Against the Jade Empire IC

[Pockets]

The land of Iligesia was a sprawling continent and within the borders of its shores it contained numerous types of terrain from the Swamps of Talturia, the hundreds of miles of rolling grass lands in the Sea of Blades the mountains and massive forests in The Spine or the World are by far some or the most inhospitable. Only the strongest and most vicious have a tendency to thrive there.

Jade sat at the top of one of the tallest trees in the low foothills before entering the Spine proper and looked out over the Sea of Blades. Ten miles distant she could just see the massive chasm carved into the sea by her husband Rhyven four years previously during their frenzied flight from a Hand of Urrels. She shuddered involuntarily as she briefly thought of those disturbing and vile creations.

"Still can't believe Tsun created those things," she muttered quietly as she leaned back against the trunk, legs stretched out along the branch shed chosen as her perch.

Despite being the early end of summer it was still quite cool at the base of the massive mountains that made up the Spine. Still, Jade didn't shiver as the breeze brushed against her bare arms. She watched as the second of the worlds two suns sank beneath the horizon and in the coming darkness the three moons hung low and heavy in the eastern sky.

As she sat she became aware of a new light, unrelated to the moons or the stars and glanced down at the shattered crystal that lay against her breasts where it hung around her neck. Sliced cleanly in half during an altercation with Obsidian a scar ran across the tops of her breasts, lining perfectly with the severed edge of the dark blue crystal.

The crystal normally pulsed with a gentle glow, flickering in perfect rhythm with the beating of her heart bit now it shone brightly, like a small star resting against her skin. A low power radiated from it and for a moment she was tempted to reach for the dreaming and shape its power to her will.

She quashed that feeling and quickly climbed to her feet. "This is bad," she muttered. Glancing once again at the crystal she quickly tucked it under her shirt and leapt from the branch out into thin air.

After she had fallen fifty or so feet the two massive wings growing from between her shoulder blades snapped open, catching her descent and with two great flaps of her wings she shot into the sky and turned, flying steadily into the Spine.

[Affili]

A tall figure in black shrouded by a silver robe stood at the bow of the ship leaning against the rails and taking in the beautiful early morning sun that signaled this new day. The ship was not far off the ports of Noigan now, a small seaside town north of the Swamps of Talturia. Even further north, the massive mountain ranges of the spine loomed over the horizon line.
Cedric Lancaster was mulling over his assignment in quiet contemplation as he leaned against the rails of the ship

'Damn those Elders. What I wouldn't give to have a bit more detail from those Geezers...' He thought to himself

The Order of Light was always vague, even with their own operatives. Cedric had been sent from the main citadel across the Sea with orders to liaison with the operatives on ligesia. After two months of sailing he was relieved to see land again.

As the ports drew nearer, Cedric noted a mass of soldiers scattered amidst the city well protected by blue colored armor. Groups were spread all over the place and though they were not attacking anyone they did appear to be searching for something.
Cedric Scolded himself for not expecting something like this with the scarcity of Intel he had on this assignment

'What were you thinking… if course it wouldn’t be that simple’

As the ship drew up to port he disappeared below deck momentarily to gather his things. Given the general nature of the soldiers actions thus far Cedric did not think he would need any documents, but he tucked them away snug in the inside pocket of his robe just in-case.
Staff in hand, and his traveling pack slung over his shoulder, he made his way down the gangplank.
Luckily the soldiers were in the midst of a shift rotation and the dock his ship had berthed on had been left alone less a few fishermen that had their lines overboard. Cedric moved casually down the boardwalks and greeted the fishermen with a wave of his hand as he passed them while quickly glancing his surroundings for soldiers. After such a long voyage, He was not in the mood to explain himself to the soldiers.
He managed to pass into city undetected or unchallenged by the soldiers as they appeared to be too occupied with their tasks to stop a humble man of the cloth!

‘ Well at least this isn’t a ghost town anyway. I’m sure I’ll be able to get some information from the locals this evening but for now, I need to find an inn or something’ he thought.

Cedric stopped a young man in the streets to ask for directions to a decent inn.

“Excuse me sir” he began, “ I wonder if you could tell me where I can find a decent inn around here.”

“Sure thing stranger these blasted soldiers have most of the inns reserved right now but there’s a really good spot two blocks over from here called Diego’s Tavern. Really good rates and the inn keeper is one hell of a cook!!” he pointed down the street in the general direction.

“Thank you kindly" Cedric responded with a slight nod of his head, then bid the man farewell and made his way to the inn.

Diego’s Tavern was indeed a splendid inn. Cedric rented a room for the night and was soon settled in his room and under a hot shower.

‘Ahhhh! Two months at sea sure leaves a guy in desperate need of a hot shower. I think I’ll relax here for the night, and get started on my Intel in the morrow.’

Cedric decided it would be better if he dressed casually to avoid the attention his robes demanded for now so he got dressed and put on the pendant of the mongoose, his favorite animal. Cedric made his way to the great hall and sat at an empty table. Shortly after that he enjoyed a hot meal, the first in months.
' it appears that guy I stopped earlier knew what he was talking about in regards to this tavern' he thought, as he sipped a steaming cup of coffee after dinner
'Hopefully tomorrow I can pick up a trace of the Order of Light operatives... and a little more insight as to what's going on around here' he thought.
He sighed in frustration once more at the total lack of information the elders had given him.

[Orion86]

Shea moved silently through the woods of the valley, making sure to mind the broken twigs and fallen leaves. He was hunting a young deer through the woods that he knew so well. It had been nearly 3 years, but Shea had finally found a little bit of time to visit his family, in the village of Ulstrad. He had been staying in his mother’s home for the past week and had decided that he would re-live some of the days of his youth. He was pleased to find that he hadn’t forgotten his way around his former patch.

Then he snapped from his daydream of home, as the young deer came into sight. It was a young buck, brazen as it had yet to learn true fear of man or the dangers that the woods could hold. Raising his bow up to eye level, he pulled the string back to a manageable level and waited for the buck to come into range. Pulling the string to its fullest extent, he let the arrow fly, then the deer looked over at Shea in the instant before the arrow took it just above the heart. In its death throes the deer bolted but got no more than a few leaps before it fell to the ground dead.

Shea leapt from his position in the bush and rushed over the buck dagger in hand, to finish the job if need be. There was no need, the arrow had pierced the bucks heart and it had died almost instantly. Putting away his bow and dagger and lifted the buck onto his shoulder and struck out for home. There had been a time when he would have struggled with the extra weight of the buck but since he had been given the sword of the sacred knights he had found that he had been feeling stronger, faster and smarter. He had not had the sword for long and he was still unsure how he felt about the changes but he hadn’t had much time to consider the implications of his new found power.

The sun beat down on him as he came out of the shaded woods and struck out towards the road for home. Summer was ending, the autumn flowers and fruits were coming out in brilliant colours of orange, red and brown. As he moved down the road towards home he filled up on blackberries, gooseberries and raspberries, savouring the flavours of the fruit as he rounded the finally corner and began to walk up the path to his mothers front door. It was not the house he himself had grown up in. With the money that he had made with the Sacred knights he had been able to provide for his mother and two sisters, buying them a new home, land and supplies for their farm hands to work the land.

As he moved toward the door he heard Chester screech and wheel down from the sky to land on the post next to the front door.

He scratched the hawk behind the head “How are you doing buddy? Hope that you had as productive a morning hunting as I did”

Placing the deer from his shoulders, he was about the open the door when he saw the cloud of dust coming down the road. As he looked out down the road he saw the familiar sight of one-eared-Dick racing toward the house.

Turning to Chester “Looks like our break is over little buddy” One-eared-Dick leapt down from his horse and raced over to Shea.

“Sir” He said with a snapped salute. “There is an incident that requires your immediate attention at the camp”

He looked down at the deer and the door, he had been looking forward to the venison pie that his mother would have cooked. With a sigh he looked over to Dick. “Fine, I guess that it had has been nearly a week. You know you don’t have to call me Sir, Dick. You are my oldest friend. I just need to gather my things and say goodbye to my mother”

After everything was ready and his farewells said Shea mounted his horse and headed out with Dick back to the camp of Sacred Knights

[Swanmarkedblade]

Marisa once again could feel the necklace thrumming at her neck. It was not an unusual feeling, but she could finally begin to grasp at the extent of her power. She considered using it, did not. She could somehow sense five other crystals like her own. One of them was undoubtedly Jade's crystal, which she had seen.

She concentrated her thoughts, tried to assess the situation. She quickly withdrew her thoughts from her crystal, a little bit disoriented by what she managed to learn. She calmly meditated, and during her meditation she heard a voice in her head: You are not yet ready. Call to the other crystal-shapers when they are ready to learn their powers.

And the voice disappeared, as did the ball of light which was going up and down between her closed eyes and her chest. She opened her eyes, could feel tears on them. She had a drink of water...

[Pockets]

The Spine

Jade could feel it. Somewhere ahead someone was briefly touching the power of the Dreaming. Considering the only thing in the general direction she was traveling was the destroyed city of Treyn and the Village of the Nethlim she could hazard a guess aa to whom might be brushing the power even if not actively using it.

"I'm gonna kick Marisas' Ass right out of that tree," she growled under her breath. As night had fallen shed flown steadily to the South above the trees and deeper into the mountains. Now, after a handful of hours the village was in sight, a trip that took them weeks on foot when they had first visited this village.

Out of courtesy Jade died not land in the village but instead on the ground below it. Walking briskly across the rich earth beneath her boots she folded her wings, letting them press tightly against her back and rang a large bell set at the base of a truly massive tree. So large that its sheer size made identifying its species impossible she still marveled at the massive specimen no matter how many rimes she saw it.

Within moment a large, basket-like contraption descended from above attached to a rope made of vines and landed before her. She combed in and calmly took a seat as the basket began to slowly ascend up toward the tree born village.

The Nethlim never cut wood from a living tree, instead the trees had adapted to allow the women that shared their life force toblive up high, away from the dangers that often roamed the mountain floor at night. Natural ridges had grown from the side of all the trees trunks creating a wide walkway. That always spiraled gently around the trees. Rope bridges had been created to connect the various trees together so one could travel from tree to tree without having to touch the ground. And large hollow section of the trunk had appeared, giving them shelter within the trees own body.

After some minutes Jade finally arrived at theblowest level of this, The Lady Silanes' tree. Admittedly the Lady Silanes was different now than she was before, being Handed cousin instead of her Grandmother but change comes to all.

"I need to speak to Anaxel and to Marisa," Jade said to the women controlling the which that lifted the basket. "It is possibly incredibly important, please send a messenger and ask then to meet me in Grandmothers old meeting room?" The beautiful and young seeming woman nodded and after securing the basket took off at a run.

Within minutes Jade entered the room where she had first sat and spoken with the Queen Silanes, her Grandmother and where she had first learned the truth about her parents and why she had been orphaned.

--

Cedric

As the soldiers searched the Village many of the inhabitants felt put out, inconvenienced, infuriated even by the soldiers invading their home. In the common room of Discos tavern several of the men of the village expressed this frustration, loudly, publicly and with copious consumption of strong Ale.
They had been there for several hours, since lunch at least and Dinner was just being served in the common room. As they had drunk their way through the Inns stores of ale they had gotten progressively louder and angrier until now the five men could be heard even upstairs in the rooms.

Partway through the dinner service the doors leading outside slammed open and five of the blue armored soldiers stepped through the door.

All talk quieted, the musicians ceased playing, the servers stopped moving but with trays of food or drink still held over their heads as all eyes turned to the door.

The lead soldier removed his helmet revealing olive tanned skin, shock gray hair and piercing blue eyes within a sharp, angular face. Handsome enough, but the cold glint in his eye and grim set of his mouth made his visage more a terrifying thing to most of those present.

"We are looking for something," he said.

"Well go look somewheres else ya shadows damned dogs, doin' her masters work." The loudest of the five drinkers shouted at the soldiers, nearly falling from his seat in his intoxication.

He opened his mouth to speak again but the words ended in a wet sounding gurgle as a knife suddenly sprouted in the center of his throat.

After throwing the dagger the soldier turned and ignored the dying man as he fell from his chair ti the floor, blood slowly dripping from his mouth.

"We are looking for something," he said again. "A crystal, approximately this large, he held up his fingers to indicate the expected size of he crystal. "Reports have indicated it may have been set into the hilt of a dagger. And we are also searching for the Shaper..."

His eyes swept over the room as the soldiers moved about the room weapons drawn.

"We know that you are here, Shaper," the leader called again to the room at large, eyes sweeping over every face. "Reveal yourself or we will kill everyone here."

---

Shea

As Shea and Dick started out toward the Knights encampment a small cloud of dust appeared on the road in the distance. Quickly growing until it became a contingent of armored soldiers on horse back, wearing blue colored armor. As the six soldiers approached the leader raised his hand and stopped the others as he looked at Shea and Dick.

The leader looked to Shea from behind his visor, "that is an interesting sword that you carry," he said. Voice booming hollowly from within his helmet. He made a quick motion with one hand. "Take the sword," he ordered. "And kill the shaper."

[Orion86]

Shea saw the cloud of dust begin to come closer to him and Dr. Seuss as they travelled down the road at a fairly leisurely pace. He turned toward his companion and smiled.

“I was only away for a week Dik no need to set up a big welcoming party for me” His smile faded when he saw the look of caution spread across his old friends face.

“I aint organised anything sir and we are still too far from the camp for the pickets to have seen us coming. Something in ol’ bones is telling me that were bout to be in a world of trouble”

There was something about a life as a mercenary that made a man naturally caution. As the old saying went there were old mercenaries and bold mercenaries but there are very few old, bold mercenaries.

So as the men approached Shea pulled his sword a couple of inches out of its scabbard and laid his bow across his lap. Dr. Seuss readied himself as well, pulling one of his axes from its holster on his horse. Dr. Seuss was a good swords man, a better scout and there was no one in the Sacred Knights that could match One-Eared-Dr. Seuss with a throwing axe.

The men that approached reeked of violence. A good mercenary can usually guess how a confrontation was going to go. It came from years of experience and a very cautious nature and the odds weren’t looking good for Shea and Dr. Seuss. Shea’s heart leapt as he heard the commander command his men to kill him and then everything descended into utter chaos.

As the commander waved his men forward Shea raised his bow and loosed an arrow at the first man to move. The shot hit him and knocked him off his mount, Dr. Seuss threw an axe and near clove one of their heads in two. Then they were fighting on horseback and the attackers made their superior numbers count, Shea fended off the worst of the blows but was still knocked of his horse. The tide of a battle had turned against them, Shea was surrounded by the three thugs and Dr. Seuss was being driven back by the commander. Then Shea saw Dr. Seuss fall from a blow that left a long read streak across Dr. Seuss’s face, the commander dismounted to perform the killing blow.

Panic spread through Shea his mind raced, 'All this training, years of practice and experience and I still can’t protect the people I care about when it really matters’. Then the world suddenly slowed down and a peculiar sensation spread up his arm and he noticed that his sword was glowing. A power unlike anything that Shea had felt before spread through his body and he just knew what he had to do. With a speed that he had never known before, he leapt from the combat with the three men taking one of the men’s arm off at the shoulder. Power surged through Shea’s body like fire and the world itself seemed to slow down, then in an instant he was stood between the commander and Dr. Seuss. The commander raised his sword into a guard to catch Shea’s blade. Shea felt the blades connect but rather than the clash of steel, he felt the commanders sword buckle and bend and Shea’s blade sank seven inches into the commanders chest. Pulling his sword from the commander he gave a roar and took the commanders head from his shoulders, watching as it bounced off down the road.

Turning to the men he fixed him with a gaze and filled all of his hate, malice and power into it. The men faltered and ran for their lives, screaming as they mounted their horses and pushed their horses into a reckless run. Shea looked down at Dr. Seuss,

“Looks like you owe me another one old man.”

With that all of the power left him and he was plunged into darkness and a pain that Shea had never known before. He would have screamed if he was not unconscious by the time that he hit the ground. It would be left to Dr. Seuss to get them back to the camp.

[Lillian Thorne]

Callistan stood to the left of His Majesty King Traemos III, ruler of Calendore and also her brother. She kept her face neutral as she stood there like a statue not reacting to any of the sweet poison that was spewing from the mouths of the courtiers and supplicants who where there in court to beg, borrow or plead with the king for something. She thanked all the powers that be that public court was only once a moon. Regular court meant she only need watch a few useless nobles vie for his attention, at public court there were so many more unknowns to guard against. Not that she let her guard down in either court, just that the one wore her down more than the other.

Added to that was the fact that her dreams had been strange of late. In them phantom shapes of the strangest blue, a blue not unlike the crystal in her ring of office, had twisted through her dreams, twining themselves about her. Shifting and forming into things that almost made sense. Just when they started to make sense, started to form the things she thought they might be, almost as if her thoughts gave them shape, she woke. Woke, frustrated, irritated and almost as tired as when she’d laid her head down. So it was that she eyed each and every one coming before the king, not matter how just their claim, with an irritated and jaded heart. She had no patience for this and even less for the noble women who tittered over the troubles of a pig farmer and his neighbor whose case was before the king just then.

It was then that she made her first mistake of the day. She shifter her eyes to glare at the two women, both plump, pampered, powdered and as silly as the day was long. She hated such creatures with a passion and prayed long and hard that her brother might be spared from wedding such a creature as that. Because of this shift in attention she almost didn’t see the quick flick of motion from a supplicant who’d pushed to the front of the crowd, a ragged man who would prove to be surprisingly hale under the patched and threadbare garment. Later when she was berating herself in front of her brother for her near failure he would tell her,

“But you did see it and that’s what counts.”

But just then, it was luck, or some instinct honed through years of practice and devotion that made her lunge forward, pulling her sword free to whip towards the head of the king. To others it might have looked as if she’d gone mad and that in her madness she meant to clear her way to the throne. In truth, guided by that instinct and powered and pushed by something strange and new coursing through her she instead deflected the small black dart that had sped through the air, dripping death. It hit with a clang that rang throughout the hall inexplicably loud to land on the lap of the kind where it hissed and began to eat through his robes.

Stunned and drained Callistan took one step forward towards the assassin. But other guards were after him as he mixed through the crowd of supplicants. She fell to her knees, shaking from fright and something else and watched in abject misery as others cleaned up her mess. She didn’t look down at her sword so she didn’t see as thin, gossamer ropes of power, that same strange blue as the gem that rode in her ring as they fizzled and vanished.

[Cedric of trall]

Thunder boomed over head and lighting cracked the sky illuminating the forest and the rough looking group of men hidden in it for half a heart beat. They had been sitting there all day waiting for there target, there leader had heard from a reliable source that a trade caravan was due to pass by here on there way to the ports of Noigan, of course the caravan had no way of knowing it was never going to make it that far. The men were well hidden thanks to the patchy light created by storm, and surprisingly quite ether from discipline or because most were asleep, Sven Nealson couldn't tell. Sven was hidden in a hole behind a juniper bush, his signature patch work cloak breaking up his outline in the dead half light, he position was the closest to the road because he was the newest member of the group and the leader didn't trust him quite yet. Pulling his hood up higher and shifting his wait off his numb buttocks he settled as far in the hole as possible, "glad this things water proof" he mumbled to himself.

The sound of a carts wheels turning and the soft curses of men to long in the saddle woke him before the warning whistle did. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up slowly, straining all of his senses for the first glimpse of the long awaited cart. After a tense minute or so he saw the first of the guards come around the corner and let out a sigh, the guards were professionals long scars and gruff faces were evidence of that, long story short his motley group couldn't hope to win against them. Sven hadn't even finished the thought when he heard a yell and the bandits tore from the trees and bushes around the road in a flurry of yelling men and flashing weapons, Sven had no choice he burst from his hole and charged in the opposite direction, heading strait back to the bandits hidden camp and his own beloved instruments.

The bandits had made there home in a massively built wreck of a city, that no one had lived in for years. It was actually what had attracted Sven to this particular group, he figured a city no mater how destroyed must have a few good stories to tell sadly, however he hadnt yet gotten the chance to explore it thanks to there being a group of bandits living there and all. However sense the bandits were probably not coming back he figured now was the best time if any to get a little exploring done, "first things first though, I have to get my instruments" he thought as he climbed over the rubble and through the whole in the wall that probably marked this city's downfall. After quickly sneaking past the bored looking guard and making off with his belongings and enough food for a week, he slipped off into the ruins of the once great city with a slight smile on his face "I wonder how there holding up back at the road, not well I hope" he chuckled.

[Affili]

Cedric was silently amused by all the noise the group of men were making at the tavern
‘Typical light weights’ he chuckled to himself.

Judging by how loud they had become, and how they were barely holding their heads up, he figured they had been there since noonish, drinking their wages away. He shook his head and smiled. Clearly these men had only just become men by the laws standards, as they looked no more than twenty years of age.

It was only moments later that the doors of the great hall suddenly burst open and the group of soldiers piled in one after the other and their leader began shouting.
Cedric knew that look in the lead soldier’s eyes, the look of a killer, one that killed without a second thought, yes the worse kind, never displaying remorse for their actions…
‘The fool of a scamp’ Cedric thought when he heard the drunkards half slurred words bawl out in response to the lead soldier’s announcement. He saw the glint of metal as the dagger flew through the air and lodged itself into the man’s throat and the next thing that came from his mouth, were spurts of blood as he fell from his chair.

The patrons in the great hall tensed up even more in response to what the soldier had said next and murmurs quickly spread amongst them.
“Silence” the leaders voice boomed louder than the wave of murmurs spreading throughout the room and it fell silent once more.

Cedric was glancing around the room for any signs of a reaction from this so called 'shaper' the soldier had spoke about.
‘What the hell!! A Shaper…a dagger, I have no idea what this guys on about…’ suddenly Cedric recalled a rumor that was floating around the new Squires of the Order of Light, when he had first joined the organization as a child.
‘Impossible…they couldn’t be referring to me… I don’t know anything about Shapers, let alone, some heirloom of a dagger with a crystal in it’ He thought, pouring over all the lore and history he knew in his mind…

He was lost in his thoughts for but a moment and already the lead soldier had made his way over to Cedric’s table and was ushering him to his feet. Cedric complied and stood slowly, leveling his gaze with the soldiers eyes
“What about you stranger! I ain’t seen you around the city before” he said gruffly.
“Me? Oh I’m just passing through” he replied calmly
“Passing through to where?”
“Actually I’m….” his words were cut off by a heavy blow to his stomach. Despite the blow, Cedric was just barely winded thanks to all his training as of late and he rubbed the pain away from his stomach. The lead soldier had a dagger up to his throat now and was examining the mongoose pendant around Cedric’s neck. After a brief moment he released the pendant and it fell back against Cedric’s chest.
Still holding the dagger to Cedric’s throat, the guard glanced over his own shoulder and spoke again.
“Last chance Shaper, Reveal yourself or this fellow’s good as dead and I’ll be taking his pendant home with me tonight!”

Cedric used the distraction to his advantage. He quickly drew his throat back off the edge of the dagger and twisted his torso away from the blade as his palm moved like lightning up to the soldiers nose with such a force that it instantly shoved the nose bone up into the man’s skull.The lead soldier was dead before he hit the ground. He disarmed the dagger in one fluent motion and quickly tossed it towards the next charging soldier striking him in his neck between the base of the helmet and his breastplate however, Cedric Felt the sting of a blade as it sliced through his shirt across his back and then a stabbing pain shot through his chest as another one of the soldiers' dagger bore its way into his torso just barely missing his heart. The last soldier was approaching with his sword drawn to finish him off.

He fell to one knee and in his fading consciousness; Hey caught a glimpse of a glowing blue sphere as it slammed into the back of the approaching soldier killing him instantly. He managed a brief sigh as he recognized the nature of the sphere as being that of The Order of Light. His contact had found him.
“…God…. Damned these Geezers…Never on time for anything…” He gurgled as he coughed up blood. He was mumbling and gurgling to no one in particular as the other two soldiers had been killed from the chain effect of the original blue sphere when two additional bolts of energy had sparked from the initial blast, and carefully maneuvered around Cedric while striking the final two assailants dead where they stood.

The smell of burnt flesh filled the room as Cedric sunk to the floor in darkness in a pool of blood

[Swanmarkedblade]

A messenger came up to Marisa as she finished her drink of water. "Marisa, Jade wishes to see you." the messenger said. "Where?" Marisa asked, wiping her wet eyes. "She said her grandmother's old meeting room." Marisa sighed, looked away into the distance. A few moments passed. "Marisa? Jade awaits you." The messenger said. Marisa sighed, turned back to the messenger and said: "I'll be there shortly. Tell her I will be down soon."

After the messenger left, Marisa changed from her heavier casual dress into a far lighter gown which was also more formal. It also gave her greater freedom of movement. She put on a pair of very light slippers as well. She picked up her Aga'Toh, then called for the basket to be lifted. She entered it, called for it to be lowered, disembarked, then went to the meeting room.

"What's the occasion, Jade?" Marisa said, noticing the crystal on a cord tied to her cousin's neck. She tried hard not to stare at Jade's wings while averting her gaze from the crystal. One second later, Marisa looked straight into Jade's eyes, and lightly smiled.