🔮 Realms of Westeria 🧬 || Official Thread

[BlueInferno]

Quintin Hallenhall // Hope Citadel

It was fortunate one of them bothered to do their research on Selenium culture. While Quintin did read the books, it was also a chore to understand them out of context. He could never comprehend a life where everything was intentionally bleak or where efficiency was prioritized over the aesthetic. Maybe it had to do with the fact that Peter saw more action in general; regardless, it was helpful. The explanation for Minerva’s existence was just as strange as imagining one of Charlia’s creatures tagging along.

Though it was blatant how comforted Peter felt by that Selenium sword. Some symbol vengeance that was, even Quintin could marvel at that notion. Afterwards, the written report has mentioned the complexities of how that blade contained toxins, the same unknown ones Peter was doused in before being kidnapped. The whole situation was hilarious if any of the spirits could look back, though he supposed one of them already did.

“So it’s big,” he slowly enunciated, “yeah, I can do that.” Dizzying almost, trying to look all the way up. Logically, Quintin knew that the upper shelves couldn’t reach that far up; there had to be some illusion spell or mirrors along the way. It was the same when he looked down certain isles; they didn’t look like they ended, and yet there were still plenty of residents milling in between looking for books of their own.

“Alright, I trust you,” he responded, knowing fully well that something disastrous was bound to happen at this point. “But you need to keep track of what floor we’re on. I don’t want to be chased by horror characters that come to life…or whatever other weird stuff happens. The stories and rumours here…not very good. Literally. Just head to where ever creepy section contains secrets on the dark mistress. You know, if this was easy, I bet tons of other people would have wandered this route. It’s gotta be another deal altogether going further than all of them.”

With no point wandering the first floor, or even the five below it, Quintin headed toward the infinite stairs. “Pretty sure a cadet died here like a week ago trying to get a fragment.”

@Edelgard - Peter

[OhSumana]

---

Location : Forest //Kingdom Uraga (or its ruins)

---

Despite the rays of sun reflecting on her scales, a wave of oddly chilliness shivered the long spine behind the five heads of hers, the incoherent whispers in the her head was more audible but equally unclear as before. Then the moment she appeared to lose her connection with the alarming spell that guarded Uraga and simultaneously the voluminous gaseous pillar of black smoke curling up into the air was spotted, Shaila’s throat became parched instantly . As if in a daze, she stared blankly at the the smoke soaring up higher as they approached towards it with the help of kind Avian , uttering a faint “Yessss…”, though she was entirely clueless about what was yet to been witnessed down there.

Eventually the ground came closer or they neared the surface, all that fitted in her sight was a vast open area consisting of burnt trees and charred flesh, and the pungent smell of it. Instead of waiting for Avian to land, she made a skip, and in-between of her descending she transformed into the weakest form of hers, the fully human form with legs, running and running until she stood at the center of the ruins of the destruction and a long pervading deadly silence…

Shaila fell on her knees, her vision blurring with the overflow of warm tears from her eyes, flowing down by her cheeks, and by droplets dripping onto the dehydrated ground. It was like reliving a distant but vivid memory, but this time it was much much worse, perhaps the worst it could get. The tears rolled silently by her cheeks as she averted her eyes to the lifeless, almost burnt to the bone, four-armed figure lingered as a token of martyrdom of Vasu, and of many other warriors laying eternally asleep near him. Shaila lifted herself up, to stand on her feet proceeded towards the surface of the vast lake like a hypnotized body, and dived in. Avian, the rest of Lakora, everything else outside the ruins of Uraga seemed to vanish like it never existed before. The civilization underwater was silent too. The castle walls had collapsed down, in some parts the entrances were blocked. Still she managed to creep her way inside to see the remaining of warriors dead and crushed under debris. The last Naag warriors, and Asti, Vasu’s wife. Shaila watched Adya coming out of her hair and slithering her way to the pedestal where the relic was kept, now absent, the relic worshipped by Naags and Naagins.

Suddenly the world of black before Shaila’s eyes, she fell backwards, as a burning pain of dark fire and venom spread across her skin and every joints. Her shrill painful cries erupted from the depth to the surface as black lines cut across her hands, legs and sides of face, a gaseous black substance oozing out from those lines. Normally these lines disappeared as soon as they came but now Shaila was convinced that she was dying or something like that. Her veins were popping up. And she kept screaming until her voice broke.

---

@/meekepeek

I can’t keep going even if I want to lol

[Meekepeek]

//Kingdom Uraga //
As Shaila slipped out of my hands I descended slowly while looking at the grim image in front of me. I didn’t have words as I looked at the destruction that was left. I felt anger, anger towards those who could do something like this. I felt Anger for Shaila, whose family, friends, and people have been slaughtered.

I looked at her as she fell to her knees but didn’t say anything as I watched over her in silence. She needed a moment of grief, a moment of pain and I wasn’t planning on taking that from her. Instead, I turned to the other dead-bodied and closed my eyes. Holding my left hand, with the palm towards the ground, thumb and three fingers forming a circle and one finger fully stretched, diagonally from my right hand with the palm towards the sky, two fingers fully stretched, two fingers half clenched and one fully clenched as I took a deep breath.

“Heavenly Anos God of Tranquility and keeper of souls, please grant me your audience. Renew my wisdom so I may show the world your warmth. I ask this of you with true devotion, nurture these lost souls, and let their spirits find peace as you watch over them in their eternal rest” I spoke our common prayer by the passing of someone. Though they didn’t believe in the same gods as we did it was the biggest type of respect I could give to her people.

Looking up, Shaila was gone and only the rippling of the water and some bubbles were left. I stayed close while looking around, closing the eyes of the soldiers that didn’t already, only to hear the agonizing cries from deep down the water. It broke my heart to hear as I knew the pain she felt right now.
@OhSumana

[Meekepeek]

// Ship //
I shake my head. “I don’t think that’s all there is to it. If I was holding myself back, I should be able to at least feel the magic in me. If you focus, you can hear your own heart beating in your chest. If you really focus on it, you can feel your muscles tighten and relax with every movement. The same is with my magic. If I really focus, I could feel the magical energy flowing through my body when I was young. It was one of the first training sessions we had was to become aware of our own magic. It is fundamental to be aware of your magical energy flow and how strong it is to know your limits.” I explain to him before I rolled my eyes while he gave me a pat on the back. “Don’t let it get to that big brain of yours, your head is already as big as your lack of social skills, and that’s coming from me” I said with a grin while I gave him a nudge.

“Still, I don’t want to use my magic. I can’t even look at a flame without freezing up, let alone make them myself of that magnitude!” I exclaimed almost like an unintentional desperate cry of frustration and fear. I took a breath of defeat because I knew at the end of the day, there wasn’t any problem except my personal ones.

I then chuckled as he was in denial of his drinking problem. “Oh please, you’re ready to whip out a bottle to drink as quickly as you’re ready to take any opportunity to brag about anything and everything you ever got involved with” I point out with a grin and then think.

“I’m going to say, let’s give her a chance. As much as I know that you like to outshine her, we’ve already done our job, imagine how badly she’s going to rub it in your face if we left and our fragment got stolen because you like to show off” I point out.

@BlueInferno - Damien

[BlueInferno]

Damien Caligari Escape Shuttle // Brunspar Rift

“Hey, Bryn, I really wouldn’t stress it. What happened to you is something unlike anything else. Even we haven’t figured out everything when it comes to switching abilities like that. Technically, It’s supposed to be impossible,” Damien acknowledged. “We’re all born with either the capacity for magic or hard-wired for engineering. At least that’s what’s always been written. Now you know no one’s lying when they say you’re special.”

It was an echo, in a way, of all the other conversations they’ve had on this exact subject. Bryn was just unique, and his existence was just as clandestine as all the other illegal gimmicks Damien pulled up. The explanation of magic was akin to something one could feel, and yet Bryn didn’t have any of that currently. However, it was present just an hour ago in a dire event.

“Do you think it could be muscle memory?” Damien asked, “It’s odd trying to relate this foreign energy source, but you make it sound familiar. Just like fixing a speeder, if you don’t do it for a while, you forget. All these little skills that you have to relearn if you don’t engage in them often. Maybe magic acts like that? You’ve been in Selenium for a few years; perhaps that’s enough to forget how to use it. That blast earlier could have been a last-minute subconscious defence.” Which really just prompted more experiment ideas.

He wondered how getting Bryn to a lab would work.

“We also know how powerful our minds can be if we’re dead set on something. You’ve been avoiding any sort of magic ever since the incident, almost like a vow. If this strange energy source feeds off emotions, then it’s going to be cut off if that’s what you truly desire. That’s not something we can check out because no Lakorite would ever want to not do magic.”

Though he did laugh when Bryn mentioned the alcohol. Still, that wasn’t going to stop Damien from stealing a few shots out of view. It should have been a celebration anyways.

“We’ve already outshone miss artificial intelligence. Tell you what, they can keep their fragment. We can always say we got our piece first. However, keep the comm lines open just in case we do need to save their arses.” All those ways Damien could drag his victory out in front of Zara. They were going to be fine either way with Miles helping them. At least someone on the alternate team had the competence.

Of course, that still left a few other ideas. “Since we do have time, are you sure you don’t want to try some other spells? As a way to get over that arcane phobia, why not try to pop a cold one? You have no idea how useful it would be to freeze drinks.”

@Meekepeek - Bryn

[Edelgard]

Peter Shanks
Equinox Athenaeum

By the time the last of Quintin’s rhetorical warnings reached his ear, Peter was long off the velvet chair and beginning to go down the infinite stairs. One step, two steps -and then his feet came to a halt. A nagging feeling clutched at his throat as he stared into the abysmal depths before them. The lighting there seemed radically different from the antique glow of the first floor: shadows hung on the walls like living things, and Peter wondered how big the Athenaeum really was -and how much of it was a shifting illusion. His heart began the pound. The place was hostile to their presence, and he had a good idea why.

It wouldn’t be a problem. Peter felt cold and ready, the sort of sensation that sharpened your vision and heightened your hearing. If he had to turn this place to ruins to get what he wanted, then he would do it. Besides, Quintin is here, he reasoned over the maddening hatred that spread in his stomach once more. Sticking close to his friend probably wasn’t a bad idea, considering even the railing looked like it didn’t want him to hold it. And so Peter kept to the centre of the stairs -which were extremely slippery, to his great annoyance- as they began their descent, maintaining Quintin within arm’s reach.

Eventually, they reached a floor -the tenth one, Peter had kept count, as promised- that was radically different from the others: though it was still high-ceiling, the top of the shelves could now be made out, and the space between them was narrower. Unsheathing Ezekiel’s sword would be impossible there; Peter took that as a sign to draw it now. The furthest he looked from the infinite stairs, the dimmer the floor became, giving the impression of immense space spreading into the darkness. He was also fairly sure a few books screeched at their arrival, which was new. With a very unimpressed look, he reached for one, quickly flipping through the pages to get a sense of its content -and then the book all but screamed and shut in his hand.

“Rude,” said Peter. “You’re a book, you’re meant to be opened.” He turned towards Quintin, gesturing towards the shelves. “These look considerably older already, and the floor seems terrifying enough. Do you-”

Before he could finish his sentence, the book he’d just unceremoniously dropped onto the ground gave another screech -this time blood-curdling. Peter barely had the time to register how it bent and twisted before it shot back towards the shelves, opening to reveal pages that were now blank. His gaze darkened as he tightened his grip on Ezekiel’s sabre. “I think the Athenaeum is throwing a tantrum. Do you know how the others managed to retrieve the fragment last week?”

@BlueInferno - Quintin

[BlueInferno]

Event: Brunspar Rift // Zara, Miles, Circe, Zelda/Cornelia, and Ryuko

Zara finished up her analysis before transmitting the traced coordinates to her teammates. All of them wore teleports pads that emitted a faint beeping sound to confirm the signal. That’s when she turned toward their prisoner. Evarius was still slouched over right where Miles had dropped him in the alley. There was a blue light as Zara launched the drone from her arsenal. A small device hovered briefly over the fallen Lakorite before there was a projected grid extended over. Another confirmation sound and a following bright flash.

Within mere moments, Evarius was transported to the shuttle brig, a clear room toward the back of the ship. As soon as the lock mechanisms kicked in, there was a following signal to alert Damien and Bryn upfront about their new prisoner.

Back at Fernworths, Zara collected her drone while Zen ran through the final diagnostic. Though it was night by then in that timezone, anyone patrolling the streets would have seen three cadets disappear, leaving behind only traces of coloured particles.

Circe, Zara, and Miles landed in a darker area only illuminated by hovering orbs that filled the sides of the cavern. The water sparkled without any consistent light source, all flowing upstream to an altar at the very end. It was clearly still somewhere in Lakora, but unknown to the overall map.

Further on, Zelda was standing in a conversation with Ryuko, all while a spirit hovered around.

Zen would have confirmed that the artefact fragment the Selenium crew were looking for was with Zelda, right up ahead.

---

@Ouijaloveletters - Zelda and Corenelia
@Bexs - Ryuko
@Edelgard - Miles
@OhSumana - Zara and Zen
@unsungcheerio - Evarius

[Bexs]

Ryuko started laughing a bit, his back facing the entrance of the cave. He grinned as Zelda began to do the Macarena and make a fool of herself.

Then he felt a glow emit form behidn him because the cave lit up unusually. A quick glance behind me told me it was the spies I sent out to retrieve the fragment. And if they found the cave…which Ryuko was not happy about either, it meant that the girls had it.

“Zelda…you have a fragment don’t you?” He said under his breath to her, curling his hands into a fist. This looked bad. He was talking to a Lakorian who also had the fragment. “Get out of here Cornelia. Tell…whoever I don’t know. And Zelda…I’m sorry.” He said before grabbing Zelda’s wrist and twisted it until he heard a snap. He then kicked her leg down and grabbed a fireproof blanket and wrapped Zelda in a fireproof blanket. Hopefully, Cornelia would have left after he grabbed her.

Ryuko grabbed Zelda and hoisted her up over his shoulder and turned around to them. “If you are here, that means she has it. She’s intoxicated so she is out of it a bit. From the information I got out of her, she can summon the dead. She was able to get Ezekiel’s spirit out from…wherever. I was going with the approach that it would be best to bring her in when she isn’t aware of things. She came across this cave…somehow. I think her ghost friend followed me here for whatever reason, I think to spy on me then brought her friend along to act like a helpless girl.” He scowled. It wasn’t a secret that Ryuko liked to help those in need. “The girl has fire powers, which is why I took an extra precaution. I didn’t want to get burned while on the way back.” Ryukoo tried to cover all of their tracks. He really didn’t feel like losing his job or ending up behind a prison cell today.

@Ouijaloveletters - Zelda and Corenelia
@Edelgard - Miles
@OhSumana - Zara and Zen
@unsungcheerio - Evarius
@BlueInferno - idk whoever u have

[Ouijaloveletters]

Zelda playfully gave Ryuko a dirty look as Zelda emerged from her body. There was a flash of light, and Ryuko whispered to her about having the fragment. Well, sh!t. This was bad. She slowly nodded, and Cornelia vanished, doing as told. She was going to ask why he was apologizing, then she understood as the pain set in. “AHHHHHH!” She screamed, gritting her teeth as her radius and ulna breaking with an audible snap. He wiselyy wrapped her in a fireproof blanket, just as her body ignited, reacting from the pain. She blacked out for a bit, breathing heavily.
@Bexs - Ryuko
@Edelgard - Miles
@unsungcheerio - Evarius
@OhSumana - Zara\Zen
@Bluecookies - IDK

[BlueInferno]

Quintin Hallenhall // Equinox Athenaeum

He was more hesitant in taking the lead just because this place was all but unknown prior to meeting Peter. It had been such a change in directions that Quintin was convinced that Peter was either a good or bad luck magnet. Nothing today had been planned in the slightest aside from meeting at the central citadel. Usually, that’s where everything started to go wrong, aside from the fact that nothing had gone wrong yet. The emphasis being ‘yet’ and the additional tidbit that Quintin was obnoxiously clumsy.

The athenaeum acted like a living thing in the strangest regards ever, yet was also oddly welcoming to a certain point. They hadn’t even discussed the research project on the Dark Mistress, and it already felt like words were beckoning him downwards. It wasn’t even a siren quality or anything that felt like an ensnarement, just this constant feeling of euphoria over this research project. For a living library with all these horror tales, it certainly had an enthusiastic approach to those who wanted to learn. Fairy tales for sure, the way the magic wove around this location was intoxicating at most. Each floor down had a new warning quality to it, but more so in the way of protective guidance and less in the restriction realm. This place was dangerous, but it was almost like it wasn’t by choice. Quintin supposed that someone in Lakora had to hold all of its secrets, and there was only so much protection this athenaeum could harbour for dangerous spells.

In contrast, it looked like Peter was having a harder time taking the route. They had different motivations for finding information on the Dark Mistress. Though it somewhat eluded a darker fixation, Quintin was confident that the library was only doing its best. Something about being magical meant emotions, and Amaranthae hadn’t deeply affected both of them to the same degree.

“It feels like this is the right floor,” he commented while a book screamed at Peter. Physically forming the thought in his head was just as baffling as seeing pages fold into a mouth shape. There were crazier things out there, but books were supposed to have this sense of calm to them.

Quintin paced forwards, drawing out another book. This was warm almost, pulsing with hidden clues and secrets, but all jumbled up together into absolute nonsense. Searching deeper, there was a vague warning feeling, some more tidbits about the Dark Mistress, and then the covers snapped shut. The book fell to the ground, silent now, and with far less of an interesting light show Peter had gotten.

“I skimmed the file on the fragment quest,” Quintin admitted, “This library isn’t well known where I’m from, and the quest was successful. I didn’t see the need to review it as much. However, I can say that the athenaeum was rather violent to them, but I suspect it was because the fragment was not meant to be found.” There was this strange fluttering agreement as phantom wind blew through the scattered pages.

“Maybe the library is allowing us to research the Dark Mistress. Perhaps that’s a sign that her time is up,” he speculated. Quintin wandered out further through the towering shelves that reached further than the height of this supposed floor. It was a maze, and there were the occasional screaming books, but that had quickly become old.

He stopped at a new intersection where there were a few scrolls stacked as well as books. Whatever signal that was present in the air had long faded, meaning that they were probably running on borrowed time. “You take the left shelf, I take the right?” Quintin asked, staring down the hundreds of novels that may or may not even have the answer.

@Edelgard - Peter

[Edelgard]

Miles Castairs
Uncharted cave

So far, the extraction had gone fairly well. Miles would even dare say very well: they hadn’t gotten any problematic attention in Fernsworth -hadn’t even needed to push further into the town to find McCoy- and had unexpectedly managed a bonus in taking Montardieu. Miles wasn’t fond of multiplying war prisoners, nor did he enjoy using them for research against their will, but he couldn’t deny the interest the Lakorite cadet represented for toxicology. There was even a chance that his physical abilities could further the research on Colombe’s cure -Emma had seemed particularly concerned lately.

All for the best, Miles thought as they blinked into the uncharted cave.

Yes, all had gone well so far. And so when the first thing they were greeted with was Ryuko, confidently presenting them with a neutralised McCoy, he had wanted to believe it they were exceptionally lucky that day, and that that was all there was to it. Ryuko’s explanations, however, didn’t quite match their surroundings: as he took more of the cave into sight, he noticed that pillows and blankets scattered here and there, visibly destined for more than one person. Miles felt his jaw tighten as he placed a precautious hand on the grip of his blaster, watching as Ryuko put them away. The latter was a trusted cadet, and he did believe his suspicions were a misunderstanding, but this was still war, and they had responsibilities.

“Okay. You were dancing. With the enemy.” Miles cleared his throat, looking from the heaving form beneath the blanket to Ryuko. “We can deal with this when we’re back to Headquarters.” He moved his hand slightly, keeping the blaster at the ready as he glanced at Zara and Circe. “If she’s unconscious, can you retrieve the fragment? There aren’t many chances she’ll get away, but we’d better be safe.”

@Ouijaloveletters - Zelda and Cornelia
@Bexs - Ryuko
@OhSumana - Zara and Zen
@unsungcheerio - Evarius (mentioned)
@BlueInferno - Circe

[OhSumana]

---

Location : Some secret cave

---

The “prisoner’s” teleportation to the shuttle being all wrapped, they were back on quest of the fragment of the artifact. The co-ordinates detected by Zen led to a cavern illuminated by hovering orbs, no need for night-vision mode so far. Well that did not surprise Zara. This was very Lakora-y. But what rather shocked her was the arrangement of blankets and pillows as the perfect requirements for an ideal solitary place to relax, and presence of a Selenite, Ryuko to be specific, with a random Lakorite girl at that very place.

Zara furrowed her brows in suspicion as Ryuko related what he had in his defence, before he was even inquired about anything. A very little spot showed evidence of commotion in the spacious cave. Zara swiftly snapped some photos of the surrounding as evidence as Miles made it very clear that this would be brought up again once they reached Selenium safely with the fragments. Great minds think alike and this was why working with Miles was a pleasure, rather than with his best friend with a drinking problem.

"If you have been here for so long with her, you must retrieved the fragment already right? It shouldn’t take much time and effort to get a fragment from a intoxicated girl, should it?, she asked, “Please do hand it over then, or you waited for us to teleport here to retrieve it ourselves?” she added

---

@Edelgard - Nice teammate
@Ryuko - suspicious guy
@BlueInferno - silent Circe
@Ouijaloveletters - Zelda, probably mad at Ryuko

[BlueInferno]

Circe Dynamo // Uncharted Cave

First, the other cadets in this task force were all renowned for their individual skills. They all either had a proven reputation through prior popularity or combat experience, making this one of the most elite, if not the greatest, tack force scrapped together. Under normal settings, such a team would have never prospered unless there was a prestigious reward that was a notable game-changer or if Lakora had abruptly managed a devastating hold. Instead, the three of them were chasing a mere fable.

It heavily indicated the possibility that the government was grasping at straws out of desperation, though the public knowledge of Lakora’s progress was nothing of concern from their current standpoint. Furthermore, millions of credits were invested into an ultra stealth shuttle specific for this mission. Besides the usual pretence of secrecy, someone above was trying extraordinarily hard to make sure that task force was never seen. Less than two weeks ago, cadet squads would be sent all over uncharted sides of Lakora to eliminate the local fauna. After the Brunspar Rift Incident last week, the government had all but pulled all their troops from distinct Lakora territory. The war still waged on, but it was now being played by the intermediate region; Selenium only advancing once Lakora definitively lost control.

The Arcanatron itself was rumoured to be some mythical wish-granting device. If no one could comprehend the irony considering the magical properties such a device would require, then present propaganda was far more effective than thought. Regardless, its existence was merely a rumour and nothing more.

Circe stepped forwards to collect the fallen Lakorite girl. Though she had burst into flames after Ryuko had incapacitated her, they had all but dissipated via the blanket thrown over. The fragment itself was located in her pocket, a small little blinking shard that looked altogether unimpressive.

The search for the Lakorite girl had rightfully ended and the mission objective completed, which meant that she was no longer useful. However, with the task force’s status, there would be more than enough leeway to dance around certain rules of extraction. Circe had known Miles’ interest in finding a proper test subject for one of his clandestine projects. If it proved helpful, the government would gladly look over such an error. Though for now, Ms McCoy was officially terminated.

Among the backdrop, Zara was in the midst of interrogating Ryuko, all valid questions. Seeing as there appeared to be no other method of transportation, he would have to join the task force back to extraction. A notable member of his status shouldn’t have too hard untangled the situation he found himself in, and even if there was a backlash, the demotion wouldn’t be too devastating. After all, it was hard finding coordinated individuals to man the communications while their teammates claimed all the battlefield glory.

Circe pulled out a syringe, inserting it into McCoy’s neck. It would only keep her knocked out longer while the additional healing pad stitched her wounds together. Miles’ project was most likely a personal connection if he needed a live specimen, so Circe took to assuming that fair health would also be included. If the assumption was incorrect, it would be no small trouble for him to break a few more bones.

Once Zara had gotten her answers from Ryuko, they could head back to join Damien and Bryn.

---

@Edelgard - Miles
@OhSumana - Zara
@Ouijaloveletters - Zelda
@Bexs - Ryuko, posting next since Zelda is out
Wrap up the explanation, then check out. If you wanted, we could take it in two cycles between Zara/Ryuko and Circe/Miles.

[OhSumana]

---

Location : Coast of Fernsworth

---

Both the Costoterras appeared to be keen on following the lead of wisp. Admittedly the decision was risky, but this could be the only chance for Charlia to finally get just the lead she was in search of. Cassius was barely given a moment to decide whether or not he should run along. On top of it, as Charlia turned to him with a grin and curiosity radiating from sparkly eyes, he could not deny, not that he was going to. Cassius gave her a nod and one of his supportive and encouraging smiles.

So they ran and ran and ran, tirelessly and without any idea of the destination the wisp could lead them to. Cassius was running out of breath. Shxt, I can’t believe how unfit I’ve gotten. Oof! - he thought to himself, as Charlia dashed off. “Wow, damn, she’s fast!”, he exclaimed eyeing at Sarya, from the corner of his eyes. At the same time he was skeptical. “It feels like a Costoterra”, Charlia had shared, but what if this Costoterra was a more angry and protective one than Sarya. Were they still within Sarya’s territory though?

Finally when they managed to catch up with Charlia, she was staring at the vastness of the blue ocean stretching to the horizon before their eyes, and Cassius bent down to rest his palms on his knees catching his breath. “It’s fine… I don’t mind…but you Costoterras are as fast as a flash of a light. Very unfair from the perspective of a lazy wizard.”, he replied jokingly, cracking a smile between his heavy panting, his broad chest lifting and falling rhythmically under his attire. Upon his breathing getting normalized, he straightened his back, as they mentioned ‘Salmare’, another creature Cassius had only read in the books and probably now having the opportunity to meet one.

His eyes were scanning the scenic view of the coast when a figure was spotted where the waves crushed onto the sandy beach. A human figure with her skin exposed to allow the sun beams bounce upon them, and her long black and wet traces surrounding her face. Cassius had to avert his gaze from her, but at the same time he felt uneasy as he saw her cry. He could never bear someone crying before him. Avoiding to fix any gaze towards her, he stepped ahead. “Heyy, sorry! Did we scare you?.. I-I promise we’re not here to hurt you or something”, he tried to sound reassuring but let Charlia and Sarya take control

---

@meekepeek - Charlia /Sarya
@bluecookies - Nereida

[Bluecookies]

---

Nereida sniffled and looked up at the person who spoke to her. It was something she had never seen before. She recognized the other two as being female but tilted her head at the third. It took a step towards her and she scrambled back into the waves, a flicker of terror flashed in her eyes. Suddenly the clouds over the ocean came together and blocked out the sun as they grew darker over the horizon. The once tranquil waves that had gently lapped against the shoreline had grown to a gargantuan size as they began to roughly ravage the coastline, ebbing and flowing. The previously relaxing and brisk ocean breeze had become a howling salty sea wind that whipped through the nearby trees and further fueled the fury of the water. Heavy rains began to pound the coastline and thunder rumbled. The thing that had taken a step towards her appeared to be in the middle of saying something, that Nereida could barely make out.

Without warning a savage riptide had pulled Nereida out to sea, roughly forcing her under the waves as it did so. Nereida had to fight with everything she had just to break through the surface to breathe only to be forced under once more by the surmounting waves. Finding herself running out of energy and unable to breathe, Nerieda reached her hand to the surface and slipped into unconsciousness. Now with nothing to fight against it, gravity began to pull the girl down drowning her with every passing second.

@OhSumana ~ Cassius
@Meekepeek ~ Charlia/Sarya

Orp ~ being from and all-female race, Nereida had never seen a man before so I hope that was an ok reaction…

[Edelgard]

Peter Shanks
Equinox Athenaeum

“So rude,” Peter muttered again, watching as the book Quintin had picked out dropped onto the ground with a firm boom. “But at least you got a bit of information.” The moment his friend had brushed past him, he’d moved to stick behind the latter: partly to catch a bit of information from Quintin’s reading, partly because it appeared that the Athenaeum was debating starting to throw things Peter’s way. A simple deduction made from the way several books were already whipping the shadows in the corner. He shot them a sorry look, before turning his attention back to Quintin.

Visibly, the latter was having an easier time handling the whole place, which even seemed to answer his assumptions with much friendlier signs. He shot the ceiling a glare, distinguishing parts of an old painting that faded into the darkness. Judgemental b@stard. He had charged head-first into the Athenaeum, thinking of nothing but the blood boiling under his skin. Now he was second-guessing that decision. Not that he didn’t stand by what he said: if it took turning this place upside down to find what he wanted, that would be done. But maybe it wasn’t the only way to obtain information: the way Quintin’s collected speculations did not beget a book apocalypse told him as much.

“Alright.” He paused in the glaring, shrugging off his jacket and hurtling it towards the books that were still lashing at the corner.

As Peter shuffled towards the left shelf, he felt anxiety fizzing through his veins. Where they just supposed to flip through all the papers until they miraculously found something? That was uncharted territory. Disconcerted, he reached for a scroll first, because at the very least, it was a single paper. Mother of- how long is this? The scroll unrolled all the way down to his feet, but Peter barely even had the time to catch a word on it before it flew out of his hands, propping himself much further up on the shelf. Furious, he tightened his grip on Ezekiel’s sword, the hilt ice cold against his palm. He could see the top of Quintin’s silvery hair through the bookshelves, probably plunged into further reading. Peter couldn’t tell. Still, he seized the wooden leg with his free hand, casting away the sting of splinters digging into his skin.

“She hurt someone I loved,” he muttered, slowly, eyes set on Quintin. “So I plan to chop her into tiny pieces and feed her to my fish. Those are my sole motivations. I-” Peter broke off. He felt wretched. Wretched, and exhausted. He’d messed up by leaving a friend alone last week, lost his opportunity with Evarius, couldn’t gain anything from the Athenaeum.

But then something floated down on his head, uncharacteristically light, and Peter heard the shuffling of paper. The scroll had dropped back to him. His heart leaped -the parchment didn’t contain much, merely old lore, some interesting, some less, but at least the books were no longer screaming at his face. Peter took care of placing the relevant volumes on a dusty chair nearby, until it eventually felt relevant to call back at Quintin.

“Did you find anything?” he asked, skirting around the upright to get a better look at what his friend was doing.

@BlueInferno - Quintin

[Bexs]

Ryuko didn’t flinch as the girl caught fire in his arms. He kept his stone face appearance up. “She was the one dancing. I was only trying to gain her trust. And I do have standards you know.” He responded to Miles as he commented saying Ryuko could have just gotten the fragment. He handed Circe the girl and held his hands up as he eyed Miles’ hand move to his blaster. He turned his head to Zara. “I didn’t even know she had the fragment at first. Besides, would you rather I just leave behind a girl who found her way across the border without detection all alone here without the fragment but expose a space for the Lakorians to sneak in? Or would you rather I wait until the girl with fire powers falls asleep so I could get her into the lab for testing?”

He turned around to the rest of the cave. "Can you blame me for wanting to have an escape from all the war, the cameras, from being constantly watched? Arrest me if you want but this was my escape…and it was nice while it lasted…” He said the last part under his breath. He sighed, if he was going to be questioned about the entrances, he might as well be honest. He pointed to a whole in the corner. “I think that’s how she came in from Lakora. The exit to the surface is over there.” He pointed to another part of the cavern. There was no way he could have snuck her in through his elevator.

@Ouijaloveletters - Zelda
@BlueInferno - Circe
@OhSumana - Zara
@Edelgard - Miles

[Bexs]

~Somewhere in Lakora~
Odessa woke up in a bed. She had been tended to for a few days and her wound was…mostly healed. Peter had been assigned to watch her today, at least according to the schedule…but he was MIA. Next to her, Magnum was being tended to with his wounds though. Determined to not be alone, and to not be bored, Odessa grabbed her staff and bag and hobbled her way outside, where she did not see Peter.

Odessa sighed. “You aren’t getting away that easily Peter…” She mumbled.

She closed her eyes and imagined Peter. “Take me to Peter…” She whispered, doing something she had never done before. Wind lifted her up into the sky and circled around her before making her disappear in the eyes of others. In her teleportation bubble, she felt her leg scream in pain and Odessa held on as long as she could before letting go. She felt herself falling through the sky, through a roof of glass and landing in the arms of a silver headed guy. She felt her face go red and she looked up to see Peter staring at her. “uhhhhh…this did not go as planned…” She chuckled nervously. She hopped out of the guys arms and dusted glass off her clothes and looked at Peter with her hands on her hips. “Didn’t think you could get rid of me that easily huh?” She grinned, blowing some hair out of her face.

@BlueInferno - Quintin ~ Does this work?
@Edelgard - Peter ~ Hi!

[Edelgard]

Miles Castairs
Uncharted cave

“Well, no, blame is not exactly the term I was thinking about.” Without a hint of his previously raised voice and frustration, Miles nodded towards Circe as she expertly administered another substance into McCoy’s limp body, otherwise adjusting his grip on his blaster so that it was less visibly aggressive -but no less ready. “Did you not think of alerting headquarters -or anyone for that matter?”

The words were dry, not exactly expecting any form of answer, for they’d all been given clear instructions: retrieve the fragments, and return to the shuttle. This was a stealth mission after all -and the risk of getting identified by enemy troops was increasing with every minute they spent on Lakoran soil. As such, what could be dealt with in Selenium would be dealt with in Selenium.

“We should head back, Zara,” suggested Miles, voicing his previous thoughts, and features relaxing appreciatively as he noticed she’d retrieved evidence with her usual speed and efficiency. Circe seemed ready to leave as well, so there was really no reason to prolong their stay. “Do you have everything you need?”

@OhSumana - Zara
@BlueInferno - Circe
@Bexs - Ryuko
@Ouijaloveletters - Zelda

[BlueInferno]

Quintin Hallenhall // Equinox Athenaeum

Admittedly, it did seem like an overwhelming task. Quintin was grateful that the library led them this far on their own, as strange as that sounded, but they were still grasping at loose ends for the actual information needed. An unlimited trove of books narrowed down to a few shelves was still give or take, a thousand books or so. So yeah, totally manageable. Not to make anything worse, there was still that phantom feeling of a clock ticking, an omen of a time limit of some kind. The athenaeum had been kind enough initially, but it was also not endless in its blessings. This floor was clearly not usually accessible, and the building wanted it to stay that way.

A thousand books and scrolls, and about a half an hour before the furniture went hostile. Quintin gulped and looked up at his half of the shelve. None of the books down here had names on the spines or any identifiable label: all the same brown and gold bindings, dark ink and cursive scriptures. After flipping through the initial intro pages and eliminating yet again another scripture, at least they floated back into place. It made reorganizing the ‘read’ pile faster, but that was still hardly anything against the nine hundred and ninety books to sift through.

Not that Peter looked to be all that better off with his progress. As hopeless as it seemed, it really felt like their trip was a rare opportunity, as much as Quintin wished they had more assistance. Still, the earlier messages from the athenaeum stuck with him, potential clues that maybe held hidden information for now. It was a desperate bid, but they didn’t have much else. The part about intentions somehow resonated; it was equally likeable that the library didn’t want harm to befall the Dark Mistress. Quintin knew that she was evil, but he didn’t wish her death or anything of the sort. Just pure research.

Yet Peter had indeed confirmed his desire for revenge, nothing that would change the way both friends regarded each other, but that would also explain the library’s hostility to exclusively one of them. “I suppose I can’t really talk you out of that,” Quintin began, “yet that might be the reason this place is kinda concerned. Maybe we’ll even find out why along the way. It’s folly to convince you to think otherwise about the Dark Mistress, but perhaps we make this less personal and consider the good of the realm. She’s always been evil, I guess.” The reasoning was half-hearted, but it was a way to exercise the theory on why Peter was having a harder time.

Then there was another book; something of a reward. The signal was faint, something that Quintin excitedly hopped up a few ladders for, sweeping books of shelves just to reach the one that just had something different about. A new novel, this one, an anthology of bedtime stories, but with an illustration of the Dark Mistress.

Oh

Sorta like seeing where a puzzle piece would fit in, the images started to click to the earlier historical textbooks Quintin had flipped through before. Legends spun in her image, portraits taken, stitching, murals, songs dedicated, all of them with vastly different dates stretching back hundreds of years.

“How would one have their likeness spread across history?” Quintin yelled from his vantage point, sliding down the ladders. “We’ve heard stories of this mysterious woman dating back a few decades while she looks barely twenty. It’s easy to assume that it’s all an illusion, but what if it wasn’t?” He landed on the ground, pacing toward Peter at a frenzied pace.

“And those legends of immortality? What if that’s true? Maybe the Dark Mistress really does possess the secrets to everlasting life. Do you understand how big that could be? But of course, it can’t be a gift. You’d go insane from all that isolation unless you were a psychopath.” Which Amaranthae could easily fit the qualities for, “But her whole magic deal? Unlimited power and all that? And the fact that she’s infamous for crafting bargains? What if her whole ordeal wasn’t by choice?”

Quintin took a deep breath, the thoughts still scrambling together in his head. Too many connections at once, and hopefully a breakthrough rather than another false lead.

“I think she’s-”

And then someone fell from the ceiling. He stared up for all of two seconds before lunging forwards to catch…another girl? The red hair was quite striking, as well as the adventurous outfit, and she did seem familiar.

“Peter?” Quintin made out, gesturing to the new girl in hopes of an explanation. “I guess I did kinda wish for extra help.”

@Edelgard - Peter
@Bexs - Odessa