Corvain nods "We have many scholars who have been working on these exact questions and they've come up with nothing but try a *pilgrimage* to the shrines, maybe there you'll find your answers." He leans back "I was wondering how I was going to do that, and well we all just happened to fall into place." He says and perks up looking at Josh "You wouldn't happen to be any good with repairing armors would you, basically power armor like what I have?" He asks hoping the engineer could.

Angelo groaned loudly as he slowly woke up and he saw that his body was bandaged, he remembered he collapsed into his father's arms, he looked around to see he was in his room so he figured that he was at the tavern recovering from his injuries so he sat up and drank some cobra venom he kept in vials in the drawer next to bed and he drank two vials sighing softly feeling better as he got up and walked out to the party and he at next to his mates bandaged covering his upper body and his trousers. He sat with them and ordered a drink "so what I miss guys"

Jarrod shrugged at Angelo's question. "Well, nothing really. Just trying to figure out Yggdrasil's exact goals, that's all. So far we have trying to destroy the world, brining about a new one, and returning everything to its home. Same old same old really. But you do have a point Corvain."

He turned to the knight now. "A pilgrimage to the shrines would make the most sense. The Central Regions should have all the answers." Taking another swig of his drink, Jarrod leaned back in his seat grinning. "Or at the very least, the first step."

"Is that what you think?"

The swordsman nearly tumbled out of his chair in surprise as a figure appeared right before him. One moment he was there and the next he was standing on the "Hero's Table." Sitting up, Jarrod took a good look at the mystery man...only to widen his eyes.

"No way...."

The man wore a dark cloak adorned with some chains and keyholes used as a necklace. White gloves made his hands crackle with power as the pressure all around them began to increase dramatically. A mask covered the man's face, only revealing a pair of dark crimson eyes.

Time seemed to have slowed down all around them as well, the sounds and motions becoming slowly distorted. Jarrod and his group were the only ones unaffected by the phenomena. How convenient.

Jarrod reached for his sword and took a step forward. "I've heard of you from the reports on the front line. A man with white hair and a mask that appears wherever Yggdrasil goes."

The masked man titled his head. "Well. I see you are not completely helpless then. I am Zenov. Yggdrasil's priest."

Angelo sighed softly and grabbed the mans leg and pulling it hard making him land flat on his face on the table "no feet on the table if you want to talk grab a seat, here we act civil and that means no standing on the tables" Angelo said simply trying not to laugh at the face of the "priest" when he fell on his face in surprise. hell Angelo was injured sure but if anyone knew him they would agree that Angelo does things for a good laugh in a tense situation like this, also that he protects his family's tavern with the upmost care so standing on the table was a big no no in his book "now take a seat and talk"

At the sudden change in atmosphere, Jarrod himself couldn't hep but chuckle at the decrease in tension. "Well, I guess you're not exactly that bad then if all it takes is to trip you Zenov." The masked man picked himself up and dusted his cloak. Continuing to stand on the table, Zenov turned his masked gaze on them all.

"I see there are jesters in my midst. A rare commodity, but not unheard of. Very well then." A sudden shift in the air. Something wasn't right...turning around, all of Jarrod's humor immediately plummeted to the ground at the sight before him.

He was everywhere. Twenty, no fifty of him. One for each individual. At least fifty Zenovs had materialized in a mere heartbeat, each one of them holding a blade of pure silver energy to the neck of each person in the tavern. Women, men, and children. No one was spared. Seeing as time was still frozen, none of them could move as well.

The only ones still untouched were Jarrod and the rest of his comrades. Gritting his teeth, the swordsman glared up at the masked man. "You bastard..."

Zenov shrugged off his words. "Now then. Let's see how many people I have to kill until you start taking me seriously. Would you like that gamble?" He turned to the one who had tripped him now. Angelo. "Should I start with your parents? Or maybe your sister instead." He said this calmly, as if the lives of a few people didn't matter to him.

Before he could do anything stupid, Jarrod placed a hand on Angelo's shoulder and shook his head. It was fairly obvious that this guy was out of their league both in power and skill.

"Guess those reports were right after all," Jarrod muttered.

Corvain looked at the newcomer just as Angelo dropped him on his face. "Well if you are the priest of the dragon then maybe you could tell us why your God is attacking our cities and families when we've never done anything to provoke these attacks." The knight was still an intimidating presence without his armor, and he made sure to be it. Standing up and resting his sword on his shoulder and his gun at his waist. Despite showing an air of cofidence he was worried about this man's power, distorting time and space like it's master was slightly frightening. He was uncertain about all the new beings around them, were they just manifestations, actual duplicates, or just easily droppable illusions. He wasn't about to try anything stupid and leaned against the wall still looking intimidating.

Angelo gritted his teeth hard knowing he shouldn't do anything but it was really hard not to jump and try to shoot down the ones holding his parents and sister hostage, even if he did try he was still injured from the last battle and couldn't produce poison for at least a few more hours. so instead he simply gritted his teeth and with his hand on the table started to scratch at it with his nails it was painful but it was even more painful to just sit their and watch the blades pointed at his family's necks " I couldn't give two shits if he was the dragon priest or the dragons ugly ass mama, he threatens my family and innocent people I will find you and put an arrow through your eyes" he growled loudly doing his best not to move but at the very least Angelo had to give him the threat

Josh maintained his cool and continued with his his fresh drink "Easy now Angelo, there is no need to get flustered when a child throws a tantrum. After all maybe if we hear him out he will simple find another to whine too." With that he closed his eyes and thought, A simple lighting chain could take maybe 5 of them but 20 was far too vast to do anything about without harming the bystanders.

"perhaps we would all feel more comfortable if we could see your face? After all you clearly know us, you wouldn't be here otherwise, return the favor no?" The spell-produced blade was odd as well it wasn't lighting at least it shouldn't be it wouldn't glow quite that color, or would it? He focused hard on the closest blade trying to disrupt the flow of magic, instead of projecting outward into a blade he tried to make it snap back into the doppelganger's arm.

Zenov glanced at Josh but said nothing of his attempts to control his blades. "My face is of no relevance to either you or the current situation. One moment he was standing on the table and the next he was casually sitting between Angelo and Josh in a chair of his own.

"That's a neat trick you got there," Jarrod observed. "Teleportation I take it?"

"Much like Yggdrasil, I too possess the ability to render space and time to my configuration and manipulate the resulting substance."

"....right, so teleportation. Er, what do you want again?"

Zenov clasped his hands together and leaned forward. "I simply came to inform you of information I thought you'd find generous. Is that so wrong?" Speculative, Jarrod gave one glance at his teammates before shrugging.

"Alright fine, we'll hear you out."

Zenov narrowed his crimson eyes, as if smiling beneath his mask. "Three days from now Yggdrasil will make his way towards the Central Regions. Once there, he will have distorted this world to the point of complete obliteration."

Jarrod shifted uneasily. "So...why is that?"

"Simple. As you know, this is naught but one world in the eternal fabrics of all realities. Yggdrasil has dubbed this one insufficient and so seeks to return every being back to their original source. This civilization...this world...it is no longer worth existing in Yggdrasil's eyes. He will summon forward the Creator to begin anew."

Zenov's eyes flickered for a brief moment.

"He will call forth The Dyteniteity. And I will be there to witness it all."

Corvain looked at the...obvious madman at this point and shrugged "So you won't mind a few people making one last pilgrimage to the central region and maybe getting more answers then. I mean before we all kick the bucket anyway due to not being worthy or whatever...wouldn't that mean you're unworthy as well?" He asks still leaning against the wall looking at Zenov, he had a blank, stoic look on his face while he waited for the "prophet's" next diatribe. He calmly started cleaning his sword, holstering his gun and looking at the other Zenovs around them. "I like this trick of yours, I do not want a demonstration but how real are they, if I went to shake one's hand would it shake back or would it distort?" He asks, he was a little intrigued by the doppelgangers as he had only started reading up on illusion magics when he had left his home, believing he couldn't control them like he barely could his elemental attacks.

Angelo bit his lip hard starting to make his lip bleed as he stayed silent and kept scratching the table deeper causing his nails to bleed as well, it was painful but it was all I could do to not strangle him and shove his head on a arrow. Angelo didn't believe any of this crap! "then as our name suggests, we will fight that fate" Angelo said simply making sure not to move towards the bastard and give him the option of slicing his parents and sisters heads off. however corvain made a good point that it might simply be illusion magic but Angelo couldn't take that chance for a simple hunch, if it was proven that even one of those copies was an illusion then Angelo would be on him quicker then lightning on a conductor. for the time being however Angelo was simply trying to restrain himself till he either left or angelo could kill him himself even in his weakened condition rage does a lot to help

Slowly he walked together with his friends into the tavern. Here he crouched on to the chair like he did before. He didn’t say much, just quietly listened to the debate his friends were having. Thinking about the source he lost the track of conversation. He came upon the theory that, maybe they were supposed to go and revisit all the ancient shrines. The first ever made. And that there could be something hidden. A clue or something, and by visiting them they could maybe solve everything. Before he decided to let his friends on to his idea he rethought it twice. Now just as he was about to speak some weirdo showed up.
At first Ananeas didn’t take him seriously, but after all the illusions showed up, he decided to wait and listen. Knowing almost nothing on how to fight such magic, he stayed on his chair and kept listening. At the same time he was still on his guard. Waiting if any of his comrades would give Ananeas a chance to engage foes in combat.

Zenov's narrowed his eyes at Corvain's words. "You misunderstand. I am no simple resident of this world, unlike yourself. I am the sole being worthy enough to bask in the Creator's gaze. After all, that is why Yggdrasil is under my direct command." Silence followed this new revelation. It was Jarrod's turn to lean forward now, not quite believing the masked man's words.

"You? You're claiming that you're directly controlling Yggdrasil right now? The Dragon of Legend....you?"

"I am stating mere facts, not claims. You underestimate my powers. Why do you think it impossible?"

A random Zenov appeared behind Corvain and placed a hand on his shoulder. Solid and tangible. It was the real deal. If these were clones or illusions, then they were pretty damn good ones.

"Don't think of these as mere copies of me. Rather, they are extensions of myself. I, who has the power to separate and divide one's essence, have become immortal."

In mere moments all the Zenovs had disappeared and time continued to flow back normally for them all. Standing up, the masked man bid them all for one final time.

"Farewell fighters of fate. I must prepare for the creation of a new world, born through the fires of this one. Remember now. Three days." A chuckle. "I look forward to your arrival in the Central Regions."

And with those parting words, he flickered away before anyone else could notice his presence.

Corvain growled and picked up his armor, "I have to repair my armor." He says sitting down at another table and working on it. The noises from his tinkering loud inside the now quiet tavern. He was pissed now, he had hoped that the man was simply mad, that he was someone Corvain could figure out... and hopefully blow his brains out. Doesn't seem like it was going to be that easy, Zenov was a force outside of their understanding, and it seems the only way to have even the simplest understanding is to go to the central region and head to the shrines, hell maybe they'd somehow find some way to amplify their own powers and maybe even tech.

im going to pour my blood down his throat and watch him disintegrate into ashes" Angelo growled out as he stopped scratching the table and simply sat their waiting for everyone to move again, it was clear that they only had the three days time to get to the central region and see how we can kill someone or something that can freeze time and space. Angelo needed to get stronger, so much stronger to make sure his home and family stay safe, seeing that monster casually suggest to kill my family got my blood boiling thankfully not in the literal sense but his poison started to heal his body faster once he got into this blind rage like a cobra does. it just means that now we all had to live up to our name and fight this damn fate of a so called new world to rise from ashes

"all in due time my friends all in due time." he went over and watched Corvian for a bit but it wasn't long until he was mumbling not to do something or where to properly place something, and soon after he pushed the large man out of the way and started his own efforts on it stopping for only a few moments to grab his own tools. "first things first we have to figure out whats going on in the central regions."

Jarrod narrowed his eyes in light of this new development. "Three days to save the world, eh? I suppose that's plenty of time by his standards. Besides, I get the feeling that we'll have to kill him, not Yggdrasil per se, cause who knows how long that'll take."

Placing his sword on the table, Jarrod grinned in the midst of all this anguish and tension. "Alright everyone, we move out tomorrow at the crack of dawn. I suggest you all finish whatever business you have in this town tonight, because we've just started the clock to Doomsday."

Angelo simply gave a small growl as he got up and went to his room to grab supplies he went to grab more bandages and medical supplies in case he is pushed to this point of near death again. he also went and got his weapons that he would need and made sure he made more of his specialty arrows just in case. he wasn't going to let this happen he wasn't going to let this world end simply because of someone being board, that monster was going to die the worst way possible when angelo got to him that was for damn sure. as he was packing he noticed his family come into his room and his father put a case of ale on his bed, upon closer inspection he realized his dad was giving him the century wine, bottles of wine that have been aged for 100's of years, that was found when my family built the place and its gone for a huge price ever since and only the richest of the rich have been able to afford it. "for when you win" my mother said to me smiling and I couldn't help but cry a little from the gesture itself and my family gave me a group hug to say goodbye knowing I wouldn't be around when they woke up in the morning

Corvain let the engineer work, he knew what to do with his armor, but the man was well paid to do this type of work. So instead he cleaned and sharpened his sword, and made sure his gun was well taken care of as well. That night he wouldn't get much sleep, and instead stayed up and practiced his magic outside of the town, focusing on his lightning based attacks, quick drawing his gun and firing electrically charged rounds had gotten easy over the years. But his all around mastery was still low, he could only hold a weak stream of lightning for a couple minutes, and anything stronger lacked any sort of range at all. He sighed and sat on a rock looking at the town, he didn't know what he was doing here, yeah he was the finest marksman and second best knight in his kingdom, but compared to the others and their abilities he wasn't much help. He growled and kept at his training, even when dawn broke in the early morning, he was still outside, working on his magical abilities. Hoping that through sheer force of will he'd make some headway.

After Jarrod signalled the end of their little round table meeting Ananeas left the tavern. He walked into the streets. Now they were busy just as before. Feeling ill at ease among these people he climbed up to the taverns roof. On his way up he passed a window to one of the apartments. In it a young lady was changing. Ananeas stopped to feast his eyes for a moment then he climbed on. Once on top he, ran around town on roof tops, looking at the mass of people bellow. Slowly as the moon shone brighter and reached higher, with it the crowds began to thin out, until slowly only a handful of thieves, and drunkards roamed the streets. Reaching the tallest building in town, a church for the lords, Ananeas gazed up to its tower. Stretching out he let out a long sigh. After a couple of moment he darted upwards. The climb was harder and longer than expected, and if Ananeas wouldn’t be deformed like he was, he wouldn’t make it.

On the top, the view was fantastic. Ananeas could see far and wide. The moon shone beautifully and a strong light of the moon made the surroundings of the town look like the forest tress turned into crystals of dark green and blue. Tying himself to the ornament on the top of the roof Ananeas sat down facing east. The sky was clear and there would be no rain tonight. Slowly his mind wandered off, and just as he was about to fall asleep, he noticed something flickering just outside the town. It took him half an hour to realise what, or in this case who, it was. The knight was practicing it seemed. Now Ananeas thoughts fell to his friends and new companions. He was glad. They were his first comrades ever. And with that he feels asleep.

The first rays of dawn woke Ananeas up. He was awake before the first rays even touched the roofs of the other buildings. Untying himself and putting away the rope he stretched. »It is time« he said to himself, and began to run towards the tavern, where their adventure to the central regions begin.