Another Horizon IC

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"I'll kill you," Ashe said, then repeated. Over, and over again. The low, primal growl had become a war bellow. A mass audio assault, as all senses were lost, replaced by the singular urge to kill, even as she and her friend were dragged back to their cell by the ghostly hands.

In her right mind, Ashe wouldn't have known why she was acting the way she was. In her right mind, she would have realized that she was acting no better than a common beast; a beast to be preyed upon, as the vampire wished.

She was dragged back, and had she the sense to, she would have noticed that some of the fellow prisoners were now awake. Awake and glaring at the both of them. She didn't care. She wanted death, and wore the look of it; blood splattered, arm missing, and the hollow eyes of a sociopath.

"I'll kill you," Ashe said, then repeated. Over and over again. Just loud enough for her ramblings to be heard by the entire room.
 
Alexa cursed furiously as the ethereal limbs dragged her and Ashe back to the cell, where some of the other captured women were beginning to stir. Now they were doubly fucked. She still lacked a sword, and now Ashe's runetech arm was gone. Plus, their captor was on to them. At this point, escape was looking damn near impossible.

Looking over to Ashe, Alexa found herself peturbed at her friend's state. Worried, she tapped Ashe lightly on the shoulder. "...Ashe? Ashe, come on. Talk to me."

___

Fion shook his head. "If you what you say is true, the woman gave birth around the age of ten. Not even the nobles or the rich consummate their marriages that young." He paused. "Well, unless they were some sick, sick deviants...I probably shouldn't be talking while I'm seeing someone nearly ten years my younger."

Shaking his head, he turned back to the profile as something clicked in his head. "Wait..." Fion muttered to himself, rubbing his chin as the dots connected. "The Rocco woman arrived from Astopol four days ago. So did Ellenil Esprit." He turned back to Aresia, wrapping his cloak around himself. "Right, the way I see it here is that we've got two options: Ericsson and Esprit. We'll save time if we split up to question them and meet back up later. You can pick which one you go after, but I'm thinking that you'll have an easier time with Ericsson. Or rather, you'll have a harder time getting in to see Esprit, while that's easier for me." He shrugged nonchalantly. "But if you want to try your luck with Esprit, go ahead. Your call."
 
Never Again feat. Araki, Charlotte, and Shizuka​
"Well," Shizuka started, taking charge of the situation for the moment. "Araki can go investigate the rooftops. He seems comfortable up there and if he was there recently, he might notice things we wouldn't. Charlotte, you and I can start asking around at street level and see if anyone heard or saw anything."

"Hmm," mused Charlotte, over her drink. "Asking in the streets would probably be a fool's errand. There's a lot of missing people. What could move or store a bunch of kidnapped girls?"

"Well, that would depend on who's doing it, how many people they have, and so-on." Shizuka considered things for a bit. "Actually, it might be good to start by going over what you experienced. That could help us narrow down when and how Alexa was taken. Start from where you last saw her, and explain everything that happened after as best you can."

"If you say that, well…" Charlotte thought back to the events of last night. "I was woken up by something prowling around outside. It's been happening for a while. I woke Aresia the maid, but Alexa was too drunk to respond. We couldn't find anything, but the search ended up in a vampire attack, so to say." She wasn't really up to talking about Raela yet. "Of course, we all woke up to mass vampire attacks. It might make sense to correlate the stalkers and the vampires, but I don't see solid evidence tying anything together."

"So you were all together during the attacks? Or did the two of you leave Alexa unattended? Were there any signs of a struggle? Was it possible that she left voluntarily, or would she have to be carried out?" Shizuka put forth more questions to narrow down what might have happened. At the very least, the better their picture of things, the more they'd have to go off on, particularly if asking after unusual events.

"We… left her drunk and asleep with the window open," replied Charlotte, sheepishly.

"Then we really don't have anything to go on, unless you noticed anything amiss beyond Alexa's disappearance when you returned to the room." Shizuka sighed. Unless someone else spotted someone or something unusual, they didn't have much of a lead.

Araki had sat back down to finish the rest of his tea, albeit he didn't seem to be in a real hurry given he sipped away at in silence. He finally found his voice apparently after he set the empty cup on the desk. "I think any witnesses were the ones killed off. It seems completely random otherwise," he murmured.

"They'll probably have taken an airship out sometime during the night. There's no way they could depart with the situation as is, and if they're still in the city with the Astopolians on their way then they must have some insurance. Good enough that we can't do anything about it." The picture he painted for himself made sense in his head, but he spoke it out to see if the other two had anything to say on it.

"I was thinking of asking some people from the Fight Club if they knew anything. Not that they're suspicious or bad folk," he stammered, not wanting either of them to get a bad view of the organization. "I'll see if there's anything I can notice from the rooftops on my way."

Shizuka nodded, and went back to sipping her own tea. If Araki was right, then the kidnappers had either skipped town or really hunkered down. Either way, it would be difficult to find them. They definitely needed a break of some kind.

Well, the other two didn't seem to have any objections with his course of action, so Araki walked over to the window sill and hopped on. A quick glance at the building's surroundings and he turned back to the two to say, "I'll wait here afterwards." He then leapt towards the neighboring rooftop, and quickly moved on from that towards the building that housed the Fight Club at nights.
He moved quick, stayed low, but kept his eyes for any signs of damage on the nearby rooftops. Unsurprisingly, despite how easy it was to damage the tiles and what not if one didn't have experience, if there had been any mishaps the culprits had covered their tracks well. It only took him a few minutes of quickly skirting over rooftops to drop down into the alley next to the bar.

A knock on the back door had it opened in short order and Araki could hardly fault the owner's look of suspicion. The rumors flowed and this establishment was certainly entwined with the grapevines. Before he could say anything though, the man stepped aside and opened the door further to allow him entry. A blink of surprise prompted the man to sigh and say, "Just do what you came here to." He blinked once more in response to that before he bowed slightly, hurried inside the empty bar, and down the stairs.

…

It didn't take long for Araki to hurry up back up the stairs, though how successful he had been might have been questionable given the troubled expression he had. Nonetheless he bowed to the building's owner once more before he slipped outside and back onto the rooftops. With no trouble in sight, he began to make his way back towards the inn, hoping Charlotte or Shizuka had also been successful in their search for information.
Shizuka finished her tea, and stood up. "Well, shall we go ask around?" She didn't wait for Charlotte before she headed downstairs. They could split up to cover more ground, anyway.

Charlotte nodded, downing the rest of the drink a few moments later. "Lets."

Shizuka made her way down to the street along with Charlotte, and gestured to the other girl. "Let's split up here. I'll go one way, you can go the other. We can cover more ground that way." She at least waited for Charlotte's response before just enacting her plan.

"Right," she replied, mentally listing the places that she ought to check. "I'll see what I can't dig up from the relations I have."

"Good. We'll meet back here, later." Shizuka didn't have as many useful contacts, but she left to start asking around and see what she could turn up.
He arrived back to an empty room and, with nothing else to really do, took a seat by the table. There was still a bit of tea leftover, so he naturally decided to pour himself another cup and sip on it while he waited for the other two to return. When they did return though, Araki relayed what he learned from those that had chosen to seek refuge at the Fight Club. How there had been an airship that left yesterday despite the city-wide holiday, and how it was apparently bound for the city of Yuimas in Illiserev. He also mentioned the apparent acts of vigilantism by some people, mostly for Charlotte's benefit. It wasn't unlikely that some of them might target him and her given their involvement with last night's events.

Charlotte returned shortly after Araki, having made a round of her contacts in the merchant's quarter of the city. She'd gleaned a bit of useful information talking to the more in-the-know individuals, finding out that all airships were grounded, but caravans could freely move. Curiously, a tea shop owner that she was familiar with saw an airship in the sky despite the grounding order; it was strikingly close to being a derelict, too. The traveling merchants had a bit to say as well, although it was more bitter news in the form of gossip about her family and company. It seemed that Enemy Number One had expanded their airship fleet, but his intentions were doing so seemed to be under seal.

Curious information, if that. She did have to wonder if that airship was connected with the company, but… It seemed the priority was to get more information on that rogue vessel now.

Shizuka couldn't bring much useful for her own investigations. Several people had spotted a figure who seemed to melt with the shadows and was spotted clearly standing on the clock tower the previous night, but they could be unrelated. Descriptions did suggest a possible vampire, or at least someone using some form of strange magic. She had to agree that the airship was the most likely lead, and far more immediately suspicious to begin with. Following it would be a difficult matter, particularly as a ship leaving under such conditions probably didn't leave a record of where it was heading. And if they had to travel on foot, the ship had quite the lead already.

Ultimately though with no other lead, Araki suggested that they follow the airship to its destination, as best as they could. He couldn't stay in Cykes for much longer anyways and didn't have much plans for the future in mind anyways.
 
Aresia nodded. "Alright, I'll see Ericsson then." While the things these facts sure seemed bizarre, the maid butler was still failing to see how exactly it should help her in finding her master.

Nonetheless, considering that she had no other lead to follow, there wasn't much to choose. And who knew, maybe they would reveal some sort of conspiracy? Not like she cared about that though, all that mattered was getting back Alexa and, to an extent, the mother of the boy.

After making sure she got directions for his work- and living place as well as a place they would meet up again the maid butler made haste towards the marketplace.

Bounding from rooftop to rooftop, the maid butler avoided much of the scuffles that broke out in the streets below, as civilians and students spat out harsh words and accusations. It hadn't yet devolved into a blood-letting melee, as the guards were still doing their job of keeping the peace, but with classes suspended and most shops closed, it definitely wasn't a very pleasant time. As she got closer and closer to the marketplace that Fion had directed her to, the raven-haired lady saw that few customers were browsing the wares. Only shops and stalls that sold armor or weaponry had patrons, while less pragmatic wares, such as jewelry, spices, or clothing, were pretty much abandoned.

In one night, the mentality of the student-warriors of Cykes had switched from having an enjoyable life to that of a safe one, even if they had to take defenses to their own hands.

It was not hard to find the tower-like dormitory, however, the multi-story building standing high above the others in the vicinity. It was of a cylindrical design, made of stone with circular windows cut into the walls. Those windows were sealed with wooden shutters, and the door on the ground floor was closed as well. There didn't appear to be anyone inside the building, but at the same time...the window on the very top of the tower-dormitory was open, and the many window sills made it rather feasible to simply scale the tower.

Of course, maybe people would just think that she was a thief or something when witnessing such a bold act. And the slush and snow wouldn't make it a very comfortable climb as well.

Aresia wasn't paying too much attention to the masses below, as long as they weren't stopping the black hair from her investigations she had a way more important task to worry about.

Finally arriving at the tower building it seemed pretty obvious where she was supposed to go, with only one window open and the rest vacant, it was nearly like some kind of trap. Well, considering she was coming to talk, rather than fight, making her entrance herself was out of question.

Removing the snow was also an easy task by simply increasing the heat her hands were giving off, she didn't even need to use her Sword Arts for that, which also meant the butler costume that she had changed back into by now, fast and off-screen like any professional, wouldn't get too damaged.

Arriving close to the window, and still a bit skeptical about this, the maid butler was actually peeking in first.

What she saw was clearly an attic, boxes and boxes of toys, old clothing, and other miscellaneous objects stacked in a tidy mess. There were cobwebs clinging to the ceiling, and the planked floor was thick with dust, as if it hadn't been swept for decades. However, due to that dust, she was quick to notice that there was a set of footprints, leading around one of the giant shelves that occupied the cluttered space.

Soon afterwards, the butler could hear footsteps, soft thumps that sounded more like someone's bare feet than their shoes.

Well, someone was apparently coming to receive her already? Since everything was looking okay and she was anything but a thief the butler now proceeded to climb into the tower and simply call out in a friendly voice. "Greetings!"

The footsteps ceased abruptly, before a middle-aged man appeared from behind the shelves. In the dim lighting of the attic, it was hard to tell what exactly the color of his eyes were, but he was a decidedly blond person, his large body looking rather restrained in the messy attic. With a bit of surprise in his tone, he remarked, "Greetings to you too. Didn't expect to find a dark-haired beauty in here, of all things."

Well, that was easy, apparently. Giving him a small bow she replied in a professional tone. "Thank you." Standing firm again she proceeded. "My name is Aresia, with whom may I have the pleasure?" She wanted to get over this rather fast, the more time she spend the higher the chance of something serious happening to Alexa after all!

"Ericsson," the man replied, motioning for her to take a seat on one of the less dirty crates, "Not often that I'm visited by Illiserevian butler-maids these days. I presume that this has to do with…"

"...the disappearance of Wynn Rocco." Aresia replied, if he was taking care of that brat then he would surely know of her.

"I have no proof of this, but it's pretty clear that she was either killed or enslaved, right?" There was apathy in his voice, as he crossed his arms, leaning against a shelf.

"Enslaved." Aresia spoke with a little bit more passion, she couldn't forgive herself if they would die at the hand of vampires again. "I checked the archives, and it seems like she became a mother at VERY young age?" Maybe this would give her more names she could work with.

"...Why are you so interested the first place?"

"I promised her son to find his mother. First and foremost I am looking for my Master, but I don't have many clues." Aresia answered honest, she was probably not the best investigator considering she didn't see much use in lying right now.

The blond man shook his head, sighing in a mildly irritated manner. "That kid…" he groaned, before looking back towards Aresia. "I'm not certain about it myself, but Wynn's what, 20 years old? Not everyone took the appearance of a rift-beast well, and quite a few of them believed the world was going to end, so...that might be why.. If its clues you're looking for, though...the most common rumor floating around is that an airship that was heading towards Illiserev early in the morning could have been involved."

"Don't know much else, cause I've been indoors the whole time."

An airship? So... if what he said was true, they are out of town by now? "Can you tell me more about this airship?" If that was the case their enemies had a huge distance advantage already.

"It's just what I heard from the neighbors in the morning. The grapevine and all, Aresia."

Well, that was it. Fion had probably more luck or something, giving him another bow the maid butler replied. "Well. Thanks for your cooperation. I shall now take my leave then."

"Oh, right," Gael said, right as Aresia got ready to leave, "You know Araki?"

Looking back one last time the loyal butler maid stopped for a second. Araki? Araki? She wondered, she was sure to have heard that name somewhere before but ultimately couldn't put a fit a face to that name. Shaking her head she ultimately declined whatever request the wannabe playboy had. "Sorry, I don't." And finally, she could be on her way to meet up with Fion once again.
 
The unseen sun made its journey from east to west as Cykes smouldered, the conflagarations of anger and suspicion quelled, for the time being, by the actions of the guards. A thick blanket of snow had covered the city, the temperature dropping as clouds thickened and the sun fell. Few individuals, outside of patrolling guards, were outside in such a situation. The walls of the great capital were held by sentries, both magical and human, and the curfew that had been set by the Sidosa Board ensured that the streets were devoid of people, an odd sight to behold in a student-city like Cykes.

The silence was stifling, yet calming, as white snow hid the memorials dedicated to those who had died the night before. It almost looked as if everything was normal again, in the multi-level city of Cykes.

But within the glass building of Seyour University, Escellar tirelessly updated and upgraded the runetech network that spanned the city, surrounded by pictures of the dead and the lost.

On the outskirts of the city, Lucius and Fion ceaselessly circled, ensuring that if anything happened, they would be able to respond immediately and keep them either in or out.

And, inside the central guardhouse of Cykes, where many more reinforcements were standing by, Ellenil strode down the steps to the deepest part of the jail. In her hand was the master key, and in the other was a cloak made of shining fibers. In the windowless gaol, cold chills raising goosebumps on her exposed skin, but the Astopolian brushed past it. She nodded at the one guard unfortunate guard stationed there, exchanging a few words and a few coins, before pressing the master key into the door at the very end of the hallway and unlocking it.

It smelt like blood and dead things, but it was probably what the vampiric inhabitant was accustom to by now. Moving on to undo the shackles that bound the purple-haired monster, Ellenil offered the young woman the cloak in her hands, before smiling.

"Your carriage awaits, princess."
~❆~
It stunk of sweat, piss, and steam. The conditions in the holding pen of the airship was steadily worsening as time went on. Occasionally, a disembodied set of arms would bring in a bucket of water with a ladle and clumsily rehydrate the women, just to make sure they didn't die, but outside of that, there was nothing to alleviate the sauna-like conditions of the room. Hope kept them lively for some time, and anger sharpened their minds when hope disappeared, but when both were gone? All that was left was fatigue, as their scantily-clad bodies hung slack from the chains that bound them. Sleep was short and fitful, while the passing of time was nigh impossible to determine in the windowless room. Their imprisonment, which should have only lasted a day at most, felt like years.

It was, thus, with an odd sort of elation that the airship landed, a heavy thump causing their bodies to shift and awakening anyone from their sleepless dreams. The rumblings of the engine had stopped, and slowly, ever so slowly, the stifling temperatures began to cool.

The door opened afterwards, and two people revealed themselves. The first was a familiar face, the vampire that had taken them and had thwarted any attempt at escape, while the second was less familiar, and definitely more human. With a distinct lack of fashion sense that only the rich of Illiserev could attain, the short man wore all sorts of pointless, clashing jewelry. His pudgy hands were adorned with rings, while his tree-stump neck had no less than five gold necklaces wrapped around it.

Squinting into the dim room, he remarked connivingly, "Pretty low quality this time, Eiros. It'll do though. Good boy."

Eiros responded with a thin smile, as the fat man clapped his hands together.

"Well, what are you waiting for, bitches? Line up, single file! And the first that talks gets smacked!"​
 
Ashe wasn't in the mood to acknowledge her friend, let alone respond to her, and spent the entire trip in the airship, however long that was, still seething with inexplicable rage. The condition of her surroundings didn't bother Ashe; a familiarity to them was connected to this anger. When the ghostly hands came to water them like livestock, she would spit on them, as little as that would do for them. The witch may have fallen asleep, she wasn't sure. The only thing she was sure of was what she was going to do to that vampire prick when she gets the chance.

So when the airship finally landed, something within her twitched, even before the shock wave which came with the actual landing.

Before the door opened, she took note of the lowering temperatures. How close were they to the engines? It was something to remember should she ever be on this ship again. After it had, Ashe stared at the vampire then gaudy, portly man with a look which would kill. Ah, she thought, realizing what this was; they were less bloodbags and more... The color drained from her face. Despite this, she grit her teeth; her anger redoubling.

The ghosts finally receded back in the walls for the girls, and Ashe couldn't help but rub the dry, formerly bound flesh. She smirked at this; perhaps the two of them could get away to find help after all if they're going to be treated so superfluously.

Before Alexa could respond to the Illiserevan's taunt, Ashe spoke, a calm, fierce demeanor in her whisper's tone. "Don't respond, try keeping a low profile for now." Her gaze was straight ahead, bearing no recognition for Alexa.
 
Over the course of the trip, Alexa grew increasingly worried about her friend's state of mind. She had never seen Ashe in this state of mind before. The stress of being captured may have knocked a few screws loose, but Alexa didn't think this was normal or alright in any manner. Still, that was something to worry about after they figured out a way to get themselves free. With no other options but to wait and see where they ended up, Alexa laid back, awaiting what came next with trepidation.

As the door opened and the vampire's partner was revealed, Alexa's reaction mirrored Ashe's. So this was why they were kidnapped. A fate more mundane than what they had been led to believe, but no less horrifying. Oh, once she got her hands on a weapon, she was burning this ship to the ground, and those two bastards with it.

Ashe's suddenly calmness in the face of this situation reassured Alexa that her friend wasn't completely gone, and she nodded in response, still looking for any opportunity she could take to break free.
 
In the end Araki wasn't too certain what, if a, conclusion had been reached. Nonetheless, even if on his own, he needed to leave the city and to do so would require some supplies he didn't have at the moment. The pouch that hung from his waist would be more than sufficient to take care of his needs for quite some time, even if it soured his mood to think about it… With a slight bow, he excused himself from the room and left Shizuka with Charlotte as he exited via window.

He stopped and took a seat once he was a fair distance away from the inn. Though Araki needed supplies, he also needed to figure out exactly what to buy. It would be the first real time that he travelled alone. He didn't think the list he came up with was bad by any means, but it still felt lacking... His first thought was to go to Shishō for advice, but then he recalled how he had met Shizuka; the grounds had seemed fairly busy as well and he doubt he would be a welcome sight. Thus, he naturally thought of Ericsson next., but frowned as the realization that he hadn't thought of visiting the man before he left clicked.

Yet as he approached the boarding school Araki couldn't help but think that perhaps it would be better if he didn't meet with the man. Maybe he was overthinking things, but he imagined the Inquisitors would certainly take interest if he disappeared; best in that case if no one else was aware of his plans to leave the city. He slid to a halt several blocks away, the boarding school already in sight, before he turned to head to the market. Maybe he could leave a letter for him to find in a few days… yeah, that sounded like a good idea.

Even the marketplace seemed to have a somber air to it, but Araki was secretly grateful. He kept his head down and wandered from stall to stall for whatever supplies he thought he would need and didn't have too much trouble. It seemed that avoiding the media frenzy that had surrounded the Rift Beast's death had allowed him some measure of obscurity. With a full messenger bag by his side and rucksack on his back, he finished the last of his shaved meat wrap and then took to the rooftops again.

It actually took him a bit longer to write out the message he wanted to leave for Ericsson then Araki would have guessed. The sun had moved through the sky by the time he inked the last word and folded the note up. Well… his thoughts had also been pre-occupied with how to escape the city, what he would do after, how to arrive at Illiserev in a reasonable amount of time, beyond just what he wanted to convey to Gael. He approached the rooftop's edge though and guided the slip of paper over the street and towards one of the boarding school's windows and then beneath it. It would probably be a few days, if not weeks, before the message was found, but at least he had left one. Now hungry again, he sought out a merchant to grab some fresh food from before finding a nice building to settle on top of for the night.

Araki found himself with his back against a chimney as he wrapped the blanket tighter around himself. The stone's warmth was of comfort as the temperature continued to dip with the setting sun and falling snow. He pulled the cloak's hood up to help keep in more of the warmth and closed his eyes to try and sleep. With no one around to hear or see, Araki fell asleep far from peacefully.

Though he managed to get a few hours of sleep in given the fully set sun when he opened his eyes again, it was far from morning. He blearily looked around for a few moments before his situation clicked with Araki once more and he shrunk into himself. His eyes naturally strayed towards the walls that trapped him within the city and, unsurprisingly, the light of many guards on patrol were easily visible. No way for him to escape even under the cover of the dark then… With a tired sigh and the knowledge he would not be able to sleep again, Araki shifted to straighten his posture a bit. With a deep sigh he closed his eyes and tried to sink into a meditative state and feel the magic within him and the water around him.
 
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"We could try to leave together, but it may be better for use to each find our own way out of the city and regroup later," Shizuka suggested to Charlotte. "We'll need to get some traveling supplies, as well." She stood and bowed politely before taking her leave. "We can meet somewhere on the road outside the city."

She spent the rest of the day preparing herself, gathering the basic travel supplies she'd need. She'd dealt with some traveling before, so she had some idea of what was important, and packed accordingly. In the end, well, she was probably weighed down a fair bit, and intending to travel on foot besides, but these things had a way of working themselves out. It would be easy enough to find someone with a cart or similar traveling in the right direction. There was no way they could catch up to or beat an airship anyway, so the best they could hope for was not being too far behind.

She made sure to send a letter home, and tel Tamamo where she was going, so she wouldn't just completely disappear, but it wasn't long before she was making her way for the city gates on the road toward Illisrev. Being little more than an ordinary citizen, she should have no trouble simply leaving, unless the place was on complete lockdown. Which would be quite unusual, unless the city was under siege.
 
In the innumerable days down in the hypogean gaol, Raela's sleeping schedule had become less of a pattern, and more of a passive decision; when she was even vaguely tired, she simply slept, waking up whenever and staying awake till whenever. Without light or sound to affirm her guesses as to the time of day, she became accustomed to living by her gut feeling, which tended to be based on how fast she could become bored. It sufficed to say, without anything to do, she was asleep more often than not.

Dirty, dreary-eyed and weak, Raela barely even registered the woman entering. She mumbled something incomprehensible from under her lowered head before raising it up to meet Ellenil's gaze. Little more than a pitifully neutral expression was returned to the free woman. Even as her shackles were undone, Raela seemed devoid of freedom; at that point, exhaustion and depression was more of a restraint than the steel on her wrists.

When offered a cloak, Raela retrieved it with shaky arms before slowly sliding it over herself. After a minute of silence and staring at the ground, Raela seemed to muster some fervor and rose to her feet, fixing the cloak as she did so. Lifting her hood up over her head, she looked up into Ellenil's eyes with dulled color. Raela nodded, frowning. Uninclined to speak to the woman, despite being her savior, Raela simply moved towards the door, waiting for Ellenil to take charge; undoubtedly, given the jangling of coins she heard several times, Ellenil was not truly allowed per-se to be visiting her. The journey outside would require swiftness and discretion. Her legs were weak, but her desire to be free was greater. She wouldn't be slow.
 
Well, so much for that. Wasting around one hour more and Fion still not appearing, the maid butler gave up on him for now. After all, it were just a few more hours until dawn. Taking matters in her own hand, Aresia decided to check out the airfield next. Even if airfields were not a common thing, not to mention chances of the rumoured airship landing onto an official one were pretty slim, knowing the location it was supposed to go would probably still prove to be succesful. Alas, whatever information gathering she had planned to do was cut short by a myriad of guards having the field under a lockdown. Of course, no airship allowing to leave the town came to no surprise, though not even giving out any kind of information did strike her a little bit odd. What about all those people who just enjoyed their holidays or similar?! What striked her even odder though was the fact that despite the fact that nobody was supposed to leave there was actually one ship being loaded with cargo currently. Obviously, she wasn't able to get any more information regarding that particular case either, but it was pretty obvious that this ship was soon about to leave.

Having that checked out, her next stop were the city walls. Much like the airport, the walls were just as secured. Just busting through there could have actually been a possibility, but any dreams of succeeding in that were crushed after finally figuring out what Fion was up to. And if Fion alone wouldn't have been trouble enough, Lucius was there too. For a second she was considering to argue with either of them, but ultimately decided against it. Instead, taking the airship route seemed like the best option. Sure, a rumour was still a rumours, but those always had a grain of truth and ultimately there were enough capable people inside the city to take care of the problem if Alexa was truly still here.

With her mind-set, there were still a few other matters to take care of. One was pretty quick, simply paying an errand boy some money to give a letter to Fion in 2 days that made sure to tell him that she trusted him with matters inside the city. The other one was in form of some preparations to get safely inside that one airship: The key to that being Letis. With the entire city being in a lock-down it wasn't hart to locate her old mentor, to be precise, she was still sound asleep at the same place Aresia dropped her off.

Giving her a rough rundown on what the maid butler was about to do and what actually happened, Aresia soon created Letis who was pissed off at the mere fact of not being allowed to exit the city anytime soon. This made Letis finally agree to help Aresia out, if not even make her join in that adventure, but ultimately the red hair had to remain at her husbands wife. With that done, all Aresia had to do was wait for the right time: Night time. Before that though the black hair maid actually finally sure to resupply her body after all this time.

...

A few hours after the sun finally decided to make place for the moon, a small female frame made sure to gather some attention. A, what appeared to be drunk, red-haired combat maid was apparently doing her best to let everybody around her know just how annoyed the lock-down made her! After all, time was money! Of course, being rumoured to be one of the strongest living samples of her expertise would surely force her to convince the one or other guard on her path to apparently get out of this shithole! If not, maybe there was even some cute guard girl under all those way too serious protectors of the law that could help the oh-so loyal wife to vent off some of her frustration. Putting her female charm to use was, after all, one of her specialities.

In the meantime of all that, be it seduction or just a small brawl or even a mix of both, Aresia would make sure to use her maybe created chance to actually try and sneak onto the airship unseen!
 
"Right," agreed Charlotte, with a simple nod. "By the large mainpost, then?"

With that exchange of words, the black-suited girl left to prepare. For Charlotte, she had a fair bit less to do; after all, she'd been traveling herself, alongside Aresia and their kidnapped friend Alexa. It didn't take too long for her to pack all their things, and the former noble also took the distasteful effort to pay for the inn room with the money the kidnappers had conveniently not stolen. Deliberating whether or not to keep the remainder of the money with the excess luggage, she decided to carry it with her; who knows when she'd be back. She called for the friend that she'd visited a few days earlier to and had her pick up Alexa and Aresia's luggage as a favor, and made sure to leave a note with the inn keeper should they return before Charlotte could find either of them.

Having packed again, she made her last round to the merchant's quarter. There was not much to buy; she purchased some food and light necessities for the trip before returning to the inn. There, she waited until nightfall to make a clandestine exit and rendezvous with Shizuka.
 
After Raela stood up and wrapped the cloak around her, Ellenil spoke a melodic phrase, the meaning of the words escaping the vampire's comprehension, despite the fact that she was pretty certain it was the language of humans. Waiting for Raela to come out of her prison, the woman closed the windowless door, and said, "Stay close."

With that, she walked out of the dungeon, sparing a nod and a smile at the guardsman. The pair ascended the stairs, walked past the processions of guards in reserve, without any notice to Raela herself. A few times, the armed men and women almost stepped into her, prompting her to quickly get out of the way. It was either an invisibility spell or a mental interference spell that Ellenil had cast over her, and, for the time being, it was working. They left the guardhouse through the main entrance, with the lads in the front bidding the Astopolian a good night, before resuming duties.

It was at this point that Ellenil told Raela to walk in front of her, using her own footsteps to cover up the footprints left by Raela in the snowy streets of Cykes. The cloak did little to protect her from the cold winds, and, naturally, her footwear was much too lacking when trampling about in two-inch thick snow, but those were things that, for the time being, Raela could put up with.

They walked alone in the silent streets for twenty minutes, before arriving at the airfields of Cykes, a plain of white filled with airships covered in snow. Only one, a non-descript merchant vessel, appeared to be ready to go, and after showing her identification to the guards stationed at the perimeter of the airfield, Ellenil urged Raela forward, until they were out of earshot of the men.

"Here we are," she gestured, hopping into wooden doors of the flying ship. Like most airships, it was a primarily wooden construction reinforced with reinforcement runes and fire-retardant resin, with an oblong balloon on top and a set of wings to guide the vehicle. The interior was, thankfully, rather warm, and Ellenil said, "Your room is on the second floor, to the far right. Number 205, I believe. I'll speak with the captain, and after that, the ship will take off."

After that, the woman walked out, leaving Raela to her own devices.
~❆~
As the unchained women began to get up, some cursing the man under their breaths and others wincing from the numbness of their limbs, Eiros watched them with his cat-like eyes. It wasn't a pleasant job, associating with this fat pig, but, his protection was the vampire's priority, at least until they reached the destination. So for now, he'll watch the ladies as they began to line up, all while imagining how he'll kill the slave master once the Master was done with this business.

It was in this moment that a long-haired girl tripped and fell over, still unaccustomed to standing and walking. Crashing into Alexa, she caused the brunette to stumble slightly from the force of her light frame, before quickly righting herself. Such a disruption to the line didn't escape the attention of vain man, however, who, under Eiros's amused gaze, strode over, furious.

His rings became knuckledusters as he pounded his fist into the unfortunate woman's stomach, sending her into the ground once more. "Listen, you weak-kneed slut," he snarled, punctuating each word with a fine leather kick, "Line up, single file!"

Her body was spasming from pain by the time he was done, the slave master glaring at her still form, before jabbing a finger at Ashe.

"You! You're the one that broke the chains, right? The muscle freak? Drag her along."
~❆~
The bitching could literally be heard from all over the airfield, as Letis, master of the Musphellzheimr Sword Art Style, made it clear in her drunken tirade that no, she wouldn't put up with this banal airship lockdown. As guards called in reinforcements in case this conflict got out of hand, Aresia, from her hiding spot, could see that certain parts of the perimeter now lacked guards. With that, she made her way past the fence, and into the airfield itself.

It was easy to pick out the airship that was to leave. Arcane illumination shone through the circular windows of the medium-sized vessel, and a couple of individuals could be seen outside the airship, discussing what appeared to be discrete matters. The main door was open, however, and most of the crew appeared to already be inside. It looked like, at the very least, that Aresia could sneak get in if she was very careful. At the same time, however, would pretending to be one of the ship's crewmembers be safer than crouching and sliding her way into the well-illuminated door?
~❆~
Araki and Charlotte, awake in the night, could hear a distinct sound in the city. The sound of rumbling, of flames, of an engine. During the day, perhaps, it would not be noticed at all, but now that there was no one present, the roar of an airship's engine as it warmed up was clear to anyone outside. Someone was breaking the Sidosa Board's airship lockdown, and, Charlotte, at the very least, was aware that there was twenty minutes or so before it began taking off.

Within the night, they could also see that some of the guards on various parts of the walls were dispersing, no doubt surprised at the noise of the airship as well. Were they going to go intercept it? Or were they planning on informing their superiors about it? Regardless of their actions, it became clear that this was the one opportunity that the two had of escaping the walls. It would still be difficult, but now, with such a distraction, it definitely wasn't impossible.

Alone in the main post outside of town, Shizuka was not aware of all this. From what she could see, there simply appeared to be a commotion going on, guards leaving their post to do…something.
 
That attempt was ruined rather horribly by the rumble that destroyed the peaceful quiet of night. His eyes snapped open as he turned to look in the direction of the airfield. He didn't know who had the guts to try and break lockdown in the dead of night when guards were probably at their highest level of security, but he didn't care. His eyes turned to the walls that surrounded Cykes and a grin broke out as he watched silhouettes and figures disperse and scatter. A few moments of patience revealed holes had opened up along the wall and he took the opportunity with only a moment of hesitation.

The black cloth was wrapped around his face as he gathered both bags and reaffixed the cloak to cover everything. He didn't even have to worry about any light from his markings bleeding through with the layers he wore and with a sigh to steel his resolve he dashed towards the portion of the wall that almost immediately dropped off into forest.

He had to pause here and there as soldiers rushed through the streets beneath him towards the airfield, no doubt in response to the commotion there. He remained uncaught and undetected as he neared the wall to the point where he was willing to simply make a break for it. With a few deep breaths, the magic that flowed through his veins surged to their peak output and he felt the sense of power that came with it rush over him.

It was impossible not to bare his teeth in a wide grin at the sensation and he broke into a full sprint, cracking the roof he leapt from to land on the top of the wall. Mid-air, the constructs that provided light for the guards on patrol shattered for dozens of meters along this portion. He landed only briefly, throwing himself forward and down the other side, before the guards had a chance to do little more than point and rush towards where he had landed briefly.

The wind whipped at his cloak and he crashed through more than a few trees as he disappeared straight into the forest. The crack of broken branches could be heard by those still up on the wall, and he frowned as an alarm was raised by the guards. Without any time to waste and to protect his newfound freedom, he quickly moved deeper into the thick woods. The moon's light was faint and unable to pierce through the foliage, but he had little trouble navigating in almost near darkness; another boon from his mixed heritage.

Naturally, the guard had ways to deal with the lack of visibility. He wasn't blinded thanks to having it at his back, but the night abruptly vanished as a bright flame filled the air above the forest at where he had entered. He had no idea who or what had been sent out to search and apprehend the escapee, but he didn't care enough to go back and check. Soldiering on, he ignored the search that happened behind him and focused on the path ahead and making sure he didn't leave too obvious a trail. Footprints did not exist as each step refused to sink into the earth thanks to his magic, and he also watched out for anything that might snag or catch his belongings.

Several more bright flames went up into the night sky as the guard expanded their search area, but ultimately he managed to continue opening up the distance. As the last light faded, they seemed to have given up their search and he sighed with relief as he opted to take a welcome break at last. Though the distance had only increased with time, he had still been rather jumpy the entire time the flames had burned bright overhead.

Eventually he pushed through the forest to reach the edge of the treeline and paused to scan the skies and surroundings for any signs of pursuers. With nothing in sight, he finally broke away from the forest and stepped onto the road. From there, it didn't take long for him to encounter Shizuka somewhere along the way as he continued away from Cykes.
 
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As the long-haired girl bumped into her, Alexa winced, feeling a sharp pain in her lower left back. "Don't." She heard a whisper, presumably from the girl. As the girl was lead away, Alexa was left unable to respond as the pain turned into a searing heat for a few moments before dying down once more. Reaching down to her lower back, Alexa widened her eyes in surprise as she realized what she had been stabbed with: a piece of talentium.

Finally. Now she had a chance to fight back. But with barely a scrap of talentium at her disposal, her Sword Arts wouldn't hold up in a prolonged fight. Any move she made would have to end the fight quickly and decisively. The slaver himself didn't look like much, but the vampire was the real problem. Ashe had punched through his chest and the bastard only smiled and walked it off. Of course, he'd said something about hitting the "wrong side", so his heart had to be on the other side from where Ashe had hit him, then. If she could just crush his heart, he was finished. Now all she had to do was wait for an opening. So she simply stayed silent and took her place in line, waiting for a chance to get close to the vampire.
 
From the vantage point of her upper floor inn, Charlotte was quickly alerted to the commotion from the more industrial side of the city. The distinct sound of an aircraft engine starting up was obvious, even with the distance between the airfield and her inn. Normally, this was quite a regular sound within the city, but with the skys locked down harder than Fort Koinzell, it was a rather obvious sound to Charlotte. And if it was obvious to her, than it was obvious to quite a few more people, like guards. If that thing intended to lift off, than she was sure that guards would be moving to swarm around it, potentially giving her a chance at a better opening to break out of the city. Having had the pleasure of flying on airships quite a few times, she estimated that it would be twenty minutes from engine startup to lift-off, so the twenty minutes starting from now would probably be the best timeframe for her to make her escape.

Grabbing her trunk and briefcase, she slipped out the window, manipulating her fall such that her landing was as light as a feather. Taking a clandestine route to what appeared to be the least manned section of the city walls, she ducked in and out of alleyways and avoided the more well-lit streets, avoiding a city patrol on one occasion. In the distance, a section of the wall lit up, as even more guards rushed away, leaving her wondering what poor sod had gotten caught by the wall garrison. Having finally made it to her target, she unceremoniously jumped right over it, with not a single spotlight on her to be seen.

Once again landing quietly, she quickly made for the forest to ensure that she hadn't been seen. After confirming that this was not the case, she doubled around to the agreed-upon meeting place, hoping to see if the others had made it out safely.
 
Ashe would have kept her head forward the rest of the way, had the wobbly woman not fallen on the girl behind her. Her gaze drifted aside, casually watching as the fat man walked over and proceeded to beat her. The witch wanted to wince -- a moment of shared empathy for the beating she had endured -- yet did nothing more than sneer. Something unlike her had been brought out; a form of vengeance she had long been unaccustomed to.

Ashe could do nothing more as the same man proceeded to mock her as the muscle-freak besides taste of the grit of clenched teeth. Internally, of course, she had her own monologue going, Muscle freak? I'm scrawnier than the girl who just fell! If you knew just through what the capabilities of runetech are able to get me--"

Ashe leaned down to help the battered lady stand with her one available arm, and now proceeded behind Alexa. "Are you alright?" Ashe's words were soft, and in a whisper, yet still held a cold-steel to them. After asking the girl this, Ashe noticed Alexa's relatively demur behavior for just having been land upon, perhaps even contemplative -- was she really just trying to keep her down, or was everything that just happened a part of some larger plan? -- and would proceed further. "Perhaps we should have asked for help with out initial escape, eh, whoever you are?"
 
Shizuka had to wait patiently for some time before Charlotte and Araki had caught up to her. She spent her time idly enjoying the weather, practicing basic strikes and katas, and the occasional light snack. She watched the far away commotions back at the city walls with some interest, and wondered if they were due to her companions, or another group. When they finally arrived, she greeted them with measured politeness. "Good evening, Araki, Charlotte." She bowed to each of them. "I take it you had more trouble making your way here than I did," she said, the rising pitch in her voice indicating a question.

"I hope the commotion going on isn't on account of either of you. I would rest easier if I knew we weren't being hunted in the night." She gathered her belongings and put on her own traveling packs, fussing with them a bit to better distribute their weight. "I do have to say, it's good that my relationship with you is unofficial," she specifically said to Araki. "It would have been a little more awkward were it knowing I had a pending marriage to a person of interest." She never did explain her unilateral decision of betrothal, but it seems she hadn't given it up, despite how surprised her erstwhile fiancé had been by her declaration the other day.

"If you're not opposed to continuing on now, we should do what we can to make up for lost time."
 
Raela grumbled on occasion throughout the snow-covered walk, though kept most of the intelligible-ness of the words to herself. It wasn't long, and she'd already become accustomed to being cold and wet long before. Though the vampiress had lost all sense of time, her senses were readily coming back to her as the nighttime lighting restarted her Circadian clock. She'd been sleeping mere minutes before, but already she was feeling tired. Thankfully, it seemed the interior of the ship was warm. A well of comfort surged through her body as the sensation of heat began to seep into her cloak and touch her skin. She unleashed a violent shiver, ridding herself of the sharp cold hopefully for the final time.

She kept her cloak tight over her body and head, unsure if the airship was going to be occupied by anyone besides Ellenil. Quietly, she walked to the room specified by the woman and carefully, cautiously opened the door before peering inside. It was dark, save for the dim light that entered through the cabin window. She closed the door and locked it before shedding the cloak and falling unceremoniously upon the small bed.

A few tears began to fall down her cheeks. A sad relief welled up in her as she buried her face into the mattress. She was free, as far as she was concerned. For the time being, however, nothing mattered more than enjoying the comfort of having a cushioned bed to rest on. She fell asleep quickly.
 
Another decision. This time the black hair had the option to decide between pretending to belong to the crew or some solid sneak action. Considering she already moved to some lengths to create a distraction in the first place, pulling through with sneaking on board seemed to be more appropriate and thus, Aresia did exactly that.

In the end, even without a kawaii card box, the entire action seemed a lot easier than she imagined as the maid butler found herself inside the interior of the ship. Since no one had called out to here the Illiserev maid was now made to believe her law breaking actions were a success, even if it felt like someone had actually noticed her, but that was probably the tension. Now, on board of the wooden vessel, the next thing to do was to actually find some sort of hiding place that still allowed her to retain some sense of direction and time.
 
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