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Thinking back on what it is that Amarantha had asked her about something that could potentially chain or block Magyk, she wasn't too sure that there was anything that could pull it off. Sure, the Palace Vaults had a lot of different things in it that were Magykal, but that didn't mean at all that there was something there that could stop Magyk. "If we had anything like that, the odds are that they would be kept down in the Palace Vaults. However I have not really heard of anything like that at all... It is a bit of a peculiar thing, but yeah, odds are if we had something like that, it would be in the vaults."

Her mind wandered towards something else, a story that was told to her when she was younger and with the Wendron Witches. "...There is something else, a story of sorts that did mention chains somewhat like that... Eons ago, a goddess of death attempted to destroy the other gods. However, she was stopped when a dragon killed her, and her wolf was slain. The story goes that they will return one day and that only a specially crafted set of chains would be able to keep the wolf at bay. Depending on who told the story, either a young witch would have to chain the wolf to prevent the end of the world, or she'd break him free in order to cause it... It's just a story though..."

She wasn't too sure what was up with Amarantha, but she let out a sigh of relief now that she could see that Myrus was alright. "Myrus! You had us worried, we've been looking everywhere for you! Are you okay?"

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He let out a slight sigh, giving Myth a bit of a smile. "There are too many things that are riding on what we just saw... A lot of people are going to die if we don't try to find a way to post pone Ragnarok... I need to go talk to Halley and let her know what is going on, but I'll be along to catch up with you soon as I'm finished with that," he said, nodding his head slightly. As soon as he spoke to Halley, he was going to see about catching up with Myth and Tate, since it did sound like there was a need to be concerned when it came to him, but now he was needed elsewhere.

Bruce started using his powers to find Halley, and at first it wasn't going too well, as his mind was simply telling him that they were in the same country. Focusing even more so, he finally narrowed it down and figured out that Halley was at the top of Wizard Tower. "She is at the top of Wizard Tower, so it shouldn't be too long," he told Myth, before looking over at the others. "Yeah, you can count on me at the least showing up, and I might see about convincing my sister to come as well, as she probably could be helpful," Bruce said to Myrus before he left. With that, he gave Myth another smile, "I'll see you later, I'll be there as soon as I can," he said to her, before he teleported into Wizard Tower. He had been aiming for the top floor, but ended up downstairs at the entrance. Well at least he was inside, and then the floor decided to be loud.



He rolled his eyes slightly at that, before he headed towards the staircase and started heading up to where his sister was.

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Sylvi was just fidgeting slightly, still not sure what to think of everything that was going on. Tate effectively had just wandered off to go kill one of their neighbors. This whole situation was still horrible, no matter what Tate really told her. At this rate it was her against literally everyone else, since she could likely kill someone or go crazy if she got too hungry. The fact remained that she still didn't want to hurt anyone at all, but it looked like she wasn't going to be able to not do that ever.

When the door opened and Tate came back into the room, she looked at the blood that was on him, but didn't say anything about it. Then she heard the man breathing, and she flinched when Tate brought his foot down on the man's neck with a loud snap. "I-I-It's okay..." she sort of stammered out, looking at Tate still. Maybe this was a horrible idea, maybe they shouldn't have done that, maybe they shouldn't be doing anything like that. One thing was certain at the moment, and that was that she wasn't hungry at the moment. Maybe it had something to do with seeing Tate kill someone so bluntly like that. "I-I-It's fine, don't worry... It works..."

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It seemed her opinion on the matter was neither regarded with any modicum of appreciation nor a moment of thought. Yes, she was just the stupid mud girl who dug about in the dirt and played with rocks. What did she know if matters such as these... Then again, yes - what did she know? The wild woman looked toward Ahote and Myrus, the latter offering that she should be allowed to come with them. She took a couple of steps to follow but the thought of walking past all of those dead bodies... The sight of them. Even worse, their various bouquet of aromas. No, she would not step into that corridor again if she could help it.

He decision neither swayed nor was noticed by the two men - which was just fine with the young woman. She was left with a god and his consort. She listened to them talk about people and finding helpers and what have you. She listened, recognizing a couple of names from earlier that day. In a wave of flame Bruce disappeared, leaving Mona with Myth. She hesitantly approached the woman with a kind smile. "I would be pleased to join ye and help however I may. Seein' as you helped save my life an all." She was feeling a might shy next to the beautiful, blond woman. An odd thing for the usually oblivious crafter of the stone.

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The Private Courtyard - the Palace, the Castle...

Nothing new to note here. People are still running around trying to clean up the mess. If they hurry, they'll be able to get to the Ramblings by foot within 1-2 updates. They could speed things up if Mona were to use Magyk to transport them and Myth could even use her Bardic Magyk as well to do something.

The 19th Floor - Wizard Tower, the Castle...

Rowland sighed for a moment, his heart heavy as he tried to think of another way to explain this to Cuyler. It was a difficult concept and there weren't very many ways to simplify things further. "Magyk has two sides to it - the Lyte and the Darke. While we like to distinguish between the two of them, the Magykal force itself does not... Arya was birthed of pure Magyk - of Lyte and Darke. I did my best to ensure that she followed the path of the Lyte, but when she seemed to die and then came back... She has an equal potential to become one with the Darke instead. Her early nature leaned towards it, an innate violent tendency and a thirst for vengeance... I helped to repress those qualities in her, to enhance her Lyte. If you loved the Arya you knew, Cuyler, then the kind thing would be to end her before her legacy can be tarnished by the Darke that dwells within her..."

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Myrus hugged Luna back tightly, his arms quivering as she mentioned Mavis. She had been his best friend since he was little - they had dated once upon a time, only for Mavis to end things. Myrus hadn't been mature enough for her. Tears misted up in his eyes and started to fall quietly down his face. Pain and tragedy had been the defining themes of his life for the past year. "...Th-thanks..." he mumbled, swallowing thickly. As far as he was aware, Mavis' ghost would be left behind - these creatures couldn't change that, right? He'd see her again, but it would never be the same - there would be a veil left between them.

Thankfully, the prince didn't notice the odd look that Amarantha gave him. Milo moved hesitantly over towards Luna, hiding behind her skirts as he tried to become invisible. There were so many people here, so many of them not just important to the Castle but also covered in blood of the people he knew and cared about, as well as those who had slain them. Ahote would be able to pick up that Amarantha's aura had suddenly changed - there was something infected about it, something unlike anything he had ever seen before.

His eyes widened as Valda mentioned the old witchy tale - mostly because he recognized two of its central characters. "That's got to be Hel and Fenrir then!" he exclaimed, sniffling a little bit. "Hel was the Goddess of Death and Fenrir was a wolf... I have no idea what the connection between them is, but they're pretty big in the Land of Long Nights' lore and all..."

Apollodora nodded - her father had ensured that she and her brother knew their culture well. "Aye. Fenrir and Hel are children of Loki. Hel can be reasoned with, sticking to her realm... but Fenrir had sworn vengeance against the gods for what they did to him."

"What did they do?" Myrus asked, looking at Apollodora with curiosity. She didn't look like someone from the Land of Long Nights - her hair was dark, rather than their typical pale blonde locks.

"They betrayed him - and chained him," Apollodora answered matter of factly. "Or they will one day - the stories aren't always clear about the order of events leading up to the big one..."

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Now, not only was Sylvi now a vampire and a bard, she was also a Spirit Seer. She could see all ghosts, even if they did not choose to Appear to her. So when Antonije killed their neighbor right in front of her, the ghost was doomed to haunt their little room in the Ramblings for the next year and a day. And poor Sylvi was cursed to have to see their victim at all times. There wouldn't be any reprieve - their home was tainted now with his ghost. "You sure?" Antonije asked. "I don't mind making him extra tasty for you..."

He gave her a smile, whereas the man's ghost Appeared and started to scream at the top of his lungs at Antonije. He didn't Appear though, rather just shouting general abuse and screaming about the indignity of being killed for some weird cannibalistic ritual. The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees, though Antonije was completely oblivious. "WHY THE HELL DID YOU HAVE TO KILL ME?!?!?!?!?!"

"Oh, you're not hungry," Antonije realized, using his telepathy to tell. "I'll package him up for you then - think of him as a readymade meal, right?" he suggested, smiling at her again. He then started to drag the corpse across the room, attempting to get the body away from their living space. He was pretty sure if he just dangled the corpse upside down and made some cuts, he could drain the blood for Sylvi. That was the part she seemed to really be interested in, anyways.

"DON'T YOU DARE EAT ME!!!!"

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Halley frowned slightly as Arnora confirmed that Loki was there somewhere, but he wasn't anywhere to be found. Using her perceptive abilities wasn't going to help her here, especially since Loki was using some sort of Magyk to disguise himself. She closed her eyes for a moment and imagined pushing her senses out to encompass the room, feeling the fabric of reality for distortions. It took her a while to focus her mind properly, but when she opened her eyes, she knew just where the God of Mischief was - or rather, who he was.

"There's an easy way to settle this," Halley whispered to her companion.

"Look, no one is here," Jarvis insisted. "I don't see why you're wasting your time here."

Unfortunately, Halley wasn't thinking the most strategically at the moment. If she had been, then perhaps she would have just grabbed Loki and threatened him with her weapon until he changed shape to reveal his true form. Maybe she would have given some sort of signal to Arnora for a coordinated attack, as to better their chances of succeeding against the God of Mischief. No, for all of her ego and pride about her superiority, she fell into a classic trap of any hero or villain...

She opted to talk instead of act. "It's an impressive trick, pretending to be a little girl."

"What do you mean?" Minerva asked, tilting her head slightly. "Arnora, is your friend okay?" she asked.

"Oh I'm quite fine, Loki!"

"...Me? Loki? You've got to be daft! If I was some all powerful and devilishly handsome god, don't you think I'd have better things to do with my time than sift through an old library?" Minerva pointed out, crossing her arms and laughing a little bit at Halley's accusation.

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Nera had left Fleur with some brief parting words, before she disAppeared. Her spirit was still there, but she was no longer visible to Fleur. Perhaps she just wanted some time to herself to process everything. Of course, her words had made her feelings clear: "Wherever you leave your heart, that is where I will be... Fleur."

As Fleur came back down the decrepit and barely standing staircase, Violet nodded for a moment, before she hesitated. She could Feel some deep Magyk downstairs. "There's something here," she insisted, before the ex-ExtraOrdinary Wizard quickly dashed down the stairs into the basement. She didn't seem at all concerned by the precarious creaks that came with each step she took, more concerned with looking around the dank basement. Various possessions of the Port Witch Coven were still here, including a large ornate sigil drawn on the ground in what had been lamb's blood. However, she wasn't looking at the items. No, Violet was staring straight on at an unremarkable stretch of concrete wall.

"Do you see that?" she asked, reaching out cautiously with her fingers. When she touched the stone wall, Violet continued to push her fingers forward. They seemingly vanished, as if the wall was just an illusion and there was something else behind it. Pulling her hand back out, snowflakes covered the back of her palm. "...Have you seen Magyk like this before?" Violet asked, reaching her hand forward again. Some personality traits never changed, no matter the case of amnesia. This was something new, unlike anything she had ever seen before. Her eyes went back to Fleur, expecting that she might know what this was.

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Luna did feel bad for Myrus loosing someone. "If you want to talk about it i'm here for you Myrus." Luna said softly towards her brother when she felt Milo walking up to hide behind her. She gently reached out and patted him on the head to try and comfort him, as Luna turned to look at Amarantha as she answered her. Though she wasn't sure if she was telling the truth or not, and by the looks she was giving her brother didn't look right to her either. "Are you sure?"] Luna asked Amarantha softly, as they were talking about some kind of rope or whatever she wasn't sure what they were looking for if it was in the Palace Vaults.

Luna saw Ahote coming up to them and smiled she was glad that he was okay, she thought something had happened to him as well after they had gone through the cupboard. Luna listened to her brother and the woman as they were talking about some lore from the Land of Long Nights. Luna kind of felt awkward she didn't know the lore from the country all that well, or any witch stories either, before turning towards her sister. "Maybe we should check the vault then for whatever you guys are looking for?"

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Arnora looked towards Halley as she whispered to her, and nodded slightly she wasn't sure what Halley had in mind but she trusted her enough to as well. She continued to look around the room so far she didn't see anything out of the ordinary either but she could still sense Loki was still here. Before staring at Halley when she pointed out that Loki was disguised as Minerva, raising an eyebrow towards her, and looked towards Minerva. Arnora closed her eyes as she started to do a quick little spell on Minerva, only for her to not be Loki but he was way more powerful then she was as well.

"Where was Loki during Bruce's wedding?" Arnora asked Halley, ignoring Jarvis for now maybe asking something that the two of them would have known. "Just play along with the fifty questions game, I have an idea." Arnora whispered again towards Halley. "Okay, if you are Loki just answer some questions on how we met. Like what was the name of the ship we were on when we got to the Port, who was the other guy we were with, what did I do on the ship to stop it from sinking, and where did we go once the ship docked?" Arnora asked, and then Minerva's description on Loki also made her not really believe. "And how would you know what Loki looks like? We never said what he looked like"

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Rowland sighed and Cuyler shifted to look up at the man. He could tell that Rowland was trying to explain this better to him, to get Cuyler to understand. It almost made it worse that Rowland was being nice and helpful to him again. After Rowland’s initial reaction to Cuyler showing up, this tenderness was just as painful as that slap to the face. Cuyler did his best to listen and understand the new explanation. There was so much he still didn’t understand about this world of Magyk and what Rowland was asking of Cuyler seemed like some sort of punishment.

”Can’t we bring back her memories? Restore her past life with the one she has now?” He didn’t want to give up on her so readily. There had to be other avenues other than killing her and what if she didn’t come back this time? Rowland’s words of her being drawn to the Darke originally in her life and vengeance didn’t sit well with Cuyler. If there was anyone the past Arya would want vengeance on now it would be the thing that killed her and Cuyler himself. "I don't want to readily accept the path you suggest without trying a different way first," Cuyler whispered. Just because they had split up didn't mean Cuyler didn't still care for Arya, didn't still love her and was heartbroken over the idea of her being lost.

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Amarantha’s hunger was still very much present and she was eyeing up the boy who had moved behind Luna before she clued into Valda having answered her. Ignoring Luna again and Ahote’s question, she shifted her eyes from the boy to look at Valda. She felt sickened that the mere desire of feeding from a small child crossed her perverted mind. ”The Vaults? Perfect,” Amarantha said. It would require a bit more hunting around but if she could cut their losses and move on, all the better for her. She looked at Apollodora and sighed exasperated with her geeking out moment with the Prince. ”Story time can be later,” she said and grabbed onto Apollodora and started to retreat from the room.

Hopefully along the way Amarantha could get her hands on an unexpecting servant or something else to sedate her need to feed. Absentmindedly Amarantha wondered if she needed to be as savage and violent as the other Biters were when they attacked the Castle or if she could feed a little bit here and there and manage just as well but what did it matter. After the Castle was saved from Arya and the impending threat of the Eastern SnowPlains, Amarantha was leaving. There was no cure for what she was and she wasn’t going to endanger those she loved any further. She was doing that enough as it was with Luna unknowingly guarding easy prey.

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Amarantha’s aura was not as strong and solid as it once was. Something had tarnished it and blacked it in a way that seemed to ooze and drip around her. It was not a pleasant thing and Ahote had never seen such a thing before. She ignored him and his prodding question which didn’t help matters. Not to mention the animalistic look she gave the small child. Ahote shifted again, blocking Luna and the boy and Mryus from potential harm. For the time though, Amarantha seemed quite concentrated on these chains and once she knew they laid somewhere else, she was ready to move on.
The story Valda mentioned though held particular sway over the Prince. Ahote thought on this story and considered Apollodora’s insight as well. ”Prince Mryus, you don’t suppose this Fenrir could be one of the potential killers of Baldur do you?” Anything was possible and they had to start somewhere. They also had to tell the rest of the royals about the end of days. That was a difficult conversation Ahote was glad he did not have to be the forerunner for.

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Myth shook her head in disappointment as Bruce ran off to his sister. She applauded his sense of justice and being there for his family, but Tate was his family too. She would handle things and let him do what he needed to. Plus, the sooner she sorted this mess out, the sooner she could go back home and be with her son.

She turned as the woman from before spoke. She didn't know what to make of the woman, but if she was offering aid, who was Myth to refuse? "Since my husband seems to want to take care of things already in motion that won't happen for three years instead of the here and now, I would love help. I need to go see someone I care about and his girlfriend. I have some Illusion Magyk that might be able to help if you can use anything you have also, we can get there quickly."

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Fleur felt a sense of warmth inside of her as she heard the words. She trusted them too. She stood up and made her way back to Violent. However, the girl seemed to sense something Fleur did not. Curious, she followed her down the steps. She started to warn the girl about the creaks and how likely it was to fall (she had seen many a witch do so) but she traversed it with ease. Fleur followed until they were downstairs.

Fleur noticed the sigils in blood. That was something she would check on, for sure. However, Violet seemed distracted by the wall. Before Fleur could say much more, Violet stuck her hand through and pulled it back, revealing snow. Fleur walked up to the wall. She didn't set that spell. So who did? "It is Magyk all right. I would hazard a guess it is a portal. Whoever set it up, I do not know. It seems my work here isn't quite done then. If someone is using my old grounds for something, I need to see who and why." Fleur would check the wall herself, to see if she could walk through too.

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"You can learn a lot from stories, even if they are mere works of fiction, even legends have a hint of truth to them, even if they aren't a complete telling of facts," Valda said towards Amarantha when she commented about telling stories later. There always was some sort of basis of fact in even the grandest of stories. Though she understood the need to sort of wait a little while longer for that, still, mentioning the stories didn't mean that they weren't important. Actually it sounded like it was the exact opposite, and that Hel and Fenrir might be major players for everything if the story was true.

Amarantha seemed all too thrilled to leave the room or something and head for the vaults already. Sure, there probably was some urgency to do so at the moment, but they still weren't all too sure what it is that they would be looking for. "Well, sounds like we are heading to the vaults then unless someone else objects to that?" she said to the rest of the group, still not too sure why Amarantha was rushing along as quickly as possible, even though some times it paid to slow down and actually think about things.

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Bruce had decided that the stairs were more of a for sure thing that would definitely get him to his destination, as opposed to seeing if for once he could teleport and actually get to where he was trying to go. It annoyed him to no end when his powers decided to not work for whatever reason, but that didn't matter too much right now. What truly mattered was getting to where his sister was and tell her what the future held in just 3 years. It was worrisome, knowing that there was a chance Ragnarok was going to happen soon and for all he knew there wasn't going to be a way to stall it.

After a little while, he reached the top of Wizards Tower, and instantly started looking around for his sister, or any others that he recognized. Eventually, he found himself in the Pyramid Library, and saw his sister and Arnora talking with another girl that he didn't recognize. Walking over, he walked right up to his sister, and figuring that he wanted to avoid panicking the others in the room, he leaned over to her and whispered to her, "Halley... I saw the future, 3 years from now already would have been the end of times... I saw Ragnarok."

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Sylvi shook her head slightly in response to Tate's words, not too thrilled at the idea that he had literally just killed someone. "It's fine..." she said again, before she jumped slightly, hearing the ghost start shouting essentially at Tate for killing him. That certainly made the whole, being someone who probably would have to kill people in order to live, thing a whole lot harder, since she could see their ghosts, no matter what they might want. This was going to be a living nightmare for her at this point, even more so then what has already been going on.

"Yeah... I'm not hungry right now, it kind of just disappeared like that for some reason..." she mumbled, flinching slightly once again when the ghost kept yelling about how they shouldn't eat him. This was definitely going to be the worst part about her life. She's always been able to see ghosts, but that didn't matter at the time really. Since she never purposefully killed someone for some reason, and now she was stuck like this. Someone who had to kill people in order to survive, and someone who could see the ghosts of those who died at all times.

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The Private Courtyard - the Palace, the Castle...

Okay, I'm going to authorize you guys to succeed on a Transport to the Ramblings as it isn't any fun if you're just stuck in the courtyard at the Palace forever. Myth can sing and use her Bardic Magyk to enhance Mona's teleport. You guys will end up in the middle of Sylvi and Antonije's place.

The 19th Floor - Wizard Tower, the Castle...

The wrinkles in Rowland's face became more accentuated, as if each minute they dwelled on this horrible decision was taking years off of his life. Remaining in the Darke floor for too long was never a smart move on its own - the older apprentices liked to scare the new ones with stories about wizards who had gone mad after being trapped on the nineteenth floor by a rival. "Are you willing to risk the fate of the world for some long forgotten passion - for a woman you cared for yet could not love?" he asked Cuyler simply. "The life of one person cannot stand in the way of the lives of the world - of every little babe in the Ramblings learning to crawl, of the innocent schoolchildren in the Eastern SnowPlains learning their letters to the fierce young warriors in the Big Wild Land taking up the bow... The mantle of the ExtraOrdinary Wizard has always been heavy, as we do not just answer to the Castle, but we serve humanity itself and must ensure its survival."

He paused for a moment, letting his words linger in the air. "I am sorry, my boy, but I cannot make that bargain."

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Myrus gave Luna a slight smile, the best he could muster under the circumstances. He appreciated that she wanted to be there for him, he really did. He wanted nothing more than to hide under the bed in her room just like when they were small and cry to his big sister about all of his problems, until they felt so distant and small he wouldn't remember what he had been so upset about in the first place - but they weren't kids anymore. The luxury of having a childhood had been robbed from them when Nera Hawthorn killed their mother, the last person standing between them and the pressures of the throne.

"Oi, hands off!" Apollodora exclaimed. "Not really fancying ya at the moment," she smirked. Pulling herself free from Amarantha's grasp, she studied the woman briefly for a moment. It was more than obvious that her hunger was driving her mad. She headed out of the musty and dark crypt, following the others to the Palace vault. Along the way, they would pass a lone servant hurrying to the infirmary to provide medical attention to someone who had been injured during the chaos.

"Maybe, it's possible..." Myrus answered uncertainly. He couldn't rule out just about any name that was mentioned, but Fenrir didn't click into place as being the absolute correct choice. There wasn't the sense of satisfaction from finally recalling a forgotten fact. And unfortunately, the woman raised in the culture of the Land of Long Nights didn't hear Ahote's question. Apollodora would have been an excellent person to ask about those myths and legends.

It didn't take too long for the group to get to the vault, with Milo still clinging to Luna's skirt in fear. Myrus pressed his hand on the door and the Magyk sensed that he was of the Royal bloodline. Gigantic mechanisms and gears could be heard shifting, clicking into place, before the door creaked open and Myrus pulled on the handle to open it entirely. The dimly lit room had most of its contents covered in various white cloths to protect them and there were numerous trunks and boxes all around. A few portraits were on the wall of previous Castle Queens - one of them being Queen Meliscente.

"If the chains are anywhere, it'd be in here somewhere..."

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Luckily for Sylvi, the ghost didn't seem to notice that she could See him. He continued to just shout abuse at Antonije, seeing him as the culprit - which made sense, given that Antonije had been the one to kill him. "YOU PIECE OF SHIT!!! I'M GONNA STRANGLE THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF YOU!!!" "Silvija... It's okay, he can't hurt you," he told her softly, figuring that the ghost had to be freaking her out. There was one benefit to the rules of ghosts - they had to remain where they died for a year and a day. As long as they moved rooms, Sylvi wouldn't have to bother with him anymore. Maybe it would be nice for them to just become nomadic, travel around so that way Sylvi wouldn't need to see the faces of her victims.

"I could keep the next one alive for you, ration him out slowly, then you won't need to see his spirit..." he suggested, though the torture of the living victim may prove even more traumatic. Her hunger was coming and going, but Sylvi's mouth would begin to ache a bit with need. Her fangs had started to descend, ready for her meal that Antonije had so lovingly provided for her. Maybe with time, she'd be able to just eat whenever she wanted to and keep the fangs at bay. Maybe. "We could go sleep in the Forest tonight," he then offered with a grin. "It'd be romantic, just you, me, and the stars... And as much blood as you could want."

And it would keep her far away from Violet, but he didn't mention that part.

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"I'm not sure - and to be honest, it was a relief that he wasn't there," she muttered to Arnora. Loki's presence at family functions usually meant that he had some sort of scheme in mind. When it doubt, Loki was usually the one behind anything that went wrong. As her great uncle Thor was fond of saying, it saved time to skip the other possibilities and just blame Loki for whatever happened.

Minerva tilted her head in confusion. "So to prove that I'm not Loki, I need to not give the correct answers then?" she shook her head slightly. "And I'm from the Land of Long Nights, everyone knows what the various gods look like - from Odin's missing eye to Freya's beauty to Loki's charming looks." She then thought for a moment. "But we came here on the Aricie, we were there with Ahote, you used your ice Magyk to stop the ship from freezing, and we went to the Port Witch Coven house and got drinks as well. Does that satisfy you that I am not Loki?"

Halley kept on trying to use her powers to unmask whoever or wherever Loki was, but she was getting nowhere. To make matters even more stressful, her little brother came into the room and whispered into her ear the worst news she had ever heard in her life. Loki had stolen the Space Stone and now, Ragnarok was only three years away. For the Asgardians, three years was nothing - it was the blink of an eye. "Fuck," she cursed. She was someone who rarely swore and the vein in her forehead had become prominent. She drew her talisman, the blade Alfina, and charged at Minerva, pinning the little witch to the ground. Alfina sensed her intentions and turned from the small dagger it had been into a lengthy blade.

"Change forms now, Loki, or I'll slit your throat! We'll see what Idunn can do for you then!"

Minerva screamed. "Get off of me! You're crazy!! Help me!!"

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When Fleur checked the wall, her hand would go straight through as well. However, she will also be able to note that this isn't any sort of Magyk one of her witches would be capable of. This sort of spellwork would be beyond the capabilities of the ExtraOrdinary Wizard and the Witch Messiah combined. It is incredibly ancient and complex, almost intoxicating to the senses.... But just what is it? And why is it only appearing now? It hadn't always been there, had it?

"I think this predates either you or me," Violet murmured. Her eyes flickered around the room, checking for imaginary foes perhaps, before she walked through the wall. Violet's eyes instantly half closed into a squint from the blinding light. They were in the midst of a snowy wood, the glare of the sun against the white powder causing her surroundings to be almost unbearable to look at. Violet placed her hand against her forehead in an attempt to block out the light and get a better look at her surroundings, but she failed to notice anything that would clue her into just where in the world they had ended up.

"Spin me," she whispered, picking up a small twig from the ground and placing it on her free hand. The twig started to waiver, moving in a perfect circle as it tried to ascertain where she was in comparison to the Small Wet Country Across the Sea. But instead of coming to a conclusion, the twig burst into flames. Turning her head backwards, Violet expected to see a wall or an archway of some sort, something that would allow her to return back to where she had come from...

But there was nothing there. The only unnatural thing she could make out was a metallic structure, perhaps some sort of obelisk, about fifty paces into the woods.

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Luna now knew that something was really off with Amarantha since her friend usually did answer her, looking at Ahote as he went to block her from her friend's view. She was really going to get to the bottom of all of this as soon as possible sighing slightly as Luna started to follow her brother out of the crypts. Luna felt Milo hiding behind her, she didn't mind at the moment he was scared, she was as well still half expecting someone or something to jump out at her. As she walked past the servant rushing down the hallway she gave a slight nod towards the servant as Luna stopped just outside of the vault with Myrus.

Luna watched her brother as he started to open the vault for them, knowing that only her, Valda and Myrus could open it up as soon as it opened Luna stepped inside the vault. Luna wasn't really sure what she was looking for at the moment, seeing a picture of past queens even their mother's was there made her smile slightly. Luna decided to walk along the various trunks and white cloth covered objects she stopped for a moment and opened up one of them. Seeing an eyeglass made of crystal she was curious what it was and picked it up and started to look through them. "Any idea what these chain things look like?" Luna asked, she wasn't really listening to the conversation going on about the legends from the Land of Long Nights at the moment either.

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Arnora looked at Minerva for a moment when Halley did answer her question, letting out a slight sigh so Minerva could be Loki for all she knew originally when she met her. Minerva then proceeded to answer her question which was correct that they were all right as she looked towards Minerva. When Bruce came into the room and whispered something into Halley's room, which instantly made her spring forward at Minerva holding her weapon to Minerva's throat.

Arnora wasn't going to let Halley kill someone though Loki could be tricking them for all she knew as well, and gently rested a hand on Halley's shoulder. "Lets go back to Asgard, take her to your mother she is the Mistress of Lies and all to." Arnora said, trying to be calm and defuse the situation. "I can stay behind or something and continue searching for Loki to."

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Mon considered Myth's words a few moments, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Well, ma'am. If we got over tah deh stables we could take mah horse, Cadance. How'er that would be a might an' a half time consumin'. I could just 'Woosh' us dere, but dah jour'nay jus' ain' as fun." She looked up at the beautiful blonde before she nodded, the look on the woman's face telling her enough. "A'ight, a'ight. Tah 'Woosh' it be den."

Mona stood very close to Myth, wrapping an arm about her waist with an apology. "Beggin' yer pardon tah touch, ma'am." She then began to draw little symbols in the air, more something to help with her concentration than any need for it in the spell. "Dough tah wea'der be fair an' fine. To me bonnie lass I mus' go, a'fore tah winds deign ne'er to blow. Up an' a'round an' a skip an' a jump. O'er tah waves an o'er tah land. At her bonnie blue door do I stand." There was a swirl of colors and from there they went to here, in the middle of someone else's house.

Mona felt as if her head was spinning. She wasn't fond of this sort of Magyk. "Tah 'Woosh'" she said, as if an explanation was needed. She turned her attention to the the pair in the room. And... the other (mainly dead) things in the room. She looked from Myth to the pair and then back to Myth. "I... see."

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Cuyler shook his head, exasperated. ”You all but killed me outside when you saw my face in your grief for Arya and what I supposedly did but now you want me to kill her for the greater good?” Cuyler shook his head and stood up, facing away from the man. ”You make no sense Rowland.” As for the Darke properties of the room, Cuyler remained virtually unaffected by it. Cuyler looked over at the eerie skull again, frustrated and extremely unhappy with this entire situation. ”We don’t even know where she is. I felt her Magyk but she was nowhere to be seen. How do you plan on finding her?” Maybe it would take awhile, maybe it would give him time to help convince Rowland of a different way.
Cuyler leaned against the table and scrubbed his face. He tried picturing Arya, what she looked like before he turned his back on her. He couldn’t quite picture her evil, he had a hard enough time picturing her dead but it turned out she wasn’t dead. At least not yet. ”I know it may not matter to you but I did miss her. I tried not thinking about her but I thought of her everyday Rowland. Despite what I did, she was my friend and she cared about me. She never stopped trying to protect me,” he said and sighed.

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Amarantha rolled her eyes at Apollodora’s protesting. That was not what she was intending and she certainly did not desire the royals following them to the vaults either. Yes she needed one of them but she didn’t need them all following like school children. Amarantha was growing more irritated, hangry if you will. The sound of blood was pulsating in her ears and she was about ready to snap both in emotion and physically snap something as well. ”Okay excellent, the door is open, you can leave now,” she said to the royals pointedly.
Amarantha hurried into the vault and started moving away sheets of fabric and opening up chests and other things. She successfully found a dead rat, which wasn’t even useful. Amarantha wondered if animal blood was just as sustaining as human blood for her would be. It would be a much more pleasant solution to her problem. ”They look like chains Luna, not glass baubles. Put that down,” Amarantha snapped as she passed her friend, on the hunt for those chains still.

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Ahote sighed and they started to walk towards the vault. Maybe he would talk to Bruce about Fenrir. It wasn’t an appealing idea to Ahote but the man was of the world and it would be quicker information than looking into books about it. He watched Amarantha’s back as she walked stiffly to the vault, leading them all. She didn’t seem too pleased that they were following her. Ahote’s eyes shifted and he looked over at Apollodora. Her aura shone through at him, begging to be looked at. It was a different one, beautiful though. A bit of white light seemed to encompass her but all around was a blending of different colours, shifting and changing with every step she took. Her heart was pure but she held a tough exterior, pushing the boundaries with everything, including her own family. She was an outsider when it came to them, the black sheep but her intentions were good, even if she acted like she didn’t want to be. She was in conflict with herself.
They reached the vaults and Mryus opened them but before the door was fully opened, Amarantha was inside and already on the hunt. Ahote shook his head and walked in after Mryus. He looked around, not as vigorously as Amarantha and came up just as lucky. Although he found a dead squirrel, rather than its rat companion. Ahote sighed and looked about the place, trying to tap into his power to see if that would yield any results for him. His attention was drawn away from that task when Amarantha snapped at Luna. Ahote looked back at them, shocked and confused. What was that all about?

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Myth worked alongside the woman, Mona, to transport them to Tate and Sylvi. She began to sing, no such specific song but just in general, as Mona "wooshed" them forward. They were quickly whisked to their destination. Myth was happy to see how quickly they had gotten there, but she was not so happy to see a corpse on the ground beside her.

She looked around, fearful she would see Tate's corpse also, but he was alive and well. So was Sylvi, though if she was honest her main priority was Tate. "Tate, I am glad you are ok. What happened here? Did this person attack you?" Myth had recalled what happened when she first saw Tate and Sylvi. The images still in her mind, so she could put two and two together, but she hoped Tate would trust her enough to be honest with her.

She was wary of Sylvi and didn't know Mona too well, so this whole situation could have been better.

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Fleur noted that the type of Magyk used to create this was beyond anything she or her witches could do, as well as ExtraOrdinary Wizards. And if what she thought and Violent said was true, this was before Fleur and her coven were there. "I do not like that. If this was here before our stay and during, it left us open. I'm curious who and why then. Hopefully, answers lie through." She followed Violet through to the snowy plains.

She watched Violet perform her twig trick, only to see it burst into flames. "Probably not meant to happen then." Their exit had vanished, but she wasn't too concerned. She could get back. "I want to find out why we are here and where here is exactly. I don't like how easy my old home was accessed. It should have been protected and warded from intrusion. So someone here had created it. Whether or not they still remain is another question. Do you wish to accompany me or would you like to go back?"

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Valda followed along after the others towards where the Palace Vaults were, wondering what exactly seemed to be going on with Amarantha, since the woman was acting strange in her opinion. When they reached the vault and Amarantha turned to address them, she practically glared at the woman. Who in their right mind would choose to address them like that, especially considering the fact that Amarantha's employer essentially was the Royal Family. "How about you stop acting like that, and remember who it is you are talking to, you don't talk to us like that, you don't order us around, got it?"

When she snapped at Luna, that made her really pissed off, and she once more decided to address this, "Get out of the Vault Amarantha, now! You do not snap at people like that, you do not act like you know everything, and you don't talk to my younger sister like that! We are wanting to help, you wouldn't even know what you are looking for without us, and you are trying to kick us out when this involves everyone not just you. So get the hell out! Not to mention you are as blind as a bat as the chains are sitting right here!" she snapped at her, before she walked over to not too far from where Amarantha was and picked up the chains they were looking for. When she did so, she almost dropped them, but kept a hold of them. They almost seemed to vibrate, and it felt a little weird to her.

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Bruce wasn't sure how his sister was going to react to everything, but he heard a vague mentioning of Loki not being at his wedding and he shook his head slightly, "...Actually he was at the wedding. Only saw him in passing, didn't think too much of it at the time..." he said to his sister quietly, before he looked at the girl Halley was dealing with. Bruce tilted his head to one side, looking at Minerva, there was a flash of flame that danced across his eyes, but it was gone the next second. Well this was an interesting predicament.

"Okay, few things, no one has ever said that Loki has charming looks, no one ever has. Secondly, Halley, there are easier ways to prove things and get him to shift back and show himself. Could always just throw your weapon away, hold onto his head so that it's in the path of the weapon, and call it back to you. The guy is so much of a coward he'd either show himself or he'd run away as he always does. Have you once really heard of him actually sticking around or something in a fight? I certainly haven't." He wasn't just saying these things because they were true, he was trying to appeal somewhat to his uncle's big ego, see if he would show up then.

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"...He's just so loud, I know he can't hurt me, but it doesn't stop him from giving me a major headache and making it seem like he probably could hurt me..." she muttered softly, looking at him. She felt her fangs start to descend in her mouth, and didn't really know what else to do. At the mention of being in the Forest, away from the Castle (as well as the ghost in the room) she gave him a smile. "That sounds like it would be nice, get away from here and all," she said, before glancing over at the corpse. The hunger was starting to get to her once again.

"...The hunger has come back," she mumbled, before she moved away from him and went over towards where the corpse was on the floor, and knelt down next to it. A few moments later, she started drinking the blood from the dead man, not even really paying attention to anything else that was going on around her. She only really noticed that there were others who had appeared in the room when she heard Myth's voice, and she backed away from the dead man, blood dripping from her mouth as she looked over at Mona and Myth, but she didn't say anything.

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The 19th Floor - Wizard Tower, the Castle...

Rowland stiffened, fed up with Cuyler's attitude. The boy was not listening to his words - how many other times could he explain to him that Arya was gone? Whoever it was out there in the world, it was not their Arya. He was certain that it was just a cheap copy of her, a Darke being bent on destruction and death. No, his Arya had died and her soul, her legacy, was being captive by whatever had escaped death at the hands of Chthon. "If only you had cared for her as much as she cared for you," Rowland told Cuyler bitterly. "You cannot change the past, boy. You were not here. She may have been your friend, but you, you were no friend to her."

He glanced at his timepiece, seeing that it was nearly midnight. The closer it was to the witching hour, the more powerful the Darke Magyk on this floor became. "It is time we take you to rejoin your friends - I can provide lodgings for the night in the Tower, but you will have to leave come first light."

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Luna had picked up no ordinary eyeglass - as she gazed through it, she would be able to see through things. To use the terminology of superheroes, the eyeglass was giving her X-Ray vision. She could see the skeletal structure of everyone present, watch as their hearts beat. Of course, Amarantha's heart was still and her organs looked like they were rapidly decaying, as if she were the living dead. Apollodora raised an eyebrow, a bit amused at her former teacher's behavior. She whistled slightly in astonishment, before starting to search herself for the chains. Apollodora couldn't help but smirk as Valda scolded Amarantha like a child.

Myrus' eyes flickered over to Amarantha, and then back to his sisters. "...You should go," he told the ex-Young Army Deputy Hunter. "The rest of the staff probably needs your help," he added, trying to give Amarantha a gentler command in comparison to his sister's. Of course, as harsh as Valda was with her words, she wasn't wrong. Amarantha didn't have the right to snap at Luna like that or to shove on past him into their family's vault. They were all in this situation together and right now, Amarantha seemed murderous - he imagined she was just mourning the loss of friends.

Apollodora's eyes perked up as Queen Valda found the chains. Sure, she had been intending to get Amarantha's help, but she was a Biter now and Apollodora was a slayer. It wouldn't work out too long no matter what angle she approached the problem from. "Excellent. Now we just need to use them to restrain my mother - you should be able to feel the power coursing through the chains, Queen Valda. They're powerful enough to restrain anything in the universe. Not even the gods can break them."

Myrus bit his lip slightly, a bit confused about why they would use those chains on this woman's mother rather than whoever was going to kill Baldur. "... I think we should keep those, Valda. We could use them on whoever is going to kill the God of Light and prevent Ragnarok from happening... Or postpone it at least until someone lets the person out of the chains." He wasn't really sure if it was a good idea to just let someone tie up their mother without a good reason, too, and Apollodora was a stranger. Could they even trust her?

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Antonije's eyes narrowed as his sisters' adoptive step-mother and some Forest witch Transported into their room at the Ramblings. This was his personal space and they were invading it - it made his skin crawl just to think about it. "Do you think you could at least knock next time?" he asked, clearly exasperated with their impromptu entrance. His natural persuasive abilities were failing him, especially as Myth asked him if the man lying on the floor of their home had attacked them. She would be able to tell he was lying to her. "Yeah, it was crazy, he came over here and tried to stab me!" Antonije exclaimed.

Sylvi had moved over to the corpse and was busy drinking its blood. Antonije didn't even really know how to explain that one to Myth, so he decided the best strategy was to stall for time. "Look, there's a logical explanation for what she's doing..." he began, trying to come up with something. "Silvija is performing an ancient ritual cleansing from the Land of Long Nights, meant to purify the deceased and help them go onto the other side," he lied. "I know it looks strange, but hey, it's religion right? All rituals look strange to people who have never participated in them before so... Why don't you two help out Silvija? Drink some of his blood?" he suggested. He really hoped they bought this horrible, horrible explanation of what all was going on, as he had no other ideas on what to do - and telling the truth was not an option.

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"Arnora - I do not think this girl is Loki. I know this is my uncle - or I suppose aunt in this form," she muttered darkly. Halley did not stay her hand, the blade of her weapon cutting into Minerva's throat and shedding minimal amounts of blood. Just a bit of focused pressure and Halley would be able to ensure a quick and relatively inescapable death. The throat was such a vulnerable place. After her brother began speaking to Minerva, it clicked into Halley's mind what his objective was.

"You're right - even Hodur is a better warrior than Loki," Halley agreed, referencing one of the sons of Odin and Frigga. Of course, Hodur was a blind god, unable to even shoot an arrow without the guiding hand of another to assist him. For an Asgardian to be cursed with blindness, unable to fight... it was a fate worse than death in the opinion of many. Most Midgardians had long since forgotten about poor Hodur. "Do you remember, brother, when Loki dressed as a woman in order to retrieve Thor's hammer from the Frost Giants?" Halley inquired.

"Great, you hate one of the best gods, now let go of me!!!" Minerva cried. "I'm just an innocent girl! Do you really want to be the monster that kills children?!" she pleaded, attempting to get Halley to see reason. "Arnora, help me!! Please!!!" she begged, tears coming from her eyes.

"ENOUGH!" Jarvis demanded, deciding that this had gone too far. He readied a spell and had it aimed at Halley. "Let go of her or I blow your head off!" he insisted.

"Stay out of this, Midgardian. You know not of what you speak."

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"I don't believe we have a choice - we could be anywhere in the world and my Transport does not have infinite range..." Violet murmured. She had no sense of where they were. The snow was the only clue to their location - there wasn't snow in the Small Wet Country this time of year. And since they weren't there, they wouldn't be able to use Magyk to get back quickly. It would take a series of hops from country to country to country to get back, yet she had no notion of where to begin. She would need a map in order to figure out how to Transport successively back. "We're stuck here."

Glancing around, Violet determined that any direction seemed equally promising, with the exception of the way of the metallic obelisk. It was evidence of life, intelligent life at that. "I'm going that way," she informed Fleur, giving the Witch Messiah the option to follow her if she wished, as Violet walked through the snow. It was difficult terrain to manage. The snow camouflaged a great deal of obstacles, causing her to have to move slowly in order to avoid tripping over concealed logs. Eventually though, she made it to the metal structure and Violet frowned.

It was engraved in runic symbols.

Violet ran her hands over the markings, mumbling under her breath as she worked up a loose translation. "It says this is the gateway to... to the Witch Hub," she murmured. "And if we were to continue to proceed onwards, we would reach something called... the Hellfire Circle, I believe."

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It probably would have been less painful if Rowland had just picked up a knife and shoved it into Cuyler’s stomach or chest, wherever would be the most painful and cause him to bleed out the slowest. ”Well excuse me for taking a few extra minutes to process and try and understand all of this Rowland. No one told me what happened to Ayra, I found out only an hour ago that my best friend died and came back as something Darke! And regardless of what happened to us falling out, I was a friend to her. I would have died for her. I still would die for her but it looks like I’m the one who has to kill her, according to you!” His hands shook as he made a strong effort to calm down. The mix of the Darke room, emotions and late hour were catching up to Cuyler.
Rowland’s offer of logging was kind but Cuyler didn’t want it. ”I’ll sleep at the docks. The others can stay here if they wish and then I will start the task you have asked of me in the morning,” he said and moved towards the door. Cuyler didn’t care how much pain Rowland was in right now. He was in pain too and his was just as significant. There was enough guilt weighing on Cuyler's shoulders at the idea of Arya pushing herself into trying to save everyone that she became careless and didn’t protect herself.

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Snap? Valda thought that was snapping? She had no idea what it was like for Amarantha to snap at anyone. She grinned darkly at the Queen as she stomped over and grabbed the chains, shaking them as she moved them. The sound of Valda’s voice and the chains were loud in Amarantha’s ears but at the very least they had found them, regardless of Amarantha’s supposed snapping. She would apologize to her friend later if the opportunity arose. ”You may have them after I am done Prince Myrus,” she sneered and looked at the Queen for approval. ”The former ExtraOrdinary Wizard is not to be trifled with. Who knows, maybe your enemy is the same. You have yet to learn who is the bringer of Ragnarok and yet I know the destroyer of our world right now. So if you wouldn’t mind.” Amarantha looked back at Valda and held her hand out expectantly. ”I will let you have the honors of tying up Arya if that makes you feel better,” she said to Valda.
The hunger was still pounding away at Amarantha’s resolve and the smells of their collective blood was starting to mingle together in a delicious cocktail. It was only irritating Amarantha further and her eyes flashed as she waited for the chains. She looked over at Apollodora, wondering if between them they could take out Valda if need be. There was also the problem of Myrus’s glowing hands that they had to contend with. ”Valda please, we are running out of time. I am running out of time,” she said pointedly.

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Ahote’s eyes widened a little at Valda’s fiery response but he did smirk a little and looked at Amarantha for a comeback. And if he knew her, there would be one. There was a bit of worry going through Ahote’s mind from Valda snapping. Amarantha wasn’t in her right frame of mind it seemed so he wouldn’t be surprised if she truly did snap back at Valda and do something more destructive. Ahote took a step forward, hands loose at his sides. The tension in the room was starting to heat up and he wasn’t sure if finding the chains had really helped matters.

Mryus spoke up and Ahote turned his head to look at him. He did have a point. Apollodora said not even the gods could break these and that would be extremely useful in trapping the god that was supposed to kill Baldur. However, Amarantha didn’t seem willing to give them up. ”True, we don’t know yet but we have a good source. Do you even know where your former ExtraOrdinary Wizard is?” He rose an eyebrow at Amarantha in challenge. Stupid maybe but Ahote wasn’t about to let her do something that would get them or herself killed in the process.

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Luna stared through the glasses and looked around the room, seeing through the containers, as well as those who are within the room, seeing everyone's insides. When Amarantha told her to put them away, she stopped seeing the inside of her closest friend her heart wasn't beating and it looks like they were decaying as well. Luna wasn't sure what had happened since their little expedition outside of the Castle. She was glad her sister did stick up for her, but she knew that Amarantha was more stressed or irritated right now she saw her snapping at some of the newer recruits for the army so this wasn't really anything. Though Luna was hurt she didn't show it right now, looking up at her friend.

Her sister managed to find the chains that they were looking for but she wanted to know what happened to Amarantha right now, and looked towards her sister. "I'm fine, thank you though." She told Valda and Myrus before turning her attention back over towards Amarantha while still wearing the glasses. "What happened tonight Amarantha, during the attack? I can see whats inside, it looks like you are dead?" Luna asked her, hopefully she would answer. And then at the mentioning of the ExtraOrdinary Wizard. "I though that she was dead?"

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Arnora looked between both Bruce and Halley as they both talked about Minerva being Loki, she was really confused right now she wasn't sure who to believe right now either. As she looked around the room, and then back at Minerva pleading for her to help her she started to pace around the room thinking of something. And turned towards Jarvis who started up a spell, and quickly stepped in his way as she tried to use a spell of her own to make him sleep. Which didn't happen at all, quietly muttering to herself since it didn't work at all, looking at the man. "Just calm down, she's the one we are looking for." Arnora said calmly.

Arnora drew out her sword, looking over at both Bruce and Halley. "Maybe we should leave now? If she's Loki then we have her." Arnora suggested, she was getting a bit worried the guy was going to attack the three of them, if Minerva was Loki then they had her right now as well. "And maybe gag her, like you said earlier before we left?" Arnora suggested.

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The sight of the young blonde drinking blood straight out of the freshly dead man had Mona backing up a few paces. Should she 'Woosh' out of here again? Should she 'Woosh' Myth with her? The woman seemed to know these people and she imagined this was something they normally didn't do. This was further determined through Sylvi's action of scooting back away from the body with blood all over her face like a small child who had just dug into a mincemeat pie.

Now, Mona would never claim to be smart. She didn't have all of that book learning that many others had. She couldn't even necessarily call herself naturally clever. She had a few things she was very good at and often a hard time following lines of conversation. However, mere hours ago... days? How long had they been in the future place? Did time flow differently? Well, however long ago it had been, and it had not been that long, Mona had seen a slew of vampires draining blood from corpses. And lots and lots and lots of corpses. And many, many deaths. In this case, there were far too many puzzle pieces already in place for her to miss the picture.

She frowned at the young man as he tried to make excuses. Something about weird rituals. This only further confused her. And he asked her to drink blood? Was into some sick vampiric cult thing? Did he get off on watching women drink blood? Fucking weirdo. Mona slowly shook her head and said, "Tha' dere waif be a fookin' vam'pyre."

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Myth glanced at the scene first, taking it all into account and recalling what had happened at the castle. Then she stared at Sylvi, taking in the girl's features, making sure she had them as Tate spoke. The boy tried and she had to give him credit where it was due, he cared a lot about Sylvi. So much so he was willing to lie straight to her face to get there. And if he was lying to her, it had to be serious.

But Myth was not born yesterday and, call it mother's intuition, she knew the boy was lying his arse off. "Look Tate, let's not beat around the bush. This isn't a ritual. This isn't religious, in nature. I have to agree with my friend here. And I get your hesitancy and your skepticism. I can't imagine what the two of you have been through. But I am not here to harm you or Sylvi, not here to take you in. I felt you were in trouble back at the castle and I tied up another matter with Bruce and then came straight here. So I am here to help, but I need you to be honest with me. I can't help properly if we continue lying."

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Fleur followed, but she took up the lead. She wasn't about to let Violet take charge here. This was out of both of their wheelhouses, but she was still the Witch Messiah. There were answers here and she would find them. They trod carefully, the snow masking everything around them. Upon a clearing, they noticed a metal structure. Violet examined it and traced the runes.

Fleur had some memories, hazy though they may be. Nera had mentioned something Hellfire in her travels, but it was the former Witch Mother that talked about a circle of men, consisting of demons mainly, that would pull strings and operated in the shadows. If this was what she talked about, they were entering some strange, possibly dangerous grounds.

"I've heard of those names briefly, mainly the Hellfire Circle. We must proceed cautiously then. If what I was told is true, this circle operates in the shadows and will probably not be too happy to see us. Then again, stranger things have happened."

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Okay, now Valda was starting to get way beyond annoyed with Amarantha. She essentially was being not just rude, but acting crazy, and now she was essentially ordering them around and calling them idiots or something along those lines. All that mattered was that by this point, Valda was seeing red. She had always been eccentric, some people would call her a bit of a wild card based on how she handled things, but it was somewhat difficult to get her to actually rise up against someone, especially someone she generally was around in some way. However Amarantha was pushing her buttons waaaaaay too much.

With that, she simply glared at Amarantha, walked over, and smacked her across the face, somewhat hard. She was still glaring at her though, "You need to learn your place! You do not order us around, you can not take anything from this vault without me letting you, so why the hell are you acting like you own the place. I told you moments ago to get the hell out of the vaults, so get the hell out of the vaults, now or do I have to find a way to get you to leave? I'm not giving you these things at all, and you aren't going anywhere near them got it?" she was mad, and essentially ignored what Apollodora had said to her.

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"How about you leave and let the adults talk," he responded to Jarvis, before he waved his hand and flames shot out. They didn't hit Jarvis though, more of just swirled around him, before eventually the man disappeared as he was transported to the bottom floor of Wizard Tower. With that little situation dealt with, he then turned to look at Arnora, shaking his head. "I can definitely agree with a gag, since she's saying that Loki of all people is the coolest person around. Like really! Loki of all people!" he said, laughing a bit, and hoping that Arnora wasn't so dense as to take the hint to attack Loki's ego.

"Oh, I remember that Halley, and I don't think anyone else on Asgard was able to forget that one. Fairly certain that everyone laughed at him for weeks about dressing up as a woman. I thought Thor was going to die of laughter at that point, though I swear most of Asgard probably was going to at that rate," he said with a grin towards his sister, glad that at least someone in the room was catching on to what he was doing and going along with it.

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Sylvi looked over at the two newcomers to the room, wiping a bit of blood away from her mouth with her sleeve. Then there was the fact that Mona literally just called her a vampire out loud. Hearing her say those words struck a chord or something in her mind, add on top of that the fact that the ghost was still screaming and cursing so loudly, she instantly put her hands up to her ears. All of this noise was just waaaaay too much for her to handle, and she wasn't sure really what else to do. One of the things she really wanted to do right then was scream at everyone to shut up.

So she did.

"How about you all shut up!" she screamed out, before she started glaring at each person in the room, including mister ghost over there who was being less then pleasant. There wasn't much else she really could do, and she instead of waiting for a response from everyone, went over to the bed, sat down on it again, and curled up into a bit of a ball. Right now, she just wanted to be left alone, and everything was going crazy at the moment, she needed time to be alone to think.

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The 19th Floor - Wizard Tower, the Castle...

Rowland had a passing thought that perhaps he would need to knock some sense into Cuyler, born of the anger and resentment he felt towards the young man over Arya's fate. However, he had more or less vowed not to use violence to express his emotions - it was a sign of strength to be able to reign them in. That however did not stop the bitterness from seeping into his words. "I hadn't imagined you would be able to sleep at all." The door was not locked or barricaded, but Rowland waived his hand and it swung open for Cuyler. "I trust you recall the way." He didn't move to exit the floor himself, waiting for Cuyler to leave first and then he would journey up to the Pyramid Library to collect his companions. It struck him as typical that Cuyler was going to leave them here and go on his own way - had that not been exactly what he did to Arya in her time of need? He left her when she was ill, unable to defend herself properly by Magyk. Rowland used to believe that Cuyler loved Arya, but now, he was certain that the boy had enjoyed the idea of loving her instead.

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Myrus swallowed thickly, his courage faltering for a moment. Amarantha had always seemed relatively kind, but now, it was like she had turned into a wolf. She was sneering at them, her mannerisms so jarring that he was relatively shocked and speechless for a moment, uncertain of how to proceed. He tried his best to treat the staff of the Palace as equals, but to hear her act like he was a foolish little boy with no standing, no weight in this conversation... Maybe she was right. He was rather young, after all.

But then Amarantha said something clearly false - Arya Rincewind was dead. Perhaps the tragedy of Bonfire Night had been too much for the warrior's psyche and she had snapped? She reminded him a little bit of how Lyra had behaved right before she left. Her eyes were darting over towards the stranger in the room, Apollodora. Ahote seemed to believe her - that somehow Arya Rincewind was on the mortal coil. Luna's words were more troubling. Something then occurred to Myrus - if Amarantha looked like she was dead to Luna and she wanted those chains so badly... Gods were known to disguise themselves, to play tricks. "Wait, that's not Amarantha!" Myrus blurted, his heart pounding. "I-I think that's Hel, Goddess of Death - she's supposed to look dead and alive at the same time and when Baldur dies, he goes to her realm... So if we give her the chains, then the world will end. I-I bet Amarantha died tonight and that's why she's acting strangely, since her corpse is out there somewhere and Hel just took her form."

Apollodora couldn't help but laugh at all of this. She wiped a stray tear from her eyes. "Wow, you lot are reading way too much into this... Yes, she's a prick," she agreed, glancing over at Amarantha, "but it's because she's a Biter and she needs to feed. She's no goddess. The purer the blood, the sweeter the taste they say. And let's be honest here - the Prince is pretty much a walking dessert for the Children of the Night."

"... You want to eat me?" Myrus said, tilting his head slightly as he looked at Amarantha. That had not been something he was expecting at all, but it still seemed like more of a reason why they shouldn't give those chains over to Amarantha. The other woman, Apollodora, had mentioned wanting to use them for the same reason but she wasn't making any sort of move towards Valda. Myrus naively assumed that meant that she had stopped her attempts.

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He could tell that Mona hadn't bought his excuses - which admittedly had been rather horrible. He had lied far more competently under pressure before, but it was rather difficult to explain why Sylvi was drinking blood in this sort of situation. Similarly, he had failed to fool Myth with his deception and Antonije sighed slightly in defeat. "It was worth a try..." he muttered darkly under his breath. Myth seemed to want to help Sylvi, rather than set her brain ablaze with Fyre and kill her, but he couldn't just trust her words. He needed to know her thoughts.

Antonije briefly touched Myth's mind, not able to get a clean read off of her but he didn't pick up on any hostile intentions towards Sylvi either, a fact that comforted him slightly. When Sylvi put her hands to her head and started to scream at them, before collapsing into the bed, Antonije couldn't help but panic slightly. He dove into her mind with slightly more success than he had with Myth a few minutes prior and realized the problem was the ghost. His first instinct was to kill the ghost, but the ghost was already dead so that wouldn't solve anything. And of course, only Sylvi would be able to hear the ghost continuing to scream and curse.

"Silvija got bit at Bonfire Night," Antonije muttered in explanation to Myth. He then walked over to the bed and put Sylvi's head in his lap and he started to stroke her hair softly in an attempt to calm her down. "The vigilante's going to kill her if I don't protect her..."

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"Of course - the sooner we're back to Asgard, the sooner my mother can interrogate her," Halley said, referring to Loki. She never really minded switching her pronouns to match the form her uncle (well aunt) had decided to appear as. Sometimes Loki was male - sometimes female - and there was even one occasion where Loki turned into a horse and went into heat. While Midgardians had a difficult time with the concept and only saw Loki as male, the Asgardians never really worried all too much about it. Loki was just being Loki.

Minerva couldn't get in a proper retort to Bruce's taunts however, as Halley warped reality and caused a gag to appear. She then stuck it in Minerva's mouth, the magical device wrapping around Minerva's face and locking firmly. Halley then couldn't help but smirk. "I think she looks much better this way, don't you two agree?" she asked, before noticing that Myth was not there. "Where's Myth? We can't head back to Asgard without her - I'm pretty certain she'd send you straight to Hel if you even tried," Halley pointed out. Cuyler was still in the tower too, so they needed to collect him and hopefully he hadn't run off. He could be incredibly emotional at times. Picking up Minerva and throwing her over her shoulder, Halley gave Arnora a grin. "I hope you had fun, at least."

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Violet nodded, considering what Fleur had told her. "What have you heard of them?" she inquired. She did not want to venture forward into the complete unknown if Fleur had information about what they were going to face. She was the same way when it came to exacting justice for the Castle - she monitored her targets closely, planned a course of action, and then enacted it. Leaving room for sloppiness and error was just asking for her noble crusade to be ended early. "Do you know how best to prepare?" she then added.

The snow continued to drift down softly, covering Violet's raven hair in the little white flakes. It was fortunate that her cloak was thick and warm, since otherwise the chill definitely would have set into her bones. Suddenly, the metal obelisk in front of them began to glow at the very top, as if it had some sort of permanent flame installed - an orb that rested at the top of the statue. The area around them had quickly descended into darkness and Violet gazed upwards with curiosity at the intensity of the light. It did not Feel Magykal to her - this was some sort of mechanical work. Had the same people who had made the portal or doorway from the Witch Coven's House made this metallic light they stood beneath?

And then, carried by the wind, whispers seemed to drift up to their ears. The words were too indistinct to be made out, but the voices were masculine and deep. "...Do you hear that?" Violet whispered, before whispering a spell to enhance the quality of the voices. They became clear as day:

"How long until the troops are ready?"

"At the end of the week, Lord Hellfire."