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

[ShiningSector]

Travis left hand grasped the elbow of his right arm, stabilizing it vertically as he assumed a deep-in-thought posture, gently pinching his chin with a free hand. The only clue they had about the Paragon was that it seemed to pull, at least currently, memories from the user that possessed it as displayed by Felix earlier once he had mentioned Thadeus' name. But if those agents of the Academia were able to use it to seek out qualified Talents, surly there was some way to have Espial seek out those they didn't know.

"As far as tests go, I would surmise to build upon the case from last night when the Paragon...informed you of where Thadeus was." replied Travis as he continued to maintain his posture, "I would assume that the if Paragon was used in away that allowed the Academia to track unnamed Talents, they would have provided some sort of criteria for the Paragon to work with."

Travis then backed up and withdrew his hands and placed them at their corresponding hips, "It sounds like Espial was able to locate Thadeus because you - I would assume - wished him here, in a sense. With that logic, we could use the same notion to replicate the methods the Academia used."

"Basically, we could try 'feeding' the Paragon a desire or objective and see if it can comply in anyway." Travis finished before giving a somewhat conflicting expression, "It is of course a start based on we know."

[Prodigal Son]

"Yes, of course!" Felix concurred, "Your hypothesis is brilliantly constructed. Now what we must do is put it to the test." Felix said.

He then walked over to the Paragon case, and removed it from the inlay. Holding it with both hands, he closed his eyes and quelled his aura, just as before. Then he placed a burning desire at the forefront of his mind, to find the paragons. Immediately his eyes went white and he began to see images just as before. But this time the images were of a turbulent sea, and a small island. Felix attempted to direct the vision closer to the island, but as he drew closer, a sharp pain ran through Felix's body, sending him out of the trance.

Felix let out a pained gasp,

"I had a desire in mind, to find the paragons. And, I saw an island. But as I drew closer to it, a familiar feeling coursed through my body. Back when I was still training under the arcanocracy, they had us learn simple wards. One of them was a aura ward. It would detect any aura and reject it, painfully so. I have no doubt, that island is using a stronger variation of the same spell. And I also have no doubt that that island has the Paragon on it." Felix explained, "Though, without getting closer, there is no way for me to tell where that island is."

Felix entered a state of deep thought, searching for a way around this dilemma. Felix placed the paragon back in its cage.

"I have much to think about, I am going to retire to my study until breakfast. If you wish to continue research by yourself, you are more than welcome. Just be sure to document everything. In fact, you can start working on a pressing issue. The issue is, the indefinite containment and sealing of the Paragons. There's no telling what will happen when more than one come together. And we don't have enough space to keep them all in seperate rooms. So we need to figure out a way to suppress their powers while keeping them together. Do you think you can start on that end of the research?" Felix asked.

---

"Impressive..." Raiya replied to Nemo's confectionery creation.

Raiya continued to cook, placing every omelet she finished on separate plates. The rice cooker beeped meaning the rice was finished. On each plate she put a mound of rice next to the omelets. The sizzle of bacon reminded her that the bacon was almost finished. Taking all the bacon off the pan with a spatula, she carefully placed two pieces of bacon on each plate. On top of every pile of rice, she placed a single fully cooked egg. She quickly seasoned everything with salt and pepper.

"I can't really think of anything else to add, can you? So now all that's left is to set the table." Raiya said to Nemo.

[Cottonmouth]

Nemo felt Raiya's reaction was enough confirmation. With a small smirk he returned to his station and began making more crepes to cover the rest of the group members. It didn't take very long after all the preparations had already been completed earlier. One thing that could be noted was Nemo's refusal to remove his glove, often having to do some actions one handed in the kitchen. However the handicap didn't really seem to actually hinder him.

"I can't, unless you forgot the extra love." Nemo joked as he washed his hand off, now finished himself.

Zuri's appearance drew Nemo's attention. "Ah yes, breakfast is nearly here. We'll be calling everybody to the table momentarily, then you can eat all you want." He replied.

[Accurian]

Zuri's sad expression turned to a smile when she heard what Nemo said. "Okay!" She replies before heading over to the table as she waits patiently for the food to get served. 'I wonder what's for breakfast..' Zuri ponders as her stomach growls quietly.

[ShiningSector]

It pleased Travis that Felix had agreed with his theory about the Paragon's uses. It pleased his more when he found he was right. Per the Untalent's suggestion, we watched Felix extract the Paragon from its case and interacted with it just like last time; but this time, there was intent. The Arch Magi's eye quickly opened to reveal its pupils clouded in white. This confirmed that Paragon was responding and carrying out is function and taking Felix though what Travis could best describe as a vision quest of sorts.

Felix eventually came to though grunted as if he was pained by something. Apparently Espial had showed him the location of another Paragon, one an undisclosed island. That was hardly much to go by but Felix further explained that he was denied any further information due to some aura ward in place at that location. Travis immediately took a note of this as it became almost clear that while through this vision, the Paragon seemingly transported the user's aura, or perhaps in another debatable spect; their spirit, to that location they desired via a more ethereal sense. If this was truly fact, how much of it could be made present? And could it be detected by anyone else? Felix's earlier vision of Thadeus determined that it probably not enough for some of equal footing to even take notice.

Afterwards, Felix declared he'll be investigating this matter further on his side until breakfast was ready. In the mean time, he gave Travis a rather interesting project to begin working on; the containment or perhaps sealing of the Paragons. Assuming that they were successful in retrieving another Paragon, there was a risk of what two Paragons could do or behave if they were in very close proximity. It was understandable since as observed before, the Paragons, or at least Espial specifically, could literally leach off someone's mana reserves in an instant. That alone was enough to keep the Paragons out of untrained hands. The trouble was that they had hardly any knowledge of Paragons resonating with each other and to what degree or method. Travis would argue that they would actually need to test this before coming up with something concrete. Of course he had to admit that assuming that the test wouldn't kill them in the process could they then draw up a resolution.

"I'll see what I can do for the time being," replied Travis as he went over his notes, "There isn't much to go by aside from what we know what the Paragons would do. I have a few ideas in mind though I would feel more confident if we had a little more knowledge to work with."

[Prodigal Son]

"I understand we have little information to go on. We have a bit of a paradox in our way. We need to bring two paragons together in order to gain the knowledge to keep them from resonating with each other, however if we bring them together, it might end up ripping apart the fabric of reality. Just do the best you can. I will be around to bounce ideas off of if you need me. I'll just be in my study." Felix said before retreating back up the stairs and out of sight.

Felix began studying in his office, flipping through all the old tomes that spoke about the different paragons. Felix concentrated and began to look through his memories. I have read a total of 17 tomes and ancient scrolls that have mentioned the paragons. Only 4 of the 9 paragons are described in any detail. Two of which are mentioned by name. The paragon of Espial, and the Paragon of Might. All the research suggests that the Paragon of Might originated somewhere in the middle east and made its way up to Greece, it should still be around there somewhere, if Thadeus hasn't found it yet. Putting that Paragon on the backburner until much later is essential, most of Europe is under Arcanocracy jurisdiction and we can't risk an expedition so close to Rome. Through all the research I have done, I can't think of a single paragon described that would be on an island.

Felix continued pouring over his notes and tomes.

---

"I'll set the tables, you go round up everyone." Raiya said as she began to set the tables. Each spot getting a big plate and a smaller plate. The big plate having the main course on it, and the smaller plate having the crepes on it. Lastly, Raiya placed a bowl of fruit in the center.

[Cottonmouth]

Nemo gave a nod and walked off to inform the group that breakfast was ready. Zuri was already taken care of, so the first person he passed was Travis. "We've prepared breakfast, head to the kitchen while it's hot." Nemo commented to him as he walked by. The second person he encountered was Zoey after making it to the game room she was stationed at, still playing her cabinet game. Nemo walked up and pulled the player 2 gun controller from it's holster and began to point it at the zombies and pulled the trigger, despite the second controller not being activated. He make fake gun sound effects for a few moments as he played pretend before placing the plastic firearm back.

"Greetings, Nemo Smiley, pleased to meet you. I've been sent to inform you breakfast is ready." He explained before walking off.

Nemo then made it to Alya's room. He knocked on the door to try to wake her from her nap and then informed her of the same thing he had already told Travis and Zoey.

That left only one member remaining, Felix. Nemo trekked to his study and opened the door. He leaned onto the door-frame before speaking. "Felix, Raiya and I have prepared breakfast. Hope you're not too busy, hmm? Speaking of which, I could help if you'd like." Nemo proposed.

[ShiningSector]

"Roger." Travis replied simply.

With Felix withdrawing up the stairs to his study, Travis remained in the lab staring at an empty page of his note pad. The idea of keeping two Paragons in the same space and yet out of each others influence was not a simple task. He took into account how limitless their Paragon was and how it could drain someone of their inner mana in a near instant. Having an equally endless source that was responsive to interaction was an incredibly unknown factor. Travis sighed for a moment and left the lab as well and began making his way back to the first floor. He needed room think and scheme.

Trying to keep to himself and stay out of everyone's way, Travis paced back and forth by the entrance to the basement, brainstorming as much as he could about their containment problem. The notes he made were little more than doodles as he expressed his unproven ideas to paper with pen. One simple line drawing supposedly depicted a runic circle with a Paragon residing in it. Small text to the side of each illustrated element described the concept dampening the Paragon's awareness to local auras via an erected field. If it were to be enacted, Travis could pull it off in a matter of a day provided his construction of the plan held up. This was however assumed that the Paragon was only able to pick up on auras and wasn't in any way "aware" of any other elements. It was a start nonetheless.

Noting some of his more capable teammates displayed abilities as of late, another concept described a way of housing the Paragons via a pocket dimension of sorts. The thought believed that by taking a Paragon into other measure of space, there was no hope of it being able to interact with anything. Travis comically drew a simple depiction of him tossing one of the sacred mana crystals into his chest back at his quarters. The fancy trunk he carried with him on his long travels was essentially a device in creating said pockets in order to house his belongs as he had not the mana well to maintain that kind of storage space by himself. The idea appeared to be more sound but proved more complex to develop than his first though.

As he continued to ponder further, he looked up on response to Nemo advising him that breakfast was ready, "Thank you Nemo. I'll be there soon," Travis replied before returning his attention to his notes and slowly making his way to the kitchen.

[Prodigal Son]

help me?

"No, no... I couldn-" Then it struck Felix, "Yes... You have connections. Perhaps you might be of some use. I need information on a paragon on an island. I don't know where the island is, or what it's even called. But, perhaps with your connections even this vague information is enough." Felix said, "I'll be in the dining room in a bit." Felix said

[Mal2103]

Alya's nap was interrupted by a knock on the door; it was Nemo calling her for breakfast. "I'll be right down." She replied getting up from bed. She stood up and headed to the door, casting a spell as she walked. Alya was once again clothed in her regular robes though now in pristine condition. She made her way down to the dining room.

[Cottonmouth]

"Good... good." Nemo replied. "It shall be done, finding things is one of my specialties." Nemo said with monotone confidence. He excused himself from Felix's room and began to trek back downstairs. As he descended the stairs Nemo brought his manadial up and activated the display. He put in a series of commands which led to a holographic keyboard. Nemo's return took a few extra minutes as he typed in a message. But soon enough his letter was let loose off into the mananet, to whomever he had addressed it to.

Nemo entered the dining room, seeing Travis and Alya had already arrived. He turned to Raiya. "The remaining two should be here soon, lest they plan on being tardy."

[Dawnpath]

Zoey blinks at the new guy, who seems to have no trouble with her appearance without the illusion spell up, and shrugs. For a time, they game together, both relatively good at the game for different reasons. Then he dropped his name and just left, before giving her a chance to introduce herself. On the other hand, he mentioned breakfast and she could now smell it. She sighed happily and re-upped her illusion spell, padding softly back upstairs.

[Prodigal Son]

Felix came into the dining room, a set table sprawled before him. It wasn't a banquet like he had done before, but a single meal which was the same for everyone. A giant veggie stuffed omelette, some rice with an egg on top, and crepes. There was also a large bowl of fruit in the middle and a plate with a pile of multi-grain toast on it.

Felix sat down, and bowed his head for a momentary prayer of thanksgiving and blessings on the food, before picking up a fork and digging in.

"Wow, this is delicious!" Felix said with a smile.

Raiya leaned against the wall near the kitchen entrance in front of the table. She was waiting for everyone else to take a seat.

"Thank you. Nemo helped a lot as well so thank him too."

"Thank you, Nemo." Felix said.

Then everyone began to pour in one by one and take their seats. One everyone was seated, Felix began to issue a few announcements.

"Now that everyone is here, I am going to talk a bit about where we go from here. You may or may not know that I am not sure where our next mission will be. While I had direct information about where the paragon of Espial, the first paragon we have gathered, was, I do not have such information for the next paragon. But also, until we figure out a way to contain the paragon so that it does not resonate with another paragon in its vicinity, we can not have another paragon here with us. I have Travis working on that front, while I am working on figuring out where the next paragon is. I have also tasked Nemo with investigating through his network to see if he can find any information on where this next paragon would be. The rest of you can take it easy. It make take a week or so, maybe even longer to gather the necessary information. It could take less time, who knows. However, I do expect those who do not have assigned tasks to remain vigilant. Training during this time period would be a good and recommended use of your time." Felix explained.

He then turned to Raiya, "Perhaps you should accompany Nemo." Felix suggested.

Raiya muttered something in agreement under her breath but didn't seem particularly enthralled by the suggestion.

[Cottonmouth]

Nemo didn't make any comment about Raiya joining him as he sat at the table. While not out 'working' one would say Nemo is actually a remarkably calm person. He gave a nod in response to Felix's thanks and then sectioned off a piece of Raiya's omelette and took a bite, then moved onto the rice.

"The food is magnifique, Raiya." Nemo commented to her with a smile. He didn't seem to bother to touch his own creation yet. Not because it wasn't good, but likely because he took much more enjoyment out of eating something that was prepared for him by someone else.

His social demeanor might be enough for some people to neglect his actions and temperament as a whole. However one look at Nemo's unnatural appearance would be enough jog their memory, to make them feel like they are probably being misled. To someone more familiar with him like Felix, it would likely be very hard to ever believe his kindliness is remotely genuine.

[ShiningSector]

Now that most of his teammate had arrived at the dining table, Travis went and took his seat and claimed a few pieces of toast to add to his plate before digging in. A soon as Felix commented with his positive opinion on their meal, Travis resonated his own remark towards Nemo and Raiya, "This is very excellent indeed My compliments to the fine chefs."

Before long, Felix made his anticipated announcement. Travis already knew most of the details since he had worked with the Arch Magi earlier and already determined the difficulties locating their next Paragon. Listening further in on the announcements, it appeared that there will be some considerable wait time until they had a sure fix on following Paragon. It was slightly disappointing not having another relic to adventure out to retrieve but there were plenty of other activities to participate such as his project with containing the Paragons and a slew of other possible spells to develop after their previous trip.

Once Felix had ended his declaration, Travis openly made his report but directed it towards his employer, "I've so far compiled a few rough ideas on how we may contain the Paragons...if you would like to go over them after breakfast of course."

[Accurian]

Zuri starts eating the food but also pays attention to what Felix had to say. Once he finished what he had to say, Zuri doesn't really care much about what he said other than the last sentence, something about spending the free time she has on training. The food was delicious, and soon nothing was left on either of her plates. Both the main dish and the crepe was really nice and filling, especially the rice. "That was really nice.." she says softly, referring to the food she just had.

[Dawnpath]

Zoey took note of what Felix was saying, and decided she would continue her hunting duties here, wherever here was. She also noticed a distinct lack of meat on the table however, and frowned a bit. She took some toast and some fruit, and would eat that with some of the jerky she had on her person. Maybe not the most refined of breakfasts, but she'd rather have the jerky at this point than overly rich desert pancake and eggs on rice on eggs with broccoli. She found a spot to eat a little closer to a corner, and would continue to pretend like she didn't exist unless someone engaged her directly. That was more likely at the moment, however, because the illusion spell was up.

[Mal2103]

Alya took a seat as everyone gathered at the table. She took a piece of toast to add to her omelette and began to eat as Felix began to explain the current situation. Alya remained quiet as she listened and ate. After finishing her omelette she took some crepe as desert.

'The next week would be a perfect time to practice and refine new spells and get to know my new allies.' She thought as she ate her desert. "My compliments to the chef."

[Prodigal Son]

Felix looked in the direction of Travis for a moment, and then nodded.

"Yes, follow me to my study, we shall talk there. And then," Felix looked towards Nemo and Raiya, "Nemo, and Raiya will meet me in my study after we are finished." Felix explained

Felix then placed a napkin on the plate he was finished with, stood up and walked out of the kitchen, down the hallway, and to the right into his study. Raiya stood up and followed but sat down on a chair outside the study. She felt like one of his students at the Vatican, waiting for an advisement meeting. It felt a bit humiliating after all she had been through since leaving the arcanocracy, but she didn't let it show on her face.

Once Felix and Travis were in his study, Felix closed the door behind them and sat down behind the desk.

"Alrighty then, Travis. I am ready to be amazed, pitch those ideas at me." Felix said enthusiastically. Anyone who didn't know Felix would have thought he was being sarcastic, when in actuallity, he was being completely genuine.

[Cottonmouth]

Nemo eventually finished his food, after grabbing some seconds from the middle of the table. He stood up from the table "Hopefully the period until we find the next paragon doesn't take too long. If anyone needs help training with firearms or blades, I'd be happy to lend my services." Nemo addressed the group before walking off to where Felix, Raiya, and Travis had gone.

He ended up outside Felix's study with Raiya and sat at a chair opposite to Raiya. "So, breakfast went quite well." He commented. Nemo didn't seem to feel any of the humiliation that Raiya felt. He kicked his legs back and forth like a child for a few moments before abruptly stopping. "Anything interesting to talk about? If not we could always sing while we wait." Nemo suggested, probably coming off more like a threat to Raiya given what it entailed. "Do you know Juice Newton?" He asked.

"Just call me angel of the morning, angel.
Just touch my cheek before you leave me, baby." He sang softly, a small grin on his face as he continued to hum the rest.