Changing Hand

[Thundor]

An Odd Acquaintance

​

Isaac and Deltorve had finally arrived in Fairwolf, with Isaac feeling like he was back home. As he saw the different colored buildings, he looked over towards the direction the base was in and grew a little concerned. "Let's make a little trip first." Isaac told Deltorve, as he began making his way over towards the base. What looked like a shadow stood at the entrance to the base, a shadow that slowly coalesced into form as a grim-looking figure clad in black armor from head to toe, the armor jagged in its appearance and harrowing in suggestion. A slight raising of the head followed towards the two that approached, the figure not saying a word. Perhaps Deltorve might know who this grim figure is, but Isaac almost certainly wouldn't.

Delt looks curiously at the figure, but pays him no mind. He is focused on training Isaac. "Let us find a place to study, and then begin your training."

Isaac looks towards the figure and raises his brows, he had never seen or heard of this figure before. "Wait a minute, who is that near the base?" He said, keeping his gaze fixed on the figure.

Delt sighed. "Some warrior who has well repute. He is apparently famous, from what I see upon his past."

A voice called from within the helmet, strange and distorted by the shape of it as they approached closer, calling to them, "Stand and deliver." The hand rested lightly on the pommel of the sturdily-built bastard sword at his hip.

Isaac seems to become a little startled by the man going for his weapon. "W-wait a minute! We're not here to hurt anyone!" Isaac really hoped the man wouldn't do anything too sudden.

"Good. I'd rather not kill anyone today." The hand moved away from the sword, before holding a hand out. "Identification, then." The voice was gruff and cut short, as if impatient.

Delt then sighed. "You are the Digger, Isaac. Not me."

"Give me a minute then Delt." Isaac replied, digging into his pocket before pulling out his Digger identification card and handing it to the man. "Here you are."

The card was accepted, and he looked over it. Nodding once, he said, still staring at the card. "You're going to see Daquan. No questions until you get there." He then peered up at both of them, the eyes glaring from the helmet. "Understand?"

Isaac took the card and nodded, putting it away. "Right." Was his only response to the man.

Delt nodded. "Of course."

"Good." He stepped out of the way of the doorway, and gestured for them to enter, looking out past the way for any potential troubles. Isaac enters inside, knowing where to go and find Daquan's office. Delt follows after, simply waiting for Isaac to finish his business.​

Behind them followed that grim figure, the armor rustling and clanking behind him as they walked, before they came to the office. "Go in."

Isaac nods and opens the door to Daquan's office, looking to see the man with partially gray hair standing at the opposite end. Daquan looks around and smiles as Isaac comes in. "Commander!" Isaac said, walking in. "Good to see you're okay!"

"Same to you, Isaac. I trust everything's been fine so far." Of course, the Hound Knight stood in front of the door once it shut, standing guard. Delt simply stood silent, and waited, his blue hood down to cover his face.

Daquan looked over towards Delt. "And who might you be, good sir?"

"I am Isaac's tutor. Pay me no mind."

"You seem familiar to me sir. Well, as you wish. I imagine you've already met the mercenary."

"Yeah." Isaac replied. "What's up with that? I thought you got Digger's to do that."

"Well, not this time. Not with what has been happening lately." Daquan looks out the window as he talks. "However, I will be going off duty soon Isaac and will be leaving for a while. I am sorry this will be of short notice. But, however, I do believe we have narrowed down who it is that did this to our base."

"Really? Alright, we can finally bring the culprit in then."

"Yes, well... I fear it will require some help. Do be cautious on your travels, Isaac, for I fear people will be after you soon too. I hope your tutor will take good care of you while you are under his wing."

Delt nods. "He shall be protected under my watch."

Daquan nods. "Very well..." He heads to the door and knocks on it to alert the mercenary before opening the door. "I shall not hold up too much of your time here. But before you go." Daquan looks to the mercenary and hands him a bag of stones for his job. "Here is your pay for guarding the base. Now I have another job for you to do."

Obviously, the Knight took the stones, and put them into his backpack. Currency was always a good thing. "What's the next task. You know my contract's conditions." He nods once.

Daquan nods. "I do. I fear that the man responsible for attacking this base will be after this boy. So, I am hiring you to protect Isaac from this man. You will be paid for once the man has been brought to justice, is this agreeable to you?"

"It's payment, and it's a job. Of course it's acceptable." He nods once, the metal rustling and rattling upon his form.

"Very well, I shall leave you three to your business then." Daquan closes the door to his office before walking off.
Isaac looks over towards the mercenary. "So uh, what's your name sir?"

"His name is...Locke Carnelia."

"My name's not important. You may know me as the Hound Knight. I'm escorting you. If you get into trouble, I will personally strap you to my back to ensure my pay is good. Understood?" His voice was sharp and to the point, before glancing in a slightly frustrated way towards Delt.

Delt smirks. "Very well, Hound Knight. Let us go then." he snickered. At least he could get -some- enjoyment out of his magic every once in a while.

"Nice to meet you Hound Knight, and yeah, I understand." Isaac looks towards Delt. "You can lead us to a spot from here."

"Hmm....north."

"North it is, then. We march." He nods to the two of them. "I'm always ready to leave."

"Estimated time of arrival...4 hours, 13 minutes and 34 seconds. I shall lead the way...hopefully that bear doesnt decide to give us a visit." He grumbles to himself. To Isaac this was normal by now, but the Hound Knight may be a little confused. But he was not. After years of eccentric employers, the Hound Knight had stopped questioning things. He simply shook his head and followed.

Isaac nods and sighs a little. "Let's go then. The sooner, the better."

Delt then leads the way, his intricate blue and white robes fluttering as he turned to walk out of the building and onwards north.

 

[Logan2231]

The founding of a Teacher​

Vokurii was currently watching the fireworks, laughing his ass off from the shadows.
Xaqur was walking up the path when this happened. "That is beautiful."
Vokurii snickered. "A fellow shadowborn...how interesting. I can sense the magic in you...the clan thinks you're dead you know."
Xaqur looks toward Vokurii "I was dead, and I live again but have no memory of my past besides my abilities and experiance. So pardon me if I don't know who you are."
"I am your new chieftain...Vokurii the Shadescale."
Xaqur chuckles "I see, but I bear no mortal allegiance. So why should I serve you?"
Vokurii grins. "No...that is not what I meant. I was actually searching for you, Xaqur. I need...a mentor."
Xaqur tilts his head to the side. "A mentor you say? What have I to teach you?"
"Magic..." he snickers. "Everything you know. I am but a weakling as a sorcerer compared to you. I need...power!"
Xaqur chuckles "What domains of magic can you use?"
"Necromancy...specifically, fear and life draining...I like my targets to be gibbering wrecks before I end them."
Xaqur sits crossing his legs and takes a deep breath "What would you like to know?"
He then just begins to laugh. "Everything..."
Xaqur looks up "Alright let us start with draining life. How much have you mastered this?"
"I can drain within fifteen feet of myself, even multiple targets. However...if i have physical contact with a body, I can drain ones life within seconds...this is all I have mastered though."
"If you wish to reduce them to blabbering toddlers, pull the strands of life from them instead of yanking the whole quilt. There is no greater pleasure than watching as you reduce an individual to a husk as they feel them selves draining away slowly." He says in a dark tone
He grins. "A good piece of advice indeed." he stands up. "I am assigned to kill two more towns. Do you care to join me in the rampage~? I am sure my employer will be more than happy to compensate you."
Xaqur looks curious "You serve a lesser being?"
"He is...more than what he seems. For a mere human, he caused a beautiful chaos all its own. No burning, no bodies, but...a much grander scale. I work for him only to satiate my curiosity...and to discover his weaknesses."
"Then it seems that we both need something from each other. You need a mentor, and I need a guide in the world." Xaqur says with a cool tone
Vokurii just snickers, breaking out into a howling cackle. "Then we have a deal! You help me learn, I let you enjoy the slaughter of the new era."
"May I ask how you knew of me?" he asks while standing
Vokurii cryptically notes "I like to...study the occult." His eye flashed a sickly green-blue.
Xaqur smiles "I only wrote a book or two."
With a flick of his tail, he turns to walk to the next location. "The next town is four hours from here. Lets get walking...master."
Xaqur stands his mask falling to the ground his face being hidden by being leaned forward grabbing it leaning up revealing his ghastly face. that is almost completely shriveled and is three quarters bone, one eye missing, nose gone, and teeth none exsistant. He replaces his mask "My apologies, it sometimes comes off. But this shows you the true price of long use of necromancy."
Vokurii removes his own mask, the left half of his face skeletonized. "I know the costs, master...I know them well." He then puts it back on, beginning to walk to his second target.​

 

[Logan2231]

The Contract Killer​

Hamilton could currently be found in his office, writing down on paper as he prepared to wrap up work for the night offically. The shadow creature watched him over his shoulder, not getting too close for comfort.

Theran opens the door without knocking followed by two wolf anthros. "I'm going to assume you are 'Hamilton'."

"Is that a beef joke?" Hamilton replied jokingly, stopping his work to rise up to his feet. "Yes, I am." Hamilton looks over to the anthros. "And who might you lot be?"

Theran bows slightly "I am Theran StormBlade and these are my brothers."

Hamilton saw Theran bow, someone who had heard of him and come to offer their assistance. "It seems likely to me sir." The shadow creature spoke to him, as Hamilton made his way to stand in front of his desk. "I see. And what services are you going to offer me, Mr. StormBlade?"

Theran looks to Hamilton "I hear from some of my 'assosiates' that you are looking for a hunter of sorts, and I am a hunter."

Hamilton raises a brow. "The man is offering to assist you, take this opportunity." The shadow creature said, with Hamilton smiling lightly towards them. "Why yes, you have come -just- in time, gentlemen." Hamilton told them. "Word on the street is, Cadoc is a bit of a nuisance. Troublesome fellow, would be a real 'shame' if he suddenly... Vanished into thin air~ Tell me one thing though, do you ever take your targets alive?"

Theran looks back at his last mission, "We can, but never had to..."

Hamilton chuckles, as Theran feels like a dark aura had just been emitted from Hamilton. "Make an exception for me this time then. I want this Cadoc brought back to me alive, so that I may make an example out of him. And judging from your gaze, you know how to make a man suffer without permanently hurting them. A slow and painful torture... Or perhaps, you know how to break him mentally instead? That would be -so- much better for this scenario."

Theran lifts the patch on his eye revealing an orange eye as opposed to his normal blue one and looks Hamilton up and down "Bones heal and so do slash wounds."

Hamilton grins maliciously at these words. "Is that so, you can just heal him then? That's the best possible scenarion then." Hamilton pulls out a wanted poster of Cadoc and hands it to Theran. "Here's his image. I'm sure being as skilled as you are, you'll be able to find him easily if you look in the right places."

Theran grabs the posters "Rather dull...just another pathetic human..." h e then tosses the poster to one of his brothers and says "Alert the others spread out and find this human." he turns back to Hamilton "Would you happen to know a general location he may be in?"

Hamilton walks over to his window and looks out of it, it was dark now, so he may be sleeping somewhere. "Well, last I heard, he was spotted near the market district, or whatever they're calling it these days. I believe he may be somewhere near there, of course, someone may have gotten to him and took him off somewhere safe. But I am sure you can track down his scent if it's still fresh."

Theran lowers the patch covering his eye back up "I'll have my brothers comb the city and find him, it should be no trouble. Now let's disscuss the payment."

Hamilton smiles to himself. "How much will you require from me?"

Theran looks at him "Does he have any companions I should worry about?"

"Probably. With the way his bounty is right now, he probably found someone suitable to protect him."

Theran grunts, "Have any idea who it may be?"

"If I knew, I'd have given you information about them already."

Theran nods "Alright anything else that I should know?"

"Nothing of importance."

Theran looks from his brother to Hamilton "Where should I bring him when I....capture him?"

Hamilton raises his gauntlet hand, his claws coming out as he smirks. "Bring him right to me~ Also..." Hamilton pulls out one of his claws, with a sickening 'crack' that didn't even make Hamilton flinch. He does the same to the other four and puts them in a small bag, throwing them to Theran. "Use those five for materials, think of it as extra payment."

Theran catches the bag, "Right I'll return when I have him." he turns the remaining brother in the room "Let us be off." he then turns heading for the door.

Hamilton chuckles once he hears the door close, sitting back in his chair. "Do you think they'll be up to it?" The shadow creature asks Hamilton, as Hamilton looks to his gauntlet hand. "Well, I have faith in them. Well, let's just hope Cadoc reacts loud enough for the public to notice..." As he says this, new claws emerge out of their slots, looking bright shiny as if new, with a smirk coming across Hamilton's face now. "After all, he's been a good distraction for them so far~"

 

[Logan2231]

A Man Lost In Time Awakens
​

The leader of a Merchant organization outpost walks into said outpost and towards the Black cube in the center and converses with another man "Have we learned anything about it?" he says. "No just that the markings are magical runes of some kind and that the stone can't be damaged by any means we have available." responds the other. "What of the Stone block on the inside have we been able to lower it from the chains?" "No, si-" The man pauses mid-sentence as a loud hissing sound coming from the inside of the cube...

Ahmed Al-Ashin slowly became aware shortly after his heart began to beat. He noticed that he was still in the god forsaken coffin that those dwarves coxed him into entering, and began to beat on lid. Then after that had failed he began to push on his coffin hoping to open it that way. Eventually it cracked open letting out a loud hissing, he could finally breath again, but he wasn't out yet. As Ahmed pushes the coffin begins to open more and more till it is finally wide open....

The leader of the outpost enters the freezing room of the cube greeted with the stone in the center had been opened. His jaw dropped as he saw the man standing inside of what was apparently a coffin. "This....this....this is amazing." more personnel gathered around staring at him as well. The man stood about 6' 5". Hair is black, and eyes are gray, skin tone olive. He had numerous tattoos depicting arcane and occult iconography are present all over the visible parts of his body.

Ahmed was greeted with an extreme amount of dizziness when he opened the coffin so he stood there a moment regaining his senses. When he finally gathered himself and looked about he was greeted with the sight of a group of dumb founded people gawking at him as if he was some sort of creature. "What are you gawking at?" he responds to all the gawking. The crowd gasps as he speaks some even cheering and hugging each other. Was his return that huge? How long had he been gone? These were questions that needed answers. he hops down from the coffin and lands on the ground and repeats his question "What are you gawking at? I demand to know." his blood beginning to boil

The leader of the outpost cheered with the rest of them as the man spoke though they didn't understand him entirely it sounded something like 'Vat er uv gawkun ut.' as he left the coffin. The leader steps forward "Welcome, I am Luke Heartland. I am in charge of this outpost." the man looks at him with his grey eyes and tilts his head "Vat et ell er uv sanen?" It seems close to Luke's own language but more distant. He begins to make hand signals to try and convey his message along with words "I....am.....Luke....what....is...your.....name?"

Ahmed was surprised at the level effort the man was putting into the hand signals and they worked to a certain extent. The language was relatively similar to his own and seemed simple to point out the similarities apparently the man was name 'Luke' and Ahmed thinks he was asking for his name. Though he really can't be sure, but he find this man particularly annoying. "I am Ahmed Al-Ashin you nil-witted moron." the man smiled widely and repeated his name to the crowd that was behind him. Ahmed pinches the bridge of his nose.

The outpost leader was ecstatic that he got the message across and motioned the Ahmed to wait there while he wrote a letter to the Merchants the good news, and runs out of the cube.

Ahmed shakes his head as 'Luke' leaves. As soon as Luke leaves however the crowd converges on him bombarding him with what seem to be questions though they sounded like gibberish to him. as this continued he began to feel more and more angry. As more and more gibberish statements and questions are thrown about, and barely contains himself from killing everyone when 'Luke' comes back and ushers them away. and Luke's begins to babble gibberish and Ahmed shakes his head to signify that he doesn't understand but Luke continues talking and Ahmed finally looses it and brings a blade from another dimension and cut the mans head off "NO ONE LEAVES!!!" and everyone begins to run towards the door Ahmed begins to throw his blades with lethal accuracy impaling multiple people at a time. After slaughtering them like caged sheep he then leaves his tomb and slaughters the rest of the people from the outpost only a few survivors escape.​

 

[York]

[BCOLOR=transparent]The City of Merricrest Pt 2. - The end is only the beginning...[/BCOLOR]​

[BCOLOR=transparent]Ansley yawned quietly, waking up slowly but surely… As she was finally starting to become aware of her surroundings. She noticed it was just about dark out now, perhaps it was 9, if that was the case, she'd better wake Akane up. Looking around her, she spotted Akane sleeping not too far away from her, however she wasn't too sure how to wake her up this time. She scared her quite considerably last time, so maybe shaking her awake wasn't the best solution. Not really having anything else in mind, she just sat there for a while hoping that Akane might wake up on her own.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]A few minutes go by, but it becomes clear that Akane is still is under the effects of Ansley's song, and wouldn't be able to wake up on her own.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Ansley sighed, perhaps she could try playing her harp or something… She started playing that lullaby again, but this time in reverse. It was a little trickier to do before, but this was how she undid the effects of her stone, however it was rare that such a thing was required.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]After the effects of Ansley's song wear off, Akane wakes on her own. The first thing she thinks to do is stretch. It seems like Akane is aware that it is about time for her to get started on her infiltration. It is evident by the clear nervousness on her face as she loosens herself up before infiltration.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"I-I guess it's time…" Ansley said, deciding to state what was clearly obvious, but now they needed to figure out how to carry out what they were planning on doing. She picked up her harp and the bag of gems from the floor "I-I'm ready… A-as much as I can be…" She said quietly.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Akane looks towards Ansley, still a little nervous, "Is Ansley going to be ok when Akane becomes The Hunter again?"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Ansley nodded, she had a determined look on her face which looked rather odd on her. "I-I'll be alright... " She said, though she did sound a little uncertain.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Akane nods decisively, and once again draws her weapon, "I am the hunter." Akane, once again, becomes a completely different person. "Phase two of the plan is now in motion. To review, I will be spying on the man we encountered. Your job is to provide me with the support I need for a successful infiltration, and to have this room ready to leave at a moment's notice. After I finish my reconnaissance, I will return here with further instructions. It is possible that we might have to fight tonight. Ensure you are properly prepared." Akane then walks towards the window, "Give me a song that will aid me, then I'll be heading off. If I'm not back in 3 hours, assume I'm dead or captured."[/BCOLOR]

Ansley nodded, she had a worried look in her eyes however… She began playing, but this time her song sounded quick but steady, and strong, almost defiant. It was a relatively new concept to mix together attributes of different songs into one blend, but she knew Akane would need more than just one enhancement to do what she was planning on doing. Ansley would have come with her, but she had a feeling she'd be more of a burden that way, she just hoped Akane would be alright in the long run though. As the song reached it's end, Ansley sighed a little, looking around briefly incase she forgot anything before turning to Akane again.

[BCOLOR=transparent]Akane smiles a dark smile, "Finally, I get to see what is going on in the town." Akane jumps out the window, and begins to allow her stone to resonate with her, alerting her to the current location of the strange man, or at the very least his wallet."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]The man they had encountered earlier was currently out on what appeared to be a patrol near Merricrest. Although the difference now was that he seemed to be alone, with none of the elf guards he had before even in Merricrest.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Akane watches the man from the shadows, checking the area quite thoroughly to ensure there are no hidden traps. She is very careful to respect the man's perception. There is absolutely no need to take any risks. Even with shadow aura, these types can sometimes notice irregularities in the shadows from having patrolled frequently and vigilantly. Akane knows her senses of night vision and hearing are stronger, and she intends to use them for all they are worth.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]The man did not talk, he seemed to be lost in thought mostly, although this did not mean his guard was down. While checking his pocket, an animal sees him as foolish prey and goes to attack… Only to get a quick knife to the face. The man was quick in killing it, making it so it didn't even realize it had been killed. Checking his pocket again, he decides to leave the knife where it was and continue on his journey.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Akane weighs her options, and decides that there would not be a better moment to confront this man. There was no telling where or when she'd find him alone like this, and the guards wouldn't be able to hear him even if he screamed. Lets see if we can end this quickly. Climbing down from the top of the wall swiftly and near silently, Akane remains under the veil of shadowy aura. If the man had exceptional hearing or happened to notice the mass of shadows falling from the wall, he would see Akane's figure land on the ground, though it is unlikely he'd recognize her clothes or distinctive features.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]As Akane was moving into position, she could hear a strange noise emitting from the man. He seems to be brought back to reality by it, pulling out a Linker and adjusting it a little before putting it close to his head. "Yeah, it's me." He said, having stopped for a moment to listen to the voice on the other end, although Akane could only pick up what sounded like gibberish from it's end. "Yeah, I have everything under control like you wanted. I'm heading to my usual spot now, you know, the one where I usually meditate or trained the other elves at? Yeah, that one." In the middle of the conversation, he starts to walk again. "Yeah, everything should be ready to go once I get over there. I just hope we can get this all wrapped up by tonight, got to hang low for a while and try to avoid some shady people."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Akane freezes in her tracks as the man reveals he has a communication device. If she attacks right now, there is no way that she'd have enough time to get any information out of him. Rather than confront him, since he didn't seem to notice her, Akane simply allows herself to blend into the shadows until the man is far enough away to move without being noticed, then heads back for Ansley. She'd probably have a means of silencing people temporarily.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Ansley was still waiting in their room when Akane came back, she looked relieved that Akane was still in good condition. She was curious about how things went though, it seemed she was back sooner than she had expected. "D-Did something happen?" She asked, a little worriedly.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Whoever he is, however cautious he may be, his senses don't match up to mine. If you stay within the shadow aura, you should be able to come with me. However, he has a communication device that we need to silence if we want to have any chance at capturing him. Do you have anything that would take care of that device?" Akane looks at Ansley with extremely expectant eyes that could back a skilled politician under a table.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Ansley frowned, thinking for a moment "I-I could… Play a song to stop i-it from working…" she said. She remembered hearing that these things called linkers that can transmit video and audio feeds are often used by guards all around Centora. However, she also knew that they relied on sound frequencies to function…[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Akane nods, "In that case, come with me. I'm going to track him down once more. While I'm hiding us in the darkness with shadow aura, you aren't going to be able to see, so whatever you do, don't let go of my hand. I'm going to need you to cut off his communications the moment I let go of your hand, so be ready. Now keep pace with me, and tread quietly." Akane grabs ahold of Ansley's hand, dragging her around at a fast pace as to not allow the man to get too far. Ansley might have some trouble keeping up.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Ansley nods slowly taking in all the information Akane was giving her making sure to remember what she was saying… She tried not to flinch too much, but blushed a little when Akane grabbed hold of her hand. However this time, her grip was stronger and she was tugging her along faster than she was used to. With some difficulty though, she managed to keep up by "skipping" along with her in an effort not to hold them both back too much.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]This time, it seemed the man had found his special spot and decided to sit down on a rock. Next to him was his Linker, and singing could be heard through it. He appeared to be trying to entertain himself for the night.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]As Akane gets closer to contact with the target, she slows down to further reduce the noise she and Ansley were generating. Ansley was sure to be nervous for this kind of job however, so she'd have to make the approach fast enough to lull Ansley into a false sense of safety. In the dark, she would have no idea how close they were to the enemy. Now close enough to engage in combat, Akane lets go of Ansley's hand, making a mad dash on all fours towards the enemy. She holds the dagger in her mouth, very ready to land a killing blow if the man wasn't prepared for her.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]As soon as Akane let go of her hand, Ansley started playing a song; this one was a lot louder than most of the others she played… It's strange and irregular tune carried all the way over to where their "target" as Akane had called him was. With any luck, the songs sound would be strong enough to interrupt the sound frequencies that Linker thing was relying on to transmit anything.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]As her song was played, the Linker suddenly starts having static come through it's end… And Vulon smirks as this happens, and Akane could see it as the static came. He picks up something and pulls on something, and then several noises around them could be heard. If they looked carefully enough, they could see things rising up to trap them in with Vulon as he rises up to his feet. "Alright, whoever's there, come out. You cannot hide from me, the enclosed space is too short to hide anywhere good." He noticed the approach of a shadow figure and seemed to move out of the way… [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Akane, detecting no signs of resistance, throws her dagger forward by flailing her neck and catches the blade in her right hand. She notices that Vulon tries to move out of the way of her attack, but with her speed it was unlikely that he would be able to avoid a diagonal slash aimed at the tendons in his armpit. Immediately after, Akane uses her forward momentum to flip backwards, landing on her feet and sliding backwards for around 3 seconds before lunging back towards Vulon's other side with his back turned.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]With blood being splattered on the ground. She had hit him across his side, with his hand reaching into his pocket. "So that's how it is… Very well." He pulls out what looks to be a stone, but it was very dark in color, and if Akane could spot a glance of it, she could feel an ominous vibe coming off of it.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Having taken the attacks, Vulon looked very annoyed and grits his teeth, clutching his hand tightly on the stone. "Alright, I see how we're doing this." He managed to get out, before what sounded like electricity briefly went through their ears. A dark aura seems to surround Vulon as he opens his hand, revealing a stone entirely black in color. "I was hoping to save this, but well… I think I have good reason to use it now." And after those words, the stone suddenly seems to burst out into darkness, which quickly consumes Vulon's body. Without even being given time to scream, he is covered in the darkness as it consumes his entire form and makes him look like a dark shadow before them. Then, the darkness clears away to reveal Vulon's skin now having become entirely black in color, with scars over where Akane had slashed him. He opens his eyes to reveal them being blood red in color, as his hands tense up as if instinctively. Akane and Ansley could also see a ghostly aura around his form, as if death was literally coming from his form now.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Ansley needed to think fast; that linker couldn't be of any use to him now that he was… Whatever he was now, it practically petrified her with fear when she looked at it, but she forced her body to keep moving. She stopped playing temporarily, unsure what song she should play to take care of the creature, especially since if she used the wrong song… She'd put Akanes life in danger again.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Akane immediately notices the aura around her target, but she had already committed to blitzing past his side, so to test the waters, she grabs a handful of grass. If she manages to successfully sprint past the man's side, she will hurl the grass at his face as she slides back under her momentum.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Vulon bares his teeth as he sees Akane starting to move, and with just as quick movement, thrusts out both of his hands towards her as she came in his direction. A green-like misty head formed and quickly headed out for her, it took several seconds for it to form in the shape of a large dragon's head, but making it look skull-like and with dark eyes, making it look as if it had just come from some nightmare. The misty thing opens it's mouth to try and snatch her in it, Akane could tell getting caught directly in this thing was a bad idea.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Akane expands her shadow aura to obscure her location briefly, Akane first drops to the floor, then as she is about to land roughly, slaps the ground with her arm and puts her chin to her chest to avoid hurting herself much. Then, Akane stabs the ground and throws her body away from the wall of darkness she had created. All of this happens in just five seconds, after which, she starts to circle Vulon. During that split second exchange, she noticed that the grass she had thrown shrivels up and dies. It seems like close combat would be impossible with this opponent, and with this barrier there would be no way to escape. In other words, I'm now fighting a losing battle, and just have to hope for a way to tip the scales.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Ansley suddenly had an idea, however she'd never tried something like this before so it might not even work. However as she had watched Vulon launch an attack she'd never seen before noticing the animalistic way he seemed to be behaving now… Perhaps he could be distracted if she directed a few notes from her harp to a spot a little further behind him hoping Akane wasn't right there. Starting to play a few bits and pieces of a loud melody, she focused on making the music travel towards the direction she had intended hoping this distraction would work.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Vulon chuckled at Akane's futile efforts, enjoying the little game he had put her in. He was going to make her suffer, he didn't care what she had done, she had attacked him and injured him, and it pissed him off just thinking about it. As his aura started to flare up like fire, he suddenly hears something like music. The Linker? No, it was something else, something… No, SOMEONE was here with them?! Vulon couldn't believe how idiotic he had been, the girl was just a distraction, the real threat was this music player! Oh how his mind assumed the worst and turning around, Vulon charges towards the direction of the music, letting out a mad scream of a howl as he moved his arms up, ready to strike out at the maker of this music.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Akane yells with anger. "Don't turn your back on me!" Akane dashes forward, and appears to attempt the same rushing technique she employed before. However this time, Akane does a variant of the attack, making her feet dig deeply into the ground at close range, stabbing toward Vulon's elbow, threatening to impale it. Regardless of if the attack actually lands, Akane will immediately push off the ground in the opposite direction. If he hasn't turned around or moved forward by the time she makes this step, she will punish him further with a wide slash across his back.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Vulon feels the pain of being impaled in the elbow, suddenly he felt like his heart was racing, he had forgotten for a minute about the distraction. As she went to prepare for the slice, he seems to quickly move away in what looked like painful walking, yet she couldn't help but note his speed during this. Once he had gotten his distance, drool begins to escape down his mouth as he shrieks out, going down on his knees as he holds his shoulder, his eyes wide as could be as the pain seemed to hurt him more than Akane had realized. He seemed out of breath during this, his entire body shaking as he kept to where he was for now. Yet his aura flared up again, it was clear he was worried for his life from that attack and wasn't going to foolishly try to attack them right now.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Akane decides to press her advantage, it would be a slight risk, as Vulon might remember her voice even despite the newfound harshness, but a prolonged fight would not be ideal, especially considering there is no escape. "This doesn't have to end with your death. If you surrender your gems and come quietly, I will guarantee your safety."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent] Vulon seemed to stop as he heard her speak to him, his face remaining expressionless for a little bit until he rose up to his feet and looked over at her. He remembered the innocent girl who had delayed him from getting away from Merricrest… That's when he notices his wallet nearby, burning up from the green aura as he narrows his eyes. He wondered how they had found him out here, even though he was prepared, this one brat knew he hadn't brought anyone else with him and struck. Vulon decided this was an opportunity, as he glared over at Akane, to not only ponder, but to get some answers. "What is it you want from me?" He asked, keeping his tone menacing, after all, she was quick and could be tricky.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Akane speaks back with authority, "I want information. I know that weird things are happening in Merricrest, and I want to know what is happening behind the scenes. Once I have this information, I'll allow you to live, but until I get it I'm going to make your life a living hell."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Vulon gasps and his eyes widened at her words, to her it would appear as if he was backed into a corner. In reality, his mind figured out that they didn't know the truth, in fact, they assumed something completely different. He had them in the palm of his hand the entire time, and now, it was time to reel it in! Vulon smirks and begins to chuckle at her words, putting a hand on his face. "Yes, things have been happening in Merricrest, haven't they? I've been pulling some strings, yes, indeed. What I have been brought here to do will end with Merricrest being annihilated. By now, it's probably too late to do anything about it. I was just the distraction, too many people had been suspecting me of my activities, so I knew a last stand against some attackers was the only chance I had. This entire confrontation has been meaningless, my death was assured the moment you entered my trap." Vulon suddenly grabs a hold of the arm she had injured. "Either way, I'm going to kill you and whoever you brought with you. I'm going to make sure you will suffer the most, seeing them beg for their miserable lives before I end yours quickly."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Akane laughs a dark laugh for a good four seconds, "Hey hey, that is quite a story, but you are completely bullshitting it all. I've been observing the guards, and while you certainly seem to have a lot of pull, you don't even have enough force to rid the city of crime, much less burn the thing down. And besides, you didn't think I followed you and that mind without a hint as to what might be happening between you, did you? I have a piece of the map, and I happen to know that is part of the reason you are so upset to have never recovered it. Now, would you like to try that again, or should I just bleed it out of you?"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Vulon suddenly laughs wildly as he digs his fingers into his arm, a chesire-like smirk spread across his mouth. "Oh, you're too MUCH!" He screams, and suddenly begins to pull on his own arm. Akane and Ansley could both see it start to tear off, see the blood splatter and let loose and hear the sickening sounds from this. When enough of it was pulled, he grabbed the bloody parts and yanked one good hard one to fully rip it off. Only chuckling with a demented look on his face, he throws his own burning arm away, by now the wallet had burnt away as well and only Akane's stone remained, but Vulon didn't seem to even care to look at it's direction now. "How fun, how delicious… I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU SCREAM!!!" With those words, his aura suddenly flares up wildly and something begins to form in front of him.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Ansley sighed in relief when her idea worked…Well, partially, it distracted Vulon long enough for Akane to take him down, but she hadn't intended for him to run towards her; she needed a little more practice with that. As they talked Vulon eventually screaming his words in a crazed manner her vision suddenly went black for a moment when he put a hand on his arm… All she could hear was a wet tearing noise before vision returned to her, Vulons arm seemed to be severed now and he somehow was madder than he was before. His aura was flaring up wildly which worried her, she looked around for something that might help Akane, but then a glint of green caught her eye… It was that stone Akane had placed on the ground.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Decisively, "Ansley, this one isn't going to talk. I'm going to have to kill him. Just don't do anything stupid and let me finish this." Akane readies her blade, swatting the blood that has accumulated off of it. She still has plenty of energy in her stone before it hangs up, but she has anticipated the need to potentially fight additional opponents, and decides that concealing her appearance no longer matters. Deactivating the shadow aura surrounding her, Akane reveals herself to save energy. "You are a poor match for me. I've seen your abilities, and now I will end you in a single stroke. You won't receive another chance to surrender."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Vulon licks his lips as a ball made from the green aura forms in front of him, a wicked smirk coming to his lips as he reaches his only hand into it and holds it up above him. Grunts of pain could be heard as Vulon's own hand began to waste away in it, not even Vulon's own body could be protected from this ball. Whatever he was doing to it, it wasn't good, but Vulon did nothing yet. He only watched Akane, waiting for her move.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Akane moves very slowly and carefully towards the stone laying on the ground, very careful to stay at a range that could dodge an attack of speed slightly faster than the one used against her before. There is no reason to dodge, and as I showed him before, he can't ignore me without dying so he won't try to attack Ansley. I just need to make it to that stone, then I won't need to take any further risks.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"I'll say this much before you kill me." Vulon spoke out loud for both of them to hear. "Even if you kill me, it won't matter. I wasn't lying when I said I was the distraction. I'll make things interesting, too, since you came for information." He looks towards his Linker. "My stone is still in there. If you kill me, a message will play on there just for you." He closes his eyes and chuckles. "But once you do it, you can't turn back. They will notice I died, the man who brought me on this mission is a devil. Worse than you even, strange girl. My death will forever be on your hands."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Reaching the gem, I kick it up into my hands, "Thats cute. You think they will know it was me. You are the only person who will ever know of anything that transpired this night. It will end with you, though I appreciate your cooperation." Akane moves to the very edge of the range she expects to dodge the attack. "Any last words?"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Yeah, I have a few...[/BCOLOR]." The man looks the other way and smirks to himself. "How fast are you?" With that question said, he launches the ball into the ground underneath them, an explosion of the green misty aura blasts out around the area, temporarily clouding Akane's vision of him. When he reappears, he is dashing towards Ansley's location, the green aura widely flaring on his only arm as he appeared to be chuckling madly.

Akane smiles, "Checkmate." Akane triggers her shadow strike ability, making her seemingly vanish to Vulon. However, Akane expected him to attack her, not Ansley. At this range she wouldn't be able to make it to her in time, not at this distance. So instead, Akane used her final gambit. Akane forcefully throws her dagger with great speed, aiming to sever Vulon's neck. Her calculation would have to be perfect, otherwise she will have thrown her weapon for no reason. Hopefully, Ansley would be ok. At the very least, Vulon would not be able to see the dagger, so he wouldn't know to dodge. Plus, Ansley was crafty, so hopefully she'd come up with something on her own.

Ansley was positioned roughly next to Vulon unsure what Akane was doing… However on the off chance something were to go wrong, she could try playing another song. Though to do so, she'd have to back up just a little bit.

As the hand is about to get within reach of Ansley, it stops, and before her drops his head. His body collapsing before her, the battle was theirs, but then again, Ansley just had to watch a man die before her eyes so, there's that.

Just then… Vulon's hand seemed to stop short before it managed to reach her, causing Ansley to shout a little in surprise and fear. Slowly but surely, she began to realize he was no longer moving, but then… Was he dead? Anley hadn't ever seen someone die before, so she couldn't be sure. It scared her a little despite the fact that she just came close to dying "I-Is… H-He?...." she asked not wanting to finish her sentence.

Akane looks on the scene somewhat forlornly, as if she sympathizes with what Ansley is seeing. She walks slowly towards Ansley, but before reaching her, picks up the Linker, ready to ditch it should there be any signs of foul play. She listens to the message that she'd supposedly receive.

The message begins to play, however, both of them would only be able to hear audio, nothing visual. First from it, comes Vulon's voice. "So, you just came along to remind me of what the plan is?" Vulon asks someone. "I know what the plan is, why do you have to come here? . . .Alright, I'll go over it for you. You want to know something first though? See this ear of mine, the one with the tip of it gone? Yeah, that was from a human, and I barely escaped with my life that day. The tip of an ear being gone means that elf has been enslaved, marked by those filthy humans. They still do it now, but in secret, and that is why I am going to convince my brothers here in Merricrest that they need to take action. Others will join them soon, and once they reach their destination, they will cause a riot so fierce and strong, other elves will rise up and join them in the ensuing chaos."
"Alright, that sounds simple enough." A shady voice responded back to him. "But you'd better be ready to lead if that happens. Personally, I think we're getting in way over our heads on this one. But -he- will not hear anything but results, and well, to be honest, I don't want to be killed. I heard what that man did to his boss, I ain't getting on his bad side."
"I understand your fear and concern, but you need not worry. They can lead themselves, and besides, people will catch onto my doings. I will simply eliminate them as he has ordered me to, nothing more, nothing less."
"Then let me tell you something." The shady voice stopped for quite some seconds before coming up again. "See this stone? Feel the power emitting from it? We found an entire cave of these just recently, but there was some sort of strange, black goo emitting from it, so we could only take some with us. We already tested one out, and we found they can give you incredible powers. But it's a permanent use once you use it, and you will lose your sanity at that. I am going to give this to you, just to see if you get tempted to ever use it in a pinch." A chuckle came after that.
"That's not all you came here for. Why is it so important that you linger around and stare at me like that?" Vulon sounded annoyed at the shady voice. "There must be more reason than that."
"He has ordered you, along with the others, to keep an eye out for two particular individuals. They are brothers, and they are quite annoying apparently. He says if you should find any red-haired man, kill him."
"That's oddly specific. But whatever, he has his ways. You best head back to Vertice, if you get caught like this, you'll only end up hurting yourself. Oh, and one more thing. Tell him about these black stones, I will be too busy here in Merricrest as is, and I know that I'll get criticized if I leave now."
"Alright then. Good luck, Vulon, and get as many of them as you can. Merricrest will never see us coming." The message then ends, and the stone falls out of the Linker. The Linker then cracks and breaks in half in Akane's hands.

Akane looks at the corpse, and pulls out the dagger. With it in her control once again, Ansley's vision goes dark again, and she feels a soft hand hold hers. Even without words, Ansley can sense that it is the normal, childish Akane. "Ansley, are you ok? Akane is worried about you. You look like a mess."

Ansley was shaking a little when suddenly she felt a soft hand hold hers… She blushed a little, but sighed in relief hearing Akane's voice. It was a small struggle for her to speak, but she managed "I-I'm ok n-now…" she said quietly, not too confident that she was. She was still shaking, but not as much as she was before.

"Akane wants to get somewhere safe. But, The Hunter gave me a message to make sure you heard no matter what. Hunter thinks that since they didn't know about us or our interference, that this trap was meant for someone else. The message said something about a pair of brothers, one with red hair. Akane thinks that those people might know more about what is happening here. Akane doesn't want to go back to the hotel, without making sure that the guards of Merricrest haven't started revolting yet. Akane wants to wait outside the gates and wait so Ansley can rest."

Ansley nodded, not speaking for a bit "I-I'll be fine… L-let's do what we need to first." she said, her voice was a little quiet, but she looked confident again despite what had just happened. She was admittedly a little tired, but she'd worry about getting some rest later, it seemed there was a lot more to the events that had occurred here than she had first though.

Akane removes the veil of shadows covering Ansley's vision. She sees that poor Akane had been crying this whole time, even though she was trying to remain cheery. "Its ok. Akane thinks she needs to rest too. And, Akane can tell, that was the first time you watched someone die, so its ok to be afraid or cry."


Ansley felt herself begin to cry herself as she walked forwards, hugging Akane without another thought… It was usually something she did to her sister alone, but she felt comfortable doing this to Akane too strangely enough. "I-It's ok… I-I'll be F-fine now..." She said, trying not to let her voice waver too much.

Akane started putting her hand through Ansley's hair, brushing through it softly and repeatedly. "Its ok. We had a big fight, no sense in rushing into the next one, right? Akane doesn't want Ansley to have to fight, since Ansley isn't a fighter."

Ansley just nods again, forcing a smile "I-If you want to… I-I guess it's alright…" she said, feeling herself blush a little again… She could just barely remember the last time her sister did that to her, just like her mother did before she became too old for that sort of thing.

Akane looks up towards Ansley equal parts endearingly and curiously, "Ansley, you blush a lot around Akane. Akane wants to know why Ansley is blushing."

As if right on cue, Ansley felt herself blushing a little more "I-I… D-Don't know…" she said quietly feeling a little flustered despite not knowing the reason why.

Akane looks bashfully at the ground, "Akane has had a lot of weird feelings around Ansley too, so Akane understands."

Ansley seemed to reflect that bashful look Akane had on her face, averting her eyes for a moment before looking at Akane again. "I-I guess w-we should get to that gate now…" She said, her words barely being audible.

"Akane would like that." Akane and Ansley make their way to the gate. It is a good thing they slept, because they had yet another long night ahead of them.

 

[Thundor]

The Predator Appears!

​

Dionysius crosses his arms over his chest. "Well, we can let you three resume no--" He suddenly stops, smiling a little as he snaps his fingers, dispelling the sound effects he put around them. "You three. I want you to get someplace safe immediately. Do not question me, just hide."

Scarlett nodded, her face gaining a serious look, her eyes darted around looking for a good spot to hunker down in. Then, she spotted an alleyway; it was a little wider than the one she had previously found, but it seemed like a decent place to hide. "There." She pointed, lowering her voice.

Rican grabs his axe off the ground "I'm sure that we can take on whatever it is."

"I'm sure we could, but it would be best to avoid more conflicts with the law." Cadoc notes.

"You three would die to what is coming, just hide. I will explain after this is over." Dionysius notes.

"Very well." says Cadoc. Rican stands for a moment then leaves to the alley. Scarlett just shook her head, tugging Cadoc along by grasping his arm, she took care not to touch what was supposed to be his hands though. She started pulling him towards the alley managing to get there slowly but surely. Dionysius waits until they are out of sight, then turns around to face the direction the sound was coming from. He only had to wait until they showed up, which would be right about... Theran, a hulking Tiger anthro, lands from a leap from a near-by tree accompanied by four of his brothers looking at the man in the robes then around him two large blades attached to his gauntlets and a patch over his left eye.

"Welcome, gentlemen." Dionysius calls out to them. "How can I assist you today?"

Theran eyes the old man removing his eye patch scanning the area then examining the man. "I am looking for a.....Cadoc."

'Shit..." Scarlett thought looking towards Cadoc, she made a motion telling him to stay where he was, if she knew him well enough, she already had an idea what he might be thinking of doing...

"I hear he escaped to the city of his birth!" Cadoc stupidly responds.

Theran looks toward the source of the voice. "Show yourself coward." Rican looks towards cadoc and shakes his head.

"Don't mind them, they're children." Dionysius used this to try to shift Theran's attention. "Now, what is a Cadoc? Is it some sort of new spice?"

Theran doesn't remove his attention from the alley. "If it was a child why was the tone of voice as deep as it was?"

"I never said how old they were, just that they were children sir. Do not try to change the conversation, you were asking me about a Cadoc, now I am asking you what a Cadoc is."

Theran says without looking away from the alley "Cadoc is the name of a cowardly human." Scarlett puts a hand over Cadocs mouth in an effort to keep him quiet... She wasn't about to let his foolishness blow their cover.

"The definition of a coward is determined by one's views. I imagine, as a predator, who takes advantage of an opportunity in a fight he gets, would think something like a fly would be a coward. And yes, before you ask, I do know the difference between a predator and an assassin. The difference is, I train with something far worse than a predator." Dionysius comments.

Theran lowers the patch's back over his eye and returns his gaze to the man "A man who hides is a coward nothing more than a frightful child waiting to be slaughtered. Now who are those people in the alley?"

"I was teaching some children a few tricks." Dionysius smiles. "You know how kids are, they get so hyperactive and caught up in the moment, and when someone like me comes along, they want me to show them something amazing or out of this world. However, I sent them there because I heard you lot coming along and didn't want them to be frightened by you. From a distance, they think you are nothing more than passerby's. So, how about it? You have no business here, so you might want to look elsewhere for this Cadoc fellow, if that's even his real name. Honestly, I think it's just some title he took on to hide his true identity. Now there may be several Cadoc's in this city, it would be almost impossible to determine which is the real one now."

Theran squints with his one eye and smiles evilly "I can show the children a thing or two, and this would be a one in a life time experience for them." he makes a subtly motion to one of the four wolf anthro who starts towards the alley. Scarlett readied herself raising her left hand hearing the footsteps... She didn't dare make a move yet though. Cadoc stood silently, waiting to see what happens.

"How about a scenario instead?" Dionysius says to stop the wolf. "Let's say... I just adjusted my sound to make it sound like to your boys that of a whistle used for pets. And I can't say that this is all of them, so I adjusted the pitch to set off at a higher frequency, so that it wouldn't matter who was on the ground, or coming from above, or from the air in general. But you wouldn't be affected much by it, it would be an annoying ringing to your ears. So, I want your boys to back off, and I want to make a proposal to you instead to show the kids something from a distance."

Theran has had enough of the game "Had you known anything about us you'd know that I -know- that pitiful human Cadoc is here bring him out he comes with us and no one gets hurt." he makes another motion for the wolf to stop where he is.

Cadoc starts laughing. "Really all this for that little thing. Fine, but i demand fair trial. That is one petty merchant. Scarlett, send word to my father, he will make sure i am treated fairly unless this gang feels ge can deal with a small army." Says Cadoc walking forward, hands raised. Scarlett sighed, so much for following orders, at this rate Cadoc was going to make a mess out of this situation...

Rican stands and places a hand on cadoc's shoulder. "Lad... these men seem dangerous."

Theran chuckles "See, the coward arises."

"Only a fool would kill over such a petty dispute." Cadoc notes.

Scarlett realized their cover had been blown by now and joined Cadocs side "I doubt it's just that... The bounty's a viable cause." she said keeping her left hand raised. Dionysius did not move or say a word.

"If these men have any sense at all they will just take me to trial, get the bounty, and then get out of this dispute"

"Dammit! That's not the point!" Scarlett said facepalming, she was more than a little frustrated by now. "Why'd you have to go blow our cover..." she said under her breath. Theran motions the four wolf anthro to approach the three.

"I'll be fine don't worry."

"Leave the Dwarf and girl alone. If you try to touch them, I will act without mercy." Dionysius warned Theran.

"At this rate I really doubt that..." Scarlett said exasperated, she directed her hand towards the wolves just incase they were to make a move.

Theran eyes the man "If they attack it will be self defense and who would be the bad guy then?"

Rican readies his axe "I still do not like the look of these.....things."

"You and I both know morality is meaningless in a fight. There is no good or bad guy, only people trying to survive." Dionysius smirks.

"i have no plan to attack, i'm more then willing to go to trial for my minor offense, i will go willingly if you promise me a fair trial" Cadoc said.

Theran looks to Cadoc "I was merely told to bring you in... don't resist human."

"Could we do it in a public area, i would prefer witnesses to your unwarranted arrest"

Theran motions to the wolf anthros and two of them move forward to grab him. "I have little time for this." Scarlett looked towards Cadoc a little confused at what he said.

Cadoc moves back "all you must do is promise me a fair trial and i will willingly go, otherwise i will refuse to be taken until you have confirmation that i will have a fair trial"

"Cadoc, you don't have a say anymore in this." Dionysius commented.

"Why is that, are these men above the law?" As Cadoc is asking this, Theran walks forward and moves to take Cadoc by the throat with blinding speed.

Scarlett shook her head "This world is not always bound by law." she said simply. Then, she moved to the side a little startled by Theran's sudden movement. Cadoc grabs Therans neck back with both hands, gripping as hard as he can, while channeling as much of his new found power into his hands as he could.

"Dammit all! Stop!" Scarlett shouted hitting Cadoc with a clump of chains in an attempt to break up the fight. Therans grip tightens greatly on Cadocs throat and two wolfs stand between them and Scarlett while another slams a fist into the back of Cadocs head. Rican takes two steps forward apparently readying to swing his axe.

Theran relaxes as Cadoc losses conciousness and lossens his grip and dropping him staring at the other two."Dwarf don't even think about it." Scarlett sighed a little, looking at the unconscious Cadoc, he was strong and all, but he still had alot to learn it seemed... She just hoped whatever would happen to him now wouldn't be lethal or anything. Besides, it's not like she could stop these particular individuals with the powers that she knew how to use at the moment. Rican raises his axe and hesitates for a few seconds then lowers it.

Theran chuckles "Not even the will to use the weapon....sad" he then turns to the two wolfs standing between rican and Scarlett "Let's take this trash to Hamilton." and turns to leave the one wolf picking him up and the other three following Theran one lagging behind.

Hearing the name Hamilton, Dionysius speaks up. "Tell me something, predator. If you and I had fought one on one, who would of won? That stone in your eye, it isn't just for show is it?"

Scarlett sighed shaking her head "Well... Shit, that could have went better." she said, more than a little disappointed Cadoc hadn't listened to her silent gestures.

Theran stops while the others leave "We are pretty even in our own ways but you may have won. But I never go alone."

"And I would of taken advantage of that fact."

"And I would have taken advantage of that." Theran says coldly as he leaves.

Dionysius chuckles. "Interesting man. He's got my attention for sure." Dionysius walks over to Rican and Scarlett. "You two alright?"

Scarlett nodded "Thanks for covering for us... Despite that little inconvenience." she said with a small smile.

Rican says "I could have taken that thing."

"No, you could not have." Dionysius said.

Rican looks at him "Why's that?"

"As far as power went, he was on par with me. He would of sliced off your arm if you had attacked."

Rican grunts "Why did you let them take him?"

"He basically humiliated me when I was defending him."

Scarlett sighed and shook her head "I swear I don't get him sometimes... I tried to tell him not to." she said a little sadly.

"Some people just cannot be reasoned with."

Rican asks "Who was that, and what was it?"

"He is a predator. From what I could tell of his gear, he is not from Kinjun, which is better for us. Kinjun predator's are known for being far more dangerous than any assassin, at least, most of them anyway. But for Centora, he is still dangerous. Predator's are an unofficial term for anthro's who have been trained in the art of mercenaries, assassins, the like. Except early on in this training, they break away from the traditional training and move on to a more dangerous way of training."

"I've fought my fair share of beasts in Kinjun... However I can back you up on that... There's far more dangerous beasts there than the likes of whatever that thing was." Scarlett said, she frowned a little remembering the more dangerous creatures she had heard of but not yet encountered. when she's finally able to return to her natural habitat... Perhaps she could investigate a little further...

"Hamilton would be one said creature." Dionysius noted.

Rican asks "Who?"

Scarlett frowned "Which one are you referring to..." she said looking is that.

Dionysius stopped. ". . .There's more than one Hamilton now?"

"I meant which one of the two we just encountered is Hamilton." Scarlett said, she realized she might have been a little vague.

Dionysius facepalms at not catching onto it. "No, Hamilton is the one who hired them to do this."

Scarlett nodded "Do you think any more will come our way?" she asked.

Dionysius shakes his head. "No. Not unless we get bounties. Or Hamilton learns I am here. You two are safe though. I can't say the same for Isaac though..."

"Shit... Well, if we still need to practive, we better make it quick... Do you think we should meet up with him?" Scarlett asked wondering what Dionysius's input would be on this.

"By now, Isaac should be in Fairwolf."

"I guess that's out of the question, but at the very least... I need to find my sister, wherever she is anyways." Scarlett said with a sigh. Rican shrugs.

"Honestly, it's up to you two at this point. We have sometime before Hamilton makes his move. Would you rather we stay in Vertice, or go elsewhere, or would you rather leave it up to me?"

Rican says "You have made smart decisions so far."

"I don't know... I feel like we should pursue my sister, but yet, with Hamilton pulling some strings... I'm not so sure." Scarlett said, she looked to be thinking for a moment before she spoke "I guess I'll leave it up to you, I'm still a little indecisive after all." she said with a nervous laugh.

"Very well. I need to get you two back to your rooms..." Dionysius suddenly realized something. ". . .Oh that's right, we were in a hospital before. Well, let's get you two to a hotel!​

 

[Thundor]

Scarlett Meets Reeve!

Dionysius had found Scarlett a room and gave her the key to it. "Here you go. I will be mostly on patrol for the night. Can't take any chances, ya know."

Scarlett nodded, taking the key gratefully "Good luck with that... I'll keep a low profile for now." she said, keeping her voice at a lower volume than it usually was. He nods before heading off. Scarlett sighed a little, settling herself into her room and sitting ontop of her bed. Again, her mind was drifting off towards her sister again, she wondered when they'd ever be able to meet each other again... Suddenly, Scarlett hears some noises outside. Looking around, Scarlett tries to see where the noises are coming from, before checking out if they were outside the door, she peered out the window cautiously. A man could be seen on the ground trapped underneath several piles of books, clothes and other things.

"What the..." Scarlett said under her breath, opening the door. She started to exit the room making sure to be extra careful not to alert too many others to her own presence as she continued on to the nearest door to that man she had seen earlier. The man did not appear to move, although he was still trapped. Scarlett sighed, fully opening the door before inspecting the rather large pile the man was trapped under... It didn't seem like such a good situation to be in to say the least, she figured she might as well help him out of where or something while she was here. With that thought in mind, she started to shift the various items out of the way, hoping to make it easier for whoever it was trapped under all this to free themselves.

The man blinks and appears to wake up, slowly making his way back up onto his feet as he groans. "T-thank you..." He looks at her face. "I'm Reeve. I am grateful to you for what you have done..."

Scarlett sighed a little shaking her head with a smile "Question is... How in the world did you end up like this?" she asked, a little confused as to what had happened to him.

"I tripped and fell, throwing my things into the air. So I rolled onto my back to try to better protect myself, and I ended up getting buried." He lowers his head to avoid her gaze. "I'm so fired..."

Realizing how bad the situation might get for this man, Scarlett starting gathering up the items that were dropped on the floor. "Not yet you aren't..." She said as she did this, it perplexed her what kind of job required the transportation of this many items at once... Don't they usually have rollers for this sort of thing?

He looks at her with an eyebrow raised and blinks, frowning a little. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you have to do my work for me." He sighs, leaning against a wall. "I get so nervous, and I don't want to mess up..."

Scarlett shook her head "Don't worry about it... It's not like carrying all this is as easy as it looks.." she said already carefully balancing pretty much all the items which she'd dropped. "Can you hold my spear for me?" She asked looking towards her spear which she'd placed on the ground when she was helping him pick everything up.

Reeve blinks and takes her spear, watching her. "So, what are you called?"

"Scarlett." Scarlett said, with a small smile, it was barely visible on her face over all of the items she was carrying.

Reeve rubs his shoulder a little at the mention of her name. ". . .I see. Well, thank you for doing this. I don't know how to repay you."

"There's no need... I'd rather not trouble someone with favors." Scarlett said, feeling a little awkward about all of this... It confused her why she was even doing this in the first place, though she didn't have anything better to do.

Reeve sighs. "But you're practically saving my job. There must be something I can do for you."

"Well... If you put it like that..." Scarlett thought for a moment "I guess it would help if you knew where my sister was.." she said, there was a hopeful look in her eyes.

Reeve raised an eyebrow. "Sister? What's her name?"

"Ansley... You might know her as a traveling bard." Scarlett said, wondering how popular she was around Vertice.

Reeve suddenly raised an eyebrow. "I saw her before."

Scarlett turned towards Reeve so suddenly that she almost dropped the items she was carrying. "You did?! When?" She asked looking a little more cheery than she was before.

Reeve shrugs. "A few weeks back, she was travelling through near some of the paths. We didn't really talk, she didn't seem like the talkative type. She went off towards the forests though, you won't find her without help. Like I said, this was a few weeks back, she could be anywhere by now."

Scarlett let out a sigh of disappointment "Do you know where she was headed?" she asked, figuring at least that might cue her in on where her sister was.

Reeve frowns a little and sighs. "Gee, I shouldn't be doing this..." He closes his eyes. "L-look, if you want... I know some people higher up. T-they can... They can get you into contact with people in Merricrest. I can take you in the morning and w-we can... Try."

Scarlett nodded "You know... You don't have to do this if it's that big of a risk.." she said, feeling a bit guilty about it.

Reeve shakes his head and opens his eyes, smiling softly. "Don't be. It's what I do. You should head to bed, I -- I can handle the rest from here."

Scarlett frowned a little "You sure you're not gonna trip again?" she asked looking a bit worried.

Reeve shrugs. "If I do, I'll be better prepared this time."

"Well... At least let me carry half of it; you still have my spear after all." Scarlett said as she remembered her hands were full, and Reeve was still holding onto her spear.

Reeve looks to it. ". . .Oh. Darn. You got me, somehow." He shrugs. "Guess I'm stuck here for a while then."

"It's alright... The sooner we get this over with the better." Scarlett said, shrugging a little herself, she wondered why she was even helping him like this... Perhaps it was boredom, or perhaps she was just in a better mood today oddly enough, but in either case, there really wasn't any backing out of this by now.

Reeve smiles and walks over. "So, might as well chat while we're here. I'm guessing you don't mind that."

Scarlett nodded "I guess a little talking wouldn't hurt..." she said, a little grateful for more conversation, this encounter felt a bit awkward for her sure, but she knew it would probably be more so if they didn't talk at all the entire way there.

 

[Thundor]

Surprise Reunion

​

Theran walks into Hamiltons office and tosses Cadoc's unconcious body to the ground. "Never mentioned lightening hands." Cadoc groggily wakes up silently looking around glaring at Theran.

Hamilton raises a brow. "He got lightning hands? When was -this- a thing?!" Theran kicks Cadoc in the face

"A fairly recent development, also there is no need for that, im willing to cooperate as long as everyone remain civil" Says Cadoc, sitting up starting to wake up a bit more.

Theran growls "He is an annoying human."

"Well your an annoying cat. Anyways what am i here for, if its the noble i kicked im if so im more then willing to go to trial for that."

Theran holds one of his blades to Cadocs throat "Be quiet." Cadoc silently nods

Hamilton laughs. "Nobility has no meaning in this age, foolish man."

"Now what do you want me to do with him?"

Hamilton smirks. "Bring him with us." Hamilton spoke, as the shadow creature appeared visible for the first time to Theran, Cadoc would of thought this was some sort of ghost. The creature smirks as it moves silently out of the room, with Hamilton following in pursuit of it.

"Mind telling me what i'm here for?"

Theran presses the blade against his throat without cutting it throwing him a glare then turning his attention to Hamilton "Do you require my services any longer? That will cost extra, as I only agreed to bring him to you."

Hamilton stops and looks back. "If you want, I can hire your services for a few days. Now come along, we have work to do." Theran grabs Cadoc by the collar and hoists him his feet. Hamilton leads them into a small, private looking room that was only lit by a few select candles. Hamilton gestures for Theran to put Cadoc up in chains on a wall, to hang him up on it. "His hands will be above his head, his legs will be up against each other. He's going to feel sorry when he gets cramped on this~"

"What is your reason to do this, I have no qualms with you, and i believe we would both rather keep it that way." Cadoc said.

Hamilton chuckles darkly. "Nothing personal. You just, got a bounty on your head. And well... I heard you were useful as a distraction." Hamilton smirks. "So that's what we're going to make you~"

"Perhaps i could work with you, i could pay off my bounty with a letter, and i could rally some men to assist me. Much better then those men, and more against you."

Hamilton puts his hand on his chin, looking like he was putting great thought into it. Then his mouth opens as he gasps. "No."

"Not even paying off the bounty? Well I guess you would not mind some people quite high up hunting down your cat, and who knows what they will find while looking for him." Theran chuckles darkly.

Hamilton gives him a funny look, as Theran finished setting him in the chains. "High up? Boy, I work for the highest known force in the country right now."

"And what power is that? If it is so powerful it shouldnt be a secret should it?"

Theran steps back from Cadoc "Human you are in no position to be making threats."

Hamilton sighs. "The only way out of this is two options. Beg for your life... Or... Sign your life to the Merchants."

"What would signing my life to the merchants entail?"

Hamilton looks him dead in the eyes. "You would get paid for your services, you would be helping the community, you would be at my command whenever I would call for you." Hamilton smirks. "I would also ensure your family got some bonuses for your private efforts from me. I would ensure their safety, that no harm would come to them, and that they would remain yours." Hamilton chuckles. "Think about it. The higher you go through the ranks, the more power you get in this country. It will be worth it when we achieve our primary goal. Of course, not all Merchant's support it... Too bad for them then~ So, what's your choice?"

"You should have just started with that, i told you i was more then willing to cooperate" Says Cadoc smiling. Theran squints.

Hamilton shrugs. "Alright, so you've proven your willing... But how can you show your serious? If you aren't... Theran's going to make sure your bones break."

"And how would you like for me to prove that?" Theran begins to remove his gauntlets holding his blades

Hamilton smirks. "Your friends. You are going to make them criminals. Do that, and I will know you are on our side."

"Would serve them right, they left me when they thought you came to kill me"

Hamilton walks to the other side of the room. "Release him." Theran begins to remove the chains.

As Cadocs chains are removed, he rubs the back of his head "Damn, that wolf really got me good."

Hamilton cracks his neck as he sighs. "And here I thought things would get --" He is interrupted as the door breaks off and goes flying, crashing into the end of the room. ". . .Okay, who's the brat that just did that? Because I will have you know... That door costed a -lot-. I am -not- going to pay that out of my check, thank you very much." Theran looks perplexed.

Cadoc stretches out as he looks over towards the door "Did you happen to bring my sword with me?" Theran runs and grabs his bladed gauntlets.

Dionysius walks into the room, putting his hands into his pockets. "Hello Hamilton. I see your still up to your old ways after all these years."​

"Ah, the traitor Dionysius. One of the 'good' merchants that got away." Hamilton smirks wickedly. "Tell me... Are you still suffering from what I did to you and your family, especially your little brother?"

". . .You know, I'm going to just ignore that and just --"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I not make it good enough of a scene?" Hamilton chuckles. "I should of done -much- worse to your little brother." Dionysius gets expressionless.

". . .You know what, I'm going to enjoy this -far- more than I should."

A voice suddenly cries "SO AM I!" as a feminine leg with a leather stiletto pointed boot flies at bullet speed at Hamilton's head, seemingly from nowhere at all.

Theran looks to Dionysius "Shall we answer that question you asked earlier human?"

Hamilton's eyes suddenly go wide as he -barely- dodges out of the way of it, biting his lower lip enough to make it bleed as he stops his movement to look... And see the wall behind him suddenly break apart. ". . .That was almost my head. Oh my god... That was almost my head. Who the HELL do you think you are, to nearly take MY head like that?!" Theran readies his blades and rolls his neck.

"I'd really be much more useful with a sword" Says Cadoc as he looks around. Theran picks it up and tosses it to Cadoc. Cadoc catches it out of that air, drawing it and looking at the blade for a moment before readying it "Much better."

As the rubble clears, the first thing they see is a pair of scarlet, glowing eyes. A woman with fangs, black leather armor, medium length blue hair and fangs appears with a cocky grin. She wore a black leather corset and long black leather boots, and smiled at Dionysus. "Am I late to the party?"

Emily Gardener

Dionysius smirks at her. "Oh hey honey." Hamilton's right eye starts twitching, as they all could see a black aura that seemed to move like fire, they all feel an intense thrist for blood emitting from him now.

"Again.... -Again- your family makes me get so pissed off, that I just can't hold it in anymore..." Hamilton glares at the woman with hate in his eyes. "You... Are going... To die. Here. And become a puddle of blood. And when anyone asks what the name Gardener means... I am going to tell them it means DO. NOT. FUCK. WITH. ME!"

The mysterious woman readies into a combat stance. "Come at me." Cadoc holds back, waiting to see how everything plays out.

Theran readies himself aswell looking at Dionysius "Let us answer that question."

Dionysius looks to Theran and smiles. "Oh hey, Cadoc... Move back. We'll get you away from these bad men soon." Dionysius cracks his knuckles, both cracks letting out a loud BOOM like it was thunder. Then, Dionysius raises two fingers and gestures for Theran to come at him. Hamilton suddenly dashes in at her, his claws extending out as he swipes them for her neck.

The woman jumps backwards, leaving a crack in the ground as she leaps onto the wall, kicking against it to launch herself like a projectile at the man, twisting into the air to do a full on flying roundhouse. "NICE TRY!" she shouts as she flew like a blur through the air, the whole motion completed in a mere second. Hamilton snarls at her, ducking down from her roundhouse as it flew over his head. He then goes to quickly dash past her into the room next to them, in order to get more space. He then turns around and aims his claws at her, firing all five of them for her.

Theran remains standing watching him closely raising the patch over his eye revealing his orange eye then removing it entirely the suddenly dashes forward like a bolt of lightening towards Dionysius. Cadoc Moves towards the combatants, keeping some distance, biding his time. The woman clashed against Hamilton's claws with steel-hard claws of her own, as the sound of bone grinding on steel could be heard echoing through the other room. They were fighting at a level that Theran and Cadoc could not even -comprehend-. Dionysius smiles and quickly moves back, waiting until he was out in more open space and watching Theran come for him. Then, throwing out a quick punch in front of himself, he sends out a sound blast straight for Theran as he moves to the right. Hamilton dashes in for the women, preparing to strike at her as new claws quickly extend out.

Theran rolls to the left side scraping the blade on the grounddashing at him getting closer and slashing at him with deadly accuracy. The woman and Hamilton would charge at one another, their arms moving at lightning speed and parrying one another's strikes, neither letting up but neither landing a blow. "Tch...you may actually make me go all out at this point!" she shouted as both their attacks continued to clang against one another at bullet speeds, a repeated "CLANG" echoing like a machine gun through the air. Cadoc moves behind Dionsius, putting his sword back in it sheath. Dionysius rolls out of the way, getting back up quickly to his feet as he inhales through his nostrils, before quickly leaning his head forward to let out a scream at him. The scream, being enhanced by Dionysius, breaks all nearby glass that it goes through as it heads for Theran. Hamilton kept up his strikes at her, breaking the pattern to try to slam both feet into her gut to knock her back from him.

The woman jumps backwards at the absurd speeds she has been pulling off, not giving off a single bead of sweat...or breathing for that matter. "Whats the matter, Hamilton? Running out of breath?" Cadoc quickly rushes Dionysius from behind sweeping his legs. Theran seeing no way to dodge this braces for it and gets sent flying and does a backflip landing sliding back and bolts forward. Dionysius jumps up and seems to kick his right foot down, getting sent higher into the air like an additional boost as a sound blast crashes down into Cadoc. Not enough to injure him, but enough to send him slamming face first into the ground. He looks towards Theran after this as he sends himself flying down into Theran's shoulder as he is dashing forward. Hamilton growls at her and has his shadow creature appear near him, as he dashes towards her and tries to impale her through the gut with his claws.

Cadoc gets back up, quickly drawing the knife from his boot, throwing it at Dionysus leg. Suddenly, the shadow stops dead in its tracks and turns to Hamilton, as the woman's hand now glowed with a red light, the symbol of an X on the back of her hand. The same X appeared on the shadow's forehead, with a pale scarlet light. "Dont send your lackeys after me if you dont want it to dance with you too!" she cries, flicking her hand as the shadow charges at Hamilton. Theran instead of dodging goes to slam a blade into Dionysius grabbing him and thrusting him to the ground holding a blade to his throat.

As Theran moves the blade in a thrusting motion, he feels it get bounced away from Dionysius as he realizes that while Dionysius was moving in the air, sound was surrounding him. However, Cadoc's knife breaks upon coming into contact with this, and a piece flies past his cheek, making a cut open as he veers off just enough not to make full impact with the shoulder. Hamilton frowns at her, snapping his fingers as his shadow dissipiates and reforms in front of him. Both of them seem to just glare at her as Hamilton then looks to Cadoc. "CADOC! Get over here! Use that sword of yours to chop her in HALF!" Cadoc draws his sword rushing over towards her, swinging his sword at the woman in a wide swipe. Theran growls and rolls back.

With little effort, the woman catches the blade...with her bare hand, as though her skin were made of rock. "Fool." She simply bends the blade with a show of strength, and the sword snaps in half. "I suggest you back off before I break you next." Surprised, Cadoc frantically shoots lightning through his blade into the woman. Dionysius flew over Theran, slamming his feet into the ground as the ground breaks away while he slides to a stop. Spinning around, he raises up his right foot as he slams it down into the ground, making a sonic boom as it forms a crater where his foot hits, the crater indicating how far the sonic boom was, as it expands out to hit the ceiling, and this chaos spreads out towards Theran's direction.

She grits her teeth as the lightning singes her hand and arm up to the shoulder, but then the Red X appears on her hand again, and Cadoc finds himself stopping, kneeling to the woman and uttering the words "I shall stop my attack. You are my better in every sense." as the red X appears on his head. Cadoc steps back dropping his sword, standing still as thoughts rush through his head. "Back. Off. Before I break not just your body, not just your mind, but your very confidence and soul, human. You speak the truth when you say I am your better." She smirks, fully aware he was forced to say that. Theran uses his superior reflexes and speed to manuver around the chaos and close the gap with Dionysius lunging with a stab.

"You broke my fathers blade.... You will pay for that!" Says Cadoc, breaking out of the trance, as he plunges his thumbs into the womans eyes shooting lightning through his hands into her the entire time. Dionysius frowns, knowing Theran was faster physically, moving so that Theran slices his right shoulder. Moving his left hand into Theran's chest, he releases a high pitch scream in an attempt to not only knock Theran's senses out of whack, but also to temporarily block out his hearing. As he approaches, with bullet speed a knee enters his crotch with enough force to break concrete. She didnt care what stone he had, those "stones" were gonna break with little difficulty. She doubted his attack would land after a blow like that.

Theran grabs with his free hand attempting to grab him or throw off his current attempts at harm. Cadoc is thrown back, adrenaline the only thing keeping him going, he gets back throwing a right hook at the woman. "I do not fear you!" Shouts Cadoc as he grabs the womans forehead, electrocuting the woman with everything he had. Dionysius quickly changes his attack, as he is grabbed, he releases sound throughout Theran's body. Taking into account his body was mostly made of water still, he goes to make Theran's body get crazy vibrations and try to throw him off in a different way.

Theran feels these vibrations throughout his body and halts his attack "Human....you have my respect.....I accept that.....I won't beat you like this......I yeild......you have bested me." he says almost painfully. Dionysius pulls himself away so he didn't have an opportunity to attack Theran. ". . .What is your name?" He asked the predator. The woman forces his hands down and grabs him by the forearms and forcing him on the ground. He would feel a stinging rip into his throat as he felt his life drain from him, and slowly...he slips into unconsciousness. All he would hear is "You will now feel the curse...but without it's fullest power. That is what you get." she winks at him as he falls unconscious. Theran looks at him still disoriented "Theran StormBlade."

"Theran." Dionysius started. "Let us consider this a tie." He chuckles as he falls to a knee. "My body couldn't handle much more from that... You pushed me to my limits without having to go full out, which would of been worse." He chuckles as he shakes his head. "You, too, have my respect." Theran nods then bows "You have bested me and I yeilded do as you will human." he opens his arms opening himself to an attack. Hamilton snarled at seeing Cadoc being so defeated easily. "Even if he gets his manhood back from this, I still think he is a USELESS pawn. THAT'S IT, LOSING MY FRIKKING MIND!" He shouts out, as the shadow creature enters into his body. The woman returned to Dionysus' side. "He was tougher than I thought. But... now we should scram. Hamilton's getting mad and my Puppetry is running out."

Dionysius frowns as he looks to Theran. "No. I will not take your life. If you want to start thinking of why you lost, start thinking of how to improve your life. But right now, you have a choice to make. Either stick with a crazy maniac who's lost his mind, or come with us. Because..." Dionysius looked, to see Hamilton's body being engulfed in darkness. ". . .Even I am afraid of fighting him in that state!" Theran looks to Dionysius "I have a contract with him, I will not break an agreement." Massive, leathery bat wings spurt out of the woman's back. "Take my hand, Dionysus! We need to get the hell out of here!" She waves to Theran. "Good luck with that, kitty cat. We're outta here!" Dionysius takes her hand quickly, as he feels the ground shaking underneath him. "By the way, name's Dionysius Gardener! This is my wife, Emily Gardener! Isn't she amazing?!" He laughs a little, but it quickly became a nervous laugh, seeing Hamilton dashing towards them.

Theran takes several steps back. She then shouts "Sonic boom, NOW!" as she flies upwards through the roof, shattering it with a singular hyperspeed punch and a flap of her wings. Dionysius releases out a sonic boom from his leg as she instructed, just as Hamilton sent out a dark punch towards them... Which blasted off a majority of the ceiling above them into rubble. Luckily, the two were able to escape before being caught in it. Theran watches Hamilton.

They could be seen sailing against the pale moonlight at sonic speed. "Hoo...that was a close one honey. Hopefully we didn't make things worse..."

Dionysius sighs. "We've only broken the tip of the iceberg, dear. Hamilton's plans are still going on... We've got to get to the hotel and protect the other two. Once Isaac returns from Fairwolf with Amaria, then... We can stop Hamilton's plans."

Hamilton's form slowly returns to normal, as the shadow creature fades away from Theran's sight. Hamilton turns towards Theran. ". . .I'm paying you extra for this. If only to make you not talk about what you just saw happen to me tonight."

Theran says in a simple tone "Alright."

Hamilton glares over at Cadoc's unconscious and bloody form. ". . .Ship him out of town. Send him to dry up in Fairwolf."

Theran lets out a loud growl and two of his brothers come to the call and Theran gets a puzzled look on his face as the first slowly and tentatively approaches Hamilton

Hamilton raises a brow at the anthro. "What is it?"

The anthro looks as if it rarely speaks in Hamiltons native language "I...Have message."

Hamilton sighs. "What is the message?"

The anthro looks to Theran then Hamilton "An outpost some miles....from here killed...few survivors."

Hamilton narrows his eyes slowly. ". . .Elaborate."

The anthro looks increasingly uncomfortable "Erm one man... throwing black blades...erm" looks at Theran and makes whimpers and barks then Theran picks up where he left off "He is trying to say that there is an outpost of yours 5 to 7 miles from Vertice that was slaughtered and there were few survivors and they were killed by a man that came from a coffin encased in a cube made of an unknown stone..." the anthro makes a few more barks "The reports are that he killed them by using black blades that he pulled from no where throwing them, slashing, stabbing anything that he could do to kill them."

Hamilton smashes his face into a nearby wall, leaving a face imprint into it's structure. "Well, they are morons and I just found Cadoc's replacement. However... I need to sleep." Hamilton huffs from his nostrils. ". . .Someone, anyone with brains, find this man and bring him to me peacefully. I am not to be disturbed until you find this man." Theran picks up his brother and nods motioning the other to pick up Cadoc and the three of them leave. Hamilton heads off for his room, mumbling to himself something about the poor saps who had to repair this part of the base.

 

[Thundor]

A Night's Rest

​

Volusia stayed close to her friend, as Augnagar lead them through to a nice, safe spot... Well, as safe as any in this country of wilderness. Once Augnagar had found a satisfactory spot, he lead them in and gestured with his blade arms. "Right... You two need to set up camp here. Since I actually know this place and you two don't, I will set up our defenses for the night." With that, he quickly hovered off.

Oza sat down against a tree, now having relaxed a little. "I still dont trust him yet, Vo."

Volusia sighed. "Well gee, with that attitude, we'll be progressing in -no- time." She sits down next to Oza.

"Vo, the Qlippoth are known for subterfuge and deception. He could be playing us right into a trap right now, and we'd be none the wiser."

Volusia rolls her eyes. "That's like saying humans should kill dragons because they look so intimidating and threatening.

"Except thats what these things were MADE for, Vo. It's in their blood. It's -all they know.-"

"And weren't you and I made for other things?"

"I'm still doing my job. I'm guarding you."

"Oh yes, and what was -I- made to do?"

"End the conflict."

"And that is what I am doing. Except not the way -they- wanted it to end."

"If it attacks us, I am killing it without any remorse."

"Ozie."

She sighs, blushing. "D-dont try and charm me..."

"Ozzziieeee."

She looks away. "M-maybe I could consider it...for a kiss. No less." She frowned, but it was obvious she was embarrassed.

Volusia sighs. "Really? Stuck until the Qlippoth is ready to go, you want a kiss, in the middle of unknown territory... My -goodness- you drive my batty sometimes." She stays looking away, trying not to show she's blushing. She sits with her arms crossed. Volusia sighs and moves in quickly, kissing her on the cheek. Then she pulls back to her spot. "There."

Oza looks to Vo, her cheeks a deep scarlet. "I....fine. I'll accept him...for now." She looks incredibly embarassed and flustered in a way Volusia had probably not seen from her like this.

Volusia hugs Oza at this. "Thank you."

Oza hugs her back. "I-I'm only doing this for you..."

Volusia smiles. "I know..."

Oza stays in the hug as long as Volusia will allow, gripping her tightly. "You know...despite all the stress of never being able to tell you...its nice that we can finally be open with one another like this."

Volusia sighs. ". . .Really? We're doing this out in the middle of nowhere? How romantic." She smirks jokingly.

She frowns. "Really...I'm being serious here. I dont care what the bug thinks or says...I dont care where we are. It doesn't change how I feel, Vo."

Volusia ruffles her hair. "I know, I know..."

Oza eventually lets go, smiling warmly, giving her a light peck on the cheek back. "Okay...lets focus on setting up camp."

Volusia nods. "Alright, good plan." She hears a growl. ". . .Make it fast, make it fast!"

She places a defensive ward to scare off beasts around the camp's perimeter, to try and scare off whatever is coming their way. "I'm making a repulsion barrier with my decay magic...that should scare off anything we don't want in."

Volusia nods. "Until he gets those defenses up..."​

 

[York]

Blair Alverez, Digger Camp - A Resolution (Collab)​

Blair was approaching the Digger camp by now, supposedly it was newly set up or discovered... He was taking cover behind a large rock nearby looking over the very top of it to get a rough estimate of the forces defending the place. He could see a fair amount of Digger's moving about the camp, it seemed like half of their teams went out to investigate the cave nearby. It looked like it was an easy job, but Blair knew better than to trust the general appearance of a place. He inched a little closer to the camp bit by bit using whatever cover he could find. All he needed to do was locate that large deposit of stones... Then, he'd have to look for something to get those stones out of this place. Perhaps he didn't need to fight his way through this one, but he very much doubted that would be the case. Once he was close enough, he looked around some more wondering where they were storing the stones they'd found some more.
"Sir, we -- We found something!" A digger called out from a Linker. "What is it?" "We -- We don't know, but... You need to check it out!" The Digger rose up to his feet and sighed. "Alright, you two stay here and guard the camp. The rest, follow me." "What the hell?" Blair thought to himself, he was curious about what they had found... But he had a job to do, so he figured he'd take out the two guards they left behind and look for those stones. He just hoped he'd have enough time to get them out of here. For now, he kept an eye on the two diggers lingering around, waiting for just the right moment to neutralize them. The two Digger's sighed and sat down, talking to each other about... Well, normal stuff. It seems this should be relatively easy; that's presuming Blair doesn't blow his cover... He slowly sneaks towards them making sure to keep the sounds that he's making to a mimimum. He didn't pull out any weapons just yet since he was hoping to knock both of them unconscious, or at the very least, one of them.

The two Digger's continue conversing, not seeming to really be on guard. Blair smiled a little to himself, but he couldn't help feeling this was all too easy... As soon as he was close enough, he reached a hand around the two diggers's heads as quick as he could, attempting to knock them together which would effectively knock both of them out. The two Digger's, unable to respond in time to Blair, get knocked out by him. Now, the hard part would be to locate where the stones were all stored around the area... Blair looked around for any clues, perhaps a sign or a building that looks relatively like a place to store stones. In the distance, Blair could hear some noises. The noises drew his attention for the moment, and against his better judgement... Curiousity made him draw closer and closer to them wondering where they were coming from. Blair soon found himself looking at the entrance to a cave. But the noises had stopped by now... Perhaps this was indeed where the stones were kept which might be a bit inconvenient for him. However, he knew there really wasn't any turning back so he continued onwards into the cave, making sure to keep quiet.

Blair found inside the cave to be little shiny glows all around over it. He had never before seen any cave like this... "What in the world..." Blair whispered under his breath, was it some sort of new ore? Or was it some sort of odd natural phenomenon he'd never heard of? He continued on, looking around at what seemed to be light sources shimmering on the walls around him. As Blair walked into the cave, he found the Digger's from before, but unconscious. Blair backed away a little, inspecting the Diggers bodies wondering what happened to them... Either someone, or something was in here with them, or there was some odd things at play here... Blair could see a purple light in the distance while inspecting the Diggers bodies. Noticing the odd purple light in the distance, he turned his attention to it for a moment trying to figure out what was going on. Blair finds himself in a part of the cave which was full of purple stones. However, a figure seemed to be sitting just a few feet in front of him. Blair stopped and stayed quiet, not speaking yet, he tried to make out who or what that figure was supposed to be... After all, it wouldn't do to blow his cover if he wasn't already spotted just yet.

"What is your name?" The figure asked him. "Why do you want to know?" Blair asked, looking confused, the purple stones around him weren't exactly helping the confusion he was feeling either. "You invade my resting place. You are the intruder, not me." "That doesn't answer the question." Blair states, not sure if he should retreat or not... Something was keeping him here for now though, was it stubborness? Or was it stupidity?The figure rises to his feet. "I answered your question. You have no respect to invade my place, so I want to know... Who would be so disrespectful as to invade this place without knowing who rests here?" "I didn't come here to invade." Blair said with a frown, what did he do that would give off such an impression? "Why are you here then?" "I have a job to do." Blair said, he was being as vague as he could without blatantly lying. "You aren't being specific with me. Why? Here I am, throwing out everything on my mind, yet you want to be as shady as possible. I'm not liking your intentions..." "It's nothing of your concern... I mean no harm." Blair said, the last part was quite honest... As long as nothing jeapordized his mission that is. However he was starting to get the feeling that answer alone wouldn't be enough to satisfy this individual.

The figure sits back down on the rock. "Like it matters anyway?" He questioned him. "You fools have been destroying the messages left behind for you." The figure gestures to some strange foreign symbols carved into the walls, however, parts of them looked broken. "I suppose none of you have thought of getting translators..."
Blair frowned "I'm not affiliated with the ones responsible for this." he said, realizing he might be mistaken for a digger. It confused him why diggers would break such symbols however rather than try and decipher them... "I was referring to both of your kinds. Do you think this is not the first time I've seen your people barge in to try to take these stones?" The figure rises, Blair noticed now that he was missing an arm, but had a purple stone inserted in it's place. "And each time, you just keep digging further and further... For what purpose? There's no point in getting these stones out now. It's too soon for you all, you'll end up using them unwisely." He states, as the purple stone in his body glows, pulling in stones towards it and making the stones form into... An arm?! Blair sighed "It's not like I want to do this..." he said, noticing the strange abilities the man posessed... These purple stones are a new, and perhaps alarming development. What purpose does this man have here though... He's certainly not a digger, and he doubted he was a merchant, so who is he? "You who have no name, you continue to speak of that, yet you do nothing about it. Why?" The man clutches his fingers, as small bits fall from his hand while he does this. "If you do not make a difference now... You will just be stuck in the flow." "Then I ask you... What am I supposed to do?" Blair said, the man had his attention, but he didn't understand what he was implying... Any difference he'd try and make would work against him from his perspective, but perhaps this individual might give him the answer he needed.

"What is your goal?" "I don't have one... But if I were to pick." Blair thought for a moment, he wasn't very fond of the conflict between the diggers and the merchants... "It would be to end this stupid stone conflict." He concluded after a bit of thinking. "And how can you end it?" Blair shrugged "You tell me." he said, he himself starting to think about that question. "Then that is for you to find out.." The stones slowly begin to fall back to the ground. "Tell me... How many types of stones have you found?" Blair frowned "Well... Two, the standard ones and the ones laying around here." he said, he'd never really figured there were one than one variation of them. "Then your kind has yet to begun to tip the iceberg of the stones power." Blair just nodded slowly, not entirely sure what to think about all of this... Though he did wonder what exactly this conversation was supposed to be leading up to. "The reason this conflict even happened is because you dug them up too early. You ignored the warnings and messages put here for your people to read... Now you've only doomed yourselves."

"I believe it can be stopped." Blair said suddenly, he wasn't entirely sure how he was going to do that... But he'd figure something out, if only those higher ranked merchants weren't always sending him off on these sorts of missions. Maybe that was the key; if he were to ascend to higher ranks, perhaps hed have more time and more power to resolve this... The only question would be how. "And how is that?" The figure asked. "Haven't thought it through that far." Blair admitted with a sigh, he wasn't sure if rising in his own ranks counted as a means to stop this. Perhaps though, he could at least figure out some way to arrange a ceasefire? "You aren't leaving until you answer my question. I got more time than you do." "I could at least find a way to negotiate peace... That is if I can rise up in my own ranks." Blair said, now that he figured out a relative goal to aim for. The big problem would be in executing this feat. "There you go. Now you have a purpose." Blair just nodded "Now... In order not to immediately lose my purpose... Can I leave with the stones?" he added, remembering his mission... For now, he'll pretend to be content with his job, but soon... He'll figure out a way to get himself up in the ranks, without getting himself killed that is.

"Take only some." Blair nodded again looking around for any containers to carry the stones in... Transporting them out of here shouldn't be a big problem. "You didn't bring anything with you?" Blair thought for a moment, remembering he had been carrying a relatively sizeable bag with him which had been folded up. It wasn't too big though so he could only take a few. He just pulled it out and held it up to show that he brought something. Then, he proceeded to fill it with as many stones as it could carry which was quite a few, but Blair knew a majority of the stones were left behind. "I guess they won't mind the quantity too much since these stones are different than the others." He thought to himself. "Is that all then?" The figure asked. Blair stopped for a moment "One last question... What's different about these stones?" he asked with a curious look on his face. "You just saw it in use." Blair nodded, understanding what he meant; the powers he thought the man had turned out to be the product of these purple stones... Perhaps he could figure out how best to use them this way. He nodded, and went on his way heading out of the cave with a wave... All he needed to do now was acquire a roller and be on his way.

 

[Thundor]

The Marker's

​

As they delved ever further into the desert sands at night, they eventually stopped...smack in the middle of the desert. Delt pulled out a series of supplies, including a tent and a few bedrolls, exactly three. He must have known this was going to happen. "We set up camp here tonight. Early in the morning tomorrow Isaac, you train."

"Oh joy, blazing heat without a suit on. Wonderful, I'm going to get sunburnt and dry up like a hot potato." Isaac rolls his eyes a little, but sits down as he yawns a bit. "What food and drinks do we have for tonight then? Because Amaria had most of mine that we brought with us from Vertice." Despite being clad in heavy armor through the entire march, the Hound Knight seemingly had gone through the entire trip without rest and without any real signs of exhaustion. His own pack was bulging with supplies and other things, but these were his own personal supplies. He refrained from commenting.

"I have plenty of supplies. You are going to train under the harshest of conditions, to temper your body for the coming tests in the future." he then begins to pitch the tent. "You shall need to have more weapons than just your Mark to surpass the coming challenges."

Isaac sighs. "Alright, if you say so." He looks over at the Hound Knight. "Got anything to say to this conversation?"

The mercenary simply snorted. "I'm here to make sure you don't die. Not give conversation."

Isaac looks to Deltorve after this. "Well, we're going to have a lovely time, aren't we?"

Delt sighed. "Listen, mister Hound Knight. Please understand that we are all in this in the long run. Dont tell me -how- I know this, just please do not make this an aggravating experience. Otherwise seven weeks and four days from now Isaac will get himself killed from frustration due to your inability to communicate. Do we have an understanding, sir?"

Isaac bilnks. ". . .How even?"

"Get himself killed from frustration for me not wanting to talk to him? Doubtful. A little silence never did a boy harm." His arms crossed.

"In frustration, you, Isaac would run off on your own to 'cool off' in your own words, and mangled in your sleep by a passerby cut-purse as you slumbered due to Mister Hound Knight refusing to comply with any requests to talk or share information about himself. Chances of this route being taken if this continues is a staggering eighty five percent."

"I never said I wouldn't comply with requests. But if you expect me to share my life story with you, it's not happening in the middle of a desert with potential dangers all around us."

"There shall be no potential dangers in this location for a full three days, by which time we will be long gone."

"Regardless, a desert is not a place to share tales. A bar is."

Delt sighs, shrugging. "This path, eh. An interesting one, but not optimal. Very well. I need to contact my colleagues. Excuse me." With that, he walks inside the tent, shuts the flap and blue light begins to seep out from underneath.

A familiar voice comes to Delt at this. "I know it's you. If this is about how my Order Magic is going to explode in my face, I am going to just walk away, right now..."

He sighs. "None, Houdin. I dont have time to discuss such paltry things with you right now. Isaac Gardener has been located. I am currently training the boy and we shall arrive in 5.34 months for the test."

"The boy who we thought broke the Marker rules by having a Marker put on him without having to take the trials? Well, good to know Dionysius and his brother made it out in one piece... You know the Elder is still going to be furious about that, right?"

"Houdin, as much as I despise you some days you're the only one I've trusted enough to tell you why I'm doing this. I honestly do not give a singular damn what the Elder Marker thinks. I'm already pressed for time."

"I see." Houdin said. "Well alright... What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to tell you-know-who his brother will be part of the trials. The other ones...have they been located?"

"We're getting them, yeah. There's still a few months before it happens, so they still have time."

"Alright. Then...I have enough time to find the last one and give her the mark. Good...good. I shall contact you once again once we find her."

"Yeah, good luck with that. You know -hundreds- enter into this, right? Don't pressure yourself."

"These two though...they're special. I know it."

"Why?"

"I've seen them end it. Many will die, but them, with a few choice others, will end the conflict."

Houdin sighs. "Let's hope your wrong about a few of them."​

 

[Logan2231]

The Predator Captures a Deadly Foe
​

Ahmed was wondering the Merchant Outpost looking at the destruction he caused during his rampage, "Sad..." he thought "They barely put up a fight." he continues to stroll through the outpost both examining bodies and looking for those who barely survived. He walks into the living area they had set up he was here earlier as there were bodies slumped over on the walls and half way off of beds the blood dried into a reddish brown color. He turns leaving the door open after hearing some noises from behind him. Ahmed brings two blades from two holes in space and examines the area noticing ten humanoid animals approaching from all sides, and Ahmed gets into a combat stance. All of them bore the look of wolves, and they all were wearing armor wielding swords looking ready for a fight. Then from behind them comes a large tiger humanoid creature with a patch over one eye wearing two gauntlets with blades attached glaring at Ahmed as he approached. It said something in the common tongue spoken here.

Ahmed was becoming very annoyed at this. "Leave me be creature, and I will not harm you." as he said this the tiger motioned and two of the wolf humanoids approach and try to grab him. Ahmed reacts violently by slashing ones abdomen clean open, and while that one began to fall to the ground attempting to catch it's spilling guts holds his other blade to the standing ones throat. The one on the ground holding his entrails is whimpering and barking weakly. as the other eight watch in apparent shock. Ahmed kicks the one he has his blade held to away and begins to back away, but as he does this the remaining eight charge forward <Oh dear> Ahmed thinks to himself as blocks the first strike rolling over the wolfs back flipping over another getting tackled mid air by one of the humanoid wolves. They roll over one another upon hitting the ground. After the first roll Ahmed kicks the wolf off sending him through the air a short distance. He then has to react quickly as he blocks two more strikes from the front and back countering with a stab through the skull to the one from behind yanking the blade out. Blocking yet another incoming strike, and then turns to throw a blade only to be met with a foot slamming into his chest from the humanoid tiger sending him flying several feet bouncing and sliding several more feet and as he looks up to stand the tigers foot is there again except with a blow to the head equally as hard as the last causing Ahmed to flip. Ahmed lands on his feet this time slightly dazed from the two consecutive hits but almost instantly shakes it off as the tiger approaches once more but this time with a the back of his gauntlet which Ahmed catches, but its arm then flies the other direction taking Ahmed with it throwing him into a tree his head bouncing off of it and within seconds the are a plethora of hands holding him against the tree's trunk as he struggles his head tilted back writhing from side to side.

Ahmed brings his head down for a moment to see a a large rock hurled at him. There is a bright white flash in his vision then stars against a black background as it collides with his skull. his body becomes very weak as he feels himself dropped from the tree landing on his hands and knees ears ringing his vision slowly returning met with the sight of fresh blood on the ground which was most likely his own. Ahmed stands feeling his face confirming his suspicions. Pulling his hand back covered in crimson. Ahmed finally looses his temper but regains it after he hurls a blade at the tiger which barely misses as it dodges and lunges at Ahmed at a blinding pace but Ahmed sees the tiger as slow but not sluggish and spins around him then leans back dodging a blade swung at him then swings around and ducks under another blade. Time around him begins to slow as he begins to concentrate on the world around him. As he brings himself up he flips backward over another wolf leaning back as a blade is swung in almost slow motion. Then flips throwing two blades impaling two of the wolves, the blades disappearing shortly afterwards. Ahmed lands watching the groups of humanoid wolves look back at their two pack members falling limp to the ground the tiger charging at Ahmed. He leaps over him landing watching the tiger slide to a halt and turns. As Ahmed turns the wolves were already on him, and Ahmed was unable to dodge the gang tackle. and they begin to pummel Ahmed into unconsciousness the world slowly fading to blackness....


Theran looks at the unconscious human with a perplexed facial expression then to his brothers, "This one is dangerous...very dangerous." one of the wolf anthros answers "Why is that Master?" Theran pats the top of his head "He just made a mockery of all of you including me he may only get stronger from here on." two of the anthros pick him up "What of our dead brothers?" Theran looks at their bodies saddened at the loss "Leave them....... they died a warriors death." The anthro nods and sulks off with the other as Theran looks around at the corpses and sighs "If he could do this to one outpost and flawlessly fight off eight anthros, recover from grievous blows to the chest and head as if they were nothing, then fight off seven anthros killing two of them with no problem....Think what he could do to an army of humans....it...worries me more than it should....."

 

[Thundor]

Scarlett's Conflict!

​

Scarlett couldn't remember how long they'd been walking for, but she knew it was more than an hour... Surprisingly enough, she actually enjoyed conversing with Reeve, even if she wasn't going to openly admit it. "I would of never guessed." Reeve told her, in response to her telling him about her journey since Fairwolf. "Where is this Cadoc fellow though?"​

Scarlett frowned "Last I saw of him... He blew our cover and got captured by some merchants." she said with a shake of her head.

"You sure they were merchants?" He asked her.

Scarlett thought for a moment "Not sure... If I were to be honest, I have a feeling they weren't after the bounty." she said thoughtfully.

Reeve frowned. "I heard Mr. Wiltsworth is going to be announcing something today. Maybe we could see if he talks about your friend?"

Scarlett nods "I guess I'm alright with that... Who's Mr. Wiltsworth?" she asked, she looked a bit confused; was quite unfamiliar with notable figures around Centora for the most part.

Reeve blinks. "His name is Hamilton Wiltsworth. Apparently he got some big promotion and got transferred to the merchant base here some days ago."

Scarlett looked a little surprised, but she forced herself to appear as expressionless as always. "I guess I need to keep up with what's going on... It's been a while since I've ventured out of Kinjun." She said looking a bit embarrassed.

Reeve heads over to his room. "I got a Linker somewhere in here... Hopefully, the stone still works."

Scarlett thinks for a moment "I have a few more if you need them." she said digging around her pockets until she felt a small bag full of a few stones about the same size as the one in her spear.

"It'll only work if I use my stone... Or, so I'm told." Reeve opens the door and heads in, pulling out his stone from a drawer as he inserts the stone into the Linker. Then, he quickly begins adjusting it. "It should be right... Here! Apparently, he'll be doing this for most of the day." Scarlett nodded, she was thinking quite alot about this... What's Hamilton wanting to speak to the public about exactly? What kind of plan does he have in store? Whatever it was, she knew it wouldn't end well if she didn't figure out how to at least nullify it's effects.

"People." Hamilton spoke out through the Linker. "I have to say, that Merchant numbers have never been higher. We have had more recruits in the last few years and we are only continuing. However, we continue to need your support in order to show that the Drillers, are in fact, harming this land. Look at the recent attack on the Fairwolf base! It was clearly an inside job, Digger's are turning on each other because they are falling apart! This is our time to strike, people, this is our time to finally make the Digger organization shut down and let the Merchant organization rise!" Cheering can be heard briefly before he resumes. "Just last night, we had a new recruit in our midst. His name, was Cadoc. Yes, the wanted man himself, turned himself in to us in order to redeem his ways. However, what we didn't realize, was that he was a fool! He came up to me, personally, and told me everything about his friends, and tried to make them the criminals! He abandoned them, left them out to dry, and I rejected that! I fired him on the spot, sent him out, and made sure that his bounty would only DOUBLE for his actions!" More cheering comes in at this. "Cadoc even went so far as to sell his own soul to some darker entity for more power, by becoming a bloodsucker! Now, I know that bloodsucker's are not all bad, but whoever he made a deal with MUST of had evil intentions, along with Cadoc! But their plan has been thwarted by yours truly! I could not have done any of this, without you, or the Merchant Organization!"

Scarlett looked more than a little mad, sure Cadoc had done some stupid things and blew their cover... But it seemed Hamilton had just doubled, no tripled that feat. Sure his words might make sense to the less informed, but it seemed he was telling lies and fashioning the events that had happened to his own liking... Reeve looked confused by his words, but merely listened for now. "I have here, an eye witness, who can confirm the deed. You may go on sir."

"Thank you, Mr. Hamilton." A deeper voice came on. "Yes, the one named Cadoc, the one who punched one of our own innocent Merchants in the face, did indeed come to the Merchant base last night. Not only that, but he had the intention of betraying the people who had been helping him, in order to redeem himself. He was, however, not the only criminal there. A red haired man invaded the Merchant base last night and fought Cadoc, Hamilton and another to the death. This red haired man nearly killed Cadoc, left him for dead, injured the anonymous male, and was only scared off by Hamilton's efforts. It seems as though Cadoc had intended to get on Hamilton's good side by joining into the fight, but only ended up making things worse, as it seems to be the theme running with this man."

"Thank you, sir." Hamilton spoke again. "Yes, Cadoc can no longer be trusted. If anyone sees this man, please, do everyone else a favor and bring him in to justice! For these kinds of criminals cannot be allowed to roam the streets ANY LONGER!" A roar of cheering comes in now.

Scarlett sighed, shaking her head "That's Cadoc for you... Strong, but too headstrong for his own good..." she said with a wry smile... She still cared for him, but it was nothing more than as a friend. Looking over at Reeve, she wasn't entirely sure what he thought about all this.

Reeve blinks and looks over at her. "Your friend doesn't sound much like... A friend."

Scarlett shrugged "He needs a lot of work." she admitted, remembering just how many times she's tried to keep him from doing something stupid.

"Who is this red haired man though?"

"He's... Classified." Scarlett said, not sure if he should trust Reeve with this bit of information. She clenched her gloved hand a little, hiding it in one of her pockets hoping it would just be seen as part of her armor.

Reeve hears some noise not far from them, raising a brow. "Who was that?" He asked, Scarlett probably already knew though. Scarletts head snaps around as she looks for the source of the noise... Was it Dionysius?

Reeve blinks. "Should I go check on it?"

Scarlett shook her head "It's best if we stick together." she said, looking a little worried.

Reeve frowns. "Can you go check on it then? I'll stay here and listen in on what they say, so you don't get left behind."

Scarlett nodded "I'm putting down the stuff for now... I'll need my spear too." she said, carefully putting down the various items she was carrying and held out a hand waiting for Reeve to give her her spear back.

Reeve hands it back to her. "Be careful." Scarlett just nods giving Reeve an reassuring smile before she walked over towards where she had heard the noise... She was listening for any more rustling just in case whatever was hanging around here was moving some more; her hunting instincts were starting to kick in.

Scarlett soon finds Dionysius in his room, patching up the minor injuries he had taken during his struggle. "Scarlett, I assumed you would be asleep by now." He said without looking over at her.

Scarlett looked quite worried, but she kept her voice low "Christ... Are you alright? I heard there was a skirmish with Hamilton and his cronies..." she said, sounding a little concerned.

"Yes..." He responded. "I broke in, and I took on his predator. Cadoc tried to get me and my partner. Hamilton was only delayed, I fear he will only continue to grow stronger as long as he has his ace..." Dionysius sighs. "I didn't want you to find out about it so soon."

"He's been spreading some nasty rumors about you amongest the public... Cadoc too, his bounty's been doubled." Scarlett whispered, not wanting to reveal the source of her information yet...

Dionysius stops moving for a moment, as if contemplating his next words. ". . .I say he deserves it."

Scarlett sighed "Maybe... I just wish he'd listen to us sometimes." she said looking a little disappointed.

Dionysius turns around to look at her. ". . .Scarlett. There's something you need to hear."

Scarlett looked a little surprised, but curious "What is it?" she asked, having a more curious look on her face now.

Dionysius walks over and puts a hand on her head. ". . .Just close your eyes and listen in." Scarlett nods, she closed her eyes and started to listen, her sharp hearing helped with it quite a lot.

In this moment, Scarlett hears the conversation. If what she had heard before was bad, this was going to be much worse for her. "The only way out of this is two options. . ." "What would signing my life to the merchants. . ." "You would get paid... Ensure your family get some bonuses... The higher you go through the ranks, the more power you get in this country..." "You should have just started with that..." "But how can you show your serious?" "And how would you like me to..." "Your friends. You are going to make them criminals. Do that, and..." "Would serve them right, they left me..." Once it finishes, Dionysius releases his hand from her head.

Scarlett sighed "I hear he backstabbed the merchants as well... Either that or they're lying about it." she said, feeling more and more disappointed in Cadoc... Sure he was strong, but not the strongest, he needed to learn not to throw himself into danger at every turn for no reason what-so-ever.

Dionysius shook his head. "He was supporting them until he was out cold. I'm sorry... Your friend is just using you and the others for his own needs."

"I guess it seems that way doesn't it..." Scarlett said with another shake of her head, deep down she still cared for him, but this recent news was causing even that to falter a little.

Dionysius moves back to where he was standing before. "I heard it all. I saw him try to kill me and my partner. I will not show him mercy if he comes for either me or her again."

"I guess so... Though I did hear he became a vampire or something..." Scarlett added, remembering what she had heard from that announcement, what was that all about?

"Yes, my partner decided to do that to him. She decided to show him mercy. Again, I am sorry."

"It's fine... I just hope he'll learn his lesson some day." Scarlett said with a light sigh, all that was left for her now was to find her sister... Reeve seemed helpfull, and nice, and despite being clumsy, he wasn't such a bad person to hang around. She'd never say that out loud though, or at least that's what she thought.

"What will you do once you are reunited with your sister?" He asked her.

"I don't know... We'll spend some time together, I'll try and master this new power..." Scarlett said, she hadn't really thought about much beyond finding her sister just yet if she were to be honest.

"I hope to see you when the trials go then. I will be departing soon from you and your friend. You should be fine developing them on your own."

Scarlett nodded "Thanks for your help." she said giving him a little smile... He'd earned her respect as a friend. Then Scarlett started walking back to Reeve, handing him her spear. "How much distance is left?" She asked as she started picking up all the items again carefully.

Reeve smiled and took the spear, placing it up against a wall. "Put those down. You must be tired."

"I-I'll be fine... I'm true to my word after all." Scarlett said a little stubbornly, she was a bit tired though but she wasn't going to admit that right away.

Reeve sighs and shakes his head with a smile. "Come on. Put them down."

Scarlett sighed, deciding to give in, normally she wouldn't be so quick about it... But she was rather tired today. "Fine.. You win I guess." Scarlett said shaking her head a little, she was smiling a bit though as she put down the items for now.

Reeve stands up and helps her to the bed. "Lay down for a little while here. Relax your body, putting too much strain your muscles won't be good for anyone."

Scarlett just nodded, grateful for the break "You sure you won't mind the delay?" she asked, a little uncertain about resting while there was still a job to be done.

Reeve blinks. "I don't mind, not when I have a guest to worry about. I have to worry about others before myself, that's what my parents used to taught me."

Scarlett looked a little embarrassed "That's... What I was taught too." she said, feeling a little awkward now.

Reeve laughs lightly. "You had some wonderful parents then."

Scarlett felt herself flush a little red "Yours aren't half bad either..." she said, looking at his bed for a moment. "I-I better get some rest now... You should too I guess." She said, sounding a bit flustered as she walked over towards the bed.

Reeve sits back down where he sat before. "It's fine. I don't want to ruin your experience on the bed anyway."

Scarlett shook her head "Don't worry... I-It's no big deal." she said, surprised at her own words coming out of her mouth... This definitely wasn't something she'd say every day.

Reeve laughs a little. "What, really? You don't mind sharing a bed with someone? That is quite odd if you ask me."

Scarlett felt herself turn a little redder "I-It's not like I haven't done it before..." she said, trying not to stutter too much.

"But with a stranger?" He asked.

"Can't really be helped... Can it?" Scarlett said trying to push down that flustered feeling she was getting "There's o-only one..." she said, knowing there was no way around it; if she just slept in his bed when he probably needed it, she'd feel quite bad to say the least...

Reeve sighs and walks over, sitting down next to her. "Satisfied?" Scarlett felt herself blushing again, but she nodded quietly not entirely certain why she was acting this way... It was a strange thing, especially for her to do.

Reeve nods. "Alright... So what now?"

"I guess we sleep." Scarlett said laying down on the end of the bed near the wall... It was fairly size able for a bed so there was enough room for both of them thankfully.

Reeve blinks. "R-really?"

Scarlett nods "Since neither of us can let the other go without sleep..." she said, not entirely sure that was the whole reason why.

Reeve lays down slowly. "I have the oddest feeling you are doing this intentionally."

Scarlett felt herself getting flustered again "Wh-why would you say that?" she asked quietly.

"You stutter a lot now, you persist in me being close to you... Kind of hard not to notice strange activity when you hang around someone for several hours."

Scarlett sighed "J-Just... Let's sleep." she said attempting to dodge the subject.

"Um... You go first."

Scarlett just nods again turning over a little and closing her eyes... It didn't take very long for her to fall asleep, she looked alot calmer now than she was before. Reeve sighs and relaxes, eventually finding himself going to sleep as well.

 

[Thundor]

Hamilton's Top Men

​

One of Therans brothers is sent to notify Hamilton of his return. Hamilton motions to the public that he will return, and goes to follow the man inside.

Theran is seen standing next to a man lying on the ground covered in chains and a few locks Theran looks at Hamilton "Here he is." Hamilton would notice a few anthros missing.

Hamilton looks to Theran and raises a brow. "How many causalities?"

Theran sighs "Four..."

Hamilton smiles. "Interesting. And some of your own look hurt. He must be extraordinary then."

Theran looks angry as he looks at him then the face turns to worry "He was so fast as if he knew what them and myself were going to do as we were about to do it." then looks at Hamilton "He was almost flawless."

Hamilton snickers. "Wake him up."

Theran kicks him and he begins to writhe "Vat er ut van sute vrean frek stamt un vu staght!" Theran looks at Hamilton again while he yells "He did that.....ALL the way here...."

Hamilton sighs. "I'm surrounded by idiots." Hamilton snaps his fingers, as a paper and quill hover before him as he takes them. Then he kneels down to the man and hands him the quill and paper, the rest, Theran and the others could see Hamilton make some motions of how to show the man the basics of writing in their language. The man continues to writhe and yell one of the links in the chain snaps as the yelling increases in volume.

Hamilton sighs and shakes his head. "If you want to be free, you're going to have to calm down first and watch what i'm showing you. Unless you want to see me mad.'

The man slowly stops writhing and looks at him and says "Vat dun vu ant?"

Hamilton stands up to his feet away, putting down the paper and quill. Then he starts rubbing his chin. "Can you hold still for a moment?"

The man stops and cocks his head "Vat dun vu ant is min?"

Hamilton smiles wickedly, as the man feels something enter into his body. "Relax. This will only hurt for a minute." He told him, despite what he was telling him, he was feeling incredible pain right now. The mans body resists to an extreme degree.

After a few minutes of this conflict, the man feels something leaving his body... And sees the outline of a shadowy ghost-like figure, which moves near Hamilton. "I have done as you asked, sir." It tells Hamilton, but in the man's own language. Hamilton smirks at hearing the creature speak in the way the man did. The creature then turns to the man. "I will be my master's translator. I do apologize for having to... Well, invade your body like that just now."

"What is this why am I being treated in such a manner... I DEMAND TO KNOW!"

"Relax sir, we are here to help you, not harm you." The creature spoke to him. "This is Hamilton Wiltsworth. You were brought here because of you killing several men. You are looked upon as a monster right now, sadly, for this incident. But we can move it away from you and onto someone else."

"They were all idiots and deserved their fate. Now release me."

"Not yet, I am afraid. We need to know who you are and why you are killing people."

"I am Ahmed Al-Ashin and they woke me from my slumber and treated me with the up most disrespect and mobbed me in some strange language."

"This is our language. You must be from a time before this language was developed. How long have you been asleep?"

Ahmed is silent for a moment "I don't know last I remember is getting the Dwarven High Lords to make me a tomb."

"A long, long time then. I imagine you've been asleep for longer than a normal human should be."

"I am only 26 years of age."

"If that were true, you would be speaking our language. You are older than you appear to be."

"What of the Human kingdoms?"

"The... What now?"

"Are humans no longer powerful? Have we been consumed by our enemies? Impossible we are to strong for that."

"Sir, there are no kingdoms. You are in the country of Centora."

"When did this happen? How?"

"We... Do not know. Our knowledge of history is unknown before six hundred years ago."

"Humans were a proud dominant race. You are telling me that you have no idea what happened?"

Theran looks at Hamilton "What is he saying?"

Hamilton snaps his fingers, as the shadow creature's eyes glow briefly before Hamilton speaks. "From what I received, he is talking about a time when humans had a kingdom, and how humans were once a proud and dominant race."

Theran shakes his head "He might be insane..."

Hamilton shakes his head. "On the contrary... I think he knows more than we do."

"Release me."

The Shadow Creature turns to Ahmed. "Only if you promise not to harm anyone." Ahmed nods.

"You have my word."

The Shadow Creature slices it's claws through his bindings, they all break apart as Ahmed remains unharmed. "We will have to find you some means of communicating with the rest of the world."

Theran eyes go wide "What the hell are you doing?!" Ahmed stands slowly.

Hamilton looks to Theran. "He has promised not to harm anyone. We have his word. And if not his word... We'll have to teach him a lesson about it, won't we?~"

Ahmed looks at Theran with a glare "But can I kill him?"

"No." The Shadow Creature responds. "He is with us. He is already weakened from his brethren being killed, you have done enough to him."

"It is his fault for not fighting me directly and using them as some sort of distraction..." Ahmed says with certainty.

"He also was on orders to bring you in. You should feel privileged to have taken on some of the toughest assassins we have."

Ahmed laughs "They won by numbers rather than skill I took on all of them at once."

"Indeed that you did. Feel proud of that. But now, we must work together."

Ahmed chuckles "Why is that now?"

"Because we have need of you in this generation."

Ahmed glances to Theran then to Hamilton addressing him directly "What need do you have of one outdated as me?"

Hamilton nods, as the Shadow Creature speaks on his behalf. "He has noticed your talent and power, your gifts that are out of this time. In return for your every wish being granted, we ask that you help us with a certain... Plan."

Ahmed continues to address Hamilton and not the shadow figure "Plan?"

The Shadow Creature moves into Hamilton's body, as Hamilton now speaks. "Yes... My master plan, to change this country and make my mark in history. Joining me will ensure anything you desire... And more."

Ahmed says "I've served many people in my time, what makes you worthy of my service?"

"Why not? You have nowhere else to go here, after all, you will die eventually if you go out and, who knows how long it will take for you to... Return?" He suggests, as if trying to figure out Ahmed's origins.

Ahmed says "I am cursed with immortality, and this is the first time in I don't know how long I have been awake."

"We shall find out in due time. But for now... Are you hungry?" Hamilton smiles.

Ahmed pauses "Yes."

Hamilton nods. "Theran! Lead this man to some food and the finest drinks on me!"

Theran glares at him "Get one of your other lackeys to do it I am grieving over my brothers...THAT HE KILLED!!!"

Ahmed looks to Theran "What is he yelling about?

Hamilton sighs. "He is upset. Come, follow me..." Hamilton walks off further into the base.

Ahmed follows Hamilton a blade dropping from apparently nowhere and he idly examines it.​

 

[Thundor]

Brief Parting

​

Rican was sitting idle sharpening his axe.

Dionysius walks out from his room and looks around, rubbing his chin. "I bet everyone's still resting then."

Rican looks up "Where'd you go?"

Dionysius looks down at him. "I'll tell you once everyone else is back."

Rican notices his shoulder "What happened?"

"Like I said." He sits down. "Wait for the others."

Rican shrugs going back to sharpening then looks back to Dionysius "Oh did you hear about the slaughter at some outpost a several miles out of Vertice?" Dionysius shakes his head.

Rican stops sharpening his blade "A man has been spreading rumors that an outpost was killed down to a man he even found a few 'anthros', he called them among the dead. He also found a massive stone cube thing there but he didn't know what it was." Scarlett woke up with a light yawn at some point, she decided to take a quick walk outside... There she found the others gathered already, she looked a bit surprised.

Rican looks to her "Hello..." Dionysius waves to her.

"Hi... What's been going on?" Scarlett asked sounding quite curious.

Rican shrugs "I was telling him about that outpost several miles out of town."

"Outpost?" Scarlett asked, she looked very curious about it.

Rican sights "A man came into town spreading rumors that an outpost was slaughtered down to a man."

"Was it a merchant outpost?" Scarlett asked, a little confused, Reeve never told her any of this so perhaps he too wasn't aware of it. Rican nods solemnly.

Scarlett looks to be in thought "Any idea who did it?" she asked.

Rican shrugs "There were 'anthro' bodies there maybe they did it."

"Wait... Wasn't there an anthro working with Hamilton?" Scarlett asked, curiously. Dionysius nods in response.

"Then... Whoever did it left already." Scarlett said, it brought the question to mind; who did it?

Rican nods "Oh forgot to mention the stone cube."

"How is it a stone cube per say?" Dionysius asked.

Rican turns to Dionysius "That's what the man said."

"Cube?" Scarlett said, looking curious, she'd never heard of something like that before.

Dionysius turns to Scarlett. "In any case... You should tell Rican."

"Oh..." Scarlett turned to Rican "I recently got news from someone that Cadoc's bounty just doubled... Apparantly he had been working with them and it backfired or something." she said, unsure if that was the entire summary of what happened.

Rican shrugs "Interesting."

Dionysius sighs. "I wouldn't recommend trying to bring him back."

Rican sighs "Now what happened to you?"

Dionysius stands up. "I was attacked last night." Rican rolls his hands signalling him to elaborate.

Dionysius frowns. "I went to the merchant base with a partner and we fought against Hamilton, Cadoc and the predator you saw before."

Rican chuckles "I see Hamilton got a good strike in."

"Hmm... So I guess that part was true about the rumos being spread... They say you were "scared off" according to them..." Scarlett said with a shake of her head.

Dinoysius sighs. "Scared off is the right word. Hamilton is far more powerful than I imagined he could of been."

"Do you think he could be using something?" Scarlett said with a frown, this Hamilton definitely wasn't human, that's for sure.

Rican frowns "You fought him so he can't be that powerful."

Dionysius cracks his neck. "My partner will explain more to you about him. She is the one who fought Hamilton head on."

Rican cocks his head "Who did you fight then? Cadoc?"

"Him -and- Theran."

Rican raises a brow "Who?"

Scarlett raised an eyebrow "Oh yeah... If I recall he was... Turned into a vampire?" she said, remembering their conversation they had earlier.

"Again, you will learn more from my partner about that. And well, the predator is Theran, the man who took Cadoc away."

Rican looks surprised "How did you not defeat him with ease? He is but an animal..."

Dionysius looks at him. "You are a fool then. He was equal to me in power."

Scarlett decided to interject "There's animals in Kinjun even I can't face... It's not unlikely that one would be of equal to even Dionysius."she said matter of factly. Rican shrugs.

Rican would find himself opening the door a red X on his forehead, followed by Emily doing a front-flip through the window inwards, shutting it herself. "Hello, everyone."

Scarlett looked a little but waved to her awkwardly "I guess you're the partner Dionysius was speaking of?" she asked.

Emily nodded. "Yes...I'm Dionysius' wife. Emily Gardener. A pleasure to meet you." She bows. Her previous extreme power seemed to be brought to an almost awkwardly reversed human level at this point. She looks to Rican with an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry for using you like that..." she laughs, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment.

Rican glares "I'd appreciate that you not do it again..."

Scarlett bowed in return on instinct; she figured being polite was the least she could do. "I guess that's what the cross thing was about." She said to herself, noticing the change in her strength.

Dionysius blinks and shakes his head. "Oh boy... You know, trying to hide what your last name is gets pretty hard after a while. Good thing I don't have to do it anymore... And glad I'm not the one who spilled the beans." Immediately, Scarlett noticed the odd sort of chemistry the two had going... Though she really did hope that no-one else was around to hear Dionysius's last name.

She looks at him with an expression of shock. "They didnt know your last name?!" she looks embarassed yet again. "Ahaha...sorry for spoiling it."

Dionysius sighs. "It's fine. They were going to find out eventually." Rican sighs and returns to sharpening his axe blade.

Scarlett just shrugged looking indifferent about the whole thing "Your secret's safe... Don't sweat it." she said, trying to lighten the mood a little.

Dionysius looks around quickly. "Anyway... Honey, they have some questions for you."

She nods, turning to them. "Ah, yes. What did you wanna know?"

"Any news on where Cadoc's gone?" Scarlett asked, wondering if Emily knew of his where abouts right now.

"Yes...a vampire can detect their spawn...but I lose my power in the day. I'll be able to tell when darkness falls." Scarlett nods, she wondered if she should go back to sleep, she still needed to deliver those items with Reeve tomorrow after all.

Rican looks up "What of the others that were there?"

Dionysius blinks. "Oh that's right. They wanted to know how powerful Hamilton has gotten."

"More importantly... How." Scarlett said, she had that curious look on her face again.

Emily shivers. "Stronger than me and Dionysius together, thats for sure...he could call this...thing. It didnt have any muscles to control. Only a mind...and he could make it disappear and reappear...it seemed to have a direct correlation to Hamilton...but I don't know what it is or what it is capable of."

Scarlett frowned "Since we've never encountered anything like this before... Do you think it's something from the other side?" she inquired, not sure what to think about all of this... No matter how many rumors she'd listened in on, nothing like this was ever heard of for her before.

"...I don't know, honestly. All I know is that we need more help from initiates like you guys."

Scarlett nodded "I'll try my best to help... But, I would like to find my sister before I get too involved." she added, she just needed to know if her sister was alright...

Dionysius stands up. "Thankfully, she isn't here. Because I imagine Hamilton will be putting his plan into action soon. A plan that he has been putting together and coming up with for years now. Something that may end up changing everything..." Dionysius sighs. "Or, it could just be a complete sham and he's just messing with everyone to throw them off to his real plan."

"Who knows... I think we'll find out for sure soon." Scarlett said... She was uncertain this was all that was happening here, but she knew if Hamilton were to put his plan he spoke of in action as he promised he would, it definitely would help if her sister was out of it's general radius.

"Emily, what do you think?"

Rican drags the stone across the axe blade "He is like any enemy and can be defeated."

"I think we need to do what our little friend says and keep rounding up the other participants."

Dionysius sighs. "Well then, that means we'll have to leave you two sooner than I thought."

Scarlett sighs a little but nods "I guess you'll contact us when the trials start?" she asked, wondering when she'd hear back from them.

Rican runs the stone across blade another time "Little friend?"

"Not you...someone else my hubby and I know."

Dionysius rolls his eyes. "He's.... Special though." He turns to Scarlett. "Yes, we will. Don't worry, Isaac should be back in time, and we should be around then too. Especially if Hamilton's bringing in Maxim Heliot..." Suddenly, a cold shiver slips over them all. ". . .Oops. I forgot about what his name does to people."

Scarlett nodded, but she seemed a little confused when she shuddered a little at that sudden cold feeling at the mention of a new name... What was it about that name that did that?

Emily then shivers herself. "Yeah...screw that guy."

"Who... Is he?" Scarlett asked rubbing her arms a little, feeling a bit cold all of a sudden.

Dionysius looks to Emily. "I ain't doing it, no way, no how!"

"Lets just not talk about him, please."

"If Hamilton has gotten into contact with him, you know he's going to be here soon, and they will need to be prepared."

Scarlett looked concerned... If it was someone they weren't willing to talk about openly, this didn't bode well for them.

"Delt said he wont make a move for a few months. We have time, unless something happens."

"Hamilton happened, honey. That's bad enough!"

"Look... I just need to know what to expect... A name would help but.." Scarlett trailed off, not entirely sure what to say after that.

"His name... Is Maxim Heliot." The chill returns.

Scarlett couldn't remember where she'd heard it from but... It still sent chills down her spine again, she shook it off, recovering a little before waiting for the rest to be said.

"I don't wanna say it...that man does with magic what should not be possible."

This concept worried Scarlett, someone who had found a way to breach the limits of what was possible and what was not with magic... Scarlett shuddered a little "I guess we'll have to get creative." she said, trying to keep herself from stuttering too much.

Dionysius sighed. "Fine... I'll do it. Maxim Heliot comes from a family of illusion magic users. They stole it years ago from a magical race and learned how to use illusion magic over time without the need of stones. Rumor has it the family performed heinous experiments on their bodies in order to be able to cast this magic. Maxim Heliot is the prodigy this family produced. He one day decided to cast an illusion spell on himself, with the thought that he could not be tired with it, and it came true. He used these spells to experiment on himself and expand his knowledge of illusion magic with it. That is why he is considered a genius... Not only that... But when he finds a problem with his magic, he learns from it, fixes it and makes it stronger in the long run. That man has done terrible things to people for years now using his illusion magic... Things that should not be seen or spoken of."

Scarlett looked noticeably shaken up "I think I understand..." she said with another small shudder. She had a serious look on her face now, a lot of planning would go into the days ahead for her.

"We have been hunting him for years now... He has evaded many Markers and been able to fight us head on. That is why our friend was sent after him, but so far, he has not found him. And at the rate things are going, it may be too late when he reveals himself."

"I'll see what I can find out... I'll inform Isaac if something comes up." Scarlett said remembering Reeve, perhaps he knew something about this individual...

Emily nods. "And we should go off to find the others. It's been nice meeting you all."

Scarlett nods to that herself "I guess I best head off to sleep myself... I have a long day ahead of me." she said with a nervous laugh.

"We will return, hopefully before Hamilton does something. Just remember to keep your eye out for him and stay away from him. He will not be merciful. Oh... And the Wind boy is still in town. Along with your mysterious friend. Maybe later, you should find them. They may have information you require."

Scarlett nodded again "I guess I'll find out more about them... Maybe get some information out of them if I have to." she said, remembeing she had another source to help her with this now. Perhaps she can discover a little more about what's going on behind the scenes here...

He nods. "We'll see you both in a few days." He then proceeds to walk off with Emily. Scarlett stood there and waved goodbye with a little smile, then she walked off to Reeves room carefully climbing into bed again... Soon enough, she was asleep once more, but her dreams were a little more troubled this time around.​

 

[Logan2231]

The Fear Attack​

Overnight, the two dragonkin traveled. Halsworthy, the second target. "Our orders are clear...make it disappear. No. Survivors." The town was practically asleep, but not as lightly guarded as Armskirk. They had seen the smoke cloud rise high into the sky, and were prepared this time. "This is more guarded than the last venue...how would you recommend we go about this? Same as always, or...should we employ some stealth?"

Xaqur takes a deep breath "Are we to make a statment?"

He growled "Unfortunately, he wants us to make it look like an accident. Seeing the amount of gunpowder in the previous village, they had...an unfortunate fire in their armory." He smirks. "But anyway...what say we make this look like someone else was to blame?"

Xaqur chuckles "It would be a shame if the guards turned on the town now wouldn't it?"

"A town gone mad." The assassin cackles. "I love it."

"Merely find that one thing in someones mind and make it..." he snaps his fingers "snap and they go insane and don't know what they are doing till it is to late"

"Like controlling a puppet and making it dance~...good thing both of us are capable of fear. Lets get to work."

Xaqur kneels down looking for a small group of guards patroling and he would reach out to his mind searching it for his worst fear that he would lash out at and then have him see those around him morph into that very thing, and he would repeat the proccess on the surrounding men.


The men would begin to scream and attack one another in a panic, vanquishing all but one. Vokurii let loose a burst of surprising speed and loomed over the guard with his eyes glowing a sickly blue-green, implanting a mental suggestion into the man. "Unless you want every last second of your pathetic life to be a neverending nightmare, you're going to go and start slaughtering all you see besides us." The man shakily nods, and runs towards the village. "Now, for the rest. After the guards are corrupted and finished, we then pick off the remaining guards."

Xaqur merely walked to Vokurii "I enjoy going slow and causing insanity."

"Of course. But if we take too long, someone may catch on. We must be swift and let them drown in the sudden clamor of chaos." He sneaks into the town now that the gate was unattended, and immediately slipped into the alley as screams and hustling could be heard in the town.

Xaqur keeps up with Vokurii observing how the student preforms "What would you do now?"

"Begin the process on the next ones, waiting to strike." A guard passed by the alley, and Vokurii tripped him with his tail and immediately yanked him in, pinning him and staring into his eyes, Vokurii's skin writing with dark energy, making himself look like the man's greatest fear. "Kill...kill the townsfolk. If you do well, I wont kill you now." The guard attempts to resist, but he lets out an ungodly snarl. "NOW." The man yelped, and immediately agreed, rushing off with spear drawn.

Xaqur steps out of the alley looking from side to side bending down picking up a stick looking to a near-by citizen and waving him closer staring into his eyes, his own glowing a dark green "Come here a moment....and hand me your shirt."

The man, unable to resist, does so. He quickly takes off his shirt and tosses it to Xaqur.

Xaqur takes the shirt wraping it around the stip and tieing it then ignighting it with a blight green flame handing it to the man "Take this, and begin to burn the town, if it can burn... be it man, house, or simple item I want you to set it a blaze, but leave me and my student alone or you will live in the feeling of no control and terror for the rest of your natural life. Do you understand?"

The man nods. "Y-yes...whatever you say." He begins to run through the town, using the torch to set fire to houses. Vokurii and Xaqur continued in this fashion all through the night, and eventually the whole town was burning and in utter chaos. Vokurii quietly chuckled from their little safe spot. "Can you implant an order to tell the survivors to round up on Main Street?"

Xaqur nods "I would be able to."

"Then do so...its time to end this and move on before they realize what has happened."

Xaqur reaches out to any survivors and convinces them that they can escape their hell by going to Main Street. he then opens his eyes "Alright they should have believed what I told them considering their situation

He chuckles. "They shall never know what hit them." They see only a handful of survivors, and Vokurii leaps to the center of them, a black pulse of energy licking outwards like tongues of flame, grasping the civilians like inky tendrils and their bodies swiftly mummifying, the flames pulsing red inwards towards Vokurii. Once all of the survivors are slain, Vokurii takes off his mask, to reveal he is only missing an eye at this point. "Aaaah~...refreshing. The next town you may have the survivors, master Xaqur...but for now, we must run and let the town burn. Halsworthy is finished." With that, he waited for Xaqur to follow.

Xaqur follows Vokurii "I see you are well taught, but have things to learn."

"Thank you, master...but you surely know that nobody is truly ever done learning." He cackles as they run into the night, a column of smoke now rising from what was once the happy town of Halsworthy. The following morning, news headlines would read "A Town Gone Mad." Nobody suspected a thing.

 

[☆Luna☆]

As the two approached the gates at last, Ansley sat down for the moment, letting her eyes close for a brief nap… That was all she needed for the time being anyways, she wasn't very tired but needed a little time to unwind a bit despite how much she had insisted she was fine. Soon enough, she was fast asleep for the time being, sleeping peacefully.
When Ansley tries to sleep, Akane shakes her. "Ansley, it isn't safe to sleep places like this. If you sleep on the streets, you'll catch a cold, and bad people will try to get you. Also, Akane doesn't want to have to stay outside longer than we need to. If we stay here, Akane thinks there could be trouble."

Ansley raised her head, waking rather quickly "S-Sorry… I got a little tired." she said. quietly. She looked around a little bit just incase there were other people wandering around before getting up, gripping the items she was carrying rather tightly.

"We can go back to the inn, and it'll be safe to stay the night there. Akane is looking forward to getting to bed after all that exercise. Akane's nightly walks can really take it out of Akane."

Ansley nodded with a tired smile, she figured a little rest wouldn't hurt, though she wondered how many nights of their stay were paid for already… If they had to however, they could just spend some of the stones they had received.

Akane raises her arms in the air, letting out a big yawn, "Akane stays up too late nowadays. Akane remembers when she was traveling with a strict man who made her take naps and go to bed by 9:00. Ansley is too nice, and too many exciting things happen around Ansley for Akane to sleep like that now."

Ansley felt herself blush a little but she smiled "I-It runs i-in the family…" she said quietly… She had thought it was normal not to set restrictions when it came to sleeping. Sometimes things needed to be done and sleep could be put off for a later time, the body usually has a way of telling you if you need sleep.

Akane notices Ansley blush again, still not understanding the phenomena. Akane is about to ask, when she realizes that Ansley had mentioned wanting to find her sister before. After recent events, it fell into the back of Akane's mind, but the mention of family made her remember. "Akane wonders what Ansley's sister is like."

When Akane said that, Ansley stood silently for a moment, trying to form the right words to describe her… "Sh-e's kind.. But… I-in a different way... " Ansley said, stopping a moment before continuing "T-tougher… S-sometimes very angry… B-but she cares for o-other people alot… E-even if she's a h-hunter…." Ansley said, her voice growing a little quiet, she wasn't sure she said everything right, but this was the first time someone had asked…

Akane looks towards Ansley curiously, "Ansley's sister sounds like a really nice, reliable person. Akane wishes she had a sister like that to take care of her. Akane is good at hunting, but Akane isn't good at a lot of things, doesn't understand a lot of things, and gets scared of a lot of things. Akane thinks maybe if she had a sister, Akane would get better at those things."

Ansley looked towards Akane for a moment, smiling a bit at her comment before speaking, she was blushing a little again. "I-If you want… I-I can t-try to b-be… Y-your sister…" She said, her voice was quiet again, something that would always happen when she was nervous about saying something… She wondered how Akane would receive it.

Akane defiantly squeals, "No! Ansley is Akane's weapon, so Ansley can't be Akane's sister." Akane pouts, and starts walking toward the inn slightly faster as to get slightly ahead of Ansley. Akane then pivots on her heel and starts walking backwards, as to face Ansley. Blushing, "Akane likes Ansley just the way she is."

Ansley shrunk back a little as Akane spoke, not saying anything for a bit until Akane walked backwards, facing her again… She noticed Akane was blushing, and what she said next made her blush again herself, but she nodded, smiling a bit "I-I'll try my b-best to stay l-like this then…" she said quietly.

As they approach the door of the inn, Akane blocks the entrance to Ansley. "Ansley, Akane wanted to tell you something."

Ansley stopped walking when Akane spoke, nodding a little, she wondered what it could be…

"Akane…" As Akane tries to continue talking, she seems caught by something. Looking left and right rapidly, Akane runs into the inn, presumably back to the room, but she runs too fast to be certain.

Tightly gripping the items she was carrying, she runs after Akane looking very confused… She wasn't sure what just happened to Akane. Though since she was already out of her sight, she heads back to their room hoping that she would be in there…

As Ansley opens the door, she finds a big Akane shaped lump under the covers of the bed. It is safe to assume that it is her.

Ansley had a mixture of a confused and worried expression on her face as she went over to pat the lump on the bed lightly where the top of her head presumably would be… This was judging from the slightly noticeable shape of two cat-like ears near it.

Akane flinches first when Ansley start petting her, but then accepts it, laying down face flat into the bed. "Akane messed up again."

Ansley blushed "N-No… I don't th-think you did…" she stopped for a moment, realizing she might have been referring to what she hadn't said at the Inn entrance. "Y-You don't have t-to tell me i-if you d-don't want to…" she added, looking a bit embarrassed.

"But, Akane… Akane is really really really scared. Akane wants to tell Ansley since she has fought with her three times now, more than anyone, but Akane still is scared. Even though you are Ansley, even though you are Akane's weapon, Akane is still scared. Akane doesn't think it is fair, but Akane doesn't know how to make the fear go away."

Ansley didn't look confused anymore, but still worried. She thought for a moment before she spoke again "M-my sister used to h-hug me whenever th-the fear doesn't g-go away... " she said quietly. It happened more often when she was little, and was scared easily, even by the dark, she always gave her that hug that made her feel safe again, even if it was just for that moment…

"But Akane is afraid that one day you'll hurt Akane, or abandon Akane. Akane doesn't understand how Ansley putting her arms around Akane will help."

Ansley looked to be on the verge of tears, she went quiet for longer than she had before she spoke… "I-I don't know… I-i j-just k-know that it m-makes you feel b-better afterwards…" she said, her voice could barely be heard. There was more that she wanted to say, that she wouldn't abandon her, nor hurt her… No matter what, she's never hurt anyone, especially not someone like her sister… And if she wouldn't hurt her sister, or abandon her… There was no chance she'd do such a terrible thing to Akane.

"Akane sometimes wishes she could just hide from everyone and everything. Akane always feels like the whole world wants to destroy all the good things, all the little things that can't protect themselves. Akane, used to think she was strong because Akane had a big family who taught her to protect Akane and how to protect her family. But Akane only learned how to kill people, so Akane wondered how she was protecting something when she only knew how to destroy. When Akane looked for answers, Akane learned that Akane's family were just protecting themselves and their interests, and Akane wanted to know why she was a part since she didn't want to protect herself if it meant hurting people she likes. Akane didn't like their answer and wanted to leave, but Akane was attacked, and Akane ran as fast as Akane could. 16 years, Akane spent learning to kill, spy, survive no matter what. Now, Akane sees herself in everyone. Akane is scared for her life, all the time. And Akane is terrified that someone knows this about her. It makes Akane want to run, before anything can use it to hurt her."

Ansley stood very still, petting Akanes head through the covers she was hiding under for a while before she started speaking. "I-I… R-ran… Too..." She said quietly "M-my sister… S-stopped me." she said quietly. When she was scared of something, her number one instinct was to run… She couldn't fight. "E-Every time I tried… Sh-she would stop me… A-and tell me… 'You can't always run… Even when you're afraid'... Th-then she would hug me…." Ansley said quietly, she tried to keep her voice from stuttering, but only partially succeeded. "I-I didn't understand a-at first… S-so… I-I kept running… E-even from things I-I liked to d-do… Like playing m-my harp… I-I'm scared of b-being around too m-many people…" she sighed a little remembering the embarrassment each time her sister held her back, hugging her to help her cope with her fear. "Th-then… … I-I realized what sh-she meant…" she said, pausing just a moment before she spoke again "I-If I wanted to d-do what I w-wanted to do… I-I couldn't keep r-running… Even if I-I was scared... S-so now… E-each time I-I'm scared…. I-I think of what sh-she would do…" she said quietly. She sighed, softly, not sure if what she had said had helped, but she had tried her best… This was her first time doing this sort of thing.

"Akane knows how to run from anything. The world could be crashing down around Akane, and Akane could still run. But lately, Akane wants to run with Ansley, because Ansley has the power to give Akane rest. Akane used to always be tired because Akane could never rest. But Ansley has music. Akane is jealous of Ansley's music, because Ansley's music, is the first thing Akane saw, that felt strong in the way Akane always wanted to be strong." Akane presses her body against Ansley, the covers between them fold over at the top, revealing Akane's shoulders. If Ansley was particularly observant, she'd notice Akane discarded her dress on the floor earlier.

Ansley smiled, a little awkwardly, but closed her eyes feeling herself blush again as Akane spoke, pressing her body against Ansleys… The embrace was a little softer than she expected, but she didn't think much of it, instead she spoke. "I-I… Couldn't be s-strong…. N-not like my sister is… Th-That's why I t-try to be s-strong in a d-different way…" Ansley stopped talking for just a moment, before continuing "I-I'm jealous o-of you too… S-sometimes…" she admitted "Y-you d-didn't make mistakes wh-when you f-fought… U-unlike me…" she was nervous about admitting this… But it felt only fair to do so, Akane had shares personal things with her, so it only seemed right to share a few personal things of her own… "I-I guess… W-we're both j-jealous sometimes…" she added sheepishly, the red glow on her cheeks remained.

Akane lets the covers fall down, exposing her pink bra to Ansley. "Akane feels really dependant on Ansley now. Akane was really worried that after watching Akane kill another person that Ansley would want Akane to leave. Akane, if she can, wants to stay with Ansley."

Ansley blushed a little when she noticed Akane was shirtless but didn't say anything… Instead, she listened to Ansley talk, smiling and nodding "I-I couldn't m-make you l-leave… N-not even f-for killing s-someone…" she said, hugging Akane even tighter, temporarily forgetting that Akane was shirtless for the time being… Her sister had killed too… Maybe not people, but she couldn't make someone leave just for that, especially someone so close to her…

Akane smiles, "Ansley, can you sleep with me tonight?"

Ansley nodded, still smiling a little, she felt a bit nervous about this, but… It wasn't too different from sleeping with her sister, so she didn't mind too much.

"Akane still doesn't know how to sleep well without Ansley's music. Akane knows you are tired though and you used a lot of gem power, so you don't have to if you don't want to, but Akane would sleep well if you did."

Ansley nodded again "I-It's ok… I-I'll do i-it…" she said, smiling a little more as if to say she was alright with it… It did help her sleep as well. Despite being tired, she managed to play rather well, this would be the last enchanted song she'd be able to play for a while, but it didn't matter too much for her… A different sort of lullaby was played this time, a more delicate one, but still just as soothing nonetheless. Ansley let her eyes slowly close as she played, beginning to zone out again… It wouldn't take her too long to reach the point where she was in a trance like state again.

Akane fights against the effects of the lullaby at first, although the song deeply sets in her sensitive cat ears. However, Akane was determined to last through the entire song this time, and as Ansley finishes and begins to grow sleepy herself, Akane grabs Ansley with both arms from around the waist, dragging her head down to the same pillow Akane was laying on. As Akane falls asleep she tries to convey one final thought, "You promised." Akane is soon completely unconscious, comfortably tucked in with Ansley.

As Ansley was zoned out, she could just faintly hear Akanes last words… If one were to see her face at that moment, they could see her smiling a little. It didn't take long for her to doze off fully herself as her tiredness overtook her. She slept peacefully for the duration of the night, eventually waking up sometime in the morning. As she slowly opened her eyes, she became aware of Akane's arms wrapped around her. Upon looking around a bit, she discovered that Akane was in her undergarments, pressed up against her body… Ansley felt herself blushing, but she stayed there, despite how embarrassing this was, it felt surprisingly nice. She wondered if Akane was awake just yet.

Akane breathes softly in her sleep. It is obvious from the rhythm of it that she could sleep like this for quite some time. Her head shifts slightly on the pillow however, causing her face to be a mere inch away from Ansley's.

Ansley blushed even more than she did before, but oddly enough as she started to get used to it… This wasn't all too bad, and she just lay there for a while before she remembered that they probably needed to get up. She was a little uncertain of how to wake her this time though since she was kind of stuck like this and didn't have enough room to play her harp properly, but she'd think of something… After a moment, she managed to free her arms enough to reach her harp and started playing it carefully. She wasn't sure how much her stone had left in it yet, but she'd find out soon enough. As she did last time, she played the song she had been playing last night in reverse hoping it would assist in waking Akane up like last time.

Unfortunately, Ansley's stone hangs up on her part way through the song, and Akane is barely affected by the song at all. In fact, all it really did was make Akane change position, making her come even closer. Akane's lips are now practically touching Ansley's.

Ansley felt practically paralyzed at the moment, blushing profusely now… A strange feeling came over her, and it wasn't exactly nervousness, it was different. Sort of like a mixture between the emotion she felt when her sister hugged her and the emotions she had felt yesterday morning… Laying there for a brief moment, not sure what to do, but then she remembered, shaking her awake usually worked. However, she wasn't sure if she'd get freaked out like last time, but her options were quite limited right now. So, nervously, but gently, she grasped Akane's shoulder and shook her a little…

As Ansley shakes Akane, her head bobs up and back, causing their lips to meet briefly. Akane wakes up, looking extremely sleepy, unable to keep her eyes open she pulls herself up to sit on her heels, and emits a big yawn. "Ansley, is it morning already?"

Ansley nods, she was still blushing a little from what had just happened, but she herself felt well rested. "W-What do w-we do now?" Ansley asked, a little uncertain if they should go find out what those two people Ansley had heard about knew… It would be especially useful if they knew where her sister was, but there was no telling where they were right now.

Akane falls over on top of Ansley, closing her eyes. Slightly cranky, "Akane is too tired to think right now."

"I-I guess we c-can sleep a l-little longer…" Ansley said softly, the only problem with that being her stone was out of energy… The harp could still play music, but it wouldn't have too much in the way of magical power.

Just as they were beginning to fall back to sleep, they hear some knocking come on their door. A voice comes up soon after it. "Excuse me, is a miss Ansley residing in here?"

Ansleys head perked up as she heard the strange voice "Y-yes?" she said, her voice barely loud enough to be heard through the door.

Akane remains where she is, already falling back to sleep.

"I got a message from a Linker right here in my hands. The girl said her name is Scarlett I believe." The voice said.

Ansley suddenly stood up looking quite excited, she carefully shifted Akane over to the side figuring she'd go back to sleep after hearing this message. "R-Really?" She asked, looking quite energetic now but still rather awkward at the presence of a stranger as she walked towards the door opening it slowly.

The man hands her the Linker. "I will be waiting out here. I do have a job to keep, after all."

Ansley was a little curious why the man said that but she nodded, putting on the linker and listening.

"Hello?" A man's voice came on the other end. "Is this Ansley, sister to the one named Scarlett?" He asked her.

Ansley nodded, but realized that it probably couldn't be seen so she spoke a little too "Y-yeah… I-It's me…" she said, her voice was as quiet as it usually was.

"My name is Reeve." The man said. "I'm about to hand my Linker over to your sister. Uh, here, wait, oh no…" The man said as some noise came from the other end. "PHEW! Almost dropped it! I would of been fired for that… Oh, wait, it has some dust on it. Why does it have dust on it?!? It should be brand new and ready to --" He is interrupted by sounds of the Linker being taken.

Ansley looked a little concerned as she heard what was going on before a familiar voice was heard through it.

"Ansley? Is that you?" Came Scarletts voice, she sounded very concerned, as she spoke, but yet hopeful at the same time.

"Y-yeah… It's me…" She said, her voice was a little louder than it usually was, filled with excitement, despite not saying much, she was glad she was talking with her sister.

"I'm in Vertice… Sorry I couldn't contact you sooner… Where are you?" Scarlett asked, she sounded worried.

"I-I'm in Merricrest… I-I made a few f-friends here…" Ansley responded, it seemed they weren't that far from each other, so it shouldn't be too hard to re-unite with her.

"Listen… I'll try and head there as soon as possible, don't try and get to me just yet… Ok? An individual named Hamilton might be sending someone dangerous over… Just please… Stay safe until I arrive, ok?" Scarlett asked her, with her voice taking on a worried tone.

"O-ok… I-I'll stay here f-for now... " Ansley said, feeling a little sad about this news, but at least now she knew where she was. "B-but only i-if you promise t-to stay safe too…" She added, sounding a little stubborn.

A small sigh was heard on the other end before Scarlett spoke "I-I'll try… Good luck, sister, I'm glad you've got company in the meantime… I hope I can get to you soon." she said, her voice got a bit quiet as she said so.

"I-I do too…" Ansley said, then she heard a small clicking sound as the communication session was ended. It worried her to hear that there was someone dangerous headed towards where her sister was, but she knew she'd find a way out of that mess… Somehow, after all, a promise is a promise. After standing there for a few moments longer, she took off the linker, and handed it back to the man with a smile. "Th-thank you." She said, the happiness in her voice was quite noticeable.

"Hamilton was mentioned?" The man asked as he took the Linker. "I heard he's going to be answering questions and giving speeches all day. He's got some big super secret weapon that he's going to reveal that will move Vertice forward in a new era of protection or something, I dunno. All I know is, the Digger's are basically done with what Hamilton's doing recently. You have a good day now." The man then walks off.

Ansley nodded slowly, she looked quite concerned hearing this piece of information… However she'd discuss it with Akane later on, for now she quietly climbed back into the bed with her, curling up next to her and closing her eyes. It took a bit longer than it usually did, but she soon fell fast asleep again, at least for the time being.

 

[Thundor]

Volusia & The Eternal Seeker

​

Volusia is awakened by several noises, blinking as she sits up and looks around... To find Augnagar appearing to be slicing up corpses of a few beasts. "What in the...?"​

"Oh don't mind me. Just found some delicious beasts who tried to jump us last night~"

Oza was sharpening her scythe at the time. "Morning, Vo."

Volusia rubs her eyes, sighing. "Morning, Oza."

Oza continues to sharpen. "So our little...friend...wanted to introduce us to his colleague."

Augnagar growls. "Give me a minute! He'll want these..."

Volusia blinks. "Dare I ask?"

"You don't want to know."

Suddenly a pale blue light glowed near them, and they could see a singular, cross-shaped pupil coming from a glowing, writhing mass of spiked cyan-colored tentacles. The figure grabbed the creatures quickly, and the creatures began to quickly decompose into dust. "Canceradon...arachnid family. Weak spots in the joints, shell easily breakable under intense heat." He tosses away a creature that was crablike after noting that. "Greater Tarzara...Aggressive nature, easily tricked. Poor eyesight. Speed and dodging advised." He tosses away a creature that was a mix between a ram and a gorilla, once again decomposing and falling into dust when let go. "And finally...Kelbarain. A vicious auroch class creature known for its speed and ferocity...a dangerous beast, but weak bone structure and vitals lead to an easy death to those with great strength." He hums with power as the last one is disintegrated. "Greetings....Augnagar, it is a Psychopomp and...race unidentified. Interesting allies indeed...I am Chernobue. As you lesser ones often need nicknames to preserve your short time here in mortality that much longer...you may call me Nobu."

Chernobue

Volusia blinks as she looks to Oza with a quizzical look. Augnagar smirks as he watches Chernobue. "Yes, busy as ever I see. What if I told you this girl offered us an interesting deal?" Then Augangar moves in and whispers some things to Chernobue.

Nobu starts to chuckle. Then his laughing begins to increase into a full blown mad cackle. "Oh, that's rich~! But if what you say is true, Augnagar...then we might have a chance if these two gain some more strength."

Augnagar smirks. "Indeed~" Volusia frowns a little as she crosses her arms.

"I just hope you two don't keep to what Oza has told me about Qlippoth's."

"Trust me, if we were with them, you would be -dead- right now."

Nobu nods. "It is logical to think we would play with you like this...but rest assured, we want nothing but the Twin Kings' corpses on a silver platter."

Volusia looks to Chernobue. "Alright, tell me about these Twin Kings then."

"Aaaah yes...I was one of Ahrimos' first...The Twin Kings are just that...they were born together at the dawn of creation. They lurked in the shadows, the antithesis to life and all it stood for. It began...with two. Ahrimos and Nyarlos. In your tongue: Deception and Ambition."

Volusia crosses her arms over her chest. "Okay, so that means they've been around for as long as this world has been. How do we stop the Qlippoth equivalent of gods?"

Nobu paused. "That...is the main issue now, isnt it? Nyarlos can take any form, and Ahrimos' intellect spans that of all creation."

Volusia facepalms. "Swell."

Augnagar smirks. "You neglected to inform Chernobue about your... Condition~" Volusia sighed at his words.

"Why do I have to tell everyone now?"

"Because my intellect is reflective of my master. I am a strategist, and perhaps if I know your skills I could formulate a plan."

Volusia sighs. "From what I have been told... I am part human, part Qlippoth, part Celestial."

Nobu gives an audible chuckle. "Interesting indeed! The aura created by such has a cancellation effect upon Qlippoth, weakening their powers. Perhaps if you gained strength, this in combination with your aura could give us a fighting chance...to bring them down to our level. But intense training would be required to reach such a feat."

Volusia raises a brow at him. "How the heck are we going to do that with so much going on?"

Nobu sighs. "That is the question...my only response is to try and enter the affairs of the mortals...use their conflicts as an opportunity for growth. When you are strong enough, you can fulfill whatever task you have planned."

Volusia frowns. "You say the term mortal as if it was something to be looked down upon."

Nobu looked confused. "....Because it is?"

Volusia cracks her neck. "Right... Tell me, then, why do you feel inferior whenever the word 'Celestial' is brought up then?"

Nobu glowed. "Dont test me, worm. I have lived two thousand years. And I will wait twenty thousand more to enact my plans. You are a puppet to my rise to power, and nothing more."

Volusia looks to Oza. "Yeaaaahh, I'm going to have to take that up with my partner over here. She's kind of my life-long guardian, ya know, always there to protect me. Tell me, Oza, do -you- think I'm a puppet?"

Oza smiled. "You are the only reason this plan is possible. Nobu...if you do not try and see her point of view, she can easily say 'no' and your plans will be set back aggravatingly long if not eternally."

The Qlippoth narrows his eye. ".....-Fine.-"

Volusia smiles. "My plan is to bring peace between your kind and the mortals. If you fall flat from this, I -will- not hesitate to come after the individual's who do that. And do not think for a moment that I am just some nice little girl who is too innocent to see the arrogance and selfishness in this world. I have dealt that enough from my own people. Do not. Make me angry."

Augnagar crosses his arms against each other. "Well, old friend... I'd say we are the puppets here. As un-amusing as I hate to admit that, and how it burns my very breath as I speak of it."

Nobu's eye is still narrowed in irritation. "It seems so...you are lucky you are useful to us, mortal."

Volusia narrows her eyes now and takes a step forward, suddenly both feel an intense presence come from Volusia. However, it was not of power, but of a familiar feeling... A loyalty to her beliefs? A strong sense of what humans called 'good?' Or was it something else, something more that not even they could explain. Either way, Augnagar goes into a defense position just from it, and even though it was brief, it was enough for both of them to notice it very strongly. ". . .My name. Is Volusia."

Nobu is surprisingly unfazed, but he actually laughs extremely hard, curling his tentacles as though he was holding his sides as he laughed. "Oh you are -too rich-! Very well....Volusia. The Eternal Seeker is at your disposal...so long as you give enough knowledge to satisfy me."

Volusia smiles and takes a step back, Augnagar able to relax as he growls lowly. "Chernobue... This one... When she reaches her full potential, I feel we will be nothing to what she will become." He looks over to Chernobue with intensity in his gaze. "What have we done?"

"We have given ourselves a ticket to the throne."

That instantly made Augnagar smirk. "So true~" He looks over at Volusia. "Now... Where are we going?" Volusia takes a moment to think it over.

"We're going back to Centora. I have a feeling that we are going to be diving right into the center of some fun."

Oza begins preparing another teleportation spell. "Alright...I shall begin to zero us in on our original location."

Volusia nods, walking over to Oza with a confident smile. Augnagar only looks to Chernobue with a smirk again. "Have we found the key at long last?" Chernobue's tentacles move close to his eye as this is asked.

"More than that, my friend. We have found the gate itself!"

 

[Thundor]

Isaac's Training Part I

​

Isaac opens his eyes as he sits up, probably not the best sleep he had in his life, but then, he had worst ones than this. Stretching out his arms, he lets out a brief yawn as he looks around to try to find the other two. He hoped neither of them had any crazy ideas in mind today. Delt is waiting by the campfire for him. "Hello, Isaac. Today, we begin your training."

Isaac assumes this means nothing good for him. They had slept out in the middle of the desert, for pete's sakes! Isaac never had done that before, not even considered it! He got up to his feet and brushes the sand off of himself before looking back to Deltorve. "Cool. So, what we going to do? Learn how to fly with Sound? Learn how to psychological delve into one's mind with sound? Oh, how about cook with Sound!"

"Your powers are diverse, but they are not infinite. However, this next ability I'm going to teach you is what Dionysius refers to as 'swaying'. This ability of Voxomancy, your sound magic, will help you dodge attacks with 700% more efficiency once you master it."

Isaac... was actually intrigued by this. Something Dionysius even referred to by, it must of been important! If, Isaac could only remember anything about Dionysius or these Markers in general, for that matter. Or even about who the man who keeps haunting him every night was. But then he figured his mind was wandering and turned his attention back to Deltorve. "Okay! So, how do we start?!"

He hands him a headband. "Put this on as a blindfold."

Isaac stares at the headband. ". . .What?"

"You heard me."

Isaac slowly takes the headband and puts it on. ". . .Okay."

Once he has it on as a blindfold, he notes "You are going to focus your sound to hear my punches fly through the air. If you fail, you're going to get punched square in the torso. Once you learn how to take my blows and dodge them blinded, then I will alternate blows to different body areas." It didn't seem the knight had any real comment on the training methods provided, merely glancing over on occasion and being a secondary pair of eyes for any mistakes the boy might've made.

Isaac lets out a sigh at this. "Fine. Tell me when we're starting."

"Now." Locke could see a punch fly through the air at surprisingly fast speeds for someone with such a thin frame, aimed at Isaac's ribs.

Isaac focused quickly, knowing he had little to no time to fully dodge the attack, moved it to hit his stomach. Isaac immediately collapses to his knees upon the collision. "OH-HOHO! This... is going to hurt."

"Get up. Again...you will take as many blows as it takes for this to succeed. After all, we shall be training like this...a 'trial by fire'. It is best to learn from experience than just repeating drills."

Isaac gets up to his feet as he releases a deep breath. ". . .Fine."

"Again!" he shouts, flying another punch at his ribs.

Isaac, knowing he wasn't fully used to it yet, decided to try something else. He moved his arm in the way of it, but got sent sliding back a little from this impact. Isaac had taken a hit, but with an arm, he was able to walk back to his original position and wait for the next punch.

He then alternated to another punch at his kidney and a second to his gut. "Don't block! Amplify the noise as it enters your ear, listen and dodge! Isaac knew very well that this was the case, he couldn't dodge the first blow because it was too sudden for him to predict. The second blow had to be blocked, but why? For some reason, Isaac's mind was confused, but his body was not. The blood that his ancestors had, the experiences they had, all had come down to Isaac's body, and it knew sound better than Isaac knew sound. Having taken the first hit, he determined the strength of Deltorve's punches through the use of Deltorve's sound. Then, with the second blow, he blocked it in order to give him enough time to set up his sound within a good range. Now, this time, he was ready. And as Deltorve's first punch came, Isaac's body moved, but for some reason, the connection was broken after this and he gets a hit to the gut. He collapses to his knees again.

Deltorve sighs. "Blocking will get us nowhere." He thinks for a moment. "Dionysius...he called it swaying because he noted it was like moving with the soundwaves as they traveled outward...swaying with them like a blade of grass in the wind. I don't know what it sounds or looks like to you Voxomancers, but you need to try and do this: Sway out of the way of my attack. Relax your body to reflexively dodge."

Isaac gets up to his feet again. ". . .Alright."

Delt sends another two fists flying at his center of mass, immediately after shouting "Now!"​

"Alternately, try getting tough enough to just deal with the punches. Or wear armor. Because you aren't going to be able to dodge everything. No one can." The Hound called out to the combatants, taking a sharpening stone to his sword and slowly honing the blade.

"Yes yes, Hound Knight. We shall get there once he has learned to use his powers. This ability will save his life in the trials. I have seen it."

Isaac decided to try something, this swaying, moving with the soundwaves... Was it possible to try...? He had to try, and it was now or never. His mind, his memories, had always been a stonewall in his way. He never felt right with his mind being so lost all the time, that his sound was limited to using a stone of all things. He reached deep down inside himself and used the sound, he had little time, if he got hit, it might screw him over big time, time was running out, he had to... He had to...! Suddenly, Isaac moves quickly out of the way of both punches with amazing reaction time, gasping for breath once he had moved out of the way, looking very tired suddenly. He almost looked like he was ready to puke, but he managed to pull himself up, struggling to find the words. ". . .Divination." Isaac said to Deltorve. "You are a Divination Marker. Right?"

"Yes, yes I am." He smirks.

Isaac grabs a hold of the headband and pulls it off, looking at the both of them with a new look in his eyes. They both could see a fire burning in them, they both knew that Isaac Gardener... Had returned.

He laughs. "A five percent chance. But the best possible route of action. Welcome back, Isaac Gardener."

Isaac narrows his eyes slightly. "Where is Hamilton Wiltsworth? I'm going to make him pay!"

Delt calms him. "With time...but let us see how far you've grown. Sway against my punches. I will not hold back." Isaac puts the headband back on, then nods. He lets loose a rapid-fire flurry of blows across Isaac's body: His jaw, his legs, his gut, his ribs. He went at the same speed as before, but heavily alternating his punches.

Isaac moved out of the way of each punch sent at him, as if he was now in sync with the sound, and his stone wasn't even out. Isaac knew that he didn't need it to use his sound power now, he knew what to do. As the last two punches come for him, he uses both of his hands to catch a hold of Deltorve's wrists and push them aside. Then, he slides into a stance with his left hand outstretched and his right hand pulled back, as a loud CRACK like sound from a whip seems to echo out for a bit around them. However, they both knew it held no real power, as Isaac smiles. "So I guess we've made it past round one?"

He grins. "I suppose so."

Isaac grabs his headband and pulls it off, tossing it lightly back to him. "So. I guess my bodyguard isn't going to be joining with us?"

"Why is that? He has a plan as well, but it is his choice whether or not he comes with us. I honestly hadn't considered his role all too much, and it would take me time to see his true purpose."

"My true purpose is to make sure you get to where you need to go safely. That's my contract. And I stick to my contracts, no matter what happens. So, I will be joining with you, as long as my contract continues to have effect." The Hound snorts, standing up and holding the sword steady and peering at its edge. Nice and sharp. "Are we continuing?"

"Well, it wouldn't be a party if I didn't know how good my teacher and bodyguard were... So, I propose you two have a spar." Isaac smiles. "After all, I can't be too careful now, I need to know how good both of you really are. Is that alright by you both?"

Delt smirks. "He would win. I have no weapons training, and his experience outempowers my ability to see the future. Seeing the future and acting on it are two different acts entirely, Isaac."

The Hound merely sighs, before hoisting up his shield. "A waste of time, we've got things to do. And I suppose he knows the outcome already."

Isaac sighs. "Alright, alright. So, what are we doing next then?"

"Well, this certainly speeds the training process. But...I see your friend...Amaria was it? Shall meet a companion on the road. The two will grow strong from their friendship and Amaria will be intent on coming back to you stronger. But...enough of that. We must find Raiko. She is the last member of our little squad, and another Marker in the making."

Isaac nods. "Where will we find her then?"

"We will find her in the mountains outside Aldness. We must act quickly though...she will die in the cold if we are late, and your chances of survival will drop by a staggering thirty five percent."

Isaac nods... When several people jump out of the sands surrounding them. Isaac frowns as he sees this, as the assassins in camouflaging outfits surround them in numbers. "What's this?"

"We are part of The Crimson Blade, lead by our glorious leader: Scarletlock! Isaac Gardener, you and your friends shall DIE here today by our hand! You should feel privileged at receiving such an honor!"

"You aren't real members." Isaac glares at the one speaking. "Impostors. You dare to disgrace the real assassin clan like this?! I have MET them before, and I know that Scarletlock would NEVER seek vengeance if it was business." The assassins seem to hesitate suddenly. "You are trying to make Scarletlock come and confront us on false accusations... You are pathetic, being used and manipulated for only one purpose like puppets!"

Delt nods. "A good eye, Isaac." He was elated on this strand of fate being weaved. It was a good one indeed, and although times ahead were grim, this one proved to be promising.

".... You're all dead." The Hound merely stepped forth towards one of them, the harrowing and jagged armor standing bleak and black against the tan desert sands. Normal men would see him and see some manner of demon wielding a blade, clad in armor as black as night. Perhaps these men were hardy enough, perhaps not. But the intimidation factor was certainly there.

The assassins now looked nervous and scared, they had been seen through so easily, and these three were not afraid to fight them head on. The one who had spoken charges forward at Isaac, leaping into the air as he sends out his chain at Isaac. Isaac raises up his left arm, letting it be wrapped around his arm as the assassin pulled himself in towards him. "YOU WILL LEARN TO FEEL --" He is interrupted as Isaac palm strikes him in the chest and get sent back, gasping for air. Isaac uses the chain to stop him and jump up, pulling him up with him using his own chain.

"Let me show you a REAL monster!" Isaac raises up his leg as he comes down and slams his left foot down into his chest, the chain breaking as a loud boom-like roar is sent out, the man screaming in agony as he is sent flying down... And a huge amount of sand is sent skyrocketing up upon his collision, with the sand crashing back down upon his form, unable to move out of his sand prison. Isaac lands down on top of the sand that now covered the assassin, glaring around as the others let out screams and charge forward, readying their variety of weapons.

It mattered not what they did.

Moving forwards with a grace that defied the heavy armor he wore, the Hound weaved through the crowd, blade swinging about in a swathe of bloody execution around him. He didn't even try to block any blows that came his way, the heavy armor merely absorbing blows or the wounds being far from severe enough to cause him any sort of discomfort. Watching him was like watching a train wreck in slow motion, a horrifying sight of violence and destruction, but one that had a strange quality to it that made it hard to look away.

Delt simply...tossed sand upwards and jumped towards the back one. He jumped on his head, delivering a backwards dropkick and launching the man into the sand, blinding him. From there he got up and delved a swift blow to the man's windpipe, then to his jaw. From there, the 'assassin' went out like a light. Delt fought with a fluid grace and almost alien precision, although he could only be so effective with his fists.

Isaac looks over towards a group of assassins heading towards Deltorve and snapping his fingers, as each of them suddenly stop and squeal out as they drop their weapons into the sand, falling to their knees as Isaac moves over towards Deltorve. "At this rate, Scarletlock will be coming for us... We'd better take care of this and fast, and rescue this girl you mentioned. Otherwise, we're going to have more than one unneeded death."

"Let's move quickly." The Hound Knight wiped the blade clean of the blood, blood spattered across his armor in, uh, rather copious amounts. Thankfully the armor had a treatment that prevented it from rusting too badly. "Lead onwards."

Delt flourished his cape, as he began to undo camp. "We move out. To Aldness...the journey will be long, but it shall be necessary."

Isaac nods. "Deltorve, lead the way! I'll catch up with you two in a minute!" Isaac moves his hands to his mouth, making it in a way that looked like he was about to... Uh-oh. The assassins stop as Isaac brings his hands to his mouth, unleashing a loud howling like sound through the nearby desert around them.

Delt smirks. "An interesting route...let us go, Hound Knight. Isaac has the cleanup handled. His survival chance is a one hundred percent of this encounter."

The Knight merely shrugged, and followed Isaac, wherever he went, back to his usual silent taciturn self.

Isaac races after Deltorve with The Knight, as the ground under the assassins begins to shake. "W-what is that?" Then, out in the distance, they could see what looked like a sandstorm forming, only with hungry eyes staring out through the sand. "N-no! NOT A TEXOYOTE PACK!! ANYTHING BUT THAT!!!" The assassins try to run, but are too late, as out of the sandstorm jumps out a monstrous sized Texoyote: A brown fur-colored animal that resembled a coyote, only it looked to have a skeletal-like appearance on the outside that made it look intimidating. It's smaller, normal-sized Texoyote's all leap at the assassins and begin to latch onto their prey, as the Texoyote knocks some of the assassins up and snatches them into it's mouth. Isaac sighs as he doesn't focus on the pack's rampage behind them. "Let's hope we find a Roller up ahead... Or some animals to ride on at the least!"

 

[York]

Blair Alvarez - Cold Feet​

Blair looked around the still empty digger camp for a bit eventually spotting a roller that as a bonus was loaded with a few stones as he n oticed when he looked in it's storage compartment, he opened one of it's doors and hopped in looking around it's dashboard a little. Soon enough, he spotted the little "slot" that his stone should go into, he popped his still unused stone out of his weapon and placed it in causing the roller to start up. He started driving it, heading towards the merchant base at a decent rate, he just hoped those diggers won't wake up soon as he did this. It's been a while since he actually had to drive one of these things, but once you knew how to, they weren't too hard to get the hang of, even if this was a newer model than he was used to. As he drove, he started to think a little bit, wondering how exactly he was going to rise up in his ranks, bringing in these purple stones may be a start, but he had a feeling he may have to be a little... Zealous. Their current leader wasn't exactly favorable to say the least and there were other higher ranking merchants his "colleagues" didn't quite approve of to say the least that he could start with.

As he was drawing close to the merchant base, he realized things may seem suspicious if he just returned if he just showed up a little over a day after his orders had been given, so the least he could do was get a little rest or something. He was starting to feel quite tired after all, and plus, the fees for a one night stay shouldn't be that bad, he could spare a few measly stones. He parked near it in a more concealed area, making sure to pop out his stone again for the time being, he just hoped no-one else would take this thing while he was sleeping... Just incase they did though, Blair decided to hold onto the bag full of purple stones he had acquired at the digger camp, walking towards the bartender at the Inn. The place wasn't as crowded as it usually was since it was almost midnight already and even the bartender looked a little tired, he was about to close up for the night soon "One room please, just for the night." he said. The bartender just nodded and spoke in a tired but still gruff voice "That'll be 3 stones." Blair just nodded, placing 3 regular stones from the small bag full of them he carried around with him for these situations and took the key the bartender produced. Heading towards his room, he opened the door making sure to lock it behind him, pocketing the key for now and putting down the bag of stones he had with him. He took one last tired look around out of paranoia to see if he had any unexpected company before he sighed tiredly and lay down on the bed, it took him just a few minutes to fall fast asleep.​