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Halley’s words didn’t sit quite right with Cuyler. Of course, a lot of what she said had merit. Cuyler had felt that way and still feels that way about the Four and his mother. They were Gods, there was no way around it to him. He never expected them to answer every call but to look something over that was clearly in front of you, that was hard to swallow; especially when Halley had randomly helped return his dead friend. Perhaps it was to clear her own name and was for selfish means but she did it nonetheless. There was a sudden crack and snap of bone breaking that caused Cuyler to jump. Bruce didn’t even lift a hand but Arnora’s nose was now broken. Cuyler had never seen a nose broken that badly before and he had seen some wicked fights. He shook his head looking down at his friend.
”Should have kept your mouth shut, honestly you need to learn how to read a room girl.” He looked back up, watching Bruce’s retreating form. He had no doubt that Myth would be going with him and it seemed Thia was even inclined to follow him. Cuyler started to see some things and feel even more strongly as he looked in the direction Bruce had went. He could feel the Magyk in the air and sense a lot of it being thrown around. How peculiar but he didn’t ignore that warning sign as he looked back at Halley.
”Loki likes chaos, stirring up trouble by any means and there is a lot of it going on where Bruce is headed. I don’t know how but I can feel the large amounts of Magyk. It might be worth checking out Halley. I’m not even sure Arnora can track now,” he added. If she hadn’t started bruising and swelling from the severely broken nose, he was sure it would start soon. Then again, perhaps splitting into groups would be a good thing. Cuyler would just need to decide which group to follow. His past with Bruce’s retreating form or his present and future with Halley and his mother’s homeland.

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Amarantha narrowed her eyes at the godsforsaken number Ayra called her by. So clearly she knew who Amarantha was but she truly didn’t know who she was anymore. Stupidly, Amarantha had hoped Apollo was wrong. ”It’s Amarantha and I know you. I knew you before you were taken.” Amarantha had been working on how to handle this moment for months. She didn’t expect it to go like this though. A new vampire, fighting the urge to drain human after human for blood and Arya, having gone full on well, Amarantha, once upon a time. Not to mention the distant pull she felt to the person who had changed her, who was now mysteriously gone.
Amarantha didn’t get a chance to further her speech before Arya Transfixed her into place and she couldn’t move, not even her head to see the destruction going on around her. She could hear though and there was still screaming and crying going on around her from her people dying. Guards and citizens alike as they were either turned or killed for food or pleasure. Amarantha couldn’t even bring herself to think about Valda and Luna. She entrusted their safety to Titan, Ahote and Valda’s guards. She would have to continue to trust them now. The last she had seen of Myrus was on Lennox’s back but there was a close sound of an explosion and a reddish haze of Myrus’s power and perhaps blood as whatever he touched exploded. The world continued to implode around Amarantha and she was stuck here, immovable by a Wizard who thought she was helping.
There was a deep sound that uttered from the back of her throat as this realization sunk in. She was now completely defenseless against the woman who was ready to kill her. However, that deep sound was hope. Why did her captors never cover her mouth? First Puck, then Rhys and now Arya. They should know better that Amarantha’s mouth was more dangerous than her hands. ”You have changed and therefore, you don’t know me anymore. But I know you. Your past, present and future. You only see what is plain to you. What you want to see. It is not so black and white as you wish it to be Arya.” Part of Amarantha’s training had been psychological in nature and she excelled in this area, perhaps just because of her dedication to her craft but perhaps because she could also shed her skin and become what she needed to be for each situation. A lover, a friend, a mother or an oracle. Whatever it was, Amarantha was hoping to take root in Arya’s mind. She did falter when Amarantha called her by her true name earlier and Amarantha wasn’t going to go out without a fight, it wasn’t in her nature.
”I know you Arya, the real you. The one who would be in battle just as you are now but would think down the line rather than the here and now. The one who would save citizens rather than sacrifice them all. You want to know my successor? Apollodora, your daughter.”

Lennox stood there for a moment, confused at the Prince’s formal release of him. He watched Myrus stumbled away but didn’t stay motionless for long. Relieved of duties to the Prince or not, Lennox was still Palace Guard and still had a duty to the Castle. He raced up behind the Prince, stopping short to take cover as the vampire exploded, leaving a talking head behind. Lennox glared at the talking head and stepped up to it. He slid his sword across his own hand, wincing from the pain of it but held it tight, blood dripping just beside the head.
“Give us information and I’ll give you what you crave,” Lennox said simply.

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Titan’s knowledge on the Marram Marshes was limited. He knew it was remote and highly dangerous. He knew he didn’t want to be here long but for the time being, it was safer here than at the Castle and his priority was keeping these royals safe. That meant, leaving the Prince behind with his guards. After Titan finished inspecting the inside terrain of the house and deeming it livable he came back to center, hearing the two women talk.
“Myrus’s health is unknown but he has Lennox and Amarantha, plus the other guards who were in the Courtyard. He will be fine. We need to keep ourselves safe and secure first. The Marram Marshes is a dangerous place to be in but out of the two options, staying here is our best option.” It wasn’t ideal though, considering they had no way of getting any information to or from the Castle in this location.

Just as quickly as she Appeared, the former Queen was gone. Her original target of ridicule having departed, she had no more to say to Ahote as she gave leave. He frowned at the now empty space. What an insufferable woman. He was suddenly glad Valda had been taken and raised by people outside of the Castle. A more worldly experience was sometimes needed to rule better.
There was an increase of terror outside the Queen’s room and Ahote made a step towards the door, ready to jump into the fray but he gave pause and looked back at the cabinet. If there was only some way to get word to them and to get information back quickly. Ahote scanned the room, looking for anything that might help. Maybe there was a jar of Magyked dirt or a book with one hundred and one ways to kill Vampires. Perhaps a vile of liquid luck.

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Myth hadn't seen the punch coming, or she would have prevented it, but it was too late. The impact startled her so much she let out a gasp before Bruce stormed off. She could only watch in mild horror as her husband had just assaulted someone. She looked over to the group, to Cuyler, and to Arnora most of all. "I'm so sorry. I just...I don't know." She would deal with Halley's comment later. She would intervene and do it on whatever side she felt best. She was part of their family now, surely her Midgardian side warranted something.

She caught up with Bruce, both angry and sad that he seemed to be in so much pain. "Bruce, what the hell was that? You can't just punch someone for saying something you don't agree with. Even if she had it coming, which I don't know since it seemed to me like a simple, silly nickname. And if it wasn't then perhaps talking to your wife, the mother of one of your children, about it might help let off steam so you don't punch anyone else. I'm here for you and your family Bruce, but I won't condone that type of reaction."

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Fleur grasped the coin and observed it. She could Feel from it immense power. She pocketed it and nodded her thanks. "To answer your question, I dream simply. I want revenge in any form it takes. I want to rid this land of a blight that has been there for gods know how long. I have the means to do so and will use them. This is but one more gift and I will cherish that. Should you need anything further, Asha, do come see me."

As she left, Fleur was left to her own devices. She had some more work to be done, but she was allowed a moment's respite, surely. She would travel back to her coven and inform them of the new forces in their ranks. And then she would prepare for the next stage. There was still so much to be done and so little time to do it. But if she managed even one ounce of change, it would be worth it. For Nera's sake.

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Asha had been about to leave, but what Fleur had said interested her. She could admire that way of thinking - taking up arms against an unjust system, demanding to avenge wrongs. The Big Wild Land Over the Ocean ran on vigilante justice to a certain extent. The laws often fell short when it came to doing what was right and punishing those who had sinned. "I wish you luck in your quest, Witch Queen," she told Fleur with a genuine smile. "You would like my country. Perhaps I will show you the Ancient Ways," she mused, before Asha simply walked off and rounded a corner, seemingly vanishing from sight. Fleur wouldn't be able to Sense her having used Magyk or anything, but Asha definitely wasn't there anymore.

It is getting rather late in the Witch Country. In most countries, this would mean that people would be going to bed. But here, it means that the individual covens are likely gathering and preparing fires, dancing and singing and eating the last meal before the Witching Hour approaches. Witches are children of the night, after all - why go to bed so early?

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The Queen's Room - the Palace, the Castle...

As Ahote searched the Queen's room, he would find a few things of interest. There was a golden ring with an emerald gemstone - around which a tiny dragon was wrapped. This was the same ring that Puck had tried to propose to Valda with - what was it doing here in the Queen's Room? It didn't seem like Valda to keep something like that around her, given the man who it used to belong to, so that may strike him as odd. He would have heard stories about Puck and the events of last winter during his time here with the Royals. Ahote will also found a glass shard wrapped in cloth, tucked away in a drawer. Maybe it's something significant - or maybe the Royals are just weird? The noise in the corridors seems to be dying down.

The Keeper's Cottage - Draggen Island, the Marram Marshes...

This time, a diary will stand out to Luna on one of the cluttered bookshelves. The front cover says Propertie of Goldelia HEAP in peeling golden letters. If opened, the text is faded and smudged from either age or carelessness when using the ink. There are a few sketches in there - one of them depicts Luna's maternal grandmother, Queen Kaimana as a young girl. However, there isn't much time for looking through the journal before the ground starts to shake and rumble, as if Draggen Island were about to collapse and sink into the marsh.

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As Mona rushed across the grounds to where Prince Myrus and Lennox were fighting the remaining vampires, she nearly trampeled a Palace Guard in the process. Luckily, he was quick enough on his feet that he managed to jump out of the way in time. Mona's marble fell short, missing her intended target (Venus) and instead, the marble hit and killed one of the newborn vampires. If Violet is to be believed, then this likely is for the best - vampirism is a plague, a disease.

Nearby, the decapitated Asphodel obliged to Lennox's deal, thirsting for blood and unable to really procure it now without a body. This was most likely the last drink of his lifetime. Asphodel's voice was raspy and faint, likely due to the loss of vocal chords and the like, but Lennox would be able to understand a few key words - well, two key words really. "...Paid... SnowPlains..."

Myrus' eyes widened slightly. He knew that he wasn't one of the geniuses in the Castle, but he understood Asphodel's meaning perfectly. "Why would the Eastern SnowPlains pay these creatures to attack us on Bonfire Night?" he asked, looking at Lennox for answers. Was that a new military strategy these days? It just made Myrus sick to think about. "Answer my question," he ordered Asphodel, finding a bit of inner strength.

"...Blood..." the head demanded.

The Prince stared at the vampire's head for a moment. His eyes darted over towards Mavis' corpse and he took a deep breath. "Answer the question!" he ordered again, before placing his boot on the forehead of the vampire and he began to shift his weight. If he applied enough pressure, Myrus was thinking he might manage to cause the head to cave in and kill the creature - but right now, he just wanted to threaten.

Somehow guarded from the chaos surrounding them, Antonije was just looking at Sylvi for a moment. He was hesitant to allow her to live like this - was sort of life was that? He wanted her to stay sweet, pure, and innocent - and now, she was becoming a creature of the night. If they both died, then they could be together as ghosts. She wouldn't turn into a vampire. He took a slight breath, about to use his telepathy to kill her, but he just couldn't do it. He couldn't look her in the eyes and kill her as he had killed others before.

"...Then do what you need," he told her quietly, before he closed his eyes. If she hurt him, she would be okay. He probably deserved it, with all of the things that he had done. He had been trying to right his wrongs, to save the Castle from those who had failed its people - but maybe he had failed at that too. He had failed at the one thing that mattered most - protecting Sylvi. "It's okay, I don't mind..."

Violet stared at Amarantha unblinkingly, her green eyes turned a grisly shade of yellow. Yellow eyes were unheard of among wizards. Those who dabbled with the Darke had flecks of black amidst the green, but never yellow. Whatever Violet was, she wasn't really a wizard anymore - not one who followed Lyte or Darke paths. "Congratulations, you know someone who no longer exists," Violet spat. "I hope this Apollodora saves the Castle - and does not fail it as you have!"

There was a blast of light as Violet sent a ThunderFlash at Amarantha, her aim slightly skewed and she hit the ground just a few inches away from her target. Had she not missed, it would have killed Amarantha. Pure hatred shone through her eyes as Violet prepared another Magykal attack. The odds of her missing again were slim - unless, perhaps, it had been intentional? At the very least, Amarantha would no longer be Transfixed.

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Halley took a slight breath, having hoped that her brother would have grown out of his temper. He was a husband and father now. He had responsibilities. And how was punching Arnora so badly as to damage her nose beyond natural repair an appropriate response? Halley crossed her arms, frustrated to no end with her brother. For all of his ego and proclaimed superiority, he still threw fits. "Allow me to apologize on behalf of my brother as well, as I know he won't," Halley told Arnora sympathetically after Myth had left, though also with the characteristic spite of a sibling. She studied Arnora's nose for a moment, before Halley's hands had a soft glow around them and the same glow appeared around Arnora's face. The nose repaired itself in a matter of moments as the Mistress of Chaos warped reality to suit her needs. "9,995 years old and I swear, he still acts as if he were in his two thousands sometimes..."

She was also pretty certain that none of Bruce's anger issues had made their way into the legends cherished by the Land of Long Nights. Societies could be so terribly sexist at times. For instance, she remembered Cuyler blaming her for the destruction of the Castle - as if something about her was inherently evil and wished to hurt people, no matter what she did? It was better to just leave Midgard alone unless they needed someone of her strength to save them. They would never accept her as they could her brother and sisters.

"You are all free to go deal with the Castle threat - as heroes of Midgard, not forces of Asgard. I am here for Loki and his threat is far greater than whatever mischief is happening here," she said calmly. "Arnora, if you are staying, would you please attempt to track Loki once more? I am curious to see where he is now..."

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Valda was just looking around the cottage, taking in her surroundings a bit, to get an understanding of what sort of place they had found themselves in. Whenever you were in a new place, it was just common sense to do that, as to her sister's comment about going back, she thought about it for a moment. "I could, potentially, however it might not get us completely back to the Castle... I want to go back for Myrus as much as you do, but I don't think there is anything that we can do to help him right now..." she said, mentally kicking herself over that fact. They couldn't help Myrus, not right now anyway, so what good was she right now?

Then the ground started to shake.

She glanced over at the other two, before looking back at the ground. Focusing a bit, she tried to see if she could figure out what exactly was going on. What she came to the conclusion of was not what she wanted to think about, at all, "We need to get out of here now! The ground, it's not just crumbling, it's starting to split down the middle!" she said, looking over at her sister, panicking slightly somewhat at the thought that they were going to get swallowed by an island or something.

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Sylvi just stared at him, not sure what to do about the entire situation. Her throat was burning, and she was definitely beginning to feel the blood lust. "I-I-I don't want to hurt you Tate, at all... I'm so confused," she said softly, before she got up off of him, taking a few steps backwards away from him. Her brain was telling her to attack him, to try and bite him, to hurt her, but she didn't want to do anything like that. Sylvi started looking around, trying to find another blood source, anything at all.

"Trust me, sometimes punching a wall or another person tends to let off a lot of steam, honestly they are just being stuck up idiots who don't care about anyone else either. You'd think my sister would know better by now about that sort of thing. My uncle is literally the God of Mischief, I mean come on. She's just being stupid and needs to learn that being from Asgard honestly sometimes sucks and means that a lot of people from there think they are better then everyone else, why do you think that Loki tries to cause so much chaos? It is literally the nature of people from Asgard to be stuck up pricks for the most part..." he responded, shaking his head slightly. "I hate that my sister still calls me that honestly, I hate that she constantly goes "Oh look, your breaking the rules again!" honestly, if she'd learn to shut up for two seconds and actually think about other things aside from the "rules" that tell her that she shouldn't care about anyone here on Midgard maybe she'd actually grow up a little bit and learn that sometimes following the rules is the dumbest thing ever."

With that last sentence, he went into the Castle Courtyard, seeing the chaos around them. "...Well this is going to be fun," he said simply, flames dancing along his finger tips as he headed over towards where Mona and the others were. "I'll send you straight to Hel where you belong," he said, before he sent fire slamming into Venus, turning the vampire into ash.

Meanwhile, Sylvi backed away slightly from Tate still, glancing around, for anyone, or anything, that she could drink blood from. Problem was, she didn't want to hurt any one! Well, living anyway. However, her eyes came to rest on Mavis' body lying on the ground not too far away from where she was. Not like the girl was using her blood anymore anyway, wait, did she really just think that? "I'm sorry Tate..." she muttered, before she raced over to Mavis' body and started drinking her blood.

Bruce glanced over, seeing Tate nearby, as well as his girlfriend. Though something was incredibly odd about it, as now he saw the girl drinking blood from a dead body. Now Bruce was firmly starting to believe that maybe he should just live on Midgard indefinitely. Since all hell breaks loose when he's gone for a little while.

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As Luna looked around the room, she spotted the bookshelf on the other end of the room and was curious what was on there and made her way over towards it. As she looked at the various books that were on the shelf she found a diary that looked the most interesting to her, and reached over towards it. Luna opened up the small book seeing that the inside text was really worn and faded beyond reading anyway, as she skimmed through some of the other pages. Seeing that it mentioned something about her grandmother, and thought that it could be something useful and closed the book and kept it for now.

Then she started to feel the ground shaking and turned to look at Titan and Valda with a worried look and then turned her attention towards her sister. She didn't like the idea of staying here anymore now either, at least in the Castle they were safe in there and no one could enter unless they had been a blood relative of theirs. Luna then looked at her sister, maybe they could teleport somewhere else for the time being. "Can you teleport us somewhere else with Magyk?" Luna asked nervously she didn't want to go out into the swamps either which would be really hard for her to move around as well.

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Arnora turned to look at Cuyler and just shook her head towards him, she didn't want to really say anything right now as she winced in pain, as Bruce stormed off towards the Castle. She was atleast grateful for Myth apologizing about her husband, getting hit was really uncalled for. As she sighed, letting Halley move over towards her Arnora moved her hand away from her nose, it really did hurt letting Halley inspect the injury. "Thank you Halley." Arnora said as her nose was healed feeling the pain quickly going away as she looked over towards Cuyler for a moment half expecting him to go with Myth and Bruce.

"I think it's best I stay with you and focus on tracking down Loki, and knowing Loki he's the bigger threat now anyway." Arnora said as she leaned down and picked up the knife again and started to close her eyes and then started to use her enhanced tracking and the spell she used earlier to track down Loki from Asgard. She quickly picked up a closer location on where he was she looked towards Halley, slipping the knife into her pocket for now. "I have him tracked down somewhere within the Port." Arnora said as she started to head down the road towards where the Port was located.

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She was glad of the guard having quick reflexes. Mona had to say she would not have enjoyed falling in a tangled mess with him. Especially with enemies about. The marble she had thrown had missed its mark, unfortunately, but found another. She sincerely hoped it was a vampire and not a poor citizen of the state. She started thinking about what she should do next to take down the more obvious target but someone beat her to it. She was out of fire marbles anyway and running out of ideas.

A quick scan of those that appeared to be living did not deliver her any information on who had become a foul beast and who was still of the living. This was quite frustrating, especially in that she did not know how to handle an enemy should she come to recognize one. With a huff she raised a hand and made a motion as if she were stirring a pot. "Eastern, Western, North, and South. From e'rey land or maiden's mouth. Turn a step and dance wit' me, bring up dirt well past deir knees."

As they were bidden, a wind kicked up around the vampires, civilian, and corpses. It pulled dust up into the air, causing temporary blindness and perhaps a coughing fit to those who breathed within the circle. Mona kept eyes out like a hawk, searching for any sign of the civilian in the trio left. Her plan was to quicken her step and pull the civilian to safety.

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Myth skipped off with Bruce and Cuyler relaxed a little. The temper was a little known thing but not to that extent. He didn’t think a comment like Arnora had made warranted such a reaction but then again, Arnora shouldn’t have made the comment to begin with. Even though he knew they were Asgardian now, they still weren’t Asgardian. Not even completely half. He watched the retreating form of Bruce before he looked back to Halley. Maybe he thought so highly of Bruce because of the way he continually came to the aid of his people. There weren’t many stories of Halley doing the same.
As he was thinking this, Halley approached Arnora, after apologizing on Bruce’s behalf and her hands started to glow, along with Arnora’s nose. Cuyler watched in as much amazement as he had when she raised the dead. One second Arnora’s nose was all kinds of messed up and in the next, it was completely healed. He looked back at Halley, watching her curiously. He was much more interested in the way she thought and why she thought then anything else at the moment. That was the thing with Cuyler. He tended to become fascinated with how things worked. People included.
Cuyler still felt this faint pull towards the direction Bruce and Myth went but he trusted those two. Whatever was happening at the Palace, between those two and Arya, it would get solved. He was here for his mother and the mission to bring back Loki and the Tesseract.
”The Port is this way,” Cuyler looked back as he heard the location from Arnora. He was moving to lead the way when he looked back and saw Arnora was already heading for Port. He maneuvered his sword and stepped forward to follow along behind Arnora.
”If we find him, what is the plan?”

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Just as Lennox thought, the Vampire spoke up and even though it was only a few words and softly spoken, Lennox picked up on it just as Mryus did. He looked at the Prince and back at the Vampire. There was a sudden explosion and Lennox moved back, grabbing Prince Myrus to protect him but the Vampires were being taken care of by another person who could create fire. They were all coming out of nowhere it seemed. Another problem for later Lennox supposed.
“Bonfire night is a celebration here, a holiday for most. It could be considered a weak time for us. Or perhaps it is a distraction.” Lennox wasn’t sure if the Prince even heard his words as Myrus advanced on the Vampire and pressed a boot down onto his head.
“We need him alive for a little while longer. He gave us one answer, perhaps he will give us more.” Lennox stretched out his wrist and squeezed so three drops of blood fell onto the Vampire’s awaiting lips.

Amarantha’s words were meaningless to Arya but in her defense, this wasn’t Arya and Amarantha understood that more as her eyes shifted to yellow. Amaratha narrowed her own ice blue eyes at the former ExtraOrdinary Wizard. Before she could say much of anything she was thrown back. She rolled and sprang to her feet. Amarantha rolled her shoulders back, happy to be free.
”Oh I am certain she is very much alive. Maybe not in this time but in another. No matter, she is my successor and if you do not find her before you kill me, I will haunt your ass, mark my words.” Amarantha pulled out a dagger and looked at Ayra as she started to build up her Magyk again. She hoped her words would hit home this time. Amarantha thrived on the threat of her words coming true more so than her physical advancements.
”You forget Arya, you failed this Castle first. Many moons ago.” Amarantha’s eyes shifted from Arya a moment, just for a fraction as she scanned the grounds. She saw the Prince standing over a Vampire with Lennox beside him, Mona going after another Vampire and failing, then a newcomer well, not so new. Bruce walked in with Myth close at hand and he attacked the Vampire Mona missed, who was now creating one hell of a dust storm.
Amaratha took that as her cue and with the two fire marbles in her hands from Mona, she aimed them for Arya.
”I saved this place. I saved its people and gave them a voice. I’ll be back Ayra and I’ll have more answers for you before I save the Castle from you.” With her parting words, she tossed the marbles in Arya’s direction. Not in a way to kill but in a way to cause further distraction for her to escape. Once the marbles were released from her hand, she turned and ran. She ran past a feeding Sylvi and headed for the wall, grabbing on and worked her way up the cracks, hoping to make it up and over the wall with her advanced parkour and stealth skills.

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Titan listened to Valda and watched Luna wander the room until she came across a book. He watched her curiously, moving closer to get a better look. All the while he kept looking around the room, waiting for Ahote to appear but still the foreigner didn’t show. The ground started to shake and he reached out, grabbing for Luna. Valda’s information on the ground actually splitting did nothing for Titan’s nerves. He was in a foreign place with two of the Castle’s royals to protect. They needed a miracle.
“By all means, give it a try but we don’t have many options or time.”

Perhaps Ahote was a crow in his former life for it seemed he had an eye for shiny things. He stepped forward as light caught the glint of a ring and Ahote picked it up to examine further. It held a brilliant emerald within its claws and a delicate dragon was the artistic factor to it. As Ahote looked at the ring, twisting it in the light to catch different details he realized what the ring was. He frowned. He knew many stories of Puck, some from the Queen but most of them were from Amarantha. Why on earth would she keep this from such a corrupt man? Did she even know she still had it? Still, why was there a dragon on this ring? There had to be a meaning behind it. Ahote set the ring down, tempted as he was to keep it and confront her but it was not his place. Instead he set it down on a table, front and center for her to see and perhaps she would finally toss it away.
As he replaced the ring, something else caught his eye. This was even more confusing than the first. A piece of broken glass sat wrapped in delicate cloth. What on earth? What was the point in keeping this? Ahote looked through the drawer, searching for anything else before he pulled out the glass to examine it and the cloth further. Perhaps there was something written on the cloth. He touched the tip of the glass shard, examining its thickness and shape as he unwrapped it.

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Myth could understand anger, she could even understand needing to unleash it physically. But to do so against another person was uncalled for. Unless the situation deemed violence was needed, and a nickname was not justifiable in her eyes. "Look, I agree with you in some aspects and you forever have my heart, love, but that was uncalled for. I'd like for you to apologize to that woman the next time you are able to. As for your sister, you should be thankful you have a family. I know only what I've seen of other families. Siblings get on your nerves and annoy you, but that is their job. I don't know if this all applies to the gods of Asgard, but for us regular folk, we annoy our families to no end because we love them. Do you not love your sister? I've only known them for a little bit and I can see the amount of love they have for you. So, perhaps talking to them is better than building up all this anger and hatred? At least you have a family."

As they neared the scene, she saw what looked to be a battle taking place, Bruce immediately jumped into action and the girl Antonije was with appeared...off. And as if to showcase that, she ran over to a body and began to drink from it. Myth wanted to stare in horror, but she knew she had to aid in some way. So she ran over to Antonije and knelt down by him. She checked him, but could not see what was wrong. "Tate, are you all right?"

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Fleur nodded as Asha left her. She would not be opposed to seeing these Ancient Ways. If it meant she grew more powerful, she would not be opposed to it. The hour grew late though, while others would go to sleep and rest for the next day, she knew witches were different. This was the prime time to be one. She stood up and exited the tent to see the others dancing around the fire, singing and laughing.

This is what she desired for her own coven. To be free to do as they wish, to not have some danger lurking over their head. This could not be though, not with the powers on the throne. She would sooner be put to the stake than to live free. And now, with Nera gone, she had no desire to live peacefully anymore.

Perhaps she would go back to check on Nera before making her way back to the Witch's Road.

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The Queen's Room - the Palace, the Castle...

While Ahote had no trouble when he came into contact with the Dragon Ring, the same could not be said for the glass shard. Thousands of years ago, Queen Jenna's adoptive brother Septimus Heap, one of the most famous ExtraOrdinary Wizard's, had ended up trapped in the past. He had been dragged through a similar piece of glass. His brother, Nicko, and his girlfriend Snorri ended up trapped in the past under related circumstances. Now, the glass mirror used to transport them all back in time? It ended up shattering.

Queen Jenna kept one of the shards and wrapped it away carefully, before keeping it safely hidden in the Queen's Room. Inside the Queen's Rules - a book given to the Crown Princess at the start of her Journey to prepare herself to be the next Queen of the Castle - it explicitly states to not touch the shard without gloves. An ordinary person perhaps would be fine touching it, but Ahote was not ordinary at all. He was a mutant.

Although Ahote won't know when he landed, he will know where... He's still at the Castle. He's still inside the Palace. But the Palace is in ruins. Precious heirlooms are covered in dust. It'll take him a moment to realize it, but somehow... He's traveled to the future.

And the Castle is destined to die.

The Old Port Witch Coven Home - the Port...

Fortunately for Fleur, everything was well with her coven in the Witch Country. Twenty minutes and a half a dozen Transports later saw her arrive at her old home in the Port. The house's condition clearly wasn't a priority for the local government, as there were cobwebs covering just about every surface and rats scurrying around on the ground. Nera's Year and a Day were almost up - she had a little under two months left before she would be able to leave this place and go once more where living she had trod before. Because of this, Fleur knows exactly where she will be able to find Nera - up in Malekith's bedroom.

The Keeper's Cottage - Draggen Island, the Marram Marshes...

Titan was right - they didn't have much time. The shaking became more and more powerful as the island cracked down the middle like an egg, leaving Valda separated from Luna and Titan by a large chasm. It was a deep drop and no doubt there would be Marsh Brownies and so forth at the bottom, hoping for a snack. However, the shaking didn't cease - something seemed to be coming up from the chasm and the motion would send both Valda and Luna over the edge, falling into an unknown darkness. The only thing they would be able to make out was a pair of emerald eyes.

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Myrus stared at Asphodel's head expectingly, still keeping the pressure of his boot on the vampire. These creatures had killed his best friend - just as life had finally gone back to something near the normal that existed prior to his mother's death. He took a deep, ragged breath and just stared, but it was clear that the vampire wasn't talking. Perhaps Asphodel needed more blood or the lack of vocal chords was finally catching up with him. "Can we torture him?" Myrus asked Lennox.

He then paled slightly. Myrus hadn't seen his sisters during this entire battle. Were they among the corpses on the battlefield? Or were they inside the Palace, maybe facing more of these monsters? His heart started pounding more and more. Had they killed Ahote? How many people that he loved would he have to bury in the days to come? "L-Lennox... Where are my sisters?" he then asked, shaking a bit.

Amarantha's words seemed to have unsettled the cloaked vigilante. Violet paused for a moment, contemplating her own failure. She didn't know about her life before she woke up - before she came to in that cold and lonely place. "...If Arya failed the Castle, it is fortune that I am not her," Violet said, but there was uncertainty in her voice. Her eyes swept around the grounds and she saw that the last of the hostile vampires had been slain. She couldn't judge from that distance whether the civilians had been turned or not. "Through wind, rain, sun, and snow - I Mark you to follow you wherever you go," she whispered. Magyk swirled around her and a mark appeared on the necks of everyone present in the Courtyard, living and dead. While there would be no pain associated with it, nothing would be able to remove it.

There was then a swirl of purple as Violet Transported herself away, fleeing the scene.

Antonije looked at Myth wordlessly, before he used his powers and entered her mind. Myth would see the images of everything that had happened at the Bonfire Night so far, all from Antonije's perspective. He then got to his feet properly, looking like one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. His naturally pale skin was a sickly white, his silver-blonde hair clung to his skin with sweat, and blood and dirt covered his clothing.

He walked on over to Sylvi, standing next to her wordlessly. He didn't even look at Bruce. He was so incredibly angry and hurt that he just felt numb to the world, just watching as his girlfriend drank the blood of a corpse.

Mona was having better luck than the others. In the midst of the coughing fit, she would be able to tell who had fangs and who didn't. Of course, these newborn vampires were innocent - they were civilians too basically, they hadn't done anything wrong. Would Mona put them down, in order to stop the spread of vampirism? Or would she spare their lives?

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Halley nodded as Arnora explained that Loki was at the Port. Despite her brother's opinion, Halley knew a decent bit as to how to get around on Midgard. She came down to help them out with threats that were beyond their capabilities - but that didn't mean she was never there. She simply preferred to not belittle the Midgardians and act as if they needed divine intervention for every crisis. The walk to the Port would have taken them a few hours, but fortunately the Port Ferry service was available, even this late at night. It was likely due to the Bonfire Night holiday - people would be wanting to get back home before dark.

"Bind his hands and gag him - he gets irritating if he isn't gagged," Halley told Cuyler. "Knowing Loki, he will use the Tesseract as he fights us, so it should not be difficult to retrieve from him. We then return the Space Stone to Asgard to the All-Mother - and ideally, send Loki to a cell." It was a fairly quick and pleasant trip on the ferry to get them from the Castle to the Port and when they arrived, the normally busy boardwalk was rather vacant. It was probably just due to the time of night, but there were lights on in various pubs and establishments down the main strip.

"Can you get us any closer a location?" she asked Arnora.

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"I can definitely try, since we need to move," Valda said to her sister, glancing over at Titan as well, but she didn't really get much of a chance to do something like that all before the ground completely split. She found herself separated from her sister and Titan, and she had no idea what the hell to do in this situation now. Glancing down, she looked into the chasm that was separating her from them, but she didn't have too much time to think about that, as with another shake of the ground she and Luna both went into the darkness.

She wasted no time in using her Magyk to try and slow their decent, and it wasn't too difficult. They weren't actually flying or anything, more of falling slowly and softly, before they eventually reached the bottom of the chasm. "Luna, are you okay?" Valda asked her sister, before noticing that the surface that they had landed on was moving upwards. "...Let's see if we can get a bit of light in here..."

With that, Valda used her Magyk once more and created small balls of light in order for them to be able to see. Glancing around the area, her eyes widened when she saw that they were on a boat? A boat, that was in the shape of a dragon. "What even is this thing?"

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Bruce shook his head slightly at Myth, before glancing over at Tate standing by his girlfriend, letting out a small sigh. Yup, he probably wasn't going to be leaving Midgard any time soon. "You're right, I do have a family, but you also saying to keep control of my anger and hold it in or something Myth, you clearly didn't really meet my grandfather did you? Anger issues tend to run in our family, so sorry for going off like that, but that's just the truth. Anyway, stay here with Tate, I'm going to go inside the Palace to see if there are any vampires inside of the Palace... And remind me that I should probably stick around Midgard for a while, and maybe see about tracking down my little sister," he responded to Myth, as he walked by her and to the Palace.

He took a glance back, seeing Tate, just standing there by his girlfriend. The reason he had mentioned about maybe finding Nova later was to see if she could try and fix it. He wasn't positive that she'd be able to do anything to fix it, but maybe she could, he wasn't entirely positive still what all she could do about it. Who knows, maybe Nova could figure out, but maybe not. Not to mention he had no idea where she even was at the moment, so that didn't help.

Sylvi stopped drinking Mavis' blood, pulling away from the dead body, internally freaking out as to what could be going on. She was still confused as to what was even happening to her. Glancing down at her hands, they were currently covered in blood, and she was still completely covered in it. Thankfully, she wasn't feeling the hunger anymore, and she stood up, looking over at Tate, and she was fighting back tears at the moment.

"T-T-Tate? What's going on? What's wrong with me?" she asked him, before she hugged him, freaking out still. Sylvi wasn't even caring about the fact that there was blood on her. She was panicking, fighting back tears or anything, and she had no idea what was going on. It still wasn't completely registering in her mind what was happening to her, and she was wanting to stay close to Tate, since he seemed to be able to understand it a lot better then she was.

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Luna stumbled a bit more as watched the ground within the cottage suddenly opened into a rather large chasm before her, separating her from her sister Valda. She looked towards her with a terrified look in her eyes she was really scared and she really wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. Anywhere is fine as long as they wouldn't end up falling to their deaths, before hearing the voice in her head speaking up. "Ohh yay, you should totally fall to your death it would be really fun!" The voice said, Luna really wished that there was a way to tune it all out. Then the ground started to shake again, feeling Titian trying to get a hold of her, before she ended up slipping from his grip.

She started to scream as she started to fall seeing the set of glowing emerald eyes at the bottom of the massive hole, and started to close her eyes. Luna really wasn't expecting to end up dying like this, far from home she was scared about what would happen to their home with both her and Valda gone. But she then felt her fall starting to slow down, looking over towards Valda before they landed on the surface of a boat. Luna quickly went over and hugged Valda tightly trembling slightly as she looked around at where they were now and looked at the Dragon Boat. She quickly recognized it from the many stories that their mother had told her while growing up, as she looked around once more.

"I didnt think that this was actually real, but this is The Dragon Boat it was the dragon of Hotep-Ra, the first ExtraOrdinary Wizard. The legends are a bit murky as to how the dragon ended up being a boat, but the Dragon Boat was visited by the Castle Queen each MidSummer for centuries. Mother used to tell me this when I was little growing up, Supposedly there is a ring that can be given to indicate the master of the dragon boat, but the dragon boat lets the Castle Queens take command due to the kindness of an old Castle Queen, Queen Jenna, who helped to save her, I don't even know why this is down here or how it got down here either.." Luna said softly as she looked up at the top of the hole they had fallen down wondering how they would actually be able to get Titian down here and let him know that they were safe and sound. "We can use this to get out of here maybe?" Luna suggested to her sister

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"I think he would give me a headache as well if he talked to much." Arnora said softly as she took Loki's knife and started to track again, as well as the spell that she had been using now, which had come in handy now, as she started to quickly follow the trail and walked along the port ignoring those around her and more focused on finding Loki and the task at hand. She was half expecting Cuyler to go and join Myth and Bruce at the Castle to maybe find his girlfriend there. Though she knew that she had probably been dead since their wedding as well. She kept her promise and had been silent about telling Cuyler what happened to Arya.

Arnora then stopped right in front of a stone wall, tilting her head to the side as she tried to look for an entrance of some kind. "Well he should be here, my tracking led us here." Arnora said looking over towards Halley, since she was a lot better at magyk then she was Halley probably had the key as it were. "He should be behind this wall unless he decided to disguise himself as a wall as well." Arnora said.

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Bind and gag him, that was the plan. It seemed a little simple in Cuyler’s opinion but sometimes simple was the best option. If you went to complicated, there would be more ways to get out of the situation. Cuyler observed his surroundings as they walked to the ferry. He smiled to himself at the familiar sights and smells, although there was still that burning smell. Thia walked along behind them, seeming to take up the rear guard as she looked out for her friend.
They boarded the ferry and Cuyler relaxed instantly. It was no boat and definitely not his old boat the Hefring but it still felt like home being on the water. At the thought of his boat, he wondered if it was still around. Thia seemed to relax a bit with Cuyler as they drifted away from the main portion of the Castle. Once they landed, it seemed to be a short little walk that led them to a stone wall of sorts. Cuyler looked at Arnora and then back at the wall.
”Are you certain? Perhaps your internal compass is broken,” he teased her. But there was definitely something here, Cuyler could feel the strong pull of Magyk within this wall. ”Perhaps it is hiding something.” He moved about the length of the wall, trying to get a good feel for it and see if there was more Magyk in one area compared to the other.

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The vampire was still refusing to answer but Lennox wasn’t about to offer up more blood. Perhaps the vampire was on death’s doorstep already. He looked back at the Prince at the mention of torture. That was what they were already doing essentially. There weren’t many other ways to torture a head. Then he asked about his siblings and Lennox looked off towards the castle.
“They have Ahote and Titan guarding them. They are safer than we are, trust me. But we can go in and see if you wish. I am not sure if there are any vampires inside though. It would be best for us to still be on our guard. As for the vampire here. There isn’t much more that can be done than what we are already doing.”

Amarantha didn’t stick around to see or hear how her words impacted Arya. Her mission now was getting away from this place. Hopefully she would be able to find Titan or Apollo would make a random appearance again. The fighting in the courtyard could have gone better. The interaction with Arya could have gone better but if Amarantha had done her job right, she would have made an impact on the former ExtraOridinary Wizard and that’s all she needed. She came over the wall and jumped to the ground below before she walked into the Entrance Hall of the Palace. She covered her mouth and nose for a moment for there was an overpowering smell of death and blood but the smell was on her hands as well. The enhanced smell was going to be a bit annoying. The sight and hearing were welcomed though. There were Palace staff dead throughout the receiving hall but there was also a convenient trail of blood leading down to the Long Walk. Amarantha felt her mouth go dry as moved to make her way down that hall. She needed to grab items from her room before she could leave but that meant she would be closer to the royals who were still in the Palace at the time of the attack. She had faith in her guards and they would have had the advantage of being within the Palace to get to safety.
As she passed dead body after dead body, they were either drained completely or their blood continued to seep out onto the once pristine Palace floor. Absentmindedly Amarantha wondered if she should take a drink. Her ability to resist was strong but she wondered how much longer that would last. She had tasted blood before, not by choice but merely because of fighting while her mouth was open. It hadn’t exactly tasted good then, what would it be like now? She sighed, running a hand through her tangled and matted hair and looked about the room. Precious pieces that once lined this room had been broken, tapestries sat frayed and covered in blood. How proud she had once been to walk through this hall, feeling a Queen herself. Now she felt every bit the vile creature she was, trespassing on sacred ground.
But duty triumphed over self-pity and Amarantha moved forward once again. She needed to secure the royals before she left but she knew she couldn’t remain. There were advantages to her plight now. For one, she could go undercover herself and take over the job of her spies. In this state of enhancement she would probably get more information on those who were a threat to the castle than her regular spies could.

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The ground cracked open and there wasn’t much time between Valda being separated from Titan and Luna to the two royals being deposited into the dark chasm. Panicked, Titan looked around the crumbling room while Luna’s screams echoed away. He managed to find a rope but it was in poor condition. He gripped the thing in his hand, knuckles turning white from the force and stared into the blackness below him. What were the chances? The thing was, the screaming stopped but it had been gradual, not sudden and there was no sound of them hitting the bottom. How deep was this hole to the center of the earth? Or had they not pariashed at all.
“Valda! Luna!” He cupped his hands around his mouth, creating a circle and called into the earth.

Ahote turned the broken glass in his hand, nothing immediately happened to him but something did all the same. There was a sudden force like he was being pulled roughly forward and he could not stop himself. Things blurred beside him but then drifted back into focus as he was returned to the Palace. Except this wasn’t the Palace he was just standing in. Ahote stumbled forward, his balance a little off but it was also paired with a sudden surge of adrenaline. He looked around in confusion. The Palace where he stood had been destroyed. Brick and rubble laid everywhere, creating more tripping hazards and things that used to be on display now sat on the ground in ruins. As he was turning and looked around, Ahote tried to use his gift of sensing auras to make sense of all this but nothing was produced for him. The only thing he was somehow able to determine was this was indeed the Palace but the future of it. Whether that was the near future or the distant future, Ahote hadn’t a clue.
Ahote stumbled again, nearly falling this time but managed to catch himself before he hit the broken bricks on the ground. He turned, looking to see what had almost taken him out. Colour drained from the time traveler's face and Ahote did drop to the ground. The crown somehow still had a bit of a shine to it and he recognized it as the Queen’s crown but the body itself was so destroyed that he wasn’t certain who wore it. Whoever this was, whatever time he was in, it did not look good for the Castle. He needed to find answers, clues as to what happened and then a way to get back. If he understood what had transpired here, then perhaps he could help prevent it.
Ahote stood to stand but then immediately stopped. ”My grandmother always used to say I was short-sighted. Clearly that hasn’t changed.” Ahote chided himself before he placed his hand on the ground beside the dead body and shut his eyes. He had a greater power, one he seemed to rarely use at the Castle but he only ever used his foresight and enhanced senses like this if he were tracking and he hadn’t much need for that where he was. He channeled his enhanced senses and looked for what could have possibly happened. There was no telling this would work, normally his power only worked for the last five minutes or so but perhaps he could glean more information today.

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She covered the lower part of her face with the cloak she wore about her shoulder. It did not protect her eyes from the dust the mini cyclone spewed from it. Despite that she was able to tell which of the three remaining had fangs and which did not. Just one unturned civilian. Damm. These assholes had moved much too quickly. There was anger boiling in the usually blase woman's belly.

"As deh fox outruns deh hound, thru' deh trees an' muddied ground, lace me feets wit' lightened step an' give me legs some extra pep." She wove together her first spell, allowing her the extra speed she would need to grab the civilian and get out of harms way. However, being a small woman she would also need some strength. She began her second spell. "Circus strongmen, bears, an' storms, allow dis body despite its norms deh strength I need tah save deir forms." A surge of power rushed through her and the spell had worked better than she had hoped.

Without further ado she ran into the fray, scooped the civilian over her shoulder and moved up toward the palace. She hoped to find safety there. The world swept by her and the civilian wiggled. It gave her trouble with her speed and balance but she was able to hold onto the person tightly. She, at last, made it to the palace steps and set the civilian down. Entering the palace was the man who had barbequed one of the vampires. "Oi!" she shouted to him. "Oi, Mister. Deh job ain't done yet. There be creatures what go bump in the night about." She gestured toward one who stood at the far end of the palace near the burning tables, Erasmus. "If ye ain't gonna help with thems, at least take dis one 'neath yer wing." She then gestured toward the civilian she had rescued.

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She would talk to Bruce later about his anger, whether it ran in the family or not mattered very little when you went around punching people. What was to stop him from ever hitting her if that was the case? Perhaps Runa could shed some insight into that then. For now, she did as was instructed and knelt by Tate. The boy seemingly entered her mind though. She saw through his eyes and saw everything he did in the events prior to them coming.

It was darkness and bloodshed. An attack and everyone fighting. And Tate seeing the woman he cared for...and it was gone. She came back to reality with Tate walking towards Sylvi. She stood up and ran to him, aware that they were still very much in danger. And if the girl was...feeding as it appeared to be, then that was even more of a problem. "Tate, we need to get back." She didn't want to state out loud that she feared for the boy, but she would protect him if it came to that. She checked around her to see if they were in immediate danger.

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Fleur Transported multiple times until she arrived at her old stomping ground. She found herself barely missing the place itself. It was more the memories accompanying it that she missed. She walked inside, aware of the stillness and the quiet. She also knew that time was of the essence. Nera would not have long to remain in this place. It was a comforting and saddening thought, knowing the woman she cared for would be able to move on, but knowing she would be gone.

It was enough to be able to share her thoughts, her plans, and say goodbye for probably the last time. She made her way up the steps to Mal's old room and entered. She stood at the door frame and looked in. "We don't have a lot of time, it seems. Let us make the most of it then." She entered finally, waiting and watching.

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Whenever he is, Ahote still won't have much of a clue. He won't have any ideas on how to get back to his time yet either - nothing concrete beyond just poking at the glass shard over and over again, hoping to recreate the accident but in reverse. As he sees back through time, he will feel that he has gone beyond the normal five minutes. The traces are faint and they are like echoes now, but whatever happened here had taken so much energy that he could still feel it. While he won't be able to see the fall of the Castle and the destruction of the Palace itself, Ahote will see this man sitting on the throne, the body of a Castle Queen at his feet.

In the midst of his attempt to seek answers, he will also be able to hear some shifting rubble nearby - he isn't alone here.

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The Entrance Hall - the Palace, the Castle...


As Bruce and Amarantha enter the Entrance Hall, the overwhelming sense of death and chaos is striking. As the ex-Deputy Hunter already observed, most of the blood trails were in the direction of the Long Walk, but not exclusively. Some of them head towards the Library Wing, some to the Throne Room, and even some to the Tea Room! Unfortunately though, the odds were not in Amarantha's favor to be able to head back to her room quickly. A pack of vampires - twelve, from a rough count - have emerged from the Throne Room, blood streaking their faces and trailing behind them with each step.

"Hey, you!" Philomena called out. "Mind telling us where the dear old Queen is?" she asked, her fangs plainly visible. She kicked a corpse to the side as she walked forward, not even caring to step around the poor departed soul.

The Old Port Witch Coven Home - the Port...

Nera Appeared to Fleur as she always did - of course, she could have decided not to but why would she? Fleur was the only one who came to visit her really, aside from that odd girl, Miranda. She had also loved Fleur both in life and in death. "I thought you would be joyous, not sorrowful," Nera said with interest. "Even once I am free to leave this place and go wherever I wish in this world... I will always be there for you." She meant it as well. Ghosts could only go once more where living they had gone before - so essentially, anywhere Nera had been when she was alive, she could go now as a ghost. She had even been to some parts of the Witch Country before.

"So tell me, what has changed in the world since I saw you last?" Nera asked her. Given that the Port Witch Coven Home was abandoned, she didn't really get much news of what was going on outside. Sometimes she would peer out the window, down into the street, but that mostly just gave her a view of the drunks going home from the tavern.

The Keeper's Cottage - Draggen Island, the Marram Marshes...

The Dragon Boat continued to rise, the ground around them shaking with each beat of her wings. Just as Luna had described, the elegant creature was a Magykal hybrid between a dragon and a boat. Unlike the dragon they had met a few years ago of course, she didn't seem to be able to change into a human form - but at least she did not have an annoying trophy husband with her, so that was definitely a plus. The creature's eyes seemed to be made out of emeralds and the Dragon Boat stared at Titan intently, attempting to determine if he was friend or foe. The boat then bowed her head slightly towards him.

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Antonije hesitated for a moment as Sylvi hugged him, not certain that he deserved her embrace. Regardless, he returned it for her sake. He didn't know much about vampires, but it wasn't the life she deserved. She had run away from her country and her family - all to pursue her dream of music. There was no cure for vampirism. "You're a daughter of the night," he told her quietly. Her skin was cold to his touch, like marble. She felt stronger than the precious ores his father had told him about, lamenting that they did not have as much of this Magyk metal as they would have liked. "I'm... I'm so sorry," he whispered to her, not certain what else to say.

What was he going to tell her? He could have told her about feeding habits she'd need to maintain or speculate about how she would need to avoid sunlight and fire, but... Every time he even thought about beginning some sort of sentence like that, he just saw the love of his life in pain. There was blood on her face - Mavis' blood - and if he was honest with himself, it was a bit of an attractive look. As Myth came over to them, Antonije stared at her for a moment and he shook his head. "I'm not leaving her," he said into Myth's mind. "...I love her more than I love machines... or fire..."

Myrus stared at Lennox with frightened violet eyes. They weren't getting anywhere with Asphodel and he hadn't even considered really the possibility that there could be more vampires inside of the Palace. He hoped that his siblings were hiding in the vault or the Queen's Room - the safest places in there. Maybe Valda would have suggested they go down and hide in the Royal Crypt, she was a bit different like that at times. "If we can't get more from him..." Myrus said softly, sniffling. His best friend had died. Sure, Asphodel hadn't been the one to do it, but...

He stared down at the head and slammed his foot down onto the nose. Nothing happened and Myrus' hands started to shake, the red energy flaring up as his eyes shifted colors. He stomped again and this time, the nose shattered.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Asphodel sneered.

Myrus let out a scream and jumped up, before bringing his foot down on the head. This time, his heel connected perfectly and the skull cracked open, caving in on the brain. He didn't seem to realize he had succeeded in this, as Myrus kept on stomping on the head until the brain matter had been sprayed all over a five foot radius. He was panting slightly from the exertion and the release of emotions, his foot throbbing immensely but he didn't care.

"L-Let's go inside, then...." he said to Lennox, as if he had not just repeatedly stomped on the head to kill the vampire in the grossest and most inhuman way he could.

In front of the Palace Entrance, the civilian vomited, having been so paralyzed by fear a moment ago and now overcome with nausea. He was a burly short man with a massive beard and beady eyes - portions of his beard had flowers braided into it. "T'anks...." the man said weakly, glad that Mona had gotten him out of that mess.

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Halley didn't notice anything out of the ordinary in the Port - everything seemed relatively calm and peaceful, given that it was Bonfire Night and something odd was going on in the Castle that her brother had decided he just had to deal with. More realms than Midgard needed protection and if they were to interfere in every little matter, then they would not be able to help when it truly mattered. "Let me see what I can Sense," Halley said, closing her eyes slightly. Her mutant abilities allowed her to warp the fundamental nature of reality, meaning that she had inherent Magykal skill. There was definitely an entrance in front of them to a grand structure - a palace, in fact - but it was Concealed.

"There's a palace complex behind the wall, the entrance is Hidden - we just need to figure out what key will allow us to pass," Halley told her companions. She raised an eyebrow slightly, watching as Cuyler went along the wall and attempted to feel out its secrets. "Are you quite down molesting the facade?" she asked, shaking her head slightly. There was a reason Cuyler was a warrior, not a mage. She tried thinking on what sort of key this enchantment would take to allow them through, but nothing was coming to mind. Maybe some of the locals new about the Concealed palace complex in the Port, but she doubted it. Either Loki had built it in order to make himself a secret base - he did enjoy grand structures - or someone else had and wished to keep it Hidden for a reason.

As Cuyler searched for the Magyk, he would instead Sense something else. Despite the time it had been since they had last seen each other and all that had happened, he would know Arya Rincewind's Magyk like the back of his hand. A wave of sensations would hit him - the feeling of summer rain, the scent of the sea, the rhythm of a song... He wouldn't know it, but his mother was interfering in his love life!

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"A dragon boat? Sounds a bit strange to me, but then again, I suppose anything is possible... So it seems like the boat can obviously fly... Do you think that perchance the boat could take us back to the Castle? Since obviously we can't go back the way that we came, it's been destroyed for whatever reason, I am still unsure what even caused that earthquake of sorts... We need to see about getting back to the Castle, to see if anyone knows what's going on, or what has happened..." Valda said simply to her sister as the boat rose up into the air.

Hearing her sister's words about the Dragon Boat made her curious as to how the boat ended up way out here, or if perhaps the boat trying to rise from the ground is what caused the earth to split. It did not matter to her very much, as she glanced over and saw Titan as the boat rose from the ground. She just waved slightly at him as they reached the surface, "Hey, how's it going there?" she asked him with a slight smile.

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Bruce glanced over, noticing Amarantha there as he walked forward towards the vampires, staring right at them. Fire flashed across his eyes as he glared at them. "I have no idea where the Queen may be, however there is something else you should know, and that is that I don't take too kindly to a bunch of vampires deciding to show up and try and murder everyone... Sure, I'm used to dead creatures of sorts, but namely because I have a little sister who can actually raise the dead. So, I think it's time for you all to burn right now," he said somewhat calmly, before he held his hand out and his staff Gandr appeared in his hand now.

There was swirling fire now, that danced along the staff itself. He hadn't really had to deal too much with this many enemies outside, so it hadn't called for him pulling out the staff. However, now that there were multiple enemies, as well as someone beside him who he didn't really want to injure, it definitely warranted a bit more control for sure. With the fire surrounding him, he sent a flame blast flying right at the vampires, and he managed to take out half of them with one hit, killing Philomena, Vivian, Nostro, Lex, Prudence, and Indie.

"Now, anyone else want to cause problems?" he asked the remaining vampires.

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Hearing Tate's words, she fell silent, unsure of what to really say about everything. She was a vampire, and there wasn't anything that they could do about it. Sylvi wasn't sure what she could do right now, but something about Myth's words struck a cord with her. Her mind started racing as she realized why Myth had said what she had said to Tate. The woman was afraid that she'd hurt him, or others, and Sylvi was still fighting back tears as she looked at Tate and backed away slowly a little ways from them.

"I-I-I don't want to hurt anyone," she said softly, her eyes now flickering somewhat towards the fire now. She knew what Tate's original thought had been about everything, and a small part of her was wondering if she should have just gone along with it, but she wasn't too sure about it still. She looked back at Tate, looking him in the eyes again, "I really don't want to hurt anyone..." she repeated softly, saying nothing else about it.

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"Well it responds to the queen, so it should hopefully let you command it.." Luna said softly, she wasn't the queen so the Dragon Boat certainly wont listen to her which was most likely. She stumbled slightly as the boat started to rise up from the chasm that had opened up, she was glad that they didn't end up falling to their deaths and she was glad that Valda managed to save them both. She was really worried about Myrus right now, and Luna wanted to get back to the Castle as soon as possible so that she could hopefully see her brother again and that he was safe.

As the boat started to get higher again she turned around to see Titan there and smiled towards him and gave a slight wave as the Dragon Boat lowered it's head towards him. "We are fine luckily we didn't die." Luna said softly as she started to wonder where Ahote was as well, he didn't come with them in the first place. And Luna wasn't sure if the room had kicked Ahote out since he wasn't a blood relative either. "The sooner we get back home the better, and hopefully things aren't bad there anymore.." Luna said softly.

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Arnora looked towards Cuyler and shook her head slightly. "Your just jealous that I can find things easier then you, always seem to loose something." Arnora said smirking slightly as she looked up at the stone wall as Halley started to use her own magyk to scan the area, and nodded slightly, it was going to be harder for them to get through it then it seems. Arnora started to think a little bit she did remember briefly traveling around with Ahote, and two others before the whole wedding, and going to Asgard they had gone into the Port Witch Coven House. "We could try maybe the Port Witch Coven House, there were numerous ghosts in there last time I was there with a few others. Maybe one of them would know."

Arnora said shrugging slightly, or they could go back the way that they had come and go to the Wizard Tower and try and see if anyone knew anything there. "Or we can go back to the Wizard's Tower maybe they also know something?" Arnora also suggested, since that was the only other location that she knew of that could get them what they hopefully needed as well. "That's the only ideas I can come up with." Arnoa said softly.

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"I meant you both. You both need to come with me and away from the fire." Though she was wary of Sylvi, she knew Tate would not just up and leave. She took his hand in her own and stood up. "Both of you need to come with me now. We will determine where to go once we are safely away."

She would pull him if she had to, but she would wait for Sylvi to follow. She didn't intend to leave her alone. More for Tate's sanity than anything else, but if the girl was to prove to be a danger, she would handle that then and there. The images ran through her mind again, unsure how to process them and how to begin to help Tate go through them.

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Fleur shook her head. "No. I know you can come and go, but that is not my intention for you. I want you to be free from this world. To not have to remain here and see it for what it is. I want you to go find peace elsewhere. That is my desire for you, but you are your own person. I would love to have you around me for the remainder of my days, but that is selfish of me. My hope for you is greater."

She toured the room a bit, remembering Mal and the past. So much has changed in so little. "I am establishing an army for myself. On top of our own coven, I have added forces from another land. Plus I battled Agatha and killed her, adding her own coven numbers to my own. I have amassed large number and still intend to grab more. I also took down the being responsible for attacking Magyk users. Chthon was its name and it is no more. I intend to find one last source along the Witch's Road and then prepare for our attack."

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As Cuyler worked the wall and Arnora made her comment, he childishly stuck his tongue out at her. Cuyler vaguely heard Halley’s comment that there was some structure beyond the wall as he reached the end of it and gave pause. Her next comment didn’t even register. Something seemed to shift around him and within him. Like a warm embrace, the lingering presence of Ayra’s Magyk wrapped around him securely and he leaned into it. He shut his eyes as the feeling encompassed him and seemed to cement him into place. Complete visions of summer rain flooded his senses as if he were caught in a storm that shifted into the feeling of soft hands. The smell of the sea, so strong it was like he was on his boat right now with the sea spray splashing across his face until it was replaced with soft kisses. His fingers seemed to twitch against the invisible wall as his hands found the familiar guitar chord progressions of the song he had wrote Arya.
Cuyler suddenly stepped back from the wall, reality sinking back in and he looked up and down, then side to side until his eyes rested ahead of him. There was a new determination set to Cuyler’s shoulders, a fierceness in his eyes that only ever followed during battle. ”Arya is here. I can feel her Magyk,” he said passionately. ”We need to get inside.” Feeling Cuyler’s anxiousness and eagerness Thia started to growl deep in her throat and moved around restlessly.
Cuyler shifted and pulled out his axe, turning the handle in his hand until he let it go and it floated. Egil hovered in the air for a moment before starting to spin like a compass. Only this time it spun and spun until it stopped in one direction then spun back in the opposite way. It continued to do this until Cuyler determined it’s two locations. The Castle and the Marram Marshes. Cuyler growled in frustration and Thia simply barked. He grabbed onto his axe so it stopped spinning and gripped the handle tightly. ”Useless,” he muttered.

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Lennox flinched, covering his mouth when he gagged as the skull of the Vampire shattered open. One must remember that Lennox was Palace Guard before Amarantha took over. He didn’t have the same taste for blood as the rest of the former Young Army seemed to. He grabbed onto Mryus, worried the Prince was going to go in again on the very dead Vampire head. The Prince was shaking but still Lennox didn’t let go.
They made their way to the front doors of the Palace in time to see the civilian vomit. This is when Lennox let go of the Prince and went to the civillian’s aid. He looked about the front lawn of the Palace. Places still burned and there were still a couple of Vampires in the area. Options were limited but there still may be people at the Palace Barracks. He looked back at the civilian and gave him directions on how to get there.

Amarantha did not get very far in her travels as a group of Vampires came forth, dripping blood and demanded from her the location of the Queen. She gave them a look and opened her mouth to respond in her typical disrespectful way but was interrupted by the brute with flames. Bruce gave an equally satisfying answer before he lit up a Magykal appearing staff and a swirl of fire traveled with it. Amarantha shrank back from the thing, a fear she hadn’t known before now possessing her. However, the flames were directed towards the other Vampires and Amarantha didn’t hesitate before she slunk back and made a break for the Long Walk.
She came to a halt near the beginning of the corridors and stared around her. There was so much blood. She could smell it everywhere. The Vampires had gotten everywhere, into everything and it ground away at Amarantha’s control. She tightened her hands into fists as they began to shake. The beasts had gotten into her domain and quite possibly killed the second person she only ever let herself love. If anyone who was foe came across Amarantha now, they would certainly wish they hadn’t.

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Titan was about ready to just dive over the edge and hope for the best when the great dragon boat came into view. He jumped back, holding his sword up and stared at the thing in disbelief. The great dragon head bowed to Titan after a lengthy assessment. He lowered his sword but didn’t disarm and he moved over and looked at the two girls who were smiling at him. He blinked at them then looked back at the dragon head as he inched his way to the side of the boat. Titan looked at the dragon the whole while as he got into the boat.
“How’s it going? Really?” He looked at the two of them and shook his head. “Let’s get out of here.” He continued to eye the dragon suspiciously.

Image after image flashed around Ahote and through his head as the events of the past were replayed in his head. Luckily, he was able to go past five minutes but there wasn’t much detail but just enough to give him a clear picture of who the culprit obviously was. Ahote paused on this image a moment, committing it to memory before he looked at the red head at his feet. He couldn’t determine who it was and wouldn’t be able to for every royal ruler of the Castle bore a head of fire. The glass shard remained firmly gripped in his hand and yielded no more results to him as Ahote looked into the past.
A distance or rather present sound of dirt or some other rubbish shifting under foot brought Ahote back from his searching. He quickly rose to his feet, shifting around and brought the glass shard up in front of him in a blocking stance in order to protect himself. He looked around in front of, beside and behind him as he cued into his enhanced hearing sense to pick up on any subtle changes.
”Who’s there?”

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It seemed Importantman McFirefingers had completely ignored her and gone straight into the castle. Or more likely had just not heard her. None the less she as mildly miffed as she allowed a huff to escape her lips. She turned her attention on the civillian and gave him a broad grin. "Yer welcome, lad." She clapped him on the shoulder. "I would stick close, but nah too close." She was going to keep this man alive. There was still another vampire to deal with out here and if no one was going to help her out she was just going to have to take care of things herself.

She walked toward the man, undead, thing. Unsure of how to go about this as she was out of fire stones she figured brute strength would be the way to go. The table was still burning after all. Mona was not the sneakiest of people and it wasn't as if there was any sneaking to be done after she had just yelled about Erasmus needing to be killed. She approached the man, undead, thing and said, "I suppose dere isn't a way I could jus' convince ye to toss yerself into dah fire den? Seein' as all yer friends be dead."