Edged Horizon IC

[Asuras]

He seemed 'harmless' enough. He sat down, so that was certainly a gesture of peace... Or one of instilling false security. Ah! But no more mistrust; that would get them nowhere. Rilolia approached the sitting man but stood behind him to look over his shoulder at the letter. In the darkness she did not need the light, though the glow in his hands was more than helpful to refrain from straining. Parchment such as the one he held wasn't particularly bold, worn-out and lightly dabbed at with an ink pen; even her dark vision wasn't perfect for reading fanciful writings in the night. Dead Gear took a few earth-shaking steps forward, its 'toes' just a few yards from Araki and Rilolia. A shower of leaves fell from above, but Rilolia merely brushed them from her hat and shoulders, keeping her eyes trained on the letter.

"So what did yours ask per-se? I'm surprised it gave you a direction. Mine merely spoke of the event. Have you any idea who is sending these?" Rilolia asked. So far it had begun to seem as if it were merely a prank meant to meaninglessly confuse the inhabitants of Talze Utera. Maybe the goblins were finally getting enough smarts in their craniums to facilitate the creation of such a childish scheme as leading random persons to the corners of the country. What's worse, it seemed as though multiple people may have fallen for the trick. Nevertheless, the intricacy of the letter she received was far too grand for a goblin, and she had her doubts. It very well could simply be a wealthy vampire with too much time on his hands, putting to use his calligraphy to forge frustrating letters.

[Zombehs]

Araki was faintly surprised as the vampiress came into view as her appearance made it hard to discern her age. Certainly, she looked much younger than the other he had encountered in Dansila, but he knew best that appearances could deceive, especially in Talze Utera. Undead with the appearance of a young child could be hundreds of years old. In fact his own appearance a mere month ago would have been completely unrecognizable compared to current him. Araki tensed slightly as the girl made her way behind him, but figured that she must have simply wanted a better view of the letter. About to hand her the parchment, the God of War’s steps caused him to nearly jump to his feet. As the ground and trees shook beneath its feet, leaves drifted through the air, dislodged from branches above. With the letter between two fingers, he tilted his head and raised his hand, a signal for the vampiress to take the letter from him.

“Ah….. I didn’t exactly see who dropped off the letter,” Araki paused slightly as he chose his words. No need to mention why he didn't know who sent it or how he had received the letter. “As for the contents, I can’t make anything out aside from the obvious,” he muttered before he pointed towards the “Go East” emblazoned amidst the sea of words on the parchment. “Whoever’s sending these out certainly isn’t making it easy to attend the meeting.” Araki left the vampiress to read through the block of text as he shuffled to the side and leaned backwards, careful to avoid hitting the vampiress on his way down. The cracked and dried earth wasn’t comfortable, not in the least, but it’d been a long night and lying down was enough comfort for the Crystala. “Find anything?” he asked as he threw the vampiress a sideway glance.

The clouds had cleared a bit Araki noted as he turned his gaze back to the night sky. Faint light cast by the moon and stars had begun to poke through the thin clouds and with that Araki closed his hand. The glowing orb flickered twice before fading from existence, and as his world was black momentarily. A sigh escaped him as he craddled his head with his hands, troubles forgotten in the brief moment of respite. Yet the moment was broken as he blinked. The world and reality slowly revealed itself until Araki found himself staring into the night sky of Talze Utera once more. A faint silence had filled the night, broken only by the breaths of Araki and the vampiress and in the silence Araki turned to the vampiress yet again and introduced himself, if a bit bluntly. “I’m Araki by the way.”

[ERode]

Sarier seemed surprised at the God Slayer's line of reasoning, where the wandering priest believed that this 'recruitment' for an infiltration equalled unequivocally to a violent battle of man and monster. Of course, as a knight of Astopol, the blond man had no qualms against bring death to uncivilized beasts, but it was still...strange. Unless, of course, Vance's only motivation for signing up for this 'quest' was for the money. A paradoxical person, this former assassin was. He worried about the goddess condoning him for using violence for his own means, yet couldn't be bothered to find importance in averting a disaster from encroaching on the territory of the goddess. Sarier smiled at this puzzle, and wondered about his captain's decision to invite such an ambiguous person. Nevertheless, with some more intelligent reasoning from his fairy mistress, Vance signed the documents that bound him, temporarily, to the law of the army, albeit with a few complaints. Taking the documents and patting them into a neat pile, Sarier smiled and stood up, folding those contracts in half, before putting them inside his coat pocket.

“Thank you very much, Vance. I'll take my leave now. Please prepare enough equipment for two to three days on the road. We will be congregating in three hours at the northern gates, so be ready by then.”

He walked to the doorstep, and, putting on his fedora once more, Sarier waved a silent good bye, before allowing himself out of the home.

The draft that came in the building was ice-cold.

Esace was amused. Or maybe he wasn't. All he knew was that not only was this particular witch terrible at lying, but that she utterly failed when it came to thinking carefully about her position. Yes, Esace would have preferred not having to break in to a meeting, and yes, he didn't particularly have a murderous vendetta towards her, but was it smart to try your best to piss someone off? All he knew at the moment was that a more merciless Esace would have killed her outright for that and found a witch in Talze Utera to latch on to, and that Riley was very lucky that he wasn't as bad as the people stalking her. Alas, the heart of a young lady was impossible to decipher for a mere young male like himself, and he made the slightest of shrugs at her almost overexaggerated manner. But he got interesting information from this, if nothing else, and that was enough for Esace to break into a light smile. A young witch trying to escape her past and her crazy witch mother, who regularly sends monsters after her, while also trying to balance her tumultuous life as a student and her dangerous romance with a male Sword Arts user of the esteemed Seyour family. If her summons were a little less morbid, maybe he'd even think that this could be turned into a children's book series.

“By thugs, you mean the few gentlemen that were following you a minute or two back, yes? And of course transportation will be free of charge, Madame Thomson. I assume you'd wish to leave immediately?”

And with the most casual of motions, he shifted his hand to her back and, with an odd grip that seemed forceful, yet painless, flipped her onto his shoulder, and walked off, so nonchalantly that he even started to whistle a jaunty tune.

Really, she was ridiculously fortunate that he was in such a non-woman-beating mood today.

[Caelum]

Well, he followed her back, at least. There really wasn't much for him to do that night, and this seemed like the point of excitement in his journey. For the most part, he sat there, arms folded, trying to think back at what just happened... Yeah, that could have been traumatic to just about anyone else. He would probably mentally block that one out or some such. Not the oddest thing he had seen. What was it? Hardly could tell. Something.

"I could hardly see anything, ma'am. It was pretty dark." He said with a slight shrug, turning away for a moment as he tried to think.

"Actually... There... Was a... Strange, black thing. Grabbed her, I think." The boy says, trying to think hard.

"Did some crazy... Something, next thing I know I'm butt-first in the local daisy patch." He says with a light chuckle.

[Asuras]

Rilolia snatched up the letter and stared at the simple words, far easier to comprehend than her flagrantly worded message.

"It's making me wonder if it's really even a meeting at all," Rilolia put a finger to her lips and began to smile, her imagination running wild. She let out a light chuckle as her eyes lit up. "It might be that they're looking only for the most determined or skilled individuals to join, to form a Talze Utera army!" Rilolia looked again at the message, turning it upside-down to see if there was hidden message present on it. Nothing.

"Find anything?" the boy asked. Rilolia grimaced and began to madly fold the parchment, slowly turning it into... Something. Her face contorted as she desperately tried to find some meaning in the quick origami she was attempting. Finished, she placed it on her palm and outstretched it before Araki's face. As far as anyone but she was concerned, it looked like a crumpled-up paper attempt at art, though she seemingly saw something in it worthwhile.

"Paper tiger," she dully said, as if trying to get Araki to marvel at her work. Before he could say anything, she threw the paper over her shoulder and into a cluster of dry brush, potentially losing it forever to the forest. She raised her hands and shrugged her shoulder with a shaking head. Her lips pouted in disappointment, to convey her lack of new knowledge gained from the message. She fell silent for a moment before snapping her fingers with an 'Aha!' face and rushed behind herself to search for the paper in the bush. She scrambled in the brush before picking out a mutilated piece of paper and crushed it in her hands.

"Let's try... this!" Rilolia exclaimed. As her palm opened, the paper suddenly burst into purple flames, casting a sickening glow around the trees and upon both individual's faces. The paper did not burn, but still sustained the ghastly flame. A look of excitement and anticipation took hold of her face as she pumped her free hand impatiently. Slowly, the dark ember morphed into that of a rippling skeletal face, and spoke out.

"I got nothing lady," it grumbled before extinguishing. The paper was left unharmed. Rilolia pouted again and dropped the crumpled paper in Araki's lap.

"We're not going to get anywhere with it, let's just try going East then!" she shouted. Rilolia dashed for Dead Gear's lowering hand and gestured for the boy to join her. The palm of the God of War was just big enough to carry both individuals without keeping them uncomfortably close to one another, so she had no qualms of the stranger standing beside her.

"I'm Rilolia," she replied to Araki's introduction with a fleeting smile.

[Voltin]

“By thugs, you mean the few gentlemen that were following you a minute or two back, yes? And of course transportation will be free of charge, Madame Thomson. I assume you'd wish to leave immediately?”

Riley was shocked by the news. Not by the actual content per se, but more by her own stupidity in doing what she had done. Going out by yourself in the middle of the night was definitely the smart thing to do in her case. While still pondering as to what could have possessed her to leave the safe confines of her home, Esace threw her over his shoulder. The act was... strangely natural for him it seemed as he even started to whistle one of the songs that she had heard was popular in the more rural of taverns. She felt the urge to throw a fit, flail her limb, shout bloody-murder, but the witch felt a certain aggressiveness coming from her captor, and a certain fatigue was over her. So, she left it alone, deciding to make an irritated face for most of the short journey before deciding to shake free and walk for herself.

The two came within sight of the airship field, and the rather distinguishable shape of the 'Mithril' waiting at one of it's docks. It had been awhile since she had last seen it, and it was still just as impressive as it was on the day it rammed into R'lyeh; she would never let on to such a thing though of course. The boarding process was quick, and painless. Most of the crew also seemed to be relieved that she was minus one bear, as some of them were even exasperating with relief. The odd looking captain, Moko, stood on deck. She addresed her, politely, yet still aloof. Thank you for having me aboard captain," a bow of gratitude on her part, "but if if you wouldn't mind, could you lend me a room? I haven't slept much tonight and I would like to get a few winks in before whatever it is that we're doing." The beast-kin pulled aside one of her crew, and then ordered him to escort her to one of their spares. Inside of which, was pretty bare, almost for a prisoner, but that was honestly fine with Riley; it was a place to sleep after all. She collapsed onto the bed and promptly drifted into sleep, dreaming of a way in which she could get through a school dance alone.

[Rarity]

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

The airship fields were busy, in one sense, but quiet in another. Illiserev's ports and fields, were active places, due to the immense amount of trade that came along with it, but by now, it was late at night, and the only people moving were the graveyard shift workers or the express airships that had to resupply without any rest for the crew. And thus, even though there were sounds of moving, lifting, grunting, and shouting, it was a din that was fainter than normal. Plumes of fire shot out at random intervals, while a constant 'film' of magical energy pervaded the environment. But despite the number of airships present, there was not one sign that indicated that the destination was Talze Utera. It was to be expected. The only airships that generally went to Talze Utera were for diplomatic relationships between less monstrous monsters, military assignments to hunt down particularly dangerous monsters, or for those crazy bastard knights that wished to go to Talze Utera to train themselves, so they may better protect their masters. Most of them rarely last as long as they plan to.

"A curse! Can you believe it?! A curse!!" Lilian seethed in a hushed tone, they had spent an entire hour trying various cures before Meredith finally realized what had happened to Lilian. She extracted a dusty old book and showed her exactly the type of curse she had and explained to her the mechanics of curses. The three Illiserevians were walking in a close group through the airship fields that were the hub that connected almost all of the world together.

"Yes, I can as I just diagnosed it." Meredith whispered to the young woman who was standing three feet away from them. Meredith was an old woman and she was not the adventurous alchemist that she used to be, traveling to remote jungles just to find a rare type of fungi. The only way to have a curse broken was by having another witch dispel it. As fussy, demanding, and irritating that Lilian was she still cared for her and wanted her young mistress to be healed. She would have to go to Talze Utera as no right minded witch would live in Illiserev, they would be burnt at the stake within a week.

"Still! What have I done to anyone?!" Lilian stated as she fanned herself, her heels clicking against the ground with each step that they took. She was giving off a faint glow again, fearing that her shadow would appear and that someone would step on it. Meredith was shocked when she realized what Lilian had, as most people would be going insane by now. She hated to think it but it was probably the fact that Lilian was already so full of negativity and spite already that she was able to somewhat properly function with such an incredible amount of negativity and mental anguish spinning through her.

The trio looked around at all of the different airships, trying to find just one that was headed to the wilds of Talze Utera. "What about the Shimmering Phoenix?" Lilian asked softly, wincing as more of the pain returned. "Milady, that's a luxury ship - there's no way that they would have any trips to where you need to get to." Meredith responded back quickly before her eyes zeroed in on something.

It was a peculiarly battle-worthy airship. It was a sharp contrast to all of the fancy looking pleasure ships. Along with its clearly recently added weapons it had a swarm of people working to resupply the air vessel. Meredith quickly told Lilian and Jean to stay put before hurrying toward what seemed to be the captain. He was a middle-aged, tattooed half-beast and seemed to have a bored expression plastered onto his face. Youngsters were zipping back and forth past him with supplies to get the vessel into the air once again.

"What can I do for you?" The man asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice as he eyed the old woman in front of him.
"Where is your ship headed?" Meredith asked, getting straight to business. He laughed a hearty laugh before speaking up again "And why do you wish to know?"
"I'm interested in purchasing a room." The elderly woman stated. The guard eyed her up and down, her graying hair was tied in a tight bun and her glasses were on the bridge of her nose with her loose fitting robes covering her slipper clad feet. She looked the farthest thing from business savvy or intimidation. Right before he immediately spat out no he looked right behind her and saw two young blonde individuals.

The male seemed to be nobility, he couldn't really tell but when it came to the one right next to him it was obvious where she stood. What she was wearing was laughable, the young woman was wearing an extremely elaborate and poofy white dress as if she was about to get married. She was shimmering in the darkness and looked like a literal diamond to steal. She had on a light blue cloak and hood over herself as if that would hide the gigantic gown of the dress or the fact that she was glowing. There was no doubt that she came from money and he smiled softly to himself, although he was sure there was no way that these three were headed to the place the ship was headed.

"We're headed to Talze Utera, which I highly doubt-"
"Let my mistress and her companion on, name your price." Meredith quickly intercut catching the man off guard.
He was just a guard, hired as defense against any types of threats but that didn't mean he couldn't make a quick buck. There were a few rooms that could be spared that were just being used for supplies that could easily accommodate a cot.
"Well, if you insist..."

"Oh my... You don't..." Lilian glanced over at Jean and looked at him worriedly "You don't really think she's trying to get me to ride on that... thing. It looks like it could crash at any moment!" The sorceress complained before her body started shaking in pain for a few seconds. She looked up at her healer and watched as the woman waved them over. "C'mon." She told the boy next to her and quickly walked forward, glancing over her shoulder she saw Jean quickly walking behind her with her bags bundled in his arms.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you." The guard stated as Lilian watched Meredith drop a hefty looking bag of gold coins into the man's hand. "Giselle will show you the way to your room." He added quickly, gesturing to the young looking girl who was standing by the entrance to the air vessel.
"Oh, Meredith this doesn't seem as if it has the nicest rooms. Are you sure you're going to be okay? I mean you do have back problems..." Lilian stated, glancing between the guard and her healer.

Meredith inhaled deeply before looking back at Lilian, "I'm sorry Lily but I can not go with you." she whispered softly and closed the distance between her and Lilian. The elderly woman cupped the cursed girl's cheek and smiled softly at her. "Wh-what? B-but how will I talk to a witch on my own? I don't even know wh-where to..." Lilian started as she felt tears starting to come to her, her mood was incredibly unstable because of the curse - even the smallest thing was setting her off and amplified at unbelievable levels.

"Look," The old woman started and looked between Lilian and Jean who had walked over "you are the most resilient and determined young woman I have ever known in my entire life Lily." She smiled as Lilian started dabbing away at her tears with her handkerchief. "And you young man," Meredith whispered to Jean who had several bags bundled up in his arms "Please keep my Lily safe. I promise to you that when you two return healthy and unharmed that you will be honored in ways that you cannot even imagine. The king will personally commend you, I swear that to you." She gave him a very serious look before turning back to Lilian.

Giselle, the young girl from earlier, took some of the bags that Jean was holding and led him into the airship. Tears were still streaming down Lilian's face and she was cursing herself for looking so stupid. She wondered if she would be crying if she wasn't cursed, then again if she weren't cursed she would probably be asleep in her bed right now.
"Lily, I have the utmost faith in you." Meredith whispered and hugged the shimmering lady. Lilian nodded lightly and hugged her healer back. After several seconds the two parted and Lilian softly waved goodbye to the elderly woman. As she walked toward the air vessel she noticed that everyone was gone now, the large crew that was working on getting the ship ready for flight had dispersed and it was only her and Meredith left on the ground floor. The socialite walked up the steps into the airship and managed to calm her breathing. She gave one last wave before walking into the ship and hearing the door close behind her.

Her eyes widened as, interestingly enough, the sound of animals could be heard from another part of the ship.

[xGabrielx]

Vance leaned back in his chair as Sarier left... Damn he was far to conflicted for all this, normally he did odd jobs or hunts a monster for people but he was never wasteful. Sure there was a chance that a invasion may happen but he had to be honest; with all the things he saw on that event weeks ago it challenged his understanding of the goddess... Why did she let only that one male control the might of magic? That was but one of many and he couldn't keep it all buried deep inside himself. Either way it seemed he had chosen to take up the duty, and this would be the last time that he would have to pick up a sword... Hopefully. Meanwhile Risa moved over to close the door after the guy left, now for her plan~ >:3

[Caelum]

Jean wasn't quite sure why he was here. It seemed the last few hours had blurred past him- His honor and chivlery taking place of common, rational sense. And now here he was, sitting in front of an airship, arms filled with luggage and baggage and what not. Someone would look for him, surely.

Surely.

...Okay, maybe not.

Still, he found himself in an odd predicament here. Surely, this girl had adventure, and crazy bizzare traveling ahead of her. He questioned in the back of his mind if he was going on this trip with her... He bowed his head towards the guard with a smile and walked a bit of the way- Before being told the old lady wouldn't be joining them. From the look on the girls face, and the look on the old ladies face, he had a bad feeling they were going to get terribly lost, confused, and all sorts of hurt.

But then she talked to him. His face got a goofy look on it as she spoke, and his legs got a bit foldy woldy. "I promise. She will be safe in my care, m'lady." He said, and would salute, if he had a free hand.

He walked up into the ship, following the girl onboard as someone helped take the luggage. He took a few steps towards 'Lilly' and smiled.

"Don't worry, with me here, we have nothing to fear but fear itself! Or... Some such." He says with a smile, nodding at the blade, still sheathed.

[ERode]

Darkness.

Then, light.

Her eyes opened, and she looked around slowly, scanning the room she was in. Odd. It was different.

She rolled out of the bed, and stood up. Her legs were still unsteady, and she was still a bit groggy, like a person who had woken out of a three-month coma, but the cold air of the unheated room did well to wake her up.

She took a few more steps, pacing slowly back and forth, before making a toneless sound with her voice.

Then, she sat down again, swept up the covers as they were before, and closed her eyes.

On board the transport vessel, Jenny, which was equip with a variety of ship-rending and vampire-scattering weapons, activity began to pick up once more, after an uneventful night of half-aware piloting and engine grease. The kitchen stoves were burning once more, an aroma of unhealthy, yet tasty foods mixing in with the scent of fuel, wet wood, and testosterone. Crew members slowly filed, yawning, scratching, and doing a variety of inelegant things, as they pushed and shoved half-heartedly to get some breakfast. Man-muscles and tattooes were everywhere, and the cafeteria was warm and humid enough that most of them were shirtless. The masculinity, in one way, was stifling, the atmosphere that would make any non-bodybuilder feel inferior and womanly. But on the other hand, it seemed to say that anyone who dealt with Talze Utera had to be at least that experienced and seasoned. Dozens of large scars were also present, though it only added to the almost overdone sense of ‘hardness’ in the air, and did little to ruin the rugged fashion style that most of those people seemed to employ. However, amidst the collection of chipped and well-worn tables in the cafeteria, there was one small table with a white table cloth adorning it, as well as what appeared to be the most tasteful (if tasteless) foods available on the airship, specifically for the few human guests aboard the cattle-trading battleship.

“BWAHAHAHAHA! Yooza broughta girl?!”

Esace sighed. It appeared that a night of rest did little to relieve Wynnara of her drunken state, even though she hadn’t gone ten meters within an alcoholic beverage since. Frightening, really, how vulnerable she was to disorientation-inducing drinks. Nevertheless, it was morning, and that called for a breakfast before they made it to what could be the next hell. He might as well enjoy it while he could, though the repeated smacks on his back and sudden guffaws seemed to be hampering the enjoyment greatly. He choked at least twelve times in the last ten minutes, and there was an unfortunate incident regarding him spewing milk from his nostrils. Not a fun time, it was. Still feeling an uncomfortable chill and wetness inside his nasal canals, Esace rubbed his nose once more as he gingerly picked up a hashbrown between his fingertips and ate it like a potato chip.

Then, Wynnara smacked him on the back again, headlocked him while simultaneously smashing his head onto the wooden, splinter-ful table, before nooging him and smirking at how much of a womanizer he was.

With all luck, attention will focus on the witch later. He doubted Moko would play the role of the savior.

The married couple were awakened by the ever-pleasant scream of another dying monster, accompanied by ripping, shredding, and the nice smell of burning, all as the sun was blotted out by the black miasma of good ol’ Talze Utera. The temperatures have dropped to near negatives, making cuddling up seem like a very fashionable idea, and all in all, it seemed like a frozen variation of the underworld, where plumes of frost rose instead of flame, and where it was gray and white, instead of red and black.

Yep. It was a grand day in the most hellish place on Earth, and Dead Gear’s fattiness didn’t help when scaling the edges of sheer cliffs.

I’m on a goat,
I’m on a goat
Everbody look at me
‘Cause I’m riding on a goat
I’m on a goat
I’m on a goat
Take a good hard look
At the netoraeing goat!

Travelling on goatback wasn’t good for the heart, as the group of cloaked spies hopped from one ledge to another, stoically ignoring the terrible lack of sleep that happened when you weren’t far enough to warrant the usage of an airship, but you were going to be late if you didn’t pull an all-nighter of travel. At the very least, one fairy had some nice sleep. The same could not be said for the other’s, who were driven at an almost slave-like manner by the ever-smiling Sergeant Sarier, all as their apparent leader stayed silent, wrapped in a cloak of furs that would definitely be useful as the harsh terrain of Astopol fused with the harsh temperatures of Illiserev.