyone else that was here to witness the phenomenon. Celeste pushed herself backward and braced for a impact as she had felt another forceful trembling in around in the Crypt. As she had looked upward her eyes saw the ceiling crumble and watched the grit and rubble fling to the far sides of the chamber.

Celeste felt the gust of wind coming from the wings and looked up as she saw Simone, Tarien, and Cress going towards the sky.
Celeste instincts took place. She used her sword to spiral herself higher and with her lime green manna she began to spring on to walls of the Crypt. She did a double jump to elevate her higher, and with her free right hand she absorbed the wind that was coming from west of her. With both hands she spun Claire and herself around like a spinning top. As she reached the elevation of all three of them. She tore of the bottom of her skirt of her dress with her sword to minimize her own body weight as she was floating in the air. Celeste breathed heavily and used the wind that was going to the west of her to harness her in a float. Looking into the eyes of all three of them. She felt her manna threads hurting in the veins of the palms of her own two hands. Re-attaching Claire to her back, looked towards Tarien. She said sternly, but in soft fading voice as if she was almost whispering.

" I can't hold on any longer. My m---ann-a!!!! Noo!! By the goddess!"

She screamed in pain of her manna threads going out in a flash. Her hands trembling and the magic that held her in place was no longer. Celeste was falling downward in a rush, but in the last minute a lime green surge of manna came around her making gusts of wind in downward direction as she was falling downward.

Celeste quickly moved herself safely to a roof and she let feet plummet softly on the roof of a building. Taking a deep breath of relief she looked upward seeing that the trio was still in the sky. Celeste didn't panic instead she ran and jump downward off the roof plowing Claire into the ground with her knees bent in a kneel as she held her sword in front of her. Getting back up, her eyes met the two wardens had followed her and the rest of the party. They looked at her in shock as her appearance said it all. Her creamy white dress was in rags and her was a mess from the wind. She rolled her eyes, not giving a damn about her appearance and barked sternly at the two.

"I hope by gods and the goddesses that one of you men can teleport me to Koko river bank. As you can plainly see the Dragoness and now winged mystic Simone, are both flying in the air along with Sir Cress. I do not know what or why this going on, but it seems like Lady Tarien has casted out the dark magic that was in Simone and gave her wings. Take me High Priestess, Kozue. Please, take me to her. I'm in dire need of her aid and the aid of a healer. My Manna Threads....are being blocked."

Celeste wasn't to sure as of why her manna threads of all things were be blocked at such at such a time like this. The moment when she had needed them the most, but she knew it was most likely because the dysfunction of her own body, but she felt ineradicably useless because she couldn't hide what was happening in the sky. One of the Wardens grabbed her by the arm and teleported her to the river bank. Celeste and the two Wardens were covered in the trees of the forest.

Celeste could see her turquoise haired friend, along with a small brunette haired little girl in the distance. In her sight she had found him smiling in happiness as him and his daughter were getting acquainted with Minerva. She took a sharp gasp and placed both of her hands on Claymore and stabbed it in the ground firmly. It echoed in the ground causing some vibrations flowing in the grass. Her bright pink orbs lit in seriousness. She stopped the Wardens from heading direction of Warden Rhett. Her voice came off a little louder than a whisper as she pulled the two of the wardens aside.

"You will not ruin his day. Please, do not disturb him and his daughters happiness. Take me to High priestess Kozue now!"The wardens heard her booming voice of a war general in that last sentence. The wardens nodded unison and they were a bit taken back and frightened by her voice. The wardens spotted Kozue and a man with midnight black hair that Celeste wasn't familiar with. Celeste caught up with the wardens in the middle Wearing a very serious scowl across her face. Her curls were muffled up and it looked she purposely was wearing rags. Her bright pink orbs meet with Kozue's faint purple and pink orbs and she bowed softly to her own sister. The wardens bowed to the high priestess and to midnight black haired man. She made a quick glace at the man that was accompanying her sister and bowed to him as well. Clearing her throat a faint smile came across her face.

Learning inward towards her hat she was trying her hardest not to shout in panic, she whispered softly in her ear with greatest concern. "My greatest apologies dearest sister and high priestess of mine. Please pardon my appearance, as that is not the problem we should worry ourselves with right now. I do have good news though. Last time I saw, it appeared that Mystic Mesa was being pulled away from the dark magic within her. Bad news is that : The roof of the Crypt is in rubble and Mesa witch grew wings and is in the sky with Lady Dragoness Tarien along with Sir Cress. I had risked my own life tried to get them back down to the earth. I was using my wind magic in the sky but..." Celeste turns her right hand into a fist and grips it tightly, letting her veins pop out in her arms, letting her sister faintly see that her manna threads are indeed not working. Then she quickly lets her right hand go out of the fist grip and throws her hand out to attempt to bring wind around there area. She grimaced in pain and sighed. She whispered to Kozue once more saying : "I myself had to quickly master landing. Please, may I interrupt your tea party so that we can deal with the people in the sky.. that might bring unwanted attention that we don't need!"




☪ Location: Reaper's Crypt ☪ With: Herself, Cress, Tarien, Kozue, and Larus ☪ Mood: Shocked and awe/ What the hell?! ☪Outfit : creamy white dress (It is now torn up in bits and the skirt of the dress barely goes pass her knees. Just picture wild Amazon woman!) Hairstyle : messed up hair
☪ Her Sword: Claire ☪ HP:100 MP:50 /EN :70 ☪ Theme : Gundam 00 theme

☪ Cress's new outfit : Cress's outfit
Tarien's new outfit : A bright very colorful dress with a red bow and head flower arrangement.




Notes/Occ: Wow...it looks like Celeste's manna threads got her in some trouble and she looks a crazy woman! Everyone watch out! XD

KokotheBoss

LadyTarien

StardustDrifter

Satellite O Love

Magical Girl Kippy

[AgonizingChance]

Regi seemed eager to get the show started, claiming that Virgil would be the first hurdle for a few of the knight hopefuls. It was an interesting concept. The newbies had to go up against a seasoned veteran to display any form of promise of being a fully fledged knight with in the coven. Did they even have experience in the field? How long would they last if Virgil chose not to hold back much? Virgil just gave a small nod to Reginald before turning his gaze back to the crowd of peons beneath them.

Nilin's voice was the first on the list of events to draw Virgil from gazing at the prattling group of hopefuls below the stage he was perched on. She was calling out a hooded man in the crowd and in retrospect if the hooded fool was a member of the coven he should know full well the rules about mask and face coverings alike at events in kin to ceremonies with in House Fang. Virgil placed his eyes on the figure in question and watched carefully as the fool made its way closer in the crowd once they were called upon. Nilin had threatened that she would remove the cloak for them, and while Virgil was sure she could do what she set her mind to, he would be down there to dispatch of the garment and it's wearer before his priestess would have to lift her foot; Virgil was itching for a fight. Though, before any actions were needed the cloak was removed by the the man who had adorned it before dropping to a knee and offering his apology. Another red head in the Fang? Shocker.

Foot steps were the next thing to call Virgil to attention, but this time, his attention was called into one of a defensive aggression. Virgil spun on his heels, his palms bursting into flames as they became engulfed in crackling flame. Before him stood two male members of House Fang, one boy and Aaren Cavallero, Marcus' brother. Virgil closed his palm and with that motion his flames disappeared into thin air. He couldn't help but scowl slightly at the pair and if it wasn't for Aaren just losing his brother in the fray that Virgil missed out on, Virgil may have been inclined to tell him to remove himself from the high rise. The only people allowed on the high rise were knights and the high priest and priestess. What was said next however, would alter Virgil's day. Marcus was supposedly alive, the little punk next to Aaren was said to be him? How could that be? Something to do with being a Pheonix? Virgil couldn't help but picture the kid in a red bird suit. Virgil smirked at the image in his head, or perhaps it was the possibility that his friend was alive.

Reginald was not in a good mood all of a sudden or at least appeared not to be as he gave Aaren a mouthful. Aaren was quickly made note of his stupidity for even approaching the platform with out being asked to do so and for spilling the secrets of some magical technique called "phoenix". Virgil could only shake his head in disbelief as Reginald used his incredible wordsmithing to widdle Aaren down to nothing in front of everyone. It wasn't a terribly long occurrence, but as Regi went to sit back in his throne, Virgil witnessed a furrowing of Aaren's eyebrow, he was enraged and that in its self was funny. The intrusions on the platform wouldn't stop it seemed, not for a little bit anyway.

Next to the platform was Gaby and No Name, granted No Name had authorization to be on the platform as she had become a recently admitted knight. Although, it would appear that the fray had taken a toll on No name as well. She had suffered a head wound and had some form of altered mental status that may keep her from her duties. She protested the notion, guaranteeing she was up for a good fight and able to uphold her status as a knight of house fang, but time would tell if that was true. As No name carried on with Reginald Virgil attention would be called to the crowd as opposed to Nilin putting the phoenix brothers to work.

Virgil glared at the small, yet commanding voice that called his name from out the crowd and watched as a raven haired, pale girl stepped forward. Zhu Hero Boy', was that an insult? The female bowed, "Tsk." her sarcasm was noted before she had even begun to issue her challenge. With in seconds Virgil's blood began to boil as the woman spoke of Simone and belittled his claim to being a Fang knight, She asked him to show them what it meant to be a knight. She talked of skinning Simone, she was pressing all of his buttons and it was working all to well. Virgil glared at his target, trying his best to put to bed his fury, his spite, his rage. Regi was quick to speak out against the girl, defending Simone's name and honor and the face Vivian made in reaction his scolding was an interesting one, but her face changed as her brother came to place his arms around her. Vivian's fake a** apology didn't matter, her brother's calm demeanor didn't matter. Nothing mattered but placing the vocal t**t in her place, and since it was decreed that Fang members weren't to kill each other in the trial, Virgil would at least make her get a taste of what her grave would be like.

Virgil was gone from the stage in a flash of red as he altered the air around him to propel him to the floor. To those that were unfamiliar with Virgil's mastery of the elements it would look as though he teleported with a slight blurred after image. "You've got a big mouth. " his voice was cold, merciless as his eyes locked onto Vivian alone. "I think it's time you shut it. " Virgil clenched his right left fist, his knuckles becoming pale before becoming engulfed in flames once more. Nilin was quick to announce the beginning of the Knight trials, mostly in fear that Virgil couldn't hold off any longer..and she was right. Virgil was quick to spring into action, hurling a crackling ball of flame towards the twins. The ball was the size of a large pumpkin, and hot enough to cause second third degree burns upon contact.

The ball of flame hurtled at the pair with the intent to kill, but the twins hadn't moved other then a few facial movements, and before the ball touched either one a portal had opened in front of them and behind Virgil. Virgil was always at a disadvantage when fighting people of lower levels in the coven then him. They knew who he was, they knew what he could do and he could care less about who they were and what they knew. They were barely blips on his radar. Virgil felt the ball of heat behind him and raised his hands above his head. The ball ascended above him as if following his hands. When the flame came to a stopping point, it began to grow in size, increasing three fold in size. Virgil then squeezed his palms into fist and violently tore them away from each other. The ball Split into smaller balls and volleyed around the area, a few were sent hurling at the twins themselves but a lot of them spread to trees and brush a like.

"Come. Let's play. " throwing her words back in her face, it was a challenge. Virgil demonstrated his sheer control over fire and now he had begun to make an arena out of it, and by time she would move there was a ring of fire around himself and the twins. Virgil had seemed reckless but he had made sure to start the fight in a position of control. They were in his world, how would they deal with it?

▒▒- ⇡ ✖ ⇡ -▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒- ⇡ ✖ ⇡ -▒▒

x

Claw my way out through these walls one temporary escape Feel it start to permeate Claw my way out through these walls one temporary escape Feel it start to permeate
Claw my way out through these walls one temporary escape Feel it start to permeate Claw my way out through these walls one temporary escape Feel it start to permeate
x
⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰ F A N G ' S 《 K N I GH T ▟ ❚❘❘❘✹❚❘❘❘✹❚❘❘❘✹

♞ ▩❜ Primm ForestX♞ ▩❜ b***h and her twin X♞ ▩❜ Sorry it is small and choppy.
⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰⋰

[Satellite O Love]

Gabryel considered himself a mature individual. How else could he have swallowed his pride so expertly for so many years? Correction, he didn’t always beat it back as there were still many times that he couldn’t prevent his ego from getting him into trouble. Alright, upon even closer inspection, he tended to run off his mouth whenever he saw fit and so really hadn’t adjusted to being this adult thing very well after all.

But it was true that he kept it together whenever the consequences of disrespect would be more than he was willing to handle. Despite this knowledge, it took all of Gabryel’s concerted efforts at adulting to keep from sticking his tongue out at Reginald (maturely) when the other man ignored his generous admission and introduction. He couldn’t help the urge, Reginald tended to bring out the childish side in him. It was the pompousness that so reminded Gabryel of home.

Rather than giving in to all ridiculously juvenile desires, Gabryel instead crossed his arms and tried not to consider the fact that he was showing something amounting to respect to the High Priest where everyone else in the Coven could see him. He took solace in the fact that he wasn’t sure how many Fang mages even knew who he was to begin with. He’d worked hard at anonymity (though he’d not managed to escape the notice of the High Priest, Priestess, and even a couple of Knights) for a number of reasons, this being one of them.

Luckily, one of the many battles between initiates was attracting the lion’s share of the crowd’s attention. Glimpsing the outrageously busy mirrors only served to nauseate him, but the howls of the crowd directly in front of the platform made it obvious that all eyes were on the battle at their feet. Of course, the moment he looked, all he could see was the rather generous backside of whatever monster had been summoned for the initiate to fight. He sighed internally. Though not pleased with the form it took, Gabryel was glad for the distraction as he was making an effort to keep his eyes away from Luna. If he hovered over her like a mother hen, Reginald would definitely realize something was up. He couldn’t help but glance at her in utter astonishment, though, when she came through with the intonation and enthusiasm that he still hadn’t really gotten the chance to miss (seeing as she had only been out of commission for a few days). It made his heart leap at the mere notion of her being alright. At the very least, she sounded like herself, or a more tired version of herself. In response, the look on Reginald’s face indicated business-as-usual (albeit, obnoxious business). Good, she'd put on enough of a show for now, and the constant, obnoxious noise was just begging for the High Priest to pay attention to the battle that was finishing up.

He stepped back as a torrent of paper nearly bowled him over as the form of the man he recalled that he recognized from the hallway in front of Reginald’s chambers flew back into the book at the High Priest’s side. The thing/man/person/tome of ancient knowledge spoke then, something about being satisfied with whomever he’d fought. But Gabryel was more concerned about what he’d seen and heard just now. Book – speaking – paper – man.

Realization hit then, “Like a damn fountain of blood breaking over my head…. Gabryel muttered, finishing his own thought in time with what had just occured. He’d been minding his own business and having a stunning revelation about the book from the Zhu prison being the person he saw before him when a shower of carmine fluid suddenly engulfed him and the majority of those who had assembled around the platform.

Of course, it wasn’t just blood. Gabreyl pushed his sodden bangs away from his face and managed to not flinch as a glob of something more solid slid behind his ear and to the floor. The man who was, presumably, responsible was standing at attention. Gabryel felt biting annoyance even though the man couldn’t possibly know how long it had taken him to get his body and hair into a manageable state after spending so long in Zhu’s loving care. The male was even more covered in gore than the rest of them, so he mostly saw red, but something about his features was oddly familiar. First the strange man in the book (though he’d finally figured that one out) and now this. How could he misplace so many faces?

Gabryel forced his gaze back to Reginald as he could practically feel satisfaction radiating off the other man’s unfortunately well-arranged features. The fact that his smile only intensified in its discernible evil when he met Gabryel’s eyes made his sense of tingling paranoia even stronger. So it appeared that revenge was at hand. Being Gabryel, he only smiled as Reginald first addressed the mountain of a Cavallaro who had been sent away from the platform with the kid that Nilin had addressed as Marcus (again, he’d obviously missed something, but that was so outrageous that it could be considered at length later). The man must have done something naughty to put that smile on Reginald’s face.

He directed their attention toward one of the many vertigo-inducing mirrors, but even Gabryel managed to find the proper one without trouble. In a wall of spell-slinging, staff bearing combatants, only two were sparring with blows alone. One was leanly muscular and had a mane of chestnut hair while the other looked like he’d be more at home in the underground fighting rings of Avancia. Apparently, the men needed to be properly educated in magical combat and Cavallaro was tasked with assisting the smaller man. As expected, Reginald’s smile grew three times in its evil intensity as he told Gabreyl to take “the big one.” His own grin didn’t falter mostly because he was scathingly amused at the form this little punishment had taken. Well within protocol, masquerading as a mark of respect. He had to hand it to Reginald, he was a worthy opponent. If only he didn’t want to use his ineffective arms and slap him every chance he got.

Gabryel nodded at the figure in question and met Reginald’s gaze with his usual smirk. “What an honor. I will be glad to offer my broken, bleeding body as a sacrifice for the sake of magical combat and, of course, illustrious House Fang. Thank you for this unique opportunity, High Priest.”

The mage then turned to Luna and patted her shoulder as he prepared the long walk down the rickety stairs. “I would suggest you take it easy, Luna, but it’s your choice if you wish to engage the hopeful down there. Good luck either way.” He wanted to add ‘don’t lose sight of your goal,’ but that would be telling. He could only hope that she wouldn’t risk getting another head injury. Finally, Gabryel gave Nilin an honest smile to thank her for her show of affection earlier (that he couldn’t really respond to at the time, but he could forgive her messing with his hair since she was doing it from a place of love) before he carefully made his way down the steps of the platform.

Though he could get lost anywhere, Gabryel unfortunately couldn’t miss the towering giant he was supposed to be “helping.” He staggered along, using the path in front of the "stage" so he could catch another glimpse of the man who had so generously decorated everyone in the vicinity with blood. The lummox in question was still standing there, back straight and eyes downcast like an Aseran unexpectedly being forced to wait while nobles passed in front of them. On ground level, he was surprisingly tall (though not as outrageously built as the man he was set to meet – considering what had just happened to the beast, Gabryel was suddenly grateful for his impromptu opponent) and something about the set of his jaw was still bizarrely familiar. Gabryel nudged him with his elbow as he passed (though because of the aforementioned height, it was near his mid-to-lower back) and said, “Don’t be so stiff, novice. They were quite pleased with your show. Reginald Valerius may perpetually look like he has a staff shoved up his a**, but he’s as impressed by artful carnage as the rest of them.”

No need to mention what Nilin thought of him. Her intense gaze and appreciative grin were proof enough that she appreciated the newcomer’s efforts even if her admiration wasn’t solely on his ability to take a beast apart. Though he was still at attention, as Gabryel continued on his way, he locked eyes briefly with the other man and felt that odd, nagging feeling again. It was practically nostalgic. He frowned in contemplation, but the din of the crowd gearing up to watch another match kept him from stopping and asking the other man his name.

He only sighed and forced his mind to the task ahead. Though he ended up at the wrong circle a couple of times (the two opponents had been split and sent to different areas for the new battles), before long Gabryel was standing in the center of arena 15 with a man whose bulk was nearing half-giant levels (an exaggeration, but to Gabryel, he may as well have been one). The tattoo snaking around the brute’s right arm made Gabryel even more suspicious about his possible (invented) past as an underground brawler. Of course, his concerns were not solely hyperbolic - the "mage's" biceps were nearly as big as Gabryel was wide. The beefy initiate was visibly disappointed in having Gabryel as his opponent, echoing the warlocks' own feelings on the matter. The newcomer glanced at the assistant who had ordered him to the circle and spat in the woman’s general direction.

“This is what you pulled me away to fight? I’ve s**t scarier stuff than him!”

Gabryel chuckled and casually ran a hand through his blood-matted hair. “Oh look, it talks! I was half convinced that you’d built so much muscle that it invaded the important parts of your brain. And your gastrointestinal troubles are none of my concern. Let’s get this over with, shall we?”

There was no need for the witch who was overseeing their particular circle to tell them it was okay to go as the bruiser let out an annoyed sort of grunt and immediately charged at Gabryel. As he got closer, the veins roping around his bulging muscles were even more apparent, throbbing an angry blue as he probably used whatever magic he had internally. Blue…not the same crystalline shade, but seeing the color reminded Gabryel of the stiff-looking initiates’ eyes. Though he’d outwardly been all pomp and circumstance, Gabryel had discerned something like amusement in their depths.

Why was that so familiar?

He had no time to think about it. Gabryel pulled his hand out of his pocket and felt the texture of the simple wooden tokens he’d prepared the night before. His charms had been lost, but anything he could physically connect with could do as a way to shorten his Guardian spell. The muscle-bound novice’s eyes widened as what appeared to be a swirling ball of water flew toward his face. He slid to a stop and put his forearms together to protect his face as the guardian tossed itself ineffectively at him. The water guardian harmlessly shattered the moment they touched.

Gabryel had to laugh. It had been awhile since anyone reacted like that to one of his ‘spells.’ He took a few steps back and tried to think out his next move. He glanced to the circles around him for inspiration, but his gaze stalled on the novice from before. He could make out the blueness of his eyes, which was odd since he wasn’t standing nearby. It was then that his mind finally broke through whatever nostalgia barrier had been clouding his assessment of the other mage and realization dawned.

Too bad that was also the time that the brute had completely recovered from his little fake-out and was ready for revenge. Gabryel had a moment of complete and utter awe before he felt the sting of fingers groping at his hair and the horrendous pain of it being pulled. The man backhanded him, sending the purple-haired Aseran ungracefully flying to the dirt.

He landed hard and saw spots for a moment, but what had occurred to him was somehow more important than the numb pain in his right cheek. He pushed his fist against the ground and forced his upper body up to shoot another confused look at the crowd. The healer’s comments about there being a group of mages with odd-hair rung through his head more effectively than the blow he just took and he realized that the man’s hair wasn’t completely red, he’d just mistaken it in its bloody state.

Speaking of blood, he tasted it in his own mouth which was actually a welcome change from the menagerie of flavors that the many witches and warlocks around him were so graciously imposing upon Gabryel. But it brought his mind back to the battle. He shook his head and noted that Mr. Muscles was howling in pain and nursing the hand that he’d used to hit Gabryel. Odd.

Thoughts of possible Aserans, distracting as they were, would need to wait. Gabryel struggled to his feet and turned back to his opponent to casually say, “Wow, I didn’t realize my head was that hard. I thought people were speaking metaphorically before. Impressive, I suppose, but I shall have to revise my assessment of your intellect. Your ability to speak surprised me, but the fact that you apparently haven’t understood that this is a magic duel brings up definite concerns. Now stop nursing your wounds and show me how a real mage fights.”

He’d had more than enough time by now to take stock of what was around him (ignore it, ignore it). To the right was a pair of complete novices who could barely get out a spark, to the left was a petite witch who was using chants and spells to try and get her opponent to slip up. The important battle was directly behind the bruiser– a flighty wind mage battling a surprisingly petite woman with a gigantic hammer.

But how to get over there without being killed in the process? The blurring at the edges of his vision was more prominent than usual and he wanted to throw up more than ever. “Just think, Gabryel,” he muttered to himself.

The man completely ignored his taunt about fighting like a mage and came out swinging again. Gabryel instinctively threw himself in another direction and tossed out all four of his guardians to provide a distraction. Without even looking to see if they worked a second time, Gabryel picked himself up and began to run while simultaneously gathering the energy for his sense reversal spell. By the time he felt a beefy hand curling in the fabric of his coat, he’d finished and the Aseran twisted his body around to deliver the magical blow. An unimpressive haze of purple engulfed the initiate’s form and the man’s eyes crossed as the spell took effect. He lashed out dumbly, but this time only caught Gabryel lightly with the side of his good arm.

Sadly, even that was enough to put him off-balance. The purple-haired mage lost his footing in the slightly-wet dirt (from the blood), but it was a blessing in disguise as it got him out of the way of a particularly large swing of confusion from his opponent. He landed on his rear and then gritted his teeth in pain when Mr. Muscles stomped on his right ankle. He drew his leg up to his body and out of danger before rolling to the side. He smirked as the villainous bodybuilder noted the action and tried to follow – only to go the opposite direction.

Someone with his relative level of intelligence and who was so easily blinded by rage wouldn’t figure out how to work through Gabryel’s spell quickly. That gave him more than enough time to collect himself and draw closer to the circle now at his own back. He looked at the two women who were still so intent on fighting and picked the one with the giant hammer for his next target.

The muscleman howled once more and began banging his hands on his head, probably in an effort to shake the spell loose. By the time he calmed down, Gabryel had finished his final spell. The behemoth of a man blinked, confused for a second as he noted his purple-haired opponent had run into the next circle, clearly pushing aside the petite young woman who had been there before. He sounded a fearsome battle cry and charged at the cowardly mage – only to find that his body was going backwards. It was then the man apparently realized that when he moved, he moved the opposite way he intended.

Gabryel smirked as he got the hang of it and went charging like a bull toward the two women in the circle. They were shocked as well, but neither even broke stride as the male initiate crossed the barrier and swung his arm ineffectively to the left of his target. The hammer-wielding brunette let out a shout of her own and brought said hammer very swiftly down on her opponent’s head. Then came the satisfying sound of minor impact and the man immediately hit the dirt.

“Wh…what’s going on! And why am I…AH!” the witch who had felled the beast glanced down at herself to find that everything was just as she left it. Gabryel couldn’t blame her confusion. For a good two minutes, she’d looked exactly like him.

“That was certainly exhilarating. And he never even showed a hint of magic…other than the obvious.” Gabryel said as he again got to his feet. His right ankle protested the moment, but his ego wouldn’t allow him to limp away from this one. He wiped his bloody lips on his sleeve and smirked toward the mirror over his circle – and Reginald by extension.

Once he was dismissed, he would waste no time in hunting a blue-tipped redhead down.

Location: Fang Coven, Prim Forest


Mood: Really? Is that even possible?


Company: Fang Coven members, but currently not by anyone of note other than the mysterious redheaded man.


▶▶▶▶▶▶▶▶▶▶ hp

◀◀◀◀◀◀◀◀◀◀ mp

OOC: I’m honestly not sure how much Gabryel sticks out next to the average Coven member. It’s his own egotistical illusion that he’s managed to stay under the radar of most people, but that isn’t always consistent with reality XD!

Battle Notes First off, here is the man fought. He would usually be a bit more vocal, but he was distracted because of Trystan. Though he had a bit of a difficult time with this battle, it all worked out.

As for what he did – Gabryel used Looking Glass to reverse his opponent’s perceptions and in the time he was blinded in total confusion, he cast an illusion on himself and the hammer-witch to switch their appearances to the naked eye. He knew the women wouldn’t be in any danger - while most people realize that forward is backward, etc in terms of basic movement pretty quickly, it takes a lot to try and hit where you’re not aiming (instead of hitting to the right where he thought she was, he actually hit to the left).

[Unedited Sky]

She couldn't say that it all wasn't coming back to her, it was a little sickening that the event that sparked her memories was watching the the melee that was taking place before them. She recognized the violence, if that made any sense at all. She could envision herself taking part in these games fighting to prove herself worthy in the eyes of her high priestess. Back then, she would have out right refused to fail, she had been taken in by Regi, he had saved her. She remembered that now, remembered escaping from the villagers chasing after her, with her name, one that she had long since forgotten, being spat violently from their tongues and her retreating visage, burned into their eyes framed in the blood that they wished to drain from her body when they caught her. Luna had never been much of a runner, but the mere thought of what would happen if they caught her, propelled her forward. She didn't remember how long she had ran, and she didn't know where she was when she stopped, she just remembered her chest burning, and her legs had went wobbly on her, at that moment she had slumped against a tree and prayed, for help and forgiveness.

And that's when Regi had appeared, like an angel sent in direct response to her prayers.

Hmm. Maybe angel was to divine a being, nothing about what was happening her seemed very angelic, but she still owed Regi a lot. Yes, it was all coming back to her now, slowly. Her and the High Priest were close, very close. Closer than most of his subordinates, she didn't exactly know what it was about her that he liked, because the memories of herself that were slowly coming back to her weren't favorable. She remembered being a bit of a handful, but maybe he just found that endearing. But maybe there was something else there, she felt a small urge to please Regi, it was like he was a father figure to her, she had never had a father, being an Acolyte in the Temple of Ziiya didn't leave her with much of a family life, Regi was the first man outside of her repressed memories to show her any length of kindness, and for that she would be forever grateful. Even if she did have a poor way of showing it.

“No Name, I’m pleased to see you as energetic and eager as always. The knight fights were somewhat informally started, Virgil’s temper was coerced. He’ll be focusing on the twins so if you could please do focus on Svenja, the stern looking little one over there. Though there is no need to push yourself if you are indeed still recovering. You can rest and whomever does not earn knighthood here can cover your duties, though not your position, until you feel you are ready to commence slaughtering and torturing again in full capacity."

The smile on his face almost forced Luna's hand, forcing her to agree to what Regi had asked, but there was one thing about his request that turned what would have been her inevitable acceptance into her turning down his offer. He called her No Name. For some reason, after accepting the name Luna from Gabby, and growing to hold that as her one true name, being called No Name hurt her, it scarred her, it made her feel like less of a person. But how could she say all of that to Regi? "As fun as these festivities look, I will have to decline your generous offer Regi." No Name stated, not able to keep eye contact with Regi, so instead she looked out of those fighting. "See this knock on my head gave me a bit of clarity, I remember a little bit about where I came from, and these trials here. Remind me to much of the Rite of Kor. In my village, children were raised in groups. A caste if you will, and when we came of age we were forced to fight, and only the strongest would survive and be allowed to grow older. We were forced to kill our brothers and sisters." Luna said, she kept a smile on her face though, still grinning like a Cheshire cat "Now wouldn't you think that putting someone through that again, would be just a bit too cruel?" Luna asked wide grin shrinking to a bit of a smirk. Yes. She was lying, complete fabrication of how her child hood really went, she was raised in the Ziiya temple as an Acolyte and the Rite of Kor was just one of the many things she had read about in books, she herself had never personally experienced the horrors. But how could Regi know that? "Also my name is not No Name, I grow tired of living with that oxymoron attached to me. Anchoring me to my previous disability. Call me Luna." The way she said it, made it sound as though her words were not a request. There was no room to for debate within them.

She probably could have found a way to word her thoughts better, however she doubted she would be punished, as she was saved by the bell, or by a fountain so to speak. In the fields a particularly gruesome kill was executed, a kill that showered those on the stage with blood. Luna included, though thankfully Gabby took the brunt of the splash for her, Luna did not escape completely unscathed as some of the splatter did hit her clothing, but she could just wash it later, something within her, didn't allow her to react negatively to the blood. It wasn't as revolting as it should have been.

What did turn her stomach however was Regi's order for Gabby, he was ordering her friend to do combat with a rather large brute. A brusier in all meaning of the word, and while Luna didn't remember much about Gabby's abilities she did remember a conversation with him, one that had been held not too long ago.

---------------------

“You know me, unless they’re using magic, there’s really not too much I can do. Though I hate admitting my own inadequacies, I haven’t gotten as far as I have in this Coven by being unrealistic. Rest assured, I looked quite heroic as that stone-faced enforcer shattered all of my elemental barriers whilst beating the s**t out of Nilin. Before I blew myself up attempting to do the same to my enemies.”

"Really, that is quite unfortunate I mean, in hindsight an ability as situational as yours may not be as potent as we'd all like it to be."

---------------------

Gabby's opponent, didn't look to magical, Luna feared for his safety, as the male made his way down to face his opponent. Luna quickly moved to a spot closer so she could anxiously watch for the out come of this bout, she was already reaching into her pouch, grabbing Evella's face once again and tightly gripping the flesh into her hands, tightly. If Gabby looked as though he were in over his head, she would unleash a torrent of pain upon him.

Though as the fight went on, Luna began to feel slightly ashamed of herself, for doubting her friend, Gabby handled himself, very well. It wasn't flawless by any means, but the fact that Gabby dispatched the male...or had him dispatched, was very impressive. Luna couldn't help but grin from her position watching his success. She loosened her grip on the skin, with a sigh, before looking down, at Evella's face for the second time that day. She wondered how long she had been holding onto this particular cut of flesh, to long, it was beginning to crack on the edges, losing it's color and rolling in. She would have to use it now, holding onto it for whatever amount of sentimental value wouldn't serve it for much long, Evella would probably like it better if she was re-purposed anyway. Luna smiled at the hollow face looking back at her before closing her eyes, and pulling the skin to her own face, pushing her hood back as she ran the skin over her head, the skin expanding, and in some places blooming, while in other places it was hardening. She had a new name. She would need a new look. She was tired of hiding who she was behind her hood.