Palmyna

The soldiers stood down, they didn't wish to fight, they more likely wanted to stop the imminent threat (aka Herobrine) the leader of the group said, "we do not wish to fight, we were only concerned about your friend here, he is a threat to us, we wanted to greet you." He then bowed, "oh, sorry about those arrows, our newest member is kinda clumsy" he added.

Herobrine's energy began to destroy the ground around him, it also began to weaken the chains.

"If I may ask, what has he done," she asks, pointing to Herobrine, remaining civil as she attempts to negotiate. "Surely demonic power alone is not a cause for this? I'm the least human thing here, even compared to the Chosen Few back there. For all you knew, I could have been a fallen god! Though... speaking of which, that is our destination... we plan to put an end to Cardes the Malevolent. We, including the one you have chained."

She points towards the direction that radiated with what could only be defined as: malevolence. Then she looked over at Herobrine who was still trying to breaks his bonds and destroying the land around him. She sighs and floats over between him and the soldiers. She wanted above all else to still try to help. She was beginning to sound more like a guru, which probably meant the Chuza side was becoming more prevalent.

"Even if you do overpower the chains, what does that prove? Right now the enchantments are confusing you for a demon. I think it works like a... finger trap... um, the more power you try to use, the more resistance it gives, but if you were to instead relax and pull back your power into your center, maybe you would appear human enough to remove the chains without breaking them. It is time to remember that you are not the power, but the will."

"Oh, thank you very much," snapped Max in response to Owru's remark on their humanity.
"I don't think Herobrine's much of a threat unless you provoke him," said Fancy. "He's just a kid who just inherited demonic powers. Does that mean he's inherently evil? Of course not! It's like saying a Toon always thinks about gags."
"Gee, thankth," said Jack, unsure on how to react to Fancy's own remark.
"Chaining someone just because they're half-demon's a bit prejudiced, don't ya think? So, if you can just unchain him and leave us be, I bet you've got a war or somethin' to get to, we can make our merry way to slaying Cardes the Malevolent." Behind him, Adam had pulled the arrow from the tree, throwing it up in the air and catching it. He then proceeded to lick the arrow.
Here was a bit of squick, because his tongue was in fact a worm. Years ago, skeletons have found out that, whilst their own tongues rotted away, they could potentially use worms as a replacement. After all, worms have got mouths, and therefore taste buds, so if they simply connect the worm to their soul's mouth, it will work well as a tongue. The fact that it tended to slither around the inside of their skull was a mere technicality.
After the worm caressed the metal experimentally, Adam retracted his tongue and looked upwards, as if testing the taste. "Nope," he said finally. "I don't think skeletons are affected by holy stuff."

"So...you just thought he was a threat to you guys despite him traveling with renowned heroes whom everyone knows their name...You might as well say necromancers that fight for humanity are still a threat to us." Vargas spoke as he walked up to Herobrine and examined him. "Its not about what powers a person has, its about one uses it in the end. If one was an assasin but turned his blade to the gods, then its possible for a kid with demonic powers to fight for good!" Vargas spoke with a raised fist.

Selena nodded at Vargas, leave it to Vargas to always be prepared to a speech.

The chains around Herobrine exploded into tiny pieces. Herobrine slammed his fist into a large rock, cracking it into pieces.

Ignored in her attempts (again) to negotiate the situation and realizing this is more just a waste of breath and time, Owru continues towards their destination.

"Right, now that's sorted," said Adam. "Let's head off, lads."
The group continued their merry way to wherever their destination was. Bet those soldiers look like right mugginses now. If they attack us one more time, the collected thoughts of the Chosen Few said, they will have to limp back to their base. For now, they settled for idle chatter.
"Anyway, how was John faring?" said Fancy.
"Oh, he's alright. He was just clearing out some bodies when I left. We were attacked by bounty hunters, ya know. I'll tell ya, you'll have to wake up pretty early to get ahead of John," said Adam.
"You might as well be an insomniac," said Max.
"Mind you, he was thinking of coming to Grand Gaia. Guess we better clear things up for him."
"We wouldn't need to," Max pointed out. "John's got that shotgun, doesn't he? I bet it's just a regular custom double-barrel, but in his hands, it's a killing machine."
"Yeah, he doethn't need uth to clear out the banditth for him, if you could call thothe thuckerth back there banditth," said Jack.
"Yeah."
"Yeah."

Vargas would sigh as yet another situation wasted more of their time. At least it was resolved in a non violent manner. "Well, that was another situation that could have been avoided easily. In any case we have a..." The fire warrior would suddenly go silent as the wind went silent.

Selena stopped in her tracks as this happened as well. The two could feel a faint, overwealimg aura befall them all. They alrady knew what was going on. "The seal...that holds Cardes is weakining..." Selena spoke with unease in her voice.

Vargas simply pat her back hard. "Hey, no need to worry! Theres nine of us to fight a god! And besides, I got your back as always. So cheer up! Its just a god about to regain his full power! Its going to be a heck of a fight!" He would laugh as he walked forward.

Selena nodded as her unsease died away. Right, they did not have to fear what was coming.

Herobrine began to walk and with every step he took his energy cracked the ground underneath him. Rosa followed everyone while also keeping close to Vargas.

Owru felt it, hardly anything like what she had felt from Maxwell, to be expected... but it was... an abstraction of feeling given substance, only definable as malevolence. Abstract concepts given substance... she starts to see now what attracted the likes of that jester, but who would willingly want to absorb something so vile? Who would willingly want to be this way?

"What kind of being would willingly harbor something so foul," she mutters, truly bewildered. Her eyes squint as it seethes through even her presence, a shimmer in the air as it clashes against it.

"So you guys really going through with it, huh... I mean wow, this is some spooky stuff right here, heh," Mal's voice echoes ahead. "Hoo, boy... kinda of messes up my plans to Dracula the creep now that he's exiting snoozeville, haha..."

"What do you plan," Owru inquires, her voice echoing out as well, she looking around for the jester from beyond the veil.

"End plan is the same, consume it, but the plan to reach that point, hmmm, can't say, it is a surrrrpriiiise, hehahaha, dramatic tension, gotta leave the audience holding their breath, y'know" Mal responds, rather vague and foreshadowing as usual. His laughter fading out as it seems further and further ahead of them.

"What a... strange fellow."

The toons would stop dead on their tracks, their chatter hitting a brick wall. Something echoed in the air around them, as solid as an emotion, but just as powerful. They suddenly felt like the forest was coming alive around them, and it was livid.
"Uh, guys?" quavered Fancy.
"I feel it too," said Max uncertainly, out of place in his normal jaded immunity to fear.
"How big is Cardes?" said Adam.
It was thicker now, the mist of pure hatred of all living things. The type of burning rage only found within the most ancient elementals deep within the earth. It wrapped around them, coiling between Adam's bones, whipping Fancy's paper hair, rustling the Jack's feathers and billowing Max's shirt. It was inspecting them, watching them, hating them.
At the same time, they pulled out their weaponry, although this gave them little reassurance for the overwhelming threat ahead of them.

"Well...Maxwell did not show that but the Gods can reach up into the clouds so...pretty tall I say..." Vargas nodded. All Gods had a true form of course, besides their humanoid form. This was going to be a massive battle. Both literaly and figurativly.

Of course, Vargas noticed Rosa sticking close with him. He simply shrugged to himself, she could walk with whoever she wanted to, nothing strange about that. Granted he was like a good person to hide behind when danger was afoot. But jeeze...would it even be close to a good idea to bring her aith them. Herobrine was a loose cannon sure, but at least he can fight. Rosa on the other hand...

"Hey Rosa, listen...we are going up against Cardes, The Malevolent. Chances are people may die so I am going to ask, you have a chance to turn back now. Randall is a safe place to go to, with how you freeze on fear the last thing we need is you doing just that. Everyone has to fight together to bring down this opponent. If you wish to continue with us then I have two things to say...Grow a backbone! And I promise no one is dying on my watch...wait...Adam is already undead so...um...No one is being destroyed on my watch!" Vargas raised his fist into the air as he walked.

"Well she has a chance to think on it now, we have arrived at the school. You guys can set up your portal, if you need help well...we are on hand. But for now let us rest, but not for long lest the seal weakens more..." Swlena spoke as she looked at the building surrounded by woods. Despite being abbandoned it seemed in good shape. Another reminder of the long faught war in the past.

"No, I'll stay here with you guys, I don't think people would like seeing someone who was once with the god army" Rosa said quietly, and she blushed while talking. Rosa got closer to Vargas while continuing to blush. Herobrine sat down to take a rest, he really didn't realize what was going on so he just dozed off. Rosa walked over to Owru, Rosa was interested in what was going on.

"This school... I suppose was abandoned due to Cardes," Owru asks as she looks around at the buildings before having an unusual thought as she looks at how the trees and plants have taken over. "For what it has gone through, and what it is exposed to, it is oddly... serene."

Although wary of the presence of the waking Cardes, they were game with the idea of resting. The Chosen Few examined the building before them. Judging by the rooms inside, it was a school. Why there was a school in the middle of the forest was beyond them, but at least it was somewhere they could rest for the time being.
In response to Selena saying they can open a portal in the building, Max replied, "Hey, we can't just pull portals outta our asses; if we're gonna open one for John, you'll have to help us. When we thought about where to find a strong enough energy source, our first thought weren't a school."
Adam had an odd urge as they walked into the academy. Just because he was born in the Victorian era, didn't mean he wasn't around when the following eras passed by. A song welled up from his albeit empty skull, from a time not long ago.
"We don't need no education..." he muttered, the tune dying within the silence of the abandoned school.

"Right, I will be assisting you then. Come then, we have to find the center of this place because thats where we can gather the most energy. Vargas, remain on guard outside here." Selena nodded in reply as she went into the abbandoned school as well. She thought she hear Adam say something but maybe that was just her.

Vargas noticed Rosa and her blushing face, he was not sure what was with her...perhaps she was getting sick or had some sort of fever, his thoughts however turned to Herobrine as he fell asleep...at a time like this, sleep was not a good idea. Well at least he was outside to guard the place, he had not much info on magic compared to Selena.

Dawn set out early in the morning, from the abandoned cabin she had made her home earlier in the year, to gather herbs and flowers, and pick berries and fruit if she happened upon them. She first gathered the Comfrey roots that grew near her home, then ventured out to find some yarrow plants, plaintain leaves, Purple Coneflower, Elderberry, Jewelweed, and Blackberry bushes.

By the time she had located and gathered the herbs and plants she had set out for a good part of the day had gone by. Dawn decided to head off to the abandoned school building where there were old black walnut and birch trees where she could gather nuts and barks to use in healing teas and poultices. She strolled through the forests taking in the sparse sunlight that peered through the treetops, her ears swiveling and attentive to the sounds of the forest, searching for any alarming sounds. She heard nothing but the quiet sound of her own hooves crushing the fallen leaves below her.

As she neared the school the air seemed to thicken and become stale, she proceeded cautiously, listening for any disturbances. There was a row a trees near the entrance to the abandoned school building, black walnut and birch trees, that she needed to harvest supplies from, and also a row of annual flower along the side of the school, that continued to grow despite a lack of sunlight. She walked to the trees in front of the school first and bent down to gather the fallen nuts and twigs that littered the ground. Dawn did not notice the man resting outside of the building and lowered her guard as nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She continued to forage, this time in partial cover behind a birch tree. Her human features hidden behind the trunk of the tree, she must have appeared to be a simple doe, unless someone were to take a closer look.

Herobrine woke up to the sound of rustling near by, he slowly stood up when he realized that it was only a harmless creature that was creating the noise, when he looked around the tree, he was a bit surprised to see something else then just a young deer, he saw a half deer half human creature, he then morphed his right arm into a large blade just in case the creature wasn't friendly, but unfortunately his foot cracked a stick which made somewhat of a loud noise.

Owru follows along, her hand held out palm open as she appears to be feeling something, that something becoming obviously the spacial fabric of this area. Where her hand has pressed, only a small ripple is left behind, as if she were running her hand across water.

"If you can find a spot with the most activity, I-I could create a gateway," she says, some uncertainty in her tone as she lifts up her lower right arm and rubs her cheek. "However, b-bad news is, I can only create a hole, not link it as I have no idea where John is... so, some one else would have to bridge a connection."

With that, she began to strike at the spacial fabric in hopes to find a weak and particularly weak spot to puncture through.

Fancy would rub his hands. "Great, that means we won't have to do any arcane stuff ourselves."
"Bridge a connection?" said Max. "What, get a hair from John? I don't think we can do that, considering he's-"
"How about we get John to start up a portal?" said Adam. "Not necessarily to anywhere, just for something for Owru to aim at."
"From what he thaid, I think he already did that," said Jack.
"Right, we'll have John here in no time," said Fancy. "Not sure if this'll help you, Owru, but John would likely be in the Underworld, floor 189. Just to narrow down where to find the portal."
The Chosen Few would start to wander about the building.

"Its not often that we open portals to other worlds, so I can do is help keep a connection stable." Selena spoke as she explored the building. As it appeared, it was just abbandoned. Since not much people lived around these days, they have probaly taken refuge in much more safe zones.

For Vargas, he remained on watch outside the building when he noticed what appeared to be a deer. Not everyday he got to see animals walking around. However Herobrine soon woke up and walked around the tree to probaly get a good look at the deer. However when his arm formed into a blade, Vargas got up. Now what got him all ready to kill?

As Vargas followed behind to peer behind the tree, the deer was actualy a centaur. Half woman, half deer person. He was not sure why Herobrine was ready to fight but one thing was sure...she did not appear hostile, and even if she was there was no need to appear as threatening. Apperaing unpreppared was also a valid strategy. "Herobrine, stand down a bit. She seems to just be a centaur. Granted you dont see them much these days, but nonetheless hello miss." The red haired man waved.

Dawn was putting the bark she had gathered in her bag when she heard the loud crack of a twig being stepped on. She immediately drew her bow and pulled back an arrow, aiming in the direction where the crack came from. She saw a man with a knife and aimed at his chest. She paused, ready to fire if he made a move towards her. It wasn't often that she saw anyone in the forest so she was very much on guard.

Just as she had drawn an arrow at the first man, another appeared. She quickly turned to aim at the red haired man, her eyes darting between both men. The red haired man began speaking to the first man, telling him to stand down. Dawn lowered her bow and arrow to the ground, and released the tension on the bows string, though she did not put away her arrow in case she needed to draw it again quickly. The man then greeted Dawn and waved. Dawn stared at the man for a short moment, eyeing him for any obvious weapons. She didn't see any. "Hello, sir." She said calmly. "What are you doing this deep in the forest? " Dawn asked."It's been a long time since I've seen anyone venture this far. And typically those who do venture this far mean trouble..." She stated, her eyes trailing back to the man with the blade for an arm, and then back again to the red haired man. They didn't seem all that threatening, but dawn knew better than to lower her guard around anyone. No matter how friendly they appeared to be.

Herobrine's arm returned back to its normal state, he then began to walk back to where he was sleeping before, he sat down and went back to sleep.

Rosa slowly walked over to the commotion, she peeked over the corner to see what it was.

"O-oh, right," she responds, assuming that John, like his brother is little more than skin and bones... sans the skin. An open portal is something, but who knows how many other beings could be sitting on the other end of one of those. Being an Outsider, she has some awareness that there are a lot of things out there that can pop out of an improperly linked gateway, things nowhere near as... personable as her.

Owru pauses for a moment, glancing back where Vargas is standing guard, feeling a new presence, but shrugs it off when the sense of tension dies down. She then looks back to the Chosen Few, giving a moment of thought towards how to bring over Adam's brother, until a key detail dawns on her.

"A-actually, there is something better than a hair, that offers a far better imprint," she says before snapping around towards Adam and pointing out a finger mere inches from his skull. At that point there's a familiar otherworldly ring as ripples form out from around Adam through the dimensional fabric, followed shortly by the air behind him beginning to warp before rupturing with a sound like a large stone plunging into a lake. At first the rip in space shows a tunnel of immense length, round, shifting, filled with colors and shapes in it with no sign of rhyme or reason. Like a rubber band, however, the other end snaps forward, the distance between rapidly getting shorter and shorter. "U-um! Probably should step back, the force generated from two d-distant points snapping together can have a lil' bit of initial... oof, to it!"

"Oh, of course, why didn't I think of that?" said Fancy. "Adam, you're practically of the same blood, figuratively, as John!"
The skeleton did not respond. In fact, he was frozen in fear, a grimace of terror plastered on his skull. His mouth quavered as he tried to speak without metaphysical vocal cords.
Just behind him, a ripple in space-time began to open up, a hole tearing through the fabric of fantasy. Colours yet undiscovered or named swirled within the maelstrom within the hole before the arrow of teleportation had reached it's destination. The immense distance within the wormhole was starting to become shorter.
"Adam, move outta the way, you dunce!" yelled Max, pulling the incapacitated skeleton away from the portal. Now they can see the other end, they became aware of a new shape, getting rapidly closer. As it neared the group, they could make out what it was carrying in one hand; a suitcase.
Jonathan C. Skelecoot, Governor of the Skelecoots, attempted to land on his feet as they flew out of the portal. However, due to the immense momentum picked up from travelling billions of light years across the Imagiverse, he instead touched the ground, where he pivoted to the floor with a thud. There was a crowded second of grumbling from the fallen figure before he stood up.
John was the same lengthy height as his brother, although, unlike his brother's habitual lurch, he stood like a pillar. His eyeholes were more involved with his surroundings than Adam's vacant stare, examining the decrepit building around him. He was dressed in an outfit that, a century ago, would have said that this was a man of high breeding; a maroon trench coat, grey trousers, a long-sleeved white shirt under a red, patterned waistcoat. Oh, and he wore a purple bandana.
Another few seconds drawled by as he took in the building and, finally, his comrades. His gaze finally laid on Owru, an expression that, to those who were unfamiliar with him, suggested an almost fascinated horror. "Lads," he finally said. "What is that?"
"That's Owru, John," said Max. "An Outsider. Apparently she is from Nod, one of those places that you say are near the Edge. I suggest you don't try and dissect her, cause any moment now, she might switch to a more aggressive personality. Oh, and she's a schizo."
The well-dressed skeleton would nod slowly before giving the alien a grimace. After a while, she would realise that this was a smile, which was hard to tell with the crooked teeth and almost malevolent look in his eyes. He would extend a gloved hand. "A pleasure to meet you. My name is John Skelecoot, brother of Adam Skelecoot," he would nod to his brother, who was recovering, though still under shock. "He may have had a shock," he continued, "but believe me, his skull doesn't have much space for it; after a while, it tends to leak out."