Welcome to Gaia! ::

While Seishin was just starting to relax, having seen ths portal didn't bring anything through, it seemed that Rhone had the urge to touch something the hybrid hadn't noticed. He was more or less focused on what he would have done if there had been a threat. As Rhone touched whatever it was he touched, Seishin was blinded suddenly and jumped back. He reacted on instinct, tethering with Kratos just long enough to shift into his birth form, before the connection was broken. It was a silent event, and with the issue with what Rhone had done, Seishin doubted they were paying much attention to him. Not that Seishin himself cared. He wasn't sure if they were being threatened, but the feeling made Seishin uneasy. If there was a threat, at least he'd be able to clamp down on it with his jaw or scratch it with his claws.

Location:Meltokio
Currently With: Seras, Emil, Sesshomaru, Rin

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Aeris blinked for a moment when Emil mentioned about one of his friends is currently the chief of this Mizuho. "That's interesting to know. One of my friends is a ninja too, though she kinda has this obsession over Materia." She said with a sheepish expression. As she went about to heal Sesshomaru, she didn't expect what would happen next. Her rod was knocked away and the silver-haired male was ready to attack her. Her emerald green eyes widen as she braced herself for the attack. Thankfully, Rin had managed to stop Sesshomaru before he could harm her. She gave a slight nod to Emil when he asked if she was alright. "Yeah, I'll be alright." She was quite shocked to see anyone have such a negative reaction toward magic, especially since she was used to everyone using Materia quite often where she was from.

Glancing over to Rin, she gently took her rod as the little girl returned it to her. She then shook her head slightly. "Don't worry, I'm not angry with him. I'm just surprised really. I've never seen anyone react like that with magic before. I don't suppose he's okay with using Potions or Hi-Potions, right? They're commonly used in my world." She said with a small smile. Reaching into the pocket of her red jacket, she would take out the blue orb she removed from her rod earlier and would place it back into its slot that seemed to be linked with one of the green orbs. There was also a greenish orb that she kept tied onto her pink ribbon. She then glanced over to Sesshomaru. "I didn't mean to get you worked up like that...Sesshomaru, was it? I'll keep it in mind not to use magic on you next time." ^.^;





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Location: Sybak
Currently With: Cross, Mamizou, Elize

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Tear gave a nod to both Elize and Mamizou as they agreed with keeping a low profile. As they made their way to the library, Tear took a moment to look around at the city until they entered the library. The Melodist watched Mamizou speak with whom she assumed to be the librarian at the counter.

"You're more than welcomed to use any of the books here. I do hope you'll find what you need." The librarian said with a friendly smile on her face.

"Thank you." Tear said to the librarian just before Mamizou mention where they should start. Cross then made the suggestion about looking for something that contained recent events. "That would be a good idea. As for a map, we could use the one I picked up from the item shop." She took a moment to look around as she went over to one of the bookshelves to begin her search. Not only searching for something regarding the corrupted areas the researcher told them about, but also something regarding mana as well. Afterall, what use are her own artes if she's unable to use them?





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Location: Gaoracchia Forest
Currently With: Himself (Crow, Richard, Zelos are nearby)

Remaining where he was on the tree limb, Hiei listened in as the two men were joined by a red-haired male. For a moment, it had him think about a certain fox demon, who is a redhead in his human body. Of course, the fire demon didn't sense any demonic energy coming from the redhead among the trio. The spiritual energy he was picking up from him was like that of a human, yet there was something different about him. Did he possess Sacred Energy like Sensui and Yusuke? He may have to keep it in mind if he were to face him in battle.

However, he didn't feel the need to fight. Least not at the moment unless if the redhead as well as the other two men and the fox were to get in his way. As he listened in on their conversation, the redhead had mentioned places he had never heard of before. Sybak? Sylvarant? Ozette? He definitely knew that those weren't places in Demon World that's for sure. It was safe to assume that he may have ended up in an unfamiliar area of the Human World. The mention of shadows had caught the three-eyed demon's attention. He could assume that those shadows could be what he was sensing in the forest.

It was then he noticed the fox creature staring up at the trees, toward his direction. He narrowed his red eyes as he gazed at the creature. If the creature tried to attack, he won't hesitate to make a move of his own. However, it would seem that the blonde human didn't notice him when he looked up at the trees as well. It was really no surprise to Hiei. Not many humans could even detect the presence of demons, even ones that are in disguise. Usually humans with a high spiritual awareness are capable of sensing spiritual or demonic presences.

As they watched Arianna tend to the Riolu, as she called it, Natalia's attention was caught by Sophie's question. Looking at Arlin, she held her hand out and Arlin gave the map to her. Opening it, she looked it over. "...Well, looks like the closest town we can get to by foot or horse is Asgard, but we can take a ship to another town. Looks like the ships here go to all the ports they have. Closest port is in a town called Izood." Arlin looked at the map, noticing for the first time there was an X near a mountain on the west side of the map. Wonder what that is. Some sort of treasure or something? Weird.






Hubert nodded to the girl before looking at Pascal and Serenity. "Alright. Be careful, you two." Hubert rushed from the inn and looked around. He didn't see Gaius immediately, though he saw their recent visitor trying to get people out of town safely. He still didn't know what was going on. Before he could try and think it through, he heard a scream and looked over. There was some sort of ghost entity that had a woman backing into the large ravine. Hubert shot the monster with Flare Shot to get it away from her before grabbing her arm to stop her from falling. "Quickly. Go." "Thank you." The woman ran off, which allowed him to focus on the monster. He watched as it swayed angrily. At him for foiling it's attack or whatever it was that seemed to have some sort of hold on it, Hubert wasn't sure, but he knew he had to take care of the thing.







Raine had arrived in Sybak with a dead plant from Gaorrachia Forest that was close to the black mass that inhabitted the area. She had taken the soil and roots in a pot as well, wanting to research the phenomenon. However, as she returned to Sybak, the flower had already shown signs of recovery. Almost as if it was waking up from a coma. So, it wasn't just people and animals that recovered. Plants did, too. Though, it was probably because it was only a single flower that it recovered so quickly. "So, if we can eliminate the source of these shadows, then the wildlife and plants should return to normal....Is it too late for the mutated monsters?" Was she sure she checked the archive thoroughly? Maybe she'd check again for some sort of clue. Walking to the library, Raine walked in and greeted the librarian before heading to the shelves, setting the potted flower down on the nearby table. There was a long-haired woman nearby, who also seemed to be looking for research material. She wasn't a half-elf, though, or one of the humans that lived in Sybak. She probably came from one of the other cities.

"Y'okay!" Pascal gave Hubert a cheerful wink before he left. In her experience, it's best to give people positive encouragement before they face adversity. With her trusty Shotstaff in tow, she lent her shoulder to Serenity and helped her out of the inn. That was the easy part. Throngs of panicked citizens rushed by, fleeing the swathe of Ghosts and Slimes. She fired onto the encroaching monsters with Star Crusher and Freezing Bloom, keeping the monsters far away from the townspeople, Serenity and herself. A few rushed words of thanks were heard over the drowning footsteps and screams of the people. Keeping the pace, she helped Serenity reach the exit of the town while sniping down some unwanted Ghosts. "These guys don't know when to quit! But at least we made-" As soon as they stepped outside the town, a flock of cockatrices began to attack the citizens. "Ah, bananas . . . Round and round it spins, twirly twirl! Maelstrom!" A mighty whirlpool scatters the monsters away, leaving them vulnerable to another attack. "Punishing flames, it's I.P time! Infernal Prison!" The last of her artes burned the soaked cockatrices to a crisp. With them out of the way, she looked for a safe spot for Serenity and the townsfolk to hide. Unbeknownst to her, a malicious trio of velocidragons were eyeing them from afar.

OOC: Sorry for spamming Pascal's incantations.
I thought it was a good time for her to showcase her artes.

It had been two days since Alvin had arrived in Sharilton, acting as lead-and-bodyguard for one of the caravans he and Yurgen had been running between Rieze Maxia and Elympios. Two days since he'd been about to check into the Sharilton inn, and caught a flash through the window of what he assumed was an open temporal rift, and a very familiar pink skirt disappearing into it.

"Elize? -- !" The name caught in his throat as the rift slid shut, faster than the doors in an Elympian elevator. s**t. What's she gone and gotten herself into this time?

He finished wrangling for the rooms in three seconds flat, and bit off a few orders to the next-in-command. After scouring the city to prove to himself that Elize wasn't actually here somewhere -- she wasn't -- and looking for any other temporal rifts -- there were none, damn! -- he sighed in soft frustration, rubbed the back of his neck, and muttered "More charity work," to himself. Strangely, he didn't sound angry -- in fact, if anyone had overheard him, the mercenary might have sounded concerned.

There was only one other temporal rift easily accessible that he could think of, and that was at Milla's shrine. Direct flight was faster, but that would mean he'd need a wyvern. He went to collar Yurgen to "borrow" one of the caravan's wyverns. "Business in Nia Khera," he only half-explained. "I'll send it back with Ivar." And there was no arguing with him.

It was a long non-stop flight, but at least it was faster than the week it would have taken him on the boat and then a trek over land to the shrine. He dropped the reins off unceremoniously on the handmaid and wasted no time entering the temporal portal.

Forty-eight hours later, Alvin might have been thinking that this "charity work" was a mistake -- if he wasn't sure that it was entirely serious. He'd hacked, slashed, chopped, and shot his way through the temporal rift, which was full of creatures he'd never seen before -- and the expected exits were nowhere to be seen. He'd had to map the place as he went, trying to figure out where the heck to go next, and silently praying that the exits weren't shut on both sides, when a glimmer of light and what looked like the real world flashed from across the jagged terrain.

He hefted his blade and with renewed determination, went after the next round of monsters between him and that distant exit.


This place was not anywhere he'd been before, the mercenary decided, putting his sword and gun away as he blinked in the bright daylight. That was strange. He'd been over nearly the entire planet, between his mercenary work and last year's adventure. The portal he'd stepped through sealed up behind him with an unpleasant sucking sound, much like he'd been feeling drain at him while he'd been inside the rift. Glad to be rid of that mess ... I think. Now where the hell am I? And where's the spud?

He surveyed the area, looking around for anyone who might be willing to give a "lost traveller" some direction.

All right. The first thing to do was to get his bearings. No sense looking too much like a tourist; that made you vulnerable to every overconfident pickpocket and thug in the neighborhood. Alvin looked around the city he found himself in, and noted that it seemed short on pickpockets and thugs. Hm. On the water, tall buildings that looked academic in nature ... Right. The lowlifes here probably sold cheat sheets for exams.

He wandered briefly into the inn, and bought himself a coffee and a newspaper. This told him several things: one, that his gald -- although it raised an eyebrow or two at the different imprintings -- was good here (that was a relief), two, that the name of the city was Sybak (he'd never heard of it, and that was troublesome), and three, that their coffee here wasn't any better than the coffee in Xian Du.

The murmur of voices throughout the inn had a slightly worried undertone, Alvin thought. It didn't seem to be directed at him, but people overall seemed to be on-edge. He wondered why. The newspaper answered at least part of that question -- reports of leaking miasma and strange shadows at other places he'd never heard of, though not in Sybak yet. That seemed ... ominous. And more troublesome. This place was a lot bigger than it looked. Elize might not even be here.

He put that thought out of his head. It didn't matter. He was here, at any rate, and he didn't have an easy way home. Making sure she was here and safe was the first priority, and getting home was the next. Great planning ahead there, Alvin. Eh, he'd make it up as he went. He always did, anyway.

"So where's the visitor's bureau for this lovely town of yours? If I'm stuck here for a few days, I might as well make the best of it," he asked of the innkeeper, leaning against the counter as if he were just in the mood for a friendly chat. Being a traveling merchant had its perks -- he wasn't exactly lying when he'd told the man he was just passing through.

He was redirected to the library, and after downing the rest of that could-be-better coffee, headed over there to see what he could see.

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(( OOC: Spoiler is just quotes. ))

Big and impressive as the library was, the first thing that grabbed his attention was the small blonde girl with the completely distinctive stuffed toy, gazing up at the shelves upon shelves of books. The wire-tight tension Alvin didn't know he was carrying was suddenly relieved. He wasn't in the wrong place after all, and she seemed safe and unhurt. Lucky me.

"Research for school, princess?" A familiar gloved hand reached over Elize's head, pausing in front of the books as if offering to get one down for her. "You've come a long way for that. Next time, maybe you should tell people where you're going first."

Seeing that he wasn't being followed, Gilgamesh stood awkwardly inside the village gates for a moment before turning back and reuniting with his fellow "red swordsmen." "What's the holdup? It's as if you've never been dimension-hoppin' before! Observe!"

He approached the previously-staggered guard, who did his best to suppress a groan. Gilgamesh clapped him on the back again, though with slightly less force than before. "Hey, bub! Seen any mysterious dungeons hereabouts? Maybe rumored to contain shiny lengths of steel and/or mythril or somethin' that may or may not be a legendary sword?" He moved his face uncomfortably close to the guard's. "Maybe containing an X, lots of calories, and a burr?" He moved closer still. "Basically, what I'm sayin' is that you should tell me where this world's Excalibur is!"

Getting no answer, he backed off, turning to Dart and Lloyd and pointing with a face-up open palm at the guard. "And that's how you get information after hoppin' out of a rift!"




((Are you guys still around?))

Arianna looked over t Natalia and Arlin as the female knight examined the map. Well, she did always want to go on a ship. She always rode on her Water Pokemon when crossing bodies of water. She never really rode a ship. Arianna had boarded a yacht once, but it didn't leave port. "I'm all for Izoold if you guys are interested in going, too. I don't mind where we go."