Divus, a simple yet beautiful world split into six separate continents ruled buy six separate lords. The six continents are called Batillus(Fire), Nymphe(Water), Tellus (Earth), Zephyru(Wind), Tenebra(Darkness), and Lucerna(Light); each named for one of the six elements that the people have mastery over, not to say that those who live on these continents cannot master other magics. The six continents form what appears to be a ring around a single barren island the size of the present day Alaska where legend says the Dark Lord and his companion lay in an enchanted slumber cast upon him buy the Six Sages. One Sage from each continent was meant to be trained as the years passed in the event the Dark Lord should awaken, yet as years turned into Centuries and Centuries into Millennia, the practice slowly died out. Those that showed exceptional power with the elements were taken into schools to train and become strong warriors, but nothing more.

Each Continent is dominated by a different race, though other races do live within the main populace. Those among the magical races are Elves (Tellus), Demons (Tenebra), Humans (Lucerna), Shifter (Zephyru), Nymphs (Nymphe), and Lycanthropes (Batillus). Among the non-elemental based magic races reside the Centaur, Dwarves, Half- Orcs, Gnomes, Harpies, Minotaurs, Vampires, Gnolls, Trolls and the Halflings. The eleven non-elementals live on the continents with the six main races, though it is not always a peaceful co-existence for some races wish to see the Dark Lord rise. Now, nearly 5 millennia since the Dark Lord was sealed, those races may get their wish.

A disturbance has occurred within the middle island, the very thing that those who remembered the legends have feared. Each school has set forth their top student, one who is strong in their main focus, yet a master of all six, in hopes of being able to seal the Dark Lord before he awakens once more, casting shadows across their beloved world.

The School where the six Sages must train is located on the continent of Tenebra, within ēna Kristāla City, the capital of the Continent. This is where the story begins, but where it goes from here is completely up to those that the people of Divus now depend on. Each Sage has a stone representing their element that is embedded within the weapon of their choice and if they have no weapon, it was fashioned into a piece of jewelry they never remove.

Sapiens Ignis------------------>Sage of Fire------------------>Ruby

Sapientis Aqua------------------>Sage of Water------------------>Aquamarine

Sapiens Terrae------------------>Sage of Earth------------------>Emerald

Sapientis Ventus------------------>Sage of Wind------------------>Blue Topaz

Sapiens Tenebrae------------------>Sage of Darkness------------------>Black Diamond

Name: Permathiyra, the Boundless
Race: Spirit of Darkness
Appearance:



Info: Much like the Demons that follow him, Permathiyra is a Cruel and Violent spirit. Thriving off of the suffering of others, he is at his strongest when he is around those who are full of fear or feeding off the cruelty of others. Strongest within the Shadows, he does not often show himself to his followers unless he sees an opportunity to corrupt them or feed off of their hatred.

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Name: Miselian
Race: Spirit of light
Appearance:



Info: Light hearted and happy to help anyone in need, Miselian is a loving spirit who answers to anyone who calls upon her without any ill intention. She are strongest in the presence of those with pure intentions and no ill will towards others without a justified reason. As the harbinger of Light, Miselian relishes the kindness in others and seeks to nurture it as often as she can.

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Name: Farenthal
Race: Spirit of Earth
Appearance:



Info: Often spoken of as the White Stag in most myths, Farenthal wanders the forests of Tellus without much care to who may see him. Unable to die, he fears nothing of hunters and enjoys taunting them on occasion, trying to goad them into a chase. When he is not toying with hunters, the Spirit only shows himself to those he feels worthy of his presence, often limiting that to the Druids who protect his forests.

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Name: Entayannos
Race:Spirit of Fire
Appearance:



Info: Full of anger and pride, Entayannos is probably one of the most violent out of all of the spirits. Quick to anger, he resides in the volcanic lands within Bastillus, typically refusing to speak or interact with any of his followers due to his inability to tolerate what he feels like is constant stupidity with all the questions. On the off chance he does not kill those who brave the visit to him right off the bat, he typically allows each Lycanthrope to ask him one question or request one favor before sending them on their way, sometimes with minor burns.

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Name: Genidoris
Race: Spirit of Water
Appearance:



Info: Bubbly and always looking for something fun, Genidoris enjoys her time within the water surrounding the major cities of Nymphe, sometimes coaxing random nymphs to play. When she was not playing around, she simply occupies herself with floating around and messing with the currents beneath the water. Attracted to those who have a passion for collecting knowledge and are kind towards others, Genidoris is probably the most playful of all the spirits.

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Name: Meifeng
Race: Spirit of Wind
Appearance:



Info: Both peaceful but also prone to bursts of anger, Meifeng is one of the spirits that tend to be much freer than the rest with her ideals. While she is not fond of those who commit heinous acts, she understands that not every action can completely avoid being questionable. Drawn to those who are neither here nor there, she tends to favor those who are free spirited and do not necessarily belong anywhere or call anyplace home.

Night time, it was her least favorite time of Divus’s rotation around her Red Giant but it was a time that she had to deal with as it was as much a part of living as her heartbeat. While the darkness was suffocating to the young Elven Shifter, it wa not a terrifying as what awaited her in her sleep. Her own personal Hell waited for her in the Realm of Dreams, a Hell that she thought she would be able to escape from considering it had been years since the occurrence that had landed her in the forest of Tillus. Years since her abandonment by the one Human she had put any trust into and year since she had to deal with the feel of another filthy human over her. Every time she closed her eyes it was something she had to deal with, it was like the curse that prevented her from doing the one thing that she loved.

Just close your eyes and sleep, there is no point in dwelling on the things you can do nothing to change. He will continue to be free from what he did to you, and you will continue to be free from servitude, there is nothing more I could want than that. Summer thought to herself, but even then she knew it was a lie. She missed Ostel, she missed the one human, the one man, that she had put any trust into, any real feeling into. She had finally gotten the courage to tell him and before she had gotten the chance, he had left her nothing but a letter and no idea where he had gone. That’s what you get for trusting a Grimward, they take everything and leave you with nothing.

Letting out a slow breath, Summer pulled her blanket around her curled frame and did her best to get to sleep. There was nothing else she could do, no point in dwelling in the ‘what ifs’ when they gave you nothing but heartache.



She remained huddled in the far right corner, pale white legs drawn up to her chest, hiding as much of her naked body as she could from the leering guards that stood watch over her cell. She couldn't understand why they were there, and part of her just didn't want to even though one question ran through her head contently. What was it about her; a small elf girl; that had them watching her so intently?

Like clockwork, one of the guards came to her door holding her usually provision of cold beef soup, a stale piece of bread and some water in his hand. She never moved though, even when she saw the food. She knew better than to get anywhere near those bars because the one time she had, she was left on the cell floor bleeding more than she had when she had first been thrown in there. With a sneer, the guard opened the door, causing the pale elf to scurry up to the wall, her back pressed firmly against it because she had no other place to go. This was Summer, this was what she had been, what she felt deep down she would always be. She would always be that 18 year old Slave Girl with bruises littering her small body and blood covering her thighs and face. She would always be that terrified girl who had received a jagged cut horizontally across her right cheek, just under her eye, because she didn’t want to let the eldest son have his way with her. In her mind, and in her heart of hearts, she would always be this broken, useless thing that had to be saved by the Bastard child of the family, only to be abandoned by him.



It was dawn when Summer finally opened her eyes, ready to check her traps and take care of the things she did for the people that took her in. While she had spent some time in Zephyru to learn of her abilities, she never felt like she really belonged. To begin with, she was taller than most, as shifters seemed to retain an almost childlike height compared to what she was used to seeing. On top of that, it was so noisey there with all the varying animal forms she wasn’t entirely sure what to think about the one that she had. No point in focusing on that now, You are what you are and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it Summer, she found herself thinking as she made her bed before leaving her home.

Out of all the things she enjoyed about her stay in Tellus it was that she was able to earn her keep without fearing for her life if she did not. While she was unable to hold a bow, so traditional hunting was out of the question, she was rather adept at traps and very rarely failed to catch anything. It was during her time gathering her game that one of the messenger elves had managed to find her, hunched over and retrieving a dead rabbit to add to the string of rodents she had on her back. ”Can I help you Tyrael?” Summer questioned as she reset her trap before straightening herself out, ”I don’t think I’ve ever seen you come seek me out to deliver a message, normally you do as the others do and leave it upon my doorstep. What makes this day any different than the last five years that I have taken up residency here.”

Looking rather unfazed by her questions, the seemingly young male elf handed her a scroll before making a face. ”You know many of us do not know how to approach you,” came the response, ”You are one of us, yet not completely and though you do not share our magical affinity, you still choose to stay here with us rather than with the shifters upon Zephyru. You are a strange one, but we are happy to have you here all the same. Now, I must make my other deliveries. Should you need anything do not hesitate to send word, and good luck at the market.” With that said, the elf left her to her time alone in the woods, a scroll in hand with a seal she did not recognize. At first she had hoped it to be a letter from the Grimwald son she had spent some time with, but after seven years of hearing nothing, she should have known better.

Frowning, Summer let out a shrill whistle before she popped the seal of the scroll to begin reading, the noise calling forth a pure white hawk from the trees that came to rest on her shoulder. ”Hey Merlin,” she murmured as her violet eyes scanned the scroll before her, ”Looks like they want us to attend some fancy ass University to practice magic. Not what I would call ideal, but it’s better than going through the motions here right?”

The Hawk simply cocked his head to the side before a response clear as day rang in her mind, ”It could be fun, let's do it, more game to hunt maybe?” the hawk inquired, earning himself a scoff and a light pat on the head before Summer simply shook her head. Her letter was simple, as she did not need much reason to leave the place she had yet to even call home. In fact, that was all it really said, there was nothing complicated and there was no real reason given for why she should go, because somehow whoever sent the letter knew she did not need persuasion. She was ready to move on to the next chapter in her life, and if that meant getting formal schooling in her magical field, then who was she to say no?

”Off to Tenebra we go Merlin, why not learn how to seal up the Dark Lord or whatever it is they want us to do? What could possibly go wrong? I mean, I guess I could die but hey, at least I went on an adventure instead of staying home and sulking. ‘Summer, you have been accepted into the University located in Central Tenebra. Please be advised that, while your training will be free, it will be grueling and potentially life threatening, as is the path with any magic that must be used to reseal the Dark Lord’.” she read off, a small laugh escaping her, that is, until she saw what was towards the bottom of the page. We know what has been done to you, and we will help you find justice for the wrongs that have been committed. Someone knew, and if they knew, then that must mean others knew. She didn’t want that attention, she didn't want that tie to her past anymore even if it still haunted her in her dreams.

Without another word, Summer rolled up the scroll and started walking back to her home. She still had to skin and sell her game for the day, then she would bother packing and catch the airship to the Demon Continent. Just as the thought solidified in her mind, a knock sounded throughout her home, pulling her from her thoughts and from the task she was performing. Frowning, she set down her skinning knife, the pelt of the rabbit only half removed and the innards strewn across the table, bunched up with the other usable pieces. With bloodied hands, she opened her door and simply stared at the female elf that stood there, a small look of concern marring her brow before she simply sighed and moved off to the side so the female could enter her home.

”Am I to believe that word has traveled through the town already that I am to be leaving even though I have just now decided to do so?” Summer inquired of the woman as she went back to separating the rabbit's pelt from its body. It was the one thing she hated about living in the small town that they did, everyone knew about something before the person who it involved was even aware. In this case, it just happened to be the other person who Summer allowed close to her that knew, or cared to express that they knew.

”You know as well as I do that you have no choice but to go. Università dei Maghi doesn’t really leave you much of a choice when they decide that you are to be their student, usually because they have managed to find something they can hold over you to get you to attend.” the female said, taking up a spot next to Summer as she worked, even going so far as to begin the gutting process to help her along. ”Did you know that Kailu-En got a letter a few months ago? I heard he was called to be a combat instructor there or something.”

”You speak of the winged elf, am I correct Lethilan?” Summer questioned, giving the other female a nod of appreciation when she began to assist in the process, ”I am mildly surprised since he tends to forget a lot of things, and he looks like a good wind would knock him over. However… he does seem to know his stuff despite his forgetful nature, so I guess I cannot complain.”

”You say that….” Lethilan started, only for Summer to shove the girl playfully.



It wasn’t until well into the evening that Summer was ready for her journey to Tenebra, what little belongings she had packed and ready to go with her. At the present time, she found herself sitting and staring at a white sundress, the fabric slightly worn but overall in good shape. She was at a loss as to what to do with it, a large part of her felt like she needed to leave it behind, let her last tie to where she had started go. However, another part of her kept arguing to keep it, what if he came back for her after all these years? You need to stop thinking like that, he’s gone, he left and he’s not coming back for you… ever. she told herself, and though she has said it many times, the words still caused an ache in her heart.

After a few more minutes of staring at the dress, she grabbed it and threw it in her trash can before retreating to her bed. She needed to stop holding onto him, the first step was getting rid of the dress that he had given her the day they started traveling together. However, while that was something she could get rid of, the brand that rested on her left clavicle was not. Sitting where she was, slender fingers began to trace a second visible scar with the shorts she was wearing, the white tissue starting from her knee and disappearing under the fabric that did very little to hide her legs. Most of her hidden skin was like this, even more so on her back from the lashes she had received the day she had fought back against the Grimward’s eldest son. They did not bother her anymore, she had come to understand that they were as much a part of her as her past was, and though she had a constant reminder on her skin, even if those disappeared she would always have her name.



She really didn’t have anyone to say goodbye to, so leaving the small village was easier for her than it would have been had anyone else gotten the letter. She had one friend, and even Lethilan was ok with the fact that she had to leave, kept insisting that she understood and that she had to go lest something bad were to happen. Frowning, Summer simply took one last look at her small town before patting Merlin’s head and climbing into the carriage that was to take her to the port a handful of miles away. When she finally got there, she was able to board the airship with little issue and opted to remain her allotted cabin until she was to reach Tenebra as she had no want to socialize with the other passengers. During one of the times she had ventured from her room, she spotted another elf that seemed to be more interested in trying to talk to the variety of avians that decided to perch upon the airship than he did anything else, which interested her slightly. However, when it became clear that he was not able to actually converse with the birds, she simply went back to her room to hide away for the rest of the day.

Due to the distance between Tellus and Tenebra it took the airship 72 hours to land in the port within the major city, something that bothered Summer. While she enjoyed her time in the air, she hated the nights even more, as they felt so much more imposing within the sky as they ever did within the trees. Without a word to anyone, she disembarked and immediately left for the area where she was told to go, not that a gated off courtyard in the middle of a city was hard to find.

Upon arriving to the designated area, Summer found herself standing in front of an ornate Gate in the shape of a large Dragon. Winding along the metal poles and up the stone walls of the courtyard was an array of Briar and Rose vines, their thorns long and sharp, making them look menacing.If this is what it looks like on the outside... is the inside going to be unkempt and creepy like now? Summer thought before slowly going up to the gate and placing a hand against the dragons head, her right finger gently tracing the multicolored gem that was its eye. Once her finger slipped over the eye, the gate opened without a sound to reveal a lush garden on the inside.

Slowly, she stepped through the gate and immediately found herself captivated by what was inside the Courtyard. In the center stood a large fountain with a sculpture of a Nymphe holding an orb with 6 gems sealed inside. Around the fountain there were various types of flower including Red Roses, Black Roses, Orchids, Lilies, and Lilacs. With some hesitation, Summer reached out and gently touched one of the roses, pinching one of the silky petals between two fingers as a small smile spread across her face. It's so pretty in here, maybe the outside is just meant to deter people who don't belong here from coming inside, she thought to herself as she turned to look at the rest of the courtyard.

To her surprise, she noticed the courtyard was shaped like a Hexagon with different objects in each corner. To the corner on her right she saw a large crystal like structure that seemed to hold light within but beyond that she was unable to tell. Continuing on, she saw an uncontained pillar of water, large oak tree, an onyx stone building, a volcano like structure, and lastly she saw a structure that both drew her to it, but also warned her to stay away for the time being. The Structure was a cylindrical shape that seemed to hold clouds within it. She couldn't understand why she was so drawn to it, but she listened to the silent voice telling her to stay away for now.

Separating each section of the courtyard was a line of rose bushes varying in their colors. Setting between the crystal and water was a mix of white and blue roses, between the water and oak tree a mix of blue and green rose bushes sat, followed by a mix of green and black between the tree and onyx building. Red and Black roses were in place between the Onyx and volcano while red and light blue sat between the clouded Cylinder and volcano. ”It is good to know something to beautiful can exist in so dark a place,” Summer murmured to herself as she began to idly walk around the area to inspect the foliage.

It was in the mid-afternoon and it was breezy and beautifully normal day in Tenebra. Two miles away from ēna Bātalim City in the middle of a mercenary training grounds classified as the Biting Vipers Mercenary Company. Scarlett N. Atkinson was sitting on a wooden chair and sitting by her food for that day while looking at her sword in her hands. Zachery was right next to her on the ground looking around seeing what everyone is doing and noticed all these other demons preparing the female and male mercenary tents in opposite corners of the area. However, he noticed some of those demons pointing at Scarlett N. Atkinson and laughing at her for how worthless she is in this Mercenary Company. Scarlett was too distracted with the taut of what she had to do to stay alive and was intently looking at her weapon. ”Father, why does it always come to this was there a reason for me not to be a part of a Mercenary company?” Scarlett thought.

The Contractor sighed at Scarlett’s lack of awareness, while he looked at her from a distance close to where he was talking to one of the hotshot mercenaries and he outright disrespects Scarlett N. Atkinson. He shows his teeth at the hot shot and tells him to work on his sword training combination with his dark magic. The contractor slowly walks towards Scarlett and he notices Zachery from a pretty long distance away since the shadow imp is easy to spot and he sighs again. Scarlett looks up at the contractor and stares at him slightly curious. He grabs her arm tightly, picks her up off the chair, and laughs at her beliefs. ”Scarlett what would have happened if any of these other hot shots would have killed you were you sat but you are quite worthless in terms of killing anything,” Contractor Belfast said. Scarlett was worried at why he said this certain thing. Belfast looking in Scarlett’s eyes throws her on the ground hard since he was angry at Scarlett’s unawareness.

The Scarlett Rose was right next to her slightly dimmer since Scarlett wasn’t touching it but it was still glowing a faint color of blue. ”S-Sir Belfast, what are you doing?” Scarlett asked scaredly. Belfast looks directly at Scarlett and sighs at her inability to understand what is at stake here in these Mercenary training grounds. ”Trying to teach you some proper survival of the fittest but you are utterly worthless you won’t harm any of the other races on Tenebra even though that is the law of the land,” Contractor Belfast said. Belfast kicks Scarlett in the chest with a smirk on his face since he always wanted to kick her but his father warned him not to do that under any circumstance mostly the harming her part. Scarlett coughed up blood from being kicked so hard and she faints from it since her fear of blood is extreme, which is one of the many reasons why she is a worthless in being a Mercenary.

Zachery’s eyes gleaming and were slightly pissed off at Contractor Belfast for kicking his master in the chest so hard, where she coughed up blood. ”Contractor Belfast, why must you be so cruel to a girl who lost her family only two years ago,” Zachery said in a different language, which only the older demons understood him. Belfast looks directly into the eyes of Zachery the compassionate shadow imp and laughs at his worry but was shocked, which was the rumors were true. ”So it is true then, Nick no longer lives I was wondering what my father was telling me about Scarlett’s situation,” Contractor Belfast said, ”So who finished him off?” The curiosity in Belfast’s tongue was apparent while looking at Zachery but he said the last part in a different language similar to Zachery’s language. ”What would you choose if you had the choice of life or death?” Zachery asked in a different language, which only the older demons understood him. Contractor Belfast looks gently at Scarlett N. Atkinson and he was slightly saddened since he enjoyed the company of the Atkinson Family.

He snaps his fingers in a similar ring to his daughter's acknowledgement of him snapping his fingers. His three daughters who are the same age as Scarlett N. Atkinson walk up to their father and the Mercenary commander and Contractor. ”Dad what do you want now?” His daughters said in unison. Belfast looks at his daughter's happily since they are his pride and joy but he got serious for a bit. ”Daughters I would like you to take Scarlett N. Atkinson to the Female Barracks, which is a tent and wake her up from her little fear since she needs to be awake for mail time. I hope Percy hurries up that damned demon and I need to talk to Zachery for a bit,” Contractor Belfast said gently giving his daughters orders. His three daughters nod in agreement about their orders and help up Scarlett and the one, which is free picks up the Scarlett Rose and walks towards the Female Mercenary Tent. They lay her in the empty bed, which is Scarlett N. Atkinson’s Bunk in the Mercenary Training Camp. They wake her up with a kiss on her cheek while standing over the bunk bed, which Scarlett is laying on.

In the Female Mercenary Tent, Scarlett opens her eyes and sees Sasha, Jenny, and Rachel standing over her looking at her with a smile all on their faces. It was only like a few minutes later, when she did wake up after the kiss on her cheek. ”W-What is going on did I faint again?” Scarlett asked scaredly and holding her chest with her left hand since she was injured by their father. The three girls sigh a bit at Scarlett’s lack of awareness but they aren’t as mean as everyone else in the Mercenary Training Grounds. ”Yes, your fear of blood is a horrible thing you know that Scarlett I guess that cannot be helped since this is the only real reason, which is holding you back of being a proper mercenary,” Jenny said kindly, “Even though the lack of wanting to kill anyone even under orders usually doesn’t help either.” Her two other sisters were a little bit more restrained in telling the truth since they were told if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say it at all. Scarlett was blinking at this scene since she wonders where her Zachery is. ”What happened to Zachery also what did your father asked you to do?” Scarlett asked oblivious to what these three want to do for a bit.

She did notice the Scarlett Rose, however since it was in plain sight leaning on the bunk bed and it was in its seethe still. The three girls around her were blushing and sighed that Scarlett is playing hard to get. ”You need not to worry about your pet, he’s talking to our father since they need to talk about something important I guess and Mail time will be soon since Percy is late as usual,” Belfast’s daughters said in unison slightly annoyed but blushing too. Scarlett gets up out of bed and wants to go outside to see what they are talking about even though she probably won’t understand them both. Jenny stops Scarlett from getting outside of the tent and gently pushes her back on her bed. “Come on Scarlett stop being difficult,” Jenny said a little annoyed.

Meanwhile, near the picnic tables where Scarlett was at until she was rushed off to the female mercenary barracks, which is a tent. Belfast sits on the chair Scarlett was sitting at and looks down at the angry little imp. ”So what’s wrong Zachery?” Belfast asked in a language, which only the older generation of demons could understand. Zachery looks at Belfast who was sitting down. ”That is simple, why didn’t you listen to your father?” Zachery asked in a language, which only the older generation of demons could understand. Belfast shrugs his shoulders but looks up and notices a very large winged demon coming in, and it was Percy finally. The winged demon looked somewhat like a hawk but much larger compared to one and he landed right on the ground. “You suck Zachery taking care of a worthless girl,” Percy said cruelly and loud so the female barracks can hear him. Percy got up from the ground and landed on the Table, which Belfast was at and slowly morphed into a slightly smaller demonic hawk. Belfast looked directly at Percy and was angry at his pet. ”Shut up Percy, what mail do you bring?” Belfast asked Percy angrily.

Percy shrugs his wings and drops about eighteen different pieces of mail, one is specifically addressed to Scarlett N. Atkinson and Belfast raises and eyebrow. ”This letter, which is addressed to the worthless girl is from Universitá dei Maghi, a strange school for her to go to since she is worthless,” Percy said cruelly again. Belfast raises his hand to Percy and smacks him off the table hard. ”Can you stop pet, or do you want me to unseal your true form again?” Belfast asked. Belfast looks directly at the tent and snaps his fingers loudly. ”Mailtime for all people in the Biting Vipers Mercenary Company and that includes you Scarlett N. Atkinson,” Belfast said loudly in a very serious and ordering tone of voice. Scarlett heard the order of mailtime and his three daughters allowed her to go outside to see what is the fuss is about since no one has ever given her mail for the 26 years of her entire life.

Belfast salutes everyone in the Biting Vipers Mercenary Company and everyone salutes back at him. ”Scarlett N. Atkinson come up here and receive your mail,” Belfast said. Scarlett walks up to Belfast and notices the envelope with a seal she has never seen before on it but it has her full name on the front of the envelope, Scarlett Nina Atkinson. ”S-Sir B-Belfast what is this and why is it for me?” Scarlett asked curiously. Belfast sighed gives the letter to Scarlett without hesitation. ”It is for your future, if you need a ride, all your stuff is already in the trunk of my car, the Biting Viper Super Muscle car or you could have it said, your destiny,” Belfast said happily. Scarlett was slightly weirded out when he said her destiny or her future since it is all crazy, she can tell it was a heavy envelope.

Scarlett walks away from everyone and Zachery follows her to the favorite tree, she likes reading books or other things. However, she was weirded out that Belfast took everything she had in the inn of her father’s already unless he knew she would be a student. Zachery was worried about, what the letter will say. ”Why am I been given this opportunity and no one else?” Scarlett thought somewhat depressingly. She opened the letter and it had the school’s name on the top of the letter Universitá dei Maghi.

The letter says, ”If you are reading this letter then that means your first step to realizing your dreams and hopes will be found in Universitá dei Maghi and you will try to protect everything you care about. However, you need to unlock your true Atkinson’s roots of magical prowess at this school, since your own father wanted you to join the Universitá dei Maghi when you were 18 years old but you wouldn’t understand the lessons you would be taught here until now that is,” the letter pauses for a bit. Additionally the letter adds, “P.S. Scarlett you better start learning how to cast dark healing magic, your mother was highly adept at casting it, another thing you're striving for many things, which your mother’s soul would love you to do, finally your choice of staying alive you will soon regret.” Scarlett starts to cry at the regret part, she already has regretted her choice but she had no choice in the matter and it literally threatens her life. She probably understands, which is if she doesn’t go that is going to be a bigger regret and her lively hood will be at stake, where she will die to all the people who despise her. She looks at Zachery and sighs at the fact of this letter means the end of their peaceful existence.

Zachery sighs slightly since he thinks she isn’t ready to go to Universitá dei Maghi right now. ”I-I can see why Belfast said, it is my destiny to finally be aware that everything doesn’t revolve around me,” Scarlett said trying to hold back her tears but her sword starts glowing multitude of colors on her back. Belfast walks up to her and doesn’t want to know what the letter said but he wonders what she wants to do, since all it will take is 22 minutes to drive straight to the Capital City. ”Mercenary Number 556 Scarlett N. Atkinson are you ready to go to the Capital, I will drop you off nearest to Universitá dei Maghi,” Belfast said kindly. Scarlett stands up too quickly, falls right into the arms of Belfast, and holds her head. He helps her to stand up perfectly. “Y-Yes sir, I guess you can call me Student Scarlett from now on,” Scarlett said kindly with teary eyes. Zachery turns into a shadowy blob and goes towards the Parking Lot of the Biting Vipers quickly, and showing off.

Scarlett and Belfast walks towards the Parking Lot, and Belfast unlocks the door so the Shadow Imp and Scarlett can get into the car. The Shadow Imp opens the Rear passenger door with the Shadow Bind spell, he learned from Nick, gets into the car, and dispels it too. Belfast was surprised at Zachery showing off his magical prowess too, he does have the same but weaker spells than Scarlett anyway. Scarlett walks to the passenger side door, opens it, sits down and buckles up for the ride to the university. Belfast opens his side of the door and sits down in the driver side and looks directly at Scarlett and gives her a wink, without her noticing him doing that since she was looking directly at everyone who was waving her goodbye expect for Percy. She waves at Belfast’s daughters.



The Car starts up with a fury of millennia of worth of building this one vehicle since that what Belfast was worked on for most of his life. The car pulls out of the parking lot quickly and gets on the central road towards the Capital City, which is called ēna Kristāla City. He was driving 60 miles per hour towards the Capital. Scarlett was watching while the trees was going really fast by and it did definitely take only 22 minutes to reach the Capital City with time to spare, he stops on the side of a road, near a building called the Rubicon Museum, which is exactly five minutes away from Universitá dei Maghi. Belfast looks at Scarlett and sighs. ”It is your stop Scarlett, you better get out before I take you to my home,” Belfast said jokingly. Scarlett looks at Belfast with a shock to her system but she giggles at him. ”T-Thank you sir I am going to enjoy the walk can you help me with my stuff though?” Scarlett asked Belfast with a smile on her face. Belfast pops open the trunk and laughs at her. ”I did what I had to do, get you here and pop the trunk,” Belfast said.

Scarlett unbuckles her seat, opens the door, walks to the trunk, and grabs her clothes bag and her wooden figurines bag too and she can tell everything is accounted for since she looked in the special compartment for her family picture before she was born and it was there. She was wearing her cloak right now and her imp was besides her already, somehow. Zachery was a little bit more useful than other shadow imps were. Scarlett got on the sidewalk and starts to walk towards the Universitá dei Maghi, and even though she is new in the Capital City. Belfast in his car shuts all the doors and the trunk with some unique magic and drives off in the direction back to ēna Bātalim City and where the Mercenary Training Grounds are. It was slightly later in the day on Tenebra and she noticed Universitá dei Maghi’s gate is opened by some strange coincidence unless, it was awaiting for her to arrive, which would be strange but it could be someone already got here before her.

She walked through the gate’s entrance, her imp followed through without any problems, and she saw the beautiful courtyard, which has multitude of different color of buildings and a beautiful looking statue in the center of it holding onto six gems, which seem sealed for some odd reason. However, one of the structures catch her eyes since it feels familiar and yet different since it doesn’t look like any structure on the continent of Tenebra, it was a Onyx stone building but something in the back of her head was telling her not to approach it. “This school is much more beautiful than Dark Born Academy and different I have no idea why that is,” Scarlett thought to herself and just stood with her gaping mouth at the beauty. She slowly walks towards the Nymphe statue just at awe at this beauty and she falls down on her face since she wasn’t watching where she was going and fell on the ground. Zachery face palms at the fact Scarlett trips herself and fell on the ground hard. ”God damn it, Scarlett, you are going to give me a heart attack one of these days,” Zachery thought quietly to himself in a language, which Scarlett couldn’t understand anyway.

“You’re going where?” Tryilendarel moved around so he was directly in front of the woman, long fingers gripping her upper arms perhaps a bit more tightly than he intended.

“Tenebra, Trill. Please let go; I’ll be late to class if I dawdle, and I don’t want to miss my last day here.” Once the elf was no longer clutching her arms, she shifted her books to one hand and clasped one of his with the other. “I have been summoned there for training.”

“Training? In Tenebra? What could they possibly--oh.” Despite appearances to the contrary, the minstrel was not an idiot. Miraem had been surprised to discover that frequently-obscured bit of information, and it had lead to her paying more attention to Trill than she would normally give such a wayward man. “Mira, no, I thought you wanted to be a healer like your mother. Why would you go on some hare-brained mission that’s almost certainly going to get you killed?” Staying alive was far more important than some crazy quest, even if it would save the world, in Trill’s opinion. Let someone else worry about that, someone with more altruism and a less developed sense of self-preservation.

“No, that’s not quite right.” Miraem shook her head, but her voice held fond amusement. “I wanted to help people like my mother. Healing is just one way -- she might not have been a fighter, but she defended people as well. If I can help keep the Dark Lord from escaping, then I will do whatever it takes.”

Trill groaned in response. “My reasons are entirely selfish, but I’d really rather you didn’t die,” he said, trying to make light both of her intentions and the very real fear that she might not come back. Heroic stories were just that, /stories/, and things rarely went so well in real life. Besides, a fell beast wouldn’t be a great threat unless it had already defeated many who thought to put it down. For every hero that made it into songs, there were dozens more hopefuls that died awful deaths. What was more, he didn’t want to move on yet. He enjoyed being around Mira, and if she went off to Tenebra he’d lose that.

“You know I can handle myself,” she retorted, but she only managed to scowl at him for a moment before her expression became teasing. “Certainly better than you can.” The tall elf threw up his hands in mock surrender, grinning. “Touché.”

“I’ll come back, Trill, I promise. Though you may have found someone else by then.” The healer’s expression didn’t darken, but the hint of wistfulness in her voice caught at his heart, and he found himself saying words he hadn’t planned. “No you won’t, because I’m coming with.”

Miraem was surprised enough to stop walking. “What? ...Are you serious? You, head off on a ‘hare-brained mission’?” Her blue-grey eyes searched his lighter ones.

“Well...maybe not /all/ the way, but you’re going to Tenebra for training, right? So you have a while before you get to the part that’s an absolutely terrible idea. I’ll let you do that part on your own; I’d probably just get in the way.” The minstrel gave her a somewhat lopsided smile, and returned the sudden hug he received, though he winced as the corner of a book dug into his ribs. “Besides, I’ve never been to Tenebra. I wonder what their music is like...and it would be nice to go on a journey. It’s been a while, my feet are restless.”

~~~~~~~~~

“Why did I agree to this thrice-cursed journey?” Trill groaned, white-knuckled hands gripping the side-rail of the airship’s open deck. His face had a pale cast, and he stood slumped in misery. He /hated/ flying. Only being in the open air made him feel well enough to be anything resembling decent company, and Mira had already put up with him for some time. She was off somewhere else now, leaving him to suffer alone. “Uhhhn....”

Trying to distract his mind from his rebellious stomach, the tall elf turned his thoughts to the issue that was so often on his mind lately: Mira. Or rather, his relationship with her. She’d been going on this trip, and he’d just volunteered to come along for no good reason. What in the world had he been thinking?! He hadn’t, that was probably the truth of it. He’d not wanted to leave her yet, and so he’d just said he’d come with. And there, that was the real issue. It’d been over a year, more like a year and a half, and still his desire to stay outweighed his need to keep moving. It wasn’t like him, lingering so long, and the way he felt....

With grimace, he turned around and sat with his back to the railing, rubbing his face with one hand. He couldn’t even figure out how he felt. He adored Mira, yes, but he’d liked, even loved, dozens of women. It never lasted. Before long he would grow tired of the same streets, the same faces, and he’d desperately crave a change of scene. He might be flighty and footloose, but he knew himself, and never pretended to be anything he wasn’t. Well, with the possible exception of a complete fool, and he rarely said that outright. Still, he knew he wouldn’t stay, and he never promised he would. But this time, he did seem to be sticking around. Why?

It wasn’t that Miraem was any great beauty. Oh, she was pretty enough, with striking blue-gray eyes and features in a good balance. But her cheekbones were not as well defined as those of the ladies most considered beautiful, and her chin too strong, not to mention her unfortunate scar, and the freckles that grew more obvious with the kiss of the sun.

Nor was she the gentle and graceful lady that seemed to be the ideal woman, at least in the eyes of the general population. She was compassionate, yes, and helpful, and carried herself well, but there was a force behind her motions that would leave dainty, well-bred ladies turning up their noses. She was frank to the point of being rude, never hesitating to speak out if she thought something was wrong, and had no patience for arrogance or lies.

And yet he was drawn to her, her intensity capturing his gaze and his thoughts again and again. He’d noticed it the first time he’d laid eyes on her, a young woman who’d come to listen to his music at an inn and approached him afterwards. She’d had some questions about things he’d mentioned, and about the other races and continents, and they’d ended up talking for some time, only stopping when she excused herself because she had classes the following morning. Her bright eyes had turned up in his dreams that night. The irony, that the interest there was not because of him, but because of the things he could tell her about! But he’d still found himself checking his audience the following night, disappointed when she didn’t turn up. She made an appearance the evening after that, and this time Trill had gone to her when he finally begged off playing another song due to weary fingers. That night they’d talked far into the wee hours of the morning, as the next day was a rest day. Following his reverie, he’d tried to find where Miraem lived, hoping to spend some of the day in her company. That was already out of character for Trill. He could tell she wasn’t very interested in him, not in the way he generally preferred, so why had he sought her out? But the light that kindled in her eyes at the stories of what he’d seen and heard, it was like the glow of a fire on a cold night.

He’d tracked down her small apartment, in a modest building with walls that weren’t particularly thick. A pretty, though clearly untrained voice had drifted down the hallway. Trill was delighted to realize, when it stopped following his knock at her door, that Miraem was the source. He’d had to employ every persuasive trick in his considerable repertoire to wheedle another song out of her, but it had been well worth it.

The friendship grew from there, with the minstrel moving in a loose orbit around Mira, unable to completely break away. That wasn’t really an issue; he often stayed awhile in a city before moving on. And when their relationship turned into something more, he was happy to share what he knew of those things with her as well. But it reached time and past to be leaving, and he found he didn’t really want to. The idea of leaving her behind was not one he relished at all, and made him uncomfortable. And yet he didn’t want to be staying in the same place with no intention of leaving -- he hated being tied down and commitment frightened him. Besides, he tried to be honest with himself, and he didn’t want to make a promise he couldn’t keep. He was concerned that Mira might start expecting more of him than he wanted to give. He was troubled by the way he felt about her, not quite sure what it meant. He could tell he was mesmerized, like a moth circling a flame, and that always ended in disaster for the moth.

Trill brushed his windblown hair out of his face with a sigh, leaning his head back against the metal of the railing wall. He still wasn’t any closer to finding answers. But for the moment there was no hurry. He doubted the training would be over quickly. He’d figure this out eventually.

~~~~~~~~~

“Solid land, at last!” The exclamation was met with an amused expression by Miraem, and a shake of her head. She’d been around the minstrel long enough to recognize that while the sentiment behind it might be sincere, he was being overly dramatic. “Stop acting like an idiot,” she teased. “You’ll make a poor first impression.”

“And why should I conceal what is in fact the truth?” he returned, straightening to his full height. Already the color was returning to his cheeks, and he felt better. “For I am indeed a fool, though that may not be all that I am.” With a playful smile dancing across his lips he leaned in to give her cheek a kiss. “Never fear, I’ll do my best to keep from embarrassing you by association.” Mir a rolled her eyes, but couldn’t keep from smiling back, and the pair set off through the city. Trill had done a great deal of travelling, though he’d never ventured to Tenebra, discouraged by the frequent portrayal of the natives as rather violent. Mira had never ventured far from her home in Lucerna, until she’d gone to the capital to continue her studies. ēna Kristāla City was very different from the City of Light, and just as vast. She was very much an outsider here, though she tried not to gawk too much. Her pulse had quickened in excitement at being somewhere new, but she was nervous too. The healer glanced at the elf beside her, who seemed so collected, though she knew he was equally excited to be somewhere new after staying in the same city for a year and a half. And he’d said Tenebra was new to him as well, yet he seemed to have no trouble acting like this was just a day like any other. It was most likely because he’d already been so many different places. This might be somewhere new, but the experience itself was not. Mira felt a rush of gratitude for his presence. She was glad she’d have at least one person she knew around. It would help make things easier, especially when she’d be working toward something as important as stopping the Dark Lord.

They found their way to the walled-off property where they’d been instructed to go. It was a forbidding structure, with thorny plants around the gate, and the human was disappointed. She’d never feel comfortable, if this was an accurate representation of what the school was like. But she had a duty to give her best, and she squared her shoulders to approach the gate. A dragon adorned it, with a colorful gem winking at her in place of its eye. She pushed the gate open a bit further, surprised that it moved silently. She’d expected it to creak like a spooky house, but it moved silently. At least the place was well looked after, she supposed. Gripping the staff of her glaive a bit tighter, she ventured inside, and stopped in surprise. Unlike the exterior, the inside was lovely, a fountain dominating the center of the large courtyard, surrounded by all sorts of flowers and other plants. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad in Tenebra after all.

Trill could appreciate the garden, but something else caught his attention. He could see things gleaming towards the different corners of the courtyard, at least the two he could make out from where they stood, and he guessed the other four held something similar. The one to the right, in particular, drew him. “Mira, look at this,” he called in a hushed voice, touching her arm with his hand. She turned to follow his gesture, eyes widening in surprise. “There’s something there, I can feel it,” she commented, starting towards it. The pair moved so they could see what it was, a crystalline sculpture that glowed from within, but before they got too close the elf halted. “I don’t think we should get too close,” he said, frowning at it. He could sense the call too, but at the same time it was warning him off, and he was far more inclined to heed the warning than satisfy his considerable curiosity.
“I think you’re right,” the healer replied, turning to head further inside. “Come on, I want to meet the people here.”

The flood lights on the high ceiling illuminated dimly overhead everyone in crimson, just bright enough for anyone who didn't see well in the dark could easily observe the action currently taking place. Frenzied screaming surrounded the area, shouting in every other direction, all demanding fighting and blood echoing slightly in the underground location. Easily at least a swelling ninety five degrees, but nobody was distracted by the heat. As a large group of fully transformed Lycanthropes creatures surrounded two large all black wrestling rings, expect the ring which was a clear white expect the obvious blood staining them. Both were also covered in a large steel cage. Inside the cages where two participants inside both beating the living daylights out of one another. In one a Werecrocodile was currently pinning an orange and black Werecat down, but quickly was released after they were able to break one of their arms free going straight into its neck, which caused the crowd watching to yell either prideful shouts or curses. While the other fight progressing much faster, clearly a more one sided battle was already over as the rather heavyset Wereboar desperately submitted to the extremely built and muscular Weretiger that had in a hold crushing it tightly. As a particular Wereserpent aggressively slithered through the large crowds over looking everything taking place, with a sharp scowl on his face despite not being in an awful mood, but his appearance got everyone to step out of his way giving him a clear pathway when he was approaching the ring, as one the cages slowly started ascending upward as he effortlessly climbed up into the ring, going right beside the Weretiger who raised his claw victoriously, smirking while licking the blood off his paws.

“We have a winner gentlemen!” Morpheus exclaimed with a over exaggerated yell hyping up the crowd once more, despite being disinterested as he quickly motioned for both of the contestants to leave the ring, quickly growing impatient as the Wereboar moaned laying on his side. Swiftly wrapping his tail around him and proceeded in dragging the Wereboar out of the ring as he was exhausted, not moving straight away causing him to be practically shoved out of the ring, as the crowd snickered as he flopped to the ground. As Morpheus wasted no time to going to the other ring on the other side watching the next fight wrapping up, seeing the Werecat landing one mixed martial art kick and punch after the other causing his opponent to stumble and lose his balanced, struggling being completely on the defensive, Morpheus counted down from twenty inside his head just quietly watching, as he knew exactly was going on crossing his arms unimpressed that it was clear to him who was winning the fight. Drowning out the very shouts screaming to finish his opponent off. When the seconds passed, nearly everyone in the crowd made a surprised gasp expect for Morpheus who saw the action coming from a mile away, as the Werecrocodile waited for a brief signal of the Werecat wearing himself out, before smashing a fist straight into his jaw which would have been enough to knock him out unconscious but it was taken further as he swiftly spun around three hundred and sixty degrees, smashing his tail straight into his stomach sending him into the air backward and completely out cold flying head first into the cage.

“I could sssee him ssstruggling, almost immediately, from staring into his eyesss.” Morpheus muttered quietly to himself with his usual lisped voice extending every S sound in his sentence. Hating the sound of his own voice, not that he could help it. As the caged started going upward, this night had certainly been an interesting one for his business that was beginning to thrive. Running this fighting ring every other night for the past couple of years. Not only was he going to make a ton of money from lost bets, due to two complete newbies from faces he hadn't recognized before. Had just defeated several opponents in a row. His crowds seemed to only grow in popularity, his profits were two hundred percent from this month alone. He approached the ring and got up the the Werecrocodile, who ignorantly didn't actually know who this Wereserpent was, with an annoyed boastful stance he glared when he stood up beside him his height was also getting him a little nervous. Maybe it was the adrenaline still pumping from his fight but he decided to shove Morpheus backwards with his tail as they rather talkative crowd suddenly when deathly silent.

“What the hell are you doing on the stage?” He asked with a tone of superiority. In an instance Morpheus had become enraged, wrapped his tail tightly around his throat, forcefully slamming him down quickly wrapping him up entirely, squeezing the very life out of the Werecrocodile that helplessly started to choke immobilized, dominated from his tight grasp crushing his entire body. The Werecat regained his consciousness got outside as quickly as possible. While everyone just watched him, everyone staying silent, no one foolish telling him to stop. Morpheus slowly calmed himself down deliberately stopped himself from outright killing him as he wasn't even struggling anymore as he was flung out of the ring going over their heads collided into the wall. As the audience didn't speak a single word, as it was clear that nobody won that confrontation. Exiting with only a single present thought of wondering if his brother was doing okay, he hadn't checked on him within the hour like usual. Starting to grow worried leaving the crowd behind, as they started to chatter amongst themselves being eager for the next match. Going straight through his brother's room.

“Lazarusss?” Morpheus called out as could smell the blood. Hearing the sounds of eating, as an enormous Werebear with teal tattoos covering it was on all fours savagely tearing through the flesh of his meal laying beside him, ripping through it's stomach with his claws, then using his jaw and started ripping and pulling the other arm off the body. His entire body was covered in blood as it quickly glanced at Morpheus the moment he came inside and called his name, but went straight back to eating afterward. Slithering closer with his kindest looking expression, which could barely be called a pleasant face. Everyone was alright after all, he let out a sigh of relief watching his brother eating without really acknowledged his presence. “You always were such a messssy eater.” Morpheus said with a loud chuckle, remembering fondly how his brother loved all his stupid jokes, and even if he couldn't speak anymore, he was laughing on the inside...He was convinced staring inside the hollowed white eyes his brother was still fully conscious. Morpheus decided to return later so he could give his brother a bath, leaving his room, and was about to head into outside, he knew the crowds would grow restless if the final matches didn't take place soon, it was the semi-finals, and because the fourth had been well disqualified for personal reasons, he had to decide who would replace him for the finals. But he stopped before opening the doorway, seeing it swing open as the Weretiger that was apart of the last match, looking at him while stepping up towards him inside his room.

“I'm quite sorry for intruding, I'm not very familiar with exactly how this works. But I had something important to address. You run this place correct?” The Weretiger questioned, glancing over curiously at the large Werebear. Morpheus clenched his teeth slightly furious, as this room was completely restricted from access. But he did his very best to not retaliate seeing that they were new and already apologized, grinding his teeth trying to quickly suppressed his instinctive action to retaliate violently. “Yessss, but NOT here.” Morpheus hissed lightly, sounding very annoyed. Suddenly, Lazarus noticed the Weretiger and growled and let out a roar as it quickly charged at him at full speed. Catching the Weretiger off guard as it got into a defensive position. Morpheus whistled sharply making the Weretiger clutch his ears, sounding like nails on a chalkboard. Causing Lazarus to a sudden halt, stopping in his tracks only several feet away from the two. Weretiger lowered his defense with a sigh, as Morpheus shot him a vicious look.

Seeing the situation getting out of hand and seeing how furious the Wereserpent looked, he immediately spoke out a defense before he could speak. “Look I'm sorry, I reacted on impulse. I wasn't going to hurt your pet. You should serious consider putting it on a leash. So that it doesn't get itself hurt.” He advised as Morpheus just stared at him for a moment, something snapped becoming speechless for a moment, filling him with indescribable hatred. Recalling memories of the townsfolk calling his defenseless younger brother a monster while throwing rocks at his head while he sobbed. His face only showed an irritated expression. “Your fucking ignorance doesssn't excussse your disssgusting insult of my brother.” but his tone of voice indistinguishable from his true anger. The danger he was currently in was palpable as he gulped some fearfully, it even sent a chill down his spine as overwhelmingly aggressive. That despite never being afraid of anyone in his life, something about this Wereserpent scared him to death.

“Hey, relax I didn't mean anything by it! I just wanted to get money, and drop out of the tournament...just give me my cut for finishing in third like you stated before and I'll be out of your way.” The Weretiger explained trying to step backward for the door but the doorway was currently blocked off by Morpheus. He locked his eyes deeply into the Weretigers who knew something was going wrong but couldn't help but stare willingly into his eyes, not even trying to break himself out. Morpheus decided he didn't even need to use the orb for this foolish creature as he continue to glare into his eyes. Watching him helplessly look at him with a slightly fearful stare. Morpheus slyly smiled as his eyes glowed slightly as he started to speak in a hypnotizing whisper imaging something fitting in his head for this stupid creature that dare speak ill of his kin.

“Yesss, lisssten to my soothing voice, and ignore everything else around you. You will become my ssslave and obey my every command. Becaussse your a big dumb kitty. Your mind is fading, you don't even know how to stand upright. You barely function, your just a ssstupid little kitty cat and I'm your massster you will lisssten to me.” Morpheus spoke out as the only reaction he had was a slight nod of the Weretigers head as his own pupils fade and his mouth slowly hangs open becoming mindless. Morpheus felt satisfied that he had finished brainwashing his subject, as he unwrapped himself quickly watching the Weretiger collapse to the ground, sitting on all fours, starting to drool with his mouth still hanging open slightly. Morpheus stroked his head, petting him as he started to purr looking at him with a mocking glare, shoving him on his back with his tail, as he laid there just staring up at him. Morpheus just starred to gently rub his belly as the brainwashed Weretiger just smiled dumbly and purred. While being seemingly unaware that Morpheus was moving his long tail was sliding over and around his neck.

“You'll far beyond weaker minded than my brother. Just from simple observation, I'm not even certain if you'll ever break out of my brainwashing. Which you shouldn't mind too much, it allows you to permanently regret your decision. Alternatively, I could crush your windpipe at any moment, but maybe I could use a pet around here. Though you have become far stupider than an actual house cat. I don't exactly need something that's probably no longer housebroken.” Morpheus mocked inside his head. Just considering how he should prolong his amusement, having an idea. Approaching the front of his secured room, with a giant silver safe like door, similar to a bank vault. Having to spin left and right for the right combination, prying open the door with his tail heading into the smaller room, with hundred of numbered shelves with boxes containing money, including several safes lining the walls of one corner. Connecting to his bedroom and the front where the crowds currently were. With a single currently closed window, where the money was usually transferred and kept, pulling out the twenty third box and taking the hefty stack of cash. “Come hither my thrall.” Morpheus called out getting the Weretigers attention, though struggling in merely sitting up himself upright, still on all four sprinting toward the door tripping over his tail face planting into the room, making him let out a short chuckle.

Taking the container while the Weretiger watched him, tilting his head in confusion. Putting it directly above his head, dropping it down, colliding on top of his head. Though having no reaction, remaining blankly staring not even looking as the money split over him onto the floor. “There'sss your preciousss money, why not take it? Didn't you want it? Well fine I guessss you wanted to give it to your massster, how charitable.” Morpheus commented sarcastically collecting the money and placing it back in the box and proceed to put it inside one of his personal safes. As he grabbed the Weretiger by its foot moving fast dragging him on his back taking him outside, while showing little regard for the Weretiger's well being slamming him against several walls, soon showing him off in front of the crowds staring at the Weretiger doing absolutely nothing as it was being dragged on the ground. Hurling him in the middle of the crowd already growing bored of toying with something so pathetic. As the Weretiger lets out a kitten like mew clearly oblivious to his surroundings, some Lycanthropes snickered quietly. “Ssshows over, everyone out, and take that mindlessss kitten with you. If you want money, you may come to me over at the desk and I can provide you some asssissstance.” He commented frustrated and no longer in a pleasant mood. Closing his business earlier than usual calling it a night.

It didn't take long for every Lycanthrope to grab their money. Most of them not even realizing he was manipulating almost every last one of them out of some of their cut. Leaving immediately, filing outside heading back to their homes without causing anymore trouble for Morpheus, cleared of everyone, as it felt extremely quiet and eerily empty. As Morpheus sighed in relief, glad to finally was free of all the damned noise, cleaning all the blood some the rings and spending an hour cleaning before feeling drowsy and wanting to go to bed. Going back his room, as his brother was fast asleep in the corner, he smiled on the inside and started cleaning up the mess left over, spending more time making everything spotless once again, using a damp towel to wash the blood of his brothers face and claws. Just listening to his brother's deep snoring while he washed him gently making sure he didn't disturb his slumber.

“I promised I'd always take care of you brother, I love you...may you have sweet dreams.”
Morpheus thought in his head, often having long drawn out conversations in his very head. Skeptical that he ever dreamed about anything happy if he ever dreamed at all, after all neither dreamed of anything positive when they first changed, just usually having the some nightmares of their father dying and their mother abusing them. Stopping himself from continuing his thought process, trying to belief for being able to change both their futures someday, that's exactly what he started this whole fighting ring for, pursuit for something to hope for despite how often his own pessimistic views ate at him, expressing how meaningless it was. Those thoughts ceased every time he was able to just rest his head against his brothers chest hearing his heart beating was like a soothing melody to his ears. Just laying the wrapping himself gently around his brother, crying silently as possible, stroking his brother with hands. Staying by his brothers side for another couple of minutes before remembering he needed to check to see if he had gotten any mail despite the fact he never did. Maybe just a distraction so that he wouldn't have to sleep yet, feeling too restless.

Genuinely surprised when he saw a letter inside this time, Morpheus doesn't hesitate to open the letter and within seconds he read what was inside looking in some confusion in what exactly the purpose of this letter was or who was it's true sender. Thinking for a moment, going to Tenebra? The continent of darkness and the living place of demons. He truly couldn't go so far away, without his brother. Would he place his brother in danger if he took him? His immediate response was to refuse. Being too risky, even the slimmest possibility of danger toward his younger brother was unacceptable. Though upon further thinking about it, maybe was fate besides the wording of the letter made it seemed whatever wrote it wouldn't graciously accept noncompliance. Judging that their may be no alternative but to go to this university being an unexpected turn of events it was only draining his energy more. Diving into bed quickly as possible laying the letter on his nightstand, figuring he should sleep on it. Falling asleep only a minute after shutting his eyes, unaware of how truly exhausted he was. Getting further than usual, his sound sleep suddenly was disrupted by another nightmare causes his tail to twitch like crazy, shifting wildly throughout the night causing Lazarus to wake up briefly looking at him moving restlessly, standing up and walked closer right beside the bed. Laying back down and fell asleep again, staring to snore. Morpheus long tail gently wrapping around Lazarus causing his rapid movements to slowly decrease until becoming fully calmed.

---

Morning finally arrived, his choice was unmistakable and his decision was final. Morpheus already packed everything he could in the few suitcases he used for traveling, after wiping off the thick layers of dust. Putting up a closed sign, and writing something explaining his absence until further notice, putting it in front of his business entrance. Getting supplies for his brother as well. Putting a shiny silver chain collar around his brother's neck using a strong and relatively short leash. Having no other choice, not wanting his brother to get lost, or more likely slaughter anyone that approaches him. Locking his place up. Keeping his brother close by, changing himself to appear human putting on a black robe, and nothing more. Despite how much he loathed this form looking nothing like he used too. But mainly because his brother always gave him a strange look like he was feeling ashamed. Hailing at taxi to drive them all they way to the station, buying a ticket and quickly boarding the next airship leaving Batillus behind him for how long he wasn't certain. Waiting to arrive in the continent of darkness, Tenebra where this University was located. Remembering how much he hadn't flown in such a long time, feeling slightly sick for his entire several days of flight, at least he could a little extra afford some comfort along the way. Giving them plenty of space to keep his brother nearby and simultaneously away from most other passengers, Lazarus taking the flight surprisingly well. Finally they had landed, he walked himself out carrying his luggage and his brother outside. Letting out a long relieved exhale, outstretching his arms some, hearing his back making crackling sounds.

Not remotely interesting in the sights, nor the looks he received. Going straight to his destination, some kind of courtyard he was suppose to enter hoping not too many people would be around to waste his breathe on, barely even paying the slightest bit attention to any of the passing structures or demons he passed by, just focusing on keeping his brother close who was getting a little ornery from be around so many strange things. He had never desired to go here, the smell was bad enough to make him sick. Discovering the alleged courtyard despite seeing absolutely nothing that screamed university appeared, from his perspective. Inadvertently charging through the gate, shoving rather violently from rushing but to the average individual one could easily appear to have greatly desired wanting the gate destroyed by ripping it off the hinges. Looking at the rainbow like colors of the various colored flowers in the garden that filled the courtyard with flowery scents making his brother abruptly starting to sneeze a couple times. Analyzing the entire place momentarily, before crossing his arms and looking disgusted. “This courtyard is too grandiose for my taste, frankly it looks rather appalling.” Morpheus thought giving his first impressions, growing bored of admiring how suffocating the aroma of the flowers were. completely ignoring the structure that his brother seemed interested in, mostly just upset that he had to wait around. Wondering what was coming next...

“I’m not sure, old friend. This seems… odd… that they would send a request for me at a time like this. My nightmares have certainly become more frequent and powerful, but there can’t truly be a darkness like that coming to destroy the land. Why would a university such as this seek me as a student in my age? Might I be too old to learn from them? Oh, Earth Spirit, save me, can’t I just stay here and tend to the forest and defend our homeland of Tellus?” A voice spoke out from the foliage of a particularly dense section of the forest. The cool and calm voice of Erolith ringing out as a soft note amongst the twittering of birds and squeaking of squirrels in the trees. He let his hand run against the side of his steed’s neck and ran his fingers through the short, coarse hair of the stag. A second humanoid figure stood nearby, dressed in leather armor with pieces of ironwood bark sewn into the left shoulder. An interesting looking bow sat in an equally interesting quiver as the slightly younger elf spoke to Erolith.

“Erolith, you must go. I’ve seen the world and the state of its being. You cannot ignore the call to greatness. You of all of us have proven that you are the greatest of all of our people and shown to have a great deal of potential to be even greater. Please, brother, go and take up the mantle that you were destined to wear. If not for me, then for Tellus.” The younger elf spoke as he moved his way through the forest to get closer to Erolith.

“Ignolis, we are not brothers. There is no blood relation, but I appreciate the notion. You left Tellus long ago and only returned recently, and now you ask of me to follow in your footsteps. I may have a power and potential that has not been seen or heard of since the time of the sages in our history books, and I may be the only one of our people to have the connection I have with Farrenthal, but I cannot risk losing the forest to pursue intelligence and power. What can they teach me that I could not learn from the Earth Spirit’s guidance?”

“They could teach you a great deal more than that stag could teach you. You are not the only protector of these forests, there are others who chose the life you live and decided to dedicate their lives to maintaining the balance of nature here. You have the opportunity to save not just our home, but the homes of so many others, to protect the beauty of the world and to preserve the earth as Farrenthal would command us to do. You cannot ignore that great of a calling. The whole world needs you Erolith, you are like a great warden of the earth, sent to defend us once again from the rising tide of darkness.”

With that conversation and last remark, Erolith slowly nodded his head, realizing that Tellus was not the only place of beauty and not the only home of plantlife. He had a duty to protect all forms of life that sprouted from the earth and to maintain its majesty. The decision was made, then, to travel to Tenebra and seek more knowledge and more power. A short few days passed before he would need to board the airship, where he would observe a peculiar woman with scars and affinity to shrink away from the rest of the occupants of the skyship. He noticed her spy him in the midst of their ride while he spoke to the birds that perched on the railing on the side of the ship. He could not actually speak to the birds, nor could he understand them, but he had comfort in knowing that life still existed so high in the sky. The journey would proved to be much longer than he would have liked, causing him to spend much of his time aboard the airship weaving vines around the railings and sprouting small, yellow flowers from those vines. He spent time shaping the wooden table and chairs in his room to be more rustic and feel less ornamental.

Once the ship had finally docked at the hub near the school in Tenebra, Erolith spent little time finding his way to the designated meeting place in the letter sent to him a few days prior. He found himself standing at a large gateway, in the shape of a dragon that seemed to be wrapped in vines and covered in beautiful, thorny roses. Noting that such beauty could exist in a place as desolate as Tenebra, he stepped through the gateway and into the courtyard, which seemed to radiate with sunlight. The focal point in the center of the courtyard was a large fountain statue of a nymphe holding six separately colored gems, water flowing from the statue as vines and bushes of flowers grew around the base of the fountain. Gardens on all sides of the courtyard exploded with vibrant colors and beautifully kept flowers.

Erolith shed a small tear as he stared in wonder at the garden, a smile beginning to creep across his face, but not before he noticed the five others that were in the courtyard. One girl face down on the ground, looking as though she tripped and knocked herself out, next, a strange looking pair of people, a human girl and an elven male. He also noticed a strange man that seemed to have a vicious air about him, serpent-like eyes and a rather interesting way of walking,Erolith made note of the orange haired man and finally let his gaze rest on the half-elf girl that was on the airship. She was admiring the foliage and this brought another smile to his face as he made a move to approach her, unsure of how to speak to her. Though once he decided on a subject to speak about, it seemed silly to him that he would assume that she would want to talk about plants with a strange, older elf. He instead just walked near her and glanced back at her every so often. Erolith would soon know this girl as Summer, but in the time being, he had no idea of her name, where she came from and what her purpose here was. All he could do was just watch her and admire the beauty of the plants that the girl was gazing at in wonderment.

“Lenea, raise those arms. Althea, spread your legs further. And… uh… you…yes you! Stop slacking off and get in line!” Lanassa shouted as she strolled through several rows of children. Today was a Tuesday, which was dedicated to teaching martial arts to the children. Only the attendants of Genidoris’s temple were required to know it, but it was becoming more commonplace to teach it to anyone who wanted to nowadays. Apparently more and more nymphs realized they couldn’t always rely on their maddening beauty to protect them alone. Sometimes a solid kick to the groin was a far more practical, and entertaining, solution.

‘By Genidoris herself, why do I have to put up with this?’ She thought, then sighed to herself. She knew all too well why she was doing this. Her colleague, Polynome, had decided to mysteriously disappear a few hours before this session. And naturally, Lanassa was called on to replace her. It wasn’t as If Lanassa was busy, she only had a temple to clean and dinner to cook. Damned girl. She had probably gotten distracted. It was always the same. The simple consequence of a nymph’s playful and carefree nature. She probably found something far more interesting to do, or maybe she had taken interest in someone and now found herself between some sheets. It wouldn’t surprise Lanassa one bit. She would have to make sure that the head priestess would scold her, again. Why was she, a newborn, acting more mature than her colleague who had passed her seventh century? Probably because it wasn’t so. Given the chance, Lanassa would do exactly the same. She just wasn’t as competent at shirking her duties without getting caught, a skill that would take many hundred years of dedicated training to master.

It were times like these that Lanassa hated most, having to deal with a bunch of whining newborns, moaning about how a little physical exercise was too much effort. Pampered little girls, usually firstborns, that spend their whole life up till now being treated like princesses. Lanassa wanted a life like that, and she actually was a princess… or was she? Are you technically still a princess even if your queen mother abandoned you? Was it truly an unbreakable bond of blood, accompanied by a family name? Or was it more than that? Did you have to be accepted, nurtured and educated before you could truly call yourself royalty? It probably didn’t matter. Who would believe that a simple shrine maiden was actually this land’s crown princess? Such a claim would simply make one the target of ridicule. Maybe one day she would find a way to get Opis, the head priestess, to ‘fess up. But today was a Tuesday, martial arts practice with whining little girls. That was not a day that was known for its twists of fate.

Or were they?

A few hours later Lanassa found herself in a comfortable chair in the temple’s living area, thoroughly worn out from working with the kids. The living area was relatively clean, seeing how it hadn’t been tended to in two weeks. Knowing how horrible everyone was at seeing their duties done, everyone made sure to at least clean up after themselves. A blessing, otherwise this would’ve been a temple dedicated to the nonexistent goddess of vermin a long time ago. And right now she found herself in sweet solitude, a rare moment of peace and silence. She managed to make herself comfortable for approximately half an hour until Leadore, the second youngest priestess boasting a modest seventy years, made her way into the room. Then again, be it fifty or fifty-thousand years of difference; no nymph ever aged past adolescence. It was impossible to physically determine a nymph’s age. Nevertheless, the shrine’s hierarchy was largely determined by age, or was it called time of service and experience in the common tongue? There honestly was no difference. Lanassa flashed her colleague a tired smile. “Finished sweeping the temple grounds?” Lanassa asked. The girl shook her head “Almost, but more importantly, a courier came by. You’ve got mail.” She handed Lanassa a scroll with a seal that Lanassa vaguely recognized. But what did an institution like that university want with her? “Oh!” Leadore continued “I completely forgot. The head priestess wants to speak with you. She wants you to meet her in her room. Don’t keep her waiting for too long.” She told Lanassa forebodingly. Bad things happened when you made Opis wait, that was common knowledge. But first, she would read this mail. Something told Lanassa that they were indubitably connected anyhow. She undid the scroll of its intricate sealing, and started reading:



Dear miss Amphitrite

It is a pleasure to announce that you have been accepted into Universita dei Maghi. You will be formally educated in all fields of magic that are within your affinity. Your admission, residence and training shall be provided free of charge. Please be advised that this training will be both grueling and life threatening, as should be expected of any magic devised to reseal the dark lord. You are to make your way to the campus located in Ena kristala city before the end of this week. We at the Universita dei Maghi are looking forward to your arrival.

Please fear not, your heritage is known to us in secrecy. However, the import of the station that is requested of you in this letter weighs as heavily as the heritage you seek to redeem. The university recognizes you as the true heir of Nymphe’s throne; and shall fully support any action you take towards reclaiming the name that is yours, should you wish to do so. Please be encouraged to lighten your heart before you begin your travels.

May the Elements be forever with you.


Who was this? What was this? How did anyone know about her deepest secret? Not just the name, but also the fears she held. Whoever wrote this letter seemed to know it all. Lanassa knew that to learn how to seal the lord was to be a sage. But why was it her that was supposed to be a sage? She was a simple newborn. Her experience with magic was not even a tenth of that of many others. Sure, she had talent and skilled for her age, but she was by no means an accomplished mage. But if this meant she finally had a tool, a powerful piece of leverage to achieve the goal she desired for so long. With this knowledge, she headed to the third basement floor under the temple, where Opis’s private quarters were located.

Opis was a beautiful woman; often said to be one of the most beautiful in all of Nymphe. It was odd how amongst the ageless nymphs, beauty seemed to come with age. It was like the opposite of the curse that the other races carried. Despite Opis looking exactly as old as Lanassa, the younger girl actually seemed like a toddler in comparison. There was something about her demeanor that just made her seem so much more mature and beautiful, something that apparently came with age. Most of the Nymphs considered the most beautiful were indeed ancient, and Opis was among the oldest living nymphs. It made her presence intimidating and very attractive at the same time. Even to this very day Lanassa would occasionally freeze on occasion just by witnessing her presence. And today, just because today was a little more special than other days, was such an occasion. However, even when Opis noticed that, she stayed kind and composed, and waved the young nymph over and gestured her to a chair. Often it was hard for Lanassa to keep remembering herself that this woman withheld Lanassa’s past from her. But she wouldn’t allow herself to forget, not today.

“I’ve heard the news.” Opis started. “You’re invited to the university, right? That’s amazing!” She smiled at Lanassa sweetly. Lanassa wondered how she had found out before she had even read the letter, but before she could ask Opis continued to talk. “You didn’t think they’d make you leave without telling me first, right?” Classic Opis, always knew what you were going to ask before you actually did so. “I was a student there myself, ages ago. And you can not really say no to this university…” She looked away from Lanassa, her mood shifting negatively. “They told you, didn’t they? They always tell you something to reel you in.” She sighed.

Lanassa’s eyes started to slightly tear up. No! She had promised herself to stay strong in this confrontation. She stared fiercely at her superior. Even if Opis was easily capable of piercing her fragile façade, she didn’t wish to give in. “I knew already, damn it.” A small gasp escaped Opis. But Lanassa did not allow her to speak “For years I’ve known. But why, Opis, do you seem so sad to tell me who I really am? Do I bring that much shame, truly?” At this point the tears had started to flow, but Lanassa ignored them. “Does my mother care more about her name than about her own daughter? What am I to you, Opis, that you deny me the right to know who I am!? How can you justify it?" Lanassa was trembling, but successfully kept her stare fixated on Opis who rose from her seat. She slowly stepped towards her before she took Lanassa into her embrace.

Soothing as it was meant to be, it made Lanassa bawl. Opis spoke softly “I’ve told you many times, dear, you are like a daughter to me. I’ve held you in my arms the day you were born, and taken care of you ever since. I was always going to tell you, I wanted to, when you were an adult…but…” Opis paused “I can’t justify it. Not to you. But please, please remember that I have never seen you as anything else but my daughter. I love you, I really do.” Lanassa looked up at Opis, who had begun to tear up a little herself. “Truly?” Opis smiled, then cuddled her. “Of course! And nothing changes that, alright?”

Slowly Lanassa managed to calm down. As a result, she managed to recover a somewhat confident look in her eyes, which she directed at Opis directly. “I want it back, Opis. I want my name back. I won’t allow myself to be hidden in shame, I can't allow it.” Opis smiled at her. “Yes child. But this will take time. I will talk to your mother. You go to the university, become a sage to be proud of.” She then patted the girl on the head. “When you get back here, I’ll arrange for you to have a talk with your mother. She’s a reasonable woman, you’ll see.” Lanassa was a tad too emotional still to ponder the truth of that statement. She chose to believe Opis. It was true, Opis had always taken good care of her. She would go to this university, become a sage and make her claim undeniable.



A few days later she set her first steps into Tenebra after a rather unadventurous airship ride. Lanassa didn’t like airships, they made her feel even more out of touch with the water than being on land. Something about this capital felt suffocating. Was it the darkness that loomed? Nymphs by definition did very badly with anything ugly and evil, and the darkness wasn’t known for rainbows and candy sticks. It also didn’t help that the courtyard to which she was designated was gated with one of the most imposing structures she had ever seen. Even walking through it somehow made her skin crawl a little.

The inside, however, was far more appeasing to Lanassa’s delicate visual palette. The innumerable amount of beautiful flowers drew in the young girl, who found herself comfort near the waters of the fountain. She could’ve made for the pillar of water she noticed in the distance, but something told her she did not want to do that, not yet at least. She sat down amongst the flowers. She then intensely looked at the sculpture of the nymph. If there was one of her race sculptured here, then she’d indubitably knew of this person. In actuality, she just wanted to jump into the fountain and play with the water. She had taken note of the other people in her vicinity, six of them and a bear. And although she couldn’t help but have a bit of inside laughter at the one that had made a glorious faceplant, she chose to keep her distance for now. Lanassa had little experience with the other races, thus she’d rather watch and observe before she’d make her approach. Till now, she only had to deal with pilgrims of other races, which were rare enough. Those usually didn’t make for much conversation outside of religious stuff, which is where she was comfortable. Talking about… well… normal things with other races? She had no clue what would constitute for them as normal anyway.

It appears that everyone was at the Courtyard, does that mean that something is supposed to happen now? Summer wonders as she looks around the courtyard, trying to get her rapidly beating heart under control. There was something about the newcomer that made her flustered in a way that was unfamiliar to her. She didn't get the chance to elaborate more on her own thoughts as a Cloaked figure appeared in front of them, cutting off all conversation.

"Well then, hello everyone," the cloaked figure said, it's voice soft and feminine, "I'm glad that I have finally gotten the chance to see you all. It seems like so many years ago that I sent out those summons."

As the figure spoke, Summer went over to Scarlett and helped the female demon off the ground, hoisting her up with surprising ease before she quickly backed up again. ”Who are you?” Summer asked the newcomer.

The Cloaked figure turned her attention to the Elf female and placed one pale finger to the girl's lips, "All in time my little Wind Sage, all in time. For now I must show you all to your respective predecessors." Without waiting to see if anyone had anything else to say, the female motioned for the others to follow and it was obvious she expected them to do just that.
The woman first led the group to the large crystal that seemed to resonate light and turned to Mira before speaking. "Look within this crystal, and you will see the former Light Sage, Hikari."

Mira blinked, and did as directed, though she was a bit reluctant. The sense that she really shouldn't get too close had not faded at all. Inside the crystal, she saw a human child. The girl's golden-blonde hair framed her face in curls and her arms were set across her chest, her hands resting on her shoulders. She couldn't have been more than 14 years old. Mira almost gasped in surprise. It looked like the girl was actually there, not just an image. Had she died? Was that why the Dark Lord was returning, because some of the sages had been unable to complete their task? She'd have to ask Trill, he might know more details of the story than she did. But regardless, Mira had no intention of failing. Her grip on her glaive tightened, and she dipped her head respectfully to her predecessor.

"Before any of you inquire as to this child’s age, she is as she appears, but I would like to inform you that those within these 'tombs' are there because they wish to be. We have not forced this upon them," the female stated, her head turning slightly to look at all the sages before her.

When Mira finally took her place next to the crystal, the Woman moved onto the Pillar of Water. "Lanassa, take your place with Shuǐ," she instructed as she pointed to the Pillar that now showed a male nymph. His hair was an aqua green color and it appeared that his wings were a rainbow of colors now unheard of to the Nymphs. ”Know that, much like you, his family was rather…. Strained and indifferent to what he truly had to offer. The two of you are more similar than you may realize, and you have your grandmother to thank for that.”

Lanassa shrugs "I don't give much about that family." And with that, she took her place next to the crystal. Despite having said that, there was a clear, uncomfortable air around her regarding what the woman had said.

With Lanassa’s response, the hooded figure could not help but chuckle before she took the four that remained with her to the next placement. Before anyone could ask what was going on, they stopped in front of an Oak, but to everyone's surprise it was not solid, in fact, it was hollowed out. A window of tree sap had formed over a large hole, revealing a rather tall el, or what one could only assume was an elf. The figure inside was covered from head to toe and upon his face was a mask made entirely of jade, his hands covered with gloves made of the same object.

"This is Jade Fist, later on known as Kybur once he finally started to make friends… and it is he who chose you to take his place," the woman said, "Please stand with him while I move on with the others."

Erolith approached the amber glass and gazed at the visage of a quite intimidating elf. "The Jade Fist... Am I the same as him... A man with no friends among my peers here? You were mentioned in the history books, as Kybur... As a hero to the elves..." His hand reached up to touch the amber glass, and it was strangely incredibly solid, but still sticky as tree sap was. Erolith wondered what this meant, being shown the form of what was spoken in legend. Being shown what remained of the Elven Sage of Earth.

The woman watched the new Sage of Earth with a small bit of curiosity, but let it fall as she continued on to the Onyx Structure. Inside it was dark, it seemed like all the light had been drained out of the area, giving an almost depressing aura about it. Suspended in the air between the floor and Ceiling was an Incubus. his hair was long and black and his body reminded those that remained of a shadow. A shadow that would swallow any light that came across its path.

"I don't... I don't like the way this one makes me feel..." Summer said, her tone strained from the fear she found gripping at her heart, "Something... doesn't feel right... it feels... tainted."

"And right you are Summer, this is Dunkelheit, he was the Sage of Darkness... and also the one who betrayed his friends in the beginning," came the response, " He only just came to his senses when Bonketsu nearly killed his love... and even then he did not come in time to save the Lost Continent."

"He... betrayed his friends? But... why?" Summer asked.

"Power... and I hope that none of you succumb to that basic want. Now, Scarlett, stand here in front of the structure... and touch nothing."

Scarlett was the second one to reach the Onyx building and she felt something depressing about the aura, which was seeping from the building itself. She listened to what Summer said, committing the elves name to memory after the the responder had said it as she spoke about the Sage of Darkness. Scarlett was utterly shattered when she heard the sad story of Dunkelheit, who betrayed his friends for power. “This is sad and I will stand where you ask,” Scarlett said tearing up.

After she was sure that Scarlett understood and would neither touch nor leave her area, she moved onto the Volcano. The volcano itself was made out of lava rock that had been conditioned into a substance that could be seen through, yet could still hold lava. Inside was a Woman with a rather long, and scaled, tail that wrapped around her legs before simply twisting up and coming to rest by her hip. As she rested within the volcano, her red hair moved slightly as if the heat from the lava was causing small currents of air to move it.

"This is Ignis, one of the most faithful companions that were in the group... faithful and kind. She stood fiercely by what she believed and refused to budge no matter how many times the Dark Lord tried to sway her to his beliefs... in a way she was the best of us all. Morpheus, I require you to stay here with your brother... I have one last person to place... Come young Elf... it is time to meet your Ancestor."

Morpheus was keeping his primarily focus on Lazurus, neglecting to even acknowledge the others he could sense nearby. Only taking a moment to carefully inspect his surroundings as a blonde haired female elf walked close to his proximity, more alerted that she was close to his brother who was staring intensely at the volcano statue and the woman that appeared to be inside. Only getting curious to learn what exactly his brother was so focused, taking a quick look for himself. Observing who appeared to be a Wereserpent the hair moving slightly within the statue, Hearing the feminine voice speaking directly to him explaining who this mysterious women was. Despite listening intently to what was being said, he didn't have any capability to care even the minimal amount of this particular person's struggles. Merely shaking his head slightly in disapproval, after that was the best explanation given for why he needed to stay around with his brother. Especially when this peculiar voice, that wasn't coming from the elf, had absolutely nothing to back up her claims. Being skeptical, along with being apathetic even if the story had merit.

"Sssorry I don't have any inclination to care about slabs of earth, no matter what may be inssside it." Morpheus replied back continuing, "Besidesss, how doesss that pertain to me remaining here for an extended and without any clarified amount of time."

Though one could not see her eyes, it was clear that the figure was staring at the Weresnake, “Because when all is said and done, we can turn your brother back,” came the reply, “When everything is over, you will have enough power to do it yourself.”

Morpheus continued to glare towards the volcano statue with disinterest. Even after the woman’s eyes inside the statue stared back at him. However, after what was spoken, his pupils dilated and his mouth hung slightly open. They astonished him, leaving him temporarily speechless causing him to forget the several quips that he already had in his mind for when she happened to speak again. Her words thrust sharply inside his head, immediately changing his tone and posture becoming extremely interested and simultaneously distressed, slamming his fist into the statue. “WHAT? HOW?” Morpheus shouts aloud. “Your wordsss better not be falssse. I don't take anything sssaid about my brother lightly.” He warns not fully accepting there was truly a way for anyone to change him back. Still stuck inside the very back of his mind was hope that everything would return to normal. Could such a phenomenal power even exist? Sounded far too good to be true, a miracle that sounded purely fictitious. But he started questioning to himself if Lazarus could return to normal. Even the mere mention of it weighed on him heavily, making his facial expression show desperation. “I demand you give me answersss!” Morpheus stated in a tone sounding borderline obsessed.

”You will get your answers all in due time, I cannot simply give you what you want without something in return. Magic of such a caliber always comes with a price my dear Reptile,” she murmured, “Now Summer, let us go see your Ancestor.”

Ancestor? Doesn't that usually imply that we are related somehow? Summer wondered as she followed obediently to the cylinder of clouds. The woman said nothing to her, instead, she just motioned for Summer to step up to the Cylinder and wait. Summer did as she was told, but not before she studied the figure within.

The women held within the Cylinder seemed to be the only one with her eyes open, but this isn't what startled Summer, it was the color of the woman's eyes. Summer found she wanted to reach out the moment she looked at the deep violet eyes that matched her's so well, but she withheld the urge and just studied. The woman's hair was silver, almost blue, and her face seemed so kind. Who are you? she wondered, You who look so much like me... Summer was so lost in thought that she did not notice Merlin perched on her shoulder.

The Cloaked figure left Summer where she was, fully aware that she was confused, but she knew that everyone's answers were soon to be answered. Stopping in front of the Nymph Fountain, the female stopped and let out a sigh before she spoke, "I want you to touch the tombs in front of you now... and when you finally come to terms with both who you are and who you want to be… I want you to hope for the best."

"Why are you here?"

Morpheus had absolutely no reaction to how the questions were being asked, purposefully ignoring the details. Being apathetic even as he was essentially daydreaming as the woman inside the statue now was outside appearing to stand before him inside his mind. He was fully determined on getting answers for the cloaked figures claims. However, immediately found the question asked preposterous. Giving a thousand yard stare for a brief moment before shifting to looking with a single raised eyebrow. His expression showed transparent irritation from crossing his arms and clenching his hands together, slowly and repeatedly tapping his index finger, clenching his teeth so hard it felt like his teeth would crack under the pressure. Attempting to remain harmonious he breathed in and out deeply, followed by clearing his throat with a cough covering it up with his right hand, despite his rather restless movements, Morpheus was in fact standing in one spot with glazed over eyes almost having an out of body experiance having a discussion in a peculiar dream like state.

“I'm here sssolely because I was sssent here, I have absssolutely no other interestsss assside from what will benefit me and my family.” He stated with a blunt tone glancing at his brother who remained fixated on the volcano statue, staying almost as still as the statue aside from his ears twitching the moment he was touched by Morpheus.

"What do you hope to accomplish?"

“Now, what exactly do you mean here?” Morpheus started tone growing more frustrated and hostile, finding these questions insipid, clenching his fists while putting his arms down to his side. “If you're asssking what I hope to accomplish by being forced to go to sssome prisssssy alleged esssteemed ssschool, I've never heard of. While my thriving job, has to be thrown into an indefinite hiatusss. I honestly cannot perceive anything beneficial getting accomplissshed here.” Morpheus retorted. “If it'sss regarding my sssolitary goal that I've had in life. That'sss making me and my brother sssurvive through any means. At leassst that'sss what I've been telling myssself for many yearsss.” Morpheus added looking down. “But! If there's truly a way to undo my missstakesss and transssgressionsss. By bringing back my brothersss conssscience and intelligence, and the posssssibility of him regaining his humanity...that is sssomething I would ssspend a lifetime to accomplisssh.”

"What do you hold closest to your heart?"

“My brother. He'sss the only person I hold dear.” Morpheus spoke those words very quickly, to the point a normal individual probably wouldn't of understood him. Getting tired of hearing his own voice, replying purposefully short, refusing to speak more than what was required. His strong sense of self-loathing was overcoming his obsession which was the only reason he spoke so verbosely in the first place.

"What are you willing to sacrifice to meet the end goal?"

Morpheus then smirked lightly, looking and sounding as serious as possible speaking much slower and clearer. “For Lazurusss, I'd sssacrifice anyone and anything without a sssecond thought, including my sssoul and well being...Now any more half-witted queries?” Morpheus finished with a question of his own. Proceeding to cross his arms once again, speaking bitterly and with finality. Vehemently hoping there was no further questions, more likely to straight up not answer anything more, until he had more evidence presented to him that any of this was worth taking seriously.

"These questions are not half witted... your strength and your goal is what is going to stop the Dark Lord from preying on you. If you heart is full of vengence and nothing but hate with no love for another, then he has you. If you have a real reason to be here, even if you do not figure it out until later, he will have a harder time digging his claws into you. Keep your brother close, if you fail... he dies."

Morpheus heart sunk at the mere mentioning or implication of his brother's life being in danger, saying death made him involuntarily swallow, stopping himself from having a panic attack. Upon waking up very suddenly he noticed he had a weapon in his hands.

It was a five foot tall metallic staff having the primary colors of crimson and black, throughout the staff. With five appearing to be razor sharp curved pointed edges of varying sizes, the bottom smallest two pointing downward the rest of the curves pointing upward in some fashion, the same pattern on both sides, keeping it symmetrical. The top three curves on each side close to the middle have small, square shaped 10x10 mm gems of varying colors. Black Diamond, Emerald and Blue Topaz on the right side would be Diamond, Aquamarine and an Opal on the left.

Having a hollowed out center at the top just large enough to perfectly carry his orb. With a incredibly shiny ruby placed literally in the inside the very orb. Making the orb to appear completely red, glowing ominously from a distance. But you could still easily see your reflection as if you were staring into a mirror with a spear like tip at the very end, though it had a dull point. It is surprisingly warm to the touch and fairly lightweight, only about a few pounds. Morpheus clenched the weapon in his hands, seeing his brother directly in front of him, Lazurus was looking up at him. Morphues smiled and carried the staff his right hand and stroked his brother's head with his left. "I will never allow anyone to hurt you." Morphues assured Lazurus, while looking around noticing he was still inside the garden.

Scarlett fell into a trance, only to find herself in what appeared to be an inner darkworld of someone's mind or maybe it was just a dream state. She has never been in one of these 'dreamworlds' since her dreams are usually nightmares. She slowly looks around and wondered what is going on here. "W-What is this place it feels tranquil but with a hint of darkness?" Scarlett asked worried. However, she felt like she was being watched yet she couldn't know who or what is watching her.

A deep laughter of a male's voice started to echo throughout the dreamworld. Scarlett started to hear steps closer to her, like someone was approaching her until she saw him, the same man she had seen in the Onyx structure. He had a devilish smirk on his face and he looked into Scarlett's eyes before giving out a bellowing laugh. "You call yourself a demon, you are too kind to be one," He said with a callous deep voice at Scarlett.

Scarlett looks at him and wonders what he's here for even though bashing oneself confidence is probably a fun thing for demons who aren't like her. He looks at Scarlett seriously and puts his left hand to his chin. "Why are you here?" He said with a curious look and deep tone. She looked at him with a puzzling look but she sighed with a relief in her chest. "I-I am here to figure out who I am and save the world...," Scarlett said.

He walked closer to Scarlett still with his hand on his chin and he smiled evilly. He looked her up, down, and primarily at her eyes. "What do you hope to accomplish?" He said with a serious deep tone of voice.

Scarlett steps backwards one step because he was getting too close to her. "What I hope to accomplish is to stop the destruction of the world...," Scarlett said with her usual demeanor, kindness. He noticed her stepping backwards and it made him a little bit angry and he walked up to her slightly faster and grabbed her left arm. Scarlett looks at him with her greenish blue eye and magenta eye. His rage subsides a bit so he lets go her arm but stays close to her to stare into her eyes. "What do you hold closest to your heart?" He asked with a fury in his deep voice.

Scarlett does not want to anger the sage of darkness, since he feels like he could probably kill her in this dreamworld. "I-I hold my father closest to my heart since he taught me much of what I know...," Scarlett said with a slight worried tone in her voice.

He laughs at her worried tone in her voice when she said those words. He gets a big grin on face since she might be worthy after all but there is some things he wants to try first. "If you weren't a demon I would probably kill you by now," He said with a serious deep tone of voice.

She hears these words and stands her ground since she would be a big disappointment to the Atkinson Family. "Insult me all day I got time," Scarlett said somewhat ignorant and naive.

He laughs loudly at her ignorance and naivety about what demons do around here on the continent of Tenebra. He smiles at her courage in standing firm against his banter. "What are you willing to sacrifice to meet the end goal?" He asked with a cruel deep voice.

Scarlett was taken aback by what he asked like he enjoys torturing her or something. She swallowed a bit and looks directly at him. "I'm willing to sacrifice everything to meet my end goals...," Scarlett said with an ounce of courage. He smiles with this answer and walks right past her but stops at her ear.

"The terrified look in your face when you brought up that ounce of courage was delightful," He said with a deep tone and a grin on his face. He finished walking passed her and he stops for a second only but continues to walk away from her.

Scarlett wakes up from the dreamworld, with a Necklace clasped around her neck. She had an awe inspiring look to her face since she never wore a necklace before and she slightly gave a smile too. In the back of her mind, she could hear a little voice call out the name of the necklace around her neck, and 'it is the Tiered Necklace of Dark.'

The necklace has been altered to become more in line with the thoughts of the wielder of this necklace. It is darker than most necklaces but it shines with such of an eerie glow to it. The necklace was fashioned with amethysts, the gems of Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, Opal, and the prime jewel the Black Diamond. It has black beads and it has silverish black metal.

The jewels start from the top and go down towards the Dark Diamond from the left and right towards the natural conclusion, which is the center bottom, most point. The amethysts are teardrop sized gems and they are sparkly. The Fire and Water Gems are slightly bigger than the Amethysts and they are in a cushion configuration. The Earth and Wind gems are twice as big as the gems before them and they are in a heart configuration. The Light and Opal gems are twice as big as the gems before them and they are in an Oval Configuration. The Dark Diamond is the largest gem on the necklace, it is in the bottom center point on the necklace, and it is in a rounded configuration.

Looking around, she notices she is still in front of the Onyx Structure, and she sees her shadow imp just standing where she fell on her face. She lets out a sigh at the fact she did trip herself at all the beauty of this courtyard. "I hope I don't make a fool outta myself again by tripping over my own feet," Scarlett thought to herself.

Lanassa hesistated for a second. What did she mean with coming to terms? Hadn't she? She guessed the only way to find out was to touch it and see for herself. Even though something inside of her seemed to want to refuse the approach, ultimately she softly put her hand against the collumn. A weird, woozy feeling came over her as she suddenly found herself elsewhere. Everything she saw and felt around her was like water, and the nymph that had just been contained was now freely in front of her.

Shui looked at the female nymph before him, a slight frown on his face as he openly studied the child. "Why are you here?" he asked, his voice gentler than one would expect from a male.

"Because, apparently, the world needs a water sage." Lanassa scratches her head "The more I think about it, the worse it sounds actually." She sighed "Why did I think fighting the dark lord would be a good idea?"

The male nymphs frown seemed to deepen at her answer, not pleased with what she had said. "Doubt will leave room for the Dark Lord to enter your mind and poison your thoughts child. Do not doubt what you are capable of just because you have yet to see your abilities. Now, what do you hope to accomplish?"

Lanassa could notice his displeasure, but it was true. She still wasn't certain why she thought fighting the dark lord was the best way to achieve her goal. Seriously, how was this supposed to be the road of least resistance? "I... well... I want to get back at my mother, the queen." Lanassa sighed "She abandoned me at birth because she couldn't face up to her own mistakes. She deserves the slander."

Shui simply crossed his arms over his chest, his wings fluttering in an almost aggitated manner. Yet again, he found himself displeased with this female's response, vengence of any kind left an even larger opening then he had mentioned with her doubt. "What do you hold closest to your heart?"

His continued displeased expressions troubled her. What would happen if she gave him the wrong answers? "Uhm... well..." She murmured, largely unsure."My friends I guess? The people at home? I have a good home, a good life with them. I cherish that."

"That answer is far better than any of the others I have heard yet," he murmured before staring Lanassa right in the eyes, "What are you willing to sacrifice to meet the end goal?

"I do not believe my goal is worth sacrifice. I am simply a selfish girl with a selfish wish." She said somewhat saddened "What happens to her, though, my mother... that is the only thing I don't give much about."

"Saying such a thing indicates more darkness in you than I am pleased with. I can only hope that your views change as you continue your training. Clearly she left you with a good life, you were taken care of and loved by those who looked after you. While your mother may have been the one to leave you, she left you in the hands of good people to serve a higher purpose. You resent her when you have led a far better life with the temple than you would have had with her." Shui turned his head for a moment and frowned, "I have no other questions for you, you are dismissed."

"Yes." Lanassa hissed "Maybe I should be happy that she didn't outright kill me. That does not change she was willing to abandon her daughter simply to cover up her own errors. Yes, she isn't inhuman. I don't wish to kill her, I simply want her to atone. I may like my life, but that doesn't mean it was always easy! How could anyone believe that growing up without your parents could be? How often do you think I wondered about the woman that had to leave me behind? I always thought I had a mother that was unable to take care of me. Someone poor, someone troubled beyond rational belief. I took comfort in my beliefs that my abandonment must've been heartbreaking. Instead, I see the queen happily on her throne without any shame. It hurts. The robed one said you were like me... do you understand that pain?"

"You don't know hurt until you feel and see your mother sink a blade into your skin and leave you to die," was all Shui said before the illusion fell, leaving Lanassa back in the courtyard after being forcefully ejected from her own dream like state.

Tears were burning in Lanassa's eyes as she found herself back in the normal world. It took her a minute to notice the circlet that had somehow appeared on her person. The circlet was made of yellow gold and rose gold bands that spiraled and intertwined to make a tiara-like shape. It dipped down along the hairline, almost touching the forehead region with an intricate swirly flourish. The circlet itself was scattered with small, golden leaves and flowers that resemble the florae native to her homeland; There were five flowers on each side with each holding a small jewel representative of the elements that her people pay respect to: Ruby, Emerald, Blue Topaz, Black Diamond and Diamond. In the center of the circlet, above the swirly flourish, was a much larger Aquamarine stone that was also decorated with swirls of rose gold. Attached to the large Aquamarine at the bottom sat a half size smaller Opal, outlined in the same rose gold that decorated the Aquamarine. Lanassa took it off her head and examined it for a minute before putting it back on again. Despite the... unpleasant experience, at least she could say Shui had a decent sense of fashion. She sighed, then turned around and walked to the robed figure. "What now?"

Mira reached out to touch the shining crystal, and all at once she felt like she was falling, her surroundings seeming to shift. Everything was strangely surreal, and she couldn't really make out any sort of scenery, just the Light Sage before her.

"Why are you here?" The girl's soft voice echoed slightly, and the woman facing her squared her shoulders under the searching gaze. "I came to learn what I need to stop the Dark Lord's return," she replied.

"And what do you hope to accomplish?"

That was a question the healer had a ready answer to as well. "I want to defend this world and its people, especially those who cannot defend themselves," she answered confidently, not even needing to think about it. Hikari considered the woman for a moment, sensing something more there, but let it go without comment. Instead she continued with her next question. "What do you hold closest to your heart?"

Now the lady hesitated, her intent eyes looking off at nothing. "A few years ago, I would have said my family, but...right now? Trill -- ah, Trillian." She flushed and looked down, suddenly awkward. "I know I'm going to regret it when he leaves, but...I think the good memories will outweigh any lingering pain, in the end. Besides, he's really not as bad as he seems."

There was a faint flicker of interest in Hikari's eyes, but she just nodded. "A last question, then. What are you willing to sacrifice to defeat the Dark Lord?"

Mira met her gaze and returned it without reservation. "Whatever it takes, even if the price is my life!" she answered fiercely, eyes flashing with determination.

Moments later she blinked to clear her vision and frowned slightly. Hadn't there just been something going on? No, that couldn't be right -- yet she now held something in her hand that she hadn't had before. It was a broad wrist cuff of tooled silver, patterned with intricate interlace over most of it, surrounding seven gems. The largest was silvery-clear with its many facets catching the light. Around it, forming the four corners of a square, were smaller smooth stones of deep green, jet black, brilliant red, and blue with just a hint of green. Farther out on each side were set two more such jewels, one pale blue and one that swirled with a rainbow of colors. The piece was gorgeous, and it took Mira a moment to realize her jaw had dropped, and to shut it again. She bowed her head towards the preserved Sage again. "I am honored," she said softly, slipping the cuff on.

~~~~~~~~~

The elven minstrel had been lounging against the fountain, apparently paying no attention to the cloaked figure and its speech, but he jumped upright in a hurry when a sudden lightheadedness accompanied his surroundings blurring out of focus. Some sort of magic? He tensed to run, and spun around when a bright, childish voice addressed him from behind.

"You are the one Mira mentioned... Trillian is it?" she questioned, a surprised look upon her face, "I did not call you here but... there is something about you, elf, something I cannot quiet place just yet."

He looked down at the blonde girl in surprise before relaxing. "Ah, you must be Hikari. You've got the wrong person, though. You want Mira."

"I have already spoken to the new Sage... I wish to speak to you. I am rather curious about why it is you are here when it is clear that you are disinterested in the ways of Mages. Tell me... Why did you come to the University if you have no desire to learn?"

"Moral support," he replied, a wide smile on his face. "Oh, and because I'm selfish, but don't worry. I won't keep Mira from her glorious mission." Sarcasm dripped from the final two words.

"What do you hope to accomplish?"

"Accomplish?" Trill looked taken aback, but he supposed he had nothing to lose by answering. "Eh, I’ve never much worried about accomplishing anything. Spreading joy, I suppose, though that sounds conceited. Really, all I want to do is travel and have a good time." He shrugged, and gave the girl a grin, but she didn't return it. Instead she began another question.

"What are you willing to sacrifice--"

"Nope, not happening. I’d really prefer not to sacrifice anything, thank you very much." He warded the thought off with a shielding gesture of his hands.

"And should Mira fail...would you be willing to take her place?"

Now /that/ got Trill's attention. "What?" he asked, as if not sure he heard right. He waved dismissively. "She won’t. Question is moot."

"Answer anyway."

The man frowned, and shook his head. "There's no way I could succeed where she could not. I'm a terrible mage, I'm a terrible fighter. You want her. Not me." Silently he added, "And I would totally run away first chance I got."

Those bright, searching eyes glared at him. "I'm in your head; I know your thoughts."

"Then you know I would not."

"You say that... but should the need arise I think you will." Now it was the elf's turn to narrow his eyes. He didn't like the way the girl was looking at him, not at all, and he responded in his normal way for such discomfort: flippancy. "If you can read my thoughts, I don't need to actually answer~ What's the point of this again?"

"Answer me elf. Should it ever come to it, what would you be willing to sacrifice? While I have the confidence in the sage that I have chosen... there is something in her heart that concerns me...."

"If Mira fails, you will need to find someone else. I am not joining any fool's quest nor any such nonsense, and you cannot make me."

Clearly not pleased, Hikari glared at the man as she muttered under her breath. The moment she fell silent, there was a flash of light and a searing hot pain on Trill's left hand. She was not at all pleased with the elf's insubordination, and she wasn't about to let him go unmarked. As the light disappeared, Trill was left with a rune on his hand, a crescent moon with a music-note tail. "Your talent is wasted," she stated. "Wasted because you refuse to nurture it, like a fool."

Trill yelped in pain, and said a few choice words. "I've never claimed not to be a fool, you condescending do-gooder," he exclaimed in anger. "No more questions -- get out of my head!" And with that he started singing one of the bawdiest songs he knew, running through the complicated fingerings that would accompany it if he'd had an instrument to hand in order to focus all his attention on something else. He'd never once played that particular song to a quiet room; indeed, it was guaranteed to cause a bit of a ruckus, and the minstrel had learned to shut everything else out to get through it with as few mistakes as possible.

The ploy worked. A sudden vertigo and he found himself again in the courtyard, hand still burning from the child's branding. He bent over, pulling his hand close and pressing his other palm against the mark. The musician didn't need to look to tell it was still there; the agony made it plain enough. How dare she? And on his hand! He cherished his music above all else, and the physical things he needed for that craft came a close second. Trill didn't recall the details, but he knew that patronizing, prissy, puerile girl was the cause and he felt nothing but loathing for her in return.

A dull blurring around the edges of his vision gave way to full darkness as Erolith’s fingers left the surface of the amberglass, a sensation of falling for a moment before he found himself in a small circle of grass surrounded by darkness. A small, moss covered log sat on the ground near the far edge of the circle, about seven or so feet from Erolith. On the log sat a tall elven man adorned with jade armor with a matching jade mask that seemed to hide much of his features. Kybur sat and watched Erolith, or appeared to be watching him as the mask trained on his figure, faint white streams of mist trailing from where the mouth would be. It was cool, cool enough to freeze your breath at least, and Erolith gave pause for a moment before speaking up to the entity that stood before him. Silence was cut like a knife when Erolith moved closer towards the Jade Fist, trying to understand what all of this really meant, what the reason for his being summoned to the academy was, and why the sages were entombed in the entranceway of this esteemed school.

“Kybur...The Jade Fist… Am I to believe that I am to succeed you as the Sage of Earth? Is this why I was brought here? ” Erolith’s voice spoke out from the darkness and seemed to echo as if they were in a small chamber and the surrounding darkness was only a wall of sorts to contain this dream-like trance that the elf had found himself in. The darkness, however, only served to make Erolith uneasy as he felt the feeling of the darkness press against him with each step he took towards Kybur.

There was silence for some time as Jade Fist watched the Elf attempt to approach him, wondering how long it would take before the newly appointed Sage would realize he would never be reached. “Why are you here?” the male demanded, the voice holding an air of authority that would cause one to assume that he had been one of the main leaders of the old group.

The sudden boom of the commanding voice struck Erolith as awkward, since he was not accustomed to being spoke to in such a way, but nevertheless, he stopped in place and stared at the elf in armor. Erolith shook his head before answering the question in a similar fashion to how it was asked, with confidence and resolve. You wish to know why I’m here? You wish to understand someone from your homeland and understand what it is that brought another of your kind to this place. You should know already, Fist. I am here to obtain the power to protect not only my homeland, but the homes of so many others around me. The power that Farrenthal had bestowed upon you… the power to seal away the darkness and protect the beauty of the world. I am here to gain the strength to protect the world around me and guard it from the evil that seeks to grip the land again.”

Erolith spoke as he narrowed his eyes at Kybur, wondering what it was that the Sage of Earth was after, if Erolith himself was truly worthy of becoming a sage. He wondered this to himself as he waited for a response from the stoic, jade-covered elf.

Though one could not see it, one could almost certainly feel the glare that the elf had directed at the Sage. “And here I thought my social skills were bad when I first met my sages,” he stated, though he did not say anything negative about Erolith’s response. “Now, what is it you hope to accomplish while you are here?” At this point, the elf crossed his arms and simply stared towards the elf druid, though the glare was still in place.

It was almost paralyzing, the glare, striking Erolith as a sort of offense. As if Kybur was annoyed or maybe even unamused by the strange elven druid, but Erolith did not falter and responded in kind. “I hope to gain a stronger bond with the spirit of earth and commune with him as no one had done before. To become one with the spirit of earth and channel his power in a way that brings good to the land and defend my home of Tellus. I want to gain the strength to face down the darkness that threatens the world and quite honestly, the same darkness that terrifies me beyond any meaning of the word. I do not want these nightmares of seeing Tellus swallowed by fire and darkness anymore.” A shiver ran down Erolith’s spine as he spoke his last sentence, praying that he may one day be rid of the nightmares that plagued him.

“You will not be the first to commune with the spirit of Earth, but I do hope you will be the last as I do not want this world to have to deal with the Dark Lord once again after the six of you take care of him.” Jade frowned behind his mask, though it was not something that could be seen. He did not dislike the male’s responses, but at the same time he felt they were almost generic, like he was being told what the Elf thought he wanted to hear. “What do you hold closest to your heart?”

“Close to my heart… What is close to my heart… I… The untamed wilds of Tellus of course. The beauty of the trees and flowers and plants. The nature of the land and it’s wondrous formations. The beautiful waterfalls and streams that run through the forests and the various animals that live within it’s borders. I hold dear the unbridled fury of earth, the maw of stone that devours and destroys. I love Tellus, the earth and stone and everything about it. The ferocity and fury of the earth, but also it’s more gentle and peaceful nature. You wish to know what I hold dear and close to my heart, it is these things, and not much else. I am a man with few friends and a family that is not much longer for this world. I gave my life to the forest and to Farrenthal, and that is what I hold dear.” Erolith spoke softly as he could sense a shift in tone in Kybur’s voice, an inflexion that suggested that he was frowning, possibly because his answers were not adequate, but also possibly because his answers may have been rehearsed or had been what the Jade Fist had wanted to hear, but not what he wanted Erolith to say. It was strange, Erolith spoke from his heart and that was all he could do, but to feel as though he was a disappointment to the former Sage of Earth was unsettling.

Jade simply nodded his head, taking in what had been said and mulling it over for a moment as he studied Erolith’s body language. It was clear he unsettled the sage in some ways, but that is what he was meant to do, he who had lived through things no one would ever dream of. He who had fought his way out of slavery and had devoted his life to freeing his people within Lucerna. “What are you willing to sacrifice?” he demanded.

Erolith gritted his teeth as he stared at the elf, his eyes slowly closing shut as he went over thoughts in his head, leaving them shut while he gave his response. “I know what you want to hear, it is because it is what you would do isn’t it? You want be to say something like ‘Sacrifice myself’ because that’s who you are, what history painted you as… a selfless hero… But you and I seem to be very much so in common. I would die to see the world remain in peace. Die to see Tellus live on and live strong. I would give up my life in order to keep the darkness at bay and if it comes to it, I would die if it meant killing this Dark Lord for good. I cannot stand idly by while the world suffers, while the beauty of each of the continents is destroyed and consumed in flame. I cannot let the world die.Not while I draw breath.” Upon finishing his statement, Erolith opened his eyes to reveal a soft green glow replacing his pupils and the rest of his eyes, as if the natural energy and lifeforce of the planet was being channeled through him. A flash of light as the darkness around the pair crumbled to reveal a forest surrounding them. The dreamstate brightened as Erolith let out a soft sigh before adding a final word to his statement. “I will not let the hand of any foul monster...some usurper… taint the very earth upon which I tread. I cannot abide by the darkness and cannot sit and let the world turn to ash. I desire the power to stop it and if need be die doing so.”

“You fight for earth, I fought for my people, for those who were both free and enslaved… I fought for people like Summer,” Jade replied, his words were slow, almost deliberate, “You need to learn what it is to have people to want to fight for, not just plants or a continent. You, who chose to live in the forest and away from your kind… you need to learn what it is to have a purpose past such things. You cannot live for the Earth alone, you need to live for its people as well.”

“I do not feel like the world of sentient beings has much to offer me anymore. I learned what I could but now I feel as though I have more to gain from the wilds than I do from people. When my father passed, I did not feel a connection to the rest of my people anymore, I was too different, too powerful. I never understood why I was born like this, born with this talent, but I think now I am beginning to understand it. Perhaps these other sages here will teach me what I need to know as far as finding a greater purpose to fight for,but as it stands, I do not have a desire to protect the people, though they deserve it, they are not my priority. We can rise from the ashes, but nature would be crushed under the boot of darkness and it will be no more.”

Erolith spoke this as he thought about what he needed to do, there was no inclination in his mind as to who Summer was and had no clue as to who he could possibly gain enough feeling for to fight for them. He felt nothing of value towards any other living person he had met thus far, outside of his friend Ignolis, but that was a relationship built by the ranger and not the druid. He sat confused for a few moments before Erolith finally shrugged and resolved to understand what it meant to live for the people of the earth. Perhaps he would never know.

“Try,” was all the former sage said before the darkness melted away and left Erolith back in the courtyard with the other sages.His eyes blinked for a moment or two before focusing on the body of Kybur laying therein the amberglass, entombed in the oak tree. A brown leather cuff lay on a small wooden shelf that seemed to have materialized while Erolith was in his dreamstate with the Earth Sage. The cuff had two vine like string wrapped around edges of the cuff where the leather was frayed and the frayed end was framed by these strings of vine. Tiny leaves grew on the vines, only they weren’t made plants, they were made of molded leather. The cuff itself looked like it had taken a painstakingly long amount of time to craft, that was until Erolith noticed the gemstones adorning the top of the cuff. An Emerald in the center with six other gemstones surrounding it; Ruby, Aquamarine, Topaz, Black Diamond, Diamond then Opal to finally rest at the left side of the Ruby. This cuff was truly the work of a master craftsman, but not only that, it seemed to emanate a ridiculous amount of power, like a magical focus of sorts to aid Erolith in a way. With a curious stare, he lifted the cuff and slid it onto his right wrist before turning to look at the rest of the sages that joined him in the courtyard, who all seemed to be awakening from their own dreamstates.

Having been left to her own devices in front of the cylinder of clouds, Summer decided to inspect the woman further before doing as she had been instructed. The woman was wearing a dress very similar to the one Summer had thrown away before leaving her home, though the sleeves on the woman's dress were caught in the bend of her elbows. The woman's hands were gripped together in front of her chest and upon closer inspection, she noticed a wedding ring on her finger, which confused her. She was under the impression that the Sages never got the opportunity for love, they were sealed up in these tombs shortly after their victory... or were they? Finally, Summer looked up and stared at the woman's violet eyes, so like her own, but also so different. As Summer stared at her eyes, she nearly jumped in surprise as they slowly closed, a small smile forming on the encased woman's face. This alone was enough for Summer to finally reach towards the cylinder, her hand coming into contact with... a cloud?

Summer found herself standing on a cloud, but... How is this possible? I was in the courtyard not too long ago, how am here... and there? Summer looked around and nearly froze when she came face to face with the very woman who had been in the cylinder.

"Hello my dear, I am Havā... and your Great-Grandmother." the woman, Havā, said with a soft smile on her face.

"My... my what? But... but how? I mean... what is... how is this? I don't understand, how am I here?"

"I have allowed your mind to meld with mine for a time, there is much I wish I could both tell and show you, but our time together is short... and I am sure that Earth Elf will want to speak with you shortly. First, I want to apologize... I am sorry that I could not be there for you when you had no one, but this is where I was needed until it was time for you to come to me. Your experiences were also necessary, though cruel, in order to ensure you were... on the right path. Though you have been beaten and abused in more ways than anyone should ever have to be, you have remained kind and gentle. You stepped up to a Lord and requested to save a living animal, you have given Ostel the benefit of doubt when he came to save you from certain death. You chose to trust a Human male even though it was, in fact, a human that took your virtue and scared you, not just on the outside, but on the inside as well. You have a pure heart Summer, don't let anyone tell you different, or change you. I am proud of you Summer, so proud, and I am sure your parents would be as well. Stay strong young one, and please, be you, never settle for less than you deserve... and remember, your power is tied to your emotions. You will need to learn to control them, but that shouldn't mean that you are unfeeling. Never stop being compassionate, and never EVER hate, not even the Dark Lord. Hate will twist you and your powers, turn them dark and that is just not a way to win."

Summer looked down at her feet before looking up at Havā, "So... all those things that happened to me... were supposed to happen? I was... I was supposed to be... taken advantage of?"

Havā let out a soft sigh and put a gentle hand on Summer's shoulder, it was warm, "I do not have to pretend to like it Summer, and neither do you. No one should have to go through something like that, ever. But, you are all the stronger for it... Now… I must know why it is you are here."

Summer stared at the shifter before her, why was she here? Why did she leave the comfort of her home, of her daily routines? ”I don’t really know why I am here,” she murmured, ”I know what I am meant to do, I know I am supposed to help everyone seal… or maybe even kill… the Dark Lord. Maybe I agreed to come because someone promised me justice for what happened to me, but overall, I just don’t know.”

While the sage did not seem please, she was not upset either, but rather understanding of Summer’s thought process. “What do you hope to accomplish?”

”I want to at least be able to help everyone… even if I cannot do much,” she replied, ”I am out of my element here, I want… I want to learn more about what I am and what I am able to do. I want to be strong enough to… to be of use…. To others. I want…. I want to find out why he left…”

Havā could not help but frown at Summer’s last words, ”That is not something you can find the answer to here, not yet… but maybe soon. However, it is good to know that you wish to learn, for that is what you are here to do. Now tell me, what do you hold closest to your heart?”

”For the longest time, it was the human who saved me… I’ve been trying to let him go but it hurts too. Now? Now all I have is Merlin and my friend Lethilan… those are the only two living things I hold close to me now.”

”Lastly… my dear child, what are you willing to sacrifice?”

This last question left Summer a bit puzzled, what was she willing to give up? Did she have anything worth offering? ”All I have are my memories and my life,” the Elven Shifter replied, ”I would gladly give either if it meant helping keep everyone safe.”

”You have much to offer Summer, you will find your purpose soon enough,” the female said, ”I wish you the best of luck young one.”

Summer nodded her head and before she could say anything else, her eyes opened and she found herself in the courtyard. "But I... thank you..." she murmured softly as she looked at Havā within the Cylinder, her eyes now closed "I want to be strong, just like you... but I also want... to be my own person." Summer closed her eyes and let out a small sigh, trying to suppress the nerves and the fear as she held out her hand before her, only to find what was once empty, now filled.

Within the female’s hand rested a double bladed scythe, chains hanging from the center around where her hand was resting. On the edge of each chain was a sharp-bladed like object that she assumed could be used as a weapon. Where the blade met the hilt of weapon, a large topaz rested on one both blades, the gems rounded and when the light caught it, refracted light almost like a diamond.. From the center of the hilt going up a ruby, Aquamarine and emerald were embedded, each gem shaped like a four point star with their sides circling the hilt and almost touching on the opposite side. Beneath the center rested the Diamond, Opal and Black diamond in kind, the design similar to those above it. The metal of the handle was a light-gun metal gray while the blades themselves seemed to match the light color of the Topaz gem rested within. Curious, she gave the weapon an experimental twirl, the chains making a soft whistling sound, almost musical, as she did so.

Upon noticing that everyone had finished their interaction with their Ancestor/Predecessor, the cloaked female finally pulled her hood down to reveal the face of a young looking female. Crystalline blue eyes framed by dark lashes, scanned the new sages as she studied each and every one, her eyes missing nothing. Her hair fell around her shoulders in silvery-blonde curls that did nothing to hide her elongated ears, ears that held a row of piercings from mid-length to top. As she looked around, she rested her hand the nymph statue beside her, the glass globe that once held the six gems now gone.

"Well then, now that you all have what was meant for you, I would like for you to follow me please," the woman said, "Oh, and my name is Idris for those of you who wish to know... and I'm a Warlock." She offered a smile as she made a small motion for them to follow her.

When they all finally got over their initial shock, each Sage and their companion (for those that had one), proceeded to follow Idris to a gate on the other side of the Courtyard, a gate that lead into Darkness. Without another word, she opened the gate with the wave of her hand and led them into a cave that was so dark that they could barely see their hand in front of their face. They walked like this for what felt like hours, but was only seconds, before the cave came to an end and they stood in front of a portal. Before stepping through, she smiled at everyone and motioned for them to follow her once more.

When everyone was through the portal, they found themselves in a vast field with rolling hills and not a tree in sight. No, no trees, but there was a large castle like structure about 300 yards away from them. The castle was built of a mix of Black Onyx and Gold laced Marble stone with three towers aligned behind the structure, nearly reaching the sky. The Towers themselves were black in color with the gold-laced marble acting as the roof. The Gothic structure looked out of place in the sunny fields, actually, the whole "Sunny fields" seemed out of place with Tenebra.

"Parallel dimension so to speak," Idris said with a smile as everyone looked around, "If you like the outside, wait until you see the inside, it's literally whatever you want it to be."

She led them all to the University, once they reached the large front doors, they opened silently revealing a large Front Hall decorated in vibrant colors with the Dining hall branched off to the left. On the right side of the hall were 7 doors, 7 doors that seemed so out of place when it came to everything else. Each door was the color of an element, except for the seventh door, the seventh door was a mix of all the colors and seemed more… foreboding.

As Idris led the Sages down the halls to the dorms, the walls become increasingly covered in a compilation of interesting vines, and other flora and the floor became craggy and uneven, as though tilled for a garden.

In the middle of this mayhem stood a pair of palm-trees that grew up through the stone floor for an old man to hang a hammock between, himself sleeping seemingly blissfully unaware that he was living inside an exceptionally large school.

"Looks like a certain someone decided to turn the halls into his personal napping area," Idris muttered as she stared at the male in the hammock, "Hey, wake your ass up!" Walking up to the hammock, Idris flipped the male out of the object, giving everyone a clear view of her cloaked back, and how its seemed she was a bit wider than one would have initially thought.

Kailu-En woke at the harsh words of the cloaked person, and reached for a nearby staff to help him out from his hammock when they tried to spill him onto the halls in a less-dignified manner. He swung wildly at the figure in retaliation, his aim was good, despite his lack of speed compared to Idris, he only narrowly missed hitting her upon the ribs, instead the end of his staff slashed at her cloak as she jumped back with dull surprise.

"Didn't they teach you to respect your elders in school?" He asked, as he rolled his feet underneath him and assumed a somewhat inviting yet menacing half-slumped posture; like a coiled spring steadying itself with a staff like it were a guide-rod pointed accusingly right at Idris. "Well, at least you'll make a good example for anyone watching," he mused as his other hand appeared to preparing some other sort of weapon from the vines on the floor.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you not to fall asleep in the halls?" she demanded as a ball of fire formed in her hand, "Seriously Kailu, you are supposed to be in the training halls teaching the other students how to fight, not napping in the halls! Or ruining my favorite cloak, now I need to find a new one. You owe me a new cloak."

"These are the training halls, girly. And you're late." Kailu seemed to point out, feeling triumphantly vindicated at finally having a sparring-partner after so many months trapped in this school's halls. "Class is now in session." He then smiled aside to the onlooking gawkers before launching himself at a nearby wall, lashing a whip out to snag upon one of the many candle-lights along the side, and appearing to sweep the hall with this gigantic thorny tripwire before changing direction to run the ceiling until the taught whip jerked him back to sail in a graceful tight arc towards Idris's back.

Idris tracked his movements without too much effort, only moving her head as she committed to memory where he put the trips. "These halls are about half a mile too far to the left," she said, "Which means you got lost against didn't you? I mean, its not the first time and I highly doubt it will be the last, you tend to get lost a lot." With a flick of her wrist, Idris sent the fireball after one of the vine traps he had set up, figuring the flame would follow the trip to the rest.

As the flame burned-away at his vines, the one he relied on frayed and gave out just as he came near striking-distance of Idris, but as it snapped he suddenly fell away and slid to a halt, still facing her and ready to block any follow-up move, only to hear her chastising him for becoming lost and proceeding to tidy-up the halls of his overgrown garden.

"Maybe, but a room is not inherently a class, and class can never always be confined to such a narrow constraint as a room." He lectured, as he resumed vaulting to make himself a difficult target, snatching another whip from another hidden location amongst the greens before Idris could torch it.

"As fights can break out anywhere," He vaulted back to Idris's front, and willed the plants to grow at an exceedingly alarming rate that soon threatened to lift off the vaulted stone ceiling

However, not wishing to make himself an easy target, he leapt away again with an agility that only an elf could ever hope to achieve, landing beside her to continue his explanation, jabbing her tattered cloak with his staff, "any time," he paused, waiting for Idris to lash-out before ducking to her other side and continuing further, "for nearly any reason."

To put on the peace de-resistance, he hooked his staff under Idris's cloak and gave it a great big yank as he jumped away, revealing the cloaked-woman's silvery wings, "These conditions are usually absurd. And disorientating."

Having fouled his weapon with textiles, he took a second to remove the large chunk of Idris's cloak from his large wooden staff. "So best to get them used to it. I'm sure Mr Roran would agree that being unfazed by such shenanigus things can quickly yield a strong tactical advantage. Will he be joining you in class this semester?"

"You talk too much," the female winged elf stated before stretching out her wings a bit, then hauling off and punching the male in the face as he was distracted by removing her cloak from his staff. With the plants and her cloak out of the way, she was able to stretch out, a flame sword appearing in her hand. If he was going to favor the earth, she had no trouble favoring fire.

"Lesson one, don't talk so damn much when you are fighting," she bit out, lunging at the male, "Lesson two, leave my Husband out of this... you know he..." Idris fell silent as she attacked Kailu in an unrelenting manner, not at all pleased that he had mentioned her husband when the last time she had seen him was when he had decided to go dimension hopping again.

As the roof fell away, he suddenly realized he was in the air, and not by his own choice as the harsh dose of Idris's fists brought the gravity of his situation into focus as he could feel the searing heat of her flamesword just inches away from permanently maiming him. He gave her a bodily kick to the chest to wrest himself from her grip, and spread his own wings... making it seem as though he was trying to flee in fear of his life... and although he may have been afraid of a woman's scorn, he knew fleeing was not his answer.

As he passed a certain point, he dropped his staff, turned, and lashed at Idris with his whip as he tried to hold his small section of airspace.

Meanwhile, down below, the staff hit the floor, and fell to its side, hitting one final tripwire. From below, a faint rumbling was heard as a chunk of the hall was lifted, and quickly accelerated skyward towards where Idris and Kailu were fighting. "Lesson three: Not all that is earth, burns." He countered, headbutting Idris.

Idris let out a hiss, followed by a yelp when she got hit with the section of floor, not at all pleased by the fact that it had smacked her in the back. Before it had the chance to catapult her into the ceiling, she managed to break it away so she was free from it and chose to freefall towards Kailu instead of flying at him. "Lesson Four, try not to talk so much when you are fighting," she said as she grabbed Kailu by the front of his shirt and used her wings to propel them towards the ground. She had no interest in his games, she had to take the Sages to their rooms and be off to do some work.

Using his whip, he hooked a chunk of exposed rafter, veering the fall-path enough so that he would clear of the floor by inches and bleeding-off excess speed as he used Idris as a brake-skid. Getting up from the rubble, he offered a hand to help Idris to her feet, only one since the effort to not collide head-first into the stone floor had dislocated his entire right arm.

"Lesson five, disregard lessons one and four. As talking is a free action preferable to getting your skull caved-in because of a temper-tantrum." He smiled as he gave his conflicting lesson, one clearly from a bad experience as he let-go of Idris's hand just before she could regain her balance, "Class dismissed."

Idris rolled her eyes in his attempt to make her fall again, grabbing the front of his shirt so, as she fell, he did to. "I will be sure to tell Roran that you thought it would be a good idea to fight me," she said, now on the floor with Kailu. Flipping the two of them, she set her knee on his chest and popped his arm back into place, standing up shortly after. "And there you have it, a fun little spar where you got to see your teacher fight and your headmaster kick his ass."

Kailu winced slightly when his arm was thrown back into place, but at this point everything hurt already, so being able to use both arms outweighed the pain. "Still, your drow friend would've probably wanted to see this for himself." He said, getting to his feet mostly under his own power, not willing to fall for the exact same trick he just pulled on Idris. "And it was more of a draw."

Mira went to her lover’s side when he bent over in pain, overriding his hissed protest and his halfhearted swats to look at the offending hand. But while the marking was there to stay, there was nothing to heal. “You’re a wuss, Trill,” she told him fondly. The elf grumbled something in reply and returned to cradling his hand. He wasn’t in the mood for joking, not at that moment.

The pair followed Idris as she lead them through the portal to a wide-open place with a large castle. Trill regretted the lack of trees, but the place was still lovely. His hand felt a bit better by then, though he wouldn’t soon forget his dislike for the child sage. Inside was bright and airy. The doors drew his eye, particularly the one with the swirl of colors, and he resolved to stay away from that one. He didn’t like the way it felt at all.

The change to a more wild place surprised Mira, as did the ensuing fight. Was that normal, she wondered, to attack someone at the drop of a hat? She tried to follow the battle with her eyes, but the pair moved far faster than anything she was used to tracking. Trill had promptly put the entire group between himself and the combatants, she noted. Typical of him. But his expression was somewhere between horrified and amused. The way the pair bantered, clearly they were on good terms. Still, it looked an awful lot like they were trying to kill each other. More proof that people who liked quests were crazy, he supposed. The wings surprised him. Winged elves were few and far between, and he’d encountered only a couple in the past.

And then the fight was abruptly over. Mira started forward at once, though she slowed a bit when she recognized one of Idris’s actions as putting the old elf’s shoulder back into its socket. “Are you both alright?” she asked, blue-grey eyes looking the pair over for other injuries that needed attention as she offered the older elf a hand. “If nothing else, I can ease the pain you two inflicted upon each other."

“We are good Mira,” Idris replied, smiling at the Sage, “This is a normal occurance between the two of us, keeps us spry in our old age. Now, follow me… and Kailu you may as well follow as well.” With that said, she took a left, walked up the steps and led them past various doors and other hallways. The few students that walked around seemed to shy away from her, not out of fear but out of a silent respect. Idris was not known to be a strict enforcer of the university rules, but when she got angry it was as if she brought chills wherever she walked. She nodded in greeting to a few of them, keeping a brisk pace as she walked, the long tendrils of her blonde hair swaying with the movement. She pointed out different general areas, noting that sets of corridors were often devoted to different areas of study, six of them being the different elements. After two rights and two lefts, she slowed down near the opening of a larged curved hallway on the right. It was almost as wide as the main hallway, but on the far back wall it had three doors that were quite spaced out. The entrance to the far-left tower had a symbol of Darkness and Light carved above the door, the center tower door had the symbols of Earth and Wind , and the far-right tower had the symbols of Water and Fire above the door.

"If you haven't guessed it already, we are at the back of the castle near the towers that you probably saw from quite a ways away. They are your rooms while you are here... we couldn't have you special students live near the ordinary students; that would be absurd!" She paused again then sighed, but waved her hand forward in gesture to the three towers. “Your rooming arrangements are as follows: Scarlett with Mira… Trill… we will need to find sleeping arrangements for you within the area. Technically those who are not Sages are not allowed in the towers, but if you study while you are here I may be willing to make an exception. Erolith you will be with Summer… Morpheus you will be with Lanassa. All of your necessary belongings and immediate desires have been brought up for you. This includes decor, clothing, and bath items. If you need anything else-- and gods forbid you do not-- then contact me. I may or may not answer you depending on how I'm feeling… or if I am working."

As she said this, the sound of an eagle could be heard, the animal landing on her shoulder moments later. "Oh, well, look at that, I must be off! I do hope the students haven’t ruined the room too badly… I don’t want to have to fix it again,” she said she grumbled, “Go make yourselves comfortable… and try not to kill each other. The whole point of you rooming together this way is to learn how to not cancel each other’s magics out… there is no class for that… so work well together. Ta-ta for noooooooooooooow.” With that said, she waved to the sages and took off down the hall.

“Oh…” Summer murmured as she watched the female, “I don’t… I rather not… well I guess that doesn’t matter now does it?” Letting out a sigh, the female looked over to Erolith and simply waited for a few moments to see if he would go first, but at the same time she was terrified of rooming when a male.

Even though Morpheus was no longer having a shared hallucination, his mind was still deeply rooted into obscurity. His eyes glazed over, much to the confusion of Lazarus who was looking at his brother who remained silent and seemingly unresponsive. Having absolutely no reaction toward the others gathered in the same location, all with similar gem encrusted items. Similarly, no reaction to the cloaked women revealing herself. Remaining statue like just vaguely listening to the background noise. Allowing Morpheus to catch the woman’s name, able to connect her voice and proceeded to almost blindly follow behind the whole group as they crossed the courtyard and entered through the pitch black entrance. With Lazarus following directly behind him, being the last one through.

The darkness that seemed to drag on, made Lazarus start moving around anxiously, starting to let out low growling sounds. Becoming observably nervous, if it wasn't so dark nobody could see. Despite this, Morpheus hadn't spoken a single word making the least possible required effort to move. His eyes not even looking at his given surroundings from the moment he awoke. Stopping suddenly when going through the portal, even after the other started moving toward the large castle in front of them in the distance. Like he had been anchored to the ground. Only one particular thought permeated, the weight of those words he carried overwhelmed him the longer they lingered. He couldn't shake what had been spoken. Having the opportunity to release his brother from the curse that tormented him for the majority of his life.

His very first actual movement being consciously made was him abruptly falling to his knees still grasping the staff in one his hands. Stopping himself from falling face first. Fiercely staring at his hands clenching them up into fists quickly standing upright, with a facial expression of complete disinterest. He quickly caught up to the group. Finally able to act normally, observing his actual surroundings analyzing what everyone looked like, not particularly enjoying the array of vibrant colors inside that was almost headache inducing. Especially focusing on the now revealed cloaked women who made that outlandish claim. Which normally he would of immediately disregarded, not trusting others or their words easily, yet something made him believe it.

Finally expressing something other than being apathetic just as the fighting between the two individuals was starting. He wasn't exactly sure why the fight started, not actually listening to most their bickering that lead to it. Letting out a slight disgusted groan gently petting Lazarus's head and body with both his hands, seeing him acting anxious. His brother was still growling seeing what was taking place as aggressive behavior. Relieved when it stopped, starting to get pissed off that time was being wasted and that it was upsetting his brother. Tapping his foot impatiently getting sick of all the talking, he never had to listen, or in his specific case completely drown out, so much endless talking. Following them once again, until hitting the three individual doors with clashing elements symbols upon each of them, wondering what kind of nonsense this was implying. Only to be surprised hearing that he'd be living with someone else, looking again at women in question.

“Are you kidding me? You expect me to live with sssomeone elsssle? I absssoultely refussse sssuch a ridiculousss proposssition!” Morpheus shouted out, in a tone clearly showing his displeasure of the current situation. “That damn women just left without a single further explanation, she clearly knows nothing about me! Talking to me, like she knows what I've been through. How can she so carelessly decide this? I will not simply wait around like a fool until I'm answered dammit!” He thought to himself, letting out an annoyed growl. He didn't spend a single moment with the rest of them. “I don't care what thisss bitch thinksss I'm going to do. I'm not will not idle around here! Come brother!” He exclaims tugging his brother's fur immediately rushing to the door with the fire and water symbol on it ripping it open, as Lazurus quickly followed though as he slammed the door shut.

Morpheus at that very moment, knew very well that he wouldn't leave a very good first impression with his actions. Especially to the person he'd supposedly sharing space with, not that he really cared about what others thought. But the very idea was absurd, was she even remotely aware of how dangerous he was to others? Why couldn't he just of been left alone? Questions of why continued to fill his head. Clenching his fists tightly just tossing the staff aside on the ground, storming inside the room that was supposedly where he'd be staying. Lazarus simply starting wandering around curiously sniffing the place. But suddenly stopping in the middle of the room, his entire body shaking looking at his human hands. “Dammit...that woman’s words made me think of every memory I've done my best to submerge in the very recesses of my mind. But now they're flooding out...tormenting all over again.” Morpheus continued to curse inside his head, as his mind seemed to be pushing the very thought of the very beginning of his brother's torment...

---

“Brother, are you alright?” Morpheus exclaimed in concern seeing his brother on the ground rushing over to him and helping him up. Lazarus stood up quickly, looking upward as the helmet they both had on had a bright flashlight shining revealing their long rope. Going up barely able to see the entrance they descended from into this cavern. Lazarus looked around with awe inspired eyes, as one wall was aligned with shining clear crystals running toward the wall, they could clearly see their reflection. “Brother, isn't this amazing?! We made a real discovery here...look at all of this.” Lazarus exclaim with a tone of utter glee as Morpheus walked over to his brother's side. “Brother, this is the third time you had an accident on our trip here you need to be more cautious, I don't want you getting hurt.” Morpheus said sounding concerned, putting a hand on his shoulder setting the backpack he was carrying on the ground. “You need to stop worrying about everyone else before yourself.” Lazarus replied looking around seeing something catching his eye setting his own backpack down rifling through it and grabbing a pickaxe.

Morpheus looked down as he rubbed the back of his head. “What do you mean by that?” He questioned though he already had a pretty good idea of what he was talking about. Lazarus squeezed the handle of the pickaxe tighter going to section of wall hearing something calling for him. Lifting the pickaxe high up with both of his hand swinging it down with a loud sound ringing as it hit the crystal.

“Do you really think our mother will change back to how she was, before our father died?” Lazarus questioned with a bitter tone. “Brother...of course, she just needs time-” He replies watching his brother lift the pickaxe and swing it harder and clearly less focused.

“No! That witch that lives in our home isn't our mother! She died along with our father. Every damn day you take your punishment, then my punishment because you desperately keep begging our mother to just beat you instead. Then every night you keep making excuses for her! Did you think that was making me feel any better? Watching my brother suffer than lying straight to my face?” Lazarus interrupted loudly taking one swing after another into the crystal wall seemingly making no progress.

“Please. Not another word...” Was all his brother could stomach to say looking down holding and squeezes his chest with his right hand, left speechless watching his brother starting to furiously swing again and again. “I was just trying to protect you...” He muttered so softly it was inaudible. Lazarus finally stopping to catch his breathe, seeing the wall remained undamaged. Morpheus could see the disappointment plainly on his brother's face, suddenly both felt the ground shaking both of their feet, similar to an earthquake as they both gave each other a look seemingly to have come to the same conclusion, assuming the worst case scenario. Only for tremoring to cease and a perfectly spherical ball to drop from one of the crystal, touching the ground immediately rolling right up between Morpheus’s feet, glowing black strangely both of them could hear the whispering coming from the orb, seemingly pulling them in. Suddenly, a shiver went down his brother's spine, as he started backing away. But Morpheus stared intensely at it.

“Deep in your bones,you desire revenge...you just need the power. Just touch me and everything will change and you will have the power you demand.” A strange whisper speaks aloud that they both could hear. Morpheus looked down at it clenching his fists and started reaching for the orb. “Brother, don't touch that thing.” His brother warned in protest but Morpheus didn't listen and grabbed the orb and picked it up holding it close to his face seeing his reflection, which suddenly changed turning his expression into twisted smile, changing his eyes to snake eyes which caused him to let out a sudden terrified shout dropping the orb. Hearing his brother let out a small painful cry, clutching his head with both hands, as his face was growing patches of brown fur.

He looked in shock wondering what was happening to his brother, his first reaction was to tell his brother everything was going to alright, but before he speak. Incredible pain rushed through his body suddenly feeling like it was being slowly pulled in both direction, his bones were making egregious sounds as he could feel himself stretching. He started to let out loud agonizing screams, unable to bare it collapsing to the ground and thrashing around as his helmet flung away from him, tears flowing from his eyes crying looking at his brother who was leaning against the cave wall, also crying but making no sounds at all with a half fanged smile whose one arm and hand was entirely replaced with a large bear arm and claw. “Don't cry brother...everything will be alright...” He replied as blood was pouring from his mouth. Was the last thing he remembered hearing before he blacked out...

Awaking to find his a large bear right beside with glowing tattoos and eyes, tears streaming down it's face. Morpheus felt drowsy, his head was spinning, he had to be dreaming turning his head toward the crystal wall which was being lit up from his discarded helmet, seeing the large creature staring back at him where his reflection was suppose to be. Morpheus remained utterly silent looking at the bear. “Brother...I'm sca-sorry for yelling at you...I love you...” He heard the bear struggling to say, choking out the words. But he didn't answer back, ignoring his surroundings and his own rapidly beating heart. Closing his eyes waiting to wake from this nightmare.

---

Morpheus snapped out of his daydreaming, with the sound of his brother as he noticed his brother staring at him with his hollow eyes. Morpheus walked over to his brother and held onto him with both hands, with a single tear coming down from his face. “I promised to always protect you...yet when you really needed me. I was playing the coward...you had to be going through the same pain. I was the one that cursed us both yet the first thing you told me, was how you were the one who was sorry...” Morpheus thought in his head holding his brother. “Damn woman...” He cursed aloud for having to recall that memory, however it filled him with determination. He would be willing to wait any amount of time if that allowed him to get his brother returned to normal, turning his head to see the staff he had thrown upon the ground.

Scarlett let out a small sigh and looked around the courtyard and noticed the woman, which is near the Nymph statute and noticed the glass globe was completely empty. Scarlett touched her Tiered Necklace of Dark’s biggest gem and smiled with a slight smirk since it is still amazing. She let go of her gem until the woman in the middle of the courtyard took off her hood and showed her beautiful hair, eyes, and face. Scarlett was a little bit worried when the woman told her to follow but her name Idris is beautiful but the profession Idris is felt different to her mostly because she has never met a Warlock before until now that is.

Zachery noticed Scarlett finally out of her daze and is happy at this. Scarlett walks towards her pet Zachery and follows Idris without question. Zachery follows behind Scarlett since that is how he usually stays behind her. Scarlett was slightly happy in following Idris. Zachery on the other hand wasn’t that happy to follow a warlock since his last master was a warlock before Nick that is, and it was a very long time ago. Scarlett was in the middle of the group in terms of the six sages following Idris.

Scarlett walked through the gate, which lead into the darkness. The Scarlett Rose was glowing a blue aura and her eyes was glowing the same color since this is only happens when she is pure darkness. Scarlett definitely felt like it was hours but in a few seconds she stopped and looked at what seems like a Portal in the Cave to another dimension. ”Huh, never thought this would be in Tenebra, I guess this school needs something unique,” Scarlett thought to herself.



Scarlett walked through the portal behind Idris and noticed the unreal landscape, she sees a place with no trees but a vast field with rolling hills. She noticed the large castle like structure about 300 yards from her. She was amazed at the sight even though she somewhat doesn’t like the light. Therefore, she covers her eyes with her left arm so she can see every other detail. Zachery noticed everything and somewhat sigh at the display mostly the opposite to what Tenebra is. Scarlett hears Idris say ‘it's a Parallel dimension so to speak.’

Scarlett still following Idris noticed the University’s front doors, revealing the front hall and was somewhat amazed at each of the elemental doors but the 7th door was a little bit terrifying to look at since she felt a foreboding aura from it and they were on the right side. She would keep that door in her mind since it was different to all the other doors. ”This school feels familiar like I have been here before but that makes no sense, I lived in Tenebra my whole life,” Zachery thought.

Scarlett continued to follow Idris down the hallway towards the dorms and felt somewhat weirded out at the fact there was vines, trees, and other such things growing everywhere. She noticed a person sleeping in a hammock and Idris was somewhat angry at the fact this happened. Scarlett hears the name of the man who was sleeping, Kailu from Idris. Scarlett watched them fight and was entranced by their fight since it was beautiful and somewhat unique, which felt like a lesson for her at least. She was shocked to notice, they were both winged elves and they were very good with their elemental attacks, etc. After the fight, she heard Mira asked them two if they needed healing but Idris said no and it's more or less fun for them two.

Scarlett followed Idris towards the dorm rooms and noticed the elemental symbols on the doors and finally she heard Idris talk about the room arrangements. She gave out a small sigh at the fact, which she has to room with people since in Tenebra it is somewhat illegal to room with another person since they would kill you in your sleep otherwise. Scarlett heard the wereserpent's outburst and held her ears a bit because it was pretty loud. "What the... he must be very angry at someone lately or he hates being roomed with a nymph," Scarlett thought to herself. The Scarlett Rose was glowing blue still. Zachery annoyed at Scarlett hating bad words in terms of what the Wereserpent said and her attitude in general. Scarlett looks at Idris slightly and then looks at Mira. ”I need to work on my weaknesses and that would be a big weakness to work on,” Scarlett said kindly towards Idris. Zachery face palms at Scarlett's blatant kindness. "Hi Mira, my name is Scarlett Nina Atkinson," Scarlett said kindly. Zachery face palms at Scarlett's kindness again and just sighs because she will never change since it is genetic.