Welcome to Gaia! ::

When Micha'el awoke, he saw a cloudy, golden and lilac sky above him, iridescent, both beautifully light and dark. He then felt his lungs squeeze, as if he'd forgotten to breath and suddenly took in a gasp and shot upright. As he pushed his body up to a sitting position he felt the mossy stone beneath his hands and noticed the huge floating tree besides him. It looked older than any tree he'd seen before, and a golden light hovered between it and a floating sphere of roots. "Lot-" Micha'el first shouted, looking for the rest of his team and then noticed they were all with him, all suffering the same effects. He then patted at his chest, quickly looking for the water but he was dry, completely dry. "Are you guys alright?" Micha'el asked, and Lottie gave him a node, stretched her back by attempting to touch her tows whilst seated "what even... was that?!" she finished. "Micha'el was right, it was definitely a portal" Aoi mentioned, coming to stand, having a look around the place. Micha'el quickly noticed how they were beside a large mountain range, but they didn't seem very tall. As he stood he then noticed that it was because they were high up in the sky, this entire construction was built way up high. He ran over to the edge, looking down and noticing the familiar tree canopy of Morningsong Forest. Then the penny dropped. There was only one place that stood high up above that forest. "We're at the Archon Promenade of Liu."

Tsuna began speaking out loud her thoughts, clearly, as she stated, this wasn't a mission. Micha'el reassured himself diving off this place was not worth it, from this height he didn't entirely trust his own magic to land them all safely. As he turned he noticed Tsuna near Aoi, tugging her cheek and almost making fun of the girl. Aoi touched her cheek, at first unsure of how to take the comment and gesture. She smiled nonetheless whilst Lottie seemed to shrug it off, excepting Tsuna for what she was these days. Tsuna began to lead the way, explaining they should find some answers, hopefully, towards the larger building. As they passed between the two great stone pillars they crossed a stone bridge to the second platform, it was square, heavily decorated on the floor and half covered in moss once again. In the centre there seemed to be a tree without leaves entirely made out of blue light, as if a hologram, yet somehow real. Lottie glanced over the blue crystal ahead, kept upright by a golden, swirling apparatus. "The Archon's rule over the Aether, and they good, right? So we've nothing to worry about." Lottie said, admiring the two statues on either side of her as she stepped onto the platform. By now Tsuna was already turning left to advance to the next section, where the tall building began. Micha'el nodded, examining the tree made of light. "Liu is the Archon that admires beauty and light, according to the books in Evermoon. I read a few before our mission. She is said to be the most kind and accepting of the remaining three Archons."

As Tsuna approached the slope leading to the next area, orbs of light began to appear around her, floating, twinkling, glowing golden as they delicately came together at the top of the slope. When they came together they condensed into a small spec of light. The light then moulded into a faint outline of a humanoid shape, becoming more visible and showing features like mouth, nose, ears and eyes. The being stood perhaps two or three times taller they they all did, but it's size quickly decreased and it's light woven skin began to burst. Like dust separating from the surface of something underneath the water, the woman's figure revealed skin and clothing. Her eyes glowed golden, without any irises, and parts of her skin seemed to bare lines of light, as if glowing tattoos. But for the most part she seemed human now, though obviously not. A disguise of likeliness Micha'el thought to himself, reciting the words he read from one of the books he mentioned earlier. The Aether, especially their Archon's, donned illusions that made them appear more like them so that they might communicate and accept each other more easily. This, Micha'el knew, was the Aether Archon... Liu.

She took a step forwards, coming to a stop as her body became wrapped with clothes. The light material, covering colours of gold, sunset orange, white, and some faint blues along the seems wrapped her body and arms like the handle of a sword, interwoven layers coming together to fit snug. From her waist came the many layers that flowed down between her legs, and on either side of her thighs the same light, thick fabric came down like the lower half of a trench coat. From her shoulders came a long similiar styled cloak that cascaded over her arms. To finish, her waist, shoulders and crown of her head were decorated with metallic silver and gold feathers, swirls and gemstones. The tiara atop her long golden hair was inserted with a blue crystal, and her golden hair was pulled back into a very large, very long singular braid.

"Mortals of Magic Earth" she greeted, the heel of her boot touching the floor, she then looked down to Tsuna, "I am the Archon Liu, and I have brought you here to my seat of power, not as an enemy, but as allies." She paused, anticipating a comment from Tsuna as the others caught up. The archon seemingly exhaled, blinking slowly as she looked down at them, now matching their height, but from atop the slope whilst the others remained on the middle section. "On behalf of the other Archons, I respectfully ask for you and your kind to leave Otherearth immediately."
"What, why?!" Micha'el suddenly asked. The Archon turned to him and said "Otherearth has remained a secret for over two millennia, and it should have remained that way."
"But it was you who asked Occulas for help, after Lucifial's corruption?"
"No" Liu said, her voice soothing yet assertive. "That was the council of Aetherpolis, and us Archons turned a heads. However, your disturbance on our land is unbalancing the peace we are containing." That was when Tsuna made another comment, obviously noting how the Vardent were running amock, and that all the schools were doing were helping whilst training. But then a voice came from behind them, this one stronger, still feminine, but much more assertive and unforgiving. They all turned and there was a towering purple being, seemingly made of stars and magic. "There are far greater evils beyond that of the Vardent, evils that have wiped the world clean to a slate once already - one that has claimed all Aether... but us." Suddenly, the featureless figure's surface burst, all at once, revealing another Archon. ((Using that image for inspiration, but skin is more life like, and she's more purply and lilac.)) Micha'el could have guessed, there was only one other feminine Archon... Wu, who favoured magic and perception. She shrunk to their size and was not afraid to approach them, stepping closer than Liu had done.

((I'm gonna admit, I'm not sure where i want to go with this, i had an idea but now idk how much i like it, don't be surprised if i change the direction of this later on and retcon some stuff haha xD Still reply though, I'll make it up as i go lol))

Tsuna took it upon herself to get more answers, she seemed to be getting down to the bottom of this whether they liked it or not, and she'd do it in her own way. Micha'el could feel the atmosphere quickly getting heated however as she went on to suggest their fear coming from the recent happenings surrounding the Lich. Wu's eyes seemed to burn more fiercely at Tsuna's first allegations. In a bout of frustration the Archon said "if it is a simple answer you want, then so be it, mortal. We want you three to leave, specifically. The rest we can see out ourselves." But then Tsuna seemed to be ignoring her information, in thought, and then turned back to her, her voice hushed. Wu's eyes narrowed, her eyebrows coming together as Tsuna teased the end of her sentence. Wu stood up straight and pulled away from Tsuna, something igniting behind her eyes, was it anger, hatred? "No" was all Wu had to say on the matter. "The dead are dead and they deserve to be kept that way. You would do well to remember that, or you'll soon fall prey to the Lich's temptations. Which is why you must leave, IMMEDIATELY."
"The Vardent, the Lich" Liu began, attempting to control the situation, she looked then too all the students desperately. "They must not be allowed to exist at the same time, not again. The Vardent, whilst many, are chaotic and uncontrolled. With a leader they become an army. We cannot risk anyone coming into contact with the Lich, not if the enchantments are waning. We can control our people, we cannot control yours. So please... Leave"
"You mean, you can get rid of your own people?" Micha'el asked, the keen sense for justice in his heart pushing himself to speak up. He took a stand beside Tsuna as Liu gave an unfortunate gaze towards them, but Wu answered for the other Archon. From behind them Wu simply said "we can unravel the energy that creates our Aether in an instant, and our reign over Otherearth allows us to eliminate anyone that threatens our existence. Therian, Orc, Star Elf, Sun Elf, one of their lives is worth the continued existence of our world, the world beyond, and all the cosmos. I regret to tell you, headstrong Therian. You can't bring your father back, not less you pull his soul back and shove it in a corpse. Just like necromancy."