Welcome to Gaia! ::

The archmage supposed it made sense. That was the overall plan anyway, to make Barton into a key strategic point to invade the rest of Gaia. They were not made aware of the plan to include Deity at the last minute, however, which resulted in the current conversation. Still, it made the archmage simmer. They had plans of their own in dealing with Barton, but with another entity giving the appearance of being in charge, it would be difficult to execute those plans now. At least, not without a great deal of secrecy.

"The hordes will remain underground then, via the bloodworks, until it is time for the next move," Valas said. "If they continue attacking us, however, we will not be very merciful."

Then he made mention of the obelisk, and how it needs to remain untouched if they were going to provide forces for another attack, because their airship was currently deployed elsewhere and would be unavailable to transport for a while. Informants had already infiltrated Aekea and Durem, both cities which were more or less as undefended as Barton.

"We will await word for the next move. If there is nothing else, I will take my leave."

Unless there was something else to discuss, Valas would vanish and get back to his work.

Prophetas, yo. In the back of her mind, Descant wondered if her voice suddenly popping into Decruda's head was annoying at all. That thought was immediately followed by ~Ha, I wish I could see his face whenever I surprised him.~

...He might actually have heard that one. The one she meant for him to hear was: ~Is there anything else you need me to do here? Drows have the prisoners, the troops have the streets.~

Nice plan. ~I'll be home soon enough.~

And that was it. She had the orders, which would be distributed to the proper channels.

Y'know, there comes a time when the perfection of one's study and research becomes complete and perfect. Especially after robbing facilities of equipment and supplies to make it all possible.

From what was the development of clones became the clones enhanced with the ability of others. And from enhanced clones comes the direct enhancement of a different being altogether through a live genetic splicing.

Of course, there were plenty of horrid side effects from the direct process, but the result was all the same.

So what would happen if the everyday normal people of the world were no longer so ordinary, but was just like every other magic power, fireball throwing, super speed moving, perfect looking, use your brain to move things, take on an entire army by themselves 'meta'?

Suddenly the special people would be special no more.

And what if an organized army was compsed of such people?

The bad man sat at his desk, writing a letter on his 'research'. It was a good practice to keep things recorded and archived right? Not to mention he'd be sending out the information to others later on anyway.

"Haaaaaallllt"

The ghostly voice eminated from the dark tunnels, echoing down the empty corridors before drowning out in the distance.

"What businesssss do you have heeeeere?"

Yup. It was one of them shadowy wraithes, all blocking the progress of the train. Well, technically not blocking since no physical actions were taken or anything, but you get the idea.

"Proccccceeeeeeeeeed."

Hey, just because the undead guardians were around to kill trespassers, didnt mean they did it without discretion. Had to distinguish between friendlies and all that.

Slightly further down the tunnel, there'd be a skeleton with a sign hanging from around its neck. It would read 'Follow me.' Because skeletons can't talk, and the labirynthine tunnels of the keep were rather confusing for those who did not know their way around. It would lead the soldiers towards the treasury.

Deep inside the keep a creature dwelled, a creature that had long been imprisoned, and only now had found its freedom. This being was ancient, older than most of the life forms on Gaia, however it's physical body was not that old, only recently being brought into the material plane. This creature had come to the keep to find peace, and think over important matters, but it seemed that even in this place that the mortals thought was cursed, he could find no salvation.

He could sense Alexander, despite being within what one might call the heart of the ruins. He could feel his very aura, along with that of the wyrm he carried along with him. Perhaps it was some sort of pet, the being had heard that often mortals kept companions in the forms of animals of some sort, it made them feel older, less prone to dying perhaps if they kept around a creature with a shorter life span, however the dragon choice confused the being momentarily, this was not a normal choice for a mortal, to chose a companion which would outlive them one thousand fold.

A silent sigh passed over the delicately featured lips of the entity. He shifted slightly from his pose, which had been sprawled out over a rock. He supposed that he would have to test this mortal, see what metal he was made of. Xevious was hoping that this mortal would run from fear if he heard the slightest noise from deep within the keep, which was why Xevious was going to make a rather large noise.

He rose from his rock, seemingly floating on the air, before turning and coming to a smooth drop to the ground. He raised a hand towards a standing pillar of rock, a crumbling piece of rubble that had once been a corner of some sort of building, and now barely stood, its foundations destroyed somehow. There was a few moments where Xevious did nothing, simply stand there, and then suddenly there was a loud crack, he had found the perfect weak spot to crumble the building fragment from.

Suddenly the fragment was toppling over, and when it fell it produced a cacophony of shattering noises as pieces tumbled away from it, broke on other pieces of ruins, and generally caused mayhem. To top it off, Xevious caused a wave to move through the fog very quickly, giving it the appearence to Alexander that a shockwave had been caused by this fall. If the mortal was astute and brave, or foolish enough, he would be able to follow the wave's source to Xevious.

Xevious was watching and sensing from his viewpoint, he could feel the pair begin to move towards his location. He inhaled deeply, letting the cool misty air fill his lungs. It was rather refreshing if he was honest, to feel the cold water logged air down his passageways, it reminded him that it some things on the material plane were vastly superior to the realm he had previously come from.

As the two approached from up the hill, Xevious began to gently float up towards another pillar of rubble. This one wasn't as top heavy, nor was it as tall. The being floated on the air, as though being pulled by invisible strings. He came to the top of the pillar and gently allowed himself to be placed down up the rock. From there he would wait until Alexander and the dragon were close enough to be called to.