Ivan Witherbane's Story

The ritual was still in full steam, the girl stood perfectly still as she administered the concentration it required, shrouded beneath her hood she was completely covered in bandages with not a single gap between, but the nameless knew who she was, what she was. A single giggle escaped the hood as the circles flashed red, the colour seeping into the runes until they were enveloped in it, and the nameless each stepped forward in anticipation, the keys were arriving, piece by piece they were constructed in the circles, built up from the feet in scraps of flesh and bone until with closed eyes they were all there. Those who would fight in the last cycle, there were more than there had ever been before, but one by one they opened their eyes and a simultaneous sigh of relief ran through the nameless, they'd all survived the process, those who had life in them had at least. Among them the black-haired man noticed a young girl with an anchor, a slime being, a man billowing smoke and a variety of monsters and humanoids, they were as interesting a group as he'd seen before but as he stepped up to begin the cycle anew the girl appeared at his shoulder walking in the other direction.

"The number is not a boon, I sense they are coming." She whispered in a serious tone misplaced on her childish form before turning to him, a smile outlined beneath her bandages "Be quick or be dead!" She giggled playfully, disappearing in a cloud of dust. The black-haired man swallowed hard and stepped forward, it was too soon, they never came so quick...something was wrong, but there was no choice. He shoved his ebony blade up to the haft into the ground where the girl had once stood and a flare of orange divided the two groups, the nameless and the keys, amongst them a few were enveloped in red and dissipated one by one and then he took in a deep breath and looked to the remaining. "Welcome to The Garden, you may be confused, afraid, angry, you were summoned here because something called in you to leave your world, to find somewhere new, I aim to give you that chance. Originally once a thousand years a terrible force called The Lords ravaged the land, challenging this lands guilds to games, and so we began preparing by facing each other in games of our own, The Garden itself is a living force and it sets the stage for a melting pot of The Multiverse. Slowly more and more Lords appeared as guilds fell, and the time of their arrival has shortened, every cycle we have fought The Lords, and each Cycle more of The Garden is destroyed and more of us fall to never return." He took a deep breath, allowing the information to soak in as the rest of the nameless drew their various weapons and began to prepare.

"We are the nameless, ex-head of the guilds, over each Cycle we have lost everything, our lands, our titles, our friends and even as you may expect, our names over the rebirth process. This is the last cycle, the decision to protect or to leave is your choice, after this cycle The Garden's heart will stop if The Lords succeed, and they will be unleashed on every world. You have been summoned here as part of the rebirth process because you have the potential to be a key, to our victory or our defeat, the first guild of the cycle has already found us. I offer you a new life, a new family, and the opportunity to do what you wish, join the nameless and fight by our side." He boomed, bowing low at the end before picking up his sword and turning to the line of his fellows that had formed, each leaving a space between them for another person as he took his place in the centre, all of their gazes fixated on a point at the bottom of the hill, and were one to look they would see a small black blot along the landscape, hundreds of shadows, and behind them one singular being in armour. The nameless got into a defensive position, and to those sensitive to the aura and history of others and their weapons, the entire hill would begin to be devoured in the history of a thousand battles, of determination, and unmatchable strength, of the nameless, and so it would seem not even the army below would scratch their resolve, for they were mere shadows to be cast into the light.

Kira felt disoriented, confused, angry, and yet relieved. As the words of the assumed leader sunk in, she thought back to the rebellion she had been apart of, the fighting, the hunger and the strife, and then she thought of how every world may be subjected to something a thousand times worse, and she made up her mind to fight, she didn't know yet if she'd stay but she could never abandon people for her own safety, especially not just to return to slavery. So as the rest of the group debated amongst themselves, some terrified and others trying to insight courage without stepping forward, she pulled her gloves into place and stormed forward to stand beside the leader, spreading her legs out into a solid position and gulping hard as she saw their foe. Looking to the nameless she saw only strength, only resolve to defend and to win, and she smiled to herself, maybe she'd find someone worth fighting for after all, what better cause for freedom to fight could there be than fighting these Lords and saving this Garden.

She flinched as she heard a large boom resound below and saw an iron ball hurtling up the hill, nobody moved an inch in the face of it, she waited and waited but nothing happened, what were they waiting for? It was insanity! Stepping forward she felt the electricity course into her spine as she lay out her palms and thrust them up, the earth of the hill rising in a wall to absorb the impact of the ball, and as she felt it hit she spun and crouched low, thrusting her whole body forward with her two fists out-stretched as the wall and the ball both rocketed towards the shadows below in a hail of stone and metal that blotted out the sun from below. Panting from the effort and feeling the tingle of the electricity coursing through her body she got back into her stance and raised her leg high, slamming it down and sweeping her hands to the side, grunting with the effort as a fissure flew down the hill, exploding in a rush of earth within the army as a set of rock barricades rose at the top of the hill in front of her. A few cheers and hoots sounded behind her, from either the nameless or the other "keys" she couldn't tell, but she grinned and wobbled back a bit to her position beside the leader who placed an approving clap on her shoulder, his grin disappearing into an awkward smile of apology as she flinched hard away and recoiled under the contact. She got back into position once more and breathed heavily, watching in wonder as a portion of the nameless leaped over the barricades and lined up, swords and other oddities at the ready as arrows, strange beams of light and balls of fire, projectiles of all kinds, began to crash into the army below.

Yet still they came, their numbers seeming even more daunting as they neared the base of the hill, she sighed in mock annoyance and leaped over the barricade to the surprise of the ebony-sword wielding leader she stood beside, he grinned in approval and they both swapped to a defensive stance and watched as the shadows devoured the hill below.

Many have heard its name, and there are only a handful of sailors and pirates who do not fear it. The heavy fog only hampered the battle even further in the dead of night, out in the open sea where there lie only the men and the beast. Even the waves seemed to attack the ship as they battered it from all sides, rocking it in a stormy cradle that threatened to collapse from under them. Looking up into the maws of a hundred beasts sprouting necks from a single mass, Elena pulled her anchor to her side and squinted, the hazy weather doing little to help her already poor vision.

The Scylla. One of the greatest scourges of the sea, breaking the surface of the water and throwing the formation of their flotilla into complete chaos. Its many heads thrashed and lunged at the ships, smashing them to pieces with ease. It was a monster among monsters, and the notion to move barely even registered in Elena's mind until one the Scylla's head drifted over to her own ship, staring her down from however many meters above with a glistening maw, each tooth longer than she was tall. The pristine whiteness in its eyes that had witnessed more than a thousand deaths saw her as nothing more than an insect, just another speck of fish feed drifting along, waiting to be devoured.

That was all she could remember before everything become dark, cold, and murky. There was a stillness in her joints that made it seem impossible to move, descending deeper and deeper into the water. Although she was able to breathe underwater for extended periods of time, she would sooner be crushed by the intense pressure of the ocean's depths than drown.

Damn monster, Elena thought idly has she felt her consciousness starting to leave her. If we had bigger ships, we would've been feasting on your hundred heads. Getting the best of us like this, I don't bloody believe it. Didn't even let me have. . . a single swing at you. . . came out of nowhere like a damn coward. . . get back here. . .

- - -

A flash of crimson light enveloped her, and suddenly images began to form before Elena's eyes. There was an odd sensation with her feet planted on solid ground, unlike the constant rhythm of the ocean beneath her as she was used to. And there were faces. So many unfamiliar faces around her. Before she had a chance to react to anything, a dark-haired man stepped up and briefly explained their situation, though it was a bit of a stretch to call it an explanation. Her last memories were foggy and she could only vaguely remember any events that had occurred in recent memory. What? What was I doing before this? How did I end up here? she thought, throwing a suspicious gaze toward the figures around her. She felt her anchor in her and looked down. Surely enough, it was there, her fingers wrapped around it in a death grip as though she had been clinging on to it for dear life. She looked back up again and narrowed her eyes. There was an army below, certainly, and they looked none too friendly.

Her expression immediately soured, and then became one of confusion at the sight of one of the first people who stepped forward and joined the fray. She would've immediately identified her as a beast-woman, if it were not for the fact that this person only shared a few features of the beast-men that were native to her lands. Ultimately, she decided that it didn't matter, setting her anchor over one shoulder and taking steps closer to the end of the hill as she watched the woman terraform the earth below, wreaking havoc through the ranks of the shadow army that seemed to be advancing on their location.

Now, Elena was always up for a good fight, but the ones around her looked much stronger than the ones down below. She didn't care about their conflict or these lords or the Garden or whatever problems they wanted to thrust on her. What reason had she to believe them, anyway? Did it really matter what side she was on?

She eyed the potential candidates around her, but the one that drew her attention first was the girl with the collar, contemplating whether or not she should actually take a swing at her or not. Still, she wasn't sure how the others would react and doing something as uncalled for as attacking a supposed teammate would probably get taken the wrong way and even she had to admit that taking them all on seemed a little more than just risky.

Sighing, her gaze fell back down to the masses below. Seemed like she would have to settle for those things. She walked down the hill, approaching the shadows that began climbing up the hill. They seemed like weak, mindless creatures, as though they were only there to buy time or slowly wear them down - her eyes moving further along the horizon, she squinted and barely spotted a single armored figure at the back of the horde, which she could have easily missed had she not been paying careful attention.

Now that one looks like the real threat if you ask me, Elena thought. Is he controlling the shadows? Or is it something else? In any case, I have little interest in fighting these small fry. I'm sure the others will be more than happy to deal with them. She spun her anchor once and planted it into the ground, casually taking a seat on the ground and resting her back against the anchor, hands on her knees as she observed the chaos below. Besides, if I'm fighting, I won't be able to get a good look at what the others can do. I am very interested to see what the others have in store after seeing the collared woman in action. This should make for an interesting show.

"Well," he starts. Drawing the one word out as he listens with one ear to the dark haired man before them. He draws a slightly crumpled pack of cigarettes from his suits vest pocket, and with a practiced flick of his wrist kicks a single one out of the pack into his waiting mouth. He pinches the tip lightly between his thumb and forefinger for a moment before taking them away leaving the end glowing a cherry red. "This is certainly different." He finishes idly. His eyes lazily scanning those in the crowd the way a wolf might look at a rabbit right before tearing it's throat out. Glancing nonchalantly at the weapons of those assembled, unknowingly to them taking far more than their measure in but a single glance.

Wayland was not particularly attached to his old world, they were even less attached to him. Far too many dead at his hand during the war for acceptance for any of them to ever forgive him. Oh, it had been years since someone like him had truly been needed anyway. They had been giving him, the one they had once called a monster - and still did when they thought he couldn't hear - busy work for years. Babysitting VIP, investigating unrest in the DMZ, work that only sullied and dulled his edge. This was much better suited to him.

There is nothing sadder than a sword left to rust, or a forge left cold for too long. He needed to face the crucible, to be tested by the blood and steel of his enemies. If even half of what this old man said was true, then he would gladly step forward and fight. The fate of this world, of all worlds now rested on the shoulders of a large group of old soldiers and perfect strangers. Hah, no pressure.

He lazily flicks the burned up remnants of his cigarette away as the assembly moves into battle positions. The more observant members of the crowd might notice that no part of the filter remains. The stick is burning from both ends, twin points of fire falling to the ground. Wayland, steadily walks to join the lines of the "nameless" they may have forgotten their names, their past, their very history, but their weapons remembered, a thousand battles, a thousand thousand grand deeds racing through his mind. Making his very blood sing to their glory, even as the hammer forged their blades into his mind, and making him know that they would fight this scourge until their very beings were ground into dust and the world returned to the darkness from whence it had been made.

He growls deeply as the staccato beat of hammer striking steel rings out through his mind, accompanied by a chorus made up of a million voices. The sound of his growl like two swords scraping against one another, bringing to mind the sound of steel ripping into flesh. The sound of his growl however is nothing compared to the roar that is ripped from his throat at the site of those that march against their line. It is a sound of death, the clashing of a thousand blades, the screams of those felled in battle by every weapon he'd every lay eyes upon, all accompanied by the beat of a hammer on steel and the roar of a great fire.

Hatred surges through him at their sight. He can see the corrupted history through their blades, the corrupt nature of their existence. It calls to him. Seeking to drown this world in their darkness, no to drown all worlds in agony, and despair. His eyes come alight with and inner fire as his core temperature sky rockets in response to the enemy. He barely registers as iron death comes flying towards them. So enraptured by the twisted nature of the foes they face, but he definitely notices when a young women stops it, and turns it back on their foe.

He can see bits of her past through the collar she wears. Twisted, but through not fault of her own. He feels like a voyeur as bits of her she herself might not even acknowledge are laid barren to him simply by looking at her, but he can no more help that than she can stop breathing, she need not know, and he isn't likely to tell her any time soon. Her hold over the earth is impressive, but he could see how it worked, and what damage the device had that held her back, but as their enemies were crushed by the great ball of iron he put it out of his mind for the moment.

He is one of the first over the barricades made by the girl with the broken past. He stands shoulder to shoulder with men who had lost and forgotten everything about themselves as they rained varied death down on their enemy. He seemed to do nothing for a moment, before finally taking a solitary step forward. A step that spelled death for a large number of there enemies. As he makes a clawing twisting motion towards the iron ball amid the army of shadow with a razor taloned hand.

Death blooms among their ranks. The ball twist outward like a flower blooming, every petal a twisted blade shredding and impaling every enemy within fifteen feet of where it lay to rest, corpses riddle the blades. Some still living grasp at those not stuck trying to drag themselves back into the fight, but only succeed in ripping themselves apart further. Wayland revels in the death of the abominations below. He roars at the still advancing army as they draw closer his talon drip molten metal from their points at his feet in preparation for the slaughter to come.

Quickly shaking off his disorientation Ivan finds himself in a place so different from any place he had seen or heard about, and found himself in a group of people, some of which he could even at glance see of that they didn't come from the same realm as himself. The words of the black haired man took a moment to sink in. Like he was aware already the man made clear they had been teleported across the dimensional rift deliberately, but it was never a bad idea to get confirming feedback on ones presumptions. And if what that man speaks of was true, then this world and any other was in at least as much danger as his own. Hopefully the dark lords did not have the same impunity to his magic as the undead in his realm.

Down the hill he could see a blot of shadows approaching, evil creatures that could have never been created by someone with a good heart, as far as he was concerned. It seemed the ones that had introduced themselves as the nameless took a stance against them. Regardless of his actions and their intentions after this battle, in this case where 'the enemy of my enemy' is an apt phrase he would stand together with them. Then again there was an air to them that seemed awfully similar to the paladins that he had frequently seen. Stalwart, noble, ready to give their all and sacrifice their very being for their cause. Makes it at least seem half likely the black haired man spoke the truth.

It seemed he wasn't the only one with the mindset to at least take stance against those shadows as first an elf, or at least elvenkin, crashed herself into the fray with a quite impressive degree of control over the earth. Followed by someone, or something, He wasn't yet sure as the sounds from this being did remind him more of the sound of metallic machinery than a flash and bones creature. Devastating the enemy ranks by taking control over a large quantity of metal, certainly not a power to trifle with. He felt somewhat outmatched after seeing such a display of the arcane arts. Then again the lab had always been more his forte than the battlefield.

He took a deep breath and stepped forward, just enough to break from the group he had been standing among. He had no resources available to conjure spells on the fly, quite an annoyance not having at least a slight shred of T-energy available for situations like these. He'd have to make due with the old fashioned way, use the environment and manage the energy within. He put his open hand out forwards, as if expecting to receive something, and a ball of light collected itself in the palm of his hand. As the ball grew to the size of his hand he began to mumble: "Purify...condense...recollect...purify...condense...recollect.. purify...condense." The ball of light growing brighter and brighter as he cycled his mumbling, almost looking like a miniature sun in his hand as his mumbling changed. "Shape... Condense... Solidify." Now formed into an almost solid looking arrow shining piercingly bright he aimed the arrow towards the mass of shadows and released his grip on the arrow. Almost immediately turning into a streak of light followed by loud screeching sound. The arrow pierced cleanly through a line of shadows before burying itself into the ground and exploding violently as the light escaped it's confinement, taking more shadows out in the process. In a way the fact that the process took this long to form a single projectile worked in his favor, it would almost assuredly prevent any recoil and should it occur it would be mild and easily shaken off by taking a break. As such he prepared another arrow ready to fire.

Charmeine

OOC: Please let me know if I screwed up on what I pictured the situation was, and I look forward to RPing with all of you

What was once a peaceful and welcoming land, had turned into hell itself in so little time...

This was a land between Heaven and Earth, a land where angelic creatures played and did as they pleased. There was no need for rules a pon this graceful spot smacked into the middle of Earth and Heaven, for no one did any wrong. There was no murder, no suicide, no sickness... you could say it was Heaven. However, these creatures are still human in one way or another, so there is still trickery amoungst them. It's sad how you could easily take advantage of these delicate minds... but there are those who are cruel enough to do so.


The young princess of this land had woken up to what she would think was a ordinary day. She would kick the trimmed covers off of her ivory legs, and swing her feet off of the bedside, only to be met with a cold marbled floor. The whitette known as Charmeine shuddered, however proceeded to ignore the cold as best as she could.

Although nothing seemed out of the ordinary... there was a sort of disturbance in the air. It was very eerie, as if she were the only one here. The princess frowned, slowly walking to her window. There, she wrapped her finger tips around the crimson curtains and ripped them open, only to be met with a horrifying sight.

Black... green... pollution... her people... struggling... war...

Taken by surprise, Charmeine let out a horrified snarl, finding herself up against her bedside once more as her watery eyes took in the scene. She was in utter shock, her mouth left gaping open. Such a gorgeous, peaceful little place had turned into a ugly sight in merely a few hours. Yet, no one was going to do anything about it. The guards are sworn to protect the King and Queen at any cost, and she knew she was locked into her room for safe keeping. However, they are going to have to do a lot more than that to keep this whitette cooped up.

As soon as her shock was replaced with anger, Charmeine shot off towards her wardrobe and quickly grabbed for her armor. The princess slipped it on, breathing heavily as the thought of her kingdom suffering bickered at her mind. She grabbed her dual bows and pointed towards the window. A beam formed in the socket, instantly turning into a point. It whirled with power, and shot through the glass as if it were nothing but air. Charmeine could hear the shards crunch under her boots, but they were short lived as she jumped out of her window and ran into action.

In the middle of the action, however... she found that her vision went black.

Then suddenly...

She was in a completely different place.

---

Charmeine flickered her eyes open, scanning the crowd with panic. She felt warm flesh of an individual on one shoulder, and rough leather of another individual on the other. The princess would not stand for this. Her first reaction was to spread her wings, forcing the strangers to back away from her. She snapped. "Stay away, you all reek with dirt and dung!" She exclaimed, though honestly it was not that bad. Being in a place where there was no such thing as a stench for her entire life, makes her nose sensitive to every little thing.

People jeered at her, however, she kept her long wingspand stance, and looked up. Everyone was silent as they were met with a speech. To this, she felt her look of disgust grow, to the point where it almost hurt. Charmeine's expression then turned to shock at the sight of a young woman toying with the Earth to defend the people from... somehing. Impressive. For a commoner. However, the whitette would never admit that much. Her question, however, was what was she aiming at? Charmeine was in such a panic of the new enviorment, she barely even comprehend what was happening. She followed the crowd's gaze towards a hill, almost completely swallowed by shadows. There were a few who stood out of the crowd to help, and she knew she would be one of them. The princess wanted to return to her home as soon as she could... perhaps helping those who fight here could get her home? Fighting got her here, fighting can get her back! And so... the winged figure slowly stepped towards the leader, her chin held high. However, keeping her distance from the one that controlled the Earth, and the leader himself.

The princess turned towards the hill slowly, her eyes focusing apon them as she raised her weapons in both hand. Her palms became sweaty. She wouldn't know if they were immune or not, for some creatures are immune to her power. She mumbled a ancient spell, a spell that would swallow her in a ribbon of green for only a mere moment. Charmeine thrusted forward only a mere 6 inches, and multiple arrows from each gun-like weapon fired off towards the shadows. The arrows glowed with a greenish-blue colorsheme, and once hitting her target, exploded almost like a firecracker. She pulled back and stared with satisfaction. They were weak. Though extremely outnumbered, perhaps she could pull it off.

Anima



She gently closed the old gilded book, it's title 'The Sun: A historically faithful retelling'. The title of the book did not lie, it was the most historically faithful retelling of The Brotherhood of The Sun's past. Given how it's author was a monk of the brotherhood despite it's faithfulness to historical accuracy there was still a vast amount of aggrandizement of particular subjects that were sensitive to the brotherhood.

Nonetheless she still loved reading this book. She loved all her books, the tales within lighting up her mind core with all sorts of scenes playing out within her imagination. She could only see long green stretches of wilderness from the window of the tower, the horizon dividing the world before her into a land of green and a sky of blue. The sky was lovely, with all it's clouds looking so fluffy and soft while birds danced freely amidst the air. She could identify each species of bird that flew in the air for she had been watching them for a long time. Their colors, sizes and shapes were all very clear to her and she had made a sort of game out of watching the birds and then trying to identify each one using a guide on birds that counted itself amongst the small library of books that resided within the tower.


That stretch of gentle green forests and blue skies were all that she knew of what the outside world looked like. She had been told about the world by Fumbledorf of course but not even his descriptions could truly paint the image of what the world beyond really resembled. To her the adventures these bold heroes led looked no more real than the illustrations within these books. She could see what she thought these scenes described to her looked like to her but all that was were but drawings set against the blueness of the sky. With the exception of her maker she knew little of what people actually looked like, only that they resembled him in varying ways.

So long had it been since he disappeared. She sighed with plain melancholy as she rested her soft squishy head upon her tentacles, lolling slowly to the side as her mind wandered about several different topics. She could only ponder what had become of him since he last left for the downstairs, leaving her locked up in the upper levels of the tower where she spent all of these many days cooped up in. She was woefully worried for him since he had never been this long away from her in all of her minuscule life. She tried her best to look past these unpleasant feelings she experienced but there were only so many times that she could read the same books over again.


Her thoughts were disrupted by the gentle pushing of a small wobbly yellow slime that had crept up and started incessantly prodding her with it's smooth, filmy side. This slime was a naturally occurring breed of slime, the fruit slime. These rather harmless variant of slimes occur when a normal slime's diet mainly consists of fruit. As slimes typically adapt to their environment these slimes conserve energy by generating a weaker acid that's only really able to eat through fruit making them less harmful to most other things in general. They are eaten quite frequently but they reproduce far faster than they can be consumed. They typically adopt the color and flavour of the fruit they eat the most which allows them to occasionally blend in amongst the fruit it's eating and avoid detection from predators such as Wolf Blobs, fierce wolves that are far more dangerous than regular wolves despite their almost complete lack of bones with the exception of teeth and a jaw bone.

This particular slime was a pineapple slime, it's yellow hue a result of it's diet consisting mainly of tropical pineapples. Fumbledorf had fed it a consistent diet of pineapples long before his sudden disappearance. She gently picked this small companion of hers up with her noodly tentacle arms, cradling it gently. "Now now there little one." She spoke with a pleasant and warm tone as she looked down at her dear friend. "I will have more food out for you soon enough, don't you fret."

Almost all slimes that weren't Anima Lumen had intellects just barely above those of insects. The larger they got of course the more intelligent they'd become but there was always a fairly sharp upper limit to their learning capacities which always kept them usually dumber than the average rodent. More often than not slimes operated off instinct overall, running purely on inset instructions worked into their minds over many generations of evolution. This little fruit slime had a roughly protozoan knowledge of the building it was in but it did have capacity for memory and it remembered quite fondly that she often gave it food. Thus, it went to her whenever it was hungry. Eating made it happy and Anima was happy when all her friends where happy or at the least content.


"Oh Pituinum, I worry so for our dear maker. I know I may have poured my feelings onto you in the past but I cannot cease this sensation of unease within this core of mine. It has gotten so lonely up in this tower if it were not for you my dear friends I fear I'd of lost my wits to this gripping fear long ago. I know he forbade me from going downstairs, locking the way down so that I am unable to leave this sanctuary and I dare not disobey him for that would be to betray my very purpose but... I do long to see more of this world I've read so much about. Perhaps... Perhaps if there were a way to travel beyond the tower without ever descending it's steps like I was asked not to do."

She pushed herself along back over to the window, looking out into the vast world beyond with a deep sense of longing. "If I could fly away like the birds, gently floating aloft the winds in defiance of the omnipresent grip of gravity, free to roam the skies without a care in the world. To see all across the lands and move without a single wall to limit the scope of their world... Oh how I wish I too could experience such freedom. To be... To be free... To."

She started to lose coherency as it was like as though the whole world started to lose grip of her all of a sudden. Feeling a powerful sense of faintness she dropped her little yellow friend, bracing herself against the window sill for balance as the lights grew dimmer. Soon darkness overcame her vision and she was conscious no longer.

---

Somewhere far, far away...

---

It was a truly bizarre feeling, the sensation of being reconstituted from the ground up. When she came to the sight that met her eyes was a real shock to her system. It was a place that looked all torn up, the ground beaten flat by thousands of feet and cold to the touch. It felt rough on her membrane, far harsher than the smooth stone bricks of the tower floor. As her eyes darted around trying to take in everything that was just all being thrown at her all at once.

Then the man with the black hair, the one who seemed to have summoned them here, spoke of the trials they would face and that they were the last line of defense between these lord characters and the multiverse as a whole. Needless to say it was all a little much for her to absorb all at once. All at once she was so confused and yet they placed so much pressure on her to succeed before she could even ask where they had taken her. Before she could ask a single question the line of those that called themselves the Nameless turned to face an enemy she hadn't even seen yet.


All of a sudden the other strange entities who were summoned alongside herself charged forward to join the ranks of the Nameless and confront the which approached them from the other side of the hill. All sorts of magic went into effect, each variant crystal clear to her as she could feel the very nature of the magic being used. Every magic that took effect had a color, a scent and a flavor to each that she could pick up just by being in it's vicinity. All these various magical forces being called upon fascinated her and yet she was no stranger to them for she had seen all these forms of magic and more duplicated by the slimes back home. Curious as to what they were combating she moved forward to see past the peak of the hill.

What she saw truly frightened her, her eyes wide with fear of what was coming for them. Living entities born of shadows, given shape by dark magic and driven forth by the corrupt will of whatever cruel being would dare harness such power to these ends. These very creatures were a mockery of the very sun itself, a darkness that had been pulled from it's caverns and crevices and driven into the realm of day to sow havoc. Her first instinct was to run, to leave this unhallowed place and preserve her life. Deep down however she knew what the man spoke of when she saw these things scaling the face of the hill to meet them in combat. If they did not stop whoever summoned these accursed shadows then the summoner who called these things forth would continue to wreak chaos and misery upon this land and subsequently the lands beyond.


There was little choice in the matter. These brave souls placed their lives at grave risk to stop these things much akin to the great heroes spoken of in the tales she read. She was both terrified of these creatures which spat in the very face of the power which flowed through her like a river and unsure of why their host had called her forth but regardless of her inhibitions she could not bring herself to turn and flee from this fight. If they were to stand then she too would stand, perhaps not directly by their side but right behind them.

Coming up to the barricade of earth brought forth by the young elven woman's terramancy she looked down upon the bold souls that went forth to defend them and fight back the wave of living shadows.

"U-um... Everyone do your best and please try to avoid getting hurt. Praise be to the sun and may it light our way ahead."

She could not hide the fact that she was visibly shaken by the prospect of being swallowed by the conflict. Were she to choose there would be no fighting whatsoever but the option of diplomacy over combat did not appear available. She turned her attention to the earth caster who seemed stressed from the magic she had utilized. Since no one was hurt yet she decided to pray for this young girl and grant her strength to help her tackle the challenge to come. Softly chanting a prayer to the sun she drew upon the divine magic that saturated her very being and bestowed upon this young elven terramancer the Gift of The Footman, a divine blessing in the form of a shower of golden light that would suffuse her body which should help her deal with the strain of her terramancy.

Kira was shocked at first when others stepped forward, everybody had stood around, scared and bickering and a few were even /annoyed/ that they'd been summoned to this world. The boss man had said it himself, somewhere inside of them they'd wanted to be here, or at least somewhere else, otherwise they wouldn't have been summoned at all. Now however, there was a man billowing smoke and manipulating the iron ball she'd claimed to quite artistically impale a growing number of the shadows below, at the same time arrows of light pierced rows of them only to explode and take out those around the dead and were joined by more arrows launched by another. Just as she considered rubbing elbows with the smoke man however some kind of...goo-monster, began inciting a holy prayer of some sort to everyone, she was the type that didn't belong in a war....too innocent, too passive...no matter her monstrous physique she seemed to be an innocent young girl, and battle would scar her like no other. In the midst of her thoughts she hadn't felt the invigorating glow that ran through her, only when she shook her head back into a focus did she feel that her breathing was normal, her body buzzed with energy and she felt like another round of artistic metalwork was required, maybe the goo-girl would be good to keep around after all.

Kira checked the progress of the shadows once more, made a decision with a curt nod to the black-haired leader and dashed to the side of the smoke man, startled as when she got closer she felt an even stronger presence of metal within him than anything that was on this barren battlefield, he was metal incarnate....and that only made her smile as she took her stance beside him, his visage would have probably startled others, but to her he was another monster born of war, as was every soldier, just like her. "Seems like we're a match made in heaven tin-can, If I uproot some metal care to grow a few more flowers?" She half-jested in question, swapping into an offensive stance as the shadows clambered past the half-way point of the hill, almost in range for a full on brawl to ensue, the nameless held their line dutifully, some beginning to psyche themselves up with war cries and fist pumps. Kira knew from experience that holding them where they were was fruitless, they would run out of ammo and the clash would occur on the enemies terms instead, so instead she'd bring the fight to them. Kira waited until they were about to hit the front lines and then grabbed at the air in front of her, raising her palms to the sky slowly before slamming them into the ground, a maze of cracks and fissures opening up along the hill past the nameless line, large chunks of the earth falling away into pits and growing crevices and shadows falling with them, only to be thrown back lifeless as spines and tendrils of metal forced their way up and into the battlefield to impale, slash and drag the shadows that passed the cracks into the depths.

Kira panted heavily once more, sighing exaggeratedly as she pressed a button on the back of her collar, electricity ramming it's way visibly through her to spark across her skin as it kicked into overdrive, leaving her to cringe and bear through it as she turned to the metal-man and resisted the urge to literally tag him in. "I'm Kira, any time you'd like to jump right in and use that metal, feel free....phew...if you'll excuse me I think I'm ready to roll the dice with death again, see you on the other side whatever side it may be." She said sarcastically, giving the man a small wave as she sauntered away into the fray, floating pebbles and cracks in the ground following in her wake as she disappeared into the defensive line, sending a rock hurtling into the shadows as she rejoined the side of the nameless leader. She could have stayed with the metal man just as easily, but she wanted to see what a supposed leader could do first hand, what they could all do first hand, it was greedy and foolish, but she didn't expect to survive anyway.

She was not disappointing when his ebony blade was braced against the charging shadows and in one swing a crowd of them went hurtling to the side, as all along the line magical blades sang out with power, fists collided with skulls and even a few monsters tore through the ranks of shadows she couldn't avert her eyes from this man. His blade enveloped in an aura of orange along with his left arm as he swung maniacally through the horde, cutting a clear path in sweeping assaults measured with flips and shockwaves felt through the entire battlefield, he was powerful and heading straight for the man at the back even as the gap behind him started to close. At the last second Kira took a deep breath and charged after him, small ramps of earth slamming into the shadows that got in her way to knock them aside as she desperately tried to keep up with his maddening pace, and she was just in time to break the back of the lines and watch him slam into the armoured man in the back, and barely able to bring up a barricade in time as she saw his hand flare under the enemies throat. She watched as he barreled the man over and with a series of shockwaves saw as he was dragged through the dirt and then launched with a boom as the black-haired mans arm exploded with enough force to crack the earth she'd brought up to defend herself with, sending shadows at the back of the pack flying into their brethren as he leaped towards his airborne opponent to swing his ebony-blade down with enough force to send his foe hurtling into the earth with a colossal crash, each blow's feedback alone tearing through the rearguard of the shadow army.

Kira cheered enthusiastically without thinking and she saw him turn with fear and surprise in his eyes, not for himself but for her, and as she saw his opponent throw aside a chunk of the earth burying him to the side and stand up without a single scratch on the helm that had sustained the blows she knew why and started to to her own annoyance, desperately attempt to break the back line, to get back to the metal-man, she wished even that she'd just sat down like the girl with the anchor, anything, as blades sliced through her skin and she was covered in scratches, bruises and shallow wounds. Merely spectating the fight would kill her, and she'd foolishly run through an army thinking she could help. Stupid.

A smoky chuckle escapes the metal mans mouth as he half turns to look at the terraformer, his lip turning up in a cocky grin. "I learned a long time ago when a lady asks for something it's best to oblige." He waits in anticipation for the slaughter to come, and he isn't disappointed as she tears the earth asunder. Great fissures opening in the ground and swallowing their enemy like some great earthen beast from the old times. Great spines of metal coming forth from the earthen mouth and impaling more of the beast and drawing them down like the great metal fingers of some eldritch abomination.

As the metal erupts from the earth Wayland isn't idol. Roaring in excitement as his eyes flare red in time with his heartbeat as his core temperature rises, smoke billowing from his mouth, suffusing heat into his being, he thrusts his taloned hands towards the rods of metal, twisting his hands as if pulling a great weight he roars in exertion the sound rumbling out of his body and across the battlefield. The shadows never knew what hit them as jagged metal flowers bloom across the battlefield. "There's a whole bouquet for you girl", he mutters. As Kira heads off into the fray. He soon loses sight of her as the shadows finally meet their line.

The history of the blades heading towards him are as abominable as they were numerous. The first enemy that reached him he tore apart in a burning hiss of steel and rage, his talons entering its rib cage with next to no resistance and with a roar of victory he cracks the shadows rib cage wide open spilling its black essence across the battlefield, any that falls upon him sizzling away into nothingness. He hurtles the ragged burning remains and shoves a palm thrust into the next, slamming it off its feet and into the ground even as he is turning its own armor against it, the apparel meant to protect it turning inward like a twisted iron maiden. He pulls away moving on to the next enemy even before that one has completely fallen, his hand leaving a molten hand print in the shredded beasts armor. More and more fall as he surges forward tearing into their line, blades scrape against his toughened hide making sparks as the glancing blows serve to do little more than enrage him further. He is a whirlwind of rage and death, his roar causing even the nameless horrors to startle as he triggers something primal in their being, as he is turning the shadows own weapon and armor against them, or ripping into them with talons that are like razors. He loses himself to the storm of death.

He can hear as the battle intensifies around him. The screams of the dying intermixing with the staccato beat of the hammer in his head as he charges forward, the sound of screaming steel his herald, his form a blur as he spins and shreds through the enemy the essence of shadows roiling in his wake as it settles from the enemies he destroys, one enemy after another, the next dead before the last's essence has even settled onto the ground.

As he draws towards the rear of the enemies ranks, over the din of the fighting he hears her, cheers of enthusiasm choking off as something happens he cannot see. Fire roars in his ears as he runs, foregoing his previous skill in exchange for speed. Blades that barely scratched him before bite into his hide rendering his once fine suit into tatters. As he runs past enemies careless of the damage he is taking, blades dig into his skin, and are ripped from his enemies hands trapped in his body as he moves forward without pause, his burning blood venting onto his enemies blades causing them to glow red hot. Those stuck in his body beginning to melt and absorb into his body.

He surges forward, smoke spilling from his maw as he roars to announce his arrival. Crowding into Kira's space going back to back with her, as he turns them both in a wide arc he puts his hands to a pair of the numerous wounds littering his body. Needing the reach he draws identical bastard swords from his wounds, he pulls them forth from where they are written into his very existence. Not identical but the same blade exactly. Twin blades lacking a hilt or guard, he wields the razor sharp blanks as if he had been born with them in his hands, his very blood the material allowing their birth.

“Mind if I cut in?” He asks, as he cleaves an enemy in half, the blades heavier by an order of magnitude than they had any right to be cleaving the enemies in twain, like a knife through air, that is to say: with no resistance.

Still observing the battle at her post at the top of the hill, Elena only grew more and more frustrated ever so slightly. Her legs crossed and her fingers drumming against her knee, she watched with furrowed brows. "Individually they're all quite strong, but their lack of coordination is mind-boggling," she muttered to herself, having successfully commanded many tactical naval battles herself. It seemed likely that they would eventually be swarmed by an endless army of shadows before they could figure out what to do. "These idiots are going to lose."

She ripped her anchor out from the ground and set it down, hopping onto it like a board, arms hanging at her sides. Looking down, she gave herself a small push forward with her foot and began sliding down. As she began descending, an impressive current of water started trailing from behind the anchor, giving her a smoother ride down as she started crouching lower to the ground. The force, size, and velocity of the anchor allowed her to plow through the ranks of the shadow army like a cannon.

As it began to lose speed, she forced the water current upwards and kicked up her anchor, sending it flying into the air and catching it in her hand on its way down, setting it over her shoulder and surveying the scene around her as the spray of water came down on her seconds later like a brief flash of rain. It seemed like the number of shadows was endless, continuously pouring in from all sides. Shifting her gaze to the armored figure, she laid out a simple strategy in her mind as she walked toward the others, casually stepping around the shadows that were engaged in combat with the others. Though she wasn't certain of its accuracy, she had determined that the only one worth dealing with here was the armored figure, and that defeating it could possibly banish the shadow army as a result. If that wasn't the case, well, there would certainly be much more of a problem at hand.

However, as weak as they were, the sheer number of them was nothing to scoff at so they would have trouble concentrating on a single target, particularly one who seemed so tough. That beating should've gotten him pulverized, but he had come out completely unscathed. The sooner they got this over with, the better. She eyed those in her immediate vicinity once more: A girl of earth. A man of fire and metal. A man of immense power. This could work, given that they followed her instructions. She clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and took a deep sigh. She opened her eyes again.

She pointed her anchor toward the self-appointed leader of the group.

"You're strong, right?" she said aloud. She gestured her anchor toward the armored man. "Try to knock him high into the air if you can, I'll assist you." She then turned to the elf girl. "And you can manipulate earth, can you not? Once he's in the air, make a large hole where you think he's going to land." The next person of interest was the man of metal. "And you - If I'm not mistaken, you can make molten steel, correct? When the girl makes her hole in the ground, I will fit it with water. When the armored bastard takes a dive, I need you to drop the biggest, hottest chunk of smoldering metal you can into the hole. A strong enough steam explosion can vaporize entire warships, and I'm willing to bet that if that doesn't take him out, there isn't much else that can." Hopefully, the others like marksman girl, the energy mage, and the slime creature would be able to keep the shadows off their backs in the meanwhile.

Elena was so used to issuing orders to her own crew that it barely even registered in her mind that her manner of speaking would probably come off disrespectful, but she didn't let that get in the way of detailing the plan that she had developed. She joined the fray and stood at the side of the black-haired man, gripping her anchor with both hands and assuming a combat stance. "It doesn't matter which one of us does it, to be honest," she said to him. "I've got a good arm myself, but I figure this will be easier to pull off with with two people. Assuming you have the courtesy to take my plan into consideration, at any rate."

Shane

The feeling of furious flames, a heat so strong that it could melt the strongest of metals, Shane was caught in an inferno so insane that it was burning more than just his body, but continued to even burn all that was him. This heat was the only thought, only thing Shane felt as memories flew past in his mind and simply burnt away, adding to his destruction. Finally Shane had given up, letting the very flames that saved him destroy him, leaving absolutely nothing. "Finally, I get a break" Shane thought to himself as the world slipped from his view, his conscience burnt out, leaving a complete emptiness.

"So that's it? What happened to chasing your dreams no matter what?!", a voice emerged from the nothingness, a faint light accompanying it. "Seriously! you really get on my nerves sometimes!", that voice, it's familiarity toying with Shane, as he desperately tried to remember who it belonged to, "Talking about how you'll change the world, keep peoples hearts aflame, and then you let yours go out when one person dies?! What about all those people who've lost everything, those you promised to save?! Geez your such a hypocrite... I'll miss you..." The voice rang loud in Shane's head, the light getting blindingly bright along with it. The tone of the voice no longer seemed angry though... no, it was sad, as if those were its last words, like someone saying goodbye to a loved one. As the light enveloped everything, it became more detailed, appearing to be a world, and Shane started to feel a sensation he had long since forgotten, the feeling of life flowing into him, the feeling of revival.

When the process was complete, Shane was only able to stand there blankly, partly due to the events that he had just gone through, partly probably due to suddenly coming back to life once again, but mostly because he still felt empty, as though a large part of him was missing. He subconsciously took note of the words of the black-haired man and the actions of those around him, none of it was getting processed, Shane too busy desperately trying to figure out what exactly was missing. "So, ya gonna do something, or are ya gonna sit the there trying to remember things you destroyed?", a small black imp-like creature climbed out from Shane and onto his shoulder, The Ashling Shane remembered, although he personally would prefer it if he had forgotten it." Ya'know sitting their wont do ya any good, specially when we could instead be killin' things", the Ashling continued, it's last point reminding Shane that it really is a creature born for destruction."I guess you have a point" Shane replied, forcing the black creature back into him as he walked towards the barricade. Upon reaching it Shane noticed that the battle had already gotten quite intense, and that a fair few had found themselves in the front-lines, however Shane was more interested in those still at the barricades, a strange green creature, a white haired woman, and a white haired man standing out from the crowd, all already fighting in their own way. "Looks like I'm a bit late to the party" Shane noted with a sigh, seemingly launching a burning bullet towards the shadows, flying through several of them like a hot knife through butter, simply by pointing at them, although the inner workings of it were much more complex.

Already so much fighting had taken place. It was all very overwhelming for her as the chaos played out across the field. A number of people had waded into the sea of shadow soldiers to do battle with the armored figure towards the back, putting themselves at severe risk as the rest of the nameless could do little to help them from all the way back where they were.
The defensive line held but only just. By the might of the various beings that stood alongside each other they withstood the initial rush of the shadow soldiers as the forces met steel, flesh and bone. Anima could only stand far to the rear of the line up upon the earthen barricade and pray for each and every nameless's health. She was ripe with utmost terror as she witnessed conflict like she had only known in texts, writings of past battles she thought she might never bear witness to. Blood spilt and all she wanted was to halt the entire war they waged and go over to sooth the pain of the wounded.

She knew better than to assume that she could just demand that the fighting stop for she knew the shadows knew little of the joys of peace. She had to remain resolute and do what she had to in order to keep these brave warriors and casters alive and well. Over the time that the battle waged for she cast Lesser Mass Heal repetitiously, healing the multiple wounds of multiple nameless by whatever little amount she could afford to give them given the time she was allotted. While the tougher entities sustained smaller wounds which were insignificant enough to heal completely from her group healing prayers there were smaller less durable figures among the nameless who's wounds while fewer were more serious in nature. In occasions such as that she shifted her attention to the individual in need, casting the more potent Heal prayer which healed wounds far better than lesser heals did but took up valuable time she needed to continue casting more Lesser Mass Heals.

It was frustrating for her. Every time she managed to bring one section of the line up to fair health another portion would start sustaining injuries at a faster rate than the other healing casters amongst the nameless could handle.
Upon inspecting some of the nameless around him, Shane noticed a rather strange green creature, the likes of which he'd never seen before, casting an impressive amount of healing spells, but something seemed off. From his experience around soldiers and in wars, it just didn't seem to have the same aura, it didn't feel like it was hardened for battle. "How're you holdin' up?" Shane asked, walking up to the green creature, slightly worried about it.

Just as she cast another Lesser Mass Heal over a small group which was sustaining heavy pressure over to the left, the prayer's magic taking effect as a single glowing halo formed over the heads of those within the divine spell's range which shined down upon those who she specified as allies to be targeted for healing before disappearing in a flash, a young man with bright orange hair approached and asked her about how she was holding up. She looked quite confused at first as she had attempted to shut the horrors the battle out from her mind while she focused solely on who needed to be healed. This recent question directed at her left her to initially think that it was someone addressing somebody else within the nameless's ranks.

"U-um y-you mean me? I-I don't, I-I mean-" She barely managed to form a clear sentence as she looked around, wondering if he wasn't in fact talking to someone near her. After all, the battle was quite chaotic and as far as her mind was into trying to see into the thrashing ranks of entities to decide who needed healing most she was only aware of this fellow once he spoke aloud directly next to her, breaking her concentration.

"Oh, sorry" Shane said, seemingly surprising the green creature, "Well, I'm gonna start burning things now, so just hang in there. Oh! and don't worry about me, I can handle myself" he continued, before running up to the barricade and climbing on top of it, giving him a prime position to start charging up a ball of fire in between his hands."I wonder how many I can burn with just one fireball?" he questioned, launching it into the middle of the shadows after a second, exploding into a bright explosion, burning about 15 to 20 shadows.

"Oh, Ah-I uh, alright then. B-be careful please!" She cautioned the man as he ran forth up to where some of the other offense oriented casters and ranged fighters stood. Right about as he left she noticed a man with pointed ears rather far down the line to the right fall onto his back, blood leaking from his side. "Oh no!" She had completely stopped healing the fighters who held the line, resulting in a higher rate of injury amongst their ranks. She felt utterly destroyed by the realization as to how much she had let slip during the distraction. She was scared for them, worried that someone might die because she didn't heal them enough. She couldn't bear the thought of being responsible for someone's death.

Attempting to regain concentration despite the frantic fear that grew as the defending line's collective health started to degrade she placed her noodly tentacles together and started to pray to the sun to bring them health. With a Heal spell she got the warrior that fell back up to fighting condition. As she cast another Lesser Mass Heal over that area however she started to notice the beginnings of fatigue as a result of her rapid casting. While most normal casters would start seeing physical repercussions for casting so much in such little time her latent regenerative quality protected her from the physical cost such magic would exact upon her. The one thing that her use of magic afflicted her with was fatigue. Even though she had no real physique to really tire her whole being started to feel the slightest beginnings of exhaustion.

With the shadows right in front of them beating in and wounding those that stand before him, Ivan saw it as nearly unavoidable for him to not take more drastic measures. He however did prefer if it didn't involve him taking himself out of the fight as a repercussion though. Looking over at the sentient slime that had been healing everyone around her, he knew what he had to do. He didn't like it, but it certainly could give them all at least some breathing room. Fighting against his instincts he walked over to the slime. "I think I can clear enough of these shadows in front of us to give us some breathing room, but I'll need a bit of a helping hand from you for it." He said with equal parts calm and nervousness. What he was about to do, would probably hurt like hell, no sane man could simply shrug that off completely.

As she cast another healing spell into their numbers yet another person spoke to her or at least she that is what she assumed. After listening for a moment to what he had to say she assumed that he meant her, looking over to the person addressing her. See saw that it was one of the casters, the one who was firing off those impressive bolts of light which seemed to pierce through the numbers of the shadow soldiers quite effectively. "If you need I can help you. Please do act with haste though, I mustn't keep my attention from the others for much too long less someone get seriously hurt." She advocated with a sense of urgency as she awaited her instruction from this rather knowledgeable looking man.

Hearing her concern Ivan smiled lightly. "I understand that. All I'll require from you is to try and place as many healing spells on me as you can afford given the condition of the others. What I am about to do is considered quite dangerous, as it requires breaking my own physical limitations. I'll get close to the others so you might be able to spread the healing a bit more efficiently."

She was happy that he took the well being of the others into consideration for his plan but the danger he described involving what he was about to do concerned her. "Do be careful, I wouldn't want for you to injure yourself to such extent. If you must though I will do my best to bring you and the others to good health." She cautioned him of the possibility regarding the danger he might be in. With that said she prepared to get her prayer underway so that she could heal him in sync with the spell he'll be casting so the healing effect would take place not too long after the damage is done.

This much care and kindness on the battlefield, such a rare occurrence at least in his experience. "When you see a wall appearing between our allies and the shadows, that's when the damage will begin to form." Ivan said as he walked forward almost joining the ranks of the melee fighters. He drew in as much energy from the surrounding light as he could turning his visual appearance into a pitch black, instantly turning all the collected energy into clouds of cyan sparkling dust. He moved the dust in front of the nameless who were holding the line in melee, quickly spreading from the center to both the flanks and forming a wall of dust approximately 3 meter in height. "Kinetic void." Ivan mumbled as he became visible again, and where both sides earlier found themselves slashing straight through the dust the now found their weapons and projectiles stopped as soon as it hit the wall.

On the queue Anima started to cast her prayer just as the dust for the wall started to assemble. Just like clockwork she cast Lesser Mass Heal just as the wall formed, a large halo appearing above which encircled him and a number of the other fighters that he stood by. The shining light that descended like rain healed the damage by a small amount all the way through. It wouldn't fully mend great damage but wounds of a light enough nature simply closed and faded as it suffused with light.

She was worried that he might of pushed himself harder than a lone Lesser Heal could cover. It was an impressive arcane spell he had just cast, one that she wasn't yet familiar with. She knew she would still need to part her mind from just worrying about him in particular as there were many who still were in need of her help but she couldn't quell the feeling that she could do more to help this one person out more. Wrestling with her conscience she opted to cast a lone Lesser Heal, the fastest spell of the divine magic she knew, on the arcane caster to help cover what her first spell might of missed. In very short order a small halo appeared directly over his head, encompassing him alone. The light flowed through him in a gentle stream which healed him yet again before the halo vanished in a small flash.

With her side of the task there seen to she immediately had to turn her attention as a large creature down to the rightmost end of the line had apparently sustained numerous cuts which were starting to bleed quite badly. She turned her focus on healing it though she was starting to feel strained by the effort the magic was costing her. She would not let that deter her though, not when lives were at stake.

With the wall raised and in a more or less stable position Ivan could redirect his focus to the final part of this particular piece of magic. Within seconds the wall turned from the cyan of the crystalline T-energy into a bright shining white and collapsed into a thundering avalanche of light, sweeping up the shadows in it's path down the hill. he avalanche spread out as it made it's way down the hill, until the light had dissipated from spreading out. Most of the shadows which got caught up in the avalanche were killed. Only the furthest few rows that got caught up, albeit in a mess from the tumble down the hill, managed to survive the cascade of magic. It had evened the odds by quite a bit, bought them some time and judging by the reactions of the nameless lifted morale.
Ivan dropped to a knee, short on breath, his heart pounding like he had just run a marathon, coughing like a chain smoker and unable to get his left leg to support his weight, but stable. It might not have kept him in a fighting shape, but those heals at the very least managed to stave off more severe damage. He'd be coughing up blood by now, judging by the pain he felt in his lungs, had he done this without some healer support.

Charmeine took in a sharp breath as she held up both of her dual bows and pointed towards the enemy. With another whirl of power, the arrows shot off in the blink of an eye, causing what appeared as a light show of exploding enemies to be admired. The whitette felt a smirk tug at her lips. Sadistic? No, of course not. Just enjoying the overwhelming feeling of power she was so used to. However, the swarm would only replace those who have died in a few moments, though surely decreasing by the minute. The princess cursed to herself, for she had not been paying attention to her surroundings. Surely the other warrior would have her back, right? That was not exactly the case...

Just like Charmeine herself, they were doing their own thing. Though, perhaps not as... skilled. They were blindly stabbing the air with their blades, only to be over-taken by another. It was a cruel sight, and she would not stand for it. She needed to take the lead, and fast. However, she'd have to start small. Her eyes darted across the brutal battle scene, only to find one particular warrior who seemed to have been wounded. His hair was just about as white as hers, and she had almost mistaken him for her own kind. However, there was a way to just... tell. It's just like telling the difference of a husky and a Alaskan Malamute; stature and behavior. He just did not match up.

No matter, Charmeine dashed over towards the warrior and stepped in front of him. "Defense Skill; Distortion." She whispered out, dropping her hand towards the ground and bringing it over her head, only to put up a shield that would protect her from objects of any material, magic, and living being alike. She quickly whirled around towards the wounded warrior and crouched down until eye level. The whitette grabbed his shoulder, only to give him the same shield as her own. As long as she does not let go, he will be blessed with this great ability. Charmeine would notice the blood trickling out of his mouth and fall to the kicked-up soil. Frowning in disapproval, she used her free hand to grab his chin and lift his head, only to lock eyes for a few moments. Good, no sign of blood. She could of mistaken him for dead.

Charmeine's free hand traveled down towards his throat and applied pressure onto it. Her fingers were freezing."With the way you're coughing, you can break small capillaries in the airways, causing blood to sputter out. Oh goodness... all I know to do with that is cold compress on the neck and drinking water... but this is no time to rest, comrade. If you don't get yourself together soon enough, you /will/ start bleeding, to which I cannot help you." The whitette lectured. "You need to get up soon, or I will make you suffer. Surely there is a healer around...?" She asked herself after her commandment. Charmeine picked her head up and looked around frantically, only to find a healer across the field. Yes, she'd be of magnificent use. The three of them would need to take cover, so she could hatch a defense plan. Oh yes, she'd have them follow her and pick up others along the way...

"A cold compress you say. Well I suppose it's fortunate. Cold is among my repertoire." Ivan responded to the caring girl, still coughing severely. Taking slow and deep breaths, or at least as much as his coughing would allow him to, he focused on cooling the air and tissue in his lungs. Soon enough the coughing stopped and he turned his head towards her face. Blowing out a thin cloud of water vapor with each exhalation he spoke: color=navy]"I've never had a time or need to learn medicine, fortunately someone else has some knowledge when we are so awfully low on healing powers. Unfortunately, though, getting up would be rather hard at this time. It would seem that the recoil from my magic has taken most of the strength in my left leg."[/color] Ivan then put up a grin. "Nor would I be particularly afraid of any suffering, had I been then I wouldn't have been in this particular situation in the first place."

Feeling that his lungs were fine now he stopped applying the cooling to his lungs and opened his hand to see how much energy he had acquired from the heat transfer. A small crystal not even the size of a cherry pit lay in his hand. It wasn't much, but considering all he had been doing was remedying his coughing, any energy could be considered a gain.

Charmeine glanced back down towards the stranger with a curious expression as he spoke. Was he talking to her, or was he just talking to himself? The princess would have to ask herself these questions, since she herself would occasionally think out loud. Eventually, she figured out that the warrior was talking directly to her. Although she lifted her gaze from him once more, she listened carefully and slowly nodded to show it. That is, until he had the nerve to question her threat. The whitette shot a glare towards him and felt her fingernails dug into the stranger's shoulder.

"I suggest you watch yourself, comrade..." She warned, her voice hissing like a snake. "I have made many suffer before, and you are no different than any of them. Your life will become like this battlefield... sloppy, dark, and dreadful. Keep your mouth shut and respect royalty..." Charmeine commanded. She slowly got to her feet and grabbed his wrist, attempting to pull him up. "Get up... I'll support you and get you to cover. I can promise you, the middle of the battlefield is no place to rest and regain your strength." The princess insisted, finding herself flinching as a arrow shot her shoulder. However, it'd merely disintegrate before even touching her ivory skin. An effect of the spell, of course. Nevertheless, she knew the two of them were being targeted by an enemy, be it that the challenger was weak or not, it brought attention towards them. Charmeine let out an impatient huff and swung his arm around her shoulder. "See, you're taking too long..!!" She snapped. "I'll drag you across the field if I have to, comrade.."

It seemed Ivan's words had annoyed the girl, evident by the sharp pressure of nails to the flesh, and of course her manner of speech. It seemed that even though they were from other worlds, one thing at the very least was the same. Royalty was arrogant, condescending and an absolute nuisance to deal with.

Having been lifted onto his feet Ivan tried to stand on his left leg without putting to much weight onto it, but it seemed he would have to rely more on this royal figure than he would have wanted. "Dark and dreadful don't exactly sound that bad to me. Sounds better than home anyways." He mumbled as he attempted to decrease his reliance on the girl, by negating some of the gravitational pull. "I decreased the gravitational pull on myself a little bit, I'll admit it's not much, but if I don't want to cause more harm to myself then that's the limit for now." With his free arm he pointed towards the healer that had helped him previously. "That green slime right there, she's a healer. Even if she's too busy healing those in the front lines, it should be far enough away to give time an attempt at healing me."

Charmeine proceeded to slowly, but surely, make her way forward. She scanned the battlefield for any sort of bush, tree, or object that the two could take cover behind. However, she found herself become distracted. Being the hot head she was, Ivan's words would only encourage her more. As he seemed to be considering her punishment, Charmeine rolled her eyes. The comment of his home had made her feel a little empathetic, however, she didn't let up. "You'll surely change your mind after I'm finished with you..." She grumbled, more so to encourage herself than to threaten him.

Suddenly, she found it easier to hold up the warrior, flickering her eyes in confusement. She stopped for merely a few moments as he explained what he had done to help her. Charmeine raised an eyebrow. "The ability to control gravitational pull... impressive..." The whitette commented. "... For a commoner." She added on afterwards. As Ivan pointed the way towards the green slime-like figure, she nodded. "Right... alright, at your own pace." She mumbled, not wanting to go too fast or too slow.

"It's not as much control gravitational pull as much as controlling energy, regardless of where and as what it hides itself." Ivan said unable to resist commenting on her observation. "Anyways we'll have enough time to talk about magical capabilities and anything else later, for now we should get further back before that shield of yours weakens." he said as he carefully made the first few steps towards the green slime. With the added support from the girl and the lowered weight his left leg could support his weight, but just barely. Slowly he made his way towards the healer.

As Anima healed the forces of the nameless she was slowly but surely losing her stamina. Her tentacles took effort to keep held up in prayer and she was secreting a regenerative slime residue from all across her membrane, the residue starting to pool around her as she chanted her prayers.

When she turned she saw the caster she had healed earlier being carried along by what appeared to be some form of angel. It was quite lovely to see really, all she had known of their species was writings from her books and the occasional illustration. She had all the beauty and grace their kind is particularly known for, even past the large armor she wore. Even the armor looked immaculately kept, befitting her image quite nicely. Given her battle attire Anima postulated that the woman might be a Seraphim, one of the angelic guardians tasked with protecting the sun.

Her admiration for the winged warrior could wait however as her immediate concern quickly shifted to the mage who appeared to still be injured despite her healing. "Oh my goodness, You're still hurt! I'm so sorry, I should have known it wasn't enough! Please forgive me, I'll heal you right back to optimum health!" She was extremely apologetic seeing how the man was struggling to even walk on his own. She looked back to the line however and saw all those people who were depending on her to sustain them as they fought back the hordes, diminished by the caster's efforts but not fully abated. She fought within herself a moral struggle as to what she should do.
"I'm very sorry everyone! I'll continue healing you in just a moment!" She apologized to the defending line of nameless before turning back towards the caster as he was carried towards her by his angelic helper. With her focus strained by the drain of her efforts thus far she began to speak aloud the divine prayers, calling forth the divine power awarded to her by the sun in the form of a Heal spell.
As she cast the spell a far brighter halo formed above Ivan's head. It showered down a far brighter cascade of light which suffused his body, mending far better than her lesser variants did. As the spell ran it's course the halo vanished in a gentle flash, the usual way most of her divine healing spells finished. As the spell no longer required her absolute focus the sensation of fatigue hit her quite hard.
She lurched forward and her tentacles just hung in front of her while she drew deep breaths. Her breathing was not from her mouth however, it was all across her body. Her membrane took in air from all around, consuming the hydrogen and breathing out the oxygen byproduct. Her upper torso heaved much like a human's chest would when breathing heavy as a result of the process for breaking down the air taking place close by the nucleus since it was the most important (and only) organ in her body.

It was clear, regardless of one's understanding of slime biology, that her breathing was labored like a runner after a hard sprint around a running track. The fatigue of using so much of her internal energy for this much casting was starting to gain on her. She was determined to continue healing no matter what as she could not fail these bold, noble warriors who looked to her to keep them from falling to the onslaught of the shadow warriors but the task seemed more daunting with every heal she cast. The waves of enemies seemed endless, a truly Sisyphean trial designed to break them no doubt.

The situation was bad, and it seemed to only be getting worse. Even with his allies pushing themselves so hard, the number of shadows still remaining could be exaggerated to being infinite, although that clearly wasn't the case. While Shane had mostly been using simple attacks, which were barely demanding, he could tell that many of his allies were starting to get exhausted, heck, even his hands were starting to feel quite warm after each attack. "I guess it's time to get serious, huh" he muttered under his breath, feeling a sense of agreement, and maybe even excitement, from the Ashling inside him. With that signal, something switched in Shane's head, he was now focusing his attention fully on the enemies, instead of splitting it between them and his allies like he had been doing previously.

Bringing his arm upwards, Shane started to charge up his next attack, gathering an immense amount of heat, so much so that anyone in the area would be able to notice a sudden drop in the temperature. Shane was definitely starting to feel the "Backfire" now, his whole body burning up as though he had a fever, but for the purpose of this attack he had to endure it, show no sign of weakness or instability, otherwise he would cause a catastrophe. "Just a little longer now... You ready to cover for me?" Shane spoke as the Ashling's body manifested, climbing out of Shane onto the ground, now half his height. When it had finished climbing out of Shane he felt a sting around his left shoulder, most likely a burn caused by the Backfire of summoning the Ashling. "Maybe I can't do this" he started to think for a split second, quickly clearing the thought from his mind, he couldn't let the Backfire get out of control.
Having received another heal from the slime Ivan felt the strength return to his leg. Carefully he took his arm of the girls shoulder, testing to see if his leg was strong enough to take his weight when walking. Fortunately, it indeed was, but the slime on the other hand didn't look too good. It seemed the strain of being the only healer had taken it's toll on the slime. "Don't worry so much about me, worry more about yourself." Ivan snarled to the slime like a father to his child.

Looking at the almost featureless slime he sought a way to help the creature, so she could hopefully help the others. Without any muscles or organs it seemed unlikely that she suffered from a physical fatigue like one would expect with a human, like the build-up of lactic acids or general muscle strain. It seemed far more likely that she was suffering from was more a form of exhaustion than anything else, and her breathing an attempt to extract whatever energy she could from the air.

Ivan looked at the crystal in his hand once again. It had grown from the redirected energy that he had taken straight from his own gravitational pull. He could try an energy transfer, there should be no problem using it, but then again he hadn't done it on anyone that wasn't at least humanoid. He walked to the side of the slime and stretched both arms aimed towards the core of the slime. "I'm going to try something, if you feel any unease or pain tell me immediately. Wouldn't want to cause any harm trying to give you a boost of energy. I am going to start with a very low transfer rate and slowly increase it until I reach my stable maximum." Ivan said as he slowly let a small trickle of energy flow into the slime.

A few moments later Shane had decided that for his plans, the large amount of heat orbiting his hand would be enough. "Lets go" He commanded his Ashling, voice full of solemness, As he got down from the barricade. Immediately the Ashling started running through the battlefield, Shane following closely behind. Being for the most part just a body of heat, the Ashling was able to quickly and easily deal with many of the shadows that attempted to attack it and Shane, simply burning or melting through them with it's strikes, but it still wasn't enough to keep Shane entirely safe, and he took a few light wounds, just scratches, which Shane cauterized with his right hand. Every time he did so however, the pain was immense, and if it weren't for the fact that he had experienced death twice then he would likely be howling it out.

Finally he reached a good spot, where what he was about to do wouldn't put his allies in harm. In a swift motion he crouched to the ground, planting his left hand on it, sending the heat orbiting through the ground. The immense amount of heat turned the ground in a large area in front of him into magma. It was only about knee-deep, but It was still a rather large obstacle, and many Shadows were already burning in the pool. Upon getting back up, Shane realized the cost of his actions, as every part of his body, burned and beaten, screamed in agony. Noticing the attention he had gathered, Shane started to make his retreat, every step back, every movement, felt like an attack. After what felt like an eternity of pain, Shane had finally made it to safety. He had several cuts over his back and arms, his whole body was burnt and red, and he could barely walk, but he was alive, and most of these wounds would leave minor scars. "Maybe I overdid it..." He mumbled, as the Ashling climbed back into his body, relieving a bit of the stress on Shane.
Amidst the chaos, the burning, the flying limbs and clang of steel, all would became silent. The metal of the fallen, armor, spears, swords and weapons of all kind would screech through it all, twisting and spinning into wicked barbed spines and bending towards the sky to form a cloud of death, and suddenly the battlefield below would become the focus of the few shadows who lived. Each turning to stop as The Nameless themselves halted their assault in suit, both in apprehension of the reaction and in curiosity when a resounding boom shot through the arena below, a white-steel object flashing across the horizon towards the hill in a shockwave of oranges and yellows, the shadows seemed to sense it, this would make or break their leader's battle.

Below the earth would shatter and pounce at the object, spines, blades, all sorts would batter and change the metal-mans trajectory until a wall of earth, almost a fist, would rise up to catch him with a shattering crash, morphing into a walled platform as a torrent of water slammed to fill the gap, twisting and whirling visibly as it was bent to crush the man below, the display interrupted by the screech of steel as it leaped forward, sailing through the sky in it's cloud until it fell as if by the wrath of god's onto the platform, littering the area with the spines in an endless torrent of destruction. Beneath the onslaught the platform shifted, becoming sharp, spined, claw-like, metal snaking along it's base in small needles to add to the attack until they coated the base entirely in their molten-fury.

As the onslaught continued, the water gained height, forming into a twisting maelstrom, the wrath of the sea incarnate as it formed to it's peak, twisting up once more before crashing down in a torrent meant to leave nothing left, the platform and the earth below cracking and fissuring under the pressure. As within the metal-storm a light began to grow, a glowing orange sun that began at the apex of the cloud and increased in speed and brightness as it drew nearer and nearer to the platform, roaming through the steel as the sun became a blur, a colossal star torn from the sky fading in and out of the steel. Then the star died, and the utter deafening silence returned to the plane of war, until the clang of steel, of shattering earth and crushing tides returned anew only to be silenced by a howling explosion of light, the supernova blooming into a flower of noise and heat, of light as the earth stretching up the hill and into the unforeseen horizon was ran through with cracks and crevices under the pressure, the earth parting way to allow the nova to pass, the shadows that remained quaked for a moment and then simply fell to pieces, no arms or armor left of those who were felled by the impact, no harm befalling those who had fought them, completely cleansed by the light.

Then all was gone, a cloud of dust left behind to settle until it too was blown away by the resounding shockwave, at the base of the hill stood four people, one of them had began in the middle of the explosion and now worked his way towards the three who stood behind a barricade of earth, a man with raven black hair. An orange haired girl, a man of swords and a young naval girl stood before him, they seemed to talk for a moment, and then the orange haired girl lay down to sleep, the man of raven hair began to pick his way past the corpses of the shadows felled before his assault as they slowly floated into the breeze like black wisps of sand. Eventually he made his way to the top and stood before the assembly, The dozen Nameless saluted him in a joking manner and then went about clapping each other on the back, laughing, joking, congratulating, the family love extending to the new-comers dependent on how they'd been shown to be during the fight, restraint and formality shown to Charmeine in respect.

Eventually the congratulations ended and the wide-grinned leader stood before the assembly "What a battle that was! I thank you all for staying and fighting, for being with us in our battle, the majority of your fellows left, but I am proud to welcome you all into the fold of The Nameless. You fought bravely, and without you I fear we may have lost brothers and sisters today, we head for the city of Tel'dra where I can explain more and we can get some rest. This was the welcoming committee, but we're not out of the woods yet, Aisha will heal your wounds and get everyone together along with Thedas, Nero will carry anyone who can't walk, on that note, Nero there's a napping tightly-dressed elf down below, go fetch." The leader spoke, his tone turning friendly and jovial near the end as he pointed below.

Among The Nameless line a woman dressed in full red, hair included, and a woman in all white stepped forward, one wielding a palm of flame who chimed "Aisha, hold still losers." in a playful tone, followed by the other who chimed "Thedas! I'll be gentle...if I feel like it. excitedly, a ball of white-lightning in her hands as behind them stood a shadowy monstrosity, humanoid in shape but featureless aside from empty white circles that adorned his face and flowing black hair, red wisped from him momentarily as the blood that soaked him seemed to reject his very existence to follow the dying shadows, he could only be Nero, an unsettling and alien noise resonated from him at the leaders comments, it might have been a chuckle.

Among the joviality, relief and the congratulations after they had beaten the battle Ivan cheered with mixed feelings. This battle had left a particularly bitter taste in his mouth. Having been shown the spectacle of such grand powers, it felt quite humiliating. He on the other hand had been unable to use his power to the full extent, but still how powerful were those who had shown that grandeur? Would he even be able to match up to them if he had been able to use his powers to the full extent? It certainly had fundamentally shaken him, the eternal mages who were regarded as the apex of magic, users of the power of gods trapped in mortal form, yet now shown magic that pales his own in comparison. Certainly he was aware of the possibility of greater magic existing elsewhere, however that didn't lessen the feeling. He hid this dismay he felt, or at least he tried to, not wanting to dampen the mood with his personal conflict.

At the very least he would have to create an artifact to amplify his magic, Ivan had the aptitude arguably even unrivaled in thaumaturgy, however materials would be a bigger constraint, and portability if they were going to travel a lot. While he had time perhaps he could contemplate some designs and create mental blueprints.

Anima bowed her head in apology when the caster admonished her over worrying for his safety the cost of her fatigue. When he transferred his magic over to her instead of causing any pain or harm like he had warned her body greedily absorbed the energy far easier than most humanoids could. Her mass pulled at the energy directed at her like a vacuum, sucking the magical energy up like an extremely capacious sponge. She felt slightly less exhausted as her body metabolized the magic directed to her from the caster.
Before she could respond to his kind gesture however a bright light erupted behind her. Lugging her tired body around she turned to see the battle that was being waged behind her. The leader of the shadows, the metallic figure, was being assailed by potent magic which stirred up all sorts of elemental damage preceded by a brilliant orange sphere which collided with the foe. The light died down momentarily before erupting into an enormous explosion which kicked up a massive cloud of dust in their direction. Quickly she held her tentacles out to hopefully block any debris coming her way out of reflex as she was immersed in the torrent of dust. She could not see as the storm completely obscured her field of vision.

Her entire front half was caked in a thick layer of dust that clung to the residue that was sweat from her body leaving only her eyes visible underneath the mask of dirt and other particulates which were kicked up in the blast. She missed the speech given by the apparent leader of the nameless as the group seemed to identify themselves as while she dusted herself off, sloughing off the regenerative residue which her membrane constantly coated itself with. When she was done she was almost one hundred percent clean, all the dust pooled back onto the ground stuck in the mint green healing substance which had the physical consistency of syrup.
She looked around as everyone started talking and moving amongst other things. She looked a little confused as she just managed to look up and see what was going on well after everything was said and done. She saw that there was no more fighting and the shadows were gone along with their anonymous warlord. Relief started to set in as she realized there was little need for her healing right now, allowing for her to rest the moment. Above all other sensations that ran through her both physically and emotionally exhausted self was the feeling of confusion. Have we won? Why were we fighting in the first place? Where am I? Where are we going? All those questions and more filled her mind as she looked for familiar faces, anything to offset the sensation of being dropped in a completely alien environment with little to no clue as to what anything was or why this all happened. "H-hello?" She asked aloud hoping to find someone to speak to so they could fill her in as to just what was going on.

Charmeine's expression softened as the stranger started to become less and less reliant on her. Although her mind told her to keep supporting him, her arm slowly became limp and returned to her side. The whitette's feet had came to a halt, and her head turned slowly to follow the man's whereabouts. As expected, he had slowly returned to the gel-like healer's side. It was strange watching him walk away. Despite the fact she threatened to torture him for the rest of his pitiful life, she felt secure around him. Perhaps it was all to do with his hair color. The princess broke her gaze and glanced down towards her long, diamond strands of hair? Yes, that was it. No one else had white hair except for the the stranger and herself. It was the only familiar thing she has seen since she had arrived. Charmeine gulped, only to find a lump in her throat. She wondered why only she, out of all the people in her kingdom, was teleported to this very spot.

The young woman had been so lost in thought, she completely forgot about the battle. Quickly, she shook her head and shot her hand downwards, only to have a wave of light engulf her body, and shatter just as soon. Her shield was now down, and she can attack again. Charmeine took in a deep breath, and pointed her weapon. However, instead of shooting, she'd be left in utter shock,
All the enemies, suddenly just swiped off the land. It all happened in the matter of two minutes. Impossible! Even so, there was not a figure to be seen for miles. Before she could even process the fact the fighting was over, a gigantic wave of dust was making its way towards the group. It had already hit her when she ducked her head into her arms. And no sooner did it hit her, it was over. Like everyone else, her first reaction was to wipe her eyes and spit out the dust that had made its way into her mouth.

The whitette picked up her head cautiously as she heard the leader projecting his speech across the field. Her eyes narrowed. He talked about moving towards a new area. No, no, she wanted to return home immediately! This should have been over, she fought! What else was she left to do? The princess rolled her eyes in annoyance and crossed her arms, only to feel a strange... sensation that was not skin, but at the same time it was. Charmeine glance down to her arms, only to have the real drama begin...

Charmeine finally broke out of her aggravated state, and looked over herself. Her sapphire eyes widened with sheer horror. Her hair, her arms, her legs, her torso, her apparel, just about her whole body but her eyes and mouth was covered in a layer of dust. After only merely a few moments of silence, she let out a high-pitched scream and furiously dusted herself off. She felt herself shudder constantly, squealing and whining helplessly like a child who just burned their hand. However, this may not be too noticeable since everyone now was doing their own thing, whether it be socializing or cleaning themselves off.

She violently scratched at her hair, desperate to get rid of the dust. She'd have to give up eventually, for she had only cleaned up about 80% of herself before realizing the rest will not come off until she bathes. Seeing the situation now, who knows when that'll be.
In the corner of her eye, she caught the sight of the healer that had healed the stranger. Charmeine frowned. It was as if she were not affected by it whatsoever! She just stood there, shiny and green as ever! It amazed the princess, yet pissed her off as well. The whitette slowly stretched her wings to beat the dust out, gathering herself up once more before doing anything else.

Now sitting by the barricade refusing to move thanks to the pain of several burns, Shane wouldn't stop staring at the amazing sights in front of him. He could see the strength of his "allies" as the combo-attack played out before him. It was when a huge amount of water crashed into the "enemy" that Shane found himself truly shocked. This pure liquid, a resource so valuable and rare to him that only the most powerful of creatures on his home could create it. Could it be that these people have a god amongst them? They were surely a god he decided, the only thing he was able to compare them to being children's stories about their worlds mother, whose body was said to be covered in liquid. He sat there, lost in wonder and thought, not even noticing at first the huge wave of dust that for a moment completely blocked his view, which he simply wiped off his face as if it were nothing.

As the celebrations began, and the man, who presumably had a leader sort of role here, started his speech, Shane found himself paying little attention, only hearing small bits here and there. Instead, Shane was looking around trying to find the one who used such amazing powers. But what would they look like? would they have an appearance similar to that of the Mother's? would they look normal? unusual? big? small? would they even be visible? Searching the group with these thoughts in his head, he realized just how unusual and varied they were.

Kira bristled in annoyance, both at herself upon needing to be rescued by the very man she'd so recently shown off her strength too, and at the arrival of a little /girl/ who'd just breezed through the army she'd been cut up by in her panic, arriving simply to order them around. The nerve!, but she had a point...and a plan...she'd have to listen for now, but after this someone was going to get a serious time-out. Kira pulled herself together and kicked a shadow in the ribs that had gotten in her way as she helped make a path back to the fight, bringing up a spike on the floor for it's head to impale upon as it fell and continuing in her run beside the metal-man, and as she suddenly stopped and he continued forward she knew attention would be drawn to her, and she exploited that for her purpose. "Did you just make a PUN, while rescuing me? Is now really the time?!" She complained, a grin spreading to her features as she ran to catch up, sliding to a halt beside what she was sure to be the squad that dragged her into her death.
Wayland chuffs in laughter as Kira comes up beside him. Smoke, and cinders billowing out with every puff of the rough laughter. Grinning cheekily he responds as they come to a halt "You'd prefer if I cut to the chase?" Kira simply rolled her eyes in response and nudged him in the ribs, looking to attention as the nameless leader turned to them, rolling his own eyes after the fact.

He stood attentive for a moment, listening to the girl's proposal with a grin, rushing forward to fend off one of the armoured man's blows, fist colliding with ebony as the two parted ways and the leader slid back beside the group. "You guys've got guts I'll give you that, if you can handle the set-up I'll keep him busy and start gathering some anger to take this guy out in one swing, something tells me metal-man is gunna give me plenty of cause." He said, offering a reassuring smile and rolling his shoulders as he charged back into the fray, Kira putting up a half-wall of rock between them and the fight as the resounding shockwaves battered the defense as the two collided and parted over and over.

"So.." Kira began "If we batter him down, I can't make a hole big enough to land him in, but if we make a platform I can shift it's direction so you and boss-man can smash him in the water, if we can somehow pin him down...we might not die."
"Not really what I was hoping for," Elena shrugged, watching closely as the two fought each other, "but whatever goes will go. As long as it works, it doesn't matter what we do." She continued to eye the elf girl suspiciously in the meanwhile, taking note of her collar. Now that's interesting, she thought. Usually they're the ones to lead others around in chains.

Wayland watches as the leader and the great automaton fight. The strength of their blows almost more than he can fathom. He braces himself against the shockwaves, feet set perfectly shoulder width apart, unconciously he slides in front of the two women blocking some of the force.

Looking upon the leaders weapon is like gazing upon the sun. It's past one of light and fighting eternally for the sake of all existence. The visions race through his very spirit lifting him up with their light. His opponent on the other hand - before he'd been too busy fighting to truly delve into the history of the enemy commander, now, as he gazes upon him ----
White noises drowns out his thoughts, tearing through his mind. Static begins to overtake his vision as he physically sways forward, catching himself by stepping, his perfect balanced interrupted. Molten blood drips onto the ground as what passes for a blood vessel burst in his left eye, letting the molten blood ooze down his face.

A voice rings out in his head as the scenes of slaughter and depravity committed by KH4.Z1X race through his mind, no, not a voice. Hatred, malice, malignity, vengeance, evil, evil, evil... He knows, it's a designation not a name. Ingrained in him now, stamped into his existence. Wayland had looked upon the abyss, and now, the abyss was looking back. He struck back against it, as the blackness roars into the core of his being. The place where all knowledge is stored, black like cancer attempting to overwrite his existense into another hunter, another puppet of its will.

The black was met by a roar of fire and the clashing of a thousand blades, burned by fire forged in existence and quenched in eternity. I am - we are - his identity, his soul, the core of his being rebelled against the black, it was but a shadow of a shadow, moonlight reflected on a lake seen through a mirror, but the strength of the lord - as he knows it, as it made itself known - was so vast, how do you fight hatred, how do you kill malice. His spirit strains under the onslaught, but he does - not - bend, more was at stake than he could comprehend, and with a final strain, a roar, fury and death, a thousand, thousand blades, and something more, something like life - creation - he pushes the presence from his being.

Back in reality the events of his soul took an instance of an instant, and he falls to a knee, twin swords held like canes the only thing keeping him falling, molten blood flowing freely from his eyes. He grits his teeth. I am Wayland Smith, beast, he thinks. Don't forget it.
"I can see it." He grits out, his mind/soul still reeling from brushing up against such utter evil. "I can see the path to victory."

Frowning, Elena planted her anchor into the ground and put one hand on her lip, looking down at the metal man. "Um. . . are you sure? I think the only thing you're seeing right now are your own melting eyeballs. You might want to get that checked out."
"Yeah..I'm with tiny...you alright?" Kira asked in concern, putting a hand on his shoulder and straining for a moment as she tried to as tenderly as she could, reconstitute the metal leaking from his eyes and put them back in the right place.

He stands with no small amount of effort, twin blades digging into the earth as he pushes down on them to aid himself, the sound of his joints straining like nails on a chalkboard, but stand he does, tall and proud, emitting unyielding confidence. [colo=Maroon]" its armor is adaptive, it will change to best suit whatever it is defending against, our best bet is to overwhelm it all at once"[/color]

For a brief moment, the armored man's course changed from the leader to Wayland, his taint screaming to crush the intrusion of the forge-man and his glowing eyes beneath his helm would meet his quarry, before an armoured fist crashed into his helm and he went barreling into the ground, a crack forming in his helm under the surprise attack, and for the first time, a horrific alien roar would tear through the battlefield from the man, and then his silence would return, forced to return to his original target.

"Keep screaming you abomination," Wayland mutters. He'd heard it before. Inside his very soul. It didn't have the same effect out loud. Kira backed off and furrowed her brow, frowning slightly in annoyance, and fear at the horrific screech "What was that...what happened?...I-I guess that'd explain why boss-man can't scratch him...if we can nail him into the water-pocket and barrage him with our elements, then we can set him up for boss-man to enter the barrage for a final hit...if it works..even if you're wrong nothing should survive that." Kira offered, panting in between words and trying to hold herself together under the stress of her overdrive.

Glancing over to Kira, Elena raised a brow. "You don't look too good. Why don't you take a step back and let us wear him down until you're ready to do your part?" Kira shook her head in response and took a step forward, but then upon coughing up a small piece of blood as a particularly violent shock went through her she begrudgingly nodded and sat down, still panting under the strain but looking significantly relieved.
Wayland looks sharply at Kira as she speaks of him possibly being wrong, his head whipping in her direction, his voice a raspy whisper."I'm not wrong, I know him. It will work.", He eyes the two women, both looking at him like he might die at any moment.

"You're almost out of juice." He states plainly to Kira as she sits down on the ground. "Don't move, I'm going to help." With that he starts to reach for the back of her collar. Kira flinches and slides away from him, looking at him with complete confusion and annoyance, before taking deep breaths and closing her eyes, shifting back towards him know they're too short on time for her hatred for touching. "Hurry up......and thanks." She grunted.

He nods though she can't see, "This might pinch," He states, carefully taking a pair of the ragged wires, looking at them carefully. Comparing them to the blueprint in his head he crosses them quickly one after another, sparks dance across and in between his fingers as electricity surges through the device. "That should give you a few more minutes." His work done he slowly steps away.

Around the same time, Elena shifted her attention to the battle between the two leaders, resting her anchor on her shoulder. "Well, I'm not being very useful standing around here, am I?" she muttered to herself. She kept a close eye on their two movements, following their motions to the last detail - when it seemed like the armored warrior was about to parry a powerful looking attack, she used that split-second window to slam her anchor into the ground. As the ground splintered, a geyser of water blasted outward and traveled erratically toward the two combatants, splitting the ground apart as it lined itself to be directly behind the armored man's next step.
Kira grunted at the collar being 'fixed' and felt her energy return somewhat, just in time to look up and see the armored foe enveloped in the geyser, stumbling back and leaving just the right opening for boss-man to rush in, sword flaring as it swings horizontally to meet his foes chest, exploding in a colossal shockwave to send the armored man flying towards the group, apparently now was the time for that plan of theirs. Kira stood in a rush and swept her hand forward a variety of spines and rock ramps appearing to batter and disorient him before bringing up the afore-planned platform, careening it to catch the flying foe with a crash. "Do or die time I guess, go for broke!" She cheered.

Leaving the anchor where it lay, Elena conjured a large torrent of water, sending it rushing into both the indentation in the ground and their target until he was completely submerged. Before he could move further, Elena swiftly changed her hand motions, opening her palms and swinging her arms to opposite sides - the body of water reacted in turn, rapidly increasing in downward pressure to trap the armored warrior at the bottom of the improvised pool.

Wayland Sighs. Smoke whispering out of his nose as he surveys the battle, he tosses the two blades he had made earlier to the ground, they would not avail him now. They'd need to end it soon, he knew that much. Had seen it. The monstrous adaptability the great metal beast held. Wayland reaches into his vest pocket. Growling at the slight tremor running through his hand, angered by his perceived weakness, furious at the dark, hateful of their enemy. His enemy, for he would not rest until the great Lord, the monstrous abomination he had brushed up against was dead, tore apart at his feet, and the pieces burned until not even ashes remained.
"Damn..." He grunts in irritation. His cigarretes cut in twain by one of the errant blades that had impaled him earlier. He crushes the bifurcated package in his hand, willing it to burn, letting drift to the ashes to the ground. He let's his powered flow into the battlefield around him. Heat spreads, as his body temperature rises, the water on the ground near him begins to steam, and his clothes start to smolder. He splays his arms wide, palms up his fingers pointing to the sky, as he reaches for the swords and armor of every fallen shadow a snarl burst from his sneering lips, and his knees bend as if he is lifting a great weight.

The armor of their defeated enemies twist off the fallen bodies into jagged spikes. The tips barbed so they will anchor into whatever they pierce, swords and spike rise into the air together. Arraying themselves in the air around him. He stands among a sea of steel, the sound of the hammer in his head striking so fast it is almost like a single long note.
No words are spoken. No witty repartee uttered. He simply swings his arms forward violently as if to clap them, roaring In fury, in hatred as he does. He knows the one they are trying to kill. Knows what it is, what it serves. It could not be allowed to live, and as his arms move inward the sea of steel screams forward as well.

As the steel warped and twisted its way into spikes to impale their enemy, Kira clenched her fists together and slammed one foot into the ground, the earth re-forming into crushing claws to pin and crush the arms of the metal beast as the floor became a fine carpet of needles, molten metal rising from cracks in the earth to leech in billows of steam across the needles and through the monsters armour. Armour that was desperately trying to adapt to the assault of attacks, the tiny hexagonal plates that constituted the piece changing in colour to blue, then brown, red, then back to white steel, different portions of his armour flickering into each colour as it strained against the assault and it's constraints, smashing through an earthen claw to free his arm just as the first droplets of raining steel pierced him. From within the armoured monsters helm his sensors hopelessly attempted to lock onto a single point, confused and overwhelmed by the vast quantity of separate projectiles as they pierced it's armour and the needle earth below, leaving room for water to flow in along with molten steel to burn and crush it's inner workings as cracks flowed across it's metal shell under the pressure. Within the rain of twisted metal the nameless leader roamed, leaping from the falling projectiles towards his target, slowly growing in speed and ferocity as he neared the trapped monstrosity, burning brighter and brighter until within the floating steel was the blur of what could only be described as a sun all of it's own.

As the enemy leader was barraged with a myriad of attacks, Elena slowly moved her hands in circles in front of her, the water around him gradually wrapping around and coalescing upwards into a pillar. The volume of the column increased seamlessly, growing and growing as she added more and more to the growing tower. As it grew higher, so did the weight that pressed on her armored target, steadily maintaining the heavy pressure manipulation of the water, the current swirling down on him in a tight spiral. When she felt that it had reached its peak, she stopped moving her arms around and suddenly brought her fists down - the water tower did not increase in pressure, but rather directly moved downwards as a single mass with such force that it splintered the earth beneath him, further increasing the depth of the crater and tearing the crack's in his armour into nigh-fissures, pieces of metal forced down to join the molten-steel tendrils.

As the metal man was torn asunder, impaled, burned and crushed, within the hail of steel the flare of a new sun suddenly died out and silence fell upon a field still at war. Within the eyes of the metal beast, spines of metal were overwhelming him until all at once a wild growth of black-hair became focused, framing a grin so wide to be splitting, and then the world went dark. All at once the returning clang of steel, fireballs and crashing earth were drowned out by an explosion of energy, indescribable as anything but a blooming supernova of noise and light, centered on the platform that contained the metal monster. The ground leading up the hill to far stretching in the distance fissuring and cracking under the pressure, whatever remained of the shadows destroyed in it's wake, the water and steel destroyed and sent flying through the skies along with the earth below. Nothing remained of the enemy except for a hole in the ground and a spiraling cloud of dust that dissipated in a single shockwave, revealing a black-haired man with a wide grin, shaking off an orange glow from his metal-encased left arm and kicking his sword up onto his shoulder to stroll back to the rest of the strike team who orchestrated the metal monsters demise, offering a single casual wave and an awkward ruffling of his hair as if to say 'whoops'.

Her anchor still in the ground, Elena leaned on it for support as she braced herself, the resulting wave of energy rippling from the epicenter of the final strike like a bomb had just gone off. As the dust settled, she straightened her back and patted down her rustled clothes, looking up to see the nameless leader approaching them.
"If that blast was any stronger, I'd have started to think that maybe you were trying to kill us, too," Elena said. She set her hands on her hips and surveyed the destruction, the barren hills that stretched on and on around them. "Well. . . what now?"

Wayland is forced to lean far forward to keep from being swept away by the shear force in the leaders attack, the aftershock nearly enough to bowl over the tired Forge. As it passes he stands straight. Letting out a breath of relief as he survey that there is nothing left of their enemy. He allows his core temperature to quickly, and steadily drops to pre-battle temperatures.
He looks down at himself. Surveying the damage to his once fine suit with a sigh as he notes the multiple cuts and rips running across its entirety, grunting in irritation he swats at the still smoking burn marks that could have only been caused by his own power.
"Good riddance." He simply states, nodding in acknowledgement to the leader as he walks back towards them. Snorting at Elena's comment, and nodding at her question. "We should check on those holding the hill, after we've confirmed everyone here is in no danger of dying. So how bout it? Anyone feel like they're going to die?" He asks playfully, eyeing the other members of their little team with a roguish grin, before barking out rough laughs in general good cheer. He personally felt alive, for the first time in a long time.

In cue with the rest Kira brought up her arms in an X to defend herself from the blast and lock her feet into the ground by rock supports, feeling them crumble just at the moment it subsided, panting heavily she dropped onto her butt and sighed, leaning back and looking up at the sky as the others spoke. "Screw that noise, I wish I was dead...aaaw....everything hurts" She complained good-heartedly, grinning widely and stretching out across the ground, flopping her hair over her eyes to protect herself from the glare of the sun.
"Wake me up when we're moving on, if I have to climb that damn hill again you can bet someone's gunna die." She joked heartily, laughing at herself and holding her mouth at an ensuing yawn, closing her eyes in relaxation on the bare earth as the leader decided to ruin it by speaking.

"Sorry for the..well..the boom. Once I get going it's hard to keep in check, but hey, no-one's dead, well except for that guy." He joked pointing behind him to the hole in the ground "and I guess those guys, but nobody important...well maybe they were important, but, not to me!" He cheered with another cheek-splitting grin, cleaning some dirt out of his rough black beard absently as he scratched his chin. "I like you guys, you're my kinda 'key's', I'll pick you up on the way through, gotta hustle if we wanna make Tel'Dra by nightfall. It's not far, and I feel like something's asking us to go there." He mused absently, shrugging and beginning the trek up the long shattered hill, gingerly stepping over shadowy corpses as they began to flow up into the air in a great sea of dark wisps.

Wayland, waried from the battle and finally starting to feel it lets himself relax among his new allies, he checks himself over one last time before calling it good as he could spot no smoldering spots, the pair of women had shown themselves to be reliable allies, he thinks assessing them silently. Going over the battle in his head. Their power was something else, raw manipulation of the elements. That in old times would have had them heralded as goddesses he chuckled at his errant thoughts as the leader approached, waving his apology off as inconsequential. He sits down between Elena and kira, stating loud enough for them both to hear, laying it on thick. "I think drinks are in order. Next town we get to. Would you two lovely ladies do me the honor of escorting me?" He pantomimes a bow, hands held out towards them from his seated position. Money would be an issue he was sure. It always was, and he doubted his home currency would be any use where they were headed, but he'd figure something out. There was probably some gold in his blood if nothing else. Kira lazily bowed her head from her position, not touching his hand at all , though she grinned wide "It'd be a pleasure my good man, drinks are on you!". Elena stared at Wayland's hand, not understanding what the gesture meant. She hesitated for a moment, and then looked up and said, "I'm not paying."

At the peak of the hill, the leader gave his speech. The wounded were healed and the injured carried by some shadowy monstrosity, who promptly closed the gap between the top of the hill and the bottom in seemingly one short step, as if he just shifted between the two places. He looked to the sleeping girl below him and an odd vibration of noise came from his featureless face, like a glitch in a computer system, within it there was a single word "Nero." He gingerly picked her up and draped her carefully over his shoulder, his muscular form surprisingly soft and welcoming under her as she yawned and allowed herself this one time to be touched. "Don't...get used to....fuck it." She yawned out, quickly going back to sleep on the creatures shoulder as he started walking ahead of the assembly at a more normal pace, unhindered by the supplies that suddenly appeared upon him after his first step, nor by his living cargo.

The group walked for what seemed like an eternity, but was merely a few hours, through an endless expanse of wasteland, chatting amongst themselves and joking around, taking a break once or twice to rest up after the draining fight. Kira never left the shoulder of Nero except to eat or change sleeping position on to his other shoulder, conversing with the shadowy figure and anyone who came close enough to hear her. It was a boring journey, and the perfect opportunity for the "Key's" to get to know their summoners.

As the Nameless make their way through the wastes...

---

A lot had transpired in such a small amount of time. In but a single moment she had gone from living a peaceful life full of harmony up in the tower with the other slimes to being flung into a maelstrom of bloodshed. So much had changed that she had only just begun to truly absorb the reality of her relocation. As the group trekked across the barren lands the weight of such emotional turmoil she didn't have time to feel during the combat fell upon her heavily during the length of their march. She had felt so distressed for not only her safety but the safety of everyone and with all the violence that had gone down around her she was thankful that no one died to the foes they combated but at the very same time the lack of any context to it all had her feeling the most miserable she had ever been.

It was a most unusual experience for her indeed. She had known concern in the past but this whole ordeal was the equivalent of having just learned what water is and then being thrown into the middle of an ocean of it and asked to swim or drown. Just surviving the war was a miracle she would most likely have to thank the sun for later. For now she was quite scared of being left all alone in this unforgiving environment so she just hung her head and slid alongside the rest of these rowdy warriors upon a self made trail of slime.

As time went on she starting looking for something, anything to take her mind off of what had happened only hours ago. That's when she looked up and saw the winged warrior, her mind casting back to the battle where she remembered seeing this angelic figure come to aid her in such dire times. She looked like the very illustrations of angels she had seen in the books she read, embodying all the traits that seraphim's were known for. She had always wanted to meet an angel and the opportunity was present. As quickly as she could manage (Which wasn't really all that quick) She hurried along until she was within conversation range with the radiant woman, still slightly dusty from the fight it seemed.

"H-hello miss. I do not wish to seem rude but I've been meaning to ask... A-are you a seraphim?" She humbly asked this divine seeming figure, much too shy to look at her directly. She could feel the divine energy present in the angel's being as she herself radiated holy magic. It felt rather pleasant like the feeling of standing in sunlight. She felt quite nervous approaching such a person as she had anticipated a meeting like this for quite some time but much like anyone meeting someone they hold in high regards she still felt butterflies in her stomach, so the saying goes despite her evident lack of a stomach. Trying not to seem too strange and put the winged woman off she waited to hear her reply.

-

Charmeine's expression was downright miserable after the short-lived storm. Her wings were left unfolded, yet the trim of feathers were limp as well, being dragged behind her. By now, she did not care about the mud, pebbles, grass, or even blood that'd be caught in her milky wings. The whitette wasn't going to get any cleaner, so she might as well just pity herself upon her walk to who knows where.

All the while, she wondered about her homeland. What have those creatures done? Are her parents safe? Were they found and killed off mercilessly? Questions and possible answers swirled in her head, making the world around her appear to be spinning. No, she had to stop this negative thinking. There is no time to worry about them, but to worry about herself and returning home as well. The whitette slowly picked up her head and held her chin high. Charmeine would just continue to walk gracefully across the field like she would across the aisle. It's one of the things she did best.

Suddenly, there was a small voice to the right of her shoulder. The princess's gaze fell onto the slimy healer who saved the stranger. She took in a sharp breath as her right wing folded into her back. Slime... disgusting. Greasy and hard to wash out. The muck across the floor was nothing compared to the trail she was leaving behind her. Charmeine was just waiting until someone slipped and fell face first because of the oozing creature.

Despite the disgust she had for Anima's structure, her voice was innocent and frail. She was much like a child. That was one thing the princess had a softspot for: Children. Be it that the slime was grown up or not, she'd continue to show affection through her voice, and hold back her tongue. "... Oh? Is it that obvious?" Charmeine asked, a smirk tugging at her lips. "I'm Princess Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche... soon-to-be ruler of the land smacked down between Earth and Heaven." The princess said as she locked her hands in front of her. She was always happy to have the opportunity to boast about her status. "Why? What do you ask of me, powerful healer?"

-

Anima tried not to stare in awe as her expectations were not only confirmed but exceeded. Not only did she have the honor of meeting a seraphim but a princess as well! It was no help to her sense of inferiority before such royalty but Charmeine's pleasant tone at least welcomed conversation. "Ah! My apologies, I was not aware that I was in the presence of royalty." She was well educated as to the functions of society back in her own realm as understanding people was an important facet of Fumbledorf's teachings. Being as his plan was to introduce her kind as the bridge of friendship between mankind and slimes a thorough understanding of society was a vital element. Of course he couldn't introduce her into the public to grant her first hand knowledge of society as he needed to confirm that both her and society were ready to meet on even terms without hatred or prejudice. Such event never came to pass unfortunately but now was as good a time as any to begin socializing.

Anima gave her version of a curtsy, sinking slightly to the ground and bowing her head before introducing herself. "My name is Anima Lumen. It is an honor for you to grace me with your presence your royal highness." She raised her head to meet Charmeine's eyes as was polite for people to do in conversation. "I ask because well... This is the first time I have met a seraphim. If I might be so honored I would like to get to know you better." She professed. In her head it was both uplifting to be meeting someone so important like her and at the same time somewhat panicking as she ran over everything she said in her head. She really did hope that she followed all proper protocol for addressing her properly and didn't sound too clingy with her request. The last thing she would want would be to fall in the bad graces of her royal highness. Deep down she felt all forms of self conscious as Princess Charmeine had complimented her, referring to her as a powerful healer. She did not see herself in quite such a glorious manner and she wrestled with her self esteem after being acknowledged as such.

-

Charmeine started to slow down as the slime suddenly apologized for not showing the proper gratitude to the princess. Her head slowly cocked to the side as she watched Anima curtsy in her presence. Finally, someone who knew how to properly greet someone of her status. Out of the few people she had crossed ways with, this one would become her favorite. The green creature introduced herself, then asked for permission to socialize with Charmeine. This pleased her greatly.

"You may rise, young Anima." The princess insisted as she shifted her feet to face the healer. Her gaze was firm, yet in no way intimidating. "I see you're one of the few people here who know how to greet royalty properly... that's something that'll help you in life. Remember that." She started, "Nevermind that for now... I give you my permission to join me on this trip. I look forward to knowing more about you." The princess slowly picked up her feet once more, gesturing with her hand for Anima to follow. "Tell me... who taught you such manners?" She asked to get a conversation going.

-

Pondering on the designs of potential artifacts as they moved Ivan found himself more thinking about the inadequacies he had felt and shown during the past battle. He had to rely on a healer to even use a scale of magic that normally would be about average for him, maybe slightly more, but certainly not this straining. To top it all off he had to be rescued after the toll had been exacted from him, even the simplest of staves would have been enough to allow him to walk away by himself. Somehow he just couldn't keep his mind focused on solving the problem only seeing what problems he should have been able to negate or minimize. Either way, it wouldn't do him much good to design something only to find out that critical components weren't available where they were headed.

Looking forward Ivan noticed the two who had helped him before. Royal pain or not, he hadn't thanked either of them after the battle. Losing sight of them in the chaos and cheering of the others. Most likely this would be the best time to thank them, or at least it should ensure he wouldn't forget. He picked up his pace to catch up to them, avoiding the trail of slime left behind by the healer, that would just be a tripping hazard. Catching a bit of their conversation as he closed the distance. "Princess d'Autriche, miss Lumen." He called out to the both of them. "Excuse me for overhearing your conversation. Let me introduce myself. Ivan Witherbane, council member of the Thylysium council of magic and master of it's laboratories. I haven't had the chance to thank either of you for helping me. By tradition I would gift a bouquet of flowers and fruit from our gardens as a token of my gratitude, but alas I am in no position to give either one of such bouquets. I hope a promise of a gift of similar or greater proportions in the future would suffice for now." He continued as he joined alongside the two.

-

Anima felt the warm glow of acceptance brim in her chest as Princess Charmeine welcomed her to accompany her for the journey they were in for. She took heed of her words and listened well when she spoke. It was somewhat difficult as everyone else's walking speed was about twice as fast as the crawling speed of her foot (The bottom surface of her lower mass) so she had to maintain proper manners in tandem with keeping what was basically a fast jogging pace for her.

"I was taught all I know by my creator, Fumbledorf the wizard. My purpose is to help people from all stations in life in any way I can." She answered Charmeine's question regarding her manners. It was at that moment that the caster from earlier who she had assisted in aiding the battle addressed them both. She looked over to the spell caster as he gave his name, rank and thanks. She was not as well informed in dealing with councilmen as the government of her world functioned differently so she opted to behave courtly to him as well. "It is my honor to meet you as well esteemed councilmen Witherbane. Though I am extremely grateful for your token of gratitude if circumstance does not permit it then your thanks is more than adequate. I simply hope that my help was sufficient to your expectations." She curtsied as she greeted him in return. While she understood the aspect of customary gifts as a cultural expectation to her just the fact that he was satisfied with her performance was reward enough.

-

Charmeine would not notice how much the creature struggled to keep up. She would just continue to stroll along behind the crowd. "Is it now?" The whitette asked as she scanned over the creature. By now, the princess questioned if that was her true purpose. She was so frail in appearance, she might even kill herself off attempting to help those in need. However, the young creature did survive the first fight. Nevertheless, Charmeine had trouble comprehending why her creator would make her look so innocent, instead of a large, strong stature. Charmeine shook her head. "I cannot imagine the pressure that must be left on you, knowing that is your only purpose. The princess commented. "Nevermind that... your creator seems like he may of been high in rank as well. Was he born a wizard, or was he blessed with the power?"

Before Anima would get the chance to respond, the stranger Charmeine helped in the battlefield had joined by their side once more. He introduced himself as 'Ivan'. Sterotypical Russian name. The princess' expression had turned dull as he mentioned his status. He talked as if he was better than her! As he had promised the two of them a gift, the whitette thought for a moment. "... You know, Ivan..." She spoke up. "I might just take advantage of that offer very soon..." She exclaimed with a almost intimidating smirk.

-

As slime greeted Ivan in return he felt a shiver run down his spine. He may have carried that title for an odd forty years, he never really got used to it, nor all the courtly act that came along with it all. "This may be a quite selfish request, but could you keep it to Ivan? I have a bit of a dislike of that title of mine, the position was pushed upon me. I mention it more out of habit than anything else. But seeing as the council holds no power here, I'd prefer not carrying that title." Ivan requested from the slime. "And I am sure that somewhere in the near future the circumstances would allow me to present a gift to you. Your humbleness makes it all the more satisfying to give you something. Again me being a bit selfish in a sense." He then followed up with a smile.

He then turned to address the princess. It was such an odd thing to say, to make use of an offer of a gift. Perhaps he misunderstood, unlike most in the council he wasn't vested in dealing with political figures. "I don't quite get how one would take advantage of a gift.Then again, it would be undesirable to spend resources on a gift that isn't useful in one way or another." He said with a slight tone of confusion in his voice.

-

"Of course. I apologize for my mistake. I will try to know better than to use undesired titles for the future, Ivan." She apologized for her mistake as he did not seem pleased with the use of his name like so. An innocent mistake but a mistake all the same. If there was one thing that she did know it was that it was rude to argue who was in the wrong or the right in disputes. It was simply more polite to apologize for perceived wrong-doings rather than challenge the authority of the one arguing. She then looked back over to Charmeine to answer her question in a timely manner.

"As I can recall Fumbledorf rose to wizardhood through life long studies of the arcane and similar fields. It was no more than eight years before I was born that he graduated to the full rank of wizard within the wizards guild. His thesis was on the mutability of slimes, how their adaptability shares numerous parallels with natural evolution. It was his postulation that as the unadulterated slime is the most simple of life forms it could be that it was the very first iteration of life, the basic template from which all life evolved from. In his publication of the thesis I read that he had found a slime that had been dated by chronomancers to be older than any other life form from the material plane of existence. I believe he named it Adam." She answered Princess Charmeine and then some. She couldn't help herself, when she gets talking on a subject she is knowledgeable on she has a strong habit of going on and on about it. Both her excitement for the fields she is discussing and her eagerness to provide information that might prove helpful to others contribute to her chattiness. After her rather detailed exposition regarding her creator she was aware enough to pause and let others get their word on the matter in. Hogging the conversation would be most uncourtly of her and she wanted to be the total opposite of that.

-

Charmeine glanced over towards Ivan's direction, her devious expression fading. Her expression would now be neutral, maybe even coming off as 'innocent'. "... Well, I can promise one thing, Ivan." She started, "When the moment comes where I'll ask for that gift, it certainly won't be for nothing. Don't worry~" The princess cooed slightly, still talking the way she'd talk to Anima, though it was unintentional. Not that it really mattered anyways, her normal tone may come off as threatening if anything. Maybe talking to him like this was better?

With that said, the whitette turned back to her new friend. She listened as she talked passionately about her creator. Although she tried her best to listen, the fact that Anima was still so small and frail bothered her tremendously. He has suck a high rank, yet she's so... so... well... it doesn't really show the worth of his rank, to sat the least. Despite the fact that the slime creature was so strong, she was very sensitive as well. Charmeine truly couldn't wrap her head around it. "Really now?" She spoke up, in a almost astonished tone. "What ever happened to... Adam?"

-

After hearing the princes' words of 'reassurance' Ivan decided that it would most likely be best to nod with a slight smile as an answer. As it had been the default reaction in political conversations with no real meaning full reaction. He then focused on the slime, she spoke of a rather interesting topic. 'Chronomancers' a term he hadn't heard of before, though dissecting the term he could imagine what their field of expertise would entail. But it was the information on the slimes of her world she gave that really caught his attention.

"Fascinating, so you are saying that not only did your creator find such similarities between the evolution between slimes and other creatures and suggested that slimes may be the primordial being. Even finding quite convincing evidence for this claim. Certainly if a study of the like had been performed with similar results, it would have send a tremor through the entire mage and scholar community." Ivan said with a thin but noticeable trace of excitement in his tone of voice.

He then took a second to think back to the slimes he had encountered, what he had heard from others experiences and what he had read about them in books. "Hmm...Then again. I doubt the slimes of my world share that similarity. From all information we have on them they seem quite different in nature. Only appearing in environments tainted by rampant magical energy, sometimes even observed being born from the earth below and not reacting to any living being unless it's infused with magical energy, and attacking those infused with the utmost ferocity trying to feed on their power. There is a certain humor to the sight of the divine artist in the back of the convoy gets jumped by a large group of slimes." He reasoned on with a similar tone of voice. Ivan then remembered that just a bit ago he had send such a form of energy to the Anima. "Now that I think about it. I did send some energy in a similar nature to you. It felt like the energy was being devoured by a void. Was there any noticeable effect, miss Lumen?" He then asked showing a slight sparkle in his eyes as he finished his question.

-

"I'm not really sure. It was kept at the college, otherwise I'd of gone and met it myself. It would of been interesting to of gone to the college to see it too but Fumbledorf said I wasn't ready to leave the tower quite yet." Anima answered Charmeine's question regarding the fate of the slime named Adam. Though the day had been the toughest hours of her life her demeanor had already lightened up to the point where she seemed genuinely delighted. Talking about such interesting topics had all but whisked the bad feelings away, distracting herself with thoughts of magic and slime biology and home. The warm smile on her smooth green face complimented the light in her eyes as she spoke.

What was even better was that now she had others who were taking an interest in her favorite topics of discussion as well. Never did she have anyone that she could talk to and discuss such matters with. She had Fumbledorf to speak to but with him it was a different kind of relationship than she had with these new friends of hers. When he spoke with her she was the student and he was the teacher. She was the child and he was the father. There was very little equality in terms of knowledge between him and her. The only times she was able to tell him something he hadn't already known was when she discussed her own growth and accomplishment. Even then it was rarely something new that she had brought to the table, just another piece of knowledge or a skill she had him to ultimately thank for. She would always love and cherish her creator but the joys of being able to share her knowledge with others and to be able to learn new things without necessarily feeling inferior to her peers was a new pleasure she was just now experiencing.

Ivan's experience with slimes was quite a treat to listen to. It was a most fascinating exposition on the nature of slimes from his home world. From the sound of it there were some differences but at the same time there were a number of similarities between the creatures he spoke of and certain breeds of slimes back from her own world. When he asked her on the effect of his magical transfer to her from earlier she took a moment to form a response, thinking back on what he was discussing. "I did feel the slightest bit invigorated when you transferred that magical energy back during the conflict. I must say it was quite fascinating how you managed to crystallize what appeared to be an arcane energy I cannot say I'm familiar with." She answered his query, mentioning her interest in the magic he performed earlier in a hope that it might prompt him to go into the details regarding his methods. "You said that the slimes from your world don't share that particular similarity but while I cannot confirm that fact there does appear to be some similarity between the slimes you described and some of the slimes present from my world. While most breeds feed by using an acidic digestive fluid to break down organic compounds and absorb the energy from that there are slimes that have adapted to living in areas of potent residual magical energy that feed directly on the types of energy available, forgoing the ability to consume organics entirely. I believe they are known as Mana Slimes, named after the formal name for the residue of pure arcane energy that forms upon surfaces or just congeals into ethereal spheres in mid air. Those slimes pose a similar problem to both traveling wizards and people carrying enchanted items but they are generally accepted due to their uses to alchemists, namely the use of their residue in the making of mana potions."

-

Even though there had been no shortage of good conversations and discussions back in Thylysium. It had been quite a long time since Ivan had the pleasure of experiencing one this... Refreshing. Anima's curiosity matched his own, wishing to know more of his homeland magic and sparking his own curiosity to boot. "It would seem those Mana slimes do pose a perfect match with the slimes of my own world, down to their uses of their residue. Entire villages lay near or inside land where there is a large amount of magical corruption, living mostly from selling potions or the creatures, alive or dead." He answered as a confirmation to Anima's observation.

"To come back to your earlier question, and as an addendum to what I said before. You see in our world there are four types of gifts. My own, T-energy, the gift of the god Xy'Lar. Life essence, the gift of god Gaia. Infernal force, the gift of the god Thyrius. And finally, Mana, the gift of the god Merihel." He said as he formed a small crystal on his hand that then as he went through the gift released a bright radiant lime green light, followed by a crimson red mist and deep blue light. "These four gifts are very different to each other, yet the same in a way, which is most likely why you aren't familiar with it. T-energy allows one to transmute any and all matter and energy around one, if the have the knowledge what exactly they are working with... Including the three other gifts, you still can't use them though. Life essence allows one to employ nature to their bidding, in the form of plants, animals and anything in between, even some potent healing. Infernal force is known to greatly improve one physique and control over the fire within ones heart and on the outside, some blacksmiths are know to use this to forge metal barehanded. Then there is Mana, the power of the arcane, spells and true magic are it's forte from summoning to the old-fashioned fireball to purifying evil. Everyone can choose to adopt one of these, unless they are born with one of the gifts, and you can only become a user of one. The gifts can however also taint and corrupt the land if somehow a large amount of it is released in a small portion of land, each having distinct effects, some positive, some negative. The slimes being an effect of a Mana catastrophe." Ivan explained to Anima.

-

Anima listened most astutely to his descriptions, especially those pertaining to the nature of his homeland's magic. She hadn't taken in so much magical knowledge and lore since she last studied in one of Fumbledorf's informal lessons and this information had definitely whet her appetite for more. "I see. So in your world your magic is gifted by deities, each form of magic unique to each deity and those who chose to draw upon it's power then?" She asked, though it was less of a question and more of a segue to the rest of her contribution to the discussion.

"In my world magic has many different sources. Divine magic is given directly by deities which can take the form of either holy or unholy magic, the applications of which change depending on the pantheon and deity from which the magic is granted by. Though divine magic varies wildly from deity to deity there are a few principles which seem to apply directly across all holy magic and all unholy magic, chiefly the fact that the powers of all holy magic and unholy magic will directly oppose each other regardless of origin. Most other magic from my world is derived from the overlapping realms which bleed their energies into the prime material realm which is the center for all realms, at least as far as I know. Whether this location we've been transported to is part of the prime material realm or a different realm entirely is unknown to me. One thing I have noted this far is that no form of energy that I'm able to draw upon has been denied thus far. I may need to consult a planar chart to see where we've landed amongst the many realms. Oh, I do hope they have planar navigation devices here. I've always wanted to see one up close but I never got the chance. Fumbledorf had spoken of this magnificent sounding observatory where they peer into other planes of existence using an oculus. He was going to take me to see it sometime but that never came to pass..." She was less talking about magic at that point and more reminiscing out loud to whomever was listening. She reflected back upon those memories. Fond memories intermingling with a swirl of conflicting emotions of regret, of longing and more. Before she got too caught up in moments past she cleared her mind of such thoughts and returned back to a question she had in mind for her new friend Ivan.

"When you draw upon one of your deity's forms of magic is it granted knowingly by the deity itself or taken? Is there a dogma one must follow to remain in a deity's favor back in your land?" She asked, curious as to the relationship his land's gods and goddesses might of had with each other. Given his description of them as it was she was keen to hear about that particular aspect.

-

The way Anima spoke of the origin of the magic in her world was very interesting. Magic being aligned with the gods, holy forces nullifying the unholy ones, realms of existence bleeding off the energy for the arcane in the material world. However the occuli she spoke of peaked his interest the most. Among all creations and machinery, the only way one could see the plane of existence of their gods was via portals in the temples of the respective god.

Then she asked if the gods granted the power or if it was taken. Ivan smiled and responded. "We don't take the power from our gods, nor are we given the power. The gods don't just give us the power to contain or control the gift, we draw upon ourselves to get the power. In simple terms the gods give us an oil lantern to use and show us how it works, but we have to refill ourselves. I, draw the energy from my environment, for example by absorbing light, this then gets formed into those crystals unless I forcefully keep it in the state of light when I manipulate it. Those crystals then can be used as a source and conduit for my powers. Life essence draws power from nature around it, they bind themselves to a strong tree, which then grows into a tree of life many times larger than any other tree you'll ever see. From this tree they draw their energy, spreading life to even the most desolate places as they walk. If you want to find someone carrying Gaia's gift in the desert, just follow the trail of greenery. Infernal force draws it's power from the fire within, it literally makes people draw strength from themselves. Anger and pride seem to be quite effective sources of Infernal force, but the same can be said for any dream or desire strong enough to drive the user. Mana, perhaps, is the simplest. When a Mana user eats part of their food gets put towards replenishing their internal supply of Mana, some types of food, like mana potions are more effective. Beyond T-energy it's also the only one that can be transferred among users, though unlike T-energy where one would just hand over a crystal they use spells for this."

Ivan then paused to take a breath, to hopefully slow down his speech, which had sped up as his interests had been tickled and he the chance to pass knowledge on to someone who genuinely appeared to be interested herself. "As far as dogma's go, they are pretty lenient. The gods will forgive almost anything if you broke a rule trying to do good, by for example helping others. A general rule with any of them is that you don't act with malice in mind, which is the quickest way to lose your gift. Gaia is the most strict when it comes down to rules and basically all her rules come down to, don't kill anymore than you need. Harvesting plants to make medicine for the village is perfectly fine, but not for selling or something of that nature. After that follows Thyrius, he demands that you respect anyone and everyone who died or was wounded on the battlefield, this includes helping wounded regardless of which side they are on, burying the dead of both sides and never stealing any of their belongings. Xy'lar and Merihel are the most lenient and carry quite similar standards, their biggest demand is that you respect the power granted to you, then again those two are the most fastidious when it comes down to who they even allow to wield their gift." He continued ending his last sentence with a bit of a smile on his face.

"Even though we can basically visit any of the four gods at anytime via the portals they build in their temples, and those wishing to adopt a gift are required to, only they have the ability to see across the dimensional plane and the ability to build portals. So hearing about mortal made contraptions that can pull off such a feat certainly has made me want to see such a device in action. If perchance we come across one or perhaps one is build, I would be delighted if you could show it to me. Or perhaps even a blueprint of such a device, I can't even imagine how the inner working of such a device would be put together." Ivan then ended on request directed at Anima.

-

As he went on in his description of his worlds magic, describing his pantheon and it's involvement in mortal affairs, Anima made a fair effort to try and understand his meaning from a practical view. Seeing as his world's magic and her own functioned differently whilst sharing some similarities the struggle became identifying the similarities and spotting the differences by using the similarities as points of reference. His accent added another slight layer of difficulty when it came to really wrapping her pliable head around the ideas he presented.

"So, if I understand correctly, your deities awaken the ability to draw upon the facets of your world which they govern which allow those chosen to utilize the form of magic pertaining to the aforementioned deity... Am I correct?" She attempted to summarize what he had explained in a way that could make sense to them both. She was a bit nervous since she didn't want to appear particularly slow intellectually to a friend she just met. While she knew this wasn't a competition to prove who could learn and adapt to new concepts regarding magic the fastest there was a slight element of validating her competence, if to no one else then to at least herself.

She listened to his request after he spoke on his world, hearing him expressing interest in the planes as well as the oculus which she previously had mentioned. "If we ever find a way to navigate our way from this plane to others then you and I could go and visit the observatory sometime. I've never had much chance to study it but I could try my tentacle at planar travel magic. We'd need a map of the planes to make sure we don't get lost of course but depending on the nature of this realm it might be feasible to try and pass through The Crossroads." She informed him. She had only a passing knowledge in planar travel, her expertise on the matter tangential at best. She had seen a planar map before and heard of mages using planar magic to traverse The Crossroads to visit the overlapping realms but at no point did she ever really delve into the arcane theory behind such methods let alone the actual spell.

-

"Yes, that's what it boils down to." Ivan responded to Anima as she asked for confirmations on her understanding about the nature of his worlds magic. Then she mentioned of her lack of experience and knowledge in planar travel. "Perhaps that's something for the far future, for when there is nothing more to discover here. And perhaps we can even reach my world, if nothing else the tainted lands are quite a sight to behold." Ivan said with a gentle grin on his face.

-

As Anima stated that she does not know where her creator wanders, she raised a disapproving eyebrow. Even now, Charmeine knew where her Nanny was from her newborn years, yet here the slime is, left to question his travels? As the creature defended herself, the whitette faintly nodded and broke eye contact, her expression fading into a frown. It wasn't until afterwards she thought her actions may of come off as rude, but it was already too late. If she were to apologize now, it'd be considered strange and maybe even uncalled for. That was fine by her.

Soon enough, both Ivan and Anima were babbling on and on about Science(?), which did not interest the princess very much. She was more visual than using her imagination to picture the scene. Besides, she wasn't half as knowledgeable, so even if she were to interrupt, she'd only be stacking question apon another the whole time. The two of them could of given her the best answer she has ever heard, and she'd still be confused. Knowing how this will go, Charmeine locked her hands behind her back and slowed her pace to stay with her two comrades. If they kept it up any longer, she may just leave them be. No point in staying if she was left to be dumb-founded the whole time.

Tel'Dra, the city on the edge of the world, literally. There were only two entrances, one on either end of the city, each a colossal barrier of intangible magic, returning to the plane only to block intruders. Usually one would have to go through a registration period, but The Nameless parade simply walked through the ethereal barrier to the horror of the guards. Wolfmen, Harpies, Elves and all sorts appeared around the party, fading in as if from nowhere, each holding blade, magic or other deadly combinations at the critical points of all involved. Amongst them a woman in a burgundy combination of samurai armour and a kimono stepped forward, flicking her long black fringe out of her eyes with a grin "You're early this time. Come, Vinn is waiting" she purred to the nameless leader, a finger playfully flicking up his neck and chin as she strode off, hips swaying. The assumed guards dissipated without a trace once more, the parade allowed to continue unabated.

"Next time call ahead, I would have had ale ready instead of blades. I see you've already scrapped with a Lord's vassal...oh interesting...and the shadows. That particular Lord is already active in these parts. They seem to be staying in the background for now, but it's strange for them to be awake so early. Hence the greeting, I figure you've forgotten already so the names Hokyu. This cycle you're not getting any tail, so eyes up front fearless leader." She teased playfully, her golden globes looking directly into the leaders own eyes for a moment. With a chortle she continued to lead on.

If one were to look to the left they'd see an endless abyss of cloud and sky, a slanted earthen barrier leading down to an ethereal wall off the edge of the wide pathway. To the right were buildings of all sorts, and above them past a similar slanted barrier was another pathway much the same. The city seemed to stretch upwards like this into impossibility. "The wall teleports anyone who decides to try and bite it in the abyss to the front gates. It was here before the city, we just bent it to make the city limits too. Each layer of Tel'Dra is the same size as the one before it, they just look smaller or bigger from the other layers, neat huh? Vinn's the kinda guy you can find on any layer, so we'll be going to the first Oasis door, he's been here about as long as there's been a speck of dirt to build on." She answered before anyone could ask, apparently playing tour guide for the group.

She lead them on for another bit, past grand mansions, small shops, all types until she came to a nondescript somewhat battered old building with a neon sign. "Vinn's Oasis!" she chimed, hands on her hips as she waved everyone forward, blowing the leader a kiss before sauntering away. "Vinn's ready for Nero, the newbies and you oh fearless one so you go first. The rest wait 10 seconds and follow. The door will take you where you need to go." She chimed casually, continuing to walk away.

The Nameless Leader blushed and shrugged, heading in through the door which opened to the uproar of a bar, stylish and modern in it's design at first glance, until one crossed the threshold of the door. The reality of the simple everymans bar became obvious as the illusion faded away. Everything was made of wood, and yet oddly enough the waiters and bouncers you'd expect were replaced with small creatures with brown wizard hats and enveloped in over-sized blue robes, their faces nothing more than black-motes with yellow eyes who ran around serving tables, and strange cactus-people who stood stoicly nearby. At the bar itself was one of the small creatures waving enthusiastically. His hat was red instead and sported a stamp on it the shape of a beer mug. The patrons varied from everything one could think of, from all walks of life, making merry or discussing serious matters openly or in private. The bar was really much bigger on the inside, and the various doors around and stairs gave the feel that it could go on forever.

Amongst the waiters and bouncers which were all respectively identical stood out a set of individuals, a deep-red haired man smoking a cigarette behind the bar beside the waving creature, cat ears sticking out of his head and a red tail waving behind his leather-jacket that trailed first an ice-blue trail and then a purple-ish one. A stocky-built cat-eared girl of black hair served tables, her green eyes glowing as soon as she entered a shadowy corner booth. Her stance suggested an air of wildness. Standing opposite one of the Cacti bouncers was a man in all grey bandages aside from his black cargo pants, feet and upper-face. His long black hair reached the back of his knees in a spiky mess and maroon eyes peered out from under the mess to watch the whole room.

The leader sauntered up to the small creature and took a seat on a comfy looking stool, his sword resting on his back vertically, suspended in place by orange rings of energy as it had been the whole journey, the tip touching the floor. Before he could say a word the creature piped in "Welcome to Vinn's Oasis!, I am Vinn, that is also Vinn, and so is he, but not him...much too ugly for one as handsome as I." He introduced, pointing out his identical creatures and then a wolfman in the corner who raised his glass with a chuckle at the comment. "You're early, not that I didn't know you'd be early. I've got your temporary headquarters all set up down the hall. Now I realize that none of your new friends have been properly filled in, nor do you remember enough to be able to fill them in. The resurrection process tends to wipe your memories correct?" He chimed, hopping down off what was apparently a raised platform and pottering behind the counter for a while before popping back up. He laid out 24 coloured cards, each a single solid colour, all of them were stark bare except for a white border.

"Lazul cards, pick one up and they'll tell you everything about yourself that you know and everything you've got, from then on that cards yours. They're made of pure unadulterated mana so breaking one's not a good idea. Fun fact, your name i-" He was abruptly interrupted as he seemed to simply vanish from existence, imploded upon himself. With a shaking head, an identical Vinn came out, struggling to put on his red hat as he clambered up to the bar platform. "Stupid rules...sorry, no spoilers." He grumbled, folding his arms in a huff as he awaited the leader to pick up his card, which he did. Slowly and suspiciously, he lifted the card to his face until a name appeared at the top in orange sharp-edged font "Jecht...It's changing?...Blitz?...what kind of stupid name is Blitz?" The leader grunted, Vinn simply shrugged as if to say 'No spoilers' once more.

The rest of the cards lay on the counter top awaiting to be picked up. 11 disappeared to assuredly finding their way to the rest of The Nameless crew, leaving 12 left. Nero picked up one, his name not appearing for even a moment at the top. At that moment, those who stood out from the rest of the staff stepped forward. The man behind the bar's tail snaked forward to pick one up, skillfully spinning it into his palm and then holding it out for everyone to see. At the top came 'River' in a sandswept yellow, until the sand was overwhelmed by growing ice to turn the letters blue. The bandaged guardsmen appeared as if from nowhere, eyeing up Nero before picking up a card that began to drip blood and then melted away to form a steel-card. The letters of red at the top read 'Lazarus'.

Finally the cat-girl took her place with the rest of the crew. Warily her green eyes flashed over the new faces ,but with a scowl, she too reluctantly spread a black-clawed hand over a card. Jungle plants grew over it revealing the name, Rosa. That left 8 cards for the 7 people that remained, until Vinn ran round the back and shoved out a tall metal-man with his armour buckled in places and scarred: the chest piece had a small orange spot on it that seemed to be shorting out and his helm was cracked. He stepped forward ever so slowly and picked up a card which flashed through each of the four elements that had lead to his downfall: Metal, Water, Earth and an Orange-Energy, until it settled. The card's letters flared in binary and then settled back to a blocky white-steel "KH4.Z1X".

Vinn stepped between the group and the other new crew "I made them all practice that dramatic reveal for daaaays, so worth it...now I know what you're thinking 'Ah!, but random guy we just met, that one guys evil! He tried to eat babies or something. I dunno. I skimmed over the fight if I'm honest," He said casually thumbing towards the metal-man. "But I knew you were coming, so I gathered favours and recruits, and here we are. Forge-guy can do sensy stuff and tell you he's no longer bad news bears. Besides, once you see what I've been setting up for you, you'll owe me enough to take my word for it." He continued, pointing everyone towards the rest of the cards and crossing his arms.

"Come on now, I've got eternity, but you guys haven't quite got that long." He grumped. The one called River waved in a friendly way to Wayland, grinning wide as one would to a friend you'd known for years. Vinn shot him a glare and he looked down embarrassed, and refused to look at Wayland any further. Vinn's Oasis truly was a strange place...and he expected everything to be taken for his word without question.

One hand on the table and one hand in her hair, Elena scratched her head as she looked around and tried to soak in everything that was happening. The first thing she noticed was the abundance of cross-breeds and beast-folk, which caused her to almost instinctively shrink, considering their numbers. She eyed all of them suspiciously, lowering her gaze and hiding a scowl the best that she could. Her eyes swept over to the man who was droning on about something with cards, asking each of them to take one. She nabbed a teal card and flipped it over, revealing a blank face. Water enveloped the card but didn’t spill, covering it in an opaque, murky sea water until it receded back into the card and revealed the name ‘Elena.’ She flipped it back over with her fingers and pocketed the card, observing the various effects that that the others seemed to be having with their own with mild curiosity. She turned away from the table and briefly clasped her hands together. “This is a bar, right? I need a drink here,” Elena said aloud, pointing at the table, “and none of that soft shit.”

Finally they had reached Tel'dra, it made Ivan feel alive. The city buzzed with magic, he could feel it in the air, such a familiar feeling. This place certainly would have the materials he needed to create an artifact with enough potency to be worth carrying. Of course though they had a different destination before they could even think about scouring the marketplace and shops for supplies, to Ivan's annoyance their destination was a bar. The casual and tricksters nature of the owner somewhat made up for it. Much like those who had learned to create multiple existences of themselves at young age back in the college.

Vinn had shown them something called a 'lazul card' An interesting piece of magica if he were to believe his words. Ivan looked carefully as the others picked up these cards and the cards reacted to this. Of course he'd rather avoid contact with such an object and study it with his thaumaturgic tools, looking into what knowledge he could extract from the card, instead of letting the object look into his being. However this didn't seem like the time or the place to start an argument over such things, and so far Vinn had seemed trustworthy enough and so far no accidents had happened.

Ivan stepped forward, ignoring the mention of the girl before him about desiring to flood herself in liquid foolishness. He grabbed an azure card turning it with the blank face upwards in the same motion. Lightning struck the card etching a way over the surface leaving behind black runic characters. 'Ivan' it said, but for those who couldn't read runic it would merely be a set of nice looking characters. Just as he was about to put the card into his pocket the runic characters lit on fire forming a blaze on the card. Equally fast as the blaze had ignited it died down revealing his name 'Ivan', but no longer in runic and in a deep crimson color. He hesitated a second before putting it into his pocket anticipating another surprise, and walking back into the masses.

Wayland marched along like a machine until the group reached Vinn's his mind in a form of turmoil as thoughts spin around and around in his head. He doesn't react to the guards that surround them as they enter the city, doesn't react at all to the numerous warriors that quickly array themselves against them, not batting an eye as he blankly surveys the mass, each of their weapons being catalogued for later, their history stored in the depths of his soul for when he had need of it, it was enlightening. Though he didn't truly realize it, the process was like breathing to him at this point. He learned more about the city they were entering at a glance then most people would in a lifetime. The guards patrols, who's who of their government, who was sleeping with who in the guard, who could fight and who would run, on and on the information tucked itself away and another weapon embedded itself in his being.

A witty reply comes to mind as Hokyu comments to the Leader that he'll get no tail this cycle, -Does that apply to all of us?- the words not quite reaching his lips as he trudges along, a smirk playing briefly across his face before it dies. He'd kick himself later for letting the oppurtunity pass him by, ***** would be dissapointed in him if he found out, he thinks with a fond grin. Before he shakes his head, feeling faint for some reason - who would be dissapointed? The question is like poison, bleeding into his mind, as he can't. Quite. Remember. He gets a faint image of red hair, before static overtakes his thoughts and he has to force himself to remain calm, and that same feeling of loss and shame overtake him again. He ignores it, for now.

Wayland pays the city no mind as they moved along, no to others it might even seem odd that he walked as if he knew where they were going, as if he'd lived in the city his whole life. It was revealed to him through steel. How do you explain that to strangers though? He didn't know, never had figured it out in his home world, and most people just attributed it to natural confidence, and self-assurredness. Soon enough they reached Vinn's Oasis, as the sign proudly declared, the woman - Hokyu - leaving them with some parting words for the leader. The bar was cozy to put it lightly, it was the sort of place Wayland could easily see himself losing hours to, his already relaxed stance loosens further and he finally starts to come back to himself.

His eyes sweep across the occupants of the bar, lingering on the man smoking behind the counter a touch longer than the others. Something about him was familiar, similar in the same way Kira was but he couldn't pin down what that meant. He trusted him immediately, something that was unheard of for him. It bore investigation later on, but he turns away as the static starts up again making him feel sick. Now facing the leader he watches the proceeds as the cards are explained. He watches with a raised brow as one of the Vinn simply ceases to be, and grins as he sees the cards in action, as the leaders name(s) appear on his card they swell in Wayland's mind, he's not surprised he'd known it/them since the first moment he'd lain eyes on his blade, none of that is of note though, simply the way of things, something in him screams however as He looks at the one called River, the one that he trusted without knowing why, red hot vomit rises in his throat as static assaults his mind but he fights it down, forcing himself to move his eyes away, his only sign of discomfort a slight rise in his output of smoke, only those that know him well would know what that meant, and noone here, to his knowledge, knew him like that. Moments later all thoughts of that flee his mind anyway as a not so old enemy is revealed.

KH4.Z1X A name he'd thought them through with, but one glance revealed a curious lack of taint, and he snorts at Vinn's way of speaking, nodding at those that look to him to vet the machine man, it was true he was no longer their enemy, but their was a curious lack of information in him as to why that was. He stares at the red-head - River - As he waves, grinning like he knew him. Unsure, again, why the gesture seems so familiar, he isn't disturbed by the familiarity, in fact something inside him feels as if he has come home as he stands among these people, and yet another part can feel nothings but shame and loss, the odd feelings don't fade. Thankfully the static is lessened, though he doesn't know why. He let's the comforting noise of hammer on anvil soothe him, let's flame consume his mind as he observes the odd byplay between Vinn and River, unsure on how to react for now he resolves himself to get a card, then he'd see about getting some answers.

Swords, of course it was swords. Dozens of them, hundreds clashing together, their points locking together like teeth as he picks up the card, layers upon layers of them make up the card, the background like clashing blades and colored in the fire that forged them. His name flashes across the top of the card, again and again, more times than he can count it appears shatters then reforms, every time in a different script, a different style of writing or a different language entirely, sometimes languages he didn't know, but he knew it was his name. Knew it like he knew the sun would rise, or the moon would set. It was a certainty, and it was unsettling. finally after far too many different itterations and styles to count it settles. The final name burning itself into the swords, written in the glowing embers of molten steel, the style jagged and almost broken. WAYLAND. For some reason it's less than reassuring.

Shane had seen so many new, crazy and weird things in this new world that, to be honest, he felt like a young boy again, only just starting to see the world. It was actually quite exhausting, one surprise after another(It's not every day you see a water god he thought), and all he wanted was a break. Upon arriving at Vin's Oasis Shane started to worry that he may never get a break, but to his surprise, the place had a strange familiarity to him. It reminded him of home. In Utopia there were many bars and taverns, places where war-torn, scarred, and hopeless men could come together and drink their pains away. But even beyond that, Shane felt almost as if he'd been here before, or somewhere very similar. He couldn't tell why, maybe it was the cactus people, a creature very common to utopia, maybe it was something more, All he really knew was that it felt familiar.

Even the way Vin spoke seemed familiar to Shane, however with zero understanding as to why, he simply decided that it must be similar to the way bartenders at home spoke. Once Vin was done speaking, and after seeing the reactions these cards created, Shane was getting eager to grab his own. He casually approached the counter top and looked down at the cards. After looking at them for a short second, he decided on which card he wanted and picked it up. The second Shane touched the card, it's surface was quickly flooded by dry yellow sand. It stayed like that for a split second, and after Shane started to get bored with it, it suddenly changed, the sand transforming into black ash grain by grain, but at a very rapid pace.

As soon as all the sand was transmuted, a swarm of small embers appeared at the top of the card, and danced joyfully down, intricately burning away parts of the ash surface to leave a bright glowing orange, like molten metal. As they moved further down, the glowing orange formed "Shane", and below it what appeared to be the start of a crudely drawn screw, however, upon getting about halfway down the card, without finishing the screw, the embers suddenly and violently withered away into a tiny puff of smoke. "Awww, what a rip-off," He said jokingly, pocketing the card. That symbol really got to Shane, He could remember that it belonged to the army he once lead, and in that sense, it was very important to him, but he couldn't help but feel there was something else he wasn't remembering, something that seemed way more important. In actuality, as he thought about it, he realized that he hardly remembers any of his time spent in the revolutionary army. Scared by this thought Shane subconsciously clutched his scrap-metal necklace in his hand.

It had been akin to a roller coaster ride for her. In what seemed like such a short amount of time she had seen so much, experienced so many things it was staggering. From the fright of their reception to the strange curiosity regarding the enigmatic warrior Hokyu to the marvel of witnessing a city of grand dimensional magic she had little time to even register what she was supposed to be feeling. It all culminated in their arrival at the strange yet oddly humble inn simply known as 'Vinn's Oasis'. Much talking transpired, the various characters around this bar introducing themselves and speaking amongst each other on the matter of their arrival.

Lazul Cards, strange badges of sorts as explained by Vinn, the eccentric entity wearing a rather large hat like the rest of these entities that seemed to go by the same identity. While his mannerisms might of been somewhat unusual, though unusual carried little weight by this stage of her adventure, the fact that him and all the other like-minded him's that attended bar all looked and acted similar if not the same was not all too unusual for her. Slimes frequently resembled the bodies from which they split from and since most slimes were greatly limited in intelligence they all acted pretty close to the same as well.

As Vinn handed out these cards like the good little slime she was she did as she was told and took a card for herself. Now, given as she had no textile grip nor digits to hold the card with she wholly expected the card to slip from her noodly grasp but the magic of the card went into motion. The card went completely limp and it's loose form wrapped around her tentacle before slithering along the length of it up onto her body where it stuck itself right on the upper torso, much akin to a name tag. The ocean blue surface of the card began to shift as though something were disturbing it's shape, images of bubbles stirred from this motion and traveling up the card. She looked down and watched as what appeared to be a golden sun pendant floated up within the water, slowly coming to stop as it reached the top of the card. In a flash the sun expelled a golden light from the pendant which formed into letters written in the form of her creator's handwriting. The light spelled out Anima, Lumen.

Just as the card seemed finished undergoing it's graphical update as the other cards had done a brief shadow passed across the background of the card as though a shapeless form had moved across in the background. That briefest moment, that flash of shadow cast over her fluid card sent a shiver throughout her jelly as a foreboding omen now hung in her mind. It was so brief that one could of blinked and missed it but all it needed was just a moment, a glimpse at something more than she already knew, something unknown yet uncomfortably close or so it felt.

With that done she looked up to the rest of the nameless in the room, especially to those she had familiarized herself with during the trek to the city. She had little reason to fear right now so she cast the doubt from her thoughts, placing her mind back in the present. She looked about at how the other cards formed out, her own card still clinging to her chest like it was glued on. She had many questions on her mind, too many to be asked in one sitting to be sure. She made note to ask about how all these things she's seen so far functioned so that she at some point might be able to study and perform similar feats of magic as the ones she's seen along the way.

Kira held out her palm and the card flew into it, blooming into a vine card, surrounded by a royal gold border before with a glare from her shattering into pieces, reforming with a flick of her wrist from the floor into a card of pure steel. In scrawling red velvet began to snake a name "Ke-" before she shattered it again, her visage cold and expressionless as it reformed, this time bisecting the flowing velvet and forcefully scribed her own name into the metal by will "Kira". She grinned at the name, but the grin was hollow to anyone who saw her, and there was an emptiness in her eyes that had never been. She grimly looked to her left and saw a flitting shadow sprint towards the entrance, with a sigh she flicked her wrist and the card flew through the air, cutting through the air like a knife to stick into the familiar shadow soldiers spine, but it kept running.

She began to run after it only to have Vinn appear before her along with the one called Lazarus and KH4, the latter two were holding blades of steam and blood to her neck and the former was blocking her way with an open palm. "You know how this goes.." The bartender warned, but Kira wasn't listening and the sound of a button clicking signed her ticket. The girl called Rosa stood up, curling her upper lip in a snarl that exposed very sharp teeth including a pair of impressive fangs. After picking up that card, her black claws retracted, but now she extended them again, hunching her upper body, poised to spring on the blade-wielders holding the strange orange-haired girl.The three brought up their defences in response and leaped back, but as they moved they realized their mistake. The clicking did not signal her attack, but her escape. With nary a single piece of dust she was gone and the door of the bar was removed from it's hinges. When the other girl realized no one chased after Kira, she relaxed her shoulders, but remained standing with exposed claws.

She found herself in a forest far outside of Tel'dra in an instant, staring at the shadow soldier in front of her, she flicked her wrist once more and the card shattered, splintering the shadow into a mess of a corpse on the floor as it reformed between her fingers. Her eyes slowly diluted to a crimson red as the white tips of her hair grew like tendrils through her locks, her card flew from her hand and spun around the forest, eventually hitting someone, or rather something, with a clang. From behind a tree came out a human-sized thing in black and red armour, wisps of shadow trailing to him from the splintered corpse, he held the card between two fingers and tossed it back from where he stood, the other end of the forest.

The trees splintered and shattered under the force and Kira caught it on the other side as the woods erupted, and then they stood in a clearing where once stood a forest, the hundreds of mutilated corpses that had hung from their necks from each tree crushed under the debris to form a crimson meeting plane. The two stared at each other for a moment; and then without a word ,the creature threw a card of shadow at her which she then caught in turn. Smiling down at the piece, she nodded and read its contents, opening her palm and tweaking her wrist to face her as her "Broken" collar mended itself. The shadow card melted from her hands and the two departed, Kira to the bar, the creature, to the unknown. Without a word the girl returned and took her place by the assembly, and Vinn said nothing more about her disappearance, and under his roof, none of The Nameless questioned it either. Rosa wasn't so quiet. "What was that about? " she asked both Vinn and Kira.

Kira shrugged and spun her card on her fingertip absently "I found an enemy, I killed it, end of story." She answered nonchalantly, Vinn glowered at her but looked to Rosa with a sigh "It's just as she said...I wasn't sure she could handle it and I was wrong." He grunted out before turning to the rest of the group. "Alright everyone, head through that back door, except for you Kira, River, we have things to discuss, and Elena, free reign behind the bar." He said, a stern tone in his voice until the end as he hopped down from his stand and beckoned to the flimsy wooden door behind the bar. Rosa raised her eyebrows, but decided it best not to argue or comment any further and led the way toward the door.

The door swung open easily, and as the first entered into the adjoining identical room it began to warp like a rubber wall around the group until eventually it seemed to simply break. The wall torn as reality poured in through the illusion and the group were greeted by long grass and dirt underneath their feet. If one were to turn around the door would be gone, and instead there'd be nothing but open air and sky, beneath them would be the flowing earth that marked their location as the top of a grass hill much like the one they'd arrived on, surrounded on all sides by the open plains. Sitting by a strange black box about the size of an average man were the rest of The Nameless, drinking and feasting in a circular camp ground, Hokyu was amongst them surrounded by men offering her food, wine, riches, all obviously quite pickled. On one side of the camp sat a group of more reserved individuals, they partook in the cheers and grinned as madly as the rest, but when it came to drink and meal they were nothing if not insistent on table manners, and their part of the camp was sprawled with books and scrolls. Thedas was among them and Nero followed to sit by her side, she immediately gave him a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek before returning to studying an ancient looking tome, the chuckling noise warbled from him again as he draped his arm over her.

The Nameless leader, Blitz, made his way to Aisha and Hokyu, sneaking quietly around the various tents that had been pitched before picking them both up in a tackle, holding his prizes with a roar that set the entire camp hooting and cheering and left the two girls grinning and flailing in mock-protest. He dropped them both back on the ground, before being knocked off his feet by a snaking lizard tail which created another uproar of laughter. Drink was passed to him and he took his seat amongst his fellows, relaxing and celebrating. Somewhere within the encampment music played, folksy dancing music, and up stepped Hokyu and Blitz to dance, Blitz bowed low and she feigned deep thought before pulling him to her and taking the lead. Nero and Thedas joined soon after, Nero spinning her from him at an impossible distance, she twirled elegantly each time, her white robe flowing as she spun nearly to the other side of the camp as Nero's arm continued to grow and grow and grow before she stopped and he snapped her back in an instant to press tightly against him. The couple laughed and continued their insane dance as others followed Hokyu and Blitz's lead.

Others stood on the sides and clapped in time with the tune, which was revealed to be coming from a regally dressed young man with blonde hair named Reynor, sitting by his pile of scrolls and playing a guitar that made such impossible noises, his hands moving at an equally impossible pace along the magical instrument to create the orchestra of a band. Flutes, lutes and all were played with enchanting duress and joviality. A certain red-headed pyromancer named Aisha stood at his side and bowed low in mock awe at his skills and offered her hand to him in dance, and with a grin he took it, and suddenly there were two of him. One held the hand of the beautiful mage before him and spun together with her in a circle, clapping and trading places with her in a fast-paced jig while the other continued its insane pace to play the night away. His blue coat flapping with each movement and his thick fine boots clicking together as he danced with the red dressed pyromancer.

KH4 immediately jumped in without hesitation, offering his hand to the black-scaled lizardman in mid-drink called Dominic who looked intensely amused by the act before grinning his sharp-toothed grin and getting up to dance side by side with the armoured creature. The mood was celebratory, lively, and everything The Nameless stood for. River slid his way in front of Charmeine and bowed low in proper etiquette, coming up with hand outstretched to her "Princess d'Autriche, I humbly beseech you to allow me a single dance with such a divine and beautiful woman as yourself, it would by an utmost honour." He said with a flourish, his leather jacket mysteriously discarded to leave him in his tight white tee, physically he was an Adonis and his eyes promised everything one would ever need, and more. The armoured creature known as KH4 observed them for a moment before returning to his dance with a quiet whirr of steam that sounded like a chuckle, River the Incubus had activated his charm, not many could withstand the magic of an Incubi.

Suddenly the black box unfolded into a large screen and displayed a runic number "4" and the party cheered, many coming to clap the musician on the back before returning to their celebrations. As they cheered Lazarus turned silently to Elena and bowed low, he removed his bandages from his mouth and offered her his hand with a grin "Care to dance?" He queeried as a black cloaked and masked woman did the same to Ivan, her femininity shown through her voice and small physique from behind the mask "My names Luka, shall we dance?" she offered shyly.

Meanwhile at Vinn's
Vinn stood before River and Kira, well aware River had sent ahead a clone for the celebrations. He sighed heavily and waved them over to the same door after the rest had entered, opening it to a small office with comfy red chairs as he clambered onto his behind the desk. The two took their seats and he hummed in deep thought before speaking "So, the pair of you know the rules so we've got that covered, River I need you to do a job for me. You need to realize they might not just remember on their own, you'll need to do something." He said, River rubbed his hair awkwardly and nodded "I know, I know, got plenty of work to do and all that. Gotta save the Multiverse from destruction etc....I got it." He said stoicly, getting up to leave before Vinn toddled in front of him to stop him at the door. "That's not all, I need you to keep an eye on her" He ordered, pointing towards Kira who was slumped and folding her arms in her seat "I didn't do anything! Why are you singling me out from the rest? I only just met you people after all, so why should I even help?" She complained openly.

Vinn just stared at her until she sighed and got up, standing next to River and holding her card up to her face "Guess you know more than you're allowed to give on huh? I'll stay away from him and help River with his job, if things don't get moving soon it'll be too late for me right?" She mused with a sigh, Vinn and River both nodded sadly and Vinn lead them towards the door before grabbing hold of Kira's wrist, what little emotion his face could show wrought with an internal battle "I know you can't stay away from him...but what if she's not there? If you continue down this road you'l-" He was cut off by her leaning down and hugging him, he hugged her back tightly and then she let him go and brought out a second card, one that was covered in red runes and tattoos and that held the name that had been over-written by her on her own card, and pressed it into his hands. "I know Vinn...but you know how this ends if I don't, just hold onto this card when it happens okay?" She said reassuringly and he nodded slowly, holding the card to his chest and waving them off. River reached down and took hold of her hand and the two stepped through the door together, breaking into a metal corridor and staring through a window at the scene below, the celebrations and dancing going on as Vinn sat silently in his office, staring at a singular name in red and knowing all it would cause him to lose.

River turned to her for a moment and started to open his mouth before she kissed his cheek and smiled sadly "It'll be alright, you're strong, you'll protect me right?" She reassured, stealing the words from his mouth, he squeezed her hand tight and put on his usual wide grin "You're damn right I will. We're not finished yet!" He cheered, which elicited a short laugh from her. The two hugged one more time in silence and then blinked into the celebrations, the clone replaced by his true self and Kira arriving next to Wayland with a grin and a short whistle.

"Look at all this, makes you wanna get drunk and wake up three days from now without pants doesn't it?" She mused, bowing low to him and staring down her upwards facing nose at him as she spoke "Oh dear sir Wayland, wilt though permiteth me this fine jig?" She offered, keeping her hand by her side in case he took it as a sign to grab hold of her, she enjoyed Wayland's company this was true, but physical contact wasn't in the cards today, dancing her thoughts away however was more than welcome as she let the music take her, her eyes settling past Wayland to another newcomer who sat amongst The Nameless, yet another recruit for the cause.

As Ivan walked through the door he noticed how the space beyond was warping, however he did not feel any need to be cautious. After all it wouldn't make sense for Vinn to attack them now, nor did he seem like a being that heeded any ill intent to them. The rustle of grass beneath his feet, the breeze and the open skies, far more hospitable than anyplace he had been to since his arrival in this world. The box around which the nameless had taken the chance to feast and drink had taken his notice though and awakened curiosity within him. Why was it there? Why where did they chose that place to hold a party? He then decided that blindly staring at it wouldn't solve the questions, the best thing he could do for now was mingle in, and he could do with a drink and some food.

He noticed the more reserved among the nameless, tables hidden under a deep layer of books, scrolls and tomes. If anywhere that would be where he'd fit in the most, and he could read-up a bit. He grabbed himself some food and something drink that didn't reek of alcohol and seated at one of the literature covered tables. "Food, drink, company and literature, what more could you want?" He said as he grabbed one of the books that appeared to be written in a language he could understand. Under the enjoyment of his drink, which by the taste of it was some kind of cold tea, he opened the book and began reading. It appeared to be a book on some for him foreign style of magic. Most likely the content had no practical use for him, but it was and interesting subject nonetheless.

Upon hearing the roar of the leader he turned his head and grinned a bit. A bit barbaric of a tone in this party, but nothing he hadn't seen before, and certainly a lot more fun than the uptight parties of the counsel. A bit later a couple from the same table as Ivan stood up to dance. From the corner of his eye he noticed the source of the music, one man using some sort of magic to form an entire orchestra. But his gaze was pulled away from Reynor as the box unfolded and revealed a large runic 4, the questions that had been formed when he had seen the box where now drowned in more questions. Why had it revealed it's contents now? What did that 4 mean? Why did the other cheer seeing this revealed? It made no sense, and any answer he could theorize lead to another wave of questions and discrepancies with what he had observed.

Ivan however did not get the chance to think about it too much longer as a cloaked and masked figure asked him to a dance. He looked at the almost featureless woman, who's voice had been the only clue to her identity or even gender. "I'll be fair and warn you that I'm not much of a dancer, if you don't mind that then I'll gladly take you up on your offer." He said as he stood up. "The name's Ivan, miss Luka." He then followed up with a bow which he then gracefully let flow into him taking her hand. Breaking away from the seated Ivan lead her as best he could with one of the dances he knew best, slowing it down a bit in an attempt to match the rapid movements and shifts of momentum to the music, from the outside the steps, twirls and semi-circular slides seemed erratic withe most of the movements hidden under the cloaks, but each and every movement followed up one another intuitively in an almost natural flow. From the corner of his eyes noticing the arrival of Wayland and Kira, and what ensued afterwards.

Volga noticed Kira's gaze and returned it with her own before and allowed the elf girl to put her arm about her. She was smiling broadly at this but her smile turned into excited laughter at being lifted from the ground. She knew of magic but was always amazed to experience it herself. After taking a second to gawk she turned her attention back to the elf who opened her arm and proclaimed herself to be a monster. Volga was unfazed by this and shook her head at this proclamation before taking the elfette's chin between her thumb and forefinger knuckle "I've slain many monsters..". She leaned forward and drunkenly whispered into her ear breathing hot breath all over her neck "Laid with a couple as well". She chuckled at this swaying drunkenly before looking back at Kira "You're no monster..".

Once Kira landed the island and made her offer to be her lady for the night Volga jumped off of the platform towards Kira and wrapped an arm about her waste lifting her up off of the ground "Oh I can deal with far more than that, fair elf. The true question. One I should ask of you is. Can you deal with me?". She followed this statement by twirling Kira around and Carrying her towards the very same keg. With her new companion in one arm and Bøddel in the other Volga got the feeling that she would enjoy her stay in Valhalla "I am Volga Argonar. Captain of The Flight of the White Crow. May I have your name fair elfette?".

Charmeine

What was supposed to seem like a long trip was surprisingly short as Charmeine dwelt deeper into her thoughts every passing minute. It was nothing new; family, home, destruction. It almost felt like she was wrestling with herself; the past and the present constantly tumbling over eachother, as if they were trying to 'win' her mind. At least, that's how she would explain it. Soon enough though, she was snapped out of her little battle as the scenery changed. Grass rich with life, a calming breeze enveloping her. What just happened? To see this after such a dreadful war scene was incredible to where she could just cry. However, she wouldn't allow herself to do that. The only question she really had was why people were celebrating. Wasn't there more to come? Was this just some way to keep people calm? Alright, she has A LOT more than one question.

The whitette scanned the feast of food, licking her crackled lips. However, in her community, taking food that was not offered directly was seen as rude. However, drinks were always free to go around. Charmeine picked up a glass of alcohol, swirling it in its container with her pointer finger. She brought it up to her lips and took a pitiful sip, only to cringe and jerk the cup away from her. Of course, it ended up splattering across the ground, but at least the container wasn't broken. The Seraph let out a defeated sigh. Although it was such a cheap brand, it'd have to do. She was dehydrated.

The whitette took a seat away from the crowd, watching with a almost concerned expression. The way they danced, sang, laughed... this was nothing like the parties she would celebrate. She almost felt lost. It was obvious there were creatures from other rhelms, yet they knew how to fit in perfectly. Charmeine is used to calm music, detailed ballrooms, flowing gowns, and a formal dance. This... this was like chaos in a nutshell. The princess looked away from the scene and tended to her diamond-like hair.

Not many moments have passed by before a devilishly handsome young man offered her hand in a dance. She looked up to him with a raised eyebrow. How did he know her name? Was he perhaps a friend of Anima or Ivan? Her pale blue gaze slowly fell to his hand. With the way he had asked her, she thought that maybe it would be a little like her home's celebrations. Charmeine's questionable expression faded into a smile, happily taking his hand. Until...

Sssccchhh...

The whitette let out a painful cry and jerked her hand back. She clenched it in agony, only unwrapping her fingers to see what had happened. Her eyes widened in horror. Blite. Blite to Seraphs was like a ticket to death row for humans. If she is touched by any type of demon; phantom, incubus, succubus, etc, a painful 'parasite' will dig into her skin. It left a sickening blueish-purple color, and it'd slowly eat its way across her skin. If she is completely consumed, she'll surely die.

Charmeine watched as the Blite slowly but surely engulfed her fingers in that ugly color. She growled and stood up, wanting to slap him across his face; but that'd only poison her more. "My answer is no. Good day to you..." The seraph snarled, hugging her arms as a means of comfort as she left the scene. Thankfully, Blite was not hard to cure. A douse of holy water from a church or a shrine will heal it. It's just a 'deadly if left untreated' matter.

Anima

After passing through the doorway which seemed to act more as a portal than it initially let on she was dropped into something she was not familiar with. She knew of celebrations but her creator never went into much detail in regards to such activities. He never partook in such event's for as long as she was aware of him. While the grass and the fresh air felt wondrous, an experience she would of gladly soaked in otherwise, the atmosphere that dominated the scene was chaotic and alien to her understanding.

The instant she had arrived to this party she was hopelessly lost. Faces of all varieties hailing from many races all blurred together into a pastiche, feet, hooves and other methods of transportation falling about in hectic discord. She could identify the source of the music originating from the strange musician who appeared to be utilizing a great deal of magic unknown to herself. As a matter of fact there were all sorts of unexplainable powers at play here as the crowd was filled with both magical and anomalous actions.


Despite the complete absence of forebodingness Anima simply couldn't lose herself to the overarching feeling of joy and excitement sown throughout the festivities. She wanted to rest, she wanted to perform her prayers and to simply unwind after all that she endured. Pretty much nothing present at this party would allow her to do any of that. The music brought fervor to those who had bones to dance with and the alcohol brought fire to the spirits of those who could become intoxicated. She wanted a soft quietness to bring about contemplative calmness, not hectic tunes to rile and distract her. She needed a gentle stream to soothe her disquieted emotions, not a raging bonfire to set her mind further askew.

Not only was the atmosphere unsuited to her tastes as well as seemingly inappropriate in timing given just how soon this came after such a bloody and miserable battle but she felt truly alone. She looked around everywhere but she couldn't find a friendly familiar face to guide her through this foreign place. She had yet to see Ivan anywhere and even if she did locate him he was just as likely as the rest of the nameless to be occupied in whatever this camp had to offer. Everyone was engaged in partying, everyone except for her. She was almost invisible to them. No one gave her even the slightest notice as she drifted to and fro.


It was then that she spotted someone she recognized. "Princess Charmeine!" She squeaked in pleasant surprise as she quickly crawled over to speak with her. Before she could arrive however a man approached Charmeine, offering her a dance. At that point she was almost defeated as she was reluctant to interrupt Charmeine just to burden her with her own qualms. Before she had the opportunity to slink off into some corner or further it hit her. The man who had just approached Charmeine reeked of the unmistakable scent of demonic energy. Even though she had never encountered an example of true demonic taint before she could instinctively tell the nature of unholy magic like a memory she never knew she had. No matter what else might of been the case she needed to be warned and quickly. Anima made it her top priority to ensure that Charmeine was aware.

"P-Princess! Be careful! That man is emitting demonic-"

Before she could continue she was abruptly cut off as Charmeine let out a pained cry. Anima's eyes widened with shock as Charmeine recoiled from the demonic stranger's touch. Being a seraphim it appeared that her sensitivity to demonic energy was close to about as strong as Anima's was but unlike Anima she didn't seem to be able to feel the taint emanating from the man before it was too late.

With concern she made haste over by Charmeine's side as the princess looked to her hand. Looking over the infected point she could sense the dark energy gathering, slowly corrupting it's way across the hand and starting up her arm. Almost as an unconscious action she reached out to take the hand in her tentacles. "Here, please allow me to see that." She instructed in a caring yet worried tone. Just as one of her tentacles brushed across one of the tips of her fingers she pulled her limbs back, minding her personal space. "I wish to nullify the dark force that ails you my royal highness. I humbly beseech you that you allow me to lend you my aid." She requested her permission so as not to offend. What little slime clung to the end of her finger nail soothed the surface upon which it was stuck to, quickly pushing back the discoloration from the surface it occupied. While the slime had purged the taint from the portion it had connected to the rest of the corruption in Charmeine's hand didn't seem ready to halt unless preventative action were to be taken soon.