Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hamika decided if she was going to keep up with the times with her stories she had to actually -go- places and not just stay in her room until her jewelry making class. She looked up at the statues and paused. They were cloaked with wings. She pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil and started scribbling down notes about them.

"Tall, cloaked. Out stretched wings.
"Look like priestesses.
"Some do not like me being here. The priestesses, not statues."

Beneath it she drew something that sort of looked like the statue, and then moved on into the temple.

Mitsu had decided to do some exploring of her own though that had left her getting lost between the forge and where she was now. She wished Hel was with her, it was easier getting lost when you had a companion. Her hands clutched nervously at her dress, red eyes scanning the area until it settled on one of the priestesses. Curiously she watched her, following her instruction to come forward and take a seat. At first Mitsu hesitated, worried that letting her mind wander at this time would be a bad idea. Meditation hadn’t gone very well after all. She only relived the nightmares she had been having recently. Still, she did as she was told, her eyes blinking for a moment as she tried to calm her nerves.

The lycan wasn’t certain when reality shifted into what it was now. One moment she was staring at the priestess and one long blink later she opened her eyes to find a mirror in front of her. The call to approach it was great though Mitsu couldn’t explain why. Her fingers outstretched to touch the smooth surface of glass and as soon as they made contact the scene shifted. Color bloomed from the point of her touch and Mitsu watched in deep fascination as it seemed to paint a picture in the mirror. A very beautiful throne room. The floors and walls were made of polished cobble stones of various colors, laid out in intricate patterns. Tapestries hung from the high ceiling with symbols she didn’t quite recognize though she felt she had seen them before. Perhaps in a book?

Large paintings covered the walls between tapestries, portraits and elaborate scenery that looked like it was out of a fairy tale. The soft light from large candles illuminated everything in the room as well as the people that were suddenly filing in through the door. There were so many of them dressed in fine clothing and some in armor.

“My Liege?”

Mitsu was startled by the sudden voice whirling around to find that this beautiful throne room was not just a picture within a mirror but a reflection of the room she was in. How had she gotten here?

“My…Liege?”

It took a moment for Mitsu to realize the voice was addressing her. No one had given her such a title before. Confused eyes finally found the tall man looking down at her curiously as if unsure what to make of her expression.

“My Liege is everything alright?”

“L…Liege?” Why was he calling her that? As if the mirror would hold her answers Mitsu looked back toward it only to find her own reflection to be quite different than she remembered. Dressed in long flowing robes she looked older, wiser, and quite possibly stronger than she was now. Her stance said she knew no bounds to confidence and she was one to be trifled with. “Y..yes I’m fine.” Mitsu finally muttered hoping that answer would suffice until she figured out what was going on.

“If my Liege says so.” The man bowed then but did not move away. “We are at your service, My Liege. Please tell us our next move.”

“Our…next move?” Mitsu was baffled then, how was she supposed to give orders when she had no idea what was going on. Curiously she moved away from her current position only to realize she had been seated at a throne. She descended the steps from her elevated seat, bare feet gliding across the smooth carpet that lead from the door down the center of the room and to the throne. She veered off course once she reached flat ground and headed toward the window to look out.

The scene before her was more vast than the paintings that decorated the walls. A city in the middle of the forest. Buildings were made in the trees and while it still held the look of the wild it was structured and orderly. Everything had a purpose and nothing was overdone. As her eyes swept downward, the heights choking her a little bit, she noticed the large group of people gathered just below her. They were dressed in fine clothes, bits of armor peeking out from between shrouds of cloth just like the ones in the room with her now. All of them appeared to be waiting, staring at the lycan expectantly.

“At your order,” The man from before said, stepping up behind Mitsu.

“My…order.” So these were…her people? Her army? “Tell me…what has happened so far?” Maybe that would give her a better idea, though she doubted it. At this point Mitsu would be leading these poor people blind and she was by no means a figure head. While a part of her wanted to fall into this role and take charge the rest of her being wanted her to curl up in a little ball and hide.

The man, her advisor Mitsu determined, looked at her curiously but nodded and began to relay what had happened thus far. “The troops just returned from the Forgotten City, it seems they found a few refugees there and some survivors from the fall.”

Mitsu had no idea what that meant but nodded. “I see. Make sure they are tended to.” She hoped that was a decent order. “Is there…anything else?”

“We are waiting for command, My Liege, to know if now is the right time to claim the city as our own. If we do not move quickly our neighboring kingdom could very well take it out from under our nose and thus expand their territory closer to ours. Also, the refugees. Shouldn’t they be executed?” It was like he was trying to help Mitsu along, prompting her on the best course of action.

Instead Mitsu froze her lips moving to mimic the word 'execute' with a questioning look but the word never managed to leave her lips. Panic started to well up but the lycan held it together. She was a leader right? Or supposed to be. She couldn’t be weak. “No!” The command was a little louder than intended but Mitsu cleared her throat after taking a calming breath and tried again. “No, do nothing of the sort at the moment. Tend to them, care for them for now until I decide otherwise. They are our guests and could possibly hold information.” She hoped that was a good enough reason to keep them alive until she figured out another plan.

“As…My Liege wishes,” The man seemed confused but left it at that. “And the Forgotten City?”

Mitsu hesitated again. She wasn’t sure how to answer but what harm would there be? It sounded abandoned. “Ready your troops to depart.” She said simply.

“Yes, My Liege.” That seemed satisfactory, the man smiled as he bowed and took his leave. Mitsu stared after him for a moment before looking back over the scene before her watching twilight fade in the distance. A number of things were running through her head, mostly that she wish Shun was here. He would be a much more capable leader or at least would have a better idea of what to say….though she worried he would have just agreed to executing the refugees without learning about them first. Sighing, Mitsu rested her head against the window frame wondering how she was going to pull this off.

WC: 1228
+3 Horseman points

Aurian's eyes were darting wildly around the temple as she strove to calm down. That had been... unnerving. And just a - well, not a dream, she frowned. A vision? What had the priestess said... a "possibility", a potential future.

Aurian wasn't sure if that was a future she wanted or not. Or how she would even go about creating or avoiding such a future, assuming she could decide one way or the other.

It could have been much worse, she supposed.

Lost in her head, she didn't notice someone walking up behind her until a hand pressed gently against her shoulder. "You were quite lucky, I suppose," a soft voice said in Aurian's ear. "Trances .. Delightful, wasn't it?"

Whirling, Aurian stared after the figure. "Um, yes, thank you?" she said, probably too late as the Clansghoul disappeared. They'd never met before, but Aurian loved the rumour-mill and it ran wild about a group of four visitors, one of whom matched that description.

Aurian was either very honoured or about to faint. Maybe a little of both.

"Who was that?" a ghoul next to Aurian who'd also been touched by the stranger asked.

Aurian turned her wide eyes onto her fellow student, who looked just as shocked by the day's events as Aurian felt. "I'm not entirely sure... but I think that might be the Heir." Standing in a temple of the Clan that they were in, Aurian didn't feel it necessary to specify which Heir. Besides, Aurian hadn't said an Heir, she'd said the Heir. For a Reaper like herself, there was always going to be one that rose above the rest.

"I think I might head back to the dorms and rest for a while," Aurian decided. She was still feeling off-balance from the Trance vision. Maybe a short nap would help put her to rights again. Or at least give her dreams that didn't involve war and somehow-unrecognisable friends.

For a temple, this place had given her far more excitement than she'd expected. Nothing was going to top that, or the brief visit from Aisa, Aurian thought. Best to retire gracefully before the day got worse somehow.

"I'll catch up with you later," she told Lacie and Mai. She studiously avoided meeting Mai's eyes, but had no problems with her fellow Reaper. Fighting a blush, Aurian walked briskly out of the temple.


[[ Exiting ]]

Angenora snapped out of her trance with tired eyes. She slowly rose to her feet, wondering what had happened. She shook her head lightly before heading off back to the dorm rooms.

[[exit]]

As he walked away from the main group and their trance, Israfel was trying to think back to the vision. He could be a queen king. Rule his own flock. Have a harem. A thing that only the most powerful of his kind, of his gender could ever hope or dream of having. But did he want it? Not really. The thought scared him. He was not a good leader. People never listened to him. (Though they usually had a good reason not to).

Blue eyes ran across the room and traced the images with his eyes. Candles flickered in the light brushed of wind and he traced the flames and how the forms lines and curves and shapes. It was nice. It was nice to watch the flames glittering.