Academia Everia: Taking Arms

It had been almost a week since the attack on Academia Celestia. The former glory of the institution's bright towers and proud ramparts was barely recognisable in the state that it was left in. Devoid of life and filled with an unnatural mist that clung to the buildings, seeming to drain the very colour from the landscape, Celestia was nothing more than a shell.

Standing on the battlements of Academia Everia, gazing out over the glittering lake that separated the two academies at her home, Scarlet sighed heavily. The headmistress seemed unaware of the chilling temperatures that were present at the lofty heights of Everia's walls at this time of year even as the wind plucked at her crimson cloak and long blonde hair.

Turning away from the view of Celestia to look down at Everia itself, Scarlet could see that it was as much like an ant's nest as it had been since they arrived. Both the inner and outer courtyards of the fortress-like structure were filled with makeshift living quarters - the tents and camping equipment that had been in storage in the Academy for decades, unused since last the mages of Everia went on the march of war, had been broken out to provide the staff and students of Celestia somewhere to live temporarily.

Many of the students had already gone home - once it was clear the danger had passed, messages had been sent to parents and other relatives, and over the week most of the large student body had filtered away to just a few. Those without family, or those estranged from their family, or those whose families could not take them in for other reasons. There were a few students who had refused to go home, but they were not many in number. Scarlet wondered if she'd see half of the students again - it would be a hard enough task convincing anyone to return to the academy, let alone the parents of vulnerable children. After a second siege in as many years, it was a risk most parents wouldn't be willing to take even for the brilliant education that Celestia offered.

Deciding that she had had far more than enough private moping for one morning, Scarlet shook herself off and walked over to the doorway that led into one of the wall's towers, and the staircase within that would take her down to the courtyard. It wasn't long before she was walking amongst the tents and their drained-looking occupants, casting reassuring smiles and short exchanges of words where she passed. Everyone was feeling the cold - both the physical cold, and the cold feeling in their chests as it sunk in that those who could not be accounted for from the hurried escape probably weren't coming back.

Scarlet soon reached the entrance of the Academy building itself, passing through the heavy double-doors that were more gates than doors, and into the large reception hall. She was on her way to speak with Silviana, regarding the mission that she had pitched to the woman earlier in the week. As much as Celestia needed time to lick its wounds, she knew that the other Patronus might not have the luxury of time. It had been too long already, but after the attack, Scarlet wasn't going to take the risk of venturing out alone. She needed volunteers to join her, and they were thin on the ground with the current level of low morale.

After making her way through the winding corridors of the building, their intentionally confusing layout and periodic widening into defensible positions and rooms reminiscent of a keep rather than a school, Scarlet eventually reached the office on the top floor of the building where her friend held her meetings. Knocking once, she pushed the door open and glanced inside.

"Silviana, do you have a moment?" she asked.

The black-clad woman behind the desk in the room looked up from a form on her desk, before nodding. "What do you need, Scarlet?" the other headmistress inquired, setting aside the paperwork. "I'm not doing much for the moment, miraculously. Running the numbers on getting enough supplies in for everyone."

Scarlet smiled apologetically. "Just here for an update on, well, everything. I've got a good idea of everything going on within the camps, but has anything else come up I should be aware of?"

Glancing at an open desk-drawer full of reports, Silviana paused for a moment before replying. "The diviners and demonologists have returned from Celestia - they can't tell exactly what the mist is, it appears to be a phenomenon of a nature that hasn't been observed before. But they have confirmed that it's heavily demon, or at least extra-planar, in origins and nature. Apart from that, we've got a couple of accidents and a few disputes, but nothing you don't already know most everything about."

The headmistress paused, "Oh, there was one other thing. I've got you a volunteer - by the name of Rose Thornton. She's one of our higher-level students, nineteen. She says that she knows one of the missing people, Elante."

Scarlet raised an eyebrow, "I've not met her. I'll have to have a word with her. Send her my way next time you see her."

"Already have done." Silviana said, "She'll be looking for you today if you want to find her yourself."

The blonde woman nodded. "Alright - now, give me a brief rundown of these disputes, so I know what to expect if I walk into the crossfire?"

As Silviana launched into the explanation, Scarlet nodded along - it was all very petty and complex, to be honest, but alas. Such was the way of cramped spaces and mages wrought with loss and disorientation.

Outside the gates of Academy Everia, Van hadn't known what to expect when he arrived, but to find the academies in such a state wasn't it. Academy Celestia had been his home for seven years, more than any other place had ever been, and to see it in ruins was a sobering moment for the normally cheerful youth.

The growing pile of magical equipment and weaponry that he was passing over to the guards to even gain entry to the Everia might have been an amusement under less strenuous circumstances. But for the moment, he took it with a calm and patient expression as his identity was confirmed and he was relieved of anything that could potentially be a weapon. Even the watchful presence of the armed escort he took in stride as the Everia grounds were traversed.

Reaching the door to Silviana's office, one of the two guards gave a loud rap against the door. “There's a Van Cassel here to see you and Scarlet,” he called.

"Send him in." Silviana called, raising an eyebrow, "One of yours?" she asked Scarlet in the moments before the door opened.

Scarlet nodded. "I remember him." she said, "One of our brighter students, cocky, but not a bad kid. I wonder what he's doing here?"

As the guard opened the door and allowed Van to enter Silviana's office, the sight of Scarlet was a familiar one to him. After all, despite her looking a touch more worse for the wear than he remembered, her wardrobe hadn't changed in the slightest.

Van cleared his throat, before offering a lopsided grin. “Headmistress Melaidhrin, Headmistress Dae,” he greeted the pair, though a flicker of a frown crossed his good-natured expression a moment later. “I heard what happened,” he continued, with a more sober tone than his initial greeting. “For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I know the place meant a lot to you, and the students,” the youthful battle-mage offered in Scarlet's direction.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow at Van, "You say that as if I have any intention of surrendering it." she replied, folding her arms and smiling grimly. "But I take it you aren't here just to offer your condolences. There are any number of gaudy shop-bought greetings cards that do that duty fine enough."

Van chuckled at Scarlet's words. “Indeed not, and it sounds like I came to the right place. Word reached me that you were seeking volunteers. I didn't call Celestia home for seven years to twiddle my thumbs on the side-lines when she's down on her luck. Besides, what good is all this stuff you teach there, if we don't use it for something,” he added with that lopsided grin of his.

"I seem to recall saying something along those lines to you, except I believe I added the word 'constructive' on the end. Oh, and 'for god's sake'. That too." Scarlet smirked, "Finally bored of tossing fire around to impress the ladies? That didn't take half as long as I thought." The headmistress shook her head, before her expression became more serious. "But yes. You have heard correctly. I'm looking for volunteers to try and find out what happened to a number of my friends and allies on the same night that Celestia was attacked."

Scarlet lifted the now-apparently-redundant callstone she carried out of her pocket to show it to Van, "On the night of the attack, I got a great deal of messages through here about other attacks on their homes and places of gathering. Since that night, I haven't heard anything from any of them - or from the ex-student and teacher that I helped escape the Academy to meet with them. I have reason to believe that looking for them could be dangerous, and so I don't want to risk going alone."

The headmistress tapped her fingers on the little stone, "And when I say dangerous, I mean it. I don't mean 'don't cross the mana flows' dangerous, I mean 'you're as likely to get decapitated by the next stranger we meet as to get a friendly hello' dangerous. But if you're up for it, I could use the help."

Van took Scarlet's teasing in stride, and settled into an amiable demeanor as he listened to the headmistress' recount of the situation.

“Well, I came with the intention of offering my assistance with getting Celestia back on its feet, but I'm hardly going to say no to that. It would be an honor, and my sword is at your disposal,” he offered.

"Hopefully you'll bring your wits with you too, Van." Scarlet said, "Heaven only knows I've gotten enough children involved with this fiasco by accident as it is. I look forward to seeing how you've changed." The woman smiled, "And thank you. I'll fill you, and the others, in on the full situation in as much as I can once I have a full team assembled."

It was a cool winter morning, just over a week after the attack on Celestia, and Scarlet was pacing through the corridors of Academia Everia on her way to collect a batch of potions from the alchemy department. The students of Everia still milled around the corridors, going to their lessons despite the drama, and amongst them were the remaining Celestia students. Those students that hadn’t been taken out of the school were being eased back into an occupying schedule to keep their minds off of the dead, though the staff were under strict instructions to go easy on them.

The older students were still out of lessons and contributing to the efforts to keep the situation controlled and to try and reclaim Celestia from whatever it was that had occupied it, though kept under careful supervision and a tight leash.

When Scarlet rounded a corner and encountered a gathering crowd of students, she immediately suspected some sort of confrontation in the halls. She could see ahead that there was a gap with several individuals standing in it, and she sighed with irritation. Students would be students.

What Scarlet hadn’t expected, however, was that those involved wouldn’t be students.

“This is my classroom! I will not have my papers, my books and my research disturbed by someone who has no idea where things go, where things belong! The room has very specific needs!”

The source of the distressed protests was a small, elderly woman – a teacher of Everia, Scarlet guessed – clad in a green robe. Her spindly grey hair fell unchecked to her shoulders, and she was doing her best to look taller than she was – which wasn’t very. The subject of her ire was a much taller individual, a younger but still greying man who rose a head and shoulders over her.

“How can you be so selfish? In a time like this, we cannot be so petty! I don’t care how many familiars you keep, how much of an organised mess the room is, I have been assigned this classroom to teach in and it is here I will teach! Where else am I to go? The broom cupboard?!”

Scarlet recognised the man as Declan Harrison, a teacher from Celestia. With the current situation, classrooms teachers in Everia normally enjoyed as their permanent domain were on rotation. It seemed that some were more attached to their rooms than others, and while it was a condemnable pettiness, it was clear that the Everian woman was in some distress. Declan was not helping the situation by arguing with her in front of the students.

Scarlet was preparing to push her way through the crowd, when another figure did just that. A young girl, who couldn’t be any older than twenty, broke from the masses and coughed loudly, glaring at the two arguing teachers. “What are you doing?” she demanded, “Don’t argue like this in front of the students.”

The girl was blonde, and had a firm presence. She turned to face the small woman and gave her a sympathetic smile, “Miss Evertine, I know that this is your room, and I know how much of yourself you have invested here. You taught me for five years – in this room! But look around you. Celestia has been decimated. People just like you, with classrooms full of personal belongings and projects, have had their rooms not only disturbed, but destroyed. Try to put yourself in their shoes.”

Then she turned to Declan, “I don’t know your name sir, but please take a step back and look at yourself. Miss Evertine has invested thirty years of her life here in this Academy. Much of her life’s work is contained in this room, and for someone else to walk in and tread all over things that are important to her isn’t something that’s a laughing matter from her perspective.”

The girl took a breath, interrupting both of their replies. “How about instead of continuing this in the middle of a crowded corridor, you, sir, give Miss Evertine a few minutes to make the room ready for you and clear out the things she can’t stand to leave there, while you take your class outside in the conveniently nearby courtyard to get them some air and have a short break. This is really a very small matter, but everyone’s tense at the moment. We need to all take a breath and step back.”

Scarlet didn’t hear the replies of the two teachers, as they seemed all of a sudden very embarrassed and very aware of the presence of the watching children. But there was a general agreement, and Declan lifted a hand, “Alright. My class, come with me. The rest of you, get to your lessons!”

As he led some of the students away, and general movement picked up again now that the spectacle was over, Scarlet made her way over to where the girl and Miss Evertine were exchanging a few last words.

When she reached audible range, it was just in time to catch the latter’s departing words. “Thank you, Rose. I’m getting less than clear-headed in my old age. Well, I suppose there isn’t a lot of change there, but less clear-headed than I used to be, which isn’t really very clear at all. Maybe I need a holiday? I’ve heard that there are some-“

The girl coughed, “I would imagine that Mr Harrison won’t want to teach his lesson outside in its entirety, Miss Evertine?”

“Oh! Yes, of course. Thank you again, dear.” The elderly – and clearly a little dotty – woman said, before turning and bustling into the classroom.

Scarlet walked over to the girl just as she was taking a breath and relaxing. “So you’re Rose, are you?” she queried, smiling wryly.

Rose jumped in surprise, “Oh! Headmistress Dae, I didn’t- Were you watching all of that?”

“I was.” Scarlet said, laughing, “I’m impressed.”

“Oh, I am sorry! I didn’t mean to impose myself, if I’d known you were around I – I just thought that it would be bad if-“

Scarlet held up a hand, grinning, “It’s fine. You did well. The children don’t need to see us fighting. Silviana mentioned your name to me yesterday, actually, about the mission I’m looking for volunteers for?”

Rose nodded, “Yes! I’ve been meaning to try and find you, but you know how it is. I didn’t count for how busy I’d be. I... I actually have a bit of self-interest in volunteering. I caught one of the names of the people we’re looking for. Elante. I knew an Elante when I was younger, a few years ago. And it isn’t exactly a common name – Elante Vadrillion?”

Raising an eyebrow, Scarlet nodded. “The same. Didn’t you say you were studying here before?” she asked.

“I was! I studied battle magic and illusion with a side-course in healing. Why do you ask?” Rose queried.

“You do know that Elante was studying in Celestia at essentially the same time as you?”

A moment of silence passed. “What? Really? I know he said he wanted to, but ... crap. Wow. Now I feel stupid.”

Scarlet laughed, “Well, there’ll be plenty of time to be re-acquainted once we find him and Aeryn, as well as the others.”

“Aeryn too?” Rose shook her head, “Christ! So you’re confident that ... that they’re alright?”

The headmistress nodded. “Absolutely. They’re in good hands. And they have good hands themselves, too. I’m confident that there’s just some sort of communications lapse between here and the base of operations that they went to.”

Rose smiled, “Right then! Is there some sort of briefing that I need to go to, or..?”

Again, Scarlet nodded. “Come to Silviana’s office on Thursday afternoon. That’s when we’re briefing everyone. I need to go, but come and find me if you have any more questions before the briefing.”

“I will do!” Rose said, nodding enthusiastically and lifting a hand to wave as the headmistress departed. “I’ll see you around, then! Thank you, headmistress.”

“Call me Scarlet!” Scarlet called back as she walked away. Well, she was certainly eager – and she had the presence and maturity to cool down an argument. Rose looked like a good addition to the growing team.

It was late on Tuesday afternoon, and Scarlet was sat in her tent at the hastily erected desk where she dealt with reports and other necessary paperwork around the Celestia camp. The paperwork was of a different nature to normal, but it almost felt like ordinary routine, with signatures and stamps and the like to be distributed amongst numerous forms varying in severity from an accident report for a broken toe all the way to approving drastic plans for analysing and working against the mist that filled Celestia.

The weather outside was gloomy, with a light drizzle of rain making the ground slick with a thin layer of ice. It was quick work to clear the travelled pathways in the camp using magic, but there were patches here and there where the ice had been missed, leading to some quite comical slip-ups every so often.

Tessa had been standing outside Scarlet's tent for several minutes working up the nerve to see her. As much as she respected and looked up to Scarlet, she keenly remembered how quickly the head mistress had shut her down during the battle at Celestia. However, she was thoroughly determined to not accept a no this time. Without the heat of battle going in the background, she could afford the time to state her case and try to win Scarlet over. Or so she believed. With that thought in mind, she at last took a deep breath to steady herself and called loudly enough to be heard. “Miss Dae?”

Scarlet looked up at the call from outside, raising an eyebrow as she recognised Tessa's voice. Setting aside the document that she was working on, the headmistress sat up straight in her seat and tapped her fingers on the desk. It had only been a matter of time, really.

"Come in, Tessa." Scarlet called back, smiling. She could already guess what Tessa was here for.

Tessa stepped inside and ran a hand through her hair as she steeled herself for what she was about to ask. Overlooking formalities in favor of getting down to the point she stood up straight and just dove right in. “I want to volunteer. And before you say no, just give me a chance to explain. I know I haven't always been the most stellar of mages in the past, but I've got my magic under control these days. I can help, and I won't get in the way, I can take care of myself just fine and I'm even doing summons reliably now.”

Taking a deep breath, Scarlet placed both of her elbows on the desk and leant on her hands. "Tessa, Tessa, Tessa..." she murmured, "What am I to do with you? You seem steadfastly determined to put yourself in harm's way, but I don't think you fully understand just what that harm is."

Scarlet's gaze hardened. If she could discourage Tessa with words, then she would. But she did have a backup plan, if not. "This is the conflict that killed your aunt, Tessa. It is not something to be taken lightly."

“I know, that's why I want to help. They killed Katarina, and they hurt Liam and I, and now the Academy. I just don't want to sit by and watch when I can do something.” Tessa interjected, already suspecting Scarlet was going to try and discourage her.

"That's enough." Scarlet frowned, "Hear me out, Tessa. There are a hundred other mages in this Academy that might want to help me, teachers and students alike, but I will not have their aid. Those who I have accepted the help of are those that are ready for it. Some of them might not be as experienced as others, some of them might be younger, or older - but all of them are ready. They've fought battles of their own kind at one point or another."

Scarlet shook her head, "I know that you're capable, Tessa. I know that you're not the child who Katarina brought here, who couldn't control her magic or keep a straight face for five minutes. But you aren't ready for something this big yet. What will it take to convince you of this?"

“But I am. I've seen battles before. I even teleported all of us out when Liam and I got kidnapped... well... a bit further than intended. But I had never tried to teleport like that before. I can do this. I'm not afraid.” she said with solid determination.

"No. You aren't." Scarlet shook her head, "But you should be. The best of us are afraid when the odds are stacked against us. It's fear that keeps us on our guard. Fear for ourselves, and fear for those around us."

The headmistress frowned, "But have it your way. You won't see reason in my words, Tessa, so I will give you a chance. A test. If you can defeat one of the volunteers I've already recruited in a spar, then I will let you come with us. Is that acceptable for you? If you lose, then you will not argue any further."

Tessa's heart skipped a beat at Scarlet's words and she couldn't quite keep the thrill from her face. “Definitely!” she blurted before she got a reign on her excitement and put her serious face back on. After all, she was trying to convince Scarlet that she could handle something like this, and that she wasn't just a kid. “I mean. Of course. Anything. I won't disappoint you,” she said.

Scarlet simply nodded. "Go to Everia's proving chamber tomorrow at around midday. I'll make sure your opponent is waiting for you." she said, "Now if you don't mind, I have business to take care of."

Tessa nodded quickly, only marginally managing to keep her excitement in check. "Thank you Miss Dae," she said before all but running back out of the tent to go find Liam.

Within the circular stone chamber that was Academia Everia's so-called 'Proving Chamber', Rose Thornton waited patiently for the arrival of the younger girl, who it was her job to 'beat some sense into', apparently. Rose wasn't exactly sure how this was constructive, but she hadn't had a decent spar for a while, and it couldn't hurt to stretch her legs before she got back into the thick of actual combat.

The chamber itself was incredibly basic. The floor was made up of smooth flagstones, a circular pattern rippling outwards from several points around the room, colours overlapping to form a difficult-to-follow web of tiles. The walls were reinforced with magic to prevent spells from escaping and damaging the building, while allowing combatants to go all-out. The ceiling was almost out of sight, right at the top of the Academy building, to allow air-wielders to use their element to full advantage.

Rose twirled her baton in one hand while she waited. The blades on the end of it were wrapped in carefully maintained arcane magic to ensure that they didn't do any serious damage, maintained by one of the unseen observers in a chamber up above. Rose idly cast her eyes up toward the section of the wall, the outer-surface of which was purely illusion. Most of the time, combatants could see through it to where their judges stood, but in this case it was disguised.

Rose couldn't say she wasn't amused by the scheme that Scarlet had devised to drive home the realities of war to this girl, but she fully intended to play her part well. After all, she'd taken drama classes up till she was about fifteen. That had to count for something, right?

Tessa meanwhile was en route to the proving chamber, a determined skip to her step as she approached the building. Set atop her shoulder sat a twisted and crooked looking bat like creature with clawed hands and impish face.

“You're a foolish little girl! You're going to get yourself killed! Actually yes! Go die! Then I never have to see you or this place ever again!” Toka spat irritably from his perch on Tessa shoulder. “It's not like you listen to me anyways! It's always 'Toka do this!' or 'Toka do that!'. Well you know what I think? I think -”

“Shush Toka. I don't want any surprises. All you have to do is stick nearby and keep an eye out for trouble, got it”?” Tessa instructed, much to the imps disgust.

“Yeah yeah. But don't think for a moment that this means I'm happy about it, ungrateful child.” The imp spat and muttered to himself sulkily as Tessa reached the building and stepped inside. She glanced around warily for Scarlet but spotting only Rose.

“Is Miss Dae coming?” Tessa asked. She certainly didn't look like much next to Rose, and wasn't even armed from the looks of it.

Rose shook her head. "Not here. But they can tell what goes on in here, even if they aren't present. They have to keep an eye on duels somehow."

The Everian graduate looked Tessa up and down. "Sure you don't want to back out now, kid? I'm sure nobody would hold it against you. If not, then take your spot." Rose gestured to a small circle on one of the coloured rings that lapped the chamber, upon which there were a dozen such spots. Rose stood on the one opposite the one that she had gestured to.

"I'm not going to hold back, just so you know." she said, folding her arms.

Tessa moved over to her designated circle while shooing Toka off from her shoulder. The imp cast her a dirty indignant look as it fluttered off to land clinging to a wall and glowered down at the pair. “I may be a kid, but I'm not a coward.” Tessa muttered back at Rosa while she eyed her opponent up. Spell options were already flitting through her head as she started formulating a battle plan. She needed something to buy her time to get a summon up... Taking a deep breath she gave a nod of her head. “I'm ready.”

"Then let's go."

With an imperceptible glance upwards to where Scarlet and Silviana were waiting, Rose nodded, as if to herself. As she did so, the circles upon which she and Tessa were standing on lit up, and the light flooded around the circle to join up on either side. The duel had begun.

A flash of light emerged from the end of Rose's sceptre, and the girl swung it upwards in an arc, leaving a trail of sparks in the air. From the end of the weapon burst a glowing orb that flew through the air towards Tessa. Fluctuating and warping in a difficult-to-look at manner, the singularity of light was aimed not right at the girl, but rather slightly to her side.

When it reached its destination, the orb would stop, and the movement of anyone within ten feet of it would be drastically slowed by its magic.

In the same motion, Rose brought her baton upwards over her head and spun it, gathering glowing light as she did so. After a few seconds of channelling, a bright light exploded from her position, obscuring her in the momentary flash.

When the light faded, Tessa was no longer just faced with Rose -- she was faced with five Roses, each an exact replica and sporting the same grin. "Good luck landing a hit," all five of the girls chorused.

Tessa leaped to the side to evade the incoming orb while she uttered off her own spell, however as the orbs effects took hold, her movements slowed to a crawl, not quite out of range. However, orb or not, her spell would resolve and it would seem that her and Rose had similar ideas. Tessa's form wavered and flickered momentarily only to be replaced with five duplicate images of herself. The realization that they had both chosen the same spell caused Tessa to break into a grin to match Rose's. “You too,” she retorted before starting her next spell.

The air around Tessa seemed to almost darken as she uttered off her next incantation and purple lines were rapidly spreading across the floor of the room, lighting up as they went. Tessa's history with demon summoning hadn't been the most stellar of performances, but this was about showing Scarlet what she could do, and she wasn't about to hold back. Even her aura had taken on a purple tone, tinted by her forays into the slightly darker arts. Casting on the run wasn't a foreign concept to Tessa though, and despite the slowing effects of the orb, Tessa's movements hadn't halted.

Rose's mouth quirked upwards in a more genuinely amused smile as Tessa's spell took effect. However, she made no further efforts to engage in banter -- she wasn't here to make Tessa enjoy a friendly contest, she was here to kick her ass back to humility.

The mage brought her sceptre to bear, and with narrowing eyes she thrust it outwards, pointing it towards the hovering singularity. In the same instant, the glowing orb would explode outwards in a burst of light magic, filling the full ten-foot radius with powerful explosive energy. Should Tessa be affected by the attack, then it would also leave her with flashing sparks dancing across her field of vision as it applied Rose's Illumination debuff.

Rose then drew the weapon back towards herself, both ends lighting up as she launched into attack. In a flurry of movements, Rose spun the sceptre repeatedly, launching a barrage of bolts of light magic from the weapon, sending five seperate projectiles soaring towards each of the Tessa-images. The mirror images of Rose mimicked her movements, each of their bolts flying towards the same targets. If Tessa had been marked by the Illumination effect, then any bolt that struck her would increase in power to deliver an explosively forceful blast upon impact.

As the combat got underway, Toka piped up loudly. “The orb you idiot! The orb!” Toka flailed about wildly as he pointed at the glowing orb hovering near Tessa, but to little avail. As the orb detonated, the little imp slapped his hand over his face, in a classic face-palm gesture.

Tessa meanwhile was nearly free of the blast range, though it did send her tumbling free as she landed sprawled on the ground, flashes of sparks dancing through her vision. With an 'oomph' of breath she knew she couldn't stay down, even a moment of indecision and this fight would be over. Furthermore, with her demon summoning underway she couldn't afford to lose concentration of her spell, lest she end up with an angry and unbound demon on the loose.

“Move! Move!” the imp shrieked obnoxiously loudly.

Not entirely sure what she was dodging, Tessa promptly rolled to her side just as the follow up orbs en route struck the floor next to her. The maneuver was likewise mirrored by her duplicate selves, though just chance alone had two of the five images struck before they blinked out of existence. She briefly shielded her head with her arms in case they were explosive but wasted no time in scrambling back to her feet, redoubling her efforts on finishing her summoning. The purple lines were fully solidifying and merging together as they formed intricate runic markings that seemed to flicker with purple flames.

“Toka, I can't see,” she called as the last of the incantations were finished. Though she did have limited vision, it would take too many words to get that across in the middle of a fight.

“Well don't just stand there!” the imp wailed.

Rose narrowed her eyes at the three remaining girls, before gathering energy into her sceptre once again. Gathering it for a second of charging, she swung it backwards before bringing it around in a sweeping arc forwards. As it passed through the air, it released a wide arcing blast of magic that scythed through the air towards the trio - wide enough to strike all three of them, the blast moved quickly, but its brightness would mean that Tessa would be able to tell that something was coming, at the very least.

“Left! No, right! Wait! Something! Something that's not there!” Toka hollered, rather unhelpfully.

The conflicting instructions had Tessa confused but the bright flash of light coming her way was easy enough to comprehend. Get the fuck out of the way.

Dropping back to the ground the arc of energy flew overhead as Tessa cursed and muttered under her breath. She needed to do something... but which image was the real one. While she was trying to sort that out, the runic circle flared to life in a roar of purple flames. As the flames died back down they revealed what appeared to be a fire nymph of some nature or another.

“Sesa! Keep her off me! And no killing!' she added as she opted to let Sesa take care of the offensive in favor of getting Rose's enchantment off her. Given the sheer number of magical blunders she was known for, her next spell came almost second nature to her these days. Her dispel magic spell would rapidly unweave the magical enchantment that Rose had placed over Tessa, clearing her vision up in the process.

Sesa meanwhile had taken Tessa's instruction without comment as she stepped outside the circle, eyes flashing over the images of Rose before letting loose a volley of fireballs upon the group. The scattered shot meant each explosive bolt held less oomph than a single large bolt, but scattered as they were, her chances of striking something were greatly increased, especially given that she was just volleying them into the group, rather than trying to hit any individual target.

A summon? And not a shabby one at that, Rose noted. No matter. The battlemage's first move was one of evasion. With a leap, she dove to the side, and her images moved with her. A fireball passed beside her as she landed in a roll, swiftly regaining her feet as more fireballs followed.

Rose lifted her sceptre as she rose, and a flash of light appeared in the air before her and the images - a shield in a wide arc that covered Rose and the two images on either side of her, whilst faux-shields appeared around the others.

As the fireballs came, those that struck the shield would cause a ripple in its surface before each and every one was reflected directly back the way it had come. By this method the image directly to Rose's left was protected, as was she, but the two images furthest to her left weren't so lucky, both consumed in the fire. The image to her right had cleared the area of the barrage, and evaded fire entirely.

Deciding to repeat a successful tactic from earlier, Rose then brought her sceptre around in another swing. From its tip again launched a warping orb that shot towards the three Tessas, as did two 'dud' orbs from her images. Hopefully the confusion of having three potential projectiles to avoid would lead to Tessa getting caught in the real one.

As the fireballs were reflected back at Sesa she went into a flurry of motion, seeming to catch them upon her hands while spinning and hurling them back with more force and precisely aimed shots at the individual images. What she didn't catch in her hands, she struck with her tail, which flickered with matching flames. Expecting at least some of them to get reflected back again, she jumped clear of where she was standing, to land several paces to the left.

“Woot! Get her Sesa!” came Toka's random cheer from the sidelines.

Tessa meanwhile was too busy for commentary as she was muttering up her next spell. Given the dark nature of her incantations, it seemed likely she was sticking to black magic for the time being. But even as she readied her spell, she needed to make sure she had the right target before she could unleash her curse. In the meanwhile though, she kept on the move to avoid getting caught off guard by more orbs. Though she didn't move aimlessly and made a point of keeping Sesa strategically placed between herself and Rose, though far enough away to not likely be caught in any attacks on Sesa.

Her movement would work in her favor, as she cleared the danger zone of Rose's orb this time, almost before she realized it was incoming.

“Toka help find the real one!” Tessa yelled out.

“And how do you expect me to do that?!” the imp shrieked indignantly.

“I don't care! Think of something!” she snapped back. The shortness of her words held a weight of seriousness to them by this point, and the fun aspect of the situation seemed to have been overtaken by a sharp determination.

The imp meanwhile summoned up a few static lightning orbs to toss into the fray of fire-bolts, though they were essentially harmless should they strike anything, and certainly lacked the capacity to breach shields.

Deciding that the time for the tame tossing of projectiles was well and truly over, Rose gripped her sceptre tightly before launching herself forwards. As she ran, she met Sesa's reflected-reflected barrage of fireballs, and once again, the shield held and the fireballs were tossed away in a scattering of heat - the curved nature of the shield now that it was in motion meant that their direction was far more random than before. Rose quickly narrowed the distance between herself and the summoned demon, and as she ran, swept her sceptre upwards.

From the ground beneath Sesa, a flurry of light burst upwards as ropes of magic shot forth to attempt to entangle around the demon's limbs and body. Where the light touched her, it would burn, and at the same time apply the same debuff that the orb had done to Tessa.

Rose had no intention of stopping, however, and as she continued to draw close to Sesa her boots lit up with a flash. Abruptly, the girl's running speed drastically increased, and with a forceful leap, she cleared the ground -- and didn't come back down again. Her footfalls landing on the air as though it were solid ground, Rose attempted to run straight up and over Sesa, zig-zagging from side to side to avoid assault in order to minimise strain on her shield.

From her new height, Rose swung her sceptre once again, hurling another barrage of basic light bolts down towards the Tessa images, half a dozen in total. The bolts had limited impact force without the illumination buff to power them, but they would do just fine to eliminate the mirror images from the picture.

Toka's lightning, in the meantime, would bounce harmlessly off of the shield, one spark reflecting directly back at him.

Not waiting for Rose to reach her, or finish whatever it was she was doing, Sesa leaped to the side, out of Rose's path, briefly taking note of the chains of light that erupted from the ground where she had been standing only a fraction of a moment before. She quickly processed it away and made a note to keep on the move. Her eyes remained locked on Rose though, following her movements, as she matched them with a leap of her own. Though she lacked the capacity to hover, she had some force behind it and her target was the left image.

Descending upon the mirror image, her fist charged up with hellfire to add explosive force to her blow in an attempt to bring the shield down. Tthe reflective nature of the shield was a concern, but a carefully reserved percentage of force should create an equal exchange of explosive power. As long as she held back with her attack and divided the force, so that she had some to reflect the reflection, the attacks would negate each other out.

Tessa meanwhile was out of time to pick her target and so she chose at random, and unleashed her curse upon the middle image. Glowing orbs of black light would begin to flit around Rose's form with malicious intent, unfettered by the shield she had in place. The black aura would become reflected in Rose's eyes, seizing her vision from her until even the irises and sclerera had taken on an inky black hue.

The orbs already en route however were a matter of concern and Tessa leaped back, in a last ditch evasion effort. However, too slow to get clear of the volley, the rest of her mirror images blinked out, and Tessa herself was struck by one of the orbs. She had managed to pull her arms up to shield her face though, and the orb dispersed against the backs of her forearms, leaving her largely unharmed save for some singed cloth and surface burns.

No time to catch her breath, Tessa dove into her next spell without reservation. Weaving an intricate webwork of incantations and arcane magic over the area she began to lay the groundwork for a counter spell. Counter spells were tricky things, but if she could dispel effects off herself, she was wagering Rose could also. It would be apparent that Tessa seemed to be falling into a support role while leaving Sesa to do the brunt of the combat.

Meanwhile, across the room, Toka let out a shriek very much akin to the dying wail of a cat as he threw himself free from the wall onto the floor to evade his own static lightning bolt. “Toka do this! Toka do that! Stupid child is going to get Toka killed!” he wailed as he crawled his way along the floor, keeping near the wall, and eyeing up the combatants for an opening to fulfill Tessa's instructions.

As Tessa's blinding curse took effect, Rose half-stumbled in midair with the surprise of suddenly losing her vision. Swearing under her breath, she willed herself downwards while strafing to the side, spinning her sceptre to weave another spell.

Sesa's strike, while strong, failed to penetrate the reflective barrier that it would meet about six feet away from the image that it struck at, and the predicted backlash would return back on her. Perhaps a less expected result, however, was that Sesa would find herself stricken with the illumination buff that peppered Rose's spells, sparks flashing in front of her eyes.

In the midst of descending to the ground, Rose abandoned her mirror images -- the blinding would make it obvious that Tessa had struck the right target, and in a flicker, the two other Roses vanished into nothingness. In the same instant, however, Roses's spell cast, and she too flickered and vanished at the same moment. Now invisible, Rose hit the ground slightly harder than intended as the burst of flight from her boots wore out, stumbling but regaining her balance quickly.

Darkness filling her vision, Rose retreated backwards as best she was able while weaving a dispel upon herself. It seemed that this girl wasn't half as bad as she'd thought -- even if she was a primarily supportive caster, Rose had thought that she'd be able to take the younger mage with relative ease.

Tessa let out a curse, of the non magical nature, as Rose vanished from view. Unable to see her opponent, she would have a hard time seizing on the momentary vulnerability of Rose's blind state. It was unlikely she could keep Rose from dispelling the curse for long, though for the moment she unleashed her counter spell which rapidly unwove Rose's dispel even as it began. Tessa had a general idea of the vicinity that Rose could be in, given the direction she was falling, but it was also unlikely Rose would remain there for long. She needed to take advantage of it, and now.

“Sesa there!” she yelled, pointing out the area. Sesa however was suffering complications of her own as she fell back to the ground landing in a crouch. The lights flashing over her vision were making it difficult to discern exactly where Tessa was directing her to. She instead reached out with her arm, hellfire trailing down it and forming into a fiery whip that she lashed through the air around her in a blind effort to strike the invisible caster.

Tessa let out another curse as she realized Sesa wasn't quite herself. “Sesa get down!” she yelled, before with a wave of her hand, she sent a rolling fire wall across the floor. It wasn't the most honorable of tactics, as her warning was intentionally inaccurate, on the chance that Rose attempted to act on it. Sesa would probably forgive her, and the flames would have diluted effects on the fire nymph.

Swearing as her dispel was countered, Rose continued to shift away from where she had landed until she was pressed up against the wall. That gave her something to hold onto, to stop herself from flailing around helplessly. Sesa's whip would miss its mark by a long shot, and Tessa's fire would wash over her shield without causing much harm.

Feeling the spell roll over the shield, however, Rose knew that it would give Tessa a good indication of her location, and so she moved once again. Abandoning the obvious path of sticking to the wall, as much as she wished she didn't have to, Rose strode blindly towards the centre of the room as she wove a second dispel.

Her vision returned with a rush, and a sigh of relief, as Rose turned sharply to orient herself. Quickly locking back onto Tessa, Rose threw out her hand to create another illusion.

This time, only one replica of Rose appeared, and it was a directed one. The false Rose appeared in the same spot as she had been previously, when the fire washed over her shield, looking disoriented and blinking in her supposed new-found sight. Rose left that image there, programmed to mimic disorientation long enough to distract Tessa for an actual attack.

Once more darting forwards, Rose's eyes flashed as two lances of light shot out of them towards Tessa, cutting through the air swiftly. If they impacted her, the two bolts would sear at Tessa, but they were carefully controlled so as not to - as they would in a normal combat - actually set her on fire. They would however, apply the same debuff as had plagued Tessa from the start, the sparks of illumination flashing into being around her.

Tessa's moment of surprise was gone, unfortunately lost to Rose's invisibility tactic, and rather than pursue attacks on her, she instead turned her attentions to Sesa. It wouldn't do to leave her summon handicapped, in favor of pushing the assault alone - especially given her lack of melee combat expertise. If she had learned anything, it was to rely on her summons to fill in where she couldn't. Her own dispel went off smoothly, rapidly relieving Sesa of her impairment.

Her efforts however were rewarded with a particularly dirty look from Sesa, who though largely unharmed by the fire wave that had washed over her, was still rather unamused. However, unamused or not, Sesa didn't waste any time in taking another go at Rose, and in a single lunge she descended upon the mirror image, fist charging with hellfire once more. As before, she was curbing herself and keeping her attack in check, so as to have enough reserved power in her blow to absorb the backlash of any reflective shields.

Tessa however was a touch more reserved. The disorientation didn't add up to Rose's quick wit of earlier, and so she backed up a step, eyes casting about warily. "Toka is she still hiding?" she asked.

"How should I know?!" Toka snapped as he began to crawl his way back up along the wall towards the ceiling.

"Well figure it out-" Tessa broke off as beams of light lanced towards her, and she twisted to the side, overturning her balance as she fell onto the ground on her rear, but safely out of the way. "Damn it Toka, where is she?" Tessa yelled.

Toka meanwhile began scanning the area for magical traces, though it was a large room to try and search the whole thing.

While Toka was seeing to the problem of Rose, Tessa was scooting backwards and muttering up a new spell, one she hadn't cast since it got her banned from using magic in Gambit's. Simple, harmless, but it would potentially buy her time and get her on even footing with Rose, if only for a moment. Drawing on the moisture in the air, a billowing cloud of fog began to flood the vicinity, maring herself from view as she scrambled to the side to regain her footing away from where she was last seen.

As Tessa's fog started to pour outwards from her position, Rose scowled. She needed to try and cut down on her opposition. Fighting on two (and a bit) fronts just wasn't panning out well. Rather than trying to avoid the fog, Rose instead broke into a sprint forwards.

The invisible girl ran straight into the expanding cloud, her boots giving her an extra burst of speed as she went. She broke out the other side, skidding to a halt only a few feet away from where Sesa would have landed after passing straight through the fake shield and the mirror image it 'protected'.

Skidding to a crouch in the place that Rose's mirror image had been a moment before, Sesa cast her gaze out looking for a location to leep free to. Overhead Toka made her decision up for her as he started shriking and pointing. "There! There! She's there!" And though Tessa, who was still in the mist, couldn't really see where there was, Sesa could and she lunged forward again. She released her fire whip to fall to the floor and smolder out as she moved and mid lunge she brought both hands forward to charge up a focused blast of explosive hellfire that descended upon Rose's general location. It lacked its full force, as Tessa's instructions kept her from attempting to apply lethal force to her attacks, but should it detonate with Rose in the blast zone, it had a fair bit of force behind it.

Sesa's orb struck the shield, and for a moment it warped with the resulting explosion. With a flash of light, the shield shattered - a good proportion of Sesa's attack was reflected backwards, but as it was a localised explosion, it would have little effect on Sesa herself. Rose darted backwards a few steps to avoid the edges of the blast that had resulted from the impact with the shield.

With a gesture upwards from the older girl, once more a flurry of light-ropes shot upwards from around the summon to latch onto her limbs and body - the manner of their appearance making the point of origin of the spell no clearer than before.

Meanwhile now that Toka had located Rose, Tessa was rapidly undoing her own spell and the mist gusted appart, leaving her a clear view again. It took but a moment to reorient herself in time to spot Rose's ropes shooting up from the ground around Sesa. The sprightly fire nymph managed to evade several, and blast several more into pieces with her strikes, but as the sparks of light filled her eyes again, she quickly lost ground to the entanglement spell.

As the ropes gained purchase on the demoness, Rose made to put an end to her. Relying on her shield to protect her from incoming attacks, the mage's invisibility became redundant as her entire body lit up with iridescent light and she rose into the air, visibly gathering energy into her body and spreading her arms in preparation for an attack.

"Sesa cover yourself!" Tessa shouted as she locked onto the glowing energy with her mana drain spell. It was unlikely she could stop Rose from casting the spell entirely, but she could likely sap a good portion of the energy going into whatever it was she was doing. It would serve to replenish her own reserves, while draining the potency of the attack.

Sesa meanwhile errupted in a flickering inferno of hellfire that began to wrap around her body in an almost protective layer of flames that would lick and burn at the ropes holding her in place.

Though Tessa's mana drain did take effect on Rose, the battlemage was able to channel more mana into the attack as Tessa drained it - drawing on the mana stone that she carried with her to fill it with a quick burst of energy that would overwhelm the rate of the mana drain, rather than a slow channelling. With a loud cry of exertion, Rose threw her arms forwards, and from her burst a blinding ray of multicoloured light that seared through the air like a tidal wave of destruction.

Moving at a speed that was difficult for the naked eye to follow, the powerful beam scythed through the air towards Sesa. Where it passed, the stone of the ground was charred, and the magical reinforcements glowed in resistance. In the far wall, the beam struck the magical reinforcements and was halted there.

Dropping to the ground and not waiting for a counter-attack, Rose swung her sceptre around and sent a bolt of light flying towards the stricken (but still present rather than desummoned) Sesa, larger than her ordinary projectiles but still relatively weak. However, the illumination debuff still present on Sesa from the ropes (and re-applied by the final flash spell) would give the bolt a far greater punch upon impact.

As the powerful beam attack washed over Sesa, the magic would sear at the shield with destructive power. Though the shield offered protection from the worst of the damage, it only lasted a few moments before being overwhelmed. The light magic then burned at Sesa herself, causing severe damage to her flesh and leaving her debilitated through intense agony.

Overwhelmed under the onslaught of the attack, Sesa had barely a moment to gather her wits enough to realize she was still alive before a second attack hit her, though it wasn't Rose's. Tessa's hand extended out as she applied her life-drain to Sesa, sapping the last of the strength keeping the demon within this realm. Determined to win this fight, Tessa offered only a slight a grimace of distaste at her decision before Sesa vanished and Rose's second orb struck the wall behind where the demon had been standing. It was a practical decision, knowing that Sesa wouldn't have much fight left in her by this point, and the burns and abrasions on Tessa's skin healed over smoothly. The mana-drain and life-drain combination had left Tessa rejuvenated in more ways than one, and she seemed set to continue, even with the loss of her primary summon.

“Toka, keep a lock on her,” Tessa instructed. And for the moment at least, the normally obnoxious imp remained quiet as he reached the ceiling to crawl along it, keeping a good vantage point on the combatants.

Rose spun her sceptre in preparation to launch another attack, but before she had a chance to, the door of the chamber was flung open. Rose blinked, "Hey! The door was locked for a reason!" she snapped, as though thinking that it were nothing more than another student.

Tessa's posture eased out of combat ready tension as she likewise turned to face the door, a look of confusion on her face. “What's going on?” she asked.

The woman that stood in the doorway was clearly no student. Clad in plate armour, scratched and dirtied in a way that made it clear it had seen many battles, and holding a wicked longsword in her hand, the woman stepped forwards without a word and kicked the door shut behind her.

Her hair was black, and cropped short at just below her ears in a tame bobcut, and her green eyes gave both Rose and Tessa a disdainful glare.

"Who the hell are you? What are you doing here?" Rose asked warily, fading out of invisibility to face the woman.

"Quiet, stupid girl." The woman snapped, "Don't talk to me with that tone, as though you actually have any idea what you're dealing with. Who I am is unimportant. You'll have no need of names once I'm done."

Her lips curled upwards in a smile, "What I'm doing here, however, is more relevant. Your precious headmistress thinks herself safe here, thinks that she can operate without fear of us - but she is wrong. His eyes see everywhere, and we are His hand. The Orsa are not held by walls and gates. Miss Dae thinks to find her allies? We'll see how she fares as I pick off her chosen few, one. By. One."

“Toka, go find Scarlet,” Tessa snapped suddenly, her voice having took on a heavy seriousness, and perhaps a hint of fear. The imp didn't even offer a parting shot as it blinked out of the room.

Rose narrowed her eyes at the intruder, "Good call." she muttered to Tessa, lifting her sceptre as the magic on its blades faded, "Unfortunately for us, it's a little less simple."

The woman laughed, "How observant you are, child." she said with a sneer, tightening her grip on the longsword and narrowing her eyes. "Your headmistress will arrive here to find only corpses as a greeting."

Without further warning, the woman lifted her free hand and released a bolt of black magic outwards towards Tessa, before launching herself forwards after it.

Leaving Tessa to handle the magical projectile, Rose didn't wait around to let this assailant finish her assault. Darting forwards, the battlemage brought her sceptre around to strike at the woman's side as she ran, forcing her to shift away and turn to face Rose instead. The loud clang of metal meeting metal sounded as the first of many blows was exchanged, both women engaging one another in a flurry of attacks and parries.

Tessa's approach was simple, though reasonably effective. Duck and cover her head as she darted to the side before retaliating with a matching black bolt of her own. Her eyes were darting around the room, but the seriousness of the situation had her thoughts jumbled and chaotic, she needed to get a hold of herself.

The bolt that Tessa threw would, perhaps surprisingly to her, impact the woman head on. However, it quickly became clear that far from a stroke of luck, the woman simply didn't care. The magic hit her, but where it touched her, the armour lit up, and the magic seemed to dissipate into nothingness, sucked inside the armour.

Rose scowled at this, even as she brought her sceptre up to catch a downward swing of the woman's sword. Locked momentarily with the woman, she seized the chance to launch her own magical assault. From both sides, ropes of light darted from the ground to seize at the woman's arms and legs to bind her in place.

However, similarly to Tessa's attack, the ropes would only make it as far as the suit of armour before fading and dissipating, sucked into the plate metal without so much as a scratch. "Shit!" Rose swore - the armour must be absorbing the magic, or something.

She didn't have much time to consider the ramifications of this realisation, though, as the woman pressed her advantage. Her leg coming out to strike Rose's shins, she pushed the momentarily unbalanced young woman backwards into a stumble, swinging her sword in an assault that Rose barely managed to twist out of the way of.

Tessa let our a curse of her own as Rose stumbled. Magic didn't work, and she was unarmed, that didn't leave her much to work with. “Damn it Toka, what's taking so long,” she hissed under her breath as she tried to fall back on an old favorite. Polymorph. Unfortunately caught in the fear of the moment, the spell fizzled out before she managed to get it to completion, the incantations unraveling before they took form.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it,” she hissed as she tried to pull herself together.

It would be clear even to someone with as little battle experience as Tessa that in the melee combat in the centre of the room, Rose was being forced onto the defensive. Every blow knocked her back another step, forcing her to give up ground inch by inch. Forced to defend against magical assault as well as physical, Rose's shields went up quickly and came down faster - she had no time to focus them into strong reflective barriers, just enough to throw them in the way of an attacking spell.

"Tessa!" Rose yelled, "Any time now?!"

The momentary lapse in focus that it took for Rose to shout to the other girl would give the opening that the woman needed, however. With a powerful swing of her sword, Rose's sceptre was knocked from her grasp and tossed across the room to land with a clatter on the stone floor. Unbalanced by the loss of her weapon, Rose was too slow to block the follow-up magical strike, a fist of black energy leaving the woman's hand and hitting her in the stomach forcefully.

Rose flew backwards across the room and impacted hard with the wall, crumpling to the ground and lying motionless where she fell. A dark chuckle came from the armoured woman's throat as she turned her attention on Tessa.

As Rose's weapon skidded across the floor, coming to stop near her feet, Tessa retrieved it without hesitation, but she did hesitate on using it. Never before had she actually wielded a weapon against someone.

“Stay back, or I'll turn you into a tadpole,” Tessa snapped, her voice sounding a lot more confident than she felt, but she gripped the weapon tightly. As she spoke, she took a step back so as to keep space between her and the stranger.

The woman stared incredulously at Tessa for a moment, before bursting out in laughter. "Of course you will, dear." she said, laughing to herself for a few moments longer before she continued her advance. "You may find that slightly more difficult after I turn you into an unrecognisable mass of gore."

With those words spoke, the woman lifted her free hand, black energy gathering in it ready for her to fulfill her threat. However, before she had a chance to launch it, a momentary flash of light behind her caused her to turn -- or attempt to turn -- sharply. Rose shrugged off her invisibility spell as she reappeared just a foot behind the woman, and light bindings shot from her hands to curl around the woman's face.

Rather than dissipating, as they avoided the armour, the ropes of light struck home, and a shriek of pain came from the woman as the searing magic clung to her face and she was pulled backwards by a determined Rose.

"Finish her!" Rose yelled, "Go for the throat!"

Tessa held the scepter at ready, her hands clammy and shaking. It was one thing to engage in consentual combat, but entirely another thing to kill someone, especially while they were bound. She had never even lifted a weapon before, let alone tried to take a persons life, and it didn't come easily to the young girl. Unfortunately, her hesitation would cost her, or more accurately cost Rose.

With a scream of rage, the woman struck blindly backwards with her longsword at her assailant. There was a sickening splattering sound as the sharp metal of the thrust met Rose's stomach and pierced easily through the cloth of her outfit. Rose gasped in pain as the sword was shoved through her, and her light bindings faded into nothing.

The woman turned to angrily plant a kick in Rose's chest, forcing her backwards and off of the sword, crimson blood spraying over the white stone floor as the battlemage fell, shuddering and gasping as her life left her. In only a few seconds, Rose lay still, eyes staring.

Tessa stumbled back as Rose fell to the ground lifeless. She had told Scarlet she wasn't afraid, but it had been a lie, even if she herself hadn't realized it. No, it was easy to be brave behind the sheltered walls of the academies, away from the real violence. Away from the death, and the weight of your actions. Her eyes were wide-eyed and fearfilled as her back hit the wall. Spells, spells, she needed to get out of there. Even in her frightened state, she managed to gather her wits together enough to begin her polymorph spell anew once again, this time with herself as the target.

"Enough."

The loud booming voice that echoed around the proving chamber would be familiar to Tessa, as high above, a section of the wall disappeared to reveal Scarlet standing at the edge of a viewing station, leaning on railings and looking down.

The woman who had been assaulting Tessa looked up at Scarlet, and oddly enough, nodded. At that moment, her form became less solid, armour and features fluctuating and fading into those of a different woman. When she became defined once again, it was Silviana standing in the room and looking down at Tessa.

Behind her, a groan sounded as Rose pulled herself to her feet. The blood was gone, as was the wound, but it was apparent she wasn't happy. "You didn't have to make me feel it, you know. I could've faked it..."

Tessa's spell unraveled from her grasp once again, this time at the booming interruption of Scarlet's voice. At first her heart skipped a beat, hopeful that the headmistress had come to her assistance, but a moment later it shifted to confusion as the stranger took on the likeness of Silviana, and furthermore when Rose started to move.

“Oh god, I thought...” Tessa stuttered, her mind caught in a state of pure confusion as it worked to sort everything out. The weapon in her hands fell to the floor with a clatter, as she sank to the floor, her back leaned against the wall.

Silviana raised an eyebrow at Rose. "Hush, Rose. You may leave us now."

Muttering under her breath, the blonde girl stretched a hand out to recall her sceptre to her, and staggered towards the door of the chamber, clutching her stomach and shaking her head. "Bloody too-good illusions..."

From above, Scarlet stepped off of the viewing platform, and on a slab of stone she descended downwards into the proving chamber itself, alighting from the slab and turning to face Tessa as she landed. In her hand she carried a small container, within which sat what could only be assumed to be an incredibly disgruntled Toka.

A third individual joined the two headmistresses at that point, flickering into visibility from where she hovered at the side of the room. As Katarina floated over, she shook her - apparently still invisible - hand irritably. "Stupid hand..." she muttered to herself, finally managing to trigger the extremity's reappearance.

Ignoring both Rose and Katarina for the moment, Scarlet looked down at Tessa with a sympathetic smile. "Yes. You thought. And it could have been."

As Tessa's mind worked to sort through the shock, the realization of the situation dawned on her, enough to realize she wouldn't be joining Scarlet and the others. But words wouldn't come to her as she ran a hand through sweaty and disheveled hair. Instead she merely averted her gaze away from Scarlet, a look of shame upon her face.

"Hey," Scarlet walked forwards to put a hand on Tessa's shoulder, "There's no need to look away. I told you that you weren't ready, and you aren't. But that doesn't mean that you've done anything wrong. To be ready at your age would be extremely odd. You've not had the life experience, the life lessons, that'll lead to you being great."

The headmistress nudged Tessa lightly, "Give it some time, eh? Don't get ahead of yourself. You're on the right track - you certainly gave Rose a run for her money, and with time I'm sure without a doubt that you'll step up to be able to be the hero you want to be. Just not yet."

Tessa nodded wordlessly as she stood back up, dusting her clothes off, mostly to keep her hands busy. Scarlet's words, while re-assuring, were still just words. It would take a bit of time for Tessa to get past the disappointment she was experiencing in herself at the moment. She did try to shrug it off though, offering a half-hearted smile. “A deal is a deal I guess huh?” she said. Oddly enough, as she spoke she was making a pointed effort to not look at Katarina at all. “I guess I should go then,” she added.

"You're excused from lessons for the rest of the day if you want to be." Scarlet said, "And Tessa?" she added, "You did well. Don't feel too bad."

Tessa gave little more than another wordless nod as she all but broke into a jog to leave the room. It was rare for the sociable teen to want to be alone, but for the moment anyways solitude seemed like a good idea.

As Scarlet watched Tessa go, she looked down at the box she carried with her, and rolling her eyes she slid it open. "You'll want to head that way," she told the imp, pointing at the door that was slowly swinging closed after Tessa.

Seated in the bottom of the box sat Toka, his arms folded indignantly over his chest. “Hmph. I have counseled archmages and demons! And this is the treatment I get!?” Toka said before sticking his tongue out at Scarlet and blinking out of the box to god only knows where.

"Not very well if that was any indication..." Scarlet muttered, shaking her head at the little imp's disappearance. "What kind of archmage wants one of those?"

Outside in the corridor leading away from the proving chamber, Katarina appeared in the air alongside Tessa without so much as a flash or a 'pop'. Ghostly teleportation was so dull! "If I'm honest with you," the witch began, "I really don't see the appeal of going gallavanting off to find people anyway. Really, I spent my younger years sitting in a darkened room messing around with chalks and charms, scribbling things down in a bargain-basement notebook. And that did just fine for me."

Katarina shook her head, "Youth of today and their bloody dreams of adventure. I fully blame Scarlet. Her and her damn heroing."

Tessa slowed down as Katarina appeared next to her. She was already disappointed enough with herself to not let Katarina see how upset she was by the whole ordeal - anymore than she had already seen anyways. “It's not that I want adventure... I just. I want to make a difference. Like you and Scarlet do. I don't want to be sitting here useless when someone else dies, if I could be out there helping.” She shoved her hands in her pockets as she walked, and kept her head down.

"Tessa, girl, you're seventeen. You're surrounded by people your age and older than you who aren't out battling evil or inventing magnificent magical creations." Katarina shook her head, "You've plenty of time yet to make your difference, not everyone can be as much of a natural trouble-stirrer as Scarlet."

The witch raised an eyebrow, "And going off and fighting demons isn't the only way to make a difference, anyway. Try something different, some sort of project. Something to keep your mind busy. Write a book, invent a spell, or take on a struggling younger student as a tutor. Not all of us are powerful battlemages, and we have to make differences in the ways that we can."

Katarina gave Tessa a sidelong glance, "Christ, do you think that half of these people would choose to teach if they could go out and do? Different people are suited to different things. Find yours, and you'll be on the right track. Don't just blindly follow Scarlet, as so many people do. She's a ridiculous woman, through and through, and a terrible role-model for being careful and thinking things through."

Tessa let out a sigh. “I guess. I mean, I don't really know what I'm good for. Though did you see how well I got that summon off?” she asked, her mood improving marginally. “Do you think Scarlet meant it? That I did well?”

Katarina raised a ghostly eyebrow, "Scarlet does a lot of silly things, but giving false praise isn't one of them. Wouldn't get very far as a teacher like that, after all. And I was rather impressed by the summon, actually. Sesa, wasn't it? Reminds me of Xyntha, but far less vocal. An improvement, if you ask me."

“Yeah, though, I think Toka talks enough for the whole lot of them combined. How do you shut an imp up anyways?” Tessa asked.

"I generally throw things at them." Katarina said, shrugging, "They get louder to begin with, but once you land a good hit with a hardback tome, they tend to quiet down for a while, at least. Alternatively, find a muting spell."

“I guess I can try that. My silencing spell could use some practice...” Tessa replied as the pair wandered off, discussing summons and spells.

’Can anyone hear me? Anyone at all?’

“You’re stubborn, Scarlet. You’ve been trying that for days now, nobody’s going to answer. If they’re still alive, something’s blocking the callstones.”

Scarlet turned to glare at the ghost that hovered beside her in the tent, her scowl letting Katarina know her comments were not appreciated. The headmistress stood with her hand wrapped around a small stone object – her callstone - and had been stood there for almost half an hour. “I prefer ‘hopeful’ over stubborn, Katarina.” She muttered, “Forgive me for being concerned that I might have sent my friends to their deaths from here. I heard the battle, the Monastery was under attack. Whatever happened can’t be good.”

Drifting closer, Katarina placed a ghostly hand on Scarlet’s cheek. “Standing here staring at a rock isn’t going to help them, though. If they could communicate, I’m pretty sure the first thing they’d do would be ask for help. You don’t need to keep wasting your time checking up on them. Do something constructive, like you have been doing.”

“I am doing.” Scarlet replied, turning away from the other woman with irritation and walking across her tent, “I leave tomorrow for the Monastery regardless of how many volunteers I have for an extended search. Silviana has assigned me a unit of her forces to help face whatever they left behind.”

At this, Katarina blanched, “Tomorrow? But you don’t even know what you’re up agai-“

“And I won’t, because they’ve bloody blocked scrying, haven’t they? Whenever we go, we’re walking in with only our eyes to rely on, so it might as well be sooner rather than later, when every day could be the last chance I have to save survivors! You don’t know how much restraint it has taken me to wait this long!” Scarlet snapped, “Elante, Natalie, Aeryn, Sylvire – they could all be dead because I waited!”

Katarina hovered silently for a few moments before speaking again. “I’m sorry, then. I wish I could be of more help.”

Sighing, Scarlet turned back to Katarina with sorrowful eyes. “Don’t be sorry, Kat. It’s not your fault. And you are helping, by stopping me from going fucking insane in this nightmare...” she said, walking back to the ghost and returning her gesture, placing her hand up against Katarina’s ethereal cheek. “I’m the one who should be sorry. I’m on edge with everyone. You’re the last person who I should be taking out my frustration on.”

At that point, an interruption came from the tent-flaps, as a woman glanced inside. “
A couple of volunteers here to speak with you, Scarlet, should I tell them to come back later?”
Scarlet shook her head, “No, send them in.” She replied, setting her expression neutrally.

“I’ll go for now, then,” Katarina said, “I’ll be back later. I need to check up on my senior class, anyway, I set them to bind themselves an imp before our next lesson, and I ought to make sure none of them have been eaten...” the ghost rolled her eyes, as if this were a regular and irritating occurrence.

Scarlet chuckled, “Alright, love. Go save some idiots from themselves.” She said. The ghost returned Scarlet’s smile, before drifting out of the tent through its side, just as the others were being led in through the flap. The headmistress turned to face them, raising her eyebrow, “I’m told you’re volunteers for my search?” she inquired.

Before the headmistress stood a rather stoic young man, average of both height and build. His white hair framed his sharp features, sweeping to the side and hinting that maybe this lad was a tad vain about his appearance. A pair of spectacles sat atop his nose, attached to his collar by a thin chain. His darkly colored tunic was well pressed, unwrinkled, and adorned with a belt that held two large, intricately decorated books to his side by a much larger chain and clip combination. He gazed at her with eyes that could bite.

"Yes, ma'am. I am here because I believe my skills and power will be able to aid you well in this mission. I am well taught in rune magic and I have studied well beyond classroom lessons. Please, allow me to accompany you." He said, voice a strange monotone with a slight taste of pride and fieryness.

"I as well." Piped up a small, soft voice from behind the man. A tall, slight dragonborn woman, adorned in white and gold cloth entered the tent, falling into line beside the man. She was significantly taller than he, but then again, most of her species were. Within her taloned hand she gripped a long white and gold crook, seeming to emanate a soft light. The dragon-woman bowed slightly to the headmistress. "I may not be of much use in combat, but I can at least assist those who are." She rose from her bow, smiling shyly at the woman. Her long, black braid of hair swung gently behind her, brushing lightly against her long, white tail. She couldn't particularly feel this, however; her scales, though softer than most, were still quite thick.

"I hope you will accept my help..." The woman muttered quietly. She still had to make up for her failure of a performance during the assault on the Academy.

“It’s good to see you’re alright, Kaleena.” Scarlet said to the teacher, smiling, “And Luca, it’s nice to see you again. And thank you for the help that I’m sure you’re already lending. It makes me proud to see so many former students coming back to help us now.”

The headmistress paced across the tent and over to her desk, seating herself on the edge of it and drumming her fingertips on the wood. “Kaleena, I’ll happily accept your help, as long as you’re sure you want to. You might be no battlemage, but you’re a more than valuable asset to anyone who is. But bear in mind that we’re going to be up against people up to and over my own power before you commit.”

Scarlet then looked back to Luca, “The same goes for you, Luca, though I’d caution you more seriously. You’ve probably heard about the Patronus on the news or something, we sound like great heroes forging our legend if you believe the chatter in the pubs. It’s a little less glamorous than that. People have died already, and people have turned traitor. Don’t come to help me expecting glory. I know you’re a sensible bo- well, you’re a man now, though you wouldn’t guess it from looking at you.” Here the blonde woman grinned teasingly, “Anyway, you have common sense and restraint. I’d appreciate your help just as much as anyone else’s if you’re sure you want to commit.”

Scarlet nodded, “As you can probably guess, I could use all the help I can get. I’m not about to deny willing volunteers.”

"I never thought of volunteering with the intention of becoming a hero, headmistress. I come with every intention of lending a helping hand where I can. If it were possible to have my name and face directed from the media, I would ask, but that is not of primary importance," the young man told Scarlet, deciding that he would ignore her little comment about his young visage. Maybe his serious demeanor did not mean enough to show off his maturity. "Thank your for allowing me to join." He said, then looking back to the dragonborn.

"I will be pleased to be working with you." He said holding out to take her hand stiffly. Such social intereactions were always a tad awkward for the rune mage.

"As will I." Her face turned grim with the thoughts of past losses and future possibilities. "I know very well the risks I face, and they are not the ones I fear." She did in fact fear the nigh inevitability of death that loomed above her head, but that mattered little when other lives were at sake. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if others were to die, and she did nothing to help them.

"Right then!" Scarlet clapped her hands together, "Glad to have you on board. I'll be holding a meeting tomorrow before we leave to brief everyone on the situation in full, just meet me here at dawn with all the equipment you'll need for a fight. Our first stop is the Patronus headquarters, and I'm damn sure that there'll be enemies waiting for us there. Silviana's sending battlemages with us to help for this outing, and hopefully we'll find everyone there fine and dandy. If not, then we have to rethink."

The headmistress nodded, taking a breath. "Is there anything else you want to know before tomorrow?" she asked, "Aside from the background stuff, which I'll cover then?"

"When will we be meeting? " Came the rune mage's question, looking directly at Scarlet. "What, exactly, might we be facing? Or, to put it more specifically, what kind of magic will they be using? I must know so that I may prepare in advance with the proper runes. Even a general answer may work. Dark magic? Elemental? This is all very important." He told Scarlet. "Or is that included in the list of things you will cover tomorrow?"

The dragonwoman beside him nodded in compliance with his questions. There was nothing he has asked that she did not wonder herself, and nothing she wished to know herself other than that which he covered.

Scarlet smiled grimly, "To be frank, Luca, I haven't a bloody clue. In general, I might hazard a guess that we'll be up against at least minions that are 'dark' in nature, though not traditionally like Kastner's demons. This Sealed One, our overall enemy, seems to have a domain all to his own which makes some anti-demon spells useless. As for the 'bigger' enemies, they're just like us. Diverse, unique, and tough. The difference is they're all power-hungry bastards, mind." The headmistress shook her head, "Prepare to be surprised, is the only advice I can give you. Be adaptable."

"Very well, headmistress. I will do my best to prepare." said Luca, somewhat grim. How could he possibly plan accurately without knowledge of what they were up against? If it were so diverse, then he would have to now work twice as hard.

That was such a bother.

However, it was one he could not avoid, and he had already pledged his help to her. He would not have backed away even with the knowledge beforehand. He did not sigh, did not lament, no. He would get right to the library and begin putting a few runes to memory. There was not any obstacle stopping him now. "I understand completely. Thank you." He said sternly.
"I too will return to my quarters to prepare." Kaleena was not near as worried about what they were up against as Luca seemed to be. Nonetheless, she was worried for them all. The unknown always posed the biggeest threat. She nodded her head in a bow to the woman, before pivoting and gracefully exiting the room, her long braid of thick, black hair twirling with her and trailing behind.

"Good luck to both of you," Scarlet said, nodding "And thank you. I sincerely hope we won't all grow to regret my dragging everyone into this war any more than we already do ..." she added, grimacing. As the two exited the tent, Scarlet turned and sat herself back at her desk. The headmistress picked up a pen and pushed feelings of guilt for inviting the attack on the academy by her involvement with the Patronus away. The world would suffer more if they did not succeed, after all ...

"You didn't drag us into it, headmistress. We fell into it on our own accord." said Luca finally, the smallest of smiles upon his face before he departed with the dragonborn.

As the rune mage stiffly walked outside, back straight and chin up, he looked to Kaleena with that same stern, harsh look as before. He seemed to eye her a while, as if trying to judge her worth. He thinned his lips finely and rubbed the spine of his rune book with his thumb. If anyone had taken the time to actually know the boy, or, rather, if he had allowed anyone to get to know him, they might have known that this gesture was one that signaled his unease. Really, it wasn't as if he couldn't socialize properly; he simply decided that he would not. Thanks to that, it made meetings like this a bit more difficult.

Moments would pass before young Luca spoke up, and he arched his brows sharply before coughing into his fist. "Kaleena, was it?" he said, words spoken without the same certainty as he had within Scarlet's office.

Kaleena, who had since then been seated, lost in a recolation of thought, jumped slightly at mention of her name. She looked for the source of the voice that spoke to her, until her scarlet reptilian eyes rested upon the stoic boy from the Headmistress' tent. She smiled, turning her body to fully face him.

"Ay. That is my name." The dragon-woman said with a nod. She felt slightly embarrassed speaking to him; she didn't remember what this boy's name was. "I do apologize... I didn't catch your name earlier..."

"I am Luca," said the mage, pulling his thumb back from the book spine. He stood very still, very stiff. Just as always. He was never anything else. He had to look up at her greatly, arching his neck awkwardly just to get a view of her face. She certainly was dragonborn. From her snouted, scaled face to her slitted, scarlet eyes. Only an idiot would doubt her origin.

"Ah...yes, well, I was thinking that - since we are going to be working together, and most likely within battle and, no doubt, we will find ourselves in difficult positions- that it might be wise to..." he paused, the next few words forming diffucultly at his mouth. He pursed his lips and raised a finger, "...become...aquainted...with one another."

The tall female blinked a few times in wonderment of his embarassement. He seemed to be having a difficult time requesting their familiarization. "Yes, that would be wise." She said quietly with a smile, striding gracefully over to a nearby bed and taking a seat upon its edge. She gestured with a taloned hand for him to follow and take a seat upon the bed across from her. This way their height differences wouldn't pose any problems in communication.

The mage nodded, tapping his fingers onto the cover of the book before taking one jerky step toward the other bed, only to look at the tall dragonkin and back to the bed. He took a deep breath, as if readying himself for some intense, painful torture, and sat, uncouthly, upon the bed.

...what, no sudden explosions?

The lad opened his mouth to speak, then snapped it shut once more, blank. He made a mental note to himself to socialise with people other than the librarians on a constant. Maybe then these little meetings would not grieve him so. "I...you said you were a support mage?"

That was a start.

"Yes..." She replied, glancing down at the tome the boy was clutching. "I specialize in healing and augmentation. I know of some offensive spells, but... I prefer not to use them..." She looked away for a moment, squinting her eyes. "I... just cannot bring myself to harm another, even if it is for the greater good." Her gaze shifted back to Luca and his peculiar grey eyes. She tilted her head for a moment, entranced by their colour, before giving it a shake. "And... and yourself?"

The lad must have gulped. At least, that's what it sounded like. It could have easily been a hiccup or something of the sort. Maybe a groan. Either way, he nodded his head to the dragonborn, staring her right back in her own eyes. Somehow, he found that a lot less nerve-jumping than staring off to the side. "That is good. We'll need a support mage. And healer, of course, you do that...ah, me? Me." Me...

"I am good with traps and defences. I know many offensive spells, but I can adapt to most any situation. I do best with traps, though, always..." he trailed off, feeling as if he might have been boasting. Well, it wasn't like he did not do enough of that earlier. "How did you become...affiliated with Celestia?"

"Interesting... I assume you're good with strategies then." Upon mention of Celestia, her mood shifted for the worse. Too many memories within the schools hallowed halls had been defiled during assault. All memories, no matter how happy they once were, now bore a heavy depression. So many students and peers alike under her protection had died that day... It was all her fault... all her fault...

She realized after a few moments of silence that the boy was still awaiting her answer. "Ahh, sorry..." She choked back a few tears, blinking her eyes to help them refocus. "I... ahh... I was a teacher there..." She mentally scolded herself for stupidly displaying such emotions, before attempting to continue.

"Stop," said Luca, and very suddenly, "You don't have to. You're struggling...I went through it too. Everyone did. I shouldn't have asked."

"It's... it's alright. You couldn't have known..."

There was another long silence as Luca looked to the floor, hands clasped together, elbows resting upon his knees. In an attempt to break it, Kaleena continued.

"Ahh... How about youself?" She asked, staring at the boy for a few moments, before extrapolating. "You don't look all too old. Were you a student?"

"Yes. I am a student. I have been here a good few years...through the attack and everything. I've only recently graduated. Just last year, in fact." Amazing. The awkward tension seemed to break with just the mention of the incident. Instead, it was left with a hollow empathy shared between them both.

"Well, your talents must be considerable if the Headmistress feels comfortable with your being here..." The dragon-woman said as she flicked her long braid forwards onto her lap, undoing the band at the bottom. She gave the three strands of the plait a few reinforcing tugs, tightening the weave, before reapplying the band. She had a habit of doing this repetitively within a day.

"So," she threw the now-tauten braid behind her, placing her hands in her lap and gazing once more into his peculiar eyes "what did you study?"

"I could say the same for you. She seemed very willing to take us both. I think she really does need a lot of help. Hopefully we will be prepared enough." he said, digressing to a whisper near to the end. Luca tightened his fingers around each other. For a while, he idled himself in watching her braid her hair, but then pointed his eyes toward the ground.

"I studied anything I could. I went after many subjects...magic history, holy, shapeshifting, elemental...anything. And I turned to runes, because they seemed to emcompass the latter. I took three years studying just those. Every day. I do not go anywhere without these books. You may...call it an obsession, but I do believe it has done well for me." He looked up, at the dragonborn.

"Yourself?"

"I'm nothing special..." She wrenched her eyes from his again, staring at her fingers as she fiddled with them. She had often wondered why she had even been hired to teach at the Academy. She had little to no people-skills, and couldn't maintain eye contact for very long without feeling excessively awkward. At mention of what she studied, the dragonborn let out a light chuckle.

"Oh dear... It feels like it was so long ago... By your standards, it probably was..." She folded her arms across her stomach, the long, flowy fabric of her white robe fluttering with her movements. "Well, I started out studying Black Magicks with my tutor... But I knew they weren't for me. I left him as soon as I was able to and began studying Arithmetics, and obviously, White Magicks. After a time I began studying the workings of Green Magicks as well, though they were more of a hobby, I guess... I returned to teach the first two subjects after finishing..."

"It is an interesting path of study," said Luca, shuffling once more in his seat. He felt a small bit of the awkward tension return. Perhaps, and only perhaps, they had lingered too long. He scratched the back of his head idly, looking up from the floor to the dragonborn. Stiffly, he extended a hand, waiting for her to shake it. The woman's hand drifted up to meet his, giving it a strangely firm, yet still graceful and dainty shake.

"Well, I think this talk has been...good. I am glad to have been able to speak before we are off." he said, then getting up to turn and walk away.

"...I agree." Kaleena said with a nod and a smile. She watched as he left the tent, feeling a strange sense of relief as he did. With a breathy sigh, she turned her back to the tent's now-fluttering flap, and resumed her meditations.

"Hello?" A voice emanated from outside the tent. "Is this where I can find Miss Scarlet?" The tent flaps parted as a young man, just shy of six feet in height, made his way into the tent. The man was wearing a simplistic white shirt, charcoal black pants and had a long white cloak that encompassed most of his body. The most prominent feature of his, however, was his flaming auburn locks of hair that seemed to fray about haphazardly as if it were a living flame. His hands were casually placed within his pockets as he asked Scarlet his question; almost completely oblivious to the respect he should have been showing.

Scarlet looked up for a second time that morning as the young man walked inside, setting down her pen on her desk and raising her eyebrow. "You've found her." she replied, nodding her head to the boy. Truth be told, the headmistress wasn't really one for ceremony, and hardly noticed the lack of formality this new arrival showed compared to those before him. If anything, it was Scarlet who was being more informal -- leaning back casually on her chair and adjusting her blonde hair with a slight yawn (paperwork was mentally tiring!).

"How can I help? Well -- first things first, what's your name?" She didn't recognise the youth, and assumed he was someone from Everia rather than her own Academy (she prided herself on knowing everyone there at least by face, if not name). Eyeing his long cloak and lack of a bag full of books, she judged that he wasn't a student, at least.

A bright grin radiated from the boys face as Scarlet identified herself to him. "Ahahaha! The name's Lucas Remington." The boy laughed heartily as he introduced himself to the Celestian Headmaster.

"I'm a graduate from Everia, just a few months outta school." He explained. "I was visiting my hometown when I heard about..." Lucas trailed off slowly as he looked the lackadaisical Headmistress over; it was almost as if he was mulling over his choice of words carefully as to not upset her. After a few moments of increasingly awkward silence the auburn headed youth continued. "...the attack." A deep angry growl emanated from within his throat as he raised his arms from his pockets and in turn crossed them over his chest.

"I've heard you were gathering mages for something big and I couldn't take knowing that there's someone out there that got away with it." He paused briefly as she looked Scarlet straight in the eyes as if trying to voice his passion only through looks. "I want in."

As Lucas spoke, Scarlet was quietly assessing him from her seat, listening to his words and observing his manner. By this method it was easy to make some basic judgements about him as a person. For one thing, he was still young. A graduate he might be, but the swagger, arrogance and passion of youth was still a dominant force in the way he acted. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, though, just unpredictable. Scarlet was pretty sure she still displayed half of the qualities of a teenager herself! Certainly the swagger. She had a lot of swagger.

Following on from that note, it was clear that he was an emotional young man. He wore his feelings - at least in this case - on his sleeve, and certainly seemed genuinely outraged by the damage done to Celestia and the state that they were all in. In the few moments of silence that passed between Lucas finishing his speech and Scarlet responding, the headmistress weighed up her impressions of him carefully.

"Lucas. A pleasure to meet you, Lucas." she eventually said, nodding to him. "You're certainly passionate, I'll give you that. You remind me of my father as I imagine he might have been when he was young and enjoyed hitting people with an axe even more than he does now." Scarlet chuckled at the idea of Garen as a youth -- it was hard enough imagining him without a beard, let alone the grumpy personality to match it!

"I suppose I should clarify something before we go any further. My mission, at least to start, isn't to hunt down whoever did this. That's a secondary objective for later on. No, what I'm trying to do is find others who were also attacked, for the same reason that Celestia was." The headmistress reached into the pocket of her dark trousers and pulled out a small stone, which she placed on the desk.

"This is a callstone," she said as she gestured at it, "Which I'm sure you can tell. It is -- or at least, was -- connected to a series of other callstones that a number of personal allies carried. While Celestia was being attacked, I received an alarming series of messages from them as they too were attacked. Obviously, I was too occupied to reply or send aid. What worries me is that since that night, I haven't heard a peep from any of them." Scarlet frowned, "Including a graduate of Celestia, his fiance, and a teacher who I sent to what I thought was safety when the Academy was attacked."

Slipping the callstone back away, Scarlet looked up at Lucas. "So we're not exactly going bad-guy hunting, but more looking to find out what happened to all of the people who were attacked. Of course, that will probably involve at least a few bad guys, but we're not going out on a search for revenge. Still want in?" It wasn't that Scarlet thought that Lucas just wanted to join up so he could beat out his anger on someone, or find someone tangible to blame, but she knew that what was purely a search-and-rescue mission had been somewhat ... exaggerated as it was whispered from ear to ear. Apparently - as she had overheard from one particularly excitable pupil - she was venturing into the very bowels of hell itself. It was rather silly, really.

Lucas looked pensive as he seemed to contemplate his options; his brows furrowed and his face wrinkled as he allowed himself to delve into thought. He had been eager to go hunt for whoever caused such devastation for his school. Alright so it wasn't his school but with the proximity and similar structure of the two is just easily could have been. Hearing that this was a search-and-rescue operation instead of a manhunt had definitely thrown the young mage off his momentum.

"I'm still in." Nonetheless he would not, or rather could not, allow such things to come to pass without retribution. "If those bastards are still around I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing I'm not doing anything for the cause." A sigh erupted from the boy as he weaved his fingers through his locks of auburn hair. "As prodigious as I may be, even I couldn't take on anyone that could mess with Celestia and get away with it." His eyes became sharp and focused as a look of emblazoned passion laid itself bare on his face. "If there's even the slightest of chance that I could meet even one person responsible I'd do anything for it."

"Miss Scarlet, I'd like to join you in your venture." He paused slightly for dramatic effect (something he was well known for), "Even it takes me into the very bowels of hell itself." He said, quoting a rather excitable girl he had met just minutes earlier.

Scarlet chuckled at Lucas' words. 'As prodigious as I may be'. Yes, Scarlet definitely saw something of her father -- and perhaps herself -- in this one. Though, of course, she was far more prodigious than 'even' he was. The headmistress chuckled again at her own thoughts, nodding her head. "I've always wondered why hell would have bowels, myself." she mused aloud, "Pits, yes, chasms, ravines, tunnels and holes... but bowels? I wonder where that phrase comes from."

Shaking her head, Scarlet leaned forwards, placing her arms on the desk. "But I'm getting off topic. So long as you still want to come after the briefing tomorrow where I'll explain exactly what we're up against, then I'm glad to have you aboard, Lucas. Just try not to be complacent. I don't doubt that you're skilled, but you don't have the battle experience to let yourself be too cocky. There's a lot out there that you can't really get trained for."

The headmistress smiled, "That said," she continued, "I have no doubt that you'll be a valuable asset. Was there anything else, or shall we carry on with our respective business that we need to get done before we leave tomorrow?"

The seriousness on Lucas' faded as his, now official, officer questioned his experience. In no time an air of arrogance washed over him, his hands went back into his pockets and a cocky grin appeared on his face as his body completely shifted to fit his mood. The Headmistress seemed to have quite the sense of humor and Lucas could see himself getting along with her better than a stricter replacement.

"Nothing else Miss." Lucas smiled. "I suppose now's a good time to get ready." Lucas had quite a few things to prepare for before leaving tomorrow. He had supplies to ready, letters to mail as well as friends he had to check up on. An image of a blond haired boy with a similar level of arrogance flashed through his mind and Lucas began to fidget; he hadn't come in contact with Van since he graduated and considering Van was in Celestia Lucas wasn't sure if had come out alright.

Regardless, the auburn headed youth did his best to flash a smile defiant of his emotions towards Scarlet. "Well, if that's all, I'll be going." Turning towards the exit Lucas readied himself to leave but stopped himself short. "Oh. And Miss Scarlet?" He called towards his new officer as the temperature around him began to rise.

"As little experience as I have, I can tell you one thing:" Just then a plume of hot air emanating from Lucas rushed to escape the tent, causing the skirt of the tent entrance to flap about wildly in his presence.

"I don't know the meaning of losing." And with that Lucas exited from the tent as he liked to do so in all situations: as dramatically grandiose as possible.

Lucas had a devious smile etched upon his face as he strode out of Scarlet's tent. His flashy exit had attracted quite a lot of attention and, as he usually did, he relished in the glowers and sighs. Lucas truly did love attention both good and bad; one could say he almost had an obsession with it.

As the fluttering after effects of his reckless display of power died down Lucas could only sigh as he looked towards the sky, his shoulders slumping in the process. A frown was evident on his face as he mulled over the state of his self-proclaimed rival. Lucas hadn't seen him since their graduation and, knowing Van, if he had been present at the attack there was no doubt he would have ran himself into trouble.

Lucas wanted to start searching but didn't have the faintest of clue where the wounded were treated; he had only arrived to the academy moments before and even then he had rushed straight to Scarlet's supposed whereabouts. Looking towards the ground the flame haired boy kicked a small rock by his feet. With a short sigh he turned to the right and started his search for his self-proclaimed rival.

His search wouldn't take long though as Van maneuvered his way through the growing congregation of gawkers that were lurking about for some tidbit of information on Scarlet's activities. With an amused chuckle Van ran his hand through his hair and gave a shake of his head. “I was wondering how long it would be till you showed up here,” the wiry blonde male called out as he strode towards Lucas.

A moment of silence was held as Lucas just stared at his supposedly slain, or at least within his mind, cousin. Lucas had just been worrying and suddenly the object of said worries had appeared out of the blue. So say the least, it was shocking for the auburn haired youth. In time however a wide broke smile out upon Lucas' face. His swagger and grin had been set back into motion as Van made his way towards him.

"Van, you bastard!" He chuckled jovially as they walked up to one another; they took a moment to size each other up as they did so. "I was half expecting to see you on a medical bed!" Lucas laughed, a spark of youth flickering in his eyes. "It's good to see you're all right!"

Van offered a broad grin and an extended hand to grasp Lucas' own. "It's good to see you, cousin," he replied. "I wasn't here when it happened, I just got word a few days ago myself and came to see what I could do. You? Same reasons I imagine?" he asked. "Come, let's find someplace to talk and catch up. It's been what? 2? 3 years? How's family?" he inquired.

Lucas paused for a moment as he stared at Van. He blinked slowly and furrowed his brow. Suddenly with a hearty laugh he turned and brought his other hand around Van's back and gave it a large abd heavy pat.

"Van! I always said Celestia made you too bookish! I can't even count how many questions you just asked!" Lucas laughed as the two began to walk in the direction Van was headed. "But yes, it's the same for me. I go off visiting for just a few months after graduating and this happens!" He exclaimed loudly, throwing his hands up into the air.