A
Asuras
Guest
Original poster
The mere sight of a hand blocking her path earned Aesil an enraged look upon Francisca's face. She held the sword where it was, but by how tense her arms and hand seemed to get, it looked for a moment like she was ready to execute one of her own.
"I was stationed here as the highest command where Efrida could not respond," Francisca snarled, "Unless her angels have anything to relay to me, you are not one to tell me what I can or cannot do!" She allowed Kanade to take the sword after her outburst, and took a step back as she released Konyuu's head and glared at Aesil.
"You will execute her," she confirmed to Kanade, nodding. Before the champion could even lift the immense weapon, however, an invisible force seemed to keep it pressed upon the ground. With a woosh, Ildaem reppeared before the group, his hand laying upon Francisca's sword, as if calming it.
"No," he plainly stated, "Efrida has said that she wants Konyuu alive and brought to her directly." Francisca looked taken aback, clearly surprised the angel was even present.
"I-Ildaem! Why are you here? I was told only Drakanael would be at the Citadel..." The angel merely gave a faceless glance and turned to the other three. "Efrida has ordered me to take her back myself, and to direct you three to the Palace Borough. You will broker a deal."
"I see. Konyuu as a hostage is nothing to scoff at," Francisca said, "What does Efrida demand?"
"Surrender. A cease and desist on any further action by the Palace against her rise." The angel leaned down and yanked at something at Konyuu's neck. With a toss, he threw the pendant at Lyssa. "If they do not believe we have her, show them that. Perhaps it is something unique to this woman."
"Tell them, that if they act again, we will execute Konyuu Shora."
The boy pushed up his glasses and looked quite interested, eyebrows raised and head nodding repeatedly. Still, he eventually sighed and returned to his mumbling, shaky self. "Oh that man. That man. Has the nerve to make an office space here... can't even come ask me himself! How lazy!" The Librarian beckoned for the girls to follow as he walked through the shelves. "Has to send twe people... Two people! I'm sure where he's been he's got knowledge on the book already, why now?" He rambled to himself throughout the entire walk.
Eventually they came upon a nook within the library lacking in shelves. Instead the walls around them were but stone, carved to look like rows of books. Glowing runes hovered in front of each of the carvings, each of them intricately different from one another. "Ah, though I suppose he's unfamiliar with the magics needed to retrieve one of these!" The Librarian traced a finger across the rows of runes, eventually stopping upon one.
Its symbol was the same as the one Galina memorized.
With a simple yank in front of the rune, the Librarian pulled a book from thin air and surveyed its front briefly. "Here it is." He handed it to Galina before crossing his arms. "Still can't understand what you'd want with that. Not even the Madurn themselves could read it, they just wrote what they 'heard' right before they died... or so I've been told." His eyes sparkled with interest as he continued on.
"You have heard of it... N-no, what am I saying of course you haven't!" Without asking, he snatched the book back from Galina and quickly opened it up, flipping through the pages. "H-here, this one right here. You know what this is?" He traced his finger over the arcane runes. "The Madurn Covenant, as I'm sure you know, writes down new spells for us to learn, right? Right before the First Sentence, one of them 'heard' the words of Heaven, and they wrote them down right here, in this book! No one really knows how, considering even they could not read the very symbols they wrote down, but supposedly they did it!"
He closed it and returned it back to Galina, his voice calming down. "That, that right there... Is the power of Heaven in written form. It's a shame none of us can read it, though. Anyways, just put the book right up against its symbol on the wall when you're done." The Librarian retreated back into the labyrinth of shelves outside of the room.
The girl, fortunately, did not make a break for it at any point during the trip, keeping quite close to Halberd's side. She clearly seemed a tad bit frightened of the place, likely due to its unfamiliar nature and her being away from anyone she truly knew. As they entered the bakery, Halberd could see Carol's face light up at the merchandise laying out before her. Her jaw literally dropped, and she approached the foodstuffs slowly, as if about to pounce on a small animal. When she was handed an entire cake, she seemed incapable of even acting; she was frozen in place, a plate of sweets mesmerizing her.
"I can eat this?" she asked, looking up to Halberd. Hesitantly, she picked up the cake and took a bite out of it, practically reeling with joy as it touched her tongue. A loud 'Mmm' escaped her as she chewed, face overrun with delight. "What is this?!" she shouted, taking another large bite. Clearly she'd never had cake before, and she made no effort to restrain her consumption of it. "Can I eat this every day?!"
As she finished, the moment had passed, and she eyed the plate of crumbs, as if hoping to higher powers that another cake would miraculously appear on it. After a minute without such luck, she looked up to the two Guardians and pouted. "So who are you guys anyways? Are you mercenaries or something?" She was about to ask a third question when she opted instead to forgo whatever it was, looking grimly to the side.
"Not everything needs to be smashed to pieces to get something important done," she responded, lifting her hat, and gaze, up to meet Junkiro's. Cat-like, shining yellow eyes met with his own. She lowered her hand from her cap and rested it upon a sword at her side. "Indeed I would have looked for someone else I needed someone to fight for me."
The woman leaned on one leg and smirked at the Palace champion. "Why does everyone nowadays assume everything involving shadiness is a fight waiting to happen? You Palace people are known for your ninjas and assassins and what-not, no? What ever happened to good-ol' surveillance?" She shook her head and became a bit more formal with her tone.
"No, what I need from you is exactly that. Surveillance. While the Palace has their own moles, mine does all the same. I know you're not the most attached to your faction, which is why I've come to you in particular. All I request of you is to relay information from time to time. You can do that, can't you? You don't even have to act strangely or sneak about anywhere!"
Lifting her chin, she looked down upon Junkiro and grinned. "Think you can do that for me? There's a steady pay in for you."
"Anything in particular? Well, whatever catches our eyes I suppose," Jorn said, still looking around. Without much hesitation, he used a boot to lift up some sort of metallic armor piece on the ground, checking for something underneath. Finding nothing, he let it clang back down.
"I'm underwhelmed thus far," Zaie commented, looking quite dull.
"I do hope I'm not the only one hearing things though," Jorn added. "Am I?" Zaie slowed down to find herself at Gerald's side.
"Are you seeing anything with those eyes of yours?" she asked him under her breath. As the group ascended higher, they eventually reached a ceiling, though the stairs continued upwards into an opening. Soon enough they found a door at its peak. Jorn reached for the doorknob and... it opened without a hitch. Filing inside, they were met with a strange sight.
Various childish things were spread across the floor. Toys, stuffed animals, books, and drawings of strikingly variable skill layered the ground. A bed was pushed to one corner, along with a desk and a number of pillows piled up to make a sturdy fort. Above, a ceiling of painted glass allowed light to pour into the room. There were no windows. A few other doors were present besides the one they had just entered.
"Is this... a nursery?" Jorn asked, reaching down to pick up a wooden, faceless doll, "None of the Madurn had a child, right?" he turned to Zaie, who shook her head.
"Not that anyone could have known," Aposto said, "These Madurn were not ones to reveal everything about themselves, I am sure. This tower's legendary status is proof."
"I have a feeling Kaileb knows," Zaie spat.
The voices from before had fallen silent for a few minutes within the nursery, but eventually returned with a vengeance; they were no longer whispers, but clear words in the ears of each of the other three champions.
Your mother would not have wanted you to leave, Aurora heard it say.
A boy cannot pursue his career without attaining notoriety, it said to Gerald.
Your line is dead it hissed to Este.
