The familiar apocalyptic cityscape of Raiya's nightmares was instantly recognizable at this point. And, unless the dream made her ignorant of it, as some dreams do, she immediately knew she was in a dream.

Raiya turned down a block and could here the clash of weapons and the smell of burning mana in the air. She hurriedly ran down the block to what looked like the city square. The ground was mostly flat and empty, tall buildings surrounded the square but the square itself was barren except for broken concrete and a shattered old fountain.

Next to the fountain were three figures, one was a mysterious featureless figure, in an all black wardrobe. The others were also featureless, but Raiya could tell who they were. The dream gave the impression of familiarity and nostalgia when she saw them, she was filled to the brim with happiness that she blurted out, "MOTHER, FATHER!"

The figures turned to look at her with expressionless, featureless faces, and she gasped in horror as the other figure took their distraction as an advantage and cut them down in cold blood.

Raiya ran over to their bodies and began to mourn over them, tears streaming down her face. She looked up at the killer who didn't seem to be interested in slaughtering her. For a moment there was a pause of silence, but then a familiar voice pierced through the silence. It was Felix, and with him was Tsukihi, and Akane.

They rushed the black figure, bombarding him with attack after attack, Felix and Tsukihi with their swords, and Akane with her destruction magicks. It was all in vain, though, as the figure took all the hits grabbing both Tsukihi's and Felix's swords in his hands, and taking the blast of mana head on. The blue magick blast didn't seem to even phase him. The figure clutched the blades in his hands until they shattered, even Felix's manaegis sword crumbled. Using only his hands, the figure swiftly beheaded both Tsukihi and Felix, and pointed his finger outwards shooting a black thin beam of energy from his hand that rushed towards Akane, piercing through her forehead.

They were all dead, all of her family. A distinct sense of despair filled her as she cried out in anger and sadness.

"KILL ME!" She begged the figure who stood still in silence, looming over her. "KILL ME! KILL ME PLEASE!" She got up and clutched the robes of the figure who stood still, "KILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKILLME!" She pled. Repeating it over and over, her head began to pound from the intense crying and mourning she was feeling.

She didn't startle awake from the dream, instead the dream seemed to fade and bleed into reality as she found herself sitting curled up in her bed sobbing and whispering, "just kill me, please kill me..."

Eventually she calmed down and came to her senses, retreating to the bathroom to wash her face. She checked the time, it was only 3:00 A.M. and she knew there was no returning to sleep at this point so she just got back in bed and lay awake waiting for the sun to rise.

Zoey was heading up to turn in from the night, when she sensed that things weren't great in a nearby room. Well, in honesty, she heard the sobbing a whimpering. She looked around the empty hallway and shrugged to herself, re-upping her illusion on herself. She pulled from a pocket a pouch of small, green, unpleasant-smelling seeds and took three out before replacing the pouch. She cracked them open quickly and put them in one of the baggies she'd snatched earlier; she'd grabbed too many trying to save her popcorn from the gaming session earlier. She then knocked on the door of the person... Rieja? Raylin? No, no, Raiya. Right.

A soft knock on the door startled Raiya, but only for a brief moment. Realizing she was practically nude, she summoned a blue kimono with pink flower patterns from her mana inventory, then she opened the door. She was a bit shocked to see Zoey in her illusion form standing outside her room.

"Um... hello?..." She said with a cautious inflection.

Since Zuri was still familiarizing herself with her rediscovered powers, time flew past quite quickly as many hours has past since. She looks at the clock and noticed that it was quite late and it was time to catch some sleep. She undresses and climbs onto her bed and rests her head on the pillow, subconsciously turning her entire room into complete darkness where not even a speck of light was present. A few minutes go by and she falls asleep.

Zoey gives her a quick up down, momentarily distracted by the rather fetching kimono. "You seemed a bit distressed, miss. My money's on nightmares or night terrors, considering we aren't under attack. That, and the noises." She extends her hand to show the restless dreamer the seed pods, "One will put you back to sleep. Two will put you to sleep with no dreams. Three, and... well, I recommend two. 3 is kind of... a trip. Affect will last you six hours, so..." Zoey checks a nearby digital clock, "About 9:10. In time for breakfast. Anything major happens, we'll come wake you up." Zoey offers the de-podded seeds to Raiya.

"Proposition..." The word was weight in Wes' mouth, probably because he hadn't heard it in a while, but he could not deny the prospect excited him. It had been a long, long time since he had anything of particular merit or interest to do, and he couldn't even find it in him to be concerned about what he would be asked, nodding in approval as Nemo explained himself slightly more. He did agree for the most part - he preferred to see himself as a problem-solver as well, though everyone did see problems in their own light, Wes knew that. Artistic? Maybe not, he didn't take any great pleasure besides that of a job well done, and he didn't quite have the...methods at the disposal of his fingers as Nemo did. Like stitching arms together with magical spaghetti. He leaned back slightly on one foot and grinned. "Well, why not. I do like to feel wanted."

He flicked the gun at the hunter casually. "After you," he said cheerfully, wanting to get on with this conversation as quickly as possible. Now that she was somewhat neutralised, he had no issue with letting her go free with bruised pride instead of no forearm; if they encountered one another again, and not in present company, perhaps he wouldn't be feeling so lenient, nor so cheerful. Nemo seemed to be feeling the same, but her bravado was grating, and if she did persist...well, it wouldn't be anything on his hands.

To his surprise, the woman shakily began to back towards the door, keeping her eyes on the other three warily. Evidently, her plans to ruin everything had ultimately failed - she couldn't muster up the energy to stop them, and her heart pumped in her chest in humiliation and...fear. Obviously she was scared, no weapon, massive amounts of blood lost, no partner to back her up, and the white eyes of the newcomer did not help to set her at ease - nor the name.

"If you think this is over," she began to threaten, and Wes casually aimed the gun, sending her scrambling back.

"Isn't it?" he asked flatly, impatient. "If not goodbye, you should at least thank your friend." He nudged his shoulder towards Nemo, uncertain of how this was affecting him.

The woman spat instead, trying to grasp the door handle while shooting daggers at them. Wes chuckled again, and the gun lowered, now aiming towards the head of the barely conscious man.

"If you don't get out now," he said very slowly, "neither you or your friend will."

"It is not over," she repeated, and Wes rolled his eyes as she scrambled with the knob to open it, turning to Nemo before she even exited the room.

"So, fire away," he said, smiling at his own double meaning.

Nemo seemed to be humored by the interaction between Wesley and the hunter. He sat silent throughout it and simply watched. The male hunter had heard the end of the conversation as well, finally coming out of his not-so-voluntary nap. He got up from the floor, wary of being at gun point and made his way to the door. Knowing he couldn't fight back with his partner gone, he exited without a word.

After Nemo sensed the hunters had gone far enough away Nemo nodded and spoke. "I've been sent here to ask you to join our motley crew, searching for some very special, very powerful artifacts. The Paragons." Nemo explained.

"Many people even in our society think these artifacts are just a myth, but I can assure you they're real, we already have one of them in our possession." He added. "Other groups are also searching for the Paragons. Right now we know that the Catholic Arcanocracy is aggressively trying to obtain them as well, likely with unpleasant intentions in mind. If these artifacts were to fall into the wrong hands, it would spell disaster for the world. That's where we come in, that's where you can come in as well Wesley." Nemo finished.

Nemo seemed to have remembered something, speaking once more with a hushed voice. "I should probably add that I've been instructed to make sure this information doesn't spread, I'm sure you understand. So if you're not interested I do hope you're confident that you can best me in a duel. Though given how smoothly recruitment has gone so far, I doubt that will be necessary."

Raiya was a bit leary of the current niceties displayed by her fellow team member. She thought it over for a moment and shrugged, taking the pods.

If it's poison and it kills me, at least I won't be here anymore. she thought.

"Uh... thanks, Zoey." Raiya replied, "Have a good sleep." She said before closing the door behind her.

She took two pods as instructed, and unequipped her kimono. She flung her body on the bed and attempted to sleep. Only time would tell if the pods actually worked.

Wes wasn't sorry to see the hunters go, and though he didn't take the threat of their return lightly, he did take it with good humour, saluting the man as he left without comment. Next time he may not be so lucky to get a bunch of incompetents, but they were lucky to have been interrupted before things could progress.

As for what the stranger had come to tell him, well...the offer was almost instantly accepted in his mind, but Wes gave himself a moment to think it over lest he shake on it that very second. The Paragons...these were things he had heard in passing, and a divided issue of believers and naysayers. Given that his scope was more local, he had never thought about pursuing what could be a legend, and he didn't have any use for them, either. But if objects of such power were real, and really were in demand, well, that at last gave him real purpose to his methods and a real goal to attain. All the same, he did have his inhibitions; though he didn't have any lost love for the Arcanocracy - if there was anything worse than using Talent for bad, it was using it as a mule for an organisation that really did not have anyone but their owns best interests at heart - this guy's appearance and little tidbit of information about himself working for a variety of people also did not exactly sit well. If this was some sour job for another group who had equally nefarious plans, well, even having an inside job may not exactly outweigh the negatives of giving some crazies their juice.

Nemo's final addendum made him laugh again, and he tossed the gun onto the bed and stretched his arms above his head luxuriously, leaning against the wall and crossing his legs in an open position. Well, that left a lot of options on the table.

"Understood? Crystal clear, boss, but I do have a couple questions," he said. "One, what do, ah, 'your people' want with these Paragons, and two, if I accept, can I rest assured I'll be..." he searched for the word and gave a small smile, "appreciated?"

"I must apologize, as someone like me isn't exactly the best poster-boy for our bunch. The others are much more amiable than I seem, however I do try to be polite." Nemo replied. "From what I understand we are trying to prevent the full power of the Paragon's from being used at all. The first step is containment, naturally the second would be to destroy them, if that's even possible." Nemo explained. "Not exactly the most climactic plan, but I like the world as it is anyways."

Nemo gave a small laugh after Wesley's final question. "Oh yes, I'm sure most of the other members will welcome you with open arms. You'll be able to live for free at a place much more comfortable than... this. If fame doesn't do anything for you, I find most of the people we cross swords with are quite wealthy, feel free to part them of there resources as you see fit. Though save the weapons and the knick-knacks for me. And I'm sure Felix himself would be willing to compensate you too, surely he doesn't expect everyone to work just for the good of their heart."

Wes waved a hand dismissively. "Looks can be deceiving," he said airily, and reached behind the curtain to his side to grab his rifle, slinging it over his back and grabbing the packed duffel bag. "And don't worry about the climax, no matter what...", he raised his eyebrows at the memories of the past few minutes, "this looks like, I'm not looking for drama." His head swam with images of various other roach motels he had stayed at over the past three years, and he inwardly cheered at the thought of having, at the very least, a decent shower. Not to mention the idea of wealthy benefactors - who knew what other things he could find out with the help of whomever else was around there? Or this Felix person, whom he assumed was spearheading the campaign in some way. Sounded like an information bank, and that Wes was willing to part with (though, of course, some cash lining his pockets would not be unappreciated).

"You want me, you got me," he said with a half bow to seal his commitment as opposed to a shake (his arm was bloody, and he didn't exactly relish watching this guy lick that stuff off), but his eyes caught around the messy room, covered in blood and the bullethole in the wall prominent even in the unlit room. "But, uh, anything we can do about this first?" A we very heavy on the you, but Wes wasn't the Talented one. He didn't have any change to spare Ms. Needles, and for this...well, that would be a very hefty tip he couldn't give.

"Good, good." Nemo replied, looking around the room after Wesley's suggestion. "Really? And here I thought the blood gave it character." Nemo commented. He got up from his seat and walked to the middle of the room and crouched down. "Very well, but you're lucky I'm the one who came, restoration spells are one of my niche specialties. Come in handy for cleaning up a mess, and keeping my clothes in good shape." Nemo explained as he placed his gloved palm on the floor. Within a few moments a pulse of faint white glowing energy emitted out from his hand and slowly coated the whole room. Blood began to disappear, the bullet hole filled back, causing the projectile to be pushed out onto the floor, even the stains and dust began to disappear. The room was left cleaner than it had probably ever been by the time Nemo was done.

Nemo stood back up. "Not too shabby, right? Now, we should get going, I'm sure we attracted a bit of unwanted attention during that encounter. Wouldn't want to keep everybody either right?" He finished and then made his way to the door and exited the room.

The alchemist waved goodbye and went to her bed to sleep. She was more than confident that the podlings would do their job. The alchemy was sound, after all. The seeds themselves were called Dreamseeker nuts, a bit of irony considering their main audience was people with bad dreams. Then again, that third seed was quite a trip...

Zoey closed and locked her door behind herself, then deactivated her illusion and hoped on her bed, magically drawing the curtains to block the sun when it came. "Night, me," she mumbles, before sleeping.

"Mmm, character is not this town's strong suit," Wesley noted as Nemo did his thing, rather pleased with the speed at which things went. The town was as small and generic as they came - Wes could hardly bring it upon himself to even remember its name. "Change isn't always good. I'm sure they'd thank you, too." He checked around once more, trying to remember if he had stashed anything away; satisfied with what he saw, he followed Nemo out the door. "So...how are we getting to...wherever we're going?" There were still a lot of questions, and if wasn't pulled to some Hell dimension now, he was looking forwards to getting their answers.

Felix got up and stretched, glancing at his manadial which read, "08:11." It was a new morning, and he had slept in too late to make breakfast. So, he came up with a better idea.

After a shower and getting dressed in a blue flannel and dark blue jeans, he flicked his fore finger around in a calculated manner in the air, created the familiar cross glyph that he used for rift jumping. He walked through the rift and found himself behind a Denny's. He walked in, and after a brief exchange of words with the wait staff, and a half-hour wait necessary for cooking food, he ran back around the backside of the Denny's holding various to-go boxes. He then opened another rift and jumped back through it, this time appearing in the kitchen of the cabin-manor.

He quickly created a few different platters with the contents of the box, creating a buffet style breakfast of various goodies. Massive amounts of a egg potato vegetable scramble, different sausages, waffles and pancakes with a large bottle of syrup next to it, various toasts and a different jams that Felix actually had stocked in the refrigerator, as well as different juices and coffee from their own stock.

"Well, this ought to wake everyone up," Felix thought with a grin.

Zoey moaned and rolled over. A combination of hunger, thirst, and tiredness settled in her upset stomach, and she had half a mind to crack open a few seedlings of her own. She dragged herself from her resting place on the floor: she had found the bed too soft, with a bit of remorse. Tearing her form from the ground was like dragging herself through jello, or slime. And she immediately realized why. At 8 in the morning, she was not only lacking sleep, but in the beginning of the daily drain. Her powers being connected with the night and it's cooler embrace, she was in need of more energy than normal to maintain herself. She instantly dropped her illusion and melted through the floor into the shadows of her bathroom, looking half hungover. She snarled at her reflection and went for her supplies, taking the herbs she'd given Travis not so long ago in their full, bitter bluntness. Afterwards, she began her morning routine of taking care of herself.

At this point, it was 8:35. The tired Covenite walked slowly from her quarters, half way between a slouch and a prowl and definately not happy to be awake. However, her stomach was insistent, the smell of breakfast foods from a time half-forgotten pulled heavily on her memories and influenced her appetite. There was a duty she had to uphold, though. She'd told Raiya she'd wake her if something happened where she needed to be alert. Denny's had happened, and so Rayia needed to be alert. Tastes of home don't happen every day. Zoey didn't bother with the door. The seedling would still be affecting her for at least another half hour before she found herself naturally awakened. Zoey instead shadow-melded around it. The witch was... not as good at remembering her manners when there was sausage on the line. She limbered over, pulling the blind on the windows to block the distasteful rays. While they didn't actually weaken her in practice, her patients with them had already run dry. Instead, she simply placed her hand one Rayia's forehead, and used a little revival spell to wake her.

Raiya's silent dreamless sleep was cruely interrupted and ripped away by the same person who gave it to her, and while she felt like taking her anger and agression out on Zoey for the wake-up call, the smell of breakfast and her hunger pangs quelled her anger. Instead she calmly equipped her standard clothing and got up.

"Thank you for those seeds, they seemed to have worked unless this is currently a bad dream." She said as she began to walk out of her room towards the smell of food.

There was an assortment of breakfast options strewn about the table, and Raiya quickly dished herself up a platter before taking a spot around the table.

She saw Felix and greeted him with a wave. She noticed Nemo's energy was no where on the premises which brought up thoughts that maybe he had failed in his mission and Raiya could actually leave this place once and for all. All of these thoughts were silenced by the wonderful foods, though, and so she just concentrated her energy on eating.

After a return trip to Cyrus' Cellar, and a long trek back through the redwoods Nemo and Wesley had finally arrived back at the home base. Once they passed the barrier threshold magically concealing the cabin, it finally came into full view for Wesley along with the clearing. "Well here we are, home sweet home for now. Rather nice view, good location, well designed. Comfy and no neighbors for miles." Nemo commented as he walked towards the cabin, sounding more like a real estate agent as he described the home.

Nemo approached the front door, the heels of his boots clacking as he tread over the wooden front porch. He opened the front door and walked inside, cleaning his footwear off with a simple spell after entering. "I've returned, and with a friend!" He announced. Nemo walked over to the kitchen, coming into view to the rest of the party. "Wesley, come introduce yourself." He suggested, looking back to him he began dishing up his own plate of food.

"Raiya, my lovely partner, I bet you're glad to see me." Nemo said as he sat down next to her. He took a bite of the food, truth be told he was a little disappointed that Raiya didn't cook this time, as he had been looking forward to it. Nemo momentarily lost himself in thought, his expression growing a bit more deadpan as he tuned out everything around him, which appeared especially cold on someone with a visage like Nemo's. Something was on his mind, but it didn't stay for long.

"I've got much to discuss about our next mission, but I'll wait until the rest of the group joins us. Spoiler alert... a lot of people died." Nemo explained.

"I can smell that," Zoey remarks, having come down the stairs a bit later. "Especially the gunpowder." She then grabs a plate and begins helping herself to the platters, a rather large amount of food for her considering the last breakfast. She then sat about as far away from Nemo as she could, mostly because of stated smells. She then looks at Raiya, "Last night I heard you talking to Travis about some sort of communicator we're all s'possed to have. I was wondering where I might acquire this item?" She didn't ignore the new person on purpose, she just had a lot on her plate. Literally. The taste of home was rather distracting, actually, as she began take large bites of it. Unfortunately, it meant her illusion was still very much down, and she still looked very much like a wolf ninja.

Felix was happy to see that Nemo was successful.

"Ah! Wesley!" Felix stood up and walked over extending hid hand, "I'm glad to see that the recruitment went smoothly. I'm sure Nemo didn't explained everything to you. I'll debrief you on everything soon enough, but until then, come have some breakfast."

"I'm in a pretty good mood this morning, I won't let your face ruin it for me." Raiya replied in between bites of food.

Felix walked up to Nemo

"We should debrief right away." Felix said as he began to walk towards his study.