The Spellbound Guild [IC]

[Kirra]

It was one of those lazy days. Skyla knew that she should be attending class, but learning about the properties of algae seemed to be a bore. Instead, Skyla headed outside towards her favorite tree and climbed up to the portion of the tree that she manipulated years back. It was a perfect seat with a great view of the surrounding area. There was a hidden cubbyhole that Skyla opened using her abilities and inside were a few of her books that she love to read. Choosing the red leather-bound book, Skyla opened to the middle of the book where she last left off. She was outside for only about half an hour when she heard the sound of feet running towards her. Looking towards her left, she saw one of the naturalism students running towards her. The first-year student was out of breath when he reached Skyla and she allowed him to catch his breath as she closed up her stash of books and then crawled down the tree.

“Someone came... to the class looking... for you... but you were gone... and they sent me... to tell you... to go to the assembly room...”

Why would they want her to go to the assembly room? Sure, it was true that she broke the rules at times but she was better behaved compared to some of the students at the school. “By any chance do you know why they are looking for me?” The kid paused for a few seconds trying to remember if a reason was stated but shook his head no when he couldn’t tell her why they wanted her. “Okay, thanks kid. You probably should head to class now before you miss anything important.” After the kid left, Skyla headed towards the assembly room as she questioned to reason for her summoning. Estimating the time it took the kid to find Skyla and the time for her to reach the assembly room, Skyla knew that she was probably late. But late for what?

Opening the door, Skyla noticed that there were other students there, probably for the same reason she was there judging by their confusion on their faces. Skyla noticed a few students that she seen around the school but none of them she knew well at all. There were not any teachers in the room yet so Skyla knew that she hasn’t missed anything and took a seat at a slight distance from the rest of the group but close enough that she could still have a conversation with them if the opportunity came up. After a few seconds, Skyla pulled out her red book that she grabbed earlier and flipped it back open and continued to read. She could hear the chatter of her fellow students but she was too engrossed in her novel that she didn’t hear what any of them were saying or if any of them were directing the conversation towards her.

[FullM00n]

"Teacher!Why do I have to stay here with these rookies?They cant even make a flower appear!" Lily yelled, standing on top of her seat.Everyone in the class turned towards her as she could feel and they started laughing.Dammit she thought as she noticed that she was facing the wall and not the teacher.She had gotten used to her blindfold by now but still sometimes she had some issues with her orientation and avoiding walls and other immovable objects.She could feel anyone and anything magical in a radius of 10 meters (32 ft) since her ability made her able to do so but she had trouble with walls, chairs and everything without the touch of magic.

"Lily please calm down.As the top of this class you should help them with their abilities not mock them--" the teacher said before getting interrupted by a man at the door.

"Lily, you are to report to the Assemly room.I can take you there if you...umm...have issues getting there." he said and remained silent.

Lily could feel her anger building up.She clenched her tiny fists and smiled warmly."I need you not to guide me there.And if you say something like that again, I'll kill you." she replied and jumped off her seat and casually left the class.But not before yelling "So long, rookies!".

Some minutes later, she entered the huge hall known as Assembly room and noticed many strong magic users there.From users of the Physical Arts to others, strong in the High Arts.In other words, the strongest mages from almost every Art were there.

"Hello!Is anybody aware of the reason why we gathered here?" she cheerfully yelled and took a seat next to a girl, absorbed in her book.She fixed her blindfold and glanced around in search for familiar faces.She had felt everyone in the past but she didnt know anyone in person.

[Zephaniel]

The main Guild Hall was abuzz with people, both students and masters. He rarely attended classes at this time of day, much preferring the introspection of personal study. And this was one of his favorite places. Interesting how much a psychomancer can glean just by reading the surface thoughts of those around him.

He knew before the aging proctor of the Psionics Department walked up to him what the hustle and bustle were about. The small man with a hook nose the omnipresent glare of knowing that those of their unique trade seem to acquire. The thoughts of the masses betrayed them, and he had pieced together that the nigh-mythical Orb and Skull had been tampered with; to what extent, he could not guess, but any mage worth their salt in the fields of life- or death-dealing would jump at the chance to wield their fabled power.

The proctor trudged up to him with an expression gravity that made him appear, if possible, even more hunched than his ancient frame already was. "Alph-"

Alphonse replied before the man could speak, "I know. What sort of neophyte do you take me for, Master Finnian? I am on my way presently."

With that he flashed a tight lipped smile and strode off in the direction of the Assembly Hall. No one saw, however, as he made his ways through the corridors. No one had seen him in the busy Main Hall, for that matter, conversing with the proctor. Each and every passerby's mind had been clouded just enough for those who weren't paying attention to not even notice. Hiding in plain sight, they say, manifesting as little more than a flicker just out of sight, a ghost's shadow out the corner of one's eye. The first trick in the book. No one noticed as he sat down either, with the likely exception of Master Dread and the other cloaked figure.

He withdrew a small hip flask, draining it's contents. Avignon Merlot 342, a good year. This was going to be boring. Clouding his own mind would be a slight respite.

[Fedested]

Dennis turned his head everywhere since more students of the Academy got into the Assembly Room. So many people he didn't know, though he remembered the other Golemancer. He realized he was the youngest of them all, but not for much. Another girl, mysteriously blindfolded, was like him, young, yet she was not as young as Dennis was. What would the man in the white cloak and Master Dread would want with them?
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Dread saw his students, one by one, enter the room. He felt better to see there weren't many underaged kids in the group, and the ones who were, were powerful enough to handle things in their journey. Actually, all of the students in that group were capable of recovering the objects, but still, if something bad happened...How could he live knowing that he had sent a person in such an endeavour?

The member of the Magi Council didn't wait to Master Dread to prepare for the speech. He started talking. "Students, as you may not know, or perphaps you do, two members of the Magi Council had disappeared, but that's not the whole issue. Two precious objects, the Holy Orb of the Clerimancy profession and the Skull of the Apocalypse of the Necromancy profession, had been taken away by them."

"The objects are already dangerous separated, since they can control life and death. But, together, their power can lead someone to cause malicious acts of destruction. This is why you'd being called. That is your mission."
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Dennis had a lot of question to ask, but most of them were irrelevant to the situation. So THAT was the deal. He was in a glass case of emotions. Excitement, fear, joy, insecurity. Basically every feeling he could have had in that situation. Dennis took a glimpse at everyone's reaction. He couldn't help to jump in his seat in excitement.

[Grothnor]

Sten's heart skipped at the mention of the Skull of Apocalypse. Only is his maddest dreams of ambition did he ever envision himself beholding, much less wielding that mighty artifact. Silent gears in his mind began to whir, imagining possibilities and calculating wild magic outputs, and their boosted factors with his new art. With the amount of power he was imagining, a pyromancer could immolate an entire city, an illusionist or psychomancer could cause an entire army to fall upon itself, a single necromancer could raise an eternal legion.

He snapped out of his daze. No, as amazing those acts may be, they cannot be done, lest the world be plunged into chaos or the very fabric of the universe be rent asunder. Regardless, it would certainly be an amazing sight to see. As much as he denied it, he equally desired it.

He stood, unable to keep silent or still. "Power for the sake of power is an ignoble goal." Sten spoke the words, but did not believe them.

[Eveekitten]

A giggle escaped Evee's lips as he told her that his power relied on others getting hurt.. "well, I hope that I am fortunate enough to be near you should something ever happen, you sound like a good friend to have around" she added with a smile. She thought about asking him more about the energy he was talking about before she realized there was a hush falling over the room. She glanced towards the front of the hall automatically, where Master Dread was standing, with an odd look on his face, whatever it was he was about to say, he didn't look too happy about it.

Evee could feel the tension grow around her as Master Dread began explaining his reasoning for pulling these select students out of their classes. She could feel that familiar panic sensation down in the pit of her stomach.. She realized that the entire world may very well be in jeopardy, and felt her pride in her school was being put to the test. Even so, she couldn't imagine this being a safe journey.. and they were all so young. Her eyes landed upon the youngest in the room before finding Master Dread once again.

"You wish for us to track down these all powerful relics and return them to this school? Forgive me for what may seem like a lack of enthusiasm.. but doesn't that seem like a highly dangerous task?" She wished she hadn't said it the moment she did, it made her feel traitorous in some way, as if she had just turned her back on something important that was being asked of her. "I will agree to help, of course.." she added.

[Chyoko]

"I agree with Evee, this seems like a job for older magic wielders. We are all qualified to go of course." Nika said quickly just in case anyone would get offended, but she knew she was right. Perhaps she thought to little of her fellow students, but the power of the Orb and Skull was tempting. She herself would be drawn to the Orb as Golemancy drew on 'life' in sense to form 'living' creatures.

But ultimately she felt a little disturbed that she already knew who stole the Skull. She had worked with him to make Castiel, a combination of death and life. So much study had gone into it, now she had the knowledge it would be easy to recreate another 'Castiel'. This would be a conflict of interest, but it would also be a chance to learn.

And learning would be able to keep her from betraying the rest of the group. Nika smiled, for a second. "But maybe they would be to ambitious to be effective."

[Fedested]

"Is this a test?" Dennis thought without thinking, with his naïve blue eyes looking at Master Dread, who raised not only one but both eyebrows in disbelief. He couldn't see the reaction of the other man, since his cloak covered most of his face. Dennis wondered why the Master look so surprised. It was just a question. "It's not, is it?" The Master nodded, a bit of regret could be seen in his face. That little kid was going to help retrieving the most valuable and precious objects of the kingdom, perphaps the world?

"I know it's hard to understand," started Master Dread, "but your powers are beyond knowledge. Actually, you are staying at the Guild because you want to, or you don't have any place to stay." This time, Dennis got it. It wasn't a test. The Master didn't see them as students, but as grown Magis, putting age aside. "At dawn you leave. Instructions will be given then. Try to rest, or to practice. Out there you won't have that luxury." Him and the other man left, leaving the team alone. Dennis blinked his eyes twice, and then said:

"Now, seriously, is this like a graduation test?"

[Kirra]

Skyla closed her book and placed it back into her cloak pocket once the meeting started. The news presented to the group surprised Skyla. It seemed odd that they would send students out to retrieve the two missing artifacts. It was true that the demographic layout of the group was mostly older students, but they were still students, not teachers or other skilled alumni taking on the job. Was there something more going on that they couldn’t afford to send out those more qualified for the task? Were the Holy Orb and Skull of the Apocalypse already being put into play and the more experienced are being used to hold back the destruction of the world until the artifacts were returned? There were many questions swirling in Skyla’s head but none she spoke out into words. Instead, she listed to the questions and concerns of her fellow students.

One student, a necromancy student Skyla guessed from his choice of clothing, quickly responded by agreeing to embark on the journey. She didn’t understand how he could chose his answer so quickly with the very little information given. They could be signing up for a one-way trip death and the guy the guy seemed to recklessly agree to go. The two girls and the younger boy seemed more cautious of their situation as they questioned their validity of embarking on the task. But what Master Dread said in response bothered Skyla. He acted as if they were exceptional students but Skyla knew that she wasn’t. She had one of the lowest scores of the Naturalism students since she often skipped class and never did her homework. However, when it came to her ability to perform her abilities, her ranking quickly shot up to the top ten students in her class type, rank number eight to be exact. It is true that she didn’t study like her peers and that she probably would be a higher rank if she took the time to actually apply herself to her studies, but did Master Dread and the Magi council saw more in herself than she did.

After the students were left to be on their own, the youngest student raised the question about if what was occurring was a test. “Well if is a test, I wished that they could have at least moved the time to later in the day. Dawn is way too early to be taking a test.”

[Grothnor]

As soon as Master Dread finished his speech, a smile slowly crept upon the corners of Sten's mouth. "I have to prepare," he stated as if it were a profound conclusion to a hard sough answer. He turned on his heels and retreated towards his chambers and private lab. He had some last minute tests to run, samples to collect, a cart to requisition for carrying his corpses, another cart to convey himself, books, notes, samples. His sense of ambition had not been challenged so greatly since he began his pet project. His research could blossom under rigorous field tests, and though sample collection might be difficult, they likely wouldn't be lacking. "I have much to do," he murmured to himself as he exited the Assembly hall.