Welcome to Gaia! ::

"hmm" Leah thought to herself. "i only hope there isn't more until after we get what im searching for". Looking around she looked down the mountain edge, she saw where they had come from, and then she walked to the opposite side and could see down the other side. Down there it was dark and it was possible rivers ran through and dark caves ran along the edges, but in the nearby distance one thing was certain. There was a great object moving with four huge, spiny legs. The movement was topped with some smoke and a gap of molten heat that never seemed to spill out from its front.

Then the HALO system turned itself on and enlarged to a screen before her as it zoomed in. "Aaron!" she stated, "Look, over there!" her system then flickered as it turned off again. "It's Belfagoth!" she then wiped her blade clean, even though it was hardly dirty, and then she placed it back within its holder on her leg as the machine-like mechanism hid the blade once more.

"We should get down there" She then ebgan making her way down towards the center of the mountains, where everything went back towards ground level but was a bit warmer, much wetter and far darker.

((sorry to end this quickly, next post will be in Belfagoth, i'll quote you smile ))

{leave}

Zoltan Maues, perhaps the darkest and most powerful wizard of all time. And where has he come? To the barren edge of the Aerie peaks that tower over Asmodius, where the southern face stares to the sky for eternity. He had found a ledge on the mounain's edge that looked over even the King's Landing. And here it shall be that he begins, and where everything else will begin to end. Only tonight he shall be standing within the Enchanted Woods conducting his final mark and calling down upon the lunar powers to make him eternal. With his arms crossed and legs firmly on the ground he awaited for one more to accompany him, a young man who has become most... helpful.

In some ways he followed in Maues' footsteps, leaving Merlin Academy before graduation and sorting out his own ways before finding Zoltan. The edge where he sat, the stone was like wet slate, no bushes, no trees, just the damp air.

((loving him, loving the whole partnership thing going on here too!

There was a breeze that seemed to caress his cheeks, he could feel it brush through his ragged hair and he had to admit - it's chill was inviting. That was when a voice caught his attention behind him, and it was none too unfamiliar, in fact, it was Dorian. Zoltan blinked once, in the darkness seeing his future that will be taking place only tonight for that brief moment, and then he saw the city of Asmodius once again. At first Dorian's tone seemed... peculiar, but he pushed it aside like wasted food. "We've had... some changes." he began, talking slowly and bitterly. Visions in his mind reminding him of how it went with the old man. That scraggly old man got away and now he's just gone. "Caiin got away..." he then turned around to face his apprentice, he moved with grace, but that was was quickly accompanied by an eerie smoothness to his rotation to face Dorian. "But it would seem... after recent events i have still acquired the last location after this" his yellow eyes turned to slits as his lips followed and almost began to grin like a shark before its meal.

Recent events being the weathermancers of Shard City, they all focused on Entei, and according to his own calculations it ties in neatly with the other locations of his Lunar Time Holes and dark marks. Everyone has seen most of them, some dating month back, others years. His servants, including his apprentice Dorian, have been strategically placing his dark mark across the land beneath each and every full moon of only the strongest years gone past. And soon there will be two more, here... and at the Enchanted Woods. Zoltan had yet to get to Dorian's rather cryptic greeting, but sure enough something will arise. Almost in the short seconds that passed when he turned he could remember how often it was that either of them were too comfortable to question each other.

"Tonight, we move to the Enchanted Woods and befoul it, calling forth the powers of the Underworld to finally get us into Non-Magic Earth." he stated quite simply, pondering the floor with his eyes he added "it will be my final mark, but first we need to get this one finished with" he then turned around to start preparing himself. He seemed to brush down his clothes and from the gap of his shirt pulled out his black cross, his connection with the Underworld that aided his ability to conduct such cursed conjurations. From behind hi though he could here Dorian questioning him, his tone deep with ire.

It made Zoltan pause what he was doing, staring off to the cliff edge before him as he thought in his mind for a few moments. His chest almost felt constricted, but he had no reason to, didn't he? " that" he began, calmly, "would be one of them. Does it bother you that a gypsie of all were to have pressed herself against me?" he then turned to face Dorian and said "No reason to get jealous -" he almost teased, but his tone still dark and cautious. "she would be the perfect blood sacrifice to summon a Greater Demon of Hell". What he meant was that through his learnings of the Demonaria, he could use the same methods from Demonaria to summon forth powerful Demons from Hell... with her death, her blood... would be a pact that the demon could not break with Zoltan. But that wasn't his main objective, and he couldn't sacrifice Dorian anyway... he wasn't pure at heart.

In truth it would seem Dorian completely filled with ire as he pursued his small speech. It vaguely interested him as he half seemed interested in the conversation as it continued. " sounds like this worthless girl has had quite the unintentional stab at you" Zoltan replied, probably trying to pry Dorian's ire further. In truth it did amuse him slightly, other's anger, other's misery. He knew that Dorian would never leave his side however, and he knew he could get away with saying such things to him. "no need to worry though" Zoltan added before Dorian could cut a word in. "she's a mere pawn in my play. You can do what you wish with her, but if you get the chance take her possessions there's probably something of use in her pockets" he said.

Without further ado he looked up into the sky, his young neck stretching back and exposing itself to the cool air. Slowly, and silently, his cross necklace began to shake, and then some more as his clothes seemed to bridle in the soft breeze. But this breeze was unnatural, it didn't go past them, it rose from below them and slowly forced his necklace to hover before him, and when he looked down his eyes had turned completely black, with his arms stretched out beside him.

((sorry bout the wait! i found a perfect song for Zoltan and Dorian's plot! - Everybody wants to rule the world, Lorde's version xd))

As the air around them began to tremble, Zoltan's blood began to pulsate, of coarse, this wasn't the world of only his shadow magic, this was something from otuside, soemthing that left scars. His skin ebgan to tear, his clothes tearing with it and bones pertruding, half of his face then released a bony mask as some of his dark red blood floating up into the sky. He was half way through his transformation but it stopped there, as always during these rituals. Dorian was there to protect him during this, one attack could be fatal to Zoltan during this, he could easily be killed. His feet slowly lifted themselves off the stone floor as water droplets gathered on the sheets of stone below them, lifting themselves high up into the sky. Then Zoltan began to make a sound.

His throat was beginning to tremble, he was beginning to roar. And then as if he couldn't control his own rib cage his lungs exhaled fast and painfully before he inhaled greatly and clenched his fists together. With a cry of agony he shouted out to release his power, a sonic boom releasing from him. IT was small, but powerful enough to sweep off the unknowing watcher. As soon as this boom hit the floor and spread along the mountain side it left behind a dark, scarred mark. It was a giant circle filled with charred runes and smoking remains. Dropping back to the floor Zoltan was half bloody, wounds slowly healing and his face recovering with skin, but his clothes were tattered. Something his apprentice would normally mend with magic shortly after these rituals. Inhaling and exhaling deeply he had one knee down and one palm on the ground, it then began to rain around them lightly, causing water droplets to drip down his chin and onto the scarred stone beneath them both.

((as you can probs see... in the middle with fiddling about with posting format haha, needle to organise all these lyrics razz ))

Gasping for air, Zoltan slowly managed to control his breathing. In his chest it felt like bones had broken and were trying to mend themselves too quick. But that feeling was almost being shadowed by the some what comforting feel of clothes covering his wounds where Dorian began magically fixing them. "..." Maues began... "I'm fine" he replied quietly, standing up and taking a moment to let the cool rain touch his skin. He looked no worse or better than before, perfectly as if nothing just happened. All that but the smell of charred stone beneath them, the mark was a sight to behold. To think, 13 years ago there was a full moon that directly looked upon this spot, and now the mark will pull it to the present, just like all the others.

Exhaling softly he opened his yellow eyes and looked at his apprentice. "We have some time before we must move to the Enchanted Forest... i need to rest anyway." he paused for second, admiring the mark below him. "So..." he began. "The Demonaria..." that was all he said, getting the conversation into that demonic book that he owned half of. He knew that Dorian wanted to learn its ways, wanted to even look at its, but Zoltan had never let him, saying it was far too powerful. And every time it came up in conversation Zoltan was sure that Dorian would feel eager to finally lay eyes upon it.

As he mentioned the Demonaria, he managed to catch Dorian's full attention, all his desires in one word seemingly. Zoltan blinked once and referred to later in the evening when he said "Tonight... we'll move to Non-Magic Earth, and humanity will learn that they're meant to be ruled... however. It would be far easier if someone else were to have the same skills as i" he left it rather vaguely there. He then put both hands behind his back as he took a step back and faced Dorian, both of them standing on opposite sides of the mark, within the mark. A silent breeze moved passed them when he said "One day, i will require someone to pass on my knowledge..." he then pulled dropped his hands again to his sides, except this time his right hand wasn't empty!

Almost as if he did it to cause no surprise at all, there was a thick, leathery book in his hand, resting against his hip. It was black, the pages old looking, the edges tainted in blood seemingly. A tag-like tongue of vevlet hung out from the tip too, also crimson in colour. "and make sure that i never die" he finally finished, holding the book out with one hand before him. The great book's face was adorned with old markings, old runes along its edges, and in the center, a demonic looking skull, mouth gaping wide, eyes black as night, the leather even looked like it was blood stained.