[IC] Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

[Cottonmouth]

Nemo gave Felix a wave and a grin as he left him for the next person on the list. "You have my word Glasius, I'll be a cool cat." He responded and then took another sip from his glass.

"He should of put more restrictions on me than that..." Nemo thought.

Things dimmed down real quick after Felix departed. Nemo kicked his legs up on the lip of the table and pushed his chair back; causing it to balance on two legs. He hummed himself a song and waited for a while. But soon enough Nemo's patience began to dwindle. He let his chair fall back onto four legs, finished his drink, and then spawned two cards in his hand with a flashy show of sleight of hand, apparently only to impress himself. He slapped them down face up on the table, revealing what they were: Two teleportation spells inscribed onto cards. Valid for only one use each.

Nemo had no long distance teleportation spells of his own, so he relied on other external means to get the job done. They way he saw it, he had the golden ticket to both pass the time and get himself back to the cabin as well right in front of him.

As Nemo stared at the two cards, a small smirk crept up on his face, clearly he had someplace in mind. He put one of the cards away and got up. Nemo found himself a sticky note and left a message for Felix stuck to the Fridge:
"Dear Felix: Got bored and decided to go to New York and get my bearings back, take in the fresh city air, try some of the cuisine, visit an art show or two, get into a violent clash with a certain gang, the usual tourist pleasantries. I'll try to behave my best."
Directly afterward he drew a rather overly detailed smiley face on the bottom right of the note.

Nemo spawned his coat and scarf, tying the polka dot scarf into a loose knot below his right below his chest. He walked back over to the table with the remaining teleportation card and placed his bandaged hand over it. There was a rather bright glow that encompassed the room as Nemo activated it and designated his destination. After a few seconds another bright flash of white energy in the shape of an X appeared in the room. By the time the flash dissipated, Nemo had as well.

[ShiningSector]

"Air...Which is...Aer..."

Below a single overhead lamp illuminating the small work space within an abandoned warehouse just near the outskirts of Villa Nueva, Guatemala, Travis sat hunched over at his drawing table, inscribing a circular diagram with an assortment of symbols and glyphs. While composing his unusual piece, he carefully adjusted the mechanical magnifying glass placed upon his left eye as he wrote the patterns for the eventual runes whose rough outlines were imprinted along the edges of the diagram. It was a delicate process of codding the commands of each symbol represented within every base rune; every so often would he lift his head back and gently dunk in ink pen within its small black filled reservoir before leaning forward and finding the place he left off at.

His reason being here, especially being so far out from the Societas Academia main campus in Northern California was to spearhead an expedition into the Mexican and South American regions. Travis had happened upon a lead which theorized that the complex cultures of the Mesoamerica civilizations had an understanding of mana and thus, the use of magic. Furthermore, it was even a wonder if the Gods of the Mayan and Aztec empires were at one point real or simply some sort of influenced belief created by those ancient people.

In any case, he had since established his center of operations in Villa Nueva so that he may not only conduct his tests and and research in peace, but to also launch his expedition further towards the Mesoamerican ruins from a convenient location. With an already established knowledge of the world's languages, Travis was able to move throughout the city and communicate with the locals efficiently, allowing him to learn from those whom had a much stronger knowledge of the region as he did. But as luck would have it, his curiosity had just recently gotten the better of him.

"Then heat; that's Aestus. After Aestus...Is Privare" said Travis openly while going back and forth between his old tome and a dictionary. "...and thus comes consume which that leads into...Ignis..."

Ever since that unexpected ,and notably, very bad and eventful run-in with a sect of Enlightened cultists and then a hunting party of Salem disciples soon afterwards, Travis had been looking into the possibility of devising a "flashy" getaway that could prevent those from pursuing though moral-breaking maeans. What he had in mind was not the typical method of concealing one's escape but to force one's hand to protect themselves as a means of distraction. For the past few days, Travis had been slaving away into making a convenient miniature backdraft.

The fiery ambush made by the Salem disciples was enough to spark Travis' interest in constructing such a spell or rune that would not demand any incantations, vocal components, or large amounts of mana. Sure, there were plenty of fire-based spells out there that had the same potential like the sudden inferno he was literally cooking up, but the demand for such focus and mana - mana he himself didn't have a whole lot of - would make him predictable and easy to read. If he was to make an escape from a very hostile of individuals that would either want to sacrifice him to a blood-thirsty entity or be killed by convenient association, no one should know what he had up his sleeve.

"Hmm...fall, rise, or rise and fall...? Surgere, Cadent..."

Since a large blast would be a bit much for him to perform though the usual means, he had to come up with a way to get the same results at a much lesser cost of effort through its implementation. For days, he had ran numerous formulas and different rune commands in order to produce the results he desired for making his freak backdraft. A very condensed and unventilated space with plenty of hot aerosolized gases and fumes roaming within was the basic concoction he was looking to produce and the only way this could be done was through scripting a series of glyphs and runes into a single spell.

Every so often, Travis would ease back from his work-in-progress to the desk behind in order to refer to a number of open manuscripts, research notes, and other open books in his possession. One such curious publication was tome he had acquired roughly a month ago just now found a particular use for it. The tome itself vastly detailed the foundation of rune magic and the usage of complex characters to construct spells which coincided with current knowledge of craft and his own notes quite well.

Interestingly enough, Travis identified a segment of the contents and the uses involved within the tome explained rather archaic and currently impractical teachings that went against current understands and physics too. Going by the tome's old and used state as well as the language involved, it was his best guess that the time had been written during the early days of alchemy. But now that mankind has since surpassed its scientific know-how from those early days, utilizing this comprehensive knowledge with modern science should prove positively progressive if not extremely helpful.

Hours would go be and eventually he would finalize the touches of the prototype spell. Travis eyed his work and filled in the last details. "And...Release! There, this looks promising...Now to see if I either gas or explode myself."

Setting his tools aside away from the drawing table, he retrieved another slide of paper as big as the diagram and pressed the sheets together. Muttering a passive spell, the ink from the diagram bled over to the other sheet, matching the experimental runes and glyphs perfectly; a solid copy ready for testing. Knowing what had happened in previous tests, Travis moved his belongings and furniture away from the center pedestal in the middle of the warehouse. It was definitely a good thing this place was abandoned; the professors would never had forgiven him for testing such a volatile spell back at the Societas Academia campus.

He placed the copy of the testing diagram flat on the pedestal before quickly making his way to his video recorder firmly positioned on its tripod and began its next recording. Once the recorder's light had begun flashing, signifying it was now recording, he made his way back to the diagram and placed his hands at the tip of the circle, infusing it with his mana.

"Okay, test forty-three starting in...One. Two. Thre-"

Just as he charged the proto-runes with a supplement of mana, the spell immediately performed the commands he put in place. The result was as he expected; a large flare of rushing fire and smoke had surged out from the experimental diagram. However, what he did not intend on was his own breath acting as the catalyst, fueling and detonating the oxygen-free mixture of combustible vapors point-blank in his face. With a loud bang, the explosion was enough to catch him not only off guard but plenty enough to throw him to floor. Eventually coming to, he found himself staring at the ceiling of the warehouse with his ears producing a deafening ring throughout his aching head. While he himself was miraculously uninjured, much of his facial hair has been instantly singed and his skin blackened by soot. So much of it in fact he coughed a puff of the stuff out from his throat.

"Well...At least it works." Travis sighed in amusement before moving his jaw around in an attempt override the ringing in his ears, "...Note to self, don't exhale when casting."

[Prodigal Son]

@Skelace
Felix could definitely sense the tension and unease in this man's mana wave signature. But it didn't take a master of manalysis to discern the shiftiness of the man's discomfort. Even though Deston had been no doubt roughing it at the homeless shelter for weeks, Felix could tell he still took care of himself. His red hair was not matted or greasy like the other homeless that were slowly making their way into the entrance of two-story the brick building. His clothes seemed to be orderly as well. But was his appearance his true self? Reading Deston's mana-wave signature he noticed his aura to be a light smokey grey almost white color. This could mean many things, but one of the meanings is an adept at illusory magic. Even for a manalysis user, looking through illusions of a person you have never met is near impossible. The mana-waves undergo a shift when an illusion has been cast on the self. An illusion projected from one's self can be discerned to be an illusion simply because of the chain of mana waves linked from the illusion and the user of the illusion. But an illusion used on the self is only distinguishable if you have a good grip on the mana signature of the person who is using the illusion. Since Felix had never met Deston, he couldn't tell for sure one way or the other. But he was leaning towards the illusion explanation. Though there was no way to physically tell, and Felix had no evidence beyond the aura color which could mean a myriad of things.

"This is going to sound a bit... unorthodox. No pun intended." Felix cleared his throat, " around a few months back, during a council summit, an arch-magi by the name of Thadeus suggested efforts be focused on an endeavor. This endeavor involved making sure the Arcanocracy obtain nine artifacts of devastating power named the Paragons. Thadeus had said it to be solely for the purpose of assuring the position and the safety of the Arcanocracy as a world power. Many were opposed to this motion including me, and most namely the papal-magi. After the motion was rejected... I had thought that would have been the end of the discussion. I knew better than most people that this pandora's box known as the Paragons should not be opened. So I breathed a sigh of relief when the papal-magi rejected the motion. Unfortunately three weeks ago, the papal-magi died, and a new papal-magi was voted in. The unfortunate part sadly was not only the previous papal-magi perishing, but that Thadeus's brother Cornelius was voted in as the new papal-magi. I have no way to prove this, but rumor has it they are both of the Church of the First Company... Jesuits. Needless to say a few weeks later at the next summit, the motion to search for the paragons was brought up once more, only this time the motion was not only accepted, but made top priority. That night I had a fever dream that could only be explained as a vision. In this dream I was shown the many possible endings of this world should anyone get their hands on the paragons besides a group formed by me. I awoke to find me sitting at my writing desk pen in hand, and parchment in front of me. Upon the parchment was a series of names and locations written in my handwriting." Felix paused and reached in his illusory green wool coat pocket and produced the parchment, handing it to Deston. "As you can see, your name is written on the third line, with the address and name of the location you would be at written right next to it." Felix sighed.

"Now I can't force you to do anything. In fact, I have already been completely rejected by one of those names on there. But I have to try. I truly believe the future of our world is at stake if we do not assemble and stop the different forces attempting to gather the Paragons. So, will you come with me and help me save the world?" Felix finished and waited for a response.

[Skelace]

Deston's face took on the mask he had learned while in the role of a business man during his time in Ireland. He was tasked with retrieving documents about a business the Church was soon to be affiliated with in some manner. He never did learn in what way. He quickly learned that to get anywhere fast in the business world one needed to put his target on the defensive, a job made much easier by something as simple as a look. Firstly your face had to reveal no lack of confidence less you be eaten apart by questions and be immediately put on the defensive yourself. Next you needed just the right mixture of curiousness, annoyance, and disbelief. Seem too curious and your opponent would take you as gullible and brush you aside. Too little curiosity and they question whether your paying attention and once again they are on the offensive. Too annoyed and they would give up, not annoyed enough and it becomes clear that you aren't a big enough fish for them to waste their time. Same with the disbelief. It was a mask Deston now naturally assumed whenever he felt a business proposition coming. Deston finished the look by crossing his arms and leaned slightly back on his heels letting his shoulders and chest naturally rise. A look clearly out of the other place among the other homeless he had been about to join.

Deston listened intently to Felix's monologue making sure to contentiously read his face for the tell tale signs of a lie that nearly all untrained in the art give off. He found Felix oddly trustworthy. A trait he didn't come across often in his past ten years of service to the Church. It was either that or Felix was every bit as good and possibly better than Deston at the great game because there was no way someone could spout off such ridiculous nonsense for so long without making a mistake less they truly believed what it was they were saying. Even so Deston couldn't stop his mask from cracking as a slight quip of his right lip twisted into a smirk. "Do you ever listen to how cheesy you come off? 'Will you come with me and help save the world?'" He let out a brief chuckle before continuing.

"Let's see, you're either a mad man," Deston spun on the ball of his heel turning round putting his hands on his head and walked a few paces away from Felix. "Or you're actually on the trail of some great conspiracy involving the Church. A third possibility exists with you being the greatest liar there is, but that's not possible because there's no one alive in the game that would use that last line. You must be the pinnacle of everything our great church preaches. No wonder you were an Arch-Magi." Deston spun once again on his heel to face Felix. "Anyways I'm getting side tracked with my thoughts. Lucky for you I'm currently in the business of conspiracies involving the Church and my own little investigation has gone cold for now. So why not?" He gave a nonchalant shrug and tilted his head."I'll go ahead and help you save the world." He couldn't help but say the line with grin splitting his face, before his eyes narrowed on the parchment in Felix's hand. "And I'd love to get to the bottom of that little magic vision that told you my name and where to find me. Can't have the happening in my line of work."

[Prodigal Son]

"Thank you, Deston. Regardless of the reasoning behind your acceptance of my proposal, I am glad you are part of the team." Felix smiled.

Felix looked around and noticed all the homeless had finished pouring into the shelter. There was no one in sight besides Deston and himself. So quickly Felix drew a crucifix glyph creating a two-way spacial rift.

Felix retrieved the parchment from Deston, and glanced at the next name, Yuno Whitmore. The location was a bit different. It stated simply, "Societas Academia-top of redwood tree."

"So, I am running severely behind on my recruitment schedule. This rift will take you to my cabin in the redwoods. Feel free to make yourself at home. There are more than enough rooms to choose one for yourself. Nemo should be there. He's the previous enlistee that I recruited. Get acquainted with him, you'll be working together from now on." Felix examined the look of trepidation upon Deston's face and realized just what it was that he was asking. "Oh come on I am not leading you to a trap." Felix jumped in the portal leaving it open and jumped back through again. "See, it's fine. I have to go though so forgive me for not being able to be accommodating right now. I'll see you a bit later, hopefully with more recruits."

Felix left the rift open to the redwood cabin and opened a seperate one-way rift to the next location, Societas Academia. Felix understood he was showing off a bit here. Opening one rift and keeping it open for people to go through is one thing, but to open two at the same time, both different styles, and keep them open for long enough to allow a person to go through, thousands of miles away is another thing entirely. Felix had a large mana well, but that was not entirely required for this feet. The main thing required in order to keep multiple rifts open over large distances is a perfect grasp on the control of mana. Like a master artisan creating fine jewelry with deft hands. Only the jewelry was mana, and the hands were the depth of mana understanding.
@dndragons
With a wave farewell Felix stepped through his rift, the rift closing as he stepped through it. Stepping out of the rift, Felix was careful not to draw attention. Looking around he realized the day had bud its farewell and faded into night, taking the students with it. All was dead quiet, except for the cacophony of cries from the insects attempting to mate with one another. The consuming darkness was pierced by the multitude of dull glowing blue mana-crystals (tangible concentration of mana).

Felix didn't know where to start to look for the next enlistee, so he closed his eyes and concentrated on his manalysis. The grand formidible size of the redwoods couldn't be truly appreciated until their majesty were beholden in person. The 200+ foot trees were not only tall but proportionally wide as well. The circumference of these trees were so grand it would take ten men linking hands to hug their trunks. Because of the tallness of the trees, all the branches and leaves were only at the very top in order to properly photosynthesize. This leaves a large disparity between ground and the top of tge trees where only trunk was visible. In manalysis, the majesty was different, but still equally as grand. Felix could see the mana within the water lines being drawn from the ground through the roots, slowly working its way up to the top of the trees to work its way to each branch and individual leaves. All of this painted a bright blue tapestry of mana webs through the insight of a manalysist. As he felt around he spotted an abnormality, a large ice blue, almost white wave signature, atop one of the trees close to him.

Felix dropped his homeless illusion, reassuming his normal appearance. He then concentrated and willed a portion of his latent mana into a pair manaegis boots. He then leaped 50 feet in the air toward the trunk of a tree and plated his feet on the trunk horizontally and pushed off toward another tree. He repeated this process, crisscrossing between the trees untill he reached the branches. Then he pushed off each branch until he reached the top of the canopy. Once he reached the top he stood before a young woman with pure white hair, lying on her back, stargazing.

"How's Orion's Belt looking tonight, Yuno Whitmore?" Felix asked nonchalantly. His manaegis boots fading back into raw mana in a blue fiery spectacle.

[dndragons]

Yuno laid back against the branch and partially on the trunk of the great redwood where Felix had been looking to find her. Her hands were webbed together and she simply had her head tilted towards the sky as a soft night breeze blew the end of her hair around every so often. With her hair color it wasn’t hard to stop the outlier sitting on the red bark even during this time of night. If Felix could feel such things or tell by reading mana he could tell the tranquility coming off of her as she had a chance to simply ponder the greater unknowns of life while nighttime came in almost full. The moon was practically gone with the new moon giving them one of the more perfect views of the night sky available within the confines of the US. Her direction was clearly true north as well as he Polaris sticking out brightly with the little dipper following it. To the right of that a great arm of their Galaxy could be identified by the cloud-like spread of bright and dark areas it left behind as well as by star density. Only a few nighttime critters indicated life still moving about at the time, at least until Felix finally spoke to the girl before him.

When his voice reached her ear she turned slightly abrupt in surprise due to the lack of awareness she had given her surroundings at that moment of time. He perhaps caught her in a deep thought as well as her lack of initiative to have been using mananalysis for any detective style purposes. After the moment passed though she let out a small sigh of relief before commenting. “He is looking to hunt Taurus it seems today, hovering around the equator.” Her immediate deduction of the man was that he wasn’t out to harm her due to the fact he had snuck up on her and didn’t immediately do anything then. This made her nerves calm considerably despite him being a stranger on school land, but even as her face turned into a trained charismatic smile that fooled most she met her guard wasn’t just about to lower. “It’s a good time to see Jupiter as well right now, right over there.” She stated pleasantly while pointing to a point before the Leo constellation. “It’s one of the best times to view Jupiter and the moon is allowing us to have a good view. I thank it for that.”

For a second more she gazed at the sky before slowly standing up on her branch and resting one hand on the trunk for balance while she examined the man before her. “I guess I should ask why one of the Lord’s servants decided to present themselves to me within the confines of the Academia.” she spoke to the man before giving him a small curtsy once. “And by how fancy your robes prove to be can I assume you are someone of a bit more important stature then?” she added afterwards continuing with the smile and graceful attitude towards him. A true diplomat it seems in this case. “I doubt it has anything to do with my education, so I assume it might have to do with my mother or something along those lines.”

[Prodigal Son]

Felix stood on a separate tree from the tree Yuno was standing on. The tree Felix was standing on was close enough to Yuno to hold a conversation without yelling, and to make out fine details within each other’s appearance. The moonlight shining down upon them seemed to embolden Yuno’s appearance. The whitewash of the moonbeams made Yuno’s outfit and hair shine vibrantly in a bright, almost hard on the eyes, pure white.

"You seem to be mistaken on a few points. Although I wear these robes, I no longer serve the governing body that assigned them to me. You were right that I am a servant of the Lord, that likely will never change. But you were wrong on the last few points. I am not here concerning your mother, whomever she may be, nor am I here concerning your education. I know how this might sound, but I am here because I need your help, and the fate of the world might be at stake if I do not receive it." Felix leaned his back up against the tree. He tried to give a comforting smile which might have just come off as awkward, despite him attempting to be disarming.

“Four days ago, I was an Arch-Magi, the highest achievable rank within the Catholic Arcanocracy. I had been an Arch-Magi for about twelve years, and served the Arcanoncracy all my life, never completely wavering in my loyalty to the body I served. That was until around three months ago, a fellow Arch-Magi, Thadeus, of whom I had already had a suspicion of, suggested during a council summit that we focus our efforts on finding these nine artifacts of grand and dangerous power called Paragons. I had studied up on the Paragons a lot as a youth, and had read accounts of their devastating power, bringing nations to power, destroying civilizations… Needless to say, I voted against the motion, and so did the Papal-Magi at the time, denying the motion. That would have been the end of it, except then not long after the Papal-Magi died and was replaced with Thadues’s brother, Cornelius. Which leads me to about four days ago, there was another summit, and the motion for the Paragon effort was brought up once more by Thadues. This time, because of nepotism, Thadeus’s motion was passed, and made top priority.” Felix paused to collect his thoughts before continueing, “That night, I had what could only be described as a vision. I was shown many devastating events, all the possibilities of what would become of the Earth should any group get their hands on the Paragons. A voice told me that I needed to bring together a group of guardians in order to gather the Paragons before any other group does. When I awoke, I was writing names and locations down on this parchment.” Felix reached into his robes and procured the parchment list. Felix charged it with mana and levitated it over to Yuno, so she could inspect it. “As you could see, your name and a very specific location was written down. Whatever told me about the various disastrous conclusions the earth would come to, somehow also knew where you would be exactly when I decided to come and visit you. I don’t know how it works, but I would assume that I could visit any of these names at random in any order I want and they would all be at the location written down on that paper.”

“I don’t know why, but you are supposed to be a part of this team of guardians. So what do you say? Will you join us?” Felix asked.

[Skelace]

Seeing Felix jump back and forth between the portals did little to staunch Deston's reluctance to walk through himself. If it were a trap Deston had little doubt that Felix could avoid it if it were magical and if it were an ambush they obviously wouldn't attack the supposed ex-Arch-Magi. But Felix clearly didn't have the time to convince Deston that it was safe on the other side as he disappeared through yet another portal. Deston had to acknowledge his fellow mage's skill. It was certainly no easy skill to keep multiple rifts open of different types going to different places. Deston certainly couldn't do it without his utmost concentration on the task yet Felix seemed to do so without batting an eye. A fact that made Deston more than a bit jealous.

Speaking a quick prayer to the Lord before letting himself be stunned by uncertainty any longer Deston walked through the two way rift arriving at a quaint looking wooden manor. A rather fancy hunting lodge perhaps? He looked about for a moment letting himself to grasp the surroundings. The fire place and large windows added a comforting homey feeling as Deston walked around admiring the wood work that seemed to touch every part of the building from the counter tops, to the floor, to the many wooden chests of various sizes scattered decoratively about the room. "I suppose I should have figured him as a natural and nature man." Deston mused to himself quietly. He had always preferred the solid strong look of brick and stone himself. Perhaps building a more sturdy addition to would be a nice little hobby while he waited for the rest of this supposed group of guardians.

Passing into the kitchen Deston found the note on the fridge verifying the feeling he had that he was alone. Skimming over the note quickly Deston shook his head. Looks like the other member of the team was of the rough and rowdy type. "So much for having company." With that he decided to see what the other rooms in the house would tell him about his new partners. Maybe he'd even find to his liking and claim it as his own. After a few altercations of course.

[dndragons]

Yuno tilted her head a bit as Felix began to explain his position and reasons for his arrival. When he first began to mention that it had nothing to do with her mother which was the only explanation for a church member she could think of her eyebrows rose in curiosity. When he finally made his statement about the fate of the world she didn’t know whether to trust him or write him off as trying to play her. Perhaps he was simply insane as well. But, a man of his stature within the church according to his outfit as well as his attempt at a smile seemed to at least make him seem trustworthy. Whatever he was saying, it was sure enough that he seemed to believe it in her eyes. So, without interrupting she proceeded to let him give his story. Eyes focused on him while only every so often turning slightly to the side to think about what he was saying. Paragons? Papal-Magi? Motions? It sounded like some sort of fantasy novel she would read or a day dream of grand adventure. If Felix didn’t have a trustworthy allure one might even suspect he is making this tale to simply recruit people against the church. It was one of several options that crossed her mind. The other one being that of the prophecy he had dreamt. End of the world and more situations before dreaming of her and others. Not only that, but their exact location? A magic spell might have helped him write the parchment while he snuck up on her, but that sounded even more far-fetched.

What if his dream was leading to his exact fear? They would be gathering the paragons in one place after all… couldn’t that lead to the end of the world? Where was the voice from? Being a bit of a logical person her skepticism was taking hold at some parts, but the hope of adventure, fantasy, change, and other such things also were on her mind. Within the Academy she was trapped on the path she was on for most of her life, one she had been wanting to diverge from. Leaving now would be giving that all up. How was she to know if that would be worth it in the end? “Mr.… Arch Magi.” She said as he had not yet given a name. “I find you to be oddly truthful, to put it bluntly. Your story is like that one may read in an old magician’s tale. But, you haven’t given me explicit reason to distrust you to seem honest enough. At the same time I almost leap at the opportunity. I have school though, leaving now would rid me of the progress I have made here in my education to do such a task that you present.” After her last statement her head went back up towards the stars she had been watching before a small smile came across her face. “How could one refuse such a call if it is true though? Excitement, mystery, and an opportunity to do more than school ever could hardly seems like fair competition for staying.”

Turning her head back to him with a small smile she stated. “I have half the mind to think you went and put a charm on me before revealing yourself. Instead of calling you crazy as I normally might I want to see where this is going. While I can’t say I will stay with you upon seeing more, I don’t think it will do any harm to hop along with you for a taste of what might be coming. If it’s everything you say it is then you shouldn’t have any difficulty convincing me to stay. I should warn you though… I wonder what happens if the band you pull together does get all the paragons together. Have you thought to question where the voice was from and if it simply wants the paragons? I can’t explain why it would call me out for such a quest, but I just thought you should keep that thought in mind when proceeding.”

[Prodigal Son]

Feeling that Deston had stepped through the portal. Felix released his grasp on the mana keeping the two-way portal open.

Felix felt a pang of anxiety as he realized he was in such a rush to get out his testimony, that he plumb forgot his introduction. Flustered, Felix cleared his throat and said, "Ah yes, my apologies. I seemed to have rushed through my monologue, completely skipping my introduction. My name is Felix Glasius. My students call me Mr. Glasius, but you can call me Felix."

Felix scratched his head thinking of the next step.

"Well, since you haven't completely agreed to joining, that leaves me in a unique predicament. Normally, I would just port you to my cabin headquarters, and let you meet your teammates and choose out a room in the mansion for yourself. But... I suppose I will give you a choice. You can either join me in recruiting the next member, or I can send you to our headquarters. Your choice."

[dndragons]

Yuno smirked slightly as the man before her of such high esteem in the church, or at least a man who had once been such, was flustered before her so easily. After he gave his name she responded. “I would introduce myself back, but you already know my name.” While he continued on she put a hand to her chin to think before snapping her fingers as her mind came to a decision. “Well, I think heading to your headquarters is best. Bringing me along to the next person may seem a little odd and I would likely simply complicate things. As I said though, if what you said seems to be true and extraordinary I will gladly stay with this team you are putting together. For now though, I can’t sacrifice everything I have done so far in school just based on one’s word. I hope you understand, I don’t mean to undermine the sacrifice you made when leaving the church to combat their supposed plot. I actually hope what you say is true at this point.” She stated to him before bowing slightly.

Afterwards she allowed him to respond and send her through the portal. Hands gently crossed behind her back while doing so. “I must admit, this portal magic seems really handy. Perhaps I could study it sometime?” was her last comment before heading through.

[Ghost Queen]

The day sat oddly with John. On the one hand it was a bright and sunny day with just the right amount of clouds to blot out the harshest of rays, perfect for reaping the harvest. His garden, however modest, had bore a great deal of quality herbs, roots, and spices. With this bounty he would travel a ways south and mingle with the local coven, a real pleasant sort living somewhere in the middle of Idaho. As he bartered and traded his goods with the usual suspects, the elders and a young woman who just adored his ginger, the other hand began to rear it's head. It began as a tug at his chest, little more than a minor annoyance at best. However as the day road on the tug began to grow in power, slowly consuming his attention until John decided to check on an old friend.

Zee, an old timer like himself, is what some people call a prophet, an oracle, a vessel, or a hack. No matter what you believed Zee's predictions had a long track record of being correct and the air had just the right amount of nip to make John suspicious. And so, it was time for a little tradition. It took about half an hour but John had the little something that they needed for this, Bumbo. Rum, sugar, water, and a little nutmeg all coming together to make ambrosia, the drink of the gods. Well, that's what Zee would want you to think anyway. With the tribute in hand John and Zee drank the evening away, catching up with each other and talking about the "Good o'l Days" when they were genuine, boneified, grade-A ass kickers. After a deep fit of belly laughs John knew it was time to sour the mood. "Zee, I gotta ask ya to read me." His words instantly cooled the air and Zee just sighed, staying quiet for awhile before giving a sullen nod. In a matter of moments she brought out her deck of cards, an ancient set going back generations in Zee's family, the real deal. About a minute of shuffling the cards and the reading began. Three clean movements and his future was laid bare.

"A reversed devil, The Tower, and Death." John stared for a moment before uttering, “Do it again.”

And so she did, again, and again, and again. Each time the same three cards, troubling to say the least. Eventually John raised his hand in a gesture to stop and the two sat in silence for awhile. "Thanks Zee, really. I'll....I'll talk to you later, this has been nice." The mute woman just nodded and gave a small smile, pouring themselves the final shots of the night before raising them high. To themselves, to the ones left behind, and to the days to come. Downing the sweet fire in a single gulp John left, driving home to collect himself.

As the truck came crunching up the driveway John had only figured one thing out, every one of those cards pointed to change. Ominous indeed. John walked into his house and sighed deeply, scanning the little house for anything that may be off. Instead his eyes just fell on Hellion, his familiar. The Great Dane was huge, her fur as black as pitch and in a pinch, could thrash a man to death and back. She could feel the unease in the air that John brought, a low whine emanating out of her throat. With a ruffle of her head John whispered, "I'll be all right girl, just got those old world jitters." Her huff showed her skepticism, she always was smart. A mirthless chuckle fell out of John as he gave Hellion a scratch behind the ear and made his way to the kitchen, digging through the fridge before finding the flask. With a swig John stood in the kitchen, thinking on the days happenings. That is, until Hellion began to growl. John could feel it too, that subtle ripple in reality that heralded a portal. Slowly he reached into his drawer and pulled out a pistol. Hellion, for her credit, did what she did best and began to shift. Eyes turned to burning coals, claws began to elongate and sharpen, and the smell of brimstone began to fill the air as her fur began to spark with flame for the first time in years. The two as ready as they can be, John and Hellion waited for whoever wanted to say hello.

[Prodigal Son]

Felix created a crucifix glyph opening a spacial rift to the cabin.

Listening to Yuno's request, Felix couldn't help but smile.

"I would be honored to teach you. I make it look easy, but spacial magic requires a large constitution and a great understanding of mana manipulation. It takes most people years to even get to the point where they can port a mile, let alone thousands. But, who knows? You might be a natural at it. I'll see you and your teammates Nemo, and Deston here in a bit. Hopefully with more recruits." Felix sighed as the rift closed, and looked back at the parchment he had retrieved from Yuno before she left.

The next name on the list was Travis McGrath. The location stated, "Abandoned Warehouse-Outside Villa Nueva, Guatemala."

Felix had never been to Guatemala, let alone Villa Nueva. So Felix lifted his robe's sleeve revealing his manadial. The manadial was a black metal-link band, with a silver stripe inlayed around the circumference and a circular almost sphere-like mana-crystal in the center. Felix tapped the mana-crystal which pulled up a blue 3D hologram menu hovering around a blue orb suspended five inches from the mana-crystal. The manadial's menu contained several applications. One of the applications was managlobe. Managlobe offered a in depth look at the globe and all of its topographies. The managlobe was updated with a scan once a year. There were many place that put up wards against the scan that did not show up on the managlobe, but for everyday use, and for someone like Felix, it was very useful. Felix tapped on the globe icon, on the menu, which turned the blue floating menu orb into a hologram of the earth. Felix spoke to the floating globe, saying, "show me Vila Nueva, Guatemala." Immediately the globe grew larger and spun southwards from his location reaching past Mexico and then onto Guatemala, and then zooming into Villa Nueva.

Felix then took his index finger and dragged it around the outskirts of the city until he found what looked like a warehouse. Hoping that this was the correct location, Felix dropped his sleeve, covering the manadial, and closed his eyes. Once he closed his eyes, he held the location in his mind and made an impression of it in relation to his current location, and the earth as a whole. Once he made the impression, he used it as an anchor and tore open a rift with his usual glyph. Once the rift was open he stepped through.

It still being nighttime in the western hemisphere, Felix couldn't make out the exact scenery. But he knew the place was lush with vegetation, and the air was clean. Felix had definitely jumped to the area he meant to, because in front of him was a large old ware-house made from sheet-metal on a wooden frame.

As Felix approached the warehouse, he noticed the door was open, and as he got closer he could smell the distinct smoke mixed with ozone smell that only a mana-induced explosion could produce. Eventually Felix stepped through the door, to find a confused looking man with long dark hair and a soot covered face picking himself up off the floor.

Felix walked over to him and offered him a hand.

"What happened here?" Felix asked the man who was on the floor.

[ShiningSector]

The concussion from the blast was more disorienting than Travis' earlier guess. The ringing that still plagued was beginning to fade but his senses were still coming back to him. Feeling a sense of numbness throughout is body, likely a a natural reaction from the sudden event, picking himself back up became surprisingly difficult. That was however before a unknown man's query and helping hand became present on the scene.

"I blew myself up." Travis replied to the stranger, adding a bit of enthusiasm to his tone as the took the man's hand, "Not intentional of course. Thank you."

With the stranger's assistance, Travis eventually got back on his feet, though nearly fumbled a few times before balancing himself out. Instantly as he rose into a higher elevation, he found that it became harder to breathe and see with the fumes still roaming the air, this was especially true with soot still in his mouth which further impaired his breathing. Before he could address that matter however, there was an uninvited individual, despite their concern being honest and so far humane, that he needed to quickly plan out how to deal with. He had chosen this location out of society's care in order to carry out his research discreetly without the locals interfering. Now that he has just completed a cheap method of creating a instant fireball, there was certainly no way he could allow, whoever this was whom notably also spoke perfect English, to compromise his work.

"Too much burnt atmosphere in here. Gimme a moment as I get this cleared up..."

Utilizing his basic skills with wind-based magic, Travis' right hand glowed a light-blue as he channeled mana into his palm. Gently twirling his arm through the air, he created a passive flow of wind, pushing and draining the hazy fumes out the warehouse's front door; something he should have probably closed in the first place to prevent this predicament. With much the haze dealt with, Travis snuck his right hand into his coat's inner sleeve and produced a charm he kept hidden in his palm. The charm was crafted to erase the present memories of a selected individual the caster found necessary to either dissuade or simply to make the forget about the experience. Travis really didn't want to use it but he anticipated that talking himself out of this now awkward situation was completely hopeless.

But as fate would have it, the moment Travis turned to face the stranger, he could almost recall his heart skipping a beat. Before him was a man clad in robes and leather befitting a priest of God; however this was no ordinary holy man. The design of the man's fine attire was a dead giveaway as Travis instantly concluded that this strange was in fact a Magi of the Catholic Church. As if cultists and hunters were bad enough running into, this encounter could be potentially prove worse if luck was not on his side. Given how his experiences have been going lately, clearly luck was pretty much absent.

"Umm...O-oh boy." Travis anxiously shuddered, holding both of his hands up in nervous response before quickly retracting his right arm behind his back upon noticing that he was unintentionally revealing his charm, "Did I do something wrong? I mean - aside from blowing myself up."

[Prodigal Son]

The first thing Felix noticed about this individual was that he only had one mana-well, his latent mana-well. And the depth of it was not much larger than a normal human's mana-well. However, it was in fact larger. The largeness, coupled with the fact that this man had a colored aura, something that normal humans did not have, meant that he was an Untalent studying magic. The smell of the chemicals in the air could have only been produced by a medium sized explosion of some sort. Examining the soot, and the smell of the chemicals, as well as the very small and quickly fading mana-wave signature of a spell having been cast, he concluded it was a fire based spell. The small mana-wave signature didn't make much sense, with the amount of force that was produced here. Felix couldn't quite understand how it was that this force could have been produced so efficiently. Then Felix glanced the charm in the man's hand, if Felix was correct, it was a short-term amnesia charm. Although it had been a long time, Felix doubted the amnesia charm would have worked on him. During training at the basilica, every apprentice has to undergo resistance training, as every apprentice is training to eventually become a magi. Some of the things they trained against were memory altering magics and the like. Though it had been about twenty years since then, Felix assumed he wouldn't have been affected by it. But with the charm coupled with the efficient fire spell, Felix had put the pieces together and assumed this man was a scholar from Societas Academia. One of the only schools that actively accepts Untalents and trains them if they are willing.

Felix whistled a note of amazement, "You seemed to not only have succeeded as an Untalent, but your yellow aura showing the desire for knowledge and utmost curiosity, I can see that you are actually a genius. Making runic formulae that are up to twenty times more efficient than a normal spell of the same caliber. I am actually quite impressed. Not everyone has such a great understanding of mana manipulation." Felix mused, "There's no doubt about it, you must be Travis McGrath. My apologies for not introducing myself earlier, my name is Felix Glasius."

[Cottonmouth]

After arriving in a dark spot of a back alley, Nemo began to wander aimlessly throughout New York. He tried to examine what had changed in the years he spent locked up; which was arguably, not that much from first impressions. However he would eventually find that while people weren't quite in hoverboards yet, the inner works of New York had undergone quite a few changes.

Nemo wasn't lying on the note, after taking a tourist brochure he started to cross things off the list throughout the day-including the art shows and food he mentioned earlier. He used the time to gather as much information as he could. Nemo figured his best bet was eavesdropping on anybody with a significant mana pool. As someone who consumes mana for power, it goes without saying that his manalysis was quite advanced. Even developing the ability to track another person's mana trail like a bloodhound.

It wasn't long until Nemo got a lock onto someone. While ordering a bratwurst from a street vendor he noticed somebody with sizable mana pool. He started to tail the man, using his trail to keep track of him from a distance. After a minute the man abruptly turned into an alleyway, causing Nemo to quickly scarf down the rest of his meal and turn into the alley as well. He sensed the man had come to a stop around the corner. Something that would of alerted most people, but Nemo didn't seem to be worried.

When he turned the corner he was met with a scene even he wasn't expecting: Three men. The Talent from before was joined with two Untalent men wearing half masks and hats. One of them brandishing a cane. As soon as Nemo met the gaze of the party, the Talent set off a spell from the ground that quickly spread throughout the whole alley like a wave. It covered the area in a giant semi-transparent bubble that sealed them off from the public. A type of trap spell often used to hide battles from the common folk.

As soon as the spell completed, the man with the cane began to laugh. He stepped forward with a slow clap before addressing Nemo. "You know, I'm really quite surprised. When I heard you got out I thought you'd be gone for good. And yet here you are, walking right into my sights... Looks like it's my lucky day." The man opened, pulling his mask down afterwards.

It didn't take Nemo long to realize what had happened. The Talent was bait for him to run into a Witch Hunter ambush. Nemo gave a small smirk after the first man spoke. "Well, if it isn't the three stooges. Hold your horses there Moe, I'm not here to cause any trouble with you, I'm just trying to find someone today, Raiya Mamushi." He explained.

"Of course you'd be looking for her wouldn't you? You'd be in good company with that treacherous snake. Headed for the Lightning Capital to cut a deal with her huh? Trying to exchange something for her protection?" The man spat back.

"You're close." Nemo retorted.

"No matter, the only place you're headed for is that cell of yours back in Mamertine. That or maybe I'll send you straight to the creator myself." He said, stomping his cane on the cement. It was at that point Nemo realized this wasn't any regular group of Salem hunters, it was a group of ex-Disciples turned Church members. Their small sect served as a special operations group.

"Oh come on boys, don't be like that. I've got somebody who's gonna be really upset if he finds out I killed anyone today." Nemo pleaded.

"So you can't kill us? That should dull your edge quite a bit." The hunter with the cane said with a smirk as he prepared himself.

Nemo's humored attitude and expression seemed to fade after the cane wielder's last response. "No... no, you see that's not what I said. I said he's gonna be upset if he finds out I killed anybody." Nemo interjected. "If nobody sees it... didn't happen." He finished as his head cocked to the side.

---

About seven minutes later Nemo walked out from the alley, spinning the hook of the hunter's cane around his hand while humming a tune to himself. He then launched it into a nearby trash bin. Even though it had gotten dark, that conflict wasn't for nothing. His plan worked out in the end. While talking earlier he heard the leader use the term "Lightning Capital" like it was a location. It took a few tries, but eventually somebody was able to point him to a large Asian district when he brought up the term.

Nemo took a train to the district, knowing he was starting to waste valuable time at this point. After exiting the station he finally got to get a good look at the area; that's when he knew he was lost. Nemo didn't know how to read any of the signs besides some random scattered English words, nor did he have any luck speaking to anybody as well. Most people seemed to be ignoring him. On top of that, this district seemed to be quite developed and prosperous compared to the others. While it might be good for the residents, the increase in size was making Nemo's task even harder.

Nemo was beginning to lose hope until he noticed a lot of faint mana trails leading to the center of the district. As he followed them he began to sense large pools of mana in the distance. While all the food of the ethnic markets and street vendor stands were greatly enticing him, he knew he had blown all of his free time that he could. Nemo figured he was on the right track when things seemed to get increasingly more shady as he got closer to the source of the trails.

Soon enough the source finally came into view: A very large stone building with oriental accents and two blue neon signs. One with Japanese symbols for "Raikyo" And the other with larger English lettering for "Lightning Capital" right below it. Besides the two titles were large flashy lightning bolts. Judging from the loud music blaring out from the building Nemo guessed it was some sort of nightclub.

Nemo adjusted his jacket and made his way for the door. However his sense of accomplishment was quickly taken from him when a rock solid hand pushed him back. Nemo's most formidable enemy yet: The Doorman. He stood a good four inches above Nemo, with slicked back black hair, a black t-shirt and earpiece. Clearly not recognizing Nemo the man simply looked down on him.

"Open Sesame?" Nemo stated to him, hoping he'd catch a break.

The Doorman didn't seem to be amused. He extended his hand to turn him away. "Get the hell outta he-" Was the only thing the man was able to get out before Nemo grabbed his arm and pulled him towards him, knocking him off balance. Nemo then swiftly used his strength and free hand to slam the doorman's head into the stone wall and knock him unconscious.

With that taken care of, he was finally able to enter the club. However what he had done so far was sadly only the easy part.

[ShiningSector]

The Church Magi appeared surprisingly unfazed by Travis' awkward behavior and showed no signs of caution or hostility when he had unintentionally revealed his charm, something any sane person who knew what it was would definitely not appreciate its presence. In fact, the Magi didn't even acknowledge his nervous query either; though whether that was good or still a bad thing would later be determined. Completely out of left field, the Magi from the Catholic Church - whom now Travis believed to be of a higher rank than originally perceived - actually whistled in positive recognition to his recent endeavor, even calling him a genius for devising a hybrid rune of ancient and modern knowledge. While Travis himself enjoyed compliments and praises, he couldn't help but notice the mage's extraordinary perception and analysis of the scene to even compile such an accurate result of what happened here minutes ago.

However, that was hardly the most shocking part about the Magi. The astounding thing was that he knew Travis' full name. So many questions exploded in Travis' mind like how this Church official knew who he was and how he was located, especially when he gone through the effort of covering his own mana signature and discreetly managing his activities to avoid major suspicion. Eventually his self-question had abruptly ended when the Magi finally revealed himself as Felix Glasius. Travis slowly lowered his arms and attempted to reply back with as much professional composure as he could muster.

"I-I appreciate the kind gesture, Felix. I go by..."

Idiot. he knows who you are, thought Travis as he reminded himself of Felix's apparent wealth of knowledge, "...If I may ask you openly; how do you know who I am - how did you find me here?"

[Prodigal Son]

Felix noticed the man was very much so noticeably flustered. It had gotten so bad for him that he attempted to introduce his name which was already known to Felix, which caused Felix to smile a bit.

"Hmm... how do I phrase this without sounding utterly insane? I suppose the others had it cross their mind I was a looney, so how do I go about this...?" Felix pondered out loud. He placed his hand up to his chin and tilted his gaze down to the floor, squinting. Then he snapped his fingers. This might actually be easier with him, he is a scholar, and specializes in learning about ancient magic and applying it today. It's probably more likely than not that he knows about the Paragons.

"I'll answer your question with a question, Travis. What do you know about the Paragons?" Felix asked, his gaze now fixed on Travis, with a hint of conviction behind it.

[dndragons]

Yuno waved Felix off gently while slipping through the portal into an entirely new location. Well, to be more accurate a new building within a known area she had become well acquainted with. The first thing that struck her was a brief pain in her head once the portal had been crossed. Her body having to rapidly get used to understand the new scenery, air temperature, humidity, and so forth in nearly the blink of an eye. It had cause her off guard to say the least, but after taking in a deep breath, closing her eyes, and slowly opening them to identify that which now lay around her she felt better within a moment. “At least I know for the future…” she whispered to herself after the experience. Next time she would be better off thankfully and for now she simply couldn’t help but smile at the cabin before her. The grand size, warmth the color of the wood brought, and general cozy feeling that began to settle into her body was enough to make her want to sit by the fireplace under a blanket nearly any time of year. Her mind kept organize though, and several times she found herself complimenting the effort that went into the building. But, Yuno also was curious as to where this cabin was. Only a moment later did she understand how close she was to home as out the window stood the same species of tree that she had been perched atop moments ago.

“Almost right at the Acadamia’s doorstep, he must have good barriers made to prevent any of the higher ups of the school to not caught wind of it.” She told herself as she stood back from the window with her smile still held of her face. “To believe none of us knew about this, though it does make me worry about how he knew me. It’s easy enough to pin him having seen me before if he can teleport and resides close to the Acadamia… I probably shouldn’t be too hard on him though. I have trouble believing he is a liar.” Turning away and moving back into the center of the room her gaze shifted towards kitchen once footsteps rang across into the living area. Catching the eye of a certain shade of head pouring onto their collar bone. She didn’t have a moment to wave or signal him less he just walked off so she simply gave her winning smile that she could in a heart-beat

“Excuse me, you are one of the ‘recruits’ Felix has brought in I assume?” she asked aloud to the man known as Deston, though of course she has yet to learn his name.

[Zelosse]

Artos Bane

Two figures circled each other in an alleyway in Glasgow, Scotland, one wore a blue and white flowing robe over top of functional steel armor. Artos' longswords were sheathed on each hip within ready reach but his hands didn't hover over them. The man circling was a wanted criminal, a thief and a murderer who had slain a man a week prior out of petty jealousy and robbed the corpse all in broad daylight. The widow had asked for assistance, begging any she could for finality when the police would not help her. Artos had discovered her by chance and took up the request in return for a place to stay the night. When the man circling infront of him with the big knife was put down he would claim that reward.

"Look here, pissant, I ain't afraid a the likes o you."

The burly individual wore a dirty T-shirt stained with food and stunk of alcohol, his pants were military and had the signs of proper use and care tucked neatly into a heavy set of steel toed combat boots. Thin black hair, brown eyes, missing two teeth on the left side of his upper mouth, both arms showed the tell tale bulge of muscle from heavy labor, the scars attested to combat experience. Possibly in his late thirties the brute carried himself with about as much finesse as one would expect from a grunt. Artos analyzed him top to bottom and found him lacking on all cases. The only thing worth noting of this man as impressive or above average was his use of the large hunting machete he wielded. Firm grip, eyes focused, muscles twitched in anticipation.

"Then why do you stink of fear?"

Artos' ghostly pale face was the only visible part of flesh to be seen in the dim light of the alleyways flickering lamp. With a howl the lumbering man charged forward like a feral bear and swiped a meaty paw and followed it with a slash of his machete. Both missed their marks by mere inches with a whistle of wind and an unimpressed sigh as the nimbler fighter further assessed his opponents capabilities.
Sensing that he was being so clearly looked down the ruffian went on a full assault, slashing and stabbing in a well executed series of attack routines and yet still the smaller man seemed unimpressed by the basic blade handling being displayed. Familiarity with a weapon did not mean mastery over the art.
The big man took his weapon in both hands and swung with all his might, screaming like a devil as he attempted to cleave the arrogant young man in two.

Artos' left wrist connected solidly with the blade, taking the full force of the attack. Stunned into silence the machete wielding fighter tried to force his way through the flimsy looking defense but heard the blade clatter to the ground.

"W-What the hell!"

To his horror both offending hands were numb to the bone, a thin film of frost creeping up his arms to deliver the same excruciating cold further and further up until it finally stopped at his shoulders. Artos' right hand struck like a cannonball to the stomach to double the man over and into the rising knee that cracked his nose in a splatter of blood, dropping him to the ground in a heap. The chill in the air was growing worse as the sweat coating his skin heightened the effects. Artos stared down at the fallen form like a man watched a bug scuttle across the floor.

"I won't kill you. Blood of your worth would stain even my blades. Instead, you will be found here. Your punishment is for others to decide."

A swift kick to the chin knocked the man out completely.

From the alleys he walked, unconcerned with any stares of his appearance, proceeding through the city without a care. Though his face showed a polite and almost warm smile, his mind was a cold storm of anger. Another fight and another overwhelming disappointment! Were there no fighters worthy to test his skills left in this miserable city. How could so many dwell in this place and so few of them, even their criminals, be so pitiful in their fighting prowess. It was sickening.
Overlooking a flowing river he lamented his fate and stared into the pristine surface with a mixture of appreciation and rage.

"When will a true challenge ever present itself.."