[IC] Edged Horizon

[ERode]

LAST TIME, ON EDGED HORIZON...
Chapter 1: Red Bakery
Man in Red swags around summoning bigass wolf monster as everyone does jobs for the Bureau. Rift-Beast arrives at Bakery Town and is attacked by Araki while thwarted by Seleb (vamp bitch). Fight happens and ultimately Araki kills the thing, with Seleb retreating. He then decides to eat it, because it was taking it’s sweat-ass time crystallizing.

Seleb, meanwhile meets up with Fion and Riley to spout some bullshit about Araki being evil and shit. Fion and Riley don’t believe her and go total bondage slavery shit with kinky chains and such.. Meanwhile, Vance and his fairy show up. Fion and Riley get in an argument with Vance about Seleb being evil, Seleb breaks out of her chains and proves them right, Fion fights Seleb while (was it Araki?) fights Vance. Fights happen, until they are interfered by gauntley dude...who promptly gets his head chomped off by a half-white beast. Araki suffers stomach pains and Riley’s super summon goes cray-cray, resulting in a dire situation.

Then, it’s solved by shit, and before any actual authority comes, Esace whisks them off onto Moko’s airship for questioning (even gives them a free taxi service). Back down, the man in red loots some corpses and disappears.

Chapter 2: Gray Originator
Invitations for a whole bunch of people to go to a witch-gathering, in which they do stuff! Peeps meet up and people are dragged around. Finally, they meet at the volcano, and the objective is revealed: the ‘birth’ of some cray cray Musphelheim demon. Astopolian military attacks! Monsters run! Battle ensues! Araki gets mauled, and then levels up even moar! Esace beats up Riley’s mom, and in doing so, causes a big-ass summon to drop on the crater.

The dust settles, and Fion, Riley, and Araki leave the arena. More stuff happens (gosh, I’m feeling lazy), ending up with the Musphelheim demon being birthed and Vance refusing to kill it because it looks like a little girl. Admittedly, he gets in trouble, but the Musphelheim demon and its caretakers escape. Vance gets butcher. Rilolia loses Dead Gear trying to save him.

More things in the background begin to happen. Araki is sent to live in Dansila instead.

Chapter 3: Black Destiny
Tanith Seyour, Fion’s milf, is working on a pro-Talze Utera proposal with Dean Courtright. In light of this, the old man has arranged to have meetings with people related to the ‘monster’ races. Wynnara, on the other hand, is chilling like a villain in a boat, vomitting all over the place as some scrub nub merchants entertain a visit from a vampire and an elf...

[ERode]

Shy? From Gael's point of view, a man with whitening hair and crystal formations coming out of his back acting shy looked very...odd. Almost as odd as the existence of a child who already has enough magical power to make himself one of the strongest magic users in Dansila at the moment. Then again, in this day and age, he shouldn't really be surprised at the youthfulness of the continent's strongest. Astopol had already lowered their age prequisite for their armies to thirteen, and Illiserev were having younger and younger servants rising up to high level positions through skill alone. An interesting, if not humbling thought.

The children, on the other hand, seemed to be rather pleased with how shy their new classmate was. A predatory instinct to bully the weak? Or was it the unexpected cuteness appeal of seeing an old person act like a shy little boy? Nevertheless, they approved of him, passing on comments about how cute he was, or how they should totally ask him tons of questions after that 'fat man' leaves. Smiling slightly and taking a look at the grandfather clock at the back of the classroom, Gael wiped his hands on his apron before calling out, talking to himself with the intent of the children being able to hear, “Wow, this is pretty embarrassing, not even having kiddies with the courtesy of giving a united greeting...”

In response, the students gave a greeting so loud that everyone from that block could hear it.

“HI ARAKI! LET'S HAVE A FUN SCHOOL LIFE!”
~
As the two left, Corinkarus got back to work once more. Taking up the stack of books he had brought in previously, the wizened man rang the bell, notifying the cafeteria staff that the meal was finished, even though there was still a sizable portion of the raw fish untouched. “Tell Sujatha that she has my compliments, Butler, but my dinner company doesn't seem to have much of an appetite this evening. Apologies for leaving so much food untouched.”

The man, dressed more like that of a blacksmith than a butler, acknowledged the message as he came from within the doors of the cafeteria. Rolling over a cart meant for carrying finished dishes, the graying, middle-aged man glanced at the stack of books in Corkinarus's arms. “Shall I send for some tea to your office, Dean Courtright?”

The wild-haired man considered the gravelly-toned proposition, before shaking his head, walking off. “No thank you, Butler.”

There were many letters to be written that evening, and he was still feeling energetic enough to go on without his dozen-sugar tea.

One to a spy, one to a lady, and one to...
~
Luna Flina, the mistress of the Flina family was entertaining a rather interesting guest that evening. Interesting, not because his visit was a surprise, or because he was a particularly 'odd' being, but because of the nature of his existence. A man whom, until recently, had no information regarding his history. A man whom possessed an unnaturally high resistance to the special magics of the vampires. The man in red that had introduced himself brazenly to the Vermillion Court, demanding access to that of the Scarlet Court. A silver-haired enigma that soon demonstrated his ability to, albeit within limits, summon rift-beasts through a summoning ritual that was only faintly recognized by a handful of the Ancients amongst the vampires.

Luna had her theories behind who he was, but in the end, did not bother to ask of it. The Musphelheim demon was now in the grasp of the witches, and even though there was no news regarding any unnatural disasters within the miasma of Talze Utera, that in itself was worrying. What were the witches planning now? Are they finally planning to destroy that balance of power? Or was she reading it wrong all along, where it was a grasp for internal power by one of the four witchmothers? Worrying, and even more worrying was the fact that this nameless man chose only now to appear once more. No doubt that he was going to try something, but the question was...what?

He was standing on the sanguine carpet and she sat on her elevated throne, a high-backed chair with ornate designs carved out of it. It was a chair older than herself, passed down from generation to generation, the marble heirloom of the Flina dynasty. In that Gothic room, two spectral ghosts behind her as her intangible guards, the vampire watched as the man brought out two pairs of weapons, slowly, as to not alarm her soul-bound warriors. A pair of daggers and a pair of gauntlets, both of them made of the indestructible talentium that had evened out the power struggle so well.

The vampire's yellow eyes glanced over those pairs for a moment, before staring into the similar-colored eyes of the man in red, biding him to explain. She was the Crescent Aristocrat of Wandering, the master of Soul Magic, two centuries of experience in her. It was beneath her to ask a mere mortal, even one as unknown as this one.

“My fair lady Luna Flina, Fourth Elder of the Scarlet Court,” he began, a smooth tone betraying nothing of his intentions, “I have visited you tonight to present to you two pairs of weapons that shall grant you and your race the ability to repel, no, vanquish the potential threat that is the Musphelheim demon.”

“And to that end,” she interrupted, uninterested in any roundabout reasoning and trusting her own intuition, “You wish to have funding, as well as access to any catalysts or tools you may need in my domain, in order to do whatever you must do to those two weapons. Surely, you do not expect me to believe that Uncolored talentium would be the key to defeating the Musphelheim demon.”

The man in red bowed his head, a sign that showed agreement, not submission before explaining, “Indeed, my lady, after the failed attempt at Bakery Town, I have followed the 'subject' that stole the prize, leading to my current hypothesis. If talentium was the 'soul' of the rift-beasts, then splitting it apart should have a similar effect to splitting the soul into two pieces.”

“This explanation of yours has yet to benefit me, mortal.”

“I apologize for the delays, my lady,” he smiled, “But if my hypothesis is proven to be correct, and my 'resummoning' brings out an unwhole being, it should provide you with an...elixir. Useless for immortals like yourself, but if used on one of your servants...”

The vampire's eyes flashed dangerously, her canines extending slightly in a show of displeasure. “Do not try my patience. How does this benefit me?”

The man paused for a moment, freezing. The tension in the room became tangible for one moment, before it dissipated as Luna retracted her fangs, waving at him to continue. He released the breath he was holding in, before finally cutting to the chase. “Luna Flina, as the Fourth Elder, you have been known to value 'balance' over anything else. The creation of these elixirs should theoretically grant an immeasurable amount of magical power to a mortal being. If you were to give it to one of the few werewolves that had pledged their allegiance to you, their strength should be sufficient in vanquishing the Musphelheim demon. If you were to give that elixir to a mage with a profound hate for society as a whole, they should be able to cause enough havoc in the three countries to significantly damage all their defenses, if only on a numerical level.”

She considered his proposition for a moment, before finally speaking, her toneless voice veiling her interest, “And the creation of these 'elixirs' would have something to do with those pairs of talentium, the splitting of a soul, I presume, as well as the usage of a summoning ritual very similar to that impractical summoning spell of East's. Of course, the nature of such a spell would require many catalysts, sacrifices, and other specialized tools, which is why you ask help from my household.”

The man did no reply in words, simply nodding his head with a small smile.

“Then you shall receive the help you desire, mortal, under two conditions. No word of this agreement shall leave this room, and you must be accompanied by one guard at all times, to ensure that you're actually doing as you've said. Failure to obey these conditions will be punished by death. Do you understand?”

He smiled once more, sweeping his hand to the side and bowing. “Of course, my lady.”

But, what was his benefit in all of this? Though Luna questioned it, she said nothing of it. The vampire simply waved the man off. One of her many scepters phased through the wall at her silent command, prepared to lead him to the summoning halls of the Palace of the Pale Judge. His motives were of no concern to her. Even if he was malignant, she was immortal.
~
In a Dansilan tavern that had been frequented quite a lot those few days, a young man searching for a friend of his was distracted from such a duty by a job from his aunt. Though the details were intriguing, and the importance was great, he could only sigh at this, before trudging along back to the field work that he always did.

And, before anyone realized it, two days had passed.

For the man in red, his theories were finally to be tested.

For the man who sought, he only found mystery.

For the man on a mission, his leads were finally getting somewhere.

And for one white-haired man, for the first time in a long time, he took a step on an island that was not shrouded in darkness.

On that bright morning in the Archipelago of Illiserev, Aiv Recourt, hidden in a spellbound cloak crafted by the Witchmother of the East, arrived at the sandy island of Frelia.

[Zombehs]

It probably would have looked either comical or somewhat off to an observer, but under the scrutiny of his future “classmates”, Araki seemed to shrink in on himself. He noticed, rather lazily, as one of the children examined his claws how small they really were in comparison to him; it wouldn’t have been hard to wrap his hand around their head. The thought was brushed aside with a heavy sigh, one that only drew the attention from those not as easily excitable as their fellow classmates. Those few stood out to Araki just as much as the hybrid stood out to their peers, if not because of how few there were, then because of rational they seemed in his eyes. In Talze Utera, welcoming the unknown with open arms was rarely the smartest, if smart at that, of ideas. Then again, Araki had to constantly remind himself he wasn’t in the wild lands anymore.

One of the children who studied him looked like they had something to say, but whatever it was was drowned out by the collective “greeting” Gael had incited. The older man was gone by the time Araki’s ears had stopped ringing and he tried to soften his expression, aware of those around him. He also raised his hands up, placing them behind his head as he leaned back against the old, worn wall; had to be careful he didn’t gut one of the children by mistake.

The classroom was by no means quiet, but compared to the brief roar of dozens of voices, it was actually possible this time for Araki to hear the question that was voiced. “Why do you look so strange?” He couldn’t tell which of his classmates asked, it was hard when some of his classmates had taken to literally crawling on him, but then again it wasn’t all that important who asked. Was it?

Anywho, he shrugged dismissively, not too intent on giving an answer, and it was clear from his half-hearted reply. “Because I’m a monster,” he muttered lazily as he glanced at the few who stood aside from their peers, eyes of jade searching their features. Evidently some weren’t satisfied by such a lazy reply if their frowns or disapproving expressions were anything to go by. A sigh and a shake of the head, which earned a few cries of delight as his white “hair” flew about and he looked again. Nope, expectant expressions were still present and waiting. It didn’t look like the day would be passing by quickly anytime soon.

‘Where’s that golden-haired kid anyway…’ Araki wondered as he turned his gaze away for the moment to search for the boisterous and egotistic child.

---

Suffice to say, the day was a long one before Araki had finally been released by both Gael and the other children. While the majority grew bored, for the moment at the least, of their new classmate within the hour, others were unrelenting in their pursuit to get something out of him. Try as he might, or rather, his half-assed brush asides to their questions seemingly only spurred them on. They weren’t really annoyances, and even if he didn’t really want to answer their questions, it never got to the point where things were uncomfortable. If there was anything that could be described as mildly entertaining than it would have to be the golden-haired child’s interference. ‘Really though…’

He hadn’t been sure, and still wasn’t, where the self-proclaimed “king” had popped up from, but his arrival and presence seemed to dissuade the questions so for that Araki was happy at the least. That probably had something to do with how he had decreed that his vassal wasn’t to be bothered by such trivialities… or something along those lines; Araki hadn’t paid too close attention to the words being thrown about. Of course, the “golden king” wasn’t as benevolent as to leave Araki alone, and the hybrid had been forced to show off some parlor tricks to satisfy his “saviour” and entertain the class. While he did dearly miss the time where he could cause sparks and flames to dance at the snap of a finger, magical energy was not usually subtle and a small light show wasn’t much more than child’s play.

Shimmering bands of jade faded quickly when Araki noticed Gael had returned, albeit some of his audience made their disappointment known quite loudly. For the hybrid, it was a mixed blessing he supposed. On one hand, freedom at last, but on the other, he had to admit that it was relaxing to just let the magic flow mostly uncontrolled.

Somehow, in the midst of dealing with all the other children, Gael managed to spare some attention for Araki as well. Sure, he had to yell to be heard since he was outnumbered several dozens to one, but his voice was easy to catch. “You sure you don’t want me to get you a carriage? It’s not an issue.”

While he did appreciate the gesture, Araki nevertheless shook his head to decline the offer. “I’m better off on the roof tops,” he shouted back, grinning when the older man cracked a smile. At Gael’s thumbs up, he wasted no time in getting out of the school’s doors and making a beeline for a nearby building. It had been a long, strange day for Araki and the urge to just move and push himself, physically, was strong. He didn’t even bother with his magic, relying solely on what he was physically capable of.

---

Despite having been let go while the sun was still in the sky, if only barely, Araki didn’t return to the Seyour estate until the sky was illuminated by countless stars. His method of entry, just like his time, was a bit odd, but nevertheless condoned by Richard. The windows of his second-floor room were left unlatched and with the careful use of his claws it was possible to pry them open. He did exactly that and was greeted with the dying light of a candle, just a few minutes from burning out.

Araki only bothered to take a cursory glance around the room as he closed the window behind him, before he made his way over to the desk and snuffed out the flame. His eyes lingered on the bed for a moment, adjusting to the darkness, before he decided against it. The household was probably mostly asleep by now, and, unbathed, he could make due without the soft mattress for a night. Instead, he propped his back up against the wall underneath the window, facing his rooms entrance. It wasn’t as comfortable as the bed, but years of sleeping on rough rock weren’t so easily forgotten, so it wasn’t long before sleep overtook him.

[Psyker Landshark]

“Achoo!”

Fion let loose another sneeze, groaning as he laid back down in his bed.

“More tea, master Fion?” Richard asked dutifully, bringing up a serving tray. When Fion didn’t respond, Richard just poured a cup of tea, mixed in a lump of sugar, and left it on the table next to Fion’s bed. “Perhaps standing out in the rain before drinking all night and returning at five in the morning wasn’t the best course of action, young master?” The butler snarked respectfully, bowing before leaving the room as Fion shot him an exasperated glare.

Fion coughed, glaring blearily up at the ceiling. The doctor had assured him that it was a passing sickness, but that wasn’t even the problem. No, the problem was that he was bored as hell. There was nothing to do besides sleep and wait for his body to recover.

Then again, he supposed he had this coming. Between Bureau jobs, training with Riley, and training on his own, he hadn’t gotten much rest recently, and wandering through the streets drunk with Darius might have been pushing it.

“Well, if I’m forced to stay in bed, I might as well catch up on sleep…” Fion muttered to himself, closing his eyes as he began to drift off to sleep.

___

Fion dreamt again. He was in a dead forest, inky shadows all around him as he ran. In front of him, a little girl knelt down, crying. Fion ran towards her, hand outstretched. When he reached the girl, she looked up and smiled before opening her mouth. And then she exposed a terrible maw, black as the abyss and filled with gnashing teeth.

The dead forest burned as she ate him.

___

Fion shot up, gasping for breath as he clutched his head. Damn it, not that bloody dream again. Glancing up, he started to look for that cup of tea Richard had left him...and saw a girl standing by his bedside. Eyes widening, he reacted on instinct and drew the talentium dagger he had tucked under his pillow, swinging it at the girl, only to miss completely as she vanished without a trace.

He stared at the spot where the girl had been, disturbed beyond belief. That girl had been the exact same one from his dream.

“...You know what, it’s too early in the morning to question this.” He muttered to himself, actually feeling rather refreshed as the first rays of dawn trickled through his window. It seemed that a good night’s rest had done wonders for him. Getting up, Fion quickly went through his morning routine. After getting dressed, he reached for the sheathed sword he had propped up on the stand next to his bed and frowned as he held it.

“What the...the balance feels off.” He drew the talentium scimitar, looking it over. Nothing seemed wrong with the sword at first glance, so the only way to see what was wrong would be to actually test it out. “Well, guess I’ll be training, then.” Fion muttered as he belted the sword on his hip and wrapped his cloak around him before making to leave.

[Asuras]

Yazulayne stopped counting how many days she had spent on this boat already, nor did she care. Her whole purpose, visiting the archipelago, got swapped away by the visit of a certain vampire girl. She didn't even want to think too much about her, after all she said she was sent by a certain person. But the cursed elf would help anyone who was in need of it after all, as long as it is for a good cause; and she already promised.

All by herself, the girl wandered around in one of the wooden corridors of the small ship, keeping herself somehow busy`, talking her thoughts out loud. 'Mhm, we do wonder if a ship can actually burn, it is surrounded by water after all, no? Maybe we should try...but the mean captain got already annoyed at the hole we made yesterday! So should we dare? But then again there is no way to make fire ourselves...maybe if we ask Lyra?'

Each passing day left Rilolia with a smaller and smaller window of hope, as if an imp were yanking a poorly built viewing port with all its might, nudging it closer to closure. Hopelessness. The vampiress exited her proscribed room with messy hair that had been scuffled amidst a restless sleep. As the hours passed on the ship, she was left with fewer and fewer modes of entertainment to pass it by, until sleep was the final option. Though a vampire, and therefore devoid of that human need for rest, she could still close her eyes and wander off for a time. Unfortunately, the pressing nature of her mission kept her from sleeping soundly.

Down the hall, Rilolia came across the strange elf around a corner, though had heard her distinctive speech pattern long before. She had ignored the quirk before, but stepping before Yazulayne, the two of them alone it seemed, Rilolia pressed the question.

“Good morning Yazulayne,” she greeted, though darted her eyes across the hall, unsure of what the time really was, “Were you speaking to someone?” Rilolia asked rhetorically, a smirk on her face.

Continuing her aimlessly walk she nearly bumped into another person! Thankfully though, her years of experience at avoiding people and their shadows, she came to a halt without any damage done. It was the girl from yesterday, the person she would provide with happiness, greeting her back rather friendly.

"Good morning." with a small pause of thought and time to look around she continued. 'Did we spoke to someone besides to ourselves? We think not.' Paying full attention to her quest-giver again she answered, oblivious about her smirk. "No, to no one in particular."

Rilolia eyed Yazulayne warily, as if feeling she were being played a fool. Her ventures in the Talze Uterra unveiled an unfortunate number of madmen and mad creatures, but most were either such because of their economic situation, or their very nature. The forests were a force of insanity all their own, anyways. But this elf seemed to have a bit more depth to her than a wildling that had succumbed to hunger and madness. First of all she was an elf, and second she seemed healthy enough. How young was she? Was she just playing her own game, experimenting? Rilolia crossed her arms and let go of any semblance of courtesy to what might be a touchy subject.

“You keep saying ‘we’. I don’t understand. Are there two ‘you’s’?”

"Eh?" The elf was surprised and clearly troubled by that question, most people had enough manners to not ask that, but it didn't seem like the vampire cared. 'Why is she asking us?! Should we just nod? But that would be a lie...how should we explain? Let us go with that...'-"We refer to ourselves as many or else she would lose herself and go insane! We suppose you could also say there are many of us, does that satisfy as an explanation?"

It was satisfying, though certainly not unexpected. There had to have been something going on in her head that elicited behavior, but given who she was, Rilolia was reluctant to simply jump to the conclusion. Still, it didn’t quite explain exactly who this other Yazu was, or if she had ever begun to talk to one or the other without realizing they switched control their voice.

“I suppose,” Rilolia narrowed her eyes, still quite evidently unsatisfied. She averted the subject though, given Yazu’s reaction to her question. Hopefully the elf didn’t expect everyone she met to simply go by without truly pondering how she spoke, and why. “How much longer till we reach the archapele-whatever?” she asked.

It looked like Rilolia disliked the travel oversea as much as Yazulayne, sadly she didn't know herself and thus, shook her head. "We would wish to know that too. The longer we stay on this ship the harder it gets to occupy ourselves, there are not many people we can talk to apart from Lyra. The deck has too many people for us to go outside. Being able to fly must be a great trait."

“Until you hit into a ship that is,” Rilolia laughed, “But it certainly is. Some detriments come along with it though, unlike in an elf like you,” she said blatantly.

"An elf like us? Heh." The cursed elf smirked a bit. "If people get to know us better, they usually refer to us as a monster." A bit depressed about that she added with a rather overjoyed smile."But we still love everyone and help out where we can!" to it.

She must have been referring to whatever afflicted her mind, but Rilolia didn’t affirm it. “You seem nice enough, I really can’t imagine why you’d be called a monster. Maybe quirky,” she stated carefully, “but not a monster. Did something happen?” she asked, though immediately cringed ever so slightly, realising she may be bringing forth bad memories.

Did something happen? What kind of question was that? Was she supposed to tell her now the story of her life? Whatever it may be, it didn't dwell well with her, taking a few steps back and holding her head with one hand as she recalled "major past events" the elf responded."Please... we would prefer not to talk about that." Followed by a "Do you like butterflies? We love those carefree buggers! The prettiest one we saw had a pattern similar to a rainbow!" paired with a smile.

At least she didn’t break into a monologue on the history of Yazulayne. Rilolia sighed, lifting her chest up and down with the breath. “Right, right. Butterflies,” she passively replied, “I suppose. Most butterflies I’ve seen were the bloodsucking kind. Or giant and not so pleasant. The moths though. Those were the worst.” A clear dichotomy presented itself at that moment, and Rilolia realized Yazulayne would be the sunniness to her own dreary attitude. It couldn’t be too bad. She hoped.

This time, in full honesty, Yazulayne had her jaw dropped wide open. Talking about butterflies or other "nice" things was a usual move to distract herself from anything depressing, she actually never heard of bloodsucking butterflies, pressing the issue further. "Eeeeeehhhh? There are vampire butterflies?! Luckily I've never seen those!"

Rilolia continued, nodding, “But the worst of them are the huge moths that fly about and spread toxic scales everywhere.” The vampiress, though relaying such horrible creatures of the dark, seemed to be quite reflective, as if reveling in the nostalgia. She shook her head and returned to the real world, staring down at Yazulayne. “At times I wish I could just go back. Maybe even go back home, but I’ve got to save my… friend. Maybe after that.”

"Back home?" Again, and also thanks to the talk of the killermoths, she looked rather depressive now. "Sometimes we wish we had a place to call home." Before cheering herself, and hopefully Rilolia, up."Don't worry, we will save your friend no matter what! As we already said, we might not look like that but we are pretty strong!" Confident in her own abilities, she nodded with a rather large smile."Anyways, our thanks for this conversation but we had enough." She could guess that Rilolia might ask her more about her home now or whatever, and even Yazulayne couldn't fool herself every 30 seconds. "We will talk later, good-bye for now!" With that the elf girl actually turned around to move the corridor towards her cabin.

[Click This]

Chad collapsed into his desk chair with an exasperated sigh, throwing down the log book that he had just scribbled into with an exaggerated motion. He had a difficult time believing that he had agreed to provide free passage to two passengers of unknown origin, let alone being goaded into helping a vampire, trespassing into foreign land and conspiring to launch an attack on an Astopolian fortress to rescue a condemned heretic. If there was a bucket list of things that he would avoid doing, it was the aforementioned list of things that he’d been persuaded into.

Sinking into his seat, he popped the cork off a bottle of scotch and poured a portion into the empty glass on his cabin desk. Although it was Lyra that first attempted to persuade him to the ridiculous, it was Rilolia that had convinced him. While he still had reservations about her, his fears were allayed after having a chance to personally speak with the vampire. In comparison to Yazulayne and Lyra, she was the voice of reason among the three girls that had freeloaded on his boat, and was the only person with the legitimate reason to throw pot shots at Astopol. Chad scoffed at Lyra’s reasoning for assisting Rilolia. It was a bloody joke and he felt that Lyra should get a new hobby if her current one led her to lay siege to fortresses. Why not something like calming like sewing or intellectual like chess? But no matter the reason, Chad had already agreed to help the stray vampire(against his better judgment) and he wasn’t the person to rescind an offer of aid. Unfortunately for Chad, it had come to him to acquire transportation, and what was laid out on the desk before him was what he’d managed to put together in the week since Rilolia had slammed into the side of the deck. He’d gone through more than two thirds of the parchment he had on hand writing letters to relevant people and the operations of an airship (with some help from a certain airship captain), but most of the effort and paper had been expended on figuring out how to get such a damned stupid plan to work. Nothing was more conspicuous than chartering a giant, floating flying contraption, especially on the islands, where such a vessel was not particularly as common as on the mainland. He would have to share his latest idea with Lyra and Rilolia; it seemed decent enough that Lyra wouldn’t outright dismiss it as being a horrible piece of crap like the last time he proposed a solution. Pitching a crumpled piece of paper into a wastebasket on the far side of the room, Chad finished off the rest of the scotch in his glass and stood up. He would have to put aside those worries for the time being and prepare to make anchor at Frelia; the lighter blue water and the appearance of seagulls made it apparent that they would be making landfall in short time.

---

The weather at Frelia was quite sunny and warm, befitting the reputation the island had for being a popular tourist location. The Laurentine Castle had dropped anchor without a hitch and the ship’s crew was already making good speed at unloading the ship’s cargo and passengers despite the distance between them and Frelia proper-- Chad had the ship anchored some ways from the port itself as it didn’t seem to have the space to accommodate the vessel. Looking back at the ship from his launch boat, Chad cracked his knuckles as he prepared for the large slew of business to come.

[ERode]

Morning in Talze Utera was not a morning, but just monotony. Perhaps some noticed the slight change in light, but overall, within the black miasma, there was simply the same light as there was normally, that was, not much at all. The light absorbing, bulbous plants were what provided lighting in the darker places of Talze Utera, and outside of that, it was all just a muted, hazy brightness that lit up the cursed land. But such a day was suitable for the man in red, who had not slept for two days. Blame his single-mindedness, but he rushed to test and perfect that summoning ritual of his. Two days worth of powdered catalyst, sweat, and animal fluids clung to his body, making him appear less like the noble he was dressed as, and more like a mad warlock, bent on achieving his latest obssession. He was finished, but he chose not to bathe or clean himself up. Appearances were important, after all, and for the man in red's next role, dirtiness was essential. Almost like makeup.

In that lavishly white room, humming with residue power and an ethereal veil, he made the final checks on the complex double-helix spell circle he had carved into the ground, before filling the grooves with blood so kindly provided by the vampires of this establishment. No doubt they were curious as to the results of his work. Immortals, after all, were bored existences after their initial phase of incomprehensible hedonism. Anything that interested them, they would seek to further.

Within each of the two circles making up the loops of the double-helix, laid a chalice. One held a gauntlet. Another held a dagger. Even without incantation, without applying his own power, the arcane runes were faintly pulsing with eldritch light, a sickly beating that reacted to the residual mana already present in the room.

It would still be some time before his associate on the 'other' side would be done their own part in this experiment. Six hours, at the very least.

Bringing his slick hair into a ponytail and flicking out one of his cards, the man in red murmured an ancient word, swiped the card over his eyes, and disappeared.
~
Corinkarus Courtright, ultimately, did not have a head for mysteries. He was a man who thought out of the box, of course, but he wasn't a person cwho could understand the intricate, irrational thoughts of others. In that view, animals made much more sense, because their deceptions were so much easier to unconver. Yet, what was the meaning of what lay in front of him? The aged man sighed deeply, resting his wrinkled forehead in the palm of his hand.

His room, a clustered mess of oddities, was carpetted with the lushest furs just to dampen the noise caused by his constant pacing and exuberations. But such defenses were unnecessary that day. He was tired, not physically, but mentally, trying to figure out exactly what was going on.

The spy, investigator, whatever that kid wanted to be called, was spect two days ago, during evening. That rapscallion came back today, with the first fruits of his labor, most of them just notes obtained from asking about. Yet even then, there was a wealth of information that was gotten.

More specifically, there was the fact that Horace, Riley's uncle, had not been at work for the past week.

Two hands were used to hold up the old man's face, as he sighed once more, into the stack of papers that made up the reports. So many annoying mysteries. And such an inadequate mind for solving them.
~
Finally! It felt so great! So good! Land again! Stable ground again! No swaying again! Freedom from the bed again! Ah, finally, Wynnara could feel that it would be a good day~

Beaming with the positive energy of the morning sun as she hopped, skipped, and jumped off off the gangplank onto the island of Frelia, the young God of War pilot yawned and stretched, enjoying the open-sea air on the only place that she could: on land. Her untied blue hair streamed in the air as the stench of many days of gagging and vomitting and chalk-eating was cleansed by salty winds. It just felt so good to be outside once more, and even though, on the inside, Wynnara knew that she would be back onboard another Illiserevian merchant vessel to get to the mainland, she treasured this moment while she still could. Going in a light, bright one-piece dress and sandals, with full intent on getting that fishy, shippy, puke-y smell out of her body by being blown-dry by the wind, she swayed from side to side on the wooden platform of the ports, dodging a few barrel-rolling seamen, before promptly spinning around and landing a kick on Moko's shin. It was a casual strike, nothing that was fuelled with earth-shattering rage, as Wynnara said cheerily, “That's for feeding me chalk, Moko~ I'll let you off easy today, because I'm too happy to be mad!”

Like that, humming a peppy, circus-esque song, she walked on, taking deep, swinging strides without a care in the world.

“It's a nice day to party, isn't it? Let's go shopping!”
~
And, on another part of the continent, in a cell that was more of an abyssal pit, a different type of food fell from sky that morning.

Real food, fit for a human to live off.

[Kitsune]

Land, the only sure thing in the world really, unlike the dangerous skies and the deep sea, a nice holiday location at best for the sky wolf but being on land made her look a little strange, as with most of her life spent on swaying ships she had built up a counter sway, that still remained even on land. She didn't look drunk or anything but it was clear the girl could not sit still for even a few moments, as evident while she waited for Wynnara by the docks, a large heavy looking sack flung over her shoulder which looked much to big for a women of her size, but even so she held it effortlessly.

At the kick given by Wynn, Moko smiled and snickered as she mentioned the whole chalk thing,which Moko still swears works. Even so it was behind them now, at least until they get on another boat.

"Fine, fine. What are we looking to get? Gold, silver, pots, rare plants? finest food to offer? Or maybe a fish on a stick..."

Moko said as they walked into the town, her nose offended by how many damn fish were being cooked here, though Wynn may not have been able to smell it. With her tail happliy swaying back and forth, Moko followed along her chipper freind, but kept her stride as prideful and strong as ever.

~~~

From the darkness bright Azure eyes locked onto the food that had fallen into the abyss of this damned place, the smell alone was overpowering to the senses to this man that had been denied all basic human needs and wants. Reaching out a malnourished hand grasped the food and slowly dragged it towards the pure shadows of the cell. Some was bitten off and eaten in one bite, while the rest was saved, a kindness he wished to last, at least a little longer.

Rustling from the floor of his cage, the man known as Vance stood up and peered up to where the food had comefrom, only to speak in a hushed tone to himself, a strange verse not from the book of his former god.

"Oh lost soul, withdrawn from the world
Let strength be granted so thee might be mended..."

Something made up, something to give him strength, not to mention keep his vocal cords ready. Preparation, for when he may have a hope of escape.

"Hello?"

[Psyker Landshark]

"Wow, there really is nothing to do today, is there?" Fion sighed as he left the local Bureau in Cykes. After running through drills on his own, Fion found that there was nothing wrong with his scimitar that he could tell, aside from an odd feeling that it was somehow off-balance. But it had held up well when he parried blows from Richard's massive claymore, so it was still functional for combat. He'd gone to the Bureau right after, but all of the jobs available today had been either pitifully easy or didn't pay enough for the amount of effort he would have to put out.

Well, if he couldn't murder things for profit, then he'd have to socialize with people. He could always go see Riley, but after his little heart-to-heart with Darius where the bastard had gotten him drunk and then wringed out a confession about his feelings, Fion really didn't want to confront that particular issue for the moment. Eh, he hadn't seen Araki in a while. Might as well check in on the crystala and see how he was doing. In all honesty, he probably should've done this earlier, but Riley kept asking him for training and she had the overwhelming edge against Araki of actually being cute.

___

A quick inquiry with Richard back at the estate revealed that Dean Courtright had enrolled Araki into kindergarten, of all things. Naturally, now he just had to check in on Araki, if only just to watch this lunacy. Some amount of magically-enhanced roof hopping later, Fion found himself checking the windows of each classroom at the academy Araki was enrolled in, leaping from ledge to ledge since walking in like a normal person would take too long. As luck would have it, it only took three windows before Fion found a room in which a number of toddlers were crowded around and marveling at the crystala. Fion jimmied open the window with a piece of wire and popped the window open, snickering loudly at Araki's predicament.

"Oh, wow. I didn't believe it when Richard told me, but it's actually true. Dean Courtright actually put you in a damn kindergarten! You know, this just made my day. How've you been holding up, Araki?"

[Voltin]

A muted sigh was all Riley could muster as she meandered along to the library. It was rather profound to her that summoning an abomination was as easy to her as lifting a pinky, yet most people in her class had to labor over proper runes, technique, and even what they wore to summon even as something as benign as an imp. It was for that very reason that her school had to be shut down, of course, with a limiting glyph forgotten in one girl’s summoning circle, the mischievous buggers began to flood the building and syphon everyone’s mana. It was meanwhile during all this that Riley had begun to roll over laughing as everyone scurried away and the little pests tried their best to get something from the witch as her own bear companion batted them away. Now, however, as she roamed to the last place she wanted to be at the moment, the fun had all but dissipated.

She had, in an attempt to stay away from studying, tried locating Fion, but when she arrived at his manor, she was shooed away by one of the servants saying that he had gone out for the day. When she tried asking about Araki, she only received the same response. With not much else to do, she went to the Bureau to find some work, but with only a little more luck than before. They had something -- a small caravan run to a nearby town that needed a guard desperately; a job that wouldn’t take her more than five hours tops, if they didn’t run into trouble -- but it wasn’t to set out for another three hours. So, thwarted by fate, Riley went to read; at least until it was time to leave.

~

After bothering with the tedium of finding the necessary materials for research, filing for a private study room for only two hours time, and getting some real work done in her art of non-ritualistic style summoning, Riley departed down the stairs of the library and began to casually walk to the assigned location in which she was to meet the caravaneer and her small band of wagons. It only took a few minutes more to reach where they were meeting, and upon arriving, noticed how small the group was. Six people, and four large wagons, each escorted by a fine “steed”; she was now wondering why the listed reward had been so relatively meager.

Immediately in her approach she was greeted by the giant who Riley could only guess was her employer, Selina. Despite her size, she had noticeably feminine features, and a short blonde tuft of hair laced behind her otherwise bob-styled haircut. “Hello, you must be Riley,” she began with a full grin and a grasp of her hand “Glad you could come, we almost didn’t have anybody after our other guy quit on short notice.” Riley stood there with a blank expression which didn’t betray her small annoyance with this person as her hand was shook. ”Right, so when do I get paid? Now, or after we get back?” Selina straightened her posture immediately at the mention of business, and dropped her hand. “Straight to it, I see; I can respect that,” she said as she placed her hands on her hips. “You’ll get your one-hundred and twenty silvers when we get to the town since we’ll be receiving it there.” The witch frowned slightly; the tide of this woman’s business would likely affect her own wage, so if things went bad -- which occasionally they do -- she was likely to receive less than the share advertised. ”Okay then; shall we leave?” she restrained herself to saying as she motioned towards the gates. Selina perked with Riley’s response, and began to holler. “You’ve got it! Come on guys, let’s get those asses in gear!”

~

They were about halfway through their trip. The caravan was passing through a wooded area on a well-worn, yet deserted path, and had been reduced to a single-file line due to the density of the trees. The midday sun flitted through the leaves overhead as they were rustled by a gentle breeze. Birds chirped, and overall the day seemed peaceful, and that was good for a guard such as Riley. She, however, almost wanted to be attacked as to test out her polearm in actual combat, not a practice bout like she and Fion had many a time before. Still, her desire amounted in a paranoia that had been distracting to the other members of her troupe, and had been sent to the back to keep watch of their tail.

She glancing over her shoulder with every intent to strike if something were to actually be there, and almost as if she had willed it, there was a very loud, and very close “cracking” sound to her. Riley spun, weapon drawn and unsheathed as she pointed it at… well, nothing. In her disappointment, she lowered her stance and let out a sigh of frustration. “You know, if you’re looking for an enemy, I was right in front of you the entire time.” Riley tensed, as she knew that voice. She wanted to run with every fiber of her being at that point, dash all the way back to Cykes where she knew she’d be safe. But, against her better judgement, and perhaps in seeking some closure to the torment that had been wrought upon her for all of her life, she turned around once more to face her mother.

The high-witch stood there, atop the trailing wagon to the rest, a coy smile which matched the sultry tone in which she had addressed her daughter, but which clashed with her ugly visage. “You know,” she started, “it truly hurts a mother so when she can’t reach her own daughter through the post, or when her daughter hurts the people simply hired to reunite them.” A throaty chuckle escaped her mother’s mouth. Riley still had not spoken yet, and she found herself clenching her teeth as she caught her first glance of the people she was escorting; lined by the side of the wagons, heads hung low, and all facing her direction. “Oh, don’t worry about them; they’re fine, at least physically,” another laugh came from this. “I do know how much you don’t enjoy death, so I didn’t kill them like I had originally planned. I just… well, curses do some truly ]nasty things to the mind.”

Riley’s voice caught in the base of her throat as her mother continued on. She was angry, and at the same time frightened. She wanted to run away, but she also wanted to gut the abomination that spawned her miserable existence and was standing right in front of her. Her inner conflict was what was keeping Riley in place, although she had enough wits about her to poise the bladed weapon in front of her. It was this small action that snapped Cygna out of her monologue, and what brought on a small scoff.

“I really wish you would have kept that stick of yours; a girl could poke her eye out on such things that you’re holding there…” A moment of silence passed as the two stared each other down. It was the elder witch who broke the silent battle with a small “Hmph,” and began to speak again. her tone less bashful, and more serious. “I know you have questions; about everything, really. Your father, your birth, even your wonderful gifts of summoning, and the special abomination that is your ‘R’lyeh’. I’ll let you know now that your daddy-dearest was as not as kind of a man as you remember, and that he was as manipulative as any immortal that resides in Talze Utera. I never laid my magics upon him, except for a very special night for the both of us, and he was never my prisoner... That’s right, my dear; he had stayed willingly,” Another small silence passed as to let Cygna’s knowledge sink in. “Now, you’re allowed to discard everything I’ve told you today as lies, and false knowledge, but if you wish to hear more from my side of things, we can meet -- in a day’s time -- in the hovel town known as the Burrow; directly south of this very point. Order a drink in the only tavern there, and I shall find you, like I always have. Please, come alone; I know how this may sound, but there are words that must be spoken between us that that boy of yours must not hear, at least for now. But now our time is up, and I must depart. Goodbye my daughter, may our Mother shroud your footsteps.” She began to depart, but as an after thought, she added: “Oh, and feel free to take the gold off these brigands; they were only a lure to draw you out my dear, and are the convicted in Illiserev. Goodbye, daughter,” and with that, she disappeared into the few shadows of the wood.

Riley collapsed in sobs as soon as she knew she alone with the catatonic bodies of her employers.

~

It was dusk by the time she made in back in the walls of Cykes, grateful for the feeling of protection they provided. With what her mother said -- this lingering doubt of what was true or not had resided -- Riley began to feel this overbearing sense of loneliness. She had felt alone before, many a day before she had met Fion and Araki, but this was different. This felt as if her whole world was crumbling, and no one was around to stop it. She wished she could go back to before the demon incident in Talze Utera, hell, back to before Bakery Town where she met the conniving bastard who had brought her to that summit. But, as far as she knew, there wasn’t any way to do that, was there?

~

She trodded through the front door to the small house she lived in. It was empty, as usual. Dust was settling on every visible surface, and the rays of the extinguishing sun only permeated the decrepit feeling that hung over the room. She collapsed face first into the small couch which faced the room’s only source of heat, the fireplace; unlit. There time passed at a snail’s pace, and long before she knew it, the rays of the sun were replaced by the beams of the moon; only a crescent. She gazed blankly in front of her as the night drifted past, sleep not once overtaking her with everything that was going through her head.

~

As dawn came Riley rose from the couch, and just as she had done so, the front door opened once more to the sight of her uncle. He scrapped every foot on the tarnished wood below him and escaped the burden of his own weight by collapsing on Riley’s desk chair. He took a sigh of relief before noticing the hard glance of his niece. “What?” he asked, dumbfounded as to what could be bothering Riley. She stood without a word, and closed the distance between them. The witch roughly placed her hands on his knees and leaned in close to his face. An awkward moment passed before she finally spoke. ”What was my father actually like, Horace? I don’t want any bullshit, either; you were his brother, you obviously knew him the best. Now spill it.” The tension in the room was almost tangible as her uncle relaxed and let out a gruff sigh. He rubbed his bearded chin as he swatted his charge away and began to pace around in the little room he had. He cleared his throat, and began.

“He was...the favorite of our parents, for obvious reasons; he was one of the rare few men who could use magic.”

[Zombehs]

As expected, when Araki slowly opened his eyes the sun had yet to rise, his room was still dark, and the employees still preparing for the day to come. If he focused, he could hear the sound of footsteps below, but listening to people walking about had never been one of Araki’s hobbies. He felt a bit sore as he stood himself up, no doubt his body protesting the odd position he had fell asleep in last night, but it wasn’t anything a bit of exercise wouldn’t sort out. Not in the mood for that at the moment though, Araki figured he should go find Richard and ask about a bath. It was early enough that he shouldn’t have had to worry about dealing with the pompous assholes that were Fion’s family. Hopefully.

---

It wasn’t too hard for Araki to find Fion’s attendant most of the time. Largely because the other servants didn’t want or feel like dealing with someone with his stature or nature so they were quick to bring him to the older employee. The maid took her leave almost immediately after Richard was in sight, and he didn’t spare her a glance as he made his way over. He wasn’t particularly trying to be stealthy, nor was the older employee so careless as to miss his presence.

Straightening his posture, Richard turned from the task that had been at hand to address the hybrid in his usual polite tone, “Quite early, but what did you need Araki?”

Resisting the urge to fiddle or play with the long strands of white hair was the usual when he dealt with Richard. Out of the people Araki had the opportunity to meet, Richard was perhaps one of the hardest to deal with. While respect wasn’t entirely unknown to Araki, it was usually wasn’t without strings; be it won out of fear, or some ulterior motive on the other’s part. It might have simply been years of serving the Seyour family, but if it was Araki couldn’t find any hint on the man’s part. Then again, he was probably several times younger than the man in question, so Araki was hardly the best judge. All that aside though, Araki nodded his head several times in response before he said, “Is the bath open at this time?"

“There should…”

---

Feeling a great deal refreshed after a washdown, even if it paled to what Courtright had offered at the university, Araki had spent a bit of time wondering what to do today. It was frankly the first time he had done so for a while now. As far as he knew, he was expected to attend school again today albeit he had no idea when it actually started now that he thought about it. Attendance wasn’t exactly enforced, not to his knowledge at the least, so it wasn’t like he had to go…

---

Eventually after mulling over his thoughts and finding no answers, Araki decided that he could bear with “school” for another day at the least. Courtright had thrown him in at the end of the school day, or that’s what Araki assumed given he had only stuck around for an hour or so before the other children had been dismissed. He could see how much he wanted to escape after a full day in the building, surrounded by the kids, before he made a decision regarding “school”.

---

He arrived at the school’s gates in the same manner he had left the evening prior, namely dropping like a rock from the roof of a nearby building. If the children running through the building’s doors were any indication then he had arrived at just the perfect time, or the worst depending on one’s perspective. The moment he landed on the ground, numerous sets of eyes swung to look at whatever had made the ground underneath their feet rumble. “Damn it,” he managed to whisper before he was mobbed by the unruly children.

---

With Gael’s help, Araki had managed to get the children off of him, but some of them were damn persistant. Nestled back into his original classroom and once again surrounded by the other chilren, he couldn’t help but sigh as he felt his head jerk around ever so slightly. No doubt his white hair was fascinating… which actually might have been the case, seeing as it did feel quite different compared to others’. He would have closed his eyes to try and relax had some movement by the window not drawn his attention instead. Thankfully, even children could feel the change that came over Araki as his body tensed momentarily.

The laughter of a familiar voice reached Araki soon enough as the window was cracked open, and he groaned a bit as Fion peered in through the window. The kids seemed to take that as a sign that no, nothing was about to happen, and went back to doing; fiddling with his hair, examining his crystals, or bombarding him with questions, now with some about the “strange man” mixed in. “He’s a bad man, stay away from him,” he warned the children around him before he turned to address the man whose reputation was now being slandered. “Fine… I guess. Could be worse.”

The presence of Fion did give Araki an idea though, and as he mulled over it in his head, he might have just let it slipped. “I wonder if a fight would be interesting.” Evidently, the children found such a prospect to be just that, and excited chatter and even the occasional plead filled the air. Of course, none of that could match the charisma- or did his ego simply drown out the others, Araki didn’t know - of the golden-haired “king”.

“A splendid idea my vassal. It’ll be good to see what you’re truly capable of!”

Before Fion could say anything, Araki just pinched his forehead, held a hand up, and said, “Don’t ask, and what do you think?” At that very instant at least two dozen pair of eyes turned to Fion, waiting expectantly for his answer.

[Psyker Landshark]

Fion shrugged in response to Araki's challenge.

"Eh, sounds fine to me. Not like I've much else to do today." He said casually, one foot still out the window. "We going to take this outside, or do you feel like vandalizing a classroom and endangering children?" He continued in his normal tone and with absolutely zero hint of sarcasm or irony, further proving that Araki's slander of him was rather correct.

Fion's acceptance was met with great enthusiasm by the class, as the children burst into chatter and scrambled about. At the very least, it meant Araki didn't have to shoo some away and off him like usual whenever he wanted to stand up. "While I'm sure people would love to hear about a monster slaughtering a classroom full of children, Dean Courtright might not like it very much," he muttered dryly as he jerked his head towards the window, indicating it would take place outside.

He couldn't exactly fit through Fion's method of entry, so he had to leave the building in the ordinary way, namely through the front door. His classmates followed alongside him, spreading out over the fields as soon as he pushed open the front doors, and a buzz filled the air from their excitement. No doubt the other classes would eventually be drawn to the spectacle; he could already see curious faces lining some of the windows. "So, how's this going to work?"

Unlike a reasonable person, Fion opted to simply leap down to the ground from the window instead of walking down the stairs. When Araki and his classmates finally reached the field, he took a moment to contemplate the crystala's question, shifting around beneath his cloak.

"Well, considering that armor thing you conjured up back in Talze Utera and the fact that I'm pretty sure I can't take multiple punches from you, anything beyond first blood is off the table. How about if I pierce that armor of yours, I win, but if you land a hit on me, you win?"

Araki blinked a few times as he recalled what Fion was referring to, but shook his head quickly at the suggestion. "Whatever happened back in Talze Utera scrapped most of my magic, left me with... supportive abilities, I guess you could call them that." Just to demonstrate he clenched a fist tight enough so his claws drew a faint trickle of blood. Immediately afterwards a green glow bathed his hand, and when he opened it, there was no sign of injury.

Fion blinked right back in response. Well. That was significantly disappointing compared to when Araki had been going toe-to-toe with that swordsman like an armored juggernaut. "So...let's just beat each other until we get bored, then. At least you can heal us right back up." He drew his scimitar, eliciting oohs and ahhs from the various children present. "Sound good to you?"

Araki scratched at the back of his head as he thought on it; frankly it wasn't much more different than what happened at Tamamo's dojo. Well, except for the higher chance of actual injuries and what not thanks to the actual weapon Fion would be using. "Eh... why the hell not? Just give me a moment." He turned back to his classmates and waved for them to back away before he moved out into the center of the field. Stopping the fight each and every time one of them got hurt badly enough to warrant it was likely to result in a very stop-and-go show for the other children. This alternative would be more taxing, but at the least it would allow for a continious "show" to be held.

He closed his eyes and calmed his breathing, allowing for magic to gather around his hand. Placing it palm down onto the ground, the green energy raced out and over the earth until it stopped just shy of the school building. Wisps of energy drifted upwards, the air had a green tinge, and there was a soothing sensation in the magic-afflicted area. While there was an inital drain of energy, after the field had actually been set up, the effects of simply maintaining it weren't too taxing. Once the field had to heal one of them, he would feel it more substantially, but Araki didn't think it would be an issue.

"Okay then, whenever you're ready." Having said that, Araki dropped his casual stance and settled into basic martial stance; hands raised and body lowered. The mane of white hair stiffened as he stared at Fion and waited for the swordsman to make the first move. It might have been difficult to pick out amidst the magic already in the air, but there was definitely another layer of energy around Araki's body.

Fion was rather intrigued by the field of magic that Araki had set up, but eventually concluded that it was probably intended to heal whoever was in the area, considering the soothing feeling he was getting from it. Well, that would make this more convienent. Less chance of accidentally killing each other from going too far too quickly. With that in mind, Fion charged at Araki with sword in hand, not bothering to enhance any of his abilities with magic. It'd be good practice for him to only use his natural abilities anyways.
Even without his magic, Fion was still fast by a layman's standards, and he closed the distance between himself and Araki rather quickly, slashing at his chest.

The fact that Araki could follow Fion's movement without losing sight of the swordsman meant he wasn't enhancing his natural physical capabilities. In the same vein, Araki hadn't employed any magic that could be called a buff. While he was confident that reinforcing his skin until it could resist, if not turn, the scimitar was possible, there wouldn't be much of a show to be had if he did.

The hybrid managed to step back and away from, though not completely out of, the first blow. What might have been a nasty wound was reduced to a barely noticeable scratch, that vanished in a blink of the eye; no doubt thanks to the magic that permeated the air. He leaned back in towards Fion instantly, bringing his fist in for an uppercut to the swordsman's gut. Normally it would have been unthinkably stupid for him to dive back into the sword's effective range, but between the self-cast and area-of-effect magic, only fatal wounds would be of severe concern to Araki.

The gut punch came quickly, and Fion let out an oof in pain as it forced him back before he brought his sword back up, wincing. If anything, taking that hit confirmed that his magic was starting to be a bit of a crutch. Well, that was what this spar was for, anyways. Recovering quickly, Fion dived back into the fray, bringing his sword around towards Araki's side.

Araki grinned in satisfaction as the blow connected cleanly with Fion and forced the swordsman away. Still, just because he had managed to get a good hit in, didn't mean that his sparring partner was a push-over. Before he could rush the smaller, if older, male Fion was already ready and making a swing. While he could have tanked the numerous wounds inflicted at the cost of some suffering, it probably would have been insulting. For that reason, instead of continuing onwards and bullrushing Fion, he lashed out at the incoming blade and tried to wrap his hand around it. The skin there was considerably thicker, and even without magic, quite resistant to being cut through.
Grunting in surprise as Araki caught his blade, Fion tugged back for half a second before realizing that the crystala's raw physical strength was greater than his own and abandoned that idea. Resisting the urge to just cheat and coat his blade in razor wind, he brought his knee up and rammed it towards Araki's gut.

The blade's edge cut deep into Araki's palm, but the fact that his hand hadn't been cleaved in two went to show how tough he had physcially become after the numerous transformations he had undergone. Despite himself though, Araki couldn't supress the wince that followed, even if he had expected the pain. The delay in his follow-up let Fion return his previous uppercut to the gut with a knee, causing the hybrid to bend forward from the blow. The motion was not wasted though, as Araki whipped his head downward to counter with a painful headbutt. Crystalas' skulls, like the rest of their bones and body in general, were denser and thicker than humans' after all. His grip on the blade, slick with his own blood, was loosened though and Araki could feel the metal slipping free as he tried to headbutt the swordsman.

Although spoiled from using magic as a crutch for so long, Fion's natural reflexes had been quite sharp in the past, and he was starting to react faster, if only just to avoid the pain from Araki's blows. He still wasn't quick enough, however, and Araki's headbutt took him in the side of the head when he tried to dodge, sending him reeling to the ground. Fion still kept his grip on his sword, however, and thrust it up at Araki's shoulder even as his back hit the dirt.

While it wasn't the head-on hit that Araki had aimed for, seeing Fion drop to the ground was nevertheless quite satisfying. The pain from having a sharp blade slide free of his grip was still fresh and burning, which dampened the feeling somwhat. It was fully doused when it turned out that despite being dropped to the grass, Fion was still quite intent on making him bleed. Araki had to spin to avoid having the scimitar thrust through the shoulder, though the blade still cut through to the collarbone despite his best attempt. Grimacing, he lashed out with a sharp kick at Fion as he finished the spin that had let him partially dodge.

Fion was finally able to react in time, and he rolled to the side to avoid Araki's kick before pulling himself back up, clutching his head with one hand as his vision spun. Araki's healing field soon relieved the effects of what could have been a concussion, though, and Fion saw straight once more as he brandished his scimitar with a grin. "Are your little classmates entertained enough yet, Araki?"

Araki wasn't all too disappointed when his foot caught nothing but air, and he quickly caught his footing. The drain on his reserves of magical energy weren't notable just yet, but it was certainly noticeable now that the field was fulfilling its purpose. As Fion got up to his feet, Araki spared a quick glance to the sidelines where his classmates, and evidently a good portion of the school watched. Surprisingly, their reactions were somewhat subdued; though Araki quickly realized that he and Fion had been essentially brawling. Not quite the most exciting things for children to watch.

"Eh... they seem fairly disappointed. Give'em a flashy end at the least?" He suggested it with a shrug, as he closed his eyes and let the magic in his body flow. Even if Fion wasn't all too willing to have a dramatic close to their little spar, well consent wasn't really required.

"Well, if you insist." Fion replied, raising his sword and pumping magic through it. He'd gotten what he wanted out of this spar, so he might as well indulge Araki and the children. Wind erupted around his scimitar as more and more magic coursed through it. Fion shoved as much mana into the sword as possible without the resulting attack being fatal, and swung down, sending a shockwave of wind flying towards Araki.

The onlookers seemed to appreciate the effort put in by Fion as the clamour died to a hush. Satisfied that he wouldn't be mobbed by a disappointed crowd tomorrow, and knowing it would likely just be enthusiastic and excited, Araki figured he should do something about the technique Fion was about to send his way.

The magic within him pooled towards his hands, and the concentration was high enough that his hands were literally engulfed in a green aura of magic. Raw as it was, it wouldn't help him much and Araki quickly began to refine it with spells. The aura diminished rapidly as the gathered energy was expended to reinforce and toughen his hands. The end result was visually the same as usual, but the changes were shown when he clashed with the shockwave hands first.

The infused magic allowed him to grab hold of the wind as if it was a physical thing, and though he couldn't tear apart the spell in an instant, he did manage to start working away at it. Sharp gusts broke off from the main technique and lacerated his arms and upper body, but Araki didn't flinch from the pain; he could feel the energy behind the technique wanning. With a grin as he finally felt the give under his hands, claws finally tore through the gathered magic and sent the winds scattering harmlessly in every direction.

For someone who had been on the receiving end of such a technique, he actually looked fairly decent thanks to the field that had been set up. The inflicted wounds were minor enough that the healing magic in the air had sealed them before blood had even been spilt. All in all, aside from the shoulder wound, it would have been hard to tell Araki had been in a fight.

The stiffened mane softened, individual strands falling down to his back until it looked like nothing more than just hair once more. He dabbed at the blood on his shoulder with a small frown; he didn't want to have to explain it to Gael if he could avoid it. The children obviously approved of the ending if the noise and ruckus they were making was any indication, so Araki decided to check on Fion instead.

For his part, Fion actually looked rather miffed that Araki managed to simply power through his attack. He hadn't been going full power with it, but he hadn't expected the crystala to simply stand there and take it. Clearly, he'd have to improve the shockwave technique for when he used it in an actual battle. But he could do that later. Looking Araki over, Fion noted that he had already recovered rather nicely thanks to the healing field.

"Well, that was fun." He said, sheathing his blade. "Nice seeing you again. We really should be doing this more often too, considering we live in the same bloody house. Anyways, I should probably get out of here before a teacher comes and yells at me. Enjoy the lecture, Araki. Getting in trouble for stupid things is what school's all about, after all!" Fion finished with a cheeky smirk, tossing Araki a salute before leaping away, abusing his wind magic to hop from rooftop to rooftop before a responsible adult could chew him out.

Before Araki could say anything in response Fion had already taken off, making great use of his wind magic to vault over the fence and quickly out of sight. With the stranger, or perhaps idol to some now, gone Araki found himself surrounded by his classmates and schoolmates. Any plan to escape for the day with the excuse of being tired was dashed, as the children didn't seem like they would be content with anything less than his presence.

Oh and look, Gael had come out to check what the commotion was about. Joy...

[Skyswimsky]

How an insane girl became a temporary bar-maid
Land! After spending way too much time on that boat with holes and the annoying self-proclaimed captain, she couldn't believe how happy she was upon stepping on a wooden pier. Then again, Yazu was always in a good mood, so nothing special there.

The annoying self-proclaimed captain told her to meet at a tavern in a few hours, which was no problem if not for the fact Yazu was supposed to pay for a room herself. The annoying self-proclaimed knew perfectly fine Yazulayne was broke and thus, a mean guy as himself, couldn't possible have such an important and reliable role as captain of a ship. Well, there was no use in getting mad or she ran risk to flatten this town, setting her thoughts on some pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows she made her way into the town, asking nearly every person she saw for some quick work that only took a few hours.

...

In the end all her effort was in vain, may it be sexism or her strange way of talking, she did not know, but after asking approximately 50 different people she made her way towards the tavern, running into the risk of getting into a bad mood all over again. This however, changed fast as she got a sudden flash of inspiration, what if she would work in the very same place where they were supposed to spend a night? And if she did a good job, and whoever her boss for the time being was, he or she would maybe charge more for the annoying self-proclaimed captain! She could only hope the tavern wouldn't be too full, after all, subconsciously dodging the shadows of people was as normal as breathing for her.

[Asuras]

Sailing on a ship was one thing (even if Rilolia found herself below deck 24/7), but experiencing the waters of the world on the edge of an island was entirely different. It elicited images of tranquility and exotic nature, like some vacation resort decked out with palm trees and fancy juice drinks. Rilolia took it all in for a moment, and turned her head to wash away the island's facade; just a few dozen feet away, the image was instead replaced by the grungy, rusted, disparaging scene of a series of docks. Dirty men hauled in foul smelling fish and seagulls defecated wherever they pleased.

"Bleh," Rilolia grimaced. She had flown from the ship's deck to the island several minutes before it itself had made port, finding herself in the heart of the docks as the Laurentine began to switch direction and stop itself further from the action. Her noble nose wished that she had done the same. Rilolia stretched a few times and perused off further onto the island, eventually coming across the pathway leading to Frelia. On multiple occasions, she caught herself witnessing Yazulayne attempting to procure a job, but she kept to herself and let the elf do her own thing. She didn't exactly want to catch herself in something annoying, fueled by the quirkiness of the two-faced elf.

Rilolia reached into her coat and fished for a packet of blood... to no avail. Frantically, she shuffled through her pockets to find some source of sustenance, and found nothing. Falling back in the outdoors bar seat, she sighed.

"Well shit," she moaned. The last one must have been when she still had Dead Gear, and was climbing the mountain. She patted her cloth a few more times, just in case, before truly giving up. She would have to find some unfortunate creature around town in the dark of night if she was to get anything at all. Being so far from Talze Uterra, Rilolia highly doubted that Frelia ever really dealt with vampires, and lacked any sort of purchasable blood for her. For now, however, she had other matters to attend to, and her stomach would have to wait some more.

Rilolia picked herself up from the seat, ignoring the complimentary ale that had been placed on her table minutes prior by a perky barmaid, and looked for the right bar that Chad had spoken of.

[Click This]

The Harbor Trading Company was not the best of names or even the biggest shipping company in town, but for its size and capacity to operate, Chad found it a fantastic place to deal business with. Located just off the main pier, the whitewashed stone brick warehouse was a familiar sight, and to Chad’s delight, the amicable manager of the company was there to greet him when he stepped inside. The manager, a balding man about twice his age, waved as the captain walked down the cobblestone road leading to the warehouse gate. The old man’s senile look betrayed his own disposition. Chad grimaced as the manager bellowed a hearty greeting as he approached.

“Mr. Howard! It is good to see you back in town!!”

Chad resisted the urge to cover his ears, and he hesitated a moment before responding. While he found the man friendly enough, his loud and boorish behavior had thrown him off more than once when visiting the company. “Likewise, Mr. O’Connor,” started Chad, putting on his business voice. “I see you saw my ship arrive this morning. I’ve a good complement of cargo today,” he continued, cutting to the chase.

“Indeed!! Come, come, let us not talk in the open when we have a comfortable office with a damn great view of the harbor inside!” With another hearty laugh, O’conner showed Chad into the building.

Business negotiations did not take long, to his relief. He had proposed a deal at slightly above trading value for his cargo of spice, rum, and sugar, all commodities desired in Frelia. After a mere twenty minutes of negotiation, he managed to broker a deal that would net 3,335 gold pieces. Taking tariffs, crew wages and the Mauritania Company’s cut in the deal into consideration, that left him with about 240 gold and 19 silver in profits. But most importantly, through his exchange with Mr. O’conner, he learned that there was an airship launch a few kilometers from town. It had been abandoned when the last typhoon wrecked the facility and the airframes still inside of it. Since it was considered derelict, he was free to have a go at salvaging the equipment inside, and that was something that Chad very much intended to do.

Having made it clear to Yazulayne and Rilolia to meet up at the tavern on Main St. at dawn, Chad made the trek up to the launch with Lyra in tow. The airship launch was situated on a forested hill overlooking the city. At the entrance, they were greeted by a pair of wrought iron gates, rusted in an open position. Beyond the gate was a pair of airship hangars surrounded by overgrown foliage and in a state of significant disrepair. The yellowed stone and rusted beams of the structure gave an eerie feel to the site that left Chad slightly unsettled. Walking up to the closer building, he noted that the large wooden doors were rotted but still secured by an old padlock. Ignoring the double doors, he circled around the building before finding a large gap created by the wall’s crumbling masonry. A rusted steel buttress laid in angled position down the gap, allowing Chad Lyra to simply walk over the fallen supporting beam to get inside.

The condition of the room they entered was not much better than what was outside. The area they were in appeared to be some sort of mechanic’s room at one point, but the equipment in the room seemed to be utterly destroyed by the fallen buttress or was rusted by the elements. A single wooden door with peeling paint seemed to lead out of the room, but it was locked. After fumbling with the handle for a few minutes, Chad gave up and kicked the door down, revealing the hangar proper. They were greeted with a pair of two older airships parked side-by-side, but as Chad knew little on the subject of flying contraptions, he could not discern their condition.

“Well, there’s our airship. Time to call our resident airship captain.”

[ERode]

Smiling slightly at the half-beast's suggestions, Wynnara tilted her head to the side in a momentary bout of considerate thought, before saying with a shrug, “Well, Moko, I'm pretty sure my master is rich enough that anything that's good wouldn't really matter, so we can just go and say that it's the thought that counts!”

She swept her hand horizontally in the direction of the many small stalls in the portside marketplace, randomly selecting one from many shops, before her finger pointed towards a rather tacky looking food stall. In reaction to that sudden 'accusatory' finger motion, the wizened old grandma running the fried soup stand narrowed her one good eye towards what seemed like two possible customers, before shuffling out the stove and stoking the flames. With what almost sounded like some ancient language (though it was probably just mumbled ramblings), the old lady started to drop oddly colored spices into the soup and flames, changing the colors of each until it didn't look normal at all. And from that black-iron pot, the oddest scent began to waft out, something that smelled like it should be disgusting, mind-numbing, soul-reaping taste.

“That looks like a unique enough tribute for my master, doesn't it, Moko?”
~
Under the cloudy backdrop, the hooded figure, peering down below into the abyssal jail cell, watched as shadows moved from below, snatching up and eating the warm food that was dropped. By the dampness of the earth, he could feel that it had rained last night, once again. A good call then, for him to arrive now. Contrasting against the shadow of his hood, his yellow eyes searched into the darkness and found the blue eyes of the prisoner. A tentative, hesitant 'hello' sounded through the stone shaft, echoing as it reached the man. So he was still sane, still capable of speech. Good. Looking over his shoulders to ensure that no one else was nearby, the man said, his voice just loud enough so that Vance could hear, “Help will come soon. Stay sane until then, God Slayer.”

And like that, the man disappeared into the cloudy backdrop, becoming translucent, transparent, and then gone.

A playing card drifted downwards in his absence. The Ace of Hearts.
~
Gael was...it was actually rather hard to tell whether the man was amused or not by the actions of his latest students. It seemed as if the boys had forgotten that, despite the fact that the school grounds WERE rather large, it was still in the merchant district of Cykes, still filled with a large collection of merchants trying to sell their wares as a brawl between Lady Seyour's Sword Arts brat and Araki continued on. And while the ending of the match was admirable, it was still rather...

Placing a heavy hand on Araki's bare shoulder and exerting just enough pressure that the Crystalla should tell that the teacher wasn't all together pleased by this, the bearded man said with a fake smile, “Morning Araki, glad to see that you've taken the intiative in making sure that you do your morning exercises regularly. Now, I'm sure you'd already know this, but it may not be quite the smartest idea to have a brawl, especially when your spectators are all kids. Accidents do happen after all, and you're also obstructing the main street if you do something like that.”

“But hey, it's your first time doing something stupid, unlike Gil there, so I'll let you off with just submitting a one-page apology letter to me by the end of the day. Make sure it's legible though. Your handwriting is sorta terrible for someone your age.”

And with that said, Gael herded up the rest of the kids and drew them into the school once more, to restart classes after a lecture about 'not being an idiot and causing trouble for workers just because you want to see a fight'.
~
He had not expected to be sensed so soon, but then again, Aiv wasn't particularly surprised when a fork lodged itself through the spellwoven cloak that supposedly gave him invisibility to the eyes of humans. It wasn't like the person he was meeting with was human the first place. Removing his cloak out of respect for the 'monster' that was in his prescence, the white-haired man made a clear motion to bring out his weapon to his side, placing it onto the homemade wooden table.

Turning around in the homely portside cottage, surprisingly close to the hustle and bustle of the lively, if backwater island town of Frelia, Aiv bowed once towards the woman with light blue hair and a simply tropical dress, who held a bag of groceries in one hand and a skewer of meat in the other.

“Greetings, Mirelle Keep. I have come personally to deliver a message from Witchmother East to you.”

[Kitsune]

"So, like all the presents you have ever given to me then?" Moko gave a smirking comment to what Wynn said, only to take a look at all the stalls that were on offer the next moment. There were many foods on offer, and given this was a dock there were more exotic dishes as well, which Moko always loved to see. Ahh, the sea and sky connected all to one another in one way or another. Mostly food though oddly enough...

There was a few stalls that caught her eyes, mostly the ones with colorful spices and nice smells, though there was one stall run by a old women that had some strange ways of cooking that much was for sure. "Yeah, that looks to be a worthy tribute haha. Excuse me!" Moko made her way up, nudging Wynn to talk.

---

Closing his eyes Vance peered down to the food, listening to the words that were spoke to him and smiling ever so slightly for the first time in ages. Hope had been fully restored, and even if it didn't happen this would keep him moving on. Grabbing the falling card out of the air he returned to sitting down on the floor of his cell, a large bit of dry stone keeping him off of the wet floor under him, allowing him to eat his warm food in peace.

[Zombehs]

While Araki was sorely tempted to sigh once he felt Gael’s hand grip his shoulder, he held his discontent back. Once the adult was busy dealing with the other children though, Araki muttered a few choice phrases before simply resorting to grumbling, obviously displeased. Just because he had a letter to write though didn’t mean he was free from attending his classes though, Gael saw to that much and called for Araki to follow the others back into the school. He did so, but reluctantly as he cast the rooftops one last glance before he trudged back through the doors.

---

At the very least, the letter proved to be a distraction for what was a relatively dull day. While the teachers taught various lessons about a varied number of subjects, Araki didn’t feel enthusiastic about a great many. If there was someone who cared about the history of Dansila, even in the short snippets used by the teacher, it certainly wasn’t Araki, or at least not him at this point in time. Instead, he busied himself by staring at the blank piece of paper in one hand while trying not to crush the fragile pencil in his other. Well, blank wasn’t entirely correct, he had managed to jot down both his and Gael’s name in the appropriate areas of the page with some manner of legibility.

He didn’t get any further than a few rather messy sentences before any sense of creativity died. Slumping a bit, Araki admitted, to himself at the least, that he wasn’t the most experienced person in apologies. The number of times he had to make one could probably be counted on a single hand after all. So if he didn’t know how to write one… then the logical thing to do was to find someone who did, and Gael had dropped a rather useful, if not unexpected, piece of information. Though how would he get the other child’s help?

It turned to be rather easy. He hadn’t even needed to say anything as approached Gil’s desk to get the golden-haired child’s attention. Instead the so-called “king” simply turned his head to face Araki, and raised a brow - asking what the hybrid wanted. In wordless reply, Araki raised the piece of paper and Gil’s brow only climbed higher. “I suppose this morning’s show deserves something,” he finally remarked after a few moments. “Take a seat,” he ordered and Araki complied. “Write quickly, I don’t repeat myself,” he warned before he quickly recited a fairly long apology in monotone. Araki scrambled to scratch down every word, making his writing nearly illegible, but managed to get everything down when Gil finally stopped.

For all that Gil had done, the imperious smirk on his expression was rather irritating. Ignoring it, Araki bowed a bit and said, “Thank you.” Evidently that was enough to satisfy the miniture “king” and he was allowed to go find Gael without another remark. He did give the letter a quick scan over just to make sure the egotistic child hadn’t filled it with nonsense as a punishment for daring to ask something like this from him. Thankfully, it seemed like it was an actual apology letter, albeit a rather insincere one; Araki couldn’t really tell. Inspite of that, he took mental notes for future reference before he arrived outside Gael’s office.

---

Well, if Gael’s expression was anything to go off of, the man wasn’t too impressed with the letter that obviously wasn’t Araki’s work. He set the letter down and sighed before looking at Araki. “Putting aside your own writing, Gil did this for you didn’t he.” He thought briefly about lying, but thought better of it rather quickly; Gael obviously already knew, so he just nodded instead. The man sighed again and just shook his head before looking at the odd student. “While I’m glad you two are on such good terms already, I do expect you to do your own work.” Before Araki could protest, Gael had already raised a hand for him to stop and listen. “Leaving this incident aside, I expect nothing like this to happen again, and for work to be done if it’s given, alright?”

“Okay,” Araki muttered out half-heartedly as he stood from his seat and left the office, perhaps a bit quicker than he needed to. As he walked through the hallways for the front door, he wondered exactly why he was here again. Yesterday he had been swept up in Dean Courtright’s pace, his eccentric nature hard to refuse. Today he had come back simply out of an obligation to the old man, but as he stepped out into the sunlight he wondered why he should return tomorrow. Unsurprisingly, he couldn’t think of one .

Frankly now that he thought upon it there wasn’t much of a reason for him to remain in Dansila. Esace had brought him here, and he couldn’t recall seeing the man ever since. The chance to be somewhere else other than Talze Utera was great, but the city was also confining and oppressive in a way. He sighed as the stones shifted beneath his feet as he jumped to the rooftops; they let him run freely in a manner similar to the forests. There would a bit of thinking ahead for him.

[Voltin]

Seeing the look of disbelief spread across his niece's face, Horace started with his explanation again.

"Okay, look, I'm... actually heir to a noble house in Illiserev... Your father and I were the only two children in a long line of magic users long before talentium was even known to exist. You understand the implications, don't you?" Riley, still not quite sure whether if what her uncle was telling her was true or not, spoke up in confusion. "But if he was able to use magi-"
"-that... wasn't always the case, you see," he interrupted. "Neither of us was born with magic, and it was never really revealed as such to our family's 'friends'. Because of this, we were treated harshly when not being paraded about like show dogs, and some days our mother would deprave us of the basic necessities for human life..." Horace swallowed air before continuing again.
"Your father grew up rather meek, and apathetic to everything; me, his little brother, included. I grew up resenting him for letting our parents treat us the way they did, and received the lash more times than I can count because of my abrasive behavior to all of them. My only saving grace was Nana-”

“But you probably don't want to hear about her..." he trailed off. "Well, if she's relevant..." Riley conceded.

He sighed, scratching his chin before resuming. "She was my nursemaid, my only saving; one I now figure my brother didn't have being under the direct care of our mother. She taught me how to use an axe -- her being something of a crusader back in Astopol -- and put me on a better track of life than I was probably already on." Taking a pause, and a seat, he started again. "Anyway, my brother had.. changed from the boy he once was into something... vicious. He was manipulative of everyone around him, abusive of the servants, and where he had once treated me with indifference, he now treated me with disdain, scorn. I could almost hear him say 'I'm better than you, and we both know it.' Perhaps most importantly though was, he could now cast spells that were on par with our mother. He was now hailed as a prodigy and late bloomer by everyone; even if I knew it was some sort of trick, and that he was as magical as a thumbtack. Nana was the only one keeping me from lodging my training weapon right into his blasted skull back in those days.
"Eventually, he left. It was announced as some grand journey to find himself, and to hone his powers. There was a gala, small festivities... it was all overkill, to be honest. The day he walked through those doors was something of a weight off my shoulders, and something I won't forget. As we were seeing him off, he had approached me and said 'Goodbye; I'll truly miss you, brother'. It had been...sincere, not like almost every other interaction we had had since he had come into his magical ability.
“The days after that were, despite what I had presumed, much worse. The bickering, scheming, all the games that my family involved themselves in eventually lead into infighting, and many of their deaths. The day that the estate was raided -- the day when every person who suffered because of our family’s instability became fed up with them -- was the day Nana had me flee for my life instead of fight. She had told me that ‘I was better than this,’ that ‘there was much more to my life than noble squabbles.’ So, I left, with Nana separating herself from me, as I Iater learned, to cover my tracks from any sort of pursuers.
“Living on my own was difficult, at first. I was moving about, working hard labor for farmers who would hire me. It was a foreign experience for me, but rewarding to its own end. Eventually, I ended up in Dansilla, where I met an older man who would only allow me to refer to him as ‘Champ’. Champ was… well, crazy. Had me fishing with my toes, weaving with thistles of grass, drawing strange geometric circles in his fiel-”

“Uncle, how does this relate to my father… At all?” Riley asked puffing her cheeks in annoyance. “I’m getting to that; be patient.” Horace replied while staring daggers at her.

“Champ, as I had said, was older, and after having lived with him for a few months for the easy food and board, he died. Passed away in his sleep while I slept in the room adjacent to him. All he had left was a note saying that I could keep the farm as long as I took care of it like I had him. Picturesque, I know, and it was for awhile as I set the place up as my own, and even after the two of you had shown up. I had had my first harvest, had made a rather large profit on my own, and had begun looking for someone to share my life with; even if that last one wasn’t as big of a success as my other ventures.” He stifled a chuckle into a cough as he noticed the sour look the witch was giving him. “When your father showed up with you in his arms, I was dumbstruck; inclined to slam my door in his face and level a weapon in his head if he refused to leave… But, you were there -- still a toddler -- so in the end I couldn’t.
“I invited him in, and he explained -- rather kindly and unlike the way I had grown accustomed to him speaking -- much of what you already know. He had been kidnapped by that dastard witch, forced to have you under the compulsion of a curse, and has hunted you since then. The only thing that we’ve lied to you about was our own origins; we were never actually from Dansilla, and your father was no sort of scholar that had to hide after an expedition gone wrong. We decided it was best you didn’t know of our murky past, so that’s all we had lied about. You know everything else… What exactly prompted thi-”

“But-but, there has to be more! Mother had said-” Having felt conflicted as Horace had finished his tale, Riley had finally burst to her feet, wanting answers, and feeling that there was more that he should know. Her uncle’s face twisted in some form of anger and disgust. “‘Mother’? Riley, you can’t honestly be talking with that witch, let alone believing her!” He himself sprung to his feet, grasping her shoulders with an iron grip. “Riley, what all have I done for you?”
“Uncle, you’re hurting me.” Her voice had almost caught.
“What all have I sacrificed just so you can have some semblance of a normal life?!” His face was red and so very close to hers.
“Horace, let go!!” A tremor ran through her.
“You don’t care, do you? Do you!? You’re just going to throw it all away to talk to someone who at any moment could harm you -- KILL you -- just because you felt like it!!?” His grip tightened, and her body began to shake.
“Please, jus-just let me go… I want to leave.” She could taste salt at the corners of her mouth; her face felt hot. She couldn’t tell; was she crying?
“No! No, I won’t! Not after everything I have done for you I won’t! If I do-”
“Void Summon: Ursine!!” The energy burst into the room, and the being that was always by her side sprung into action, but hesitated when it was a familiar face that he had been snarling at. Riley circled the room toward the door to the outside., tripping over her own feet as she did. “Just leave me alone, Horace. If-if you don’t,” she gulped, wild-eyed, “I’ll kill you.”

And so she fled, tears streaming behind her and flecking her trailing summon as they went. Not aimlessly, but to the outer walls. She knew where she had to go, and despite the terror that was building in her chest, she was going to see her mother.

[Click This]

It was a little before noon that the pair made it back to town. It took them a few minutes more to make it to the tavern and inn on Main St., which was simply but definitively named “Main St. Tavern and Inn.” Unlike the Harbor Trading Company, it was a cozy looking establishment with worn but sturdy wooden construction. It seemed Chad and Lyra were the first to arrive, so Chad flagged down a waitress to seat them at one of the larger tables and ordered two ales.

Chad had little else to do besides wait. Lyra had pulled out a book and started reading, and nobody had yet arrived, so the merchant went over the information he’d collected from the derelict facility in his mind. After examining the first building, which turned out to be a hangar with two airframes, they moved on to the second building. It was much more secure than the first, and they were only able to access the building by accidentally shearing off an entire wall in the process of breaking down its front door. The building turned out to be a maintenance building filled with parts and equipment; because they weren’t exposed to the environment, they seemed to be in relatively good working order. Chad and Lyra both agreed that Moko could probably make good work with the things in the building, so the problem of finding and fixing up an airship was solved. The only remaining issue was to find a suitable launch, but that issue could saved for later.

Additionally, the issue regarding his ship was already solved as well. He would leave the care and command of the Laurentine Castle to his first mate, who would continue the remainder of the voyage before returning to their home port in Illiserev. In the event that Chad would not make it back within six months’ time, the vessel was to be put in dry-dock and the Mauritania Company be contacted for further instructions.

Chad’s attention turned back to the tavern when he heard the jingling of the tavern’s doorbell.