[Omnerias] Isles of Noctemia~

[Arcaiia]

Introduction~

A couple of years have passed since the collission between the sister worlds of Omnerias. Though the original intent was to merge the four worlds together as one, for some reason it didn't work. Something is keeping them together, forcing them to stay as seperate worlds. However, they've all come to find peace, as stationary worlds, placed beside eachother as one of the pocket dimensions tied to the world of Arcas.



How much time had passed since the collision? She wasn't really sure. A year? Maybe two...? Or possibly less. Time seemed to flow differently here than in most worlds, so it was hard to keep track. To be honest, she wasn't entirely sure how to keep track of time, even after all this time. One would think that she had gotten used to this place, considering that most of her existence she had been living her. The mysterious Isles of Noctemia... It was her home, now. She couldn't even imagine leaving it. It would just be too strange.

Night let out a sigh, then shook her head as she realized her mind had trailed off again. Counting! Yes. She was counting, taking stock of how many bottles of wine they had. Running the Green Dragon Tavern and Inn had, at first, been a tiresome task, trying to put everything together, but as time had passed, she had grown more and more used to it. Now she actually quite enjoyed it, and it allowed her to use her old title as "Mistress", which was, to her, nice. She had Arin to help her as well, as his curious Traveler's Shop was set up wall to wall with the tavern, and a small door at the back allowed for quick movement between the two places. And then there was Mira... Well, at least she meant well, despite her harsh tone. And her way with nature magic had been handy in setting up a vegetable garden in the back, allowing for fresh supplies of vegetables - and some fruits - for the tavern.

Yes, these past years had been hard, but somewhat good. They had made homes. And they were happy.
But, of course, she did miss certain people. People she hadn't seen since before the collision. Good people. Loved people...  

[KeyJester]

[Current Location ~ Somewhere to the west of the Nocturnal Woodlands]

Stars. Billions of stars. And three brilliant moons, lighting up a nightsky.

"Huh."

He laid there on the ground for a long time, just staring up at the sky, before he finally sat up and looked around him to inspect the area - this was definitely not his room, where he had been chilling when he suddenly started counting stars. The grass beneath him was soft and green, and there were trees scattered around, not quite creating a forest, and yet not leaving the area completely open.

Getting to his feet, he crossed his arms and sighed. "The hell just happened?"

[Current Location ~ Noctem Town]
[continuation of this post]

"Whoa! ....Ow."

Aria sat back up, rubbing her head after an unpleasant and sudden date with the groud, then stopped dead in her tracks. She knew this place. She knew it all too well. This, was Noctemia.

"God, damn it, sis!"

[Current Location ~ Above the sea in the middle of the Crescent Isle]
[continuation of this post]

He appeared in a swirl of darkness and immediately spread his dark feathered wings, hovering above the water for a moment, before gently landing on top of it. Retracting his wings, he looked up towards the dark skies where the all three moons were up, his dark blue eyes seemingly devoid of all emotions. Then she sighed and reached into the pouch hanging from his belt and got out something wrapped in cloth.

"I got what you asked for."

He looked down as he focused on the silent voice inside him that only he could hear, then shrugged.

"A nightmare, of course. Cain just had to pick a fight, as usual."

Kneeling down, he lowered the wrapped item and gently released it into the water, and watched it sink down towards the bottom - and the Water Temple. He sighed as he got up, and turned around to walk along the surface of the ocean, but stopped as that silent voice spoke to him again.

"It's been nearly two years. You haven't even let me go see my sister, as all I've done is move around and do your bidding."

He let out an annoyed sigh as he listened to the voice.

"I know."

Then he frowned, and turned around, looking at the skies again.

"What? Why?"

More silence, before he let out an angry 'tch' and looked down again.

"So this was your plan all along, then? Fine. Just send me there, and I'll take care of it. You know I will, cause, in a way, I already have." He rolled his eyes. "Time magic. The perfect way to ******** up your life."

He was about to complain some more, just to really make a point out of how this bothered him, but stopped as he heard the next words coming from the silent voice, and his eyes widened. For a moment, he just stood there, unable to produce any words as he stared at the air in front of him, then he swallowed and slowly nodded. It was quite clear that the words had angered him, and he grit his teeth to keep himself from saying something that he'd regret.

Taking a deep breath, he looked up and held out his hands as something was suddenly slowly descending from the skies, shining brightly like the moons themselves, and frowned as it landed in his hands. It was a necklace. Hanging from an elegant silver chain was a round white moon, and two half moons - a pale blue and a light green - one on each side of the round white one. He stared at the necklace for a moment, just listening to the voice, before nodding and gently tucking it away into his pouch.

"Fine. Send me there."

He reached out into the air and allowed his blade materialize as a swirl of darkness swallowed him, and he disappeared.  

[Aci Dixinic]

The lines of the cottage were faintly limned by the moonlight leaking through the trees. At every window, wooden boxes held fragrant herbs and flowers, some of them very softly glowing; more were dotted through the vegetable plots surrounding the cottage. On one side, a small river ran past, and on the other, two ropes tied securely to a wooden swingseat hung from high up in the sturdiest tree. The little homestead at the edge of the forest was tranquil and dark.

There was an odd shape to the small cottage, narrow and tall, with a roof half flat and half rising in a steep peak covered in dormer windows large enough to step through. And step through one someone did, onto the flat side of the roof. She was small and humanoid but for the large feathered wings, white in the moonlight, that grew from her back. Her dark yellow hair hung in a mess of curls between her wings, and her skin was pale in contrast with the sturdy brown boots, laced leather bodice and satchel, grey woollen stockings, and dark green skirt and blouse that she wore.

The winged young woman surveyed her home and grounds for a moment, checking that all was well, then stepped off the edge of her roof. With a powerful sweep of her wings she was airborne, winging steadily towards the lights of the town.  

[KeyJester]

[Current Location ~ Noctem Town]

Aria scrambled to her feet and brushed off her clothes, then took a moment to just look around her.

"Wow..."

She hadn't been there since the Cajo-mission - her sister was the only one dealing with this place and the crew she had working for her here - and in the past couple of years the place had really changed. For the better, she made a note of. She found herself standing in the middle of some town square, and there were actually people there. The entire place seemed to be bustling with life, as they moved between the various booths that were set up there, selling goods of all kinds, and she just blinked as she took it all in.

"Sis never told me it was like this here now."

She mumbled to herself as she slowly started making her way through the crowd, taking her time to look at the various booths and the goods they had to offer. Following the main street there, it didn't take long before she saw a giant tavern up a head, and she stopped as she took in the sight of it. Even the tavern had changed, and as she continued walking and came close enough, she could read the giant sign hanging above the door with an elegant green dragon curled around it:

THE GREEN DRAGON TAVERN AND INN

[Current Location ~ West of the Nocturnal Woodlands]

He had no idea what to say, and he scratched his head as he looked around him.

"This... Where is this?"

He sighed, then started walking in the direction of a bridge he could see off in the distance. By any luck, there could some sort of sign there to tell him where he was, and for now he just set his sights on figuring that out before anything else. As he neared the bridge, he noted with satisfaction that his suspicion had been right, and he jogged up to the sign and squinted at it to read what it said.

↞ Noctem Town
↠ Nocturnal Woodlands

He just stared at the words, unable to properly take them in, before he blinked and shook his head in disbelief. Did it really say Noctem Town? Wasn't that the town in Noctemia? Was he in Noctemia?! He looked up at the sky, seeing three bright moons glowing in the sky - the middle one glowing white in colour, the one far to the left of it, slightly smaller in size, gloweing with a soft light green colour, and the one far down on the horizon to the right, bigger than both the others combined, had a glowing blue colour to it - and just swallowed. Yep, no doubt about it; he was in Noctemia.

He stood there for a moment, just taking in this information, before a wide grin spread across his face.

"Well, surprise vacation is still vacation. Might just have a little fun while at it."  

[Renaissance Phoenix]

A blast of magic shot across the island from a spot near the center of the ocean, sending the chill of winter through everyone in its path. And on the ocean's surface, a rather scantily-clad woman appeared; dark hair, but with parts of it currently glowing blue and white, and her eyes and a mark on her forehead also glowing blue. And despite the fact that her body was only covered by a rather skimpy swim suit of Earthen origins, she still wore gloves on her hands. She looked around for a minute from her position on the ocean as ice spread around her bare feet, and then she stalked towards the shore, muttering a tirade of abuses at someone who was very obviously not present to hear them. Frost followed her as she walked through the woods, stalked through the town, completely ignoring everyone who stopped to gape at her on the way, and she stomped up the steps to a house that had been empty for the past two years, tried the doorknob, found it was locked, and slammed her foot into the door hard enough to rip it off its hinges and send it flying down the hallway. She vanished inside, a sheet of ice sealing off the doorway behind in what was very obviously an order to not come visit.

From a shop several doors down and across the street, Mel stared, wide-eyed, through the windows as the spectacle, at the snow now falling in what had been a pleasant summer evening just moments before. "Well," she said over her shoulder to the shop's only other occupant. "It looks like Ari's home. But where's everyone else?"

Zaila just shrugged, because quite frankly, she didn't really care.  

[KeyJester]

[Current Location ~ Noctem Town, the Tavern]

Aria pushed through the door to the tavern and just stopped as she made it inside, looking around her with a look of awe on her face. This place had definitely changed since her last visit to Noctemia, that much was certain! Her sister hadn't been exaggerating when she had claimed that the place was far from the same - which was, in itself, a bit of a shock, cause if there was one thing her sister was known for, it was her tendency to overexaggerate - and Aria just blinked as she took in the sight of the tavern. Then she spotted a familiar form behind the counter, and she sighed as she placed her hands on her hips with a faint smile on her face.

"Well, this place is sure looking well, I see."

Nightfall looked up from her work with a surprised look on her face - though it didn't really show all that well due to the mask she was wearing - and she just stared at the woman standing in the door before she let out something between a gasp and a yelp of surprise, and she quickly made it around the counter and crossed the floor, throwing her arms around Aria's neck with a laugh.

"Aria! Oh, goddesses above, what are you doing here?"

Aria chuckled as she returned Nightfall's hug. "Oh, well, you know; idiot sister, and all that. Business as usual, I suppose." She shook her head with another chuckle, and the two of them made it over to the bar counter. Aria sat down on a chair as Nightfall made it back behind the counter, getting out a bottle of wine and a glass for the visiting woman. "Let me hear it." She nodded to Aria, whom sighed as she rolled her eyes, then proceeded to inform Nightfall of what had happened.


Aria put her empty glass down a little while later with a sigh as Nightfall leaned on the counter, giving her a sympathetical look. "That's going to be a lot of fun to work out." Aria groaned as she crossed her arms in front of her on the bar counter, resting her head on them. "Tell me about it. I need to try and find sis first, before I even think about doing anything else." Nightfall let out a sigh as she filled up the glass with some more wine. "That shouldn't be too hard, right? Can't you use her key?" Aria shook her head without lifting it from her arms. "Nope. It doesn't work if she's in a pocket dimension. Nothing works the way it's supposed to when she's in one! It's a complete nightmare - I get that know, and I'll never doubt her again when she complains about it, lesson learned."

[Current Location ~ Noctem Town]

After a long while he finally seemed to reach what was a town, and he stopped right outside it with a light frown as he looked at it. He had never been to Noctemia before - even though he knew all there was to know about it - so this was his first time seeing the town. He knew what it looked like, of course, but seeing a mental image of it was far different from actually being there in person and actually looking at it. He scratched the back of his head, then shrugged as he headed through the town and made it over to where he knew the Green Dragon Tavern and Inn would be.


Aria sighed as she pushed herself off the chair, and Nightfall cocked her head to the side as she looked at her. "What's the plan, then?" Aria shrugged as she turned and looked at the woman. "Not entirely sure. But sis isn't here, that much I can sense, so I suppose I have to find my way out of here and try and go to another pocket world. I mean..." She trailed off as the door to the tavern opened, and as she looked towards the door her mouth dropped open with a shocked expression on her face, and Ahsk raised his eyebrows in surprise as he spotted Aria.

"Ahsk?!" She gaped at him, and he chuckled as he walked over to her and Nightfall. "Whoa, Aria, what are you doing here?" Nightfall blinked as she looked at Ahsk, then she looked at Aria as she sighed. "Oh. This might just become a problem." Aria just shook her head, trying to wrap her head around what she was seeing, before she suddenly groaned and sat back on her chair, resting her head on the counter. "This is so not happening!"  

[KeyJester]

[Current Location ~ Town Square, Noctem Town]

The everlasting night of Noctemia, and its three brightly glowing moons, made the world one that was filled to the brim with shadows and darkness, and it was easy to pull together the strings of that darkness and create a large portal from it, letting Rin and Raye access Noctemia.

Rin took a deep breath as he looked around - they were currently standing in the middle of the Town Square, not too far from the main well of the town - and he gritted his teeth as he could already feel the pull of Noctemia calling on him. He turned to Raye, pushing that call aside, and gave her a faint smile.

"Do you want me to come with you, or do you want to find Ari alone? If you want to deal with her yourself, I can wait at the tavern, but if you want me to come along then I will."  

[Renaissance Phoenix]

Raye blinked, looking around her at Noctemia, completely baffled for a moment. "Wow," she said finally, taking in all of the people she'd never seen before, the buildings that were different. "This place really has changed." And then her eye landed on her house, not too far away. Snow was falling around it, and actually the air in general was colder than it should have been for Noctemia. Raye sighed and shook her head. "She's here, all right," she muttered to herself before looking at Rin. "I don't particularly want to talk to her alone," she said with a wry smile, "given the type of mood she's in, but I think it might make it even worse if you were there. She still doesn't particularly like you. Do whatever you need to; I'll find you when I'm done with her, however it ends up." She smiled up at him, gave his hand a quick squeeze, and headed down the street to her house--which, she quickly discovered, was now missing a front door and had a sheet of ice in its place.

"Ari," Raye grumbled, and spun into a kick, slamming her foot against the ice sheet. It shattered, shards raining down to the porch and floor inside the door, crunching under her boots as she went into the house. She paused in the entryway, opened her pouch and retrieved the lily Rin had given her on Taamarin, sliding it into a vase on the table just inside the door, and admiring the effect for a minute before heading up the stairs, into the ever-increasing chill, looking for Ari. She finally found her in the attic. Ari had apparently raided one of the house's wardrobes, which worked very much the ones in the Green Dragon in that they provided clothes for whoever happened to open them. Instead of the swimsuit she'd been wearing on Earth, she was wearing black pants, black boots, and a black tank top--slightly, but not terribly, different from what she normally wore, the main difference being that her arms were bare--and that, for once, she didn't have any weapons. Raye blinked in surprise at that; there were no knives on a belt around her waist, no pouch of throwing stars, no daggers strapped to her forearms. "You left Earth without your weapons?"

Ari whirled, apparently having been too wrapped up in her own muttering to realize Raye had entered. "What are you doing here?"

Raye shrugged, and leaned against the door frame, crossing her arms over her chest. "Thought it was time to come home for a while," she said nonchalantly. "The better question is what you are doing here. And can you melt the snow, please? I'm pretty sure you're freaking everyone out."

"I could not stand being on the same damn planet as that--" And then Ari broke out into a rather impressive stream of insults, all directed at Noct even though he wasn't actually there. Raye arched a brow and waited for her to finish. Considering that Ari spoke six languages fluently and had memorized a wide variety of insults in all of them, the finishing took quite a long time, and by the time she was done, Ari was panting for breath. Her hair, eyes, and mark were still glowing, and her hands were clenched into fists at her sides.

Raye sighed, shook her head, and went to sit on the window seat that overlooked the main road through town. "All right," she said. "Now that that's out of your system, who is this really about? It it actually about Noct? Or is it about Kale? Or Darien?"

Ice exploded from Ari's area. "How dare you say those names?" she seethed, stalkings towards Raye, who didn't even flinch because she knew Ari couldn't hurt her.

"Well, it's obviously not about Noct," Raye said with a shrug. "I mean, I've gathered that he's under your skin for some reason, but that isn't the entire problem, is it? No need answering, I know it isn't. So, what happened back there?"

"He ruined my hard work!" Ari yelled, waving her arms in some sort of crazy motion. "I did a damn good job on that heart of his, and he ruined it! I am not going to keep saving that b*****d's life if he doesn't bother showing an ounce of appreciation for all I'm doing! I am a good healer--"

"The best," Raye agreed, nodding; just agreeing with Ari seemed to be the best way to speed this conversation along.

"--and honestly, I think I deserve a little more credit for that! And instead, he goes and gets some kind of healing device implanted in him? Hell no. The b*****d can let it kill him for all I care, because I am done! You hear me? DONE!"

"Loud and clear," Raye said, nodding again and standing. "I'll leave you alone now. But please, melt the snow and let the summer back in? And fix my door when you're done with your temper tantrum." With that, she headed out the door, down the many flights of stairs, and back out onto the street, trying to take in all of the changes that had been wrought in her absence. She passed a magic shop that she didn't remember, saw two familiar faces looking out the window--Meliara and Zaila, was it?--and gave them a little wave before heading on to the Tavern. Stepping in, she noted what had changed and what stayed the same, grabbed a staff from the rack near the door--that, at least, had stayed the same--and then took a seat next to Rin, giving Nightfall a little wave of greeting as she did so.

"Ari says she's mad that Noct messed up all of her work on his heart," she informed Rin. "But I don't think that's actually the issue. She wouldn't tell me what happened, but I suspect it has to do with her actually liking Noct, strange as that sounds. She has some...issues regarding liking people." Raye sighed and shook her head. "I think the best route might just be to let her cool off. If she comes back, she comes back--but trying to force the issue definitely isn't going to get us anywhere. And besides, I think if we showed up with Ari in tow at this point, Kara might actually try to kill her."  

[KeyJester]

[Current Location ~ Green Dragon Tavern and Inn, Noctem Town]

"Yeah, a lot's happened in two years." Rin said in responce to Raye's comment about Noctemia, and he sighed as he took in the sight of the town. He'd barely even been here at all during the past years - between the missions he'd been on, and searching for Raye, he hadn't had the time for it - so he'd never really gotten any chances to really appreciate what Noctemia had become. Then he looked at her as she spoke, and he gave her a light nod as she squeezed his hand and walked off. He looked after her for a moment, then sighed as he turned around and headed towards the tavern - hoping to put off the meeting with the Isle itself for as long as possible.


Aria groaned, loudly and unhappily, her head on the counter, while Nightfall tried to hide a smile behind her hand and Ahsk was just grinning from ear to ear as he leaned on the counter next to Aria. "Aw, come on, sis, it's not that bad." Aria lifted her head to glare at him. "I am not your sister!" Ahsk just chuckled as he snagged her glass and took a swig of the wine, before looking at her. "Well, technically, I think you kind of are." She let out another groan as she sat back up, janking back her glass. "Whatever. That's not the issue here, anyway. The issue is that you're here, which means that you're all on the lose, and I really need to find sis so we can tow you all in." She sighed as she downed her glass of wine, then pushed herself off the chair. "I'm gonna go..." She trailed off as the door opened in the middle of her sentence, again, and she turned around with an annoyed look on her face. What now?

Rin swung the door open, then stopped in the doorway as he looked at the three people over by the bar that had turned to face him.

"Rin!" Nightfall gasped in surprise, and Aria just blinked as she stared at him. "Rin?" Ahsk was halfway on the counter, trying to reach the bottle of wine with a concentrated look on his face, but as he glanced over his shoulder he let out a surprised 'huh' as he spotted the man in the doorway. "Well, I'll be... Hey, Rin."

Rin blinked as he looked at the three, then he groaned as he turned around to exit the tavern again, though he never got that far before Aria quickly made it over there and janked hold of his arm. "Ey! That's not how you great people, you know!" Though she tried to put on an angry face, the amused tone in her face gave away that she wasn't in any way as angry as she was pretending to be. Rin sighed as he looked at her, then he rolled his eyes as he closed the door and followed her over to the counter. Nightfall had already made her way around it, and she gave him a quick hug before she pulled back, giving him a smile. "Oh, by the goddesses, it is good to see you. Where have you been? Do you have any kind of idea how worried I've been about you?" Though her worried frown wasn't visible due to her mask, the tone in her voice more than weighed up for it.

Rin gave her a shrug as he made it behind the counter, snagging a bottle of something from behind it before turning to look at Aria and Ahsk. "What's going on now?" Aria shot a glance at Ahsk, whom had successfully stolen the bottle of wine and was refilling Aria's empty glass. "Ah, well, people-eating mirrors and stupid sisters, and pocket dimensions doing their crazy stuff. You know; the daily routines." She shrugged, then janked the glass out of Ahsk's hand and took a swig at it. "What about you? We rarely, if ever, see you around." Rin just raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. "I'm busy." He grabbed a small glass and headed around the counter again, stopping to give Nightfall a glance. "Ari's back here, by the way, and in her usual cheerful mood, so you should probably brace for some stormy nights. Raye's talking to her right now, though I doubt that'll help much."

Nightfall let out a little gasp of surprise. "What? You found them?!" He gave her a light nod, then headed over to a table and sat down, pouring a shot for himself, and Aria just raised an eyebrow as she looked at him. "Aaand, he's the same as always. But, yay! He found Ari and Raye! That's good news, at least." She turned back to Nightfall with a small nod and a smile, then reached out and grabbed hold of Ahsk's ear. "And now, I'm gonna go have a chat with Arin, and this thing is coming with me." Nightfall just chuckled, then waved her hand towards the door to the back. "Take the backdoor - it's faster." Aria gave her a light nod, ignoring Ahsk's protests, then waved her hand at Rin. "I'll see you around, grumpy. Oh, and," She turned and looked at him. "If you see sis, can you please tell her I'm looking for her?" He just waved his hand in reply as he poured himself nother shot, and she sighed as she headed out the backdoor, dragging Ahsk with her.


Rin was leaning back in his chair, and had just downed another shot when Raye made it into the tavern, and he waved her over as he placed the glass down on the table, giving her a questioning glance. He raised an eyebrow at her words - Ari actually liked Noct? That he just didn't buy - then sighed as he shook his head, pouring himself another shot. "Then we let her cool off. Nothing else to do." He looked up as Nightfall made it over to them, putting down a glass of wine in front of Raye and giving the woman a smile. "Good to see you again, Raye, and welcome back. Maybe now I can get this idiot to try and stick around some, instead of running around the worlds." She nodded towards Rin whom just gave her an annoyed glance before downing the shot in his hand and reaching for the bottle again, pouring another shot. "Aya. Shut up." Nightfall just rolled her eyes behind her mask. "As Aria said; same as always. I'm allowed to speak my mind about your situation, you know, as your sister, and my mind remains the same as it was two years-" She flinched as Rin slammed the now empty glass down on the table, giving her an angry scowl, and she just stared at him for a moment before she spun around and disappeared into the kitchen without a word.

Rin sighed as he leaned on the table and rubbed his forehead. "Sorry 'bout that.." He just mumbled, frowning as he felt another migraine coming on. And that annoying pulse inside him was getting stronger again, pressing on him, and he he still couldn't understand what was causing it. All he knew was that it was starting to scare him.  

[Renaissance Phoenix]

"Thanks, Nightfall. It's good to be back. This place is so busy! It's great to see it like this instead of being, well, destroyed." She accepted the glass of wine and raised an eyebrow as Nightfall began to lecture Rin--it was such a sibling thing to do that she actually missed her own sisters for a moment, even though they had never been close. And then she almost jumped out of her skin as Rin slammed his glass against the table and sent Nightfall scurrying for the kitchen. Raye shot him a glare. "What's the matter with you?" she whispered. "She's concerned about you! And for good reason, apparently." As he rested his head on the table, she reached out and grabbed the glass and bottle, sticking them on the tray of a passing server in order to get rid of them. She shot Rin another look, half concerned and half disapproving, and then rested her head in her own hands. This what she'd been dreading, why she'd been avoiding coming back; because she'd had a feeling it would go badly, and it already was. "I should have just let Ari be," she muttered, rubbing her forehead. They shouldn't have come back; it was clearly a mistake. She swallowed the lump that rose in her throat and shoved her chair away from the table. "I'm going for a walk," she muttered, grabbing her new staff in one hand and heading for the door, giving those she recognized a nod and a tight smile on her way out, but not stopping to chat with any of them because quite frankly, she was not in the mood.

She instinctively headed for what she remembered being a lake but was apparently now an ocean, given the way it seemed to have expanded. She frowned at that, completely disoriented; things had changed more than she'd thought, apparently. It wasn't just more people and shops in what had once been a sparsely-inhabited town; the entire world was different. She shot a glance over her shoulder toward the town and her house; Ari was obviously still mad, because the temperature hadn't increased at all. Shaking her head, Raye dropped her staff and sat down on the shore, yanking off her boots and socks and rolling her pant legs up so she could stick her feet in the water, letting the small wavelets lap up over her toes. She wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her forehead against her kneecaps, trying to take deep, even breaths and calm herself down. Were things going to be like this, now that they were back? Was this how things used to be? She couldn't remember, and it was driving her crazy. From Rin's reaction to being back, though, it seemed like their days of dates and magic lessons and pool parties were over. "Ladies above, Ari," she muttered to herself. "What the hell did you do?" There was little doubt in her mind that Ari had started whatever had happened between her and Noct, though it was entirely possible Noct had just fed into it. Honestly, she could have strangled both of them. Sure, things hadn't been exactly easy away from Noctemia--the number of near-death experiences had hovered around Noctemia leavels, really--but they had been...better, somehow, than it seemed things were going to be here. "I shouldn't have come back..."  

[KeyJester]

[Current Location ~ The shores of Noctem Town]

Rin looked up as Raye got to her feet and headed out, and he gritted his teeth from the frustration that was welling up in him. He dropped his head in his hands for a moment, fighting the urge to destroy everything around him, before he finally stood up and headed into the kitchen. Nightfall didn't even bother looking around from where she was standing, sorting bottles, and he just looked at her for a moment before he sighed. "I'm sorry. We'll talk about it later." She lightly waved her hand over her shoulder, and he turned around and exited the kitchen, then headed out of the tavern.

Once outside, he closed his eyes for a moment, just taking in the air and allowing the magic of the isle itself fill him and strengthen his magic, and he sighed as he looked to the side, picking up the trace of Raye's dark magic. Noctemia had been the closest thing he could come to a home the past eight years he'd been moving in and out of it, but right now he downright hated the place and how it always seemed to make things bad between them. Though he knew, deep down, that it wasn't Noctemia that was to blame for it - but himself. He was always the one making things hard, and he hated himself for it.

With another sigh, and turned around and headed towards where Raye was, still trying to ignore the call in the back of his mind, the migraine that was just getting worse, and the strange pulse that was sounding inside him.

He found her sitting on the shore, feet in the water, and he looked at her for a moment, pain in his eyes, before he finally walked over and stopped beside her, staring out over the ocean. "I'm sorry. It's a stupid arguement that she keeps bringing up, but," He sighed. "That doesn't mean I should act like a jerk about it, especially not in front of you." He rubbed his forehead, suddenly feeling so horribly exhausted, and defeated, and he closed his eyes for a moment, just feeling the breeze coming from the ocean. "She doesn't approve of me working for Noctemia, because of what it'll do to my soul." He opened his eyes again, looking at the waves as they lightly danced against the shore. "But that's far ahead in the future, anyway, as I keep trying to tell her. By the time my soul starts getting affected by this, she won't even be around to see it. No one will." He gritted his teeth, feeling the frustration welling up in him again, and he closed his eyes as he took a deep breath.

He was about to turn around and look at Raye, but a movement out on the ocean caught his attention, and he stopped mid-motion with a frown, looking out. Then his eyes widened as he realized what it was, and his heart fell in his chest as his gaze was fixed on the woman that was slowly making her way towards them, walking an inch above the surface of the ocean, her beautiful purple gown trailing behind her. "Damn it..."

She stopped before she reached the shore, and her clear amethyst eyes lightly glanced at Rin before she moved her attention towards Raye.

And here I was beginning to think he had decided to defy my orders to bring you back.

Her mouth did not move when she spoke, as her voice seemed to be carried to them by the wind itself as it made her silver hair lightly dance around her. Rin gritted his teeth as he looked at Noctemia's Avatar, and his fists were clenched at his sides, trying to keep himself calm as she continued speaking.

And he have failed to give you my gift. Not that it matters now, I can see, since your magic is no longer that of light. It would have bound your magic to my moons, strengthening it, but that will no longer work now that you have taken the darkness inside you instead.

She lightly waved her hand, and the necklace from inside Rin's pouched suddenly appeared in the air in front of her, and she only gave it a light glance before it vanished again, and she turned her attention towards Rin.

You took your time, Caerin, and I can not say that I am pleased about it. But you are here, now, so I am willing to let it go this time, as long as you keep in mind that you swore your soul to me, binding yourself to an eternal lifetime of servitude, and I expect you to do what you are told without making up your own rules.

Rin looked down, not daring to meet the woman's eyes, as the fury in them made it quite clear that she was running out of patience with him. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again." His voice was low, and he just kept staring down at the waves that were still dancing up towards the shore. The wind brought a sigh with it, and the woman glanced between the two in front of her before she turned around and started walking away from the shore.

I will see you at the Heart once you are ready to continue your work, and I do not expect that I have to wait for very long.

With that, the ocean swallowed her and she was gone.  

[Renaissance Phoenix]

Raye was quiet as Rin stood next to her; she turned her head to look at him, though she didn't pick it up off her knees. Her brow furrowed as she processed all of that, and she opened her mouth with several things to say, but didn't get a chance before Rin's gaze shifted, and she followed his eyes to where the woman walked above the water. Raye sighed, shook her head as she sat up straight, and looked evenly at the woman. "Hello, Luna," she said, as cordially as possible--though her expression quickly soured as she listened to the avatar's unspoken words. She gritted her teeth together, her hands curling into fists at her sides, and hardly breathed until Luna had vanished once again.

"And to think," she muttered to herself. "I used to like her. But now she thinks I'm just something that can be fetched, like fruit from the market? How dare she?" Her eyes narrowed as she glared at the spot where Luna had vanished. "I liked her better as a librarian."

Shaking her head, she looked at Rin. "I think you'd better get used to Nightfall's opinion," she said quietly. "I think it's one a lot of people are going to have about the whole Guardian thing. Hell, your own mother thinks it's a bad idea, and she's been dead for what, thousands of years?" She shifted to look back out over the water. "They--we--care about you," she said softly. "We don't want you to be hurt. And this...this is going to hurt you, whether it's now or a thousand years from now. What difference does the time make, if it's going to happen anyway? You shouldn't put so little value on your own soul." She sighed, traced meaningless patters in the sand with one finger, and then added in what was just a breath louder than a whisper, "It's never been easy here, has it? I can't remember, but...I guess I just know, somehow. It's one of those things you just kind of feel, you know?" She shook her head again, brushed her hand off against her pants as she pulled her feet away from the water and yanked her socks and boots back on, standing. "You should probably go see what she wants," she said. "I don't want you to get in trouble or anything... She didn't exactly seem pleased." She glanced back out over the water and muttered a very foul word that Ari would have approved of greatly, and that Raye would have never dreamed of using in reference to Luna until now.

"I think I'm going to stay at the Green Dragon," she said, looking back at him. "At least until Ari calms down enough to get the snow out of my house. I can't imagine sleeping there would be very comfortable right now. I plan on staying far away from her until she gets a hold of herself. So, I guess I'll be at the Tavern, if Luna doesn't send you off again. And if it helps at all...you can tell her I didn't want the necklace. It's true, after all; you did try to give it to me." She reached up, laid her palm along his cheek. "Rin..." She wasn't sure what she wanted to say, how to put the mess of feelings swirling inside her into the words. It was all so confusing, so tangled, that she had no idea how to handle it, no idea what she was supposed to say, or do. So she just sighed again, leaned up and kissed him, briefly, and then wrapped her arms around him in a hug, clinging as if she would never see him again--because for all she knew, she never would. "Please be careful," she whispered up to him. "I'll be here, whenever you get back--whether it's in an hour or a year." She slowly pulled away, gave him a strained smile. "I mean, my travel options are kind of limited. I don't think the train is going to show up on Noctemia any time soon." She swallowed, gave him another smile, though it was a sad one, and turned away, heading back toward the town, her hands shoved into her pockets and head bowed, her staff bumping against the back of her legs with every step.

She passed a few people she knew, one of whom invited her to go along to some sort of bobsled race in which people were competing to move around pieces of the course before the racers got there, but she just shook her head, continuing back to the Tavern, waving to a few people there, and heading up the stairs to find an empty room, because she wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone.  

[KeyJester]

[Current Location ~ The shores of Noctem Town]

Rin just closed his eyes, fighting to keep the anger and the frustration inside, then opened them again and looked at Raye as she spoke to him. He didn't answer her - what could he say, anyway? - and as she stood and she put her hand on his cheek, he had to close his eyes again, fearing that he would break if he looked into her eyes. Then she kissed him - it was just a brief one, but it silenced the pulse inside him for a moment - and wrapped her hands around him, and he pulled her close, holding her tightly as if fearing that letting go would end the world. And then she was gone, and he just stood there for a long time, staring at the ocean, fighting back the tears.

Then the darkness swallowed him, and he was gone.

~

[Current Location ~ The Green Dragon Tavern and Inn]

Nightfall was just finished serving a couple of newcommers and was carrying some dirty glasses back into the kitchen when she stopped in the doorway as she saw Rin sitting on one of the chairs, head in his hands, and she shook her head as she put the glasses down and walked over to him. "Another mission...?" She got no reply, and she sighed as she crouched down in front of him, resting her hands on her knees. "And it's a bad one." He finally looked up and leaned back and propped his arm on the armrest, leaning on his hand as he just stared out in the room, a look of frustration and pain in his eyes. "She's acting strange."

Nightfall blinked, then frowned as she cocked her head to the side. "Noctemia?" He just nodded, and Nightfall got to her feet and grabbed a chair so she could sit down properly. "What do you mean?"

He sighed, and for a moment he looked so horribly exhausted and lost. "She's been strict, these past couple of years, sure, but not like this. Not cruel. Not demanding things of me that she knows will hurt me." His jaw clenched, and he just kept staring in front of him as Nightfall frowned. "She's hurting you?"

He finally looked at her, and the frustration she read in his eyes made her heart ache. "Oh, Rin... Why did you do this in the first place? Why did you have to go and swear your soul to her like this?" He closed his eyes, rubbing his forehead. "Aya... Please, don't."

She bit her lip - she really didn't want to push him, especially now that he was so obviously close to a breaking point - then took a deep breath and continued speaking. "I know you don't want to argue about it, but it bothers me. And it hurts me. And I'm not just talking about what this'll do to your soul, eventually. I'm talking about how we, the people that love you, have to sit here and watch you come and go, never aging a single day while we grow old and die. Can't you see how much that'll hurt us..?" She nearly choked on her words, and she had to swallow before continuing. "Have you even told Raye? Does she even know what you being a Guardian means? What it'll mean to you, to her, and to your relationship?"

She looked at him, and she could see that her words were hurting him, and she swallowed as she looked down, finishing with a low voice. "She deserves to know, Rin." There was a long moment of silence, then he got to his feet and headed out of the kitchen without a word, and Nightfall just sighed as she leaned back in her chair. "Nothing's ever easy, when it comes to you..."

Rin headed up to the second floor, pausing on at the top of the stairs to figure out which room Raye was in, then continued walking as he made it over to her door, knocking on it. "Raye... It's me." He leaned on the doorframe as he waited, then looked at her as she finally opened the door. "We need to talk." To even have to say those words just completely broke him, but he swallowed and made it inside, sitting down on a chair and leaning on his knees, braiding his fingers as he looked down on the floor.

He sat like that in silence for a long time, just searching for words that were hiding, fearing to be spoken, before he finally managed to speak. "She's sending me on another mission, away from here. And I... I can't refuse. It's part of being a Guardian - you have to follow orders." He swallowed again as he gritted his teeth, trying to fight the frustration inside him. "But there's more to being a Guardian than just that, and..." He trailed off, closing his eyes, wishing with every part of him that he was somewhere else, and that he didn't have to do this - that he didn't have to tell her.

"Becoming a Guardian severs your ties to death." He opened his eyes and looked up at her. "I literally can't die. Ever." Then he looked down again, and he had to force his words out. "And I won't age. Ever."  

[Renaissance Phoenix]

Raye was half-asleep when Rin knocked at her door, being as the previous night hadn't been all that restful, what with the chaos of Ari and Noct and exploding hotels and such. She stumbled out of bed and swung the door open, standing aside so he could come in and then pushing the door shut behind him, going back to the bed and sitting on it, her legs pulled up underneath her. Her heart had started pounding the minute he'd said they needed to talk, and it only got worse as he started talking, until she could barely hear him over the thundering in her ears. She'd known some of the stuff about him being a Guardian, but she'd though, maybe, there was a way around it, something they could do to change it, to make it easier, to get out of it, and now...now it didn't seem like that was the case. He had, quite literally, sold his soul, and now she was seeing the full implications of what that would mean for him--for her--for them. We should never have come back. That was her only thought for a long time, echoing in her head, over and over again, as if staying away from Noctemia could have made this better, could have avoided it all. She shook her head, squeezed her eyes shut, denied it with every fiber of her being. "No. No." Her head spun, her heart pounded, she suddenly couldn't breathe, because what it all meant was slamming down on her, all at once.

He was leaving again, already. They hadn't even been there a full day's worth of time, and he was leaving again, and there was no clue when he would be back. And he couldn't die, couldn't age-- She gasped for breath, scrambling backwards across the bed until her back was pressed against the wall. And she--she was still human. She would age. She would die. And she was stuck, trapped on Noctemia for the rest of her life, because she couldn't leave, didn't have the ability, would have to watch him come and go, never aging as she did, as she got old, and died, and then she'd be stuck in the afterlife again, just as cold and dark and lonely as before because he would never die and she would, and-- "No." She opened her eyes, looked at him, pleading silently, hoping he would say he didn't mean it, that it had all been some terrible misunderstanding, that it wasn't true, none of it--but he didn't. Because it wasn't a misunderstanding. It was true. And there was nothing she could do to escape it, or change it. She was just as trapped as he was. And suddenly the rest of her life unfurled in front of her, the agony of always being left behind, of seeing him go on without her, because what else could happen--

Ari. It was an unspoken cry, but it echoed across the Isle, stopped Ari in her pacing and fuming in Raye's house because of the sheer agony in it. In an instant, all of the snow melted, the ice disappeared, the chill vanished--and so did Ari, reappearing an instant later in Raye's room at the Green Dragon. Her eyes darted from Raye to Rin and back again, knowing that something was wrong, terribly so, but she didn't know what. "Raye, what--"

"Take me home," Raye whispered, squeezing her eyes shut, because she couldn't look at him, couldn't see him and know-- "Please."

"To your house?" Ari asked, her stomach dropping, because she knew it wasn't the house Raye wanted to go to. She didn't know why Raye was asking this now after refusing to go back for so long, but--

"No. To Zemure. Ari--" But she didn't finish her sentence, instead just clapped a hand over her mouth to restrain a sob. Shadows dripped from her fingertips, began to ooze from under her eyelids as she cried.

Ari sent a panicked glance at Rin, knowing this wouldn't go well. "Raye, please, think about this, don't--"

"Now. Please."

And Ari sent one last, helpless glance at Rin, not even sure if he saw it, before she closed her hand around Raye's arm and they disappeared--and a single, stoneless ring on a chain fell to the bed, shimmering in the dim light, left behind.  

[KeyJester]

He gritted his teeth, staring at the floor, and with every ounce of his being he wished it all to go away. The pain, the frustration, the Bond to Noctemia, the things that kept hurting her - he wanted them all to disappear! He didn't even dare look up - she was so silent - and he just sat there, completely paralyzed by the feelings inside him.

"No. No."

He squeezed his eyes shut - oh, gods above, how he wished he could shut everything out - as he heard her voice, and he could hardly breathe as he felt the pulse inside him slam against his insides, and his soul screamed - his entire existence screamed.

"No."

He couldn't look at her. Oh, he wanted to go to her side, take her in his arms, tell her it was going to be okay, that they'd fix things, that it would all work out in the end - but it would all be lies. How could this ever be okay? How could he fix things, when he couldn't even get himself to look at her? He jolted at the sound of Ari's voice, and he opened his eyes again and was about to look up as he completely froze, everything inside him suddenly going numb.

"Take me home, please."

No.

The pulse slammed against him again, and he couldn't breathe, couldn't move, and his eyes held a horrified expression to them as he realized the meaning behind Raye's plea. He looked at her - it took all of his strength to force himself to do so - the fear and the despair so clear in his eyes, and he just stared at her.

No.

"Raye, please, don't..."

He barely even breathed the words, staring at her, fear clutching his heart, and he choked as he couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't think - and she was gone.

He stared at the spot where she had been sitting, and a strange silence fell over him, over the room, over his soul, and for a moment or two he could've been dead, and there would be no difference. Then the pulse sounded, slamming against him, and his vision blurred - gods above, he couldn't breathe! - and then he screamed.

The sound was inhuman, and he fell to the floor, gasping for breath as everything inside him pulsated, and the darkness started pouring out of him, along with something else - something far beyond any kind of magic. It swirled around him, moving at the beat of the pulse from within, and he could no longer think, or feel, as the world started spinning around and the blue in his eyes spread out and covered every single part of the white. One thought - one tiny, singular thought - escaped him as he finally let go and fell into the darkness, letting it take his consciousness.

I can't lose you.


Nightfall's head snapped up as she heard the scream coming from above, and without hesitation she jumped over the counter and made it up the stairs, completely ignoring the worried mumbles from the tavern guests. She burst through the door to Raye's room, then stumbled back in shock as she took in the sight of the creature before her as it took up nearly all the space in the room. It's large, slender body was covered in short, black fur, and reminded of a strange, but beautiful, mix between a lion and a wolf - almost like a narakin in shape - and it's massive dragon-like head was covered in dark blue scales that glowed like it's sapphire-blue eyes. The tail - a strange mix of a lion's tail and a dragon's tail - crushed the furniture as it lightly flicked to the side, not having enough room to move, and dark, blue feathers flurred around the room from the wings sprouting from its back.

"Oh, by the goddesses..." She breathed out as she backed away until her back hit the wall on the opposite side of the door, and she flinched and covered her ears as the creature let a roar unlike anything she had ever heard before. Then something caught its eyes - something shimmering like silver - on the bed, and the creature lunged forward, its massive jaws crushing the entire bed as it bit around it, and then it moved around and burst through the entire wall, spreading its wings and sending feathers flying in all directions as it took to the dark skies of Noctemia.