Damien Bale Walked through the streets of the city with a metallic blue fiddle tucked protectively under one arm. He'd arrived a day ahead of schedule if only because he had decided it would be better to travel through half of the night than spend another sleeping by the road. The mercenary drummed his fingers on the instrument for a moment before musing to himself. "Hey Cat, I should buy a bow."
A voice echoed in his head with a faint note of derision. I had been under the assumption that you had come to the capital in order to better your skills in some way and thus become more worthy of my power. I can't see how your purchasing such a weapon would help in this endeavor. He sighed and rapped his knuckles harder on the Tome. The strings began to hum in a somewhat indignant tone. "Not that sort of bow. A musical one. I'd like to learn to play."
I don't see how that would help matters either.This time the voice hinted at approval.Let's both stick at what we excel at. I offer excellent advice and you follow it in a way that isn't entirely inept... And break things. Though I don't doubt that you might eventually become proficient.
He walked in silence for a few minutes longer before Damien stopped and stood still in the middle of the street. "I'm not even sure where I'm headed. I've never even visited the capital before." And you expect me to know the area any better? It might be best to simply find a place to sleep until the morning.
Damien groaned. He'd been looking forward to being able to sleep in a real bed but it looked now like that wouldn't be possible. It was well past the hour where any reasonable inn would be open to guests. His shoulders fell and he looked around for a moment before walking into the nearest alleyway and sitting against the wall. "Wake me if somebody happens to wander by."
Jessi listened to the messenger’s description of the mercenary leader and for a brief moment his heart stopped. It couldn’t be him, could it? Had his opponent from the desert survived? No. That was impossible. Jessi dismissed the thought as an overreaction. Black armor wasn’t uncommon and mercenaries tended to favor large weapons for intimidation purposes. Chances were this was just some nobody who would soon be an afterthought to this group.
Regardless who the knight was they needed to get moving. Though a group of mercenaries would easily stand out, they still had to locate the general area they had gone. Si made a remark about the mercenaries heading toward the Fey from earlier which gave Jessi an idea. ”Any idea which way the Fey headed after your encounter? I could probably track them once we pick up a trail but I need a general direction first.” He asked the cat in the bag.
"Only a few mercenaries? I was expecting more. They must be strong if you cannot handle them with your superior manpower." With that being said he turned to Si and Jessi with a frown. "Lady Si was not with us while we fought the Fey. She showed up during the subsequent confrontation instead." Chen corrected Jessi on that note and glanced at the messenger. But his mind wasn't on him.
No, Chen was thinking about that girl that the Fey had killed in cold blood. She looked so scared as she came at him with a knife, terrified even. He touched his face, feeling the phantom sensation of her blood splattered on his skin. That Fey would pay dearly, justice would be served.
"I find a good book to be a much better way to quote 'blow of steam' but to each their own I suppose." Chen shrugged as he finished his statement and waited for something to happen. @BlueAjah@KoL@Awesomoman64
"I can... find them, guh." Si replied to Jessi's question and Chen's comment about the direction the fey followed. Even she wasn't there at the moment, no one could be better to track down the fair folk as one of their own. In fact, the one most equiped for such a task was Si, given that the depths of the Rivenwoon Forest could only be traversed in safety by those who had the blessing of the fey over them.
"Once you are ready to go... I can guide you there, guh." Si waved her staff on the air summoning flickering wisps of magic that momentarily danced around her body before trailing in the direction of the woods, following them would lead into the same clearing Chen, Mikoto and Ruxen fought against the fey. The pool of dried blood still rested on the place were the woman had been killed, but there was no corpse laying on the ground as was expected. Perhaps some animal took her away, but no trail indicating that was visible.
Deeper within the forest, one could notice a number of footsteps from heavily armored soldiers, here and there, corpses of Fey warriors and soldiers, both Imperial ones and the mercenary troops (who despite being clearly Imperium born humans, wore no identifying insignia, making it hard to rack their origins) alike could be found. The forest itself became the battlefield for a deadly skirmish between these three parties. A conflict sparked by the Legend Relic, no doubt.
The sound of battles echoed from deeper within the forest, going in further would mean to become a possible target for both the fey and the mercenaries but, what other options did they have, if they wanted to secure the Relic?
*You guys can fight some random NPCs on your posts if you want to, while searching for the relic.
Back at Infinitum, several pieces where moving into place as events seemed to occur all over the capital of the Imperium.
At the cathedral, Antonia halted her prayers, momentarily and turned to face Solanne and Lorelai, or better, gaze past them to Eleonor, who just stepped forth to say, "What they say is true, Antonia. I know this may be too much to ask, given your vows, but we must know how to get to the Legend Relic you guard." Eleonor took out her mantle, to look right into Antonia's eyes, before finishing with, "Do this, for our old days, please."
"I see, I've had a revelation that this time would come soon. However, I cannot hand down that which was bestowed upon me by the Divine without being certain that you are worth of it. Even if you are an old friend." As the Priestess said so, she lifted from her kneeling place and pointed to the stained glass windows decorating the to heights of the magnificent building. "When the sun reaches its apex, on the longest of all days, the light pouring through the glass will reveal that which you seek. However, if you are true envoys of the Divine, the sky will rearrange itself to help on your quest. Pray for a miracle and the truth will be revealed!" Antonia said in a hammy voice characteristic of one used to preach for the masses.
"So, what you are saying is that we will need to either change the position of the sun, or... that of the windows, right, Antonia?" Eleonor said, smirking as she heard Antonia's reply of merely clicking her tongue in annoyance, before asking to Lorelai and Solanne, "Do any of you have any ideas how we should go about doing it?" Wondering if the fact that the Cathedral's nave was built with purposefully loose stones could help them with it?
Meanwhile, not very far from the cathedral, on a rathe inconspicuous alley, like so many others around Infinitum, except that this was the one Damien chose as his impromptu resting place. Sometime after he had already dozed off, Damien would feel a light tapping on his shoulder, that would increase in intensity until he eventually woke up.
If he cared to check for the source of the shaking, Damien's gaze would meet with that of a stern looking woman, dressed in the uniform of the Imperator's Honor Guard. "Hey, you, sleeping on the streets is forbidden. I'll have to request that you leave this area immediately. If you have no where else to go, temporary lodging can be provided on behalf of the Imperium." The woman said as she pulled back a step, but kept on eyeing Damien with a stern gaze.
And finally, at the Arcadian Ruins...
The situation was getting direr and direr at each passing second, with stones of ever increasing size falling at progressively smaller intervals. Tori's powers we restored once the barrier enclosing the temple was broken, a splash of blue light being the signal of that fact. Alex, on the other hand would find that the Relic easily dislodged itself from the staff's crest, shining a bright blue as it covered him with its unspeakable power, manifested in the shape of a short, strait bladed sword that hummed as it sliced through the air with even the least fickle of Alex's wrist.
As soon as the relic was removed, the power that seemed to be feeding the whole ruins as well as the small girl that seemed to be this place's guardian was cut off, the circuitry-like lines of pulsating blue light, turning to the same ashen grey as the stones at which they were carved. The only remnant of power left were the dimming lights at the portal that stood behind the small girl who was now still as a statue, every sign of life having left her eyes.
"Alex, Tori! We need to get outta here, fast!" Sienna spoke hurriedly, as she tried to make her way to the exit, while dragging Linea by the wrist. The Twins barely avoided being crushed as a huge, actually far too huge to be moved chunk of debris fell over the tunnel that led them here, blocking the exit.
"Oneesama, what are we gonna do?" Linea asked as she considered their options. "The portal, I think it's our best chance!" The fox girl said as she looked at it. Unless either Alex or Tori had a better idea about it, their only chance seemed to be trusting in this unknown portal.
If they dared to jump through it, the four of them would find themselves on the streets of Infinitum, rather close to the place Damien was being questioned by the guard, the last thing the Twins did before going through with their plan was pulling Nebula together with them, not being able to abandon the poor girl to her fate of being buried under the ruins for the rest of eternity.
"So... what do we do now?" Sienna asked, falling to the cobbled streets of the imperial capital, on all fours, ready to die of exhaustion at anytime, even as she had a wide fanged grin on her face that seemed to say, "That was a good one! Can we do it again?" Linea on the other hand was just content to stare silently at her sister, admiring Siena as always.
The mercenary had opened his eyes by the second such tap and looked up for a second, an expression of confusion spreading across his face. His had went to the instrument at his side, reassuring himself that it was still there. After rapping on it with his knuckles he looked back at the woman that had awoken him. "My apologies ma'am. I'm not familiar with the capital at all. It's my first time here."
...What was that for, I was asleep.
Damien ignored the voice for a moment and focused his attention on the guard. She really would be a bit prettier if she acted a bit nicer. Maybe the woman just took her job a bit too seriously and that's why they must have had her working nights. He stood up and straightened his clothing. There was no reason why he couldn't at least try to put things onto a friendly footing. Damien held out his had that wasn't currently gripping the fiddle. "It isn't that I don't have anywhere to go but that I'm not familiar enough with the city to find my way around. If you could direct me to a place I could stay then that would be perfect."
E-E-E-Excuse me?! Are you asking, a pious priestess of the Divine, actually asking us to desecrate a sacred structure as this by removing the windows?! Lorelai could not help but scream in shock, frustrated beyond any reasonable measure with the sheer heresy of it all. The reverberation of her own voice off the stone walls did much in quelling her, replacing the outrage with embarrassment upon realizing the rudeness of her actions.
Just do it for Lady Eleonor...just do it for Lady Eleonor...
Lorelai could have been praised for having perfect posture once upon a time, but there was a noticeable slump in her shoulders as she turned about to get a good look of the cathedral, forcing herself to perceive it purely from an architectural standpoint and within the context of the riddle. Think of it like an enemy held fortress. Yes, a fortress you must breech to reclaim it, but do so in such a way that it is still standing when taken.
Okay, what do we know here? First, we can't take everything literally. If we had to wait for the longest day of the year, we'd be waiting months on end for the stars to align, so...it must refer to the windows themselves.
Like with most stained windows in places of worship, they served to convey the narrative of the faith as much as the holy texts and priests did, each pane a depiction of the Divine's legend etched into the glass. "Perhaps we are looking for the glass pane depicting the longest day for the Divine herself...the slaying of the Great Beast perhaps? The creation of the Tomes and legend relics?"
The knight scratched her head heatedly as teeth gnashed and mental gears ground together. She wasn't the most apt of person's with puzzle solving and were it not for the circumstances as well as her present company she'd have left this to Solanne and Eleonor. "And...ummm...oh! You pray towards the alter so we should move the window to the front of the cathedral...I think."
Lorelai felt like she should be walking into the confessional and sobbing out her sins against the Divine after the week she's had. The mental gymnastics weren't helping her situation when her forte was smashing obstacles with explosive force.
The abyssal knight hung her head and dropped into one of the front pews, holding her heavy brow in her gauntleted hand before lamely muttering. "If this is all nothing more then a light puzzle, one could likely judge the trajectory without need to move the towering glass anyway." Without looking up she thrust a finger off to the side, picking a window depicting a benevolent Divine smiling down upon a world held in her hands while a life giving orb of fire and light rested behind her head like a crown. "And look at the size of these panes! With but the three of us and no equipment, we'd surely fracture the wall length glass before it could even be used!"
I wish Durgan was here. He'd have solved this for Lady Eleonor... She grumbled internally before slumping over in the pew, a bundle of misfiring nerves that struggled against the strain of the incessant blasphemy.
“Just try not to get us killed,” Titania muttered back, not liking how blatant Axon was being with Stark. Maybe they had some kind of relationship that she wasn’t aware of or informed with, but it only made her nerves be frayed with edge all the more. The following conversation really didn’t help, and she had to bite down the urge to face palm or slap the back of Axon’s head.
“Your concern is unnecessary,” Stark said blankly and bluntly. “The Platinum Knight has continued in his duties with no signs of ill regard or health. He has carried on as he has always done so. What is most surprising is your presence here and why you have chosen now to return to us.”
The form of a hawk soared overhead but Stark paid no mind to the avian creature. It wasn’t long before they reached the border of Infinitum itself, taking the shortest way possible to Yggdrasil’s personal quarters. Some citizens stopped to stare at the imposing form that was General Stark, but very few kept their gazes locked on for long lest they be accused for something.
“Surely you wouldn’t have returned unless you had a reason worthy of hearing out Yggdrasil himself, Axon,” Stark said behind his helmet, voice as robotic as ever. “You know the way and no longer require my guidance. For now.”
With that said, Stark left them to their duties to enter the mighty building that served as Yggdrasil’s office. Let it not be known that Stark didn’t have a twisted sense of humor, as Axon would remember that it often took some…effort to even get to Yggdrasil’s quarters. In any case, Stark turned his attention to a brief fluctuation in the air, as if…sensing a Legend Relic.
Without hesitance, he began to walk in the direction of Alex and Tori’s group. The blue Relic with which the thief had taken seemed to pulse a soft light, the sword dispersing and returning to its jeweled form. As if with a mind of its own, it stuffed itself into Alex’s pocket to avoid sight.
Not too far away from their location, Solanne yawned and decided to rest against a wall within the Grand Cathedral. Something about a puzzle or riddle or something that they would need to solve in order to obtain the Relic. Why couldn’t they just get on with it already? And then Antonia gave some long-winded, dramatic speech about the sun and the Divine watching over them all.
Something about being worthy, and the sun and the moon…honestly, Solanne was getting bored of this already. She briefly wondered what Fei’s group was doing before she noticed Lorelai near having a panic attack right in front of her. At which point, a sly grin eased onto her face and she snickered at the knight’s plight.
“Nope. Not a clue Sis. But it looks like your handmaid is onto something. Come on Lorelai, don’t hold out on us y’know? Share what you’ve got with the rest of the group,” Solanne said with a gleam in her eye. “Where’s all that Imperium faith when you need it, y’know? Or we could just smash every window and see which one sticks,” she offered with mirth.
In mid motion Alex found himself with the Relic, and he was able to take a moment to examine it even as he moved for the exit of the ruins. It was a sword, short and light in his grip. He had his bit of experience using swords, sure, though he hadn't been expecting the Relic would be one. Then again he hadn't really been sure what to expect in the first place, so it didn't pose a problem beyond carrying his active tome and the relic at the same time. He'd dealt with worse as far as transporting goods went.
"Well, I was so looking to stick around and enjoy seeing how much of a tan I could get, but I suppose I can put that off until later," Alex agreed as he snapped out of his examination, hurrying forward only to be cut off by the massive stone blocks that fell and blocked the exit to the room itself. Fortunately the twins didn't get crushed, but it did leave them with rapidly declining options for has to how they would actually get out of here.
It looked like they had no choice but to go through the portal nearby, and he shrugged before jumping through ahead of the Twins. not sure why they were taking longer but more than ready to get out of here now that he had some sort of treasure for all that effort that he had invested in getting to this point.
He took a moment to get his breath back, panting and dragging in each lungful of air as if it would be his last. It had been like a heist after all, albeit a more much dust filled heist than he was used to, and without the getting shot at that his bad heists tended to have. Not that he minded not getting shot at of course. But once he had recovered from all the running, the next thing he did was brush off all the dust and dirt that had gotten on his clothes and he returned his Tome to an inactive status. It wasn't like he needed it anymore.
Only then did he look around to see that they had wound up in the streets of Infinitum, much to his surprise. He was as surprised as the rest of them, and honestly he wasn't sure why they hadn't attracted a larger crowd than they had thus far. This wasn't really a typical occurrence here, as far as he knew.
While the twins wondered what to do, he was taken off guard as the sword he held became a gem once again, and it seemed to almost slip out of his grasp and into his pocket. "Well that was weird," he noted aloud with a frown. How did that work anyway? He really hoped it wouldn't become a sword inside his pocket, since he had no desire to be filled with additional holes while he was sitting down or something.
Stepping over to the twins, he looked on in confusion to see that they had brought the robot from the ruins with them, for what purpose he couldn't determine. "I plan on having a nice hot meal and a long drink, I don't know about you guys," he said with a grin as he answered Sienna's question, before gesturing to Nebula. "Uh, do we know if she's going to work without the gem? Cause dragging her halfway across the city doesn't sound like that much fun to me."
"Don't give up, Lorei, you were almost there, contrary to a certain person that keeps thinking with her fist up to today." Eleonor said as she sat beside Lorelei, patting the the knight's back in playful way, while throwing a teasing barb towards Solanne. Certainly the Crimson knight must have been in rather high spirits, to indulge in this sort of nigh childish behavior.
"Say, have you ever heard the saying, 'If you can't bring the prophet to the sanctuary...'" Eleonor left the rest of the, quite obvious saying as well as the solution of the puzzle, for Lorelai's mind to piece.
"But you would do well to be a quick thinker, Lorei, we will be having company soon." Eleonor said as she felt the quickened heartbeats of the soldiers coming toward their current location. However, she lifted a brow, a smile forming on her face. "But it seems not all of it will be bad. We'd better hurry and greet our honor guests with a nice light show, don't you think, Antonia?" Eleonor gazed at the priestess, who even now continued on her silent watch of all of them, with her ever expressionless gaze, turned to Solanne, most of all. After all, Antonia knew all too well who the Crimson Hound truly was.
"Well then, you should take care to not lose your way on the future. This city can be quite unwelcoming during the night, you are lucky a thief didn't robbed you blind, to say the truth." The guard said after Damien explained his situation, offering a hand to help him get back to his feet.
Right about this time the guard looked to the main street, as a unusual concentration of soldiers were making their way at hasty paces to the direction of the Grand Cathedral. "What could have happened over there? So many soldiers, instead of the city guard..." The guard thought out loud.
"You, stay here. I'll come back and take you to to a safer place, after I find out what's happening." The woman said in a commanding voice as she turned her back to Damien and took a short cut to the Cathedral by one of the alleys near the one Damien had slept. What could really be happening? *: I'm waiting for replies from the whole of Fei's party, as well as Fazzer (Just this once more), before posting for the other parts of the RP.
While the group continued asking questions about the situation, Fei noticed Chen glowing with anger and a lust for revenge. She could almost taste the passion in the air. Raising her eyebrow, she crossed her arms in curiosity. While it may seem silly, she hadn’t expected a Librarian to show emotions beyond complete hatred. It was strange.. Of course he was a person just like her but somehow the fact had gotten lost past the many years of despising his kind. Shaking her head, she decided to hold the debate for a more appropriate time.
Waving her tall staff, the cat woman began leading the group away from the desolate base and toward what would hopefully bring them one step closer to a better future. As they began trekking farther into the forest, not even Fei could deny the chills going through her body. A constant stench of rotting corpses filled the air and despite herself, Fei stepped slightly closer to Jessi. Part of her felt like a child. War was not a pretty thing, it was rancid and horrifying, and she was only witnessing part of the aftermath right now. Already, her stomach felt queasy. She refused to show any of her inner feelings though because much like the many dead bodies piled up, Fei would go to any lengths to complete this mission.
Shouts from the ongoing battle echoed into the silent forest and Fei scanned the trees for any movement. A slight fire grew on Fei’s hair as she prepared herself for the almost certain battle to come. “Don’t die.” She muttered to Jessi before pulling out her twin swords. Mere moments later, a figure shot out of the trees and sprinted toward Jessi. While she knew he would have already sensed the mercenary’s movement, Fei was first to attack. Meeting the man halfway, Fei slashed her right sword along his stomach and sent a wave of heat to strengthen the killing blow. As the man fell to the ground, she washed off the splash of blood on her face.
Despite her previous excitement, the realization of what was going on really hit her. Anyone could jump out at the them at any given time. They all needed to be on constant alert or they could quite literally die. It was foolish of her to jump with excitement at the idea of battling in the woods. This was war. Not some tournament with rules or her school with strict safety precautions, but a real fight. Fei wouldn’t and could not mess it up. “Let’s hurry and find this relic before we all end up like him.” Her face darkened as she spoke out loud before continuing to follow Si.
”Chen, you’re talking to an imperial soldier and a guardian in training. Trust me when I say combat is definitely our way of relieving stress.” Jessi said in response to Chen’s book comment.
Though what they came to find as they followed Si was not at all what Jessi was talking about. The corpses of his fallen brothers in arms and the mercs and fey, who no doubt helped in their demise, paved a horrific path through the usually peaceful forest. The sounds of battle all around them, the taste and scent of blood in the air, it was sickening. But this was what Jessi had been training for all his life and he wasn’t going to back out now. He too stepped closer to Fei but not out of fear, but protective instinct as he watched for danger.
Fei muttered to Jessi not to die in which he simply replied, ”Wasn’t planning on it.” As the words left his lips he caught sight of a mercenary charging straight at him. Before he could even level his spear, Fei jumped in front and took the kill. ”You know, the more I’m with you the more I seriously question why anyone thought you’d need personal security.” The light hearted banter would have to wait as two more mercenaries jumped out of the trees at Fei no doubt trying to avenge their now deceased comrade.
This time Jessi was the first to act sending the back of his spear into the right mercenaries stomach forcing him to keel over, then bringing his spear to the left impaling the other mercenary in the neck. Ripping his spear from the man Jessi turned the Fei and shrugged, ”Answered my own question I guess.” Immediately after he delivered a roundhouse to the man he stunned knocking him unconscious. Nothing said they had to kill everyone.
Chen grimaced at the dead bodies strewn about the area, some mercenaries, some soldiers, some Feys. He mourned for the ones doing their jobs, their lives were taken for doing their job. The mercenaries and Fey on the other hand he harbored no sadness for.
"Murderers and madmen. They will not be missed." Chen muttered to himself, shaking his head at the pure idiocy on display.
The two Imperium soldiers exchanged some words of inspiration to one another and they were suddenly beset upon by 4 mercenaries. Jessi and Fei eliminated the first 3 in their own ways, while Chen froze one soldier in their tracks, then forming a dagger of ice and cleanly sliding it into the enemies skull.
In her frustration Lorelai's thoughts began to spiral in upon each other, an endless circle of potential solution only for her mind to lash out upon itself in condemnation. Over the course of their journey from the chateau to the Infinitum, she hadn't put a thought to the difficulty of the task before her. She was a blunt instrument, forged in fire's of zealous devotion to the Imperium and respected for the force she could bring to bear.
Puzzles and riddles weren't within her wheelhouse, and the mental prerequisites were only compounding upon the veritable assault upon her world view which began with the innocuous knock upon the chateau door. If she had been confronted with this when her mind was clear she'd have solved it only a short while after the Sunday school class did, but that was a luxury that she denied ever since she accepted her posting as Asgard's general.
"Tch." Lorelai found Solanne was acting as befitting the shameless rogue, contributing nothing and undercutting everyone else. "Do not question my rank or my faith, Luxxone. I may acknowledge the power you wield as well as your relation to Lady Eleonor, but I will not restrain myself if you can not even hold your insolent tongue."
The image of Eleonor's bruised face sprung to mind, fueling the fires of her enmity for Solanne. If she were anyone else, then Lorelai would have already done everything in her power to show the eldest Luxonne the full breadth of Imperial Justice, starting with the hands that harmed her Lady, but as it was they had greater issues. Whatever had been lit within her was readily smothered by the calming influence the Crimson Knight exerted on her general.
"I...thank you, Lady Eleonor. Forgive my poor reaction. I'll see this done post haste." There was no way she could do otherwise with Eleonor being in such an optimistic mood. She'd made it her duty to preserving such fleeting happiness, and while Lorelai failed in regards to her convalescence she'd have been damned to see it fail again on her account. Reaching into her armor, Lorelai withdrew a whistle of polished silver and placed it down beside Eleonor."If we're to have company, we may also want to make a tactical retreat with some haste. This is still a city of loyal Imperials, many who have done no wrong. With any luck this whistle should alert my partner that we require his aid in leaving the city, but it will still take some time to reach us. If we have no better means out, blow this outside and he will come."
She drew in a breath, letting Eleonor's words flow through her till Lorelai could once more find her center and end the vicious loop of her mind cannibalizing itself.Commencing Operation.
"If I'm to bring the sanctuary to the prophet then I'd best move quickly. The only options for progressing are to move the correct window pane into place, and I'd wager that place is behind the altar. We can reason...yes, that this would indeed have to be a light puzzle to offer us any actual answer, so the window must possess a focal point to direct the light's rays towards the relic we seek." Lorelai had earlier pointed a window depicting that of the Imperator with her head wreathed by the sun, a random choice at first, but second glance had her believing this may have been on to something. "A halo is a common fixture in religious murals and such...but only this window here has such, and the rest are unadorned."
Acting upon this assumption the Abyssal Knight approached the pane and examined its installation. To her surprise the stones were not affixed with any sort of mortar, sliding free after a bit of effort on her part. "I can't see any reason to design in such a flimsy way as this if the windows aren't relevant." Speaking aloud kept her from secluding herself within her mind once more, banishing the doubts with affirmations of her assumptions. There wasn't time to doubt and she had to push forward or risk losing the relic or damaging the cathedral with a battle against Yggdrasil's forces.
With the stone base removed Lorelai could manage to slide the glass from its frame, only to be shocked to find how light it was. "This material can't be normal glass." Not going to take too long in looking the gift horse in its mouth, she pried it from the moorings and succeeded in lifting it with her own strength. Careful steps took her across the cathedral, the knight making a concerted effort not to look at Antonia for fear of being judged by the priestess, before she could rest it upon the wall and repeat the process with the existing window. A marvelously detailed mural of the Infinitum was removed from its home and left to lean upon the wall while the Imperator took its place.
For once in their journey, effort was rewarded and a narrow ray was reflected through the Divine's hallow to bathe an unassuming stone upon the floor in sanctimonious light. The Abyssal Knight nearly ran across the Cathedral and fell to her knees, finding this one stone among the thousands of others comprising the floor was lacking in mortar, providing enough space for her to wedge the tips of her gauntlets inside and pull it loose.
Damien accepted the offered hand and listened to the offered advice with a smile. They were in the city now, away from the army and it's guards and picket lines. Both of them would have to be more vigilant in the future. It wasn't thieves that he was worried about, anyone that laid a hand on Cat very likely would find themselves blasted through the nearest wall. Still, the thought of being helpless wasn't an appealing one.
He put on an expression of confidence that quickly turned more serious as soldiers appeared. "I'll have to go with you, it might be something I can help with."
Oh for f-
The mercenary gave the instrument another rap with his knuckles and it sounded a discordant note to match. The note faded to a hum that was just loud enough to notice but got no softer. Not enough to do any real damage but it was something. There was no way that Damien was going to take no for an answer and with the rush that she seemed to be in, it wasn't as if she would take the time to try to stop him.
The mercenary followed the guard through the alleyways towards the cathedral.
Tori’s eyed flickered as she took in all the information the AI designated Nebula provided. Eyes almost glowing with greed, drinking in all that she could. She simply had to talk to Nebula further, at a less critical time obviously. Nebula should surely be a great repository of knowledge and quite frankly, Tori didn’t really care if this blue thing was a Relic or not, after all Knowledge is power and Tori… well she would like to be very powerful.
“Escape? Right, yes. No point in being killed. I’m not quite prepared to be testing if there is an afterlife yet. Need to figure out how to turn that one-way ticket into a return one” gathering whatever she could Tori felt whatever was suppressing her relent and immediately let herself fade out. The feeling of perfectly sidestepping everything, the feeling of being untouchable returned and walked towards the portal watching Alex hold the sword.
Oh, good. They’re bringing that masterpiece of technology. I should research power sources, if a relic can power her then all I need is simply a good enough battery. We can talk later… it will be nice and long Tori was shocked from her reverie as a large stone phased through her head. Blinking in shock, she picked up the pace and phase shifted back as she went through the portal, looking back sadly at the crumbling room.
“I would have preferred a longer analysis. Farewell. I’ll search for your ruins at the impact site later” nodding as if she could hear the crumbling stone acknowledge her, Tori stepped through. Feeling the cobblestones beneath her feet, Tori was looking behind her Tori couldn’t see anything wrong, no portal. For all intents and purposes it probably looked as if they had stepped out of mid-air. Something she was quite familiar with. Smiling gently at Nebula, Tori patted Sienna’s shoulder
“Well, how about we find a way to wake Nebula up? I’m sure you didn’t just drag our new friend out to keep her as a big doll… right?” shaking her head Tori did something that might almost be considered a smile… if it was from a distance… and you squinted… and the sun was in your eyes. It spoke volumes of how she valued Nebula. She constantly tried to justify it as valuing an important storage device, but it rang hollow even to her.
“I’m certain the Intelligence Division has some kind of compatible power source. If not we can make one, probably. I refuse to believe that a… a ‘Relic’ from ages past is the only thing that can power our new… f-friend” the word sounded foreign, almost sour in Tori’s mouth. It was obvious she didn’t say the word ‘friend’ very often.
General Stark took pause in the heavy concentration of Imperial soldiers heading to the Grand Cathedral. Well now, what was going on there? The notion to change his direction was only held for a brief moment before he continued to head towards the source of dormant power. Whatever it was, the soldiers could probably handle it…but a Legend Relic was nearby.
He was just about to intrude upon Tori and Alex’s group when the presence of two others caught his further attention. The mighty man in armor halted once more, this time something else forming in his mind. With a sudden leap, he landed upon the rooftops of the buildings above before his helmeted face turned to face the ones he had sensed.
“Farris. What is the meaning of this?” he said, voice as robotic and monotone as was expected of General Stark. He briefly turned his head to the boy tailing the guard before focusing on Farris one more. “Explain why the Grand Cathedral is gaining so much attention. Your job is meant to avoid situations such as this.”
It was evident that had Stark not taken his detour, he would have discovered Alex’s group. A notion that wouldn’t have ended well, and even now his time was being bought out by Farris’ attention. As if to signify this, the Blue Relic within Alex’s pocket pulsed with a frantic light, as if acting as a warning beacon.
The Legend Relic glowed much brighter in the direction of the Grand Cathedral, as if beckoning for the group to head that way. Though mention of Tori’s comment made the thing take shape and transform partially. Specifically, the length of its sword form ripped through Alex’s pocket, pointed in Tori’s direction. Whatever the scholar had said, it was apparently offensive to the Relic.
Inside the Grand Cathedral itself, Solanne rolled her eyes to the display she was seeing. Seriously, couldn’t they just punch the walls or demand the priestess show them where the Relic is? Was it really this hard to figure out? Admittedly she wasn’t doing much to solve the riddle herself, too busy glancing at the front of the church as if sensing enemies nearby.
“Yeah, sure, keep telling yourself that,” Solanne said dismissively, waiting for Lorelai to get on with it already. And that she did with, amazingly, flying colors. Solanne watched as Lorelai buckled down to solve through logic itself, overturning a mural to reveal a faint, purple glow. “Heh, I knew you weren’t just a meat head, y’know,” the Crimson Hound said with a grin. “Now let’s go before we get caug-gahhk!”
Solanne’s speech was cut off with a rasping cough that made her splutter. Her hands immediately went to her throat as the glow of the Purple Relic became more fervent with color. She didn’t need to figure this one out because the effects of the Relic were influencing everyone in the room. The horrifying realizing was settling in; the Purple Relic was absorbing every last trace of oxygen in the area.
"Guh!" Si sighed as th smell of death and decay began to permeate every inch of the forest with its nauseating stench. The sounds of battle were more intense further down the path they followed, as Si's magic was meant to track down the strongest source of power in their vicinity, needless to say, that was the Legend Relic.
A surprise attack by a group of mercenaries that were hiding under the cover of rocks or thick foliage hit them, but Jessi, Fei and Chen were able to deal with it on their own, even though none of them would have the chance to notice the fey ambush that followed later as a group of eight of the same fey that have fought with Chen earlier jumped from the forest canopy, shooting their poisoned arrows at them, before unsheathing long curvy knives coated in the same sickly green ichor to engage the party in close-quarters combat.
However, something curious happened. When the grey-skinned elves caught a sight of Si among their quarry, they were visibly shaken. They whispered words among themselves. Their hit and run tactics in obvious disarray as the cat mage's presence seemed to be something they could never anticipate.
"Could it be?"
"It can't be true, t-that can't be."
"T-the White Death?"
"Don't be cowards, you idiots! It's not time to be afraid of boogeyman tales, just kill'em all. For the Prince Nuada!" The apparent commander of their group yelled, rallying the other fey back into the fight as he took engaging Si by himself. The elf swung his blade, aiming for Si's neck, though it was easily parried by her staff, almost as if the attack had never came in first place. He attacked again, again and again, but results were always the same, Si didn't moved an inch and wasn't hit even once, but she didn't countered as well. It was like, she was "Afraid of fighting back? That's what a coward like you is, right? BETRAYER, MURDERER!!!" The elf yelled, attacking with renewed fury.
"T-that wasn't my fault... guh. There was no way I could..." Si replied, this time swinging her staff with enough force to push the elf back several meters. Si's memories going back to a time long before, the first time the Imperium and the mythical races fought each other...
"Y-you have to go, t-they will kill us all if..." An elven soldier said to his last surviving team member, none other than Si as he looked wistfully at the trail of dead bodies and gore on the ground, his own blood soaking the scarlet earth even more.
"I-I can't! Let me stay and fight with you, capt-" Si's reply was cut short as a shot zoomed by them. The Imperial hunting party that were seeking them under the orders of the Platinum Knight had finally caught up with their trail once more.
The cries of their enemies were getting louder and louder, there was not much time. They had a work to be done and even camaraderie, or love, couldn't get in the way. The elf removed his helm, clearing his blood stained vision, he discarded his battered shield, as if leaving behind the weight of the whole world and readied his spear, only them to talk to Si again. "You cannot. We have a mission, the Prince must get t-that. For us all, please go, Si-" A bloody cough wracked the elf's body as he was about to say the name of his... his beloved. "Tell my br-brother that I did t-this for him as well. Now, go I can't hold them forever!"
The elf pushed Si away, the last memory she has is of falling back into a river, clinging to a bag from which a golden light poured, as if it was the last thing she had in the world and then it all went black, Si's memories fading once more.
"You killed my brother, prepare to die!" The elf said as he recovered and charged at Si with even more fury than before.
This time however, he was met not with Si's staff, but with her bare hand, with a soft blue glow in the shape of a great feline's paw enveloping it. "It's about time you, Nuada and the others, wake up. The captain and everyone else, gave up his life, not for this. They wanted us to live, not to continue this war for thousands of years." Si said with a serious voice, so uncharacteristic of her, before breaking the knife and sucker punching the elf, knocking him out.
"We have to end this pointless fight... guh." Si said, back to her old manners as she turned to the others, expecting them to be done with the other elves by now and resumed guiding them.
Soon enough the place they looked for came into their vision. An old clearing where ancient ruins of an fey citadel laid as a testament of time itself. both the mercenaries and the fey main force were doing their war here, with their leaders, easily visible as they engaged each other in the main square. The elf that Chen fought before, wielding the Yellow Relic as the tip of his spear and... proving that Jessi's gut feelings were right, none other than Tegonay Sidonius, the Black Knight wielding his enormous sword, Arondight, fighting each other to death.
What would happen now?
"Oh, that was good, Lor- gah!" Eleonor tried to compliment Lorelai for her efforts, but found herself unable to even breath as the oxygen in the area was suddenly depleted, though that was when her own relic kicked in, restoring Eleonor's health by producing fresh blood that was rich in oxygen. Looking over Lorelai, Solanne and Antonia's gasping forms, Eleonor, or better Asgard, extended her hand, purifying their blood as well. "Lorelai, control yourself. You can't let the relic go berserk, I believe in you. Hurry up, we need to get out of here before it's too lat-" Before Eleonor could say anything else, the Church's door was knocked upon.
"Priestess, open up! We got reports that insurgents were seen inside of the Cathedral." A soldier shouted from the outside.
"Antonia! I cannot believe you..." Asgard was shocked with the idea that this whole time Antonia was just stalling them until the soldiers could arrive. How could she betray Eleonor's trust like this? Then again, Antonia was a blindly loyal follower of the Imperium, that was something to be expected of her.
"I'm sorry, I cannot let you escape. The other guardians had already sent word that Asgard went rogue and was plotting the Imperium's downfall along with the rebels. I-I didn't want to believe on that, but, bringing her here and asking for the relic is all the proof that I needed." Antonia pointed to Solanne with scorn visible in her eyes, before hitting the stones of the floor with her staff, causing a flock of light orbs to appear around her. "You shall be judged by the Divine, bloody hound." Antonia said, before shooting her tome's magic at Solanne.
"Very well, but try to not harm yourself." Farris said to Damien. A moment later none other than Yggdrasil's second-in-command, General Stark, inquiring Farris about the commotion taking the streets of Infinitum right now. "How can I know about that? I'm a member of the Royal Guard, I was going to get something to drink and found this lost person on my way to the city, then this all happened. You are the ones responsible for watching over the city, am I wrong?" Farris replied as they made it to the main street.
Not very far from there, Alex, Tori and the twins would be able to see a number of soldiers coming toward them as well, While they were not their priority, the sighting of the Aquarian Twins, who were wearing their Librarian disguises right now and on that form, they were quite known members of the wanted lists.
"We need to get out of here, we can think about how to get her working later." Siena said as she piggy backed Nebula and began to run to the only free direction they had, that is the Cathedral.
"Oneesama, the enemy seems to be congregating at the place we are going. Is that really a good strategy?" Linea asked as she began to follow her sister, while letting random monsters out of her tome to slow down their pursuers.
"Don't worry, Linea, I have everything under control. If we can reach the Cathedral, we can escape through the entrance to the Imperial Catacombs. Once we get there, the two of us can deal with anything. Hehe." Siena grinned a confident smile as she rushed everyone forward with Linea following with a silent nod. After all, who were the best dungeon crawlers in the world?
Both Farris and the Twins would arrive at the Cathedral, about the time when the soldiers finally burst the doors open, with the twins having found their way to the nearest rooftops and jumping inside of the temple through the stained glass windows, landing safely with the help of nothing but one of the jelly frogs that Linea had captured back in Arcadia, which they used as a cushion to absorb the force of the impact with the stone floor. They were back to their normal forms by the way, since sustaining the illusion of them being human while trying to run for their lives was kinda hard to do.
Antonia was left without words, as the broken glass, along with the suddenly open doors allowed fresh air to burst into the room in a rapid gust which caused her aim to waver and miss Solanne with her first shot.
"What in the name of the Divine is happening here?" Farris asked as she came form behind the guards, summoning her tome, which took the shape of a sword made of crystal while she walked, trying to understand the sheer chaos that was unrolling before her eyes.
"The Aquarian Twins are here as well?" Asgard asked as the Twins arrived. "How did this situation became like this? It's almost as if someone is toying with us." Asgard turned her eyes at one of the non-smashed glass panels, depicting the visage of the supposed advisor of the Imperator, the Jester of the Court. Maybe it was a trick of her mind, but Asgard could swear just for a moment that she saw a glint of light shine in the ivory mask's eyes.
Axon followed Stark hands in his pockets as normal without any real worry or care to be seen. This wasn't anything to him despite how red Titania was turning, she really didn't handle stress very well... especially for a general... He couldn't help but think seeing how puffy she was getting given that she wanted to deliver a message to Yggdrasil anyway. Maybe using her brain instead of her gun was a foreign concept... Regardless it didn't matter to much to him, he gave her what she wanted, a change to deliver her message.
Upon reaching his old home he looked up with a bit of fondness. Really he didn't have any qualms with his old life, just the little bit of corruption that was in it. Like a rat infestation that one would need an exterminator for. He had every reason to want to go back home once it was clean again, but again business had to be handled first.
Turning to face Titania he spoke up finally to say, "Welp uh... bit of a hike up... Um... I can just jump up, but you. Got any ideas on what to do?" He started before suddenly squinting his eyes and looking around, "Wait a minute where'd the other one go? Am I the only one who thinks she just ran off for the hills?" He continued to look around randomly for a little bit before finally returning his attention to the castle in the sky.
Taking a moment to take everything in he took his hands out of his pockets and once again revealed his black fingers with their pointed claws at each end. Next step was to take a few steps back and brace as if he was about to run towards the building in front of them. Following that he said, "Well good luck and I'll wait for you up there!" From that he started at a fast run towards the building on the ground before jumping forward, cocking his legs, and then in a sudden burst surged out his shadow tendrils and mists to filter and form beneath his feet launching him up into teh air like a rocket. Though the one jump wasn't nearly enough to get him up he kept jumping mid air again and again as if he was dashing like a gale. His speed was incredible as he bolted through the air until reaching the base of his old home to which he could wait for his fellows.
Měihóu watched as Axon rocketed up to the fortress... And Titania didn't. For a moment, she wondered if she could use the giant gun's recoil as a flight mechanism. But that would probably be difficult to aim, and needlessly destructive. And really loud too. Which might hurt. Měihóu dampened her hearing a little bit just incase.
Flying down, Měihóu formed into a roc, not full size, large enough that Titania could mount, but not appearing really large enough to carry her if her strength was proportional to her size. But that wasn't the case for normal rocs either, so she probably wouldn't suggest something she couldn't manage. Presuming Titania accepted the aid, and didn't weigh a literal ton or so, Měihóu would fly her up in a manner rather more graceful, natural, and slooooow compared to Axons.
Again, possibly, upon reaching the destination, Měihóu turned into yet another form, a hawk winged refined girl in a green dress, with a harp for a tome.
