Dawn Arc

[Grimoire]

In the land of Astoria there was a capital city named Arcadia. At one point in time, Arcadia was the only city in the world that had magic users. Magic users are born with the ability, but none who weren't born with it can learn it. However, magic has greatly diminished and was forgotten. Steam and electricity became the new "magic." Why has magic been driven to extinction? There was a time long ago when a cult called Hellhounds, black wizards, massacred many people in Arcadia for power, and because of that, magic was banned. Although a majority of the Hellhounds were killed, a mere handful did survive and this small group turned into a new breed. A half breed of demon and human (also known as warlocks) which turned out to be more powerful. Other minor breeds were vampires, werewolves, dark faeries, and other dark-twisted creatures (also tainted with a small amount of demon power). This new breed of warlocks and dark creatures brought forth a new cult called "The Daemon's Children", but by some are called "Daemon Spawns." They require the souls of humans in exchange for power and immortality. The more souls they provide to their Demon Master, the more powerful they become. Arcadia still holds a magic world unseen by the untrained eye. Though most of the magic-users are made up of evil creatures, there are still a few good wizards willing to fight for the people in secret to keep Arcadia safe. The two wizards Relena Greyson and Morgan Clark - along with their apprentices and friends - are the unsung heroes of Arcadia...and perhaps the entire land of Eorthe.

 

[Grimoire]

A morning breeze flew through the kitchen's window and gently played with Relena's dark brown hair. She sighed to herself as she swept strands of her front bangs behind each ear and gave a firm tug on her ponytail for good measure. Her hazel eyes looked down as she flipped over eggs and bacon and toast. The smell spread across the entire top floor which was the living space for the group. However what was more comforting for the twenty-nine year old wizard was the salty sea smell, the seagulls, and waves which were an integral part of what she called "home." Their home, a three story building, was located near a port, one of many ports in Arcadia which was a city by the sea. The capital had the greatest sea ships but also the best air ships...indeed, by sea and air Arcadia was unmatched compared to the other cities and even the other neighboring lands. To the north the mountain region of Argath, the west the dense jungles and swamp infested land of Zulman, to the south the desert lands of Ramuda, and the east where Astoria lies was influenced by the sea, rolling hills and forest.

Relena looked up from her cooking, a task that the apprentices were in charge of but since she was up early and in one of those moods to cook she did it herself. A dark golden blonde haired boy raked his hair with his fingers while letting out a yawn, "Morning Miss Greyson...need help with that?" Nathan Wolfe asked as he leaned over to see with his dark blue eyes what she was up to and took a long whiff of it. "Morning Nathan" she smiled at the seventeen year old and then politely asked him to set the table. As Nathan began to grab the plates and silverware Relena heard another pair of footsteps from Alexandria Davis, the red headed girl, who was her partner's apprentice. "Alex," she called out without looking up at her, "is Morgan up yet?" she asked even though Relena already knew the answer to that question. Alex groaned, "Ughhh, no ma'm...he's snoring up a storm in his room...I can never get Master Clark to get up," she said with much disappointment. In the list of Relena's pet peeves, which unfortunately was very long because of her wizard partner in crime Morgan Clark, being late was almost at the top. "You two want to know how I get him up?" she said with a grin on her face. The two teenagers dropped whatever they were doing to listen to her. "Tickle his feet," she said simply. Nathan wrinkled his nose, "Good luck with that Alex...I touch no man's feet," but Alex had a big smile from ear to ear, her green eyes sparkled with mischief, and quickly turned herself around to walk back again into Master Clark's bedroom where she would utilize to the best of her ability this piece of information. Relena and Nathan both exchanged smiles and then proceeded in finishing up preparing breakfast. It was going to be a long day at work in their mechanic shop, which was on the middle floor, and they were also expecting a good friend of theirs to stop by soon.

 

[Grim Reaper]

Standing anxiously outside of Morgan's bedroom, Alex stares a hole into the closed door. Beyond this door, this veil of safety, lies the unknown. The world of the 27 year old Morgan Clark. She grabs hold of the beautifully crafted gear-like door handle, turns it and slowly opens the door. As the door opens, the stench of oil, scorched metal, and the thunderous sound of Clark's snoring overwhelms her senses. She stands in awe as she sees her master sprawled out on the bed, legs bent awkwardly and whispers to herself, "...is this sleeping frog-legged man really a wizard? Hah!" She closes in on her target inch by inch, avoiding the tools, clothes, and various items on the floor. She takes one of the work cloths out of her back pocket, twists it up, and begins to tickle his exposed feet. Not even one swipe and Clark springs up out of his deep sleep, screams incomprehensibly "DAFJIFA WOMFAJFH AGH RARGHHH" and grabs his wand. In a split second the sleeping, frog-legged wizard awoke. Startled and angered that something had disturbed his sleep, he points his wand at Alex and fires a spontaneous, unexpected spell. He stands there with his long, unkempt black hair, gray eyes starting to dilate not knowing what kind of damage he might have done in the heat of the moment. He sits down, lights a cigarette while waiting for the smoke to clear. As the smoke clears, he sees a cute, green-eyed frog sitting at the foot of his bed. He says, "Hey there little frog, where did you come from?..Hmm..I've never seen a green-eyed frog before..are you lost? Ha ha ha." The frog speaks and says, "I need a new master. I HATE YOU!" and hops downstairs to Relena. He sits down, finishes his cigarette and starts dreading the thought of what kind of punishment Relena will have for him this time. "The smell of bacon, eggs, metal, smoke, and a frog...huh...not a bad start to the day, eh?" He walks down to the kitchen slowly, body heavy, heavy boots clunking, tools in his pocket clanging together, "Maaan, heeere we go. I can already hear her screamin'."

 

[Grimoire]

Relena whistled a tune as she laid the perfectly cooked eggs, bacon, and toast onto four plates. However her tune stopped short as she looked up from her plating to listen to one of Morgan's weird yells of pure none-sense. At that point the brunette knew something must have happened between Morgan and Alex. Maybe she shouldn't have sent Alex back since he tends to act like a complete maniac when he gets woken up randomly during the middle of his sleep and even more so when he was dreaming...but then again, Morgan was always acting like a complete manic during the night and day. Nathan had just finished setting down the plates filled with food on the table when moments later his wide eyes and opened mouth followed something on the floor that was moving around. Relena quickly walked around the stove so as to get a better look of what exactly Nathan was gawking at. And there she was....Alex in shape of a frog with bulging green eyes and a little red patch of hair at the top of her head. The young apprentice hopped her way towards the wizard, "Miss Relena help! That crazy man turned me into a bloody frog!" she howled. "Alex! What in the world!?..." Relena yelled in desperation but wasted no more time. She muttered something under her breath with much haste and then snapped her fingers. There was a poof of colorful smoke in neon colors enveloping Alex and seconds later the red head was back to her human sixteen year old self. Alex in a panic began to claw at her face in fear that she might still have to scrape off a horrendously slimy frog face in order to get to her real face, but Nathan gave her an encouraging nod while kindly reassuring her that she was indeed back to normal. Once Relena fixed Morgan's mess, the culprit just so happened to waltz right into the kitchen. She growled as her eyes shot out daggers at him, "What the hell are you thinking turning Alex into a frog?! That will be the last time you do that or I'll turn YOU into roadkill!!" she yelled at him. Honestly, sometimes she thought his magical abilities were more of a hazardous curse than a great miracle. She crossed her arms in front of her with spatula still in hand...heavily debating whether she should smack him with it or not.

 

[Grim Reaper]

Scratching his head, yawning, and plopping himself down into a seat at the table he says to the newly humanized Alex sitting next to him, "Ahh, it's cool, kiddo. You're fine now anyway! Ha ha ha!! Who needs magic anyway, it's a lost art! As far as anyone's concerned, steam and engineering are 'magic!' Nathan could have turned you back by kissing you, right, Nathan?" He mischievously grins at the blushing Nathan. Ignoring the glares from the vicious, battle-stanced, ready-for-spatula-to-Morgan's-face-action Relena, he grabs Alex's plate of food and says, "You snooze, you lose!" and proceeds to eat her food. Alex, already furious with her so-called-master delivers an onslaught of low-leveled spells at him. Throwing the prohibited use of magic at the table out the window, she yells, screams, and continues to cast. Morgan, calm, collected, busy munching on bacon while dodging her every attack, he says jokingly, "Hey there, little froggy! You know you can't use magic at the table, let alone the 3rd floor! Have some respect!" as he winks. "Respect?! You don't even know how to spell that word, you lunatic!!" says Alex, still attempting to hit him. "Alright", he says. "If you can hit me with ONE spell, I'll cook you double!" Watching his frustrated apprentice handle herself calmly despite her anger made him proud. He watches carefully, her face relaxed, green eyes focused, and spells executed smoothly. With a crooked smile, he snaps his fingers, nullifies her magic and licks his plate clean. Standing up, walking past her, he says under his breath, "I'm proud of you, kid. You grow more and more every day!" rubs her red hair lovingly and smiles. As he walks past the still angry Relena, he places a plate of food in front of Alex and tells her to eat or else she'll be tired for when their special guest arrives. He turns to Relena while cleaning his plate and asks with a serious expression, "You know this is going to be one of the toughest things we've ever taken on, right? I won't forgive you if you hold me back, you silly woman! You better not get in my wa--" Sounds of footsteps followed by a knock on the door cut him short. Alex looks at Morgan anxiously, he shrugs with a smug look on his face and walks towards the door.

 

[Grimoire]

Relena growled a little louder and stomped her way to sit onto the table since Morgan didn't even bother acknowledging the threat that she just threw at him a few moments ago. With elbows resting on the table she began to rub her temples in small circular motions with her eyes closed and then heaved out a tired sigh. She usually wasn't this high strung but perhaps the stress and pressure from this case that they've been trying to solve has perhaps started to get the best of her. However, after weeks and weeks of searching and investigating they finally got a lead and their informant, a fairy from the Undercity (Undercity being the place of living of the majority of the magical creatures both good and bad in Arcadia...but mostly bad. The Undercity was not seen by the average human eye and was cloaked by a magic barrier that humans could not see...unless a creature that new magic would lead them the way, but that usually ended up badly), was to stop by and give them a location where their lead was to have a very important meeting of some sort. They needed to be there at the right place and the right time if they were going to catch the baddie and save innocent people from getting their blood & guts spilled over and their souls sucked out of their body. Relena didn't want to spend any more time getting in between Morgan and Alex as they both used magic in the table...which was forbidden, but she had too many things on her mind and simply did not have the energy to bark out orders of having them sit down like normal people and eat their bloody breakfast. However, this group was far from normal and so decided to just try and relax for a bit before Willow the faery showed up. Relena calmly began sipping on her favorite peppermint tea and taking bites of her buttered toast without even looking at her eggs and bacon whilst spells, jokes from Morgan, and insults from Alex flew across the table in front of her. The taste of tea really did seem to bring down her nerves and soon enough she had blocked the two of them out. Nathan who sat across from Relena acted like nothing was going on amongst the chaos between the other crazy two and quietly ate his breakfast. "You know this is going to be one of the toughest things we've ever taken on, right? I won't forgive you if you hold me back, you silly woman! You better not get in my wa--" Relena looked up at him with a raised eyebrow as she sipped on her tea but before she could retort a knock was heard on their door...Willow. Willow who had been a very close friend of Relena and Morgan for several years knew of the secret door which was quick and easy access to the top level where they resided in. Relena stood up, put her cup down, and dusted off the bread crumbs from her shirt and briskly walked past Morgan to answer the door herself. Nathan looked as anxious as Alex did and loudly gulped down the last piece of his bacon. Hopefully, it'll be good news and not bad news. Cold hands grabbed onto the door handle and opened the door. What would appear to be a section of a brick wall to the average human eye was actually their door to the upper level which was disguised with magic. When she opened the door for Willow Le Fleur to walk in she could smell the aroma of fresh flowers fill the room. Willow was using glamour magic to hide her true identity and so before Relena stood the presence of a regular sized woman with light blonde hair and light blue eyes with a simple floral dress underneath a dark blue coat. "Can't stand being a human!..." was the first thing that came out of Willow's tiny-plump mouth and suddenly green fairy dust began to swirl around her. Within seconds her true fairy self was exposed; a tiny little person with long-wavy green hair and light blue skin with a pair of dark blue butterfly wings with swirls of teal, violet, and dark purple. She wore a short little dress made of fresh violet flowers and on her long braided her hung tiny yellow flowers as well. She was indeed an explosion of color. "Willow, so nice to see you again...I hope you bring us good news," there was a slight worried look on Relena's face as she said that. Willow smiled, "Nice to see all of you again...and yes, I have great news. Almost cost me my head, but I was able to get what was needed," she looked very triumphant. "Thank goodness!" Relena said as she walked towards the living room space and sat on a chair next to a big fireplace. Alex and Nathan followed Relena with Alex sitting on the floor next to her and Nathan sitting across from them on a couch. They were all eager to hear what she had to say. Willow flew her little body where the coffee table was at the center leaving a trail of fairy dust behind which gradually faded into nothingness. She sat at the edge of the table with her legs crossed, "So I managed to pick up some very important information. One of Earl van Diemen's new bodyguards drank the potion that you made me and spilled the beans...it took me forever to get him to drink it," she huffed in reminiscence of how much of a pain in the butt that was, "the newbie vampire told me that a Demon lord had set up a meeting with the Earl Alistair van Diemen, one of the high noble vampires, to discuss about a Blood Hunt (a Blood Hunt was a human massacre for feeding and sacrifice) taking place at midnight in the vampire's airship The Skyfall...it's a masquerade ball for the elite humans and none of them know it's a TRAP!" said Willow while throwing her hands up in the air in disbelief. Relena sat there for a moment to device a plan...a plan that sounded rather simple and hopefully it would stay that way. "So here's the plan...Morgan and I will go to The Skyfall and will try and get waiter or guard uniforms...once we have our disguise we'll get in where the action will take place. We need to get rid of Earl van Diemen and his cronies before they start slaughtering people left and right" she said. Her eyes then laid upon Willow, "Thank Willow for your help...now it's up to us to finish it," Willow smiled back at her. Relena's gaze turned at the two apprentices, "Nathan and Alex, I need you to start preparing some gear and weapon's for us," the two apprentices nodded. "Any questions or comments?" she asked although Relena was directing that question more towards Morgan.