Aileana Mordoor's Story

Abdown looked at his hand some more, still perplexed that this rain had only started around the time he had left the building. It wasn't in the forcecast, and the way it had come out of nowhere offered him no comfort. He began to think it over, taking a moment to observe each droplet of water, and found it to be only more peculiar. Around the city, or more specifically, around him the water had begun to form into a pattern of puddles of multicolored... goo. He looked back to the girl, raising his head a bit.

"Perhaps you are right," he said, raising his hand as the puddles began to bubble, and with a snap of his finger, a force overtook the two and moved them a few feet from their previous position. Where he had stood, the puddles had formed into fingers and closed in on each others into a fist where the two once stood. The ones putting out flyers dropped the papers onto the ground as they looked in shock, as did the few residents still about on the streets. Abdown adjusted his tie as he looked back at the hand as it melted back into an inert puddle. "You know, if you wanted an audience, you could have just sent an invitation," he said, likely to the assailant hoping that they could hear him, a casual tone to his voice despite the attempt just made upon his person.

There was a whoosh in the air above him, but again he snapped a finger, this time warping over near Raimondo. Where he had once stood, a round blue cage slammed down hard, embedding itself in the ground, cracking the concrete of the sidewalk, before it started to melt into goo shortly thereafter. The residents fled for shelter, yells of panic could be heard.

"You, sir, an attempt is being made upon my person from an unseen artistic assailant, would you be inclined to assist me with that arm of yours?" he said, still unusually calm but quicker with his speech. He already had a good idea on the who, but not much on the why, as for the what, that was clear, they were out to take him, and by the looks of it, alive. Puddles began to form around him again, now more massive, covering even more ground than before. Nine massive tentacle-like protrusions burst up from the puddles, and attempt to grab Abdown all at once.

“Raimondo Ceci, I’m just a lone vigilante.” He returned the greeting as he returned the gesture to handshake with his more normal hand. Of course, the woman he had met Aeila was now looking closely at his robotic arm. Perhaps her inner tinkerer woke up as she was looking at his arm. However as she began to pull at his arm a bit he gave a sigh until ultimatly she let go and apologized.

“Well, it’s not often someone wants to examine my arm. But I’ll think on it in the event I need a tune up or an upgrade. Anyways, I better get a move on. The faster I get out the faster this whole mess is done with.” He replied giving a wave as he began to walk away. “Time to show these jokers some trouble of my own.” He spoke however his walk was interrupted with Abdown suddenly warping near him.

Before he could ask some cage formed around him and began to melt into goo. He then asked for assistance is a rather calm tone. No doubt it was a harlequin at work. “Change of plans then! I got your back governor!” He spokeas steam left his robotic arm as he got ready to fight.

Aeila's head whipped around as she heard the cracking of concrete and a loud commotion from behind, she stood in place, bewildered at what she was witnessing. There was the governor, unusually calm under the circumstances, being attacked by structures being formed from multiple puddles. Someone is attacking the governor in broad daylight? Aeila watched as Raimondo sprang into action, his robotic arm releasing steam from various small vents, the complex machinery beginning to grind as prepared to defend Abdown.

Aeila's eyes widened as nine giant tentacles suddenly burst forth, There's no way they can handle all of that by themselves. Without wasting any more time - putting her hand to the hilt of her sword - Aeila began to ran towards them, and brandished the inscribed blade at the tentacles, the runes glittering on either side of the blade, interrupting the tentacles attempt at seizing Abdown. "Who'd you piss off at that meeting, Governor? Any idea who or what this is?" Aeila asked Abdown, moving closer to the group.

"By the Light!" Selesynia exclaimed as strange tentacles began to sprout up around her. "What sorcery is this?!" Brandishing her arm-tubes, she began to secrete a searing light that would blind any foolish enough to attack her - assuming this creature had eyes.
"Sir, I am sorry to bother you at this time, but do you have any idea who could be doing this?" she asked Abdown.

The tentacles splattered into what appeared to be paint. It fell inert, lifeless, as if what had motivated it to move and attack before had left it. Abdown took his moment of reprieve to study it more closely, even going so far as to take a sample between his gloved fingers.

"Well, I can tell you this much on the what: these seem to be manifestations of quite a profound form of creation magic, quite potent, but its true potential is wasted in its hasty construction," he said, taking out a handkerchief and wiping his hands. He then looked down at the ground and saw that small spatters of this same paint were trailing off somewhere. He followed the trail with his finger. "The who... well, I can say for certain, they were not expecting any resistance here, or a sudden flash, for that matter. To be fair, on a normal day, they'd have gotten away with this."

As he followed the trail with his finger, he found at the source a tall figure walking out towards the gates into the fields, all the while rubbing their eyes. The figure was clothed in brilliantly colorful ornate robes, which were seemingly starting to melt down into colorful goo.

"Ah!" he said waving his finger at the figure. The figure turns to look at him, but their face is obscured by some kind of animal mask. "Huh... well... that's... not even the least bit inconspicuous. What has the city watch even been doing this entire time?" he said, as the figure turned and began to run.

Expecting some sort of horrific beat to suddenly appear and attack...His expectation were a bit weakened as the tentacles simply splattered like water balloons and sprayed...Paint? Yeah, it exploded into paint. After the momentary surprise, the goveneor went to investigating the paint as Raimindo had both his arms raised expecting to punch some creature that would suddenly pop up.

That was until a figure caught their attention. It was hard to miss, a very colorful robed figure which seemed to melt into goo. Obviously that was not a normal sight. As the figure took off he narrowed his eyes and yelled with vigor as the big man began to run as fast as he could. “Hold it! I got you now!” He yelled as he was not very graceful nor very fast as he tried his best to catch up.

Aeila's shoulders relaxed when the tentacles splattered onto the ground, so quickly they came and just as quickly, they disappeared. She still held her sword up, just in case they weren't actually retreating, and watched Abdown inspect the colorful goo painting the ground. "I don't know how you could be so calm at a time like this...", she said quietly. Suspecting that the worst really was over, Aeila walked over to a colorful puddle and bent down on one knee, inspecting the goo. "This is quite strange, however. I've never seen anything like this before in the city.", she sheathed her sword back on her hip and took out her pen. She carefully dipped the back of the writing utensil into the goop and slowly lifted it up, watching the goo form a long sticky string and then drop back down into the puddle.
She was so engrossed in her investigation she didn't hear Abdown mention the presence of the possible assailant. She only looked up once Raimondo took off barreling down the street. Aeila didn't get a chance to see exactly who he was chasing after, only the glimmer of the same multi-coloured goo coming off from the person's body, looking identical to the tentacles threatening them earlier. "I wonder...", Aeila's voice trailed off as she lay her hand, palm down on the hard ground. As she moved her hand from left to right, a bright light began to emanate from her hand, revealing a few runic symbols now etched into the ground, glowing silver. Hand still to the floor, she looked up towards where Raimondo was running, and in a few short seconds, a loud blast went off some ten feet in front of him; large cracks appearing and the ground giving way - Aeila hoping that the assailant had been caught in the blast. Quickly, she ran towards Raimondo, her eyes scanning the newly made pit and strewn debris in the area for any signs of the person.

Abdown raised an arm over his face as the explosion occured. "Ah... a bit much, don't you think?" Abdown muttered as he lowered his arm to observe the aftermath of the blast. As he watched, he noticed Aeila approaching the pit. Something laid at the bottom, that was for sure, stirring as it were at the bottom. "You should be careful, as unrefined as it may be, it is no less an incredibly potent form of magic."

As he made his warning the figure in colorful clothes stood up, looking about at their melting visage, the mask beginning to distort. They growled, holding their head, barely audible, with a voice so hoarse, they have to force the words out, but somewhere in it could be discernible as "they couldn't fight before," and "useless, useless, useless!" The pit soon filled with the viscous paint-like fluid, an agitated scream bubbling forth as the fluid twists, and emerging violently, a rather large form turning into a large clawed hand reaching upwards and slamming down beside her attackers, another soon following, as the rest of the body emerges spraying paint every which way. While once an elegant form, now stood as a sizable monster standing on all fours. Sharp teeth lining a large maw, forelegs sporting long thin clawed fingers instead of paws, multiple bushy tails ending in dropping tips like paintbrushes swayed frustratedly, wildly flowing blueish hair ending in white tips, patches of blue down the back and on the shoulders, decorated face with blue markings like a form of warpaint. The large mutant Memorian bore their teeth and growled jumping back from the group.

"Please, do calm down, perhaps we can discuss thi-" Abdown began to say, but the being yelled and, with an impressive display of power and speed, spun around and, with flicks of its tails, created wave after wave of paint based projectiles, a few tearing through the ground to show them as having more force than the softness of it displayed before.

After the explosion erupted a few feet in front of him, the large man skid to a halt as he figure he was chasing was apparently caught in the blast. Looking intonthe pit there was something stirring at the bottom of it. Eventually it was clear that it was a bubbling paint like substance...And then a claw formed from it and slammed near them. And the once humanoid like colorful figure turned into a massive colorful creature.

It would fire a spray of...paint...And it looked more similar to hardened objects as it torrent the ground. “Sorry governor, looks like it’s not going to be in a mood to talk! Let’s bring this threat down!” Raimondo raised his mechanical arm as steam vented from the arm as he aimed it at the beast. “I am the arm of justice! For the sake of the people I’m bringing you down!” He shouted as a blue shined across his arm as a laser fired from his arm sending him skidding back slightly.

Aeila jumped back when the giant claw slammed down mere feet from where she was standing. She watched in awe as a huge creature began to emerge from the colourful goo, various body parts forming in seconds. "Uh.. I think I just made it angry.." she trailed off, not having a clue what the best plan of action was. They didn't even know what this thing was, and it didn't look like it was hurt at all by her explosion. Would they even be able to fight it?

She looked over at Raimondo as he shouted away at the monster, no ounce of fear in his voice, she was baffled by how confident and courageous he was, rushing in to fight the beast without a second thought. "You are a madman if I ever saw one, Raimondo." she said. She had to admit though, seeing him attacking the creature with such gallantry was giving her the courage to stand against it as well. Aeila ran towards the monster, swiftly dodging its projectiles and slashing her sword at its right leg, as soon as she connected with the creature, she quickly jumped away, not wanting to get caught by its swishing tails or claws. She watched its movements closely, trying to gauge how powerful this thing really was. She needed to gleam as much information from it as she could so that they could take it down as best they could.

The beast looked on in surprise, eyes wide, as Raimondo charged his attack. In panic, in the same instance the creature threw their right forelimbs to the side, fingers open paint-like goo spewing out and stopping in a stream in mid-air, drips aloft as colorful orbs, before quickly twisting around together, folding together into a new structure, stronger, becoming less goo and more semi-fluid metal. The fluid had become an elegant blade, flowing organically from hilt-to-tip, fluid-turned-solid, yet still shimmering.

As the beast gripped the hilt of their newly crafted blade, they yelped as a pain came to their right leg, leaning some to the side. A frustrated shriek would follow, as the beast swung the blade directly into Raimondo's attack, causing the former to burst brilliantly in half, and the latter to split into two, one exploding magnificently in the distance behind the beast, the other splitting through some trees in the distance, going off into the unknown expanse away from the island. Both had singed opposing side of the beast's shoulders. Colorful flakes sparkled like fairy dust in the air from the destroyed blade, the broken off piece hurled into the air above.

The beast readied again, jumping back as tails flowed beside them, more paint flowing out and through the blade in an attempt to rebuild it, looking back and forth baring teeth at Aila and Raimondo, their ears drawn back as their expression became more concerned. They looked at their hand, noting a slight weakening quiver, and the slowing reaction time had become more apparent. A confused gasp escaped their maw.

"Not a very well organized assault," Abdown said, somewhat berating. "Rather messy, really."

The large beast would suddenly cast a glare down at the governor, but their eyes wandered up above him, something else catching their attention. The piece of the blade that was broken off from earlier now came plummeting down, quite massive in its own right, and was heading straight for the city! It had reduced to a heavy metallic blob, and from the amount of energy that was put into it moments earlier from Raimondo's blast, was aglow and unstable, resembling a colorful meteor.

Abdown followed the creature's eyes, catching a glimmer of something reflect in their eyes, and turned quickly and began to raise a hand, but the beast, to his surprise reacted faster, reaching out to the chunk, forcing it to go unstable. What followed was a brilliantly bright blast right above the city, the shock of which blew off pieces of roofing, and sent a heavy burst of air all around, as an aurora-like colorful ring rippled through the air outwards through the air. The beast panted, clawed hand still outstretched, beginning to shake again.

"Tch!" the beast finally uttered, nearly stumbling forwards from the chemicals finally spreading through their system. It was clear this fight was lost, and with a departing trick, the beast took the remaining piece of the blade, squeezing it into a ball between both hand and, pressing it into the ground, cupping hands over it. A blast of paint followed, launching the creature backwards and into the air to get enough distance away from the crowd.

"Well, that was interesting," Abdown muttered. "I was never in favor of division. Rejected just because of a bad dream? Ridiculous. It is no wonder they often become truly twisted into monsters by the Silence. This one, however... well, it is rare to see one unafflicted." Taking a moment to look at the damages, the governor dusts himself off. " Also... since when was Dragonbane filled darts standard use?"

After the beam impacted the Sword, Raimondo’s arm began to vent a large amount steam after his blast. He had to recharge for a bit so he could not follow up on his attack, however the creature looked like it was regenerating it’s blade. However that was the least of their problems. In the sky the broken blade was coming down like a colorful meteor, however before it fell upon the city it exploded, the force causing him to shield his face as the beast now began to make a retreat.

As slow as he was he made a futile attempt to follow but gave up after a few steps. “Darn!...At least we drove it off!” He stated as he waved his fist in the direction of the fleeing enemy.

Aeila watched as the creature created a massive sword from its colourful goo and shielded her eyes when it met the blast from Raimondo's arm. She couldn't believe the amount of power emanating from both his arm and the beast's weapon. This is madness..., she thought. Aeila was ready to go in for another hit when she noticed that a large portion of the blade had been separated and was flung straight into the air, descending quickly to the heart of the city. She could see that the governor was preparing to do something to help protect the city but the creature, to her surprise, seemingly destabilizing the mass before it could do any damage. Aeila shielded her eyes again as the blast illuminated the sky and sent a shockwave through the land. When she opened her eyes, the creature had taken off just as quickly as it appeared.

Aeila returned her blade to its hilt and walked over to Raimondo and the governor. "Is everyone alright? I don't know if you all noticed that, but it seemed to me that the creature intentionally stopped that meteor blob from hitting the city." Her eyes scanned the horizon, the city didn't look too worse for wear. "I hope my shop didn't sustain damage...", her voice trailed off with a tinge of worry.

Still hiding behind the rock, Vortahar is breathing heavily, his whole body vibrating with excitement as he watches the final blast illuminate the sky. He is so euphoric, he has the impression of watching a new year's firework show. Timidly, he slowly rises while putting away his secret weapon; Drayden is going to be furious if he finds out, he thought. He scans the fighters for any light injuries and frustratingly they were seemingly well. It would be the perfect opportunity to test his healing herbs and balms, one of the few magics Drayden allows him to meddle with.
He started to walk back towards the university as inconspicuous as he arrived at the scene. He didn't want to get involved in any trouble and was feeling quite guilty to be participating so actively in all this.

"Fine here, nothing broken," Abdown said, dusting his suit off and proceeded to spin his cane around and click the umbrella portion closed. "In fact, all things considered, I'd think our attacker was rather behaved. Frustrated, to be sure, she failed her mission and fell in a hole."

He pondered for a moment, assessing the damages, finding the most done is minor roofing damages. People, still shaken, began to emerge from their shelter to do the same, muttering amongst themselves about how they are no longer certain of their safety here. Some muttered about believing monsters only attacked at night, that light protected them.

"Well... their intention was to capture me alive, why, I'm not too sure, but she wasn't expecting a fight," he said confidently, a continued calm tone. "I may have misjudged the situation, it may not have been exactly a lack of skill, but intent. That blade surprised me, indeed, it reminded me of the fallen Memorian Guard... are Harlequins recruiting the Nightmare Scarred now? Unsettling..."

Looking to Ceci, Abdown approached the man only to nearly trip over the half-pint mayor of Lunalake City.

"See!? They even attack innocent citizens in their homes! The Harlequins use abominations to menace our families now! What horrid names these monsters must have to strike terror in the hearts of all!" the mayor shrieked, pleading to Ceci. "You are a hero of justice aren't you? Right? Of course you are! Won't you do something to stop them!? Won't you help us!?"

Abdown froze, looking somewhat frustrated. "That abomination spared them..."

"And, look, the governor is clearly shaken," the mayor continued, waving off Abdown.

"...and if memory serves right, that horrid name is 'Puah.' Ooh. I'm paralyzed with fear," Abdown continued, a tone thick with sarcasm.

“Nothing but a bit of dust. All things considered we all got off easy this time around.” Raimondo replied as he gave a heavy sigh and lowered his mechanical arm. “But at least everything is back to normal...Somewhat...” He then looked around. The damage was not too severe it would appear that of course such a display woke up everyone sleeping and of course caught the attention of everyone. And to that some people were out yelling and pretty scared that they were attacked.

Well this did not concern him mostly, while the others were speaking he grabbed a cigar and lit it up. Nothing like a somewhat victorious smoke, that and now he was not sure what to do now since the paint monster retreated. Maybe it retreated back home...Or it could have retreated elsewhere...Back to square one again! Gah.

“What to do now...” He muttered.

Heading back to the university, Vortahar was mentally preparing his excuses. Drayden could be quite persuasive and Vortahar had to be really sure of his words.

Crossing the entrance to the herb garden, Drayden was already waiting and came running to him with a worried expression.
"Where have you been, Vortahar? I was worried sick about you! I've heard rumors of trouble near the city hall; were you near the confusion, boy?"

"Yes, master. A huge creature, seemingly made of paint attacked the governor and some warriors helped to fight it back. I crouched behind a rock and watched the whole thing." Vortahar says excitedly almost blurting about his participation in the fight.

"A creature...made of paint...! You could have been killed, you lunatic! What were you thinking.... ?" Drayen shouts.

"But master...I was trapped there. The creature was tossing paint projectiles and I almost...

"Silence, Vortahar! If you had not defied me, this wouldn't have happened in the first place." Drayden yelled angrily. "I am responsible for you. Can't you understand how important you are...if..." Drayden dramatically stops mid-sentence as if having said too much.

"Important...what are you talking about, master?" Vortahar tries to probe him for more information but Drayden starts to walk towards the herbs with his tools.

"The Harlequins are getting too bold to attack like this at daylight." Drayden mumbles changing the subject and Vortahar follows him.

"Master, during the mayhem, I got a sample of the creature's paint. I suppose you would like to study it." Vortahar takes the small vial from his pouch and hands it to Drayden with a confused expression. Drayden takes it with a nod and puts it inside his tunic pocket but turns and continues his chores silently.

Abdown cast a glance at Vortahar as he left, deciding against pursuing him, for now at the very least. He assumed this was against his mentor's wishes anyways and would likely stir trouble, regardless of any good intent. Later perhaps a discussion was in order, over some tea.

The governor put his hand on his chin, pondering what to do now. An attack was staged so close to home, even if he felt no malice in it. It forced his hand, and he had to make a decision, one that'd certainly conflict with the coward of a mayor.

"You," Abdown said, turning in the direction of Raimondo. "I'm curious... what are your intentions with the Harlequins? I must say, it is rare to see those of us willing to take up arms, in your case, quite literally," he continued, giving a look at him, then over at Aeila, who also participated in the fight. "I feel I'm under pressure to make some... executive decision regarding all this, and the spread of Silence."

"Executive dec... decision?" the mayor muttered, a faint shimmer of some frustration in his eyes. "What? Haha... no, don't worry about it! You resigned yourself to advisory, remember?"

"Under the pretense," Abdown responded almost immediately, raising a finger and casting a piercing gaze at the diminutive mayor. "Of maintain the peace."

"Oh... oh! But nobody was harmed, all is well! B-besides it was... it was after you, right? Seems l-like a personal matter, right? No need...no need to involve..." the mayor responded, his tone getting quieter and shriller as he found Abdown's gaze increasingly... intense, shrinking back until no more words exited his throat.

"The Harlequins chose to pick up arms against the Silence, and some broke the taboo of killing others, even if they were infected, and overall, the Silence should be our greatest priority," governor Abdown said, turning back to Raimondo. "They are dangerous, don't get me wrong, and they have to be stopped, but they aren't exactly wrong, either. What does justice dictate in such a situation?"

A sound cracked through the air, or more like, a deafening of sound rang from below. It was not a sound, not quite the accurate term for it, but rather, a vacuum of sound, true to its name, the Silence was stirring. Night was falling soon, and with it, all villagers fled to their houses once more, stopping all work they had set up for today, including the repairs from the recent scuffle on the streets. What threat a small group like the Harlequins paled in comparison to the Silence by far, even as terrifying as the group can be, a corrupting force was nothing short of a surreal nightmare. It didn't just carry with it a sickness as some had described, but crawling forth sometimes were the monsters twisted and reformed by its touch.

"It would appear that time has come to return to my tower," Abdown said, looking down. He had to maintain the barriers, that was about all he could do at this point due to his advanced age. "Raimondo, what do you intend to do?"

---

---

On the far side of the great landmass, the beast had fled into the wooded region. She proceeded to lay down, having grown drowsy from the sedatives, and exhausted from all the exertion, panting, dripping with the paint-like substance. She searched with clawed hands to find what was the cause of an itch to pull out a dart from one of her legs and tried to get a better look at it. She pricked her thumb with the point of it and threw it aside, sucking on it.

"What did you do, Puah?" a man's voice called out. Puah looked around, checking for the origin of the voice, catching sight of a figure in one of the branches, it was a man, fairly young looking with strange features. It was Malachie, and he looked to her with not anger, but concern. "You weren't supposed to go there, so why did you?"

"I-," she muttered, but stopped herself. She looked down ashamed, ears drawn back.

"Honestly," he said softly, jumping down beside her. Taking from one of his pouches he pulled out some bandages and began to wrap her wounds. "You were there to get him, weren't you? Thought you could fix his and my issue?" he continued, tightening the bandage, causing the beast to yelp. He looked up at her, but she refused to look him in the eyes, looking a bit flushed. He sighed, looking more defeated than agitated. "Lady Zilthai had a vision of three places. Maybe this is it? Two of them should be easy enough, well, easy, as traversal goes, at least. One in the great tree, and one on an island below. The third, on the moon. Even if we could fly, the turbulence and distance would certainly be... a trial of its own."

"The moon..." Puah uttered, looking perplexed, even her magic, raw power as it was, wouldn't be able to penetrate the sky as it stood. Didn't help that she was an amateur at best, with only a powerful body. She sunk her head, thinking also of traversing the depths. "That island... too? Nightmares are greater there. I'm already marked, I..." she said.

"You won't turn, Puah. Zilthai said it yourself, you are resistant," he said, trying to give reassurance. "But... lets start with the tree, and see how it goes from there, alright? The others are waiting, if you are too tired to walk, I'll take you there."

Puah looked perplexed, but silently nodded, and despite the sheer size of her, a feat of pure strength, Malachie lifted the beast from the ground into his arms and began to carry her on his back, the scene both awe-inducing and absolutely absurd. And with only slight difficulty began to make the trek towards the Great Memoria Tree.