Kronshi
Estylwen
Stern Algorithm
Skyswimsky
OwO
Sky Blue
Remram
Half Pint
hanzo@ERode
Gerome smiled, crossed his arms at his back, and casually strolled about the safehouse, inspecting items and corners with fleeting interest as he spoke.
"I am well glad that happenstance brought me here. Forgive me if this knowledge comes off as unnerving, but I can certainly sense in you already that what I need is within you. A tool, right for this job. Tell me, have you ever used that against something of greater being than the Manifestations that typically crawl out of the Dark City hole? Something more than a demon?" Gerome's eyes cast down upon Amaya where she sat from across the room. A scrutiny and analysis had already seemed to have taken place, and his impression of her went deeper than physical appearances and recommendations. She might have been exactly on the money with her presumptions. Gerome continued his sauntering.
"I imagine not, all things considered. It is so rare that gods and angels show themselves in the other world. The Dark City has a habit of showing only its worst," he continued. Roland interjected.
"Most of us are pretty vile ourselves," he scoffed, "Guess the Dark City just gives tit for tat. I'm sure a saintly mage has seen the light here and there." Gerome's expression had become flat, listening to Roland, before he forced his lips back into a lifeless smile.
"You may be right. Perhaps we can see a new saint here tonight. Ma'am, what I request of you is simultaneously the greatest thing you may ever achieve, and yet outwardly a simple matter. You can sense the strangeness in the air tonight, yes? I know of something to come, and an opportunity that may never show again."
Gerome made his way to a more open space in the middle of the safehouse, and from inside his spotless coat pulled out a small vial filled with red. It was obvious enough that it was blood inside. With two fingers, Gerome pinched the glass and shattered it. A splash and then drips of blood hit the concrete floor with faint taps. The puddle bubbled and then from it rose a tall, thin line of red which suddenly split sideways, as if parting the air itself to reveal a secret tunnel beyond.
"Within you will find the Labyrinth, not merely the Dark City. A Dungeon, and one to a very particular place. Deeper still you will find your target. It will be impossible to miss or identify. Your reward-" Gerome pulled from his coat once again, revealing a black credit card, "-is more money than you've ever held at once, I surmise. All you need to do is fell this weakened being. Simple, yes?"
@OwO
"Anyways, it's good that you're here because-" the young woman blinked, stiffened, and turned to an expression of anger all within the span of a half-second. Even for the most half-baked of mages, something as simple as a tossed mundane object was rarely simple. No, they were mediums for explosions, disguised weapons, and sometimes far worse. The snake-eyed woman extended a hand to catch the tossed can and grasped it, deftly catching it before flexing her own powers. Immense strength spaghettified the can -a strength that the woman quickly realized was unnecessary. The contents of the Value Purple Soda exploded in her face with a pitiful fizz. No magic was unleashed. No delayed curse. She blinked, and frowned, and glared.
"What?! What's with you? Who tosses a can of soda?! At least throw a spell at me, like come on!" The woman wiped at her face and then flicked her hands with a grimace. Value Purple smelled like cough medicine, and she clearly didn't enjoy it. "Damnit, my face is gonna be sticky now. No damn water in the Dark City." Tossing the crushed can, she approached Macaron with a taught, driven step.
"We're even now, though yours was definitely more childish. Definitely. Like I was saying though, you got here at perfect timing. Shit's going down already, and two bodies is better than one. I know you can toss cans, but you also do know your way around magecraft, right? Please tell me you haven't just been shirking that side of your lineage too."
@Estylwen
A red flare bore from the enchanted shadow's shifting face, its directive changed now from the mindless predation of others to a true purpose. The crawling void suddenly lurched and rose up briefly before descending upon a shadow beside it. One was but an animal, and another was now a blessed soldier. The two tangled into a storm of darkness and wailing before an obvious victory emerged. Now 'other', the unaffected shadows sought new prey. A soldier stood against a storm of barbarism.
Cygni made a motion in silence, and washed over them a spellcraft that presumably hid them to some extent. It was difficult to discern yet what, if anything, could still sense them, but the feeling of wrongness that pervaded the domain had diminished slightly, indicating that a barrier had been erected in some capacity.
Reina's signal flare had yet to produce any additional aid, nor draw in more enemies. Normally there was a contingent of dark figures and gazing eyes about Yusei's domain, vigilant against the invasion of competing divinities and skulking thieves, but the region felt empty. Only the howling of malign winds kept the trio company. Cygni remained dour and focused, the bend of his vague emotions seeming as if a cold determination. Erina by contrast was a mixture of slight apprehension and a confidence that currently stood dominant. As they pressed on, Reina eventually caught a peculiar anomaly along the way.
It seemed not unlike a crack in the wall of a skyscraper, but was cut into the side of a piece of rubble on the side of the road they traveled. Between the crack, the distinct sights of a section of the Dark City could be seen, as though she were standing within one of its buildings and looking down at an empty street. Peculiar at first, it seemed more and more common as they continued. The slices of Dark City reality became more numerous, and larger. The other two had paused, seemingly noticing the phenomenon as well.
"It is as though the Labyrinth is breaking down," Cygni stated, observing a cut into the domain that hovered at face-height some feet away.
"I was right, this is not something achievable by another mage. Not one of our lifetimes," Erina said sharply. "This can only be the work of something on par with Yusei." She looked to Reina and then Cygni, a hint of worry in her eyes that reflected in the sensed emotions of Reina's spell.
@Remram
The team broke into a hurried reaction, shifting positions, readying weapons, and scanning surroundings. The smoke from the building continued to billow, and its outermost edges sifted around the squad's boots.
"I can make it out, just barely," Rafael said, his voice struggling to maintain cool. His rifle leveled up into the dust cloud, waiting for movement from that 'thing' which was 'merely present' and yet so deadly. "I would retreat to a higher position, but you guys may need my directions here," he continued. In one moment, Dirk was standing there readied, and another, he had vanished. The smoke already saturated the empty void he had left behind.
Bel's expression was a contorted one of anger, his finger itching to loose a volley onto anything that dared to twitch. "Is this just a matter of invisibility, or are we going to have to improvise our attacks here?" he asked. If it was merely invisible, the solution was easy. If not... heads had to be put together.
"I'm afraid the latter," Rafael droned. Emma had deftly pulled a knife into her left hand and set the dog carrier onto the ground with the other. After unzipping the top of the bag a white smoke, cold as ice, evaporated from within. Her 'dog', a pact-bound familiar, manifested within the Dark City as a shapeless fog -though one could often catch a glimpse of something predatory and animalistic lurking just behind the white veil. Incorporeal as it was, perhaps it was one of the better shots at harming the Manifestation they faced.
Mathias watched the confines of the cloud, waiting for that pattern of singularly "dust-ness" to shift, and found his moment: a fracture in the pattern, less than a movement of even a single particle. The concept came rushing for him once again and with it a sensation of jaws and claws within the formless stampede.
Rafael opened fire with a single shot, himself able to see just as well. With his prompt, Bel too ripped into the cloud with a hail of arcane bullets, but nothing yet seemed to connect.
@Kronshi
Despite the fully obscuring gas mask, Ozymandias could discern -perhaps through subtle body language, perhaps retroactively in the voice of hers that followed- that the woman smiled at his answer.
"I see. An astute assessment- hey, wait," she protested as she was grabbed, but did not tug back and instead kept pace beside Ozymandias. The building had indeed shifted, and the scenery outside no longer recognizable. Though it was indeed that same sort of street as any other in the Dark City, the buildings broken any sense that he was still near where he had entered from Realspace. A glint in the sky caught his eye -a shimmer of pure red, and for a moment the sensation that one or more people on the other side of it were looking back at him.
"I'm afraid that after being displaced, I've no idea where the original portal was either," the woman said then. She retracted her arm from his grip as she took a few more tentative steps on the street. "We could form a portal back to Realspace here, if we are not afraid of potentially stepping into someone's apartment." The woman paused, thinking, before turning to face him.
"Ah, I might as well make it plainly clear; from herein, we are accomplices in this matter. You are surely confused about a lot of this, but we'll save the heavier explanations for later. Right now, your observation is indeed correct. There will be a servant after us..." She paused again, "...after you. And much as I threatened you, I do need you alive now."
The woman continued across the street, seemingly aimless, but no less searching for an existing portal. Etiquette demanded that portals used to get in be the ones used to get out, lest wayward rifts form right in the faces of mundane mortals in Realspace by accident. Even moving ten feet in the Dark City could well place oneself somewhere miles away in Realspace by comparison. For the time being, the woman clearly considered it not quite emergency-enough to warrant such an escape hatch.
Little did either of the two mutual strangers know that they were heading straight for their very pursuer.
Gerome smiled, crossed his arms at his back, and casually strolled about the safehouse, inspecting items and corners with fleeting interest as he spoke.
"I am well glad that happenstance brought me here. Forgive me if this knowledge comes off as unnerving, but I can certainly sense in you already that what I need is within you. A tool, right for this job. Tell me, have you ever used that against something of greater being than the Manifestations that typically crawl out of the Dark City hole? Something more than a demon?" Gerome's eyes cast down upon Amaya where she sat from across the room. A scrutiny and analysis had already seemed to have taken place, and his impression of her went deeper than physical appearances and recommendations. She might have been exactly on the money with her presumptions. Gerome continued his sauntering.
"I imagine not, all things considered. It is so rare that gods and angels show themselves in the other world. The Dark City has a habit of showing only its worst," he continued. Roland interjected.
"Most of us are pretty vile ourselves," he scoffed, "Guess the Dark City just gives tit for tat. I'm sure a saintly mage has seen the light here and there." Gerome's expression had become flat, listening to Roland, before he forced his lips back into a lifeless smile.
"You may be right. Perhaps we can see a new saint here tonight. Ma'am, what I request of you is simultaneously the greatest thing you may ever achieve, and yet outwardly a simple matter. You can sense the strangeness in the air tonight, yes? I know of something to come, and an opportunity that may never show again."
Gerome made his way to a more open space in the middle of the safehouse, and from inside his spotless coat pulled out a small vial filled with red. It was obvious enough that it was blood inside. With two fingers, Gerome pinched the glass and shattered it. A splash and then drips of blood hit the concrete floor with faint taps. The puddle bubbled and then from it rose a tall, thin line of red which suddenly split sideways, as if parting the air itself to reveal a secret tunnel beyond.
"Within you will find the Labyrinth, not merely the Dark City. A Dungeon, and one to a very particular place. Deeper still you will find your target. It will be impossible to miss or identify. Your reward-" Gerome pulled from his coat once again, revealing a black credit card, "-is more money than you've ever held at once, I surmise. All you need to do is fell this weakened being. Simple, yes?"
@OwO
"Anyways, it's good that you're here because-" the young woman blinked, stiffened, and turned to an expression of anger all within the span of a half-second. Even for the most half-baked of mages, something as simple as a tossed mundane object was rarely simple. No, they were mediums for explosions, disguised weapons, and sometimes far worse. The snake-eyed woman extended a hand to catch the tossed can and grasped it, deftly catching it before flexing her own powers. Immense strength spaghettified the can -a strength that the woman quickly realized was unnecessary. The contents of the Value Purple Soda exploded in her face with a pitiful fizz. No magic was unleashed. No delayed curse. She blinked, and frowned, and glared.
"What?! What's with you? Who tosses a can of soda?! At least throw a spell at me, like come on!" The woman wiped at her face and then flicked her hands with a grimace. Value Purple smelled like cough medicine, and she clearly didn't enjoy it. "Damnit, my face is gonna be sticky now. No damn water in the Dark City." Tossing the crushed can, she approached Macaron with a taught, driven step.
"We're even now, though yours was definitely more childish. Definitely. Like I was saying though, you got here at perfect timing. Shit's going down already, and two bodies is better than one. I know you can toss cans, but you also do know your way around magecraft, right? Please tell me you haven't just been shirking that side of your lineage too."
@Estylwen
A red flare bore from the enchanted shadow's shifting face, its directive changed now from the mindless predation of others to a true purpose. The crawling void suddenly lurched and rose up briefly before descending upon a shadow beside it. One was but an animal, and another was now a blessed soldier. The two tangled into a storm of darkness and wailing before an obvious victory emerged. Now 'other', the unaffected shadows sought new prey. A soldier stood against a storm of barbarism.
Cygni made a motion in silence, and washed over them a spellcraft that presumably hid them to some extent. It was difficult to discern yet what, if anything, could still sense them, but the feeling of wrongness that pervaded the domain had diminished slightly, indicating that a barrier had been erected in some capacity.
Reina's signal flare had yet to produce any additional aid, nor draw in more enemies. Normally there was a contingent of dark figures and gazing eyes about Yusei's domain, vigilant against the invasion of competing divinities and skulking thieves, but the region felt empty. Only the howling of malign winds kept the trio company. Cygni remained dour and focused, the bend of his vague emotions seeming as if a cold determination. Erina by contrast was a mixture of slight apprehension and a confidence that currently stood dominant. As they pressed on, Reina eventually caught a peculiar anomaly along the way.
It seemed not unlike a crack in the wall of a skyscraper, but was cut into the side of a piece of rubble on the side of the road they traveled. Between the crack, the distinct sights of a section of the Dark City could be seen, as though she were standing within one of its buildings and looking down at an empty street. Peculiar at first, it seemed more and more common as they continued. The slices of Dark City reality became more numerous, and larger. The other two had paused, seemingly noticing the phenomenon as well.
"It is as though the Labyrinth is breaking down," Cygni stated, observing a cut into the domain that hovered at face-height some feet away.
"I was right, this is not something achievable by another mage. Not one of our lifetimes," Erina said sharply. "This can only be the work of something on par with Yusei." She looked to Reina and then Cygni, a hint of worry in her eyes that reflected in the sensed emotions of Reina's spell.
@Remram
The team broke into a hurried reaction, shifting positions, readying weapons, and scanning surroundings. The smoke from the building continued to billow, and its outermost edges sifted around the squad's boots.
"I can make it out, just barely," Rafael said, his voice struggling to maintain cool. His rifle leveled up into the dust cloud, waiting for movement from that 'thing' which was 'merely present' and yet so deadly. "I would retreat to a higher position, but you guys may need my directions here," he continued. In one moment, Dirk was standing there readied, and another, he had vanished. The smoke already saturated the empty void he had left behind.
Bel's expression was a contorted one of anger, his finger itching to loose a volley onto anything that dared to twitch. "Is this just a matter of invisibility, or are we going to have to improvise our attacks here?" he asked. If it was merely invisible, the solution was easy. If not... heads had to be put together.
"I'm afraid the latter," Rafael droned. Emma had deftly pulled a knife into her left hand and set the dog carrier onto the ground with the other. After unzipping the top of the bag a white smoke, cold as ice, evaporated from within. Her 'dog', a pact-bound familiar, manifested within the Dark City as a shapeless fog -though one could often catch a glimpse of something predatory and animalistic lurking just behind the white veil. Incorporeal as it was, perhaps it was one of the better shots at harming the Manifestation they faced.
Mathias watched the confines of the cloud, waiting for that pattern of singularly "dust-ness" to shift, and found his moment: a fracture in the pattern, less than a movement of even a single particle. The concept came rushing for him once again and with it a sensation of jaws and claws within the formless stampede.
Rafael opened fire with a single shot, himself able to see just as well. With his prompt, Bel too ripped into the cloud with a hail of arcane bullets, but nothing yet seemed to connect.
@Kronshi
Despite the fully obscuring gas mask, Ozymandias could discern -perhaps through subtle body language, perhaps retroactively in the voice of hers that followed- that the woman smiled at his answer.
"I see. An astute assessment- hey, wait," she protested as she was grabbed, but did not tug back and instead kept pace beside Ozymandias. The building had indeed shifted, and the scenery outside no longer recognizable. Though it was indeed that same sort of street as any other in the Dark City, the buildings broken any sense that he was still near where he had entered from Realspace. A glint in the sky caught his eye -a shimmer of pure red, and for a moment the sensation that one or more people on the other side of it were looking back at him.
"I'm afraid that after being displaced, I've no idea where the original portal was either," the woman said then. She retracted her arm from his grip as she took a few more tentative steps on the street. "We could form a portal back to Realspace here, if we are not afraid of potentially stepping into someone's apartment." The woman paused, thinking, before turning to face him.
"Ah, I might as well make it plainly clear; from herein, we are accomplices in this matter. You are surely confused about a lot of this, but we'll save the heavier explanations for later. Right now, your observation is indeed correct. There will be a servant after us..." She paused again, "...after you. And much as I threatened you, I do need you alive now."
The woman continued across the street, seemingly aimless, but no less searching for an existing portal. Etiquette demanded that portals used to get in be the ones used to get out, lest wayward rifts form right in the faces of mundane mortals in Realspace by accident. Even moving ten feet in the Dark City could well place oneself somewhere miles away in Realspace by comparison. For the time being, the woman clearly considered it not quite emergency-enough to warrant such an escape hatch.
Little did either of the two mutual strangers know that they were heading straight for their very pursuer.