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Ulysses Adler

"There's not a dull moment when almost everyone and their grandmother wants you dead."

0 · 484 views · located in Leu Chysallia

a character in “An Evanescent Phantasmagoria”, as played by Sorentier

Description

Ulysses Adler
Image


Theme: Two Steps From Hell: To glory

Role: The Vagabond
Gender: Male
Nickname(s): Number 5, Scourge of the Coasts, Uly(pronounced U-Lee) by close friends
Age: 19
Race: Human

Appearance: He has an assortment of scars and wounds from his adventures. Most of them are small cuts on his arms, with the most noticeable being the slash wound on his chest and burn on his back.

Preferred Clothing: Light clothing in general, usually collared shirts, vests, leather pants, and boots.

Height: 6"
Weight: 195 lbs.
Hair Color: Grey Blue
Eye Color: Lavender

Personality: Ulysses can't find anything to make him down in the least. Whether it's because he's just happy to be breathing or he's a maniac, you can never seem to find a frown on the man. Despite anything that might happen, he tries to see the positive side of things, even if it's only a little. He also never seems to have a care in the world, never taken most things too seriously. even with this positive outlook, he hates it when people tell him to do things. He can't stand it, someone thinking they can just order him around like he was a tool or something.

Challenges are his one fatal weakness. He just loves proving others wrong whenever he beats their challenges, and savors every moment of victory.This has led him to boast, however, and it always leads him to fighting thugs and ruffians where ever he goes. When he fights, he goes all out, not caring if he breaks every bone in the guy's body. He thinks that unless you know their down for good, they are still a threat to you and your companions. He can get carried away, and it usually ends badly for his enemy. Sometimes he can't control himself, being filled with rage by the incident that took everything away from him.


Oddities: Given his nature, he never stands still and paces around the room, wandering until he has a set destination. Rarely does he stop moving unless he's tired or wants to relax of his own will.

Likes: Gambling, the sea, drinking, the blowing wind, people, climbing
Dislikes: Being ordered to do something, confinement, restriction, losing his bets, thugs and ruffians
Hobbies: Gambling, drinking, climbing, swimming, enjoying the time with his current companions

Phobia(s):
Atychiphobia- Fear of failure
Claustrophobia- Fear of confined spaces
Cleithrophobia or Cleisiophobia- Fear of being locked in an enclosed place
Macrophobia- Fear of long waits


Skills: Ulysses is the ultimate guide. With his extensive travelling, he has been able to record wind and wave directions. The slightest shift, and he makes sure to adjust to meet it, which makes him invaluable at directing transports of all kinds.

Growing up in an urban environment, Ulysses has always climbed his way up buildings. It was a natural instinct at first, and soon it became a part of him. He could see the openings on building sides to climb on, even if you could barely see them. He can move around obstacles with ease, even at full speed. His parkour ability is unmatched.


Weapon: Two specialized pistols, the "Twin Gales"Image. They are modeled after our 18th century black powder pistols, but instead of the one shot and agonizing reload speed, these pistols work like bolt action guns. When pulling back the hammer, the pistols chamber in the next round, with 5 rounds total in each.

Fighting Style: Ulysses likes to keep a healthy distance between him and is opponent if he can. If things get physical, he'll use his guns as bludgeons. If he doesn't have his weapons or can't use them, he knows some boxing and makes use of environmental weapons, such as branches, rocks, and man made objects.

Abilities: Ulysses Has an uncanny way of adapting to every situation. He had to survive in his early years, which made him keen on always being on his toes, and changing when the situation calls for it. When an enemy would change their tactics and strategies, Ulysses would change accordingly. Otherwise, he just works with his physical abilities.

Personal History: Ulysses wasn't born in the best of times. His parents were barely able to take care of him, let alone his two younger siblings. Add in that his dad became a lazy drunk at 12 and his mom was too weak to provide anything, and Ulysses was left with the job of providing for the whole family. He did everything he could do, from begging on the streets, to doing odd jobs for people, to even stealing what he needed. This, of course, lead him to trouble and earned him quite a bit of infamy. This, however, was how he was able to support the family.

At 15, everyone knew he was quite the charmer, and athletic enough to get away from those who tried to catch him, which caught the attention of some less than pure individuals. Big name crime lords soon started to request Ulysses particular skill set to aid in whatever low-down, scum-ridden plots they had. Ulysses didn't like it, but it was all he got if he wanted his family to live. So, with the money from the jobs, he was able to get his family back on their feet. His dad had stopped his rampant drinking, mom was able to get proper medical attention to aid her, and his siblings were able to go to school. Ulysses felt like he was on top of the world, which would be his downfall.

With this money flow he had been getting, he soon became arrogant and began to gamble it all. When he ran out, he'd ask for more from the crime lords, who did give it to him, but expected to get paid back. But Ulysses kept spending and spending until he had spent more than 30% of the crime lord's shares. Of course, this didn't go well with them, and in response they hired a top notch band of mercenaries called "Black Horizon" to collect in money or blood. When they busted down Ulysses' door, they started to destroy everything in sight, all that Ulysses had worked for. Ulysses' father told him to runaway with his siblings somewhere far, while he protected Ulysses' mother. The last thing Ulysses saw was the explosion where his house once stood.

Through this ordeal, Ulysses was able to make some friends in his time of crime. Ulysses called up an old friend of his to take care of his siblings while he dealt with the problem. He knows these guys well, and if anything, they want to make Ulysses suffer as much as possible. As long as he kept their attention away from his siblings, he didn't care how many guys they would send. At this point, he was 16, and he spent those three years roaming the world, making even more friends, seeing the world, raising all forms of hell, and getting closer to finding those scumbags that hide in the shadows. His latest clue leads him to some noble bastard named Auttenberg. Whoever this guy is, he might be the last step before Ulysses finds his former employers.


Other: During his travelling years, Ulysses made quite the name for himself, if in the wrong way. Soon enough, he had risen to "Number 5" on the most wanted list. So not only does he have Black Horizon after him, but also random bands of bounty hunters after him to.

So begins...

Ulysses Adler's Story

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The continuous flow of the ship was soothing. No one could get this kind of flow by simply walking. Ulysses knew this, and was content in the lower deck of the ship. He didn't know how long they had been sailing. A week? Two weeks? Maybe even a month? He didn't seem to care though, quietly napping on some hay. As long as he was moving or his surroundings moved, he was in a good mood. That made the abrupt stop ruin his otherwise perfect mood. This also meant, however, that they finally made it to there destination. Trying hard not to fall back asleep, he stiffly got up and made his slow trek out of the storeroom.

When he opened the door, a figure stood in his way and he walked right into him. Ulysses keeled over and fell onto his back, making small grunting noises at the sudden pain. When he was able to focus, he saw the man that stood before him, and gave a sigh of relief. "You shouldn't scare me like that. I could have punched you right in the jaw." The man offered a hand and Ulysses took it, brushing off the dust on him. "Please, you have the disposition of a drunkard when your dead tired. You would have thrown a swing and knocked yourself out." They both shared a chuckle as Ulysses pulled out a small leather pouch and placed it in the man's hand. "That should cover the smuggling fee, and a little extra for finding me this glorious bed!" The man gave a smile and put the pouch into a small satchel on his belt. "Well, this is it, the town Cellé." The man went to the wall and opened a concealed hatch to the outside. Ulysses walked to the opening, bumping his forearm with the man in salutation. "I thank you for what you've done for me, perhaps we'll meet again?" Ulysses was out of the ship before the man responded. "For my sake, I hope we don't." They shared one more laugh before the man closed the hatch. Ulysses took a breath of the sea air, and savored every bit of it. "Now then, let's see what we're dealing with." He climbed the support beams of the dock up to the top and shimmied his way toward town as to not be spotted.

What he saw took him by utter surprise. The whole town was bustling with activity. Men drank and sang in ridiculous voices, women danced with some of the more sober gentleman, and children sped by, jumping around and laughing their little heads off. Ulysses didn't expect any of this. He expected a town in the ruts with beggars on the streets and thugs beating up some poor passerby. Ulysses was as confused as ever, and was determined to find out what was going on. He made his way toward a more than sober looking man, though he was not sure, and made sure to tie the mask over his face as to not be spotted by unwanted individuals. He tapped the man's shoulder, and he quickly turned around, just drunk enough to lose movement skills. "Excuse me, I'm new around these parts, could you tell me what exactly is happening?" The man took a big swig of his drink, mead by the smell of it, and placed an arm around Ulysses. "Thish?! Oh itz nothing much, our little prince of the Duke is getting married to some red headed whore everyonez been talking about. He's givin away all thish free food, and all the alcohol you can fit in your stomach!" Ulysses slowly pulled the man's arm off of him. "Thank you. Maybe you should lie down, your not in the best of shape." The man dismissed Ulysses with a wave of his hand, then he took another swig of mead and wandered off in the other direction. Ulysses shook his head, a small smile upon his face, and started to walk off, when something caught his eye.

The streets were adorned with a multitude of lights, and it illuminated the entire town from every inch. What he saw blotted out the lights to his left. He only had a small amount of time to hide before they turned the corner. Men in suits of armor as black as a moonless night. Every inch of them was covered in the dark plate, their helmets resembling the skulls of men. Ulysses knew these men all too well. Sellswords from Black Horizon, high ranking by the looks of their armor. Ulysses swore under his breath as he scurried away. He knew they would be here, and in force to. This Duke Auttenberg man was connected with his former employers, of course they would have Black Horizon dogs watching him, making sure he didn't meet an unfortunate end, at least not yet. Things just got more complicated. Once he reached a dead end, he started making his way up to the rooftops of the town. Through his vantage point, he could make out what must be the Duke's magnificent manor. Conventional means of getting in would be suicide, so he went with the only way he knew how.



After making his way through the streets undetected, he had found himself looking up at the massive manor. "Well, he at least has good taste for a scumbag." Thankfully enough, the Duke didn't care that much for it, apparent by the bits of brick chipped off and the cracks that ran along some of them. Soon enough, Ulysses started to climb his way up the high wall, never losing his footing. It took awhile, but he made it to a window that lead into one of the most expensive rooms Ulysses had ever seen. Wasting a bit of time jiggling the window lock free, he slowly crept in and observed his surroundings. This had to be the Duke's personal bed chamber, by the looks of the pure velvet sheeting of the bed and the fact that almost everything in there was jewel encrusted in some way or another. Even though Ulysses needed to find the Duke, he couldn't resist the pirate-like nature he had started to form. "Don't know what will become of the man after this, but he probably won't need some of this stuff after tonight!" That's when he started looting everything he could, carelessly not checking outside the door that leads further into the manor.

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Character Portrait: Aer Shevna-Ray Character Portrait: Ulysses Adler
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Aer moved throught the private halls with ease. Much to her surprise, she saw only one guard (who was too busy flirting with some ritzy whore) and two lone noblemans, too drunk to know where they were, let alone be able to see Aer moving lithfully through the shadows. At some point, she even began skipping. The further she went into the mansion, the more expensive it appeared. She was in a gold mine. And she didn't even have to knock anybody out to get here. Except maybe some poor sap who the thick guards chivalrously caught as the man who tried to violate her. The thought of that made her smirk, some oblivious guy, drunk and completely confused. She should have thrown in some bit about how wealthy he looked, but that would have made it unbelievable, and the guards probably wouldn't have tried to catch a noble of some sort. They were the special guests of the Duke.

She finally got to the wing where the private rooms were. She stopped in one, a smaller one, probably belonging to some permanent house-guest, and followed her usual rules: take the smallest, most expensive things and only take what will fit in her bag. She almost never broke these two rules. They not only provided easy escape, but the nobles were to thick to notice right away, so she was able to sell, distribute the money, and get out of town before anybody tried to find out who robbed the mansions. It was her perfect system.

She only took a little from the smaller room before moving on, as she knew the larger one's would hold more expensive treasures. This town was big, she knew. And from what she had seen, there was a lot of poor folk ready to be made rich by her. She made sure to take a look down the merchant's street and was satisfied to see plenty of places to sell what was too conspicuous to be given directly. Once while in a city, she had to leave to sell a jewel-encrusted jewelry box in another town. She knew that she couldn't hand that to some poor family, even though plenty of little girls were drewling over it. But she still left and got a lot of money for it, but when she returned, the city was a mess. The box was a present that a Duke had gotten for his lover who had passed away, and he was ready to turn over all of Leu Chrysallia to find it. Because of this, Aer was unable to get back into the city, and many of the common folk who she had promised to help out were taken into interrogation, where they refused to give up Aer's identity. Many were killed. She swore she would never let that happen again, which resulted in her two rules and her promise to herself to never leave town until after the job was done.

She made her way two doors down, stopping in the few rooms in between but finding little that she cared to take. She was saving room for the main entree: the Duke's room, sure to be filled with all kinds of lucious goodies. She stopped for a moment outside of the door and listened. She swore that she heard a rustling, but she knew that the Duke was out in the middle of ceremonies, the main event of his wedding to the pretty little redhead. Still, her instincts told her to be alert, so she quietly opened the door and looked through the small crack with one eye. Dammit! Who is this? she thought to herself while seeing the back of somebody greedily shoving everything he saw into a bag. What an amateur. She wasn't sure how he got in, but she suspected through the open window on the opposite wall, which she admitted earned a little respect. But still, this was her turf. She had worked hard to get here. Playing the damsel in distress that perfectly is more difficult than one might think. Something had to be done about him.

She let the door open a little more and pulled out her daggers from their hiding spot at the small of her back. She flipped Arjine over and grabbed it by the blade and firmly took Barsia by it's smooth hilt, and in seemingly one swift and silent motion, she threw Arjine at the bag the man held, pinning it to the wall, and was at his back with the sharp blade of her other dagger pressed firmly at his throat.

"I suggest you explain yourself," she said in a low, threatening voice. "I don't want to hurt you, but we wouldn't want an accident, now would we? We're awful high up, and that's a large window you left open."

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Ulysses had grabbed all sorts unique and expensive items, from small pure gold trinkets, to a fake crown for the Duke that still had quite a bit of value. Not only would he get closer to finding his employers, but he'd also get rich in the process. Though he probably wouldn't admit it openly, Ulysses actually had a little bounce to his step, overjoyed by his findings. This wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. As he went toward some diamond encrusted necklaces, however, something whizzed past him. A flash went by and the sack of treasure was pinned onto the nearby wall. Before Ulysses could even react, a knife was already at his throat, the edge uncomfortably close to his neck. Oh great, he thought, caught already? I'm starting to get dull. When he turned, he expected a broad looking guard ready to pin him against the wall.

What he got was a small girl. It was surprising she could reach Ulysses' neck, seeing as Ulysses had a good 10 inches on her. She appeared to look intimidating, and she had a voice to back it up, but Ulysses tried not to start laughing, as it seemed like a whole joke. That's when the dagger came back to his mind. She might be small, but she could be quick, and slit his throat before he could do anything about it. He had to distract her somehow, enough to get one of his pistols out to even the odds. He thanked the Goddess for his charm and roguish good looks, even if he gave those traits to himself, acting a little arrogant. So, it was time to see who could outwit who. "I'd like to see you push me off said ledge, girl. Even if you killed me with your dagger, a body in the Duke's room wouldn't be the best thing, nor would it be good to see you coming from the same direction as the room." She wasn't stupid, Ulysses could tell that, but it seemed to be a bad idea to reveal ones self like that without a good back-up plan if things screwed up. "Plus, I could ask the same question to you. Your not a peasant exactly, but you don't seem high-class enough to be in here either." His hand slowly inched it's way toward his pistol handle. "Now, why don't we just relax and explain each other without-"

That's when he heard the voices and doors busting open and slamming shut. So, the guards found out something was going on, or something happened that made them suspicious and he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Great, it wasn't enough that he had this girl threatening him, but now guards were on their way to make sure the manner is clean of any unsavory people. This was bad, an it would only get worse if they stayed there. "Listen. Can you hear that? The guards are on their way, and for each other's health, I think it would be a good idea for us to get out of here as fast as possible!" His hand slowly moved away from the pistol, Ulysses not wanting to start a conflict if he didn't have to.

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Great. Aer's thick little guard got smart, or he had some help, of course. But she wasn't done with the job yet, and it's all because of this guy. If he wasn't here, as soon as she heard the guards she could have thrown on something nice and changed her face. But oh no, she had to deal with an amateur shoving treasure in a sack like it was Christmas. Besides, he seemed to misunderstand her power of...persuasion. She hated to call it lying. It made one sound like a bad person, and she wasn't a bad person. She thought about just killing him now and going along with her previous plan. Maybe call it self defense? Throw in a little seduction of the guards?

"I could still do it, you know. I can become royalty, there are plenty of pretty things around here. And I can make up some dreadfully wonderful story about how I was just passing through and I heard a noise in here. I walked in on you, a thief, and in self defense I accidentally killed you. You'll look like the only villain, and I'll look like a hero. They'll reward me, maybe not as much as I would've gotten this way, but still. Money is money," she told him. She knew the guards would be there soon, but she hated to leave with just what she had. But maybe then again there was always the other sack. She could break her rules for this...unique situation.

She lowered Barsia away from the guy's throat. "But you know, I'm feeling generous today. It is a wedding, after all." Careful to keep her eyes still on him, she walked over to the sack and pulled out Arjine. Then, she tied the sack in her hiding place under her dress and cloak. She knew he wouldn't be too happy about her taking his goods, but what was he going to do about it? The guards were almost here, and, unbeknownst to him, she still had the upper hand. She could shapeshift, and the guards wouldn't recognize her. At least not until she had enough time to get away.

She crept over to the door and peered out, seeing the first guard coming down their hallway. "So how do you expect to get out then, amateur? We can't exactly waltz out the front door although I do enjoy some good dancing."

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Ulysses rubbed his neck, trying to sooth the irritation he felt. He stretched a bit before walking over to the window. He could climb out, he was good enough not to fall, but he had a soft spot for the ladies, and he wouldn't feel right if he just left that girl there to get thrown into jail or worse. He tapped the floor with his foot, trying to come up with a plan. Maybe she could climb out, but something could make her lose her footing and fall to an otherwise non-graceful death. There didn't appear to be any of those secret passage ways that most of these high class type guys had. All they could do was go out that door and get caught, or stay in the room and do nothing and get caught. Neither seemed like a good idea.

There was no other way, if they wanted to get out of there in once piece, they were going to have to go out there and beat up the guards before they could alarm any others. It wasn't to his taste, but Ulysses didn't mind getting a little physical with these guys. "Well, it seems like were gonna have to beat up these guys within an inch of their lives." He walked over to the door, pulling out his twin pistols, and laid on the wall next to the door handle. He saw the girl take the sack and place it inside of her cloak. This didn't sit well with him. "I hope you know that when this is over, I'm taking that sack back, even if I have to put a bullet into your head." He wasn't going to, he'd probably just smack her upside the head with the butt of his gun just knocking her out, getting the sack and leaving as soon as he was able to. But there was more important things to worry about. He took a peek outside the door and saw that the guards were about six doors away from where they were. He slowly closed the door and motioned for the girl to get on the other side. "Better if we get the jump on them." He turned his pistols over to their butts and readied himself for the melee to come.

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Aer watched him look out the window, hesitating before turning back to her. So he did come in that way. It was pretty impressive. They were pretty high up, and although the castle was old and crumbling a bit, it still had to be a hard feat. Luckily, he played the chivalrous one just like she figured he would. He seemed like the kind that wouldn't pass up a pretty woman, no matter how hard she pressed a dagger to his throat, and she just hoped that she was right. He seemed pretty cocky.

She couldn't help but smile at the pistol comment, the moonlight and soft candle light showing her amusement. She was planning on using him to get out of here, then shifting and blending with the crowd if need be. Hopefully, she could just jump out a window on a lower floor, her typical exit in a situation like this. Or she would sneak into another room before he realized it and disappear from his life forever. It was her treasure now. He shouldn't have been so careless, in her eyes. "I'd like to see you try to take it," she told him, a bit of arrogance piercing her low tone. "But maybe if your nice, I'll share with you."

Combat wasn't exactly Aer's favorite activity. It could get a bit messy, and although she could hold her own in a fight against someone bigger than her, she preffered sneak attacks much more. And she wasn't planning on getting bloody. It tended to make blending a little harder. Of course, if she cut them in the right places, they would fall without dying or getting her too bloody. And she could use her hands some, but she didn't have much physical strength. But as much as she dreaded it, she dragged herself to the side of the door opposite the amateur and nodded, holding Barsia in her right hand and sheathing Arjine. She would use her other hand to punch them in the throats and knock them out as much as possible, as well as trip them, if they came in running. She took a breath and closed her eyes for a moment, praying to the old Goddess for protection. It was a silly thing to do. She didn't believe in that fairytale, but it always helped to calm her nerves. So she opened her eyes and took a ready stance, a shadow of a smile on her face as the running shouts grew closer.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," she said casually to Mr. Screwup. "Don't you think it's a little strange? We're only on our first date and we're already fighting for our lives and escaping the castle." Then the door opened and the first guard came flying in, right into their little trap.

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Ulysses couldn't help the smirk he had. They might be in a bit of a jam, but that didn't stop her from making jokes. "Ulysses Adler, my fair and violent lady." When the door opened, Ulysses swung and caught the guard right in the jaw, throwing him backwards. "Well then, if this isn't to your taste, we can always take the treasure I took and get us a big, fancy dinner for the two of us." As Ulysses walked out of the room, a guard just missed his face with a sword swing. A heavy strike to the back of the neck and he was out cold. Ulysses looked down the hallway to see at least six more guards on their way.

Ulysses was more than agitated at the current events unfolding. This should have been easy, get in the mansion, interrogate the Duke, maybe beat him until he couldn't move, and then leave as soon as he could. But he had no one to blame but himself. This would've been easy if he hadn't gone and tried to take some early prizes. It became worse when this stranger appeared and took all the stuff that he got. She might have been a girl, but Ulysses didn't deny how much he just despised this person. He can't think of those things now, though, as he had three guards pile on top of him, with the other three going after her.

Well, Ulysses guessed the jokes could still continue. "Hmph! You think you can expand that courtesy and tell me....your name?!" These guards might be incompetent, but years of gorging on the royal food supplies have made each of them fat and heavy. Lifting one was a challenge itself, but three? Ulysses might have to break some bones to get these guys off of him, and quick. He knew the girl could handle the guards, and if he was still under these idiots, she would slip away with all his treasure, and he wasn't about to let that happen.

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Aer shoved the butt of one of her daggers into the stomach of the first guard that reached her, followed by dropping to the ground to kick his legs out and then shoving the butt of her other dagger into a pressure point at his neck. "Night night, sleep tight," she mumbled under her breath before shooting quickly back up to face the next two. The whole series of actions was rather quick. The other two probably didn't even have time to realize it.

She smirked at Ulysses's comments and ducked backwards to avoid the swing of a sword. "We might just have to do that. It can be your treat," she said playfully back. She hesitated though, before speaking again. "I guess I can trust you. After all, you're clearly a criminal too. The name's Aer. Aer Shevna-Ray." She almost scolded herself as she said it. She never gave her real name, but none of these guards would remember after she was done with them, and she swore she'd heard his name before. Some highly wanted criminal in at least a city or two, if she remembered right. Why would he risk getting caught to turn her in?

"So, you come here often?" she asked as another guard went down by her hand. Only one more to go, and then she could run. He still looked like he had one or two to deal with, so she decided to make this quick. "Hey! Watch the cape, asshole," she yelled at the last bozo who had tried to subdue her by yanking the cape down. Of course, that only pissed her off more and she dug Barsia deep into his calf. She didn't want to have to draw blood. It was nasty business. But you don't touch the cape.

With that done, she was ready to get out quick. She made a peace sign at her new "friend" and gave a mocking smile. "See ya around, handsome!" She started for the door. But her luck was apparantly taking a vacation today as somebody else ran in before she could get out and she found herself trapped against the wall. Great, this is exactly what I needed, she thought with a noise that sounded something between a sigh and a snort. She watched in surprise as the new enemy turned invisible and trapped Ulysses too. Well this was just dandy. She noticed that she had dropped Barsia in being assaulted so that was out of the question what with a weapon at her neck keeping her trapped and nearly choking her and all, but she had shoved Arjine in its holster behind her, if she could just get to it...

"Don't you two thieves DARE move! Exp-plain y-yourselves!" the girl who had trapped them said. She seemed powerful, Aer couldn't doubt that. But she looked pale, like she was faltering. This made Aer smirk. Any signs of weakness meant a point of entrance to strike. She put her hands up in the air, looked the violet-eyed girl in the eyes, and offered her best smile.

"Hello. I just happened to be walking down the hallway here and I just couldn't help but stop in and look at all these nice things. But then I ran into this theif and found him trying to steal them! I managed to stop him and get the treasure he took, but then these guards came and misunderstood so they attacked us both," she tried to look as truthful as possible, playing the innocent girl just caught up in a big misunderstanding. "You have to believe me. I have the treasure here behind me. If you'll just let me grab it for you..." Aer started to move one hand slowly towards her back where the treasure hung--and where Arjine hung snug in its holster. She had a better chance with it. She was still in a bad postion, but a bad spot can always be made better! Or so she liked to believe.

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Character Portrait: Aer Shevna-Ray Character Portrait: Ulysses Adler Character Portrait: Flandre Mistus
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The guards were brick walls with legs, taking all of Ulysses' effort to get both of them off of him. He was a tad flustered, breathing rapidly as he tried to gain his ground. The guards quickly got back up and charged him again. No luck on their part, as Ulysses saw their charge and rammed the butts of his pistols into each of their stomachs. The wall men fell with a satisfying thud. In the middle of all of that, the girl finally let her name out. "Aer, huh? Beautiful name." Another guard trying to catch him by surprise was met with a pistol butt to his jaw, knocking the poor man backwards.

As the chaos continued, Aer tried getting away from the fight. A guard caught her cape, but that only seemed to make her angry, as she shoved her dagger into his calf. "Ouch," Ulysses thought, "she doesn't mess around when it comes to her accessories." The guard toppled over, holding his wound as he cursed through the pain. Aer was soon flying out of the room for her grand escape. "Hey, where do you think..." As the words came out of his mouth, he was thrown to the ground, a fine blade just barely touching his throat. Ulysses was recovering from that fall, and as he looked up, he saw another girl at the handle of the blade. "How many girls are going to hold me at blade point today?" The girl held the blade steady, and her voice was strong. "Don't you two thieves DARE move!" The follow-up was less than impressive, a more than noticeable break in her voice. "Exp-plain y-yourselves!" Ulysses took a look at Aer, who had just been caught between Guard Girl's spear. He kept his serious face, but mentally laughed at Aer. "So much for your escape!"

Aer, putting on her best acting face, told a tale that labeled Ulysses as the sole criminal in this situation. Surely Guard Girl wouldn't buy it, it was too convenient to be true. Ulysses, however, wasn't going to take that chance. He slowly looked Aer over, noticing a hand slowly reaching one of her daggers. Despite not liking Guard Girl at the moment, he despised Aer even more, and decided to make her life just a little harder. "While I won't deny that I was taking whatever I could get, you can't honestly believe her, can you?" Ulysses felt around just slightly, a single finger laying on one of his guns. Aer might be quick, but her weapon was farther away than his was. While Guard Girl deals with Aer, Ulysses could grab his gun and fire a shot into the ceiling, possibly making her move that pesky blade of her's away from his being. Then he could get out of their and hopefully not come across any resistance on his way out. He had to get the main point across. "If you don't believe me, then maybe you should look at the one you caught who's going for one of her weapons." Now he just needed her to divert her attention for just a second, and he'd be free.

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Character Portrait: Aer Shevna-Ray Character Portrait: Ulysses Adler Character Portrait: Flandre Mistus
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Aer let her eyes drift to Ulysses as he spoke and gave him a deep scowl. She was actually considering giving him a hand once she got out. After all, the only real enemy here was this guard. While Aer didn't by any means consider herself a criminal, as criminals are a threat to all and she helped out a large number of people and promoted the greater good, she did respect them when it came to *cough cough* work. She had do admit to herself that she wasn't particularly welcome on these grounds, no more welcome than any of them. And she would leave them alone and let them do whatever they were there to do as long as it didn't interfere with her. Pretty boy here just happened to do just that. She didn't know why he was here. She didn't really care. But he was taking her prize, and that didn't set well. Now, if she did manage to somehow get out, she would make sure he went down without her.

"W-what are you talking about? My weapons on the ground, there," she said warily to try and cover it up by pointing to Barsia. She knew it was probably futile, though. Most people didn't fight with just one dagger.

She figured now that the guard knew that she had a weapon, the situation took a turn for the worse. She started to move her hand away and let her hair and eyes return to their normal white and red. It was hopeless to try to hide behind a mask now. And if she got out, she would just make it so she would forget the face she saw. Dammit, if only I could shift like Mom. This would be easy! she complained to herself. It was true. If she was a full-fledged shape shifter like her mother, then she could make herself small somehow and slip between the prongs of this girl's trident. But unfortunately, she never got that trait. She let her head hang a little. Thinking of her mom brought up painful memories which made her even more pessimistic about what was going on. She would just have to worry about getting out later...if they didn't kill her immediately.

But wait...was that blood the girl just coughed up? She was weak somehow. That was a good sign! But then she went psycho, some sort of adrenaline rush probably. Aer flinched, expecting her to jump on her. Luckily, she went for Ulysses and then her hand went to the staff of the weapon that contained Aer, which resulted in her flinching again. But she noticed that the guard seemed to regain a bit of color when she touched the weapon. What was that supposed to mean? It made no sense to the Theif, but she just brushed it aside. Now it was her turn to make a move.

She perked up a bit and her familiar smile shadowed her lips again. She shot a hand for Arjine and grabbed it by the blade, quickly throwing it towards the guards arm that held the weapon in place. It was like lightning, swift and accurate--hopefully. Immediatly, she moved her hands to the metal that touched her neck. Unfortunately, strength wasn't her forte. Maybe she could buy enough time to wiggle it out of the wall...

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Character Portrait: Aer Shevna-Ray Character Portrait: Ulysses Adler Character Portrait: Flandre Mistus
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Aer movement was quick, Ulysses could barely see her shove the blade into Guard Girl's arm. She was in major pain, and she let the blade move away from him. "Perfect!" But as soon as the blade was gone, her foot replaced it, digging deep into his torso. Ulysses clenched his teeth at the pain and cursed below his breath. She still held her trident in place, not wanting Aer to slip away. Ulysses admitted that Guard Girl had endurance, she was different from the copper-a-dozen sellswords that usually plagued royalty. She stood up, keeping both of them where they were. Ulysses had his hand on the gun and could easily have let off a warning shot, but the foot still in him wasn't making him think straight.

Before Ulysses even thought of getting the gun, Guard Girl pulled her trident out of the wall. She said, "Stay here, if you know what's good for your life.". Ulysses was confused, even more so when her foot left his chest. Ulysses was seconds away from grabbing his guns and running as fast as possible out of there. However, before he could get up, she used some kind of spell, and the ground spawned snakes, venomous by the look of them. She walked away and went through the door. As soon as she was behind the door, it froze over, crystals forming over the cracks in the door. He would've stared at it's subtle beauty for hours, if snakes weren't slowly slithering up his body. They didn't look any less deadly up close, fangs dripping with poison. He was frightened, more so than he ever had before. Something was off, though. He felt this kind of fear before. He didn't realize it at first, but then again, no one ever did. These were illusions, very elaborate ones at that. Black Horizon loved using illusionists to capture their prey, it was much easier taking in a target when you tore their mind apart. All he had to do was calm down and keep his focus. Sure enough, the snakes vanished, a trail of mist the only evidence of their presence. With the snakes gone, Ulysses grabbed his guns and ran down the hall. He didn't make it to three feet before he stopped.

The hall seemed to be unusually dark. He stared into the blackness, catching the slightest bit of movement. What he saw made him tremble to his bones. The irony that he would think of Black Horizon and they would appear was incredible. The same ones from the town, they had their weapons drawn and looked directly at him. They started their march toward, savoring the that sweet moment of capture. Ulysses ran back into the room with Aer and shut the door. "Dammit, I should have expected them to be here at some point! With the racket that's been going on, I might as well have invited all of them to come!" Ulysses turned his attention towards the window. Getting in was easy, escaping might be a little harder, but it was possible. He was tempted to unknown levels to do it, he wanted desperately to do it, but he couldn't. He looked at Aer, not sure if she was still under the illusion or not. He disliked Aer, extremely, but not enough to leave her with them. Black Horizon were monsters in their own right. They had no remorse for what they did, and when they dragged people in to get their reward, the person was probably begging the employer to kill them on the spot. That wasn't something Ulysses wanted Aer to experience. He walked to the door and opened it slightly. The mercs were getting ever closer and they would soon be upon them. He looked in the direction Guard Girl went, and saw that the frozen door was gone. "Another illusion, I guess." He closed the door and looked at Aer again. "Well, it seems that we're allies once again, though this time, there won't be any betrayal on my part. I swear it." He breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly. "We need to leave, now! No distractions, so the treasure is going to have to stay. There are some nasty people on their way, and it would be in our best interest to get out."

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Character Portrait: Aer Shevna-Ray Character Portrait: Ulysses Adler
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Aer couldn't help but let out a small, "Yes" when the dagger hit her target, just like she thought it would. She was shocked that the girl was able to keep a hold on herself and her weapon though, even if she did fall to the ground. There was a small amount of respect that surged it's way into Aer's stomach in honor of the girl. She was strong, stronger than most opponents she faced. Granted, she didn't go face to face with people very often, but even still. The guards she had faced before were an easy feat, but there was something about her--she had speed and skill. And she didn't back down. But Aer didn't realized just how powerful she could be...

The white haired shape-shifter was shocked when the girl pulled her trident out of the wall, realeasing Aer. She immediately fell to the ground. The position she was in made her stand on her tiptoes, and her adrenaline masked the force the trident was putting on her throat. She coughed a couple of times before standing back up--just in time for the snake to slither up by her foot. Normally, Aer wouldn't be bothered by a small little creature. Snakes, spiders, heck even a dragon could appear and it wouldn't phase her in the least. Creatures such as this were easily disposed of and didn't pose much of a threat in the greater scheme of life. But there was something...different about this snake. It was pitch black like a moonless night, and it's cold blue eyes pierced her blood ones: they were the exact color of the guard's eyes that ruined her life all those years ago. It made her freeze in pure liquid fear. She didn't even realize that Ulysses had broken free of the room, that he had seen through this unknown illusion and left her behind. To Aer, this was real. The fear she felt, the detailed creature that she saw wrapping around her leg was all reality.

It sounded obscure at first, like a voice straining to break through water. But as it became clearer, Aer's head involuntarily snapped up away from the snake to find the speaker of the distracting words. She found Ulysses standing there, unbothered by what plagued her. She swallowed hard and stuttered, "U-ulysses? H-help." But he didn't hear. She wasn't sure if she had even spoken out loud at all. But why couldn't he see the snake? She thought about this, straining to understand why he would just leave her. Although after what they'd been through, she knew neither of them particular cared for the other's fate. The harder she thought, the more she forgot about the coal-dusted snake that was writhing around her leg, and before she knew it, she looked down and it was gone.

When it disappeared, Aer immediately felt a sense of relief. She literally felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest, like she had been lifted out of a tight noose. She let out a small gasp. What just happened to her? She knew that it was real, but it seemed like it never happened. Then it came to her: illusions. She had met an illusionist once, just a small boy in training. He performed an act that she was involoved with, but it was nothing dangerous. But she realized now that she had the same general feeling as then, except this brought with it pure fear and so much more power. The boy's was weak, penetrable. This was only broken on accident. She tried to clear her mind and took a deep breath to shake it off and process what Ulysses had said before. Dangerous men? Like what?

"Who said we were ever allies before, pretty boy?" Aer said a little shakily with a masking smirk. "And how can I trust you?" She laughed lightly. "It's not like you've been exactly trustworthy and friendly, darling. You probably just want to sneak back in and take this." She untied the treasure from her back and dangled it in front of him before looking him in the eyes. Her smile slowly faded. There was something in his eyes and stance, in the way that he breathed in the air around him as if he was trying to use it to fill and steady himself. She couldn't help but believe he was actually being sincere. There wasn't any sarcasm in his voice like before. By this time, she didn't think things could get any worse. But leaving the treasure? That sounded horrible. Reluctantly but with no groan to show it, she tossed the precious bag that had caused all this on the bed. Then she diverted her eyes to the floor and picked up her daggers. Luckily, the guard had been kind enough to leave it behind for her. She wiped both on her cloak before flipping them around her hands and shoving them back in their homes at the small of her back.

"Okay then, you have my trust...for now." She said to her new companion. "What now, ally?"

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Character Portrait: Aer Shevna-Ray Character Portrait: Cináed Rubina de Amore Character Portrait: Ulysses Adler Character Portrait: Flandre Mistus Character Portrait: Crowly Oliviér
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As Ulysses stared out the door, he couldn't help but shiver a tad. No matter how many times he scuffled with Black Horizon, they always seemed to creep him out every time. It didn't help that they were slowly stalking their way towards them. Ulysses tapped his fingers along the door frame, thinking. It was possible that they could fight them, but the risk was too high to even think about it. He could have Aer jump on his back and he could climb down the tower, but the extra weight Aer adds might unbalance them and they would fall to their deaths. Their only option was to run like hell in the opposite direction and hope that they can get out that way. Aer Had just snapped out of her illusion, and she didn't seem all too happy about letting the treasure go. Now she agreed to an actual alliance that could mean the difference between them living and getting tortured into madness. She asked what he was going to do, and thankfully enough, he had a plan. "Well, first off-"

That was when Guard Girl came out of the blue and assaulted the Black Horizon goons head on. Ulysses gave her props for being bold, but that was probably the stupidest thing she could have done. She fought well, wounded a couple of them, but the gunman of the group let off a shot into her back. She was now on the ground, slowly bleeding out. The gunman came up and was about to place a shot in between her eyes. Ulysses only had seconds to act, and he chose the noble, but idiotic decision. He busted his way through the door and landed a clean gun smack to one of the grunt's jaws. The gunman looked up in surprise and raised his weapon. Ulysses smacked the gun out of his hand and shot him in the leg. The one with the sword came up, ready to strike. Ulysses landed two hard blows to the man's knees, making him topple over. While they were busy tending to their wounds, Ulysses went over to Guard Girl and propped her onto his back. "I hope we can put that little incident of ours behind us." He got a foothold and started sprinting away for the Black Horizon mercs. As he ran passed the door, he screamed to Aer "You might want to start running with me!" He bolted his way toward the other end of the hall.

When he reached a wide open area, the change in light took him sometime to adjust. The room was as luxurious as ever, everything seeming to glow. He couldn't admire the scenery, Guard Girl was gonna die if he didn't tend to her wounds. He laid her against a wall and took a look at her back. Surprisingly, the wound wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be. Still, better to be safe than sorry. He ripped a piece of his shirt off and tied it around the wound. He didn't know if she was conscious or not, but he hopped she didn't mind this. He looked around to find some kind of help. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something red just a ways away. He turned to find a red headed girl, a silver haired man, and a fancy looking royalty type. He didn't know who they were, but he didn't have time to ponder. "Hey! I need some help! She's injured and there are some mercenaries chasing after us!" That was probably very stupid, but survival made you do stupid things if it meant your life would be extended.

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Character Portrait: Aer Shevna-Ray Character Portrait: Ulysses Adler Character Portrait: Flandre Mistus
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Aer watched as he thought. He seemed so serious and legitimately troubled, that Aer couldn't help but wonder why he was so scared about this. Was it something from his past? Probably. If the guards from her city were outside the door, then Aer would feel the same way. Except the difference is, she would probably go out and kill them all. She had stolen a lot out from under them during her time as just a petty thief at home, before she got up in the big leagues. They were powerful, but still a bunch of idiots. But she still held a grudge. She knew she couldn't touch them then or her mother could pay. Now she just wanted revenge. But Ulysses, he seemed scared of these 'nasty people.' There had to be some reason. She was curious, and wondered if she could ask him about if they got out of this alive. Then again, their weak alliance would probably be broken as soon as they got out of the city limits. Then they could part there seperate ways and forget this ever happened. It almost made her sad, though. This was the most exciting thing that had happened to her in a while!

Aer's mind was snapped out of thought when Ulysses began to speak. But he was quickly cut off by the Guard chick blowing stupidly into the hallway and apparantly trying to play hero of the king. Aer had no idea what was going on, but she heard the clash of metal and then a gunshot. Ouch, that would have to hurt. Luckily, she seemed to be creating a distraction. It was the perfect time for the two allies to slip away into the night and put this behind him. She let the beginnings of a smile creep on her face and looked for Ulysses to do the same--but he was already halfway out the door, headed in the direction of the fighting. "Ulysses, wait! What the hell are you..." she yelled after him, but trailed off as he called to her to follow.

The small theif groaned. That sounded like the worst possible course of action. One, she wasn't overly fond of Miss Lightning Brigade anyways. She probably deserved getting shot. But Prince Charming was apparantly feeling chivalrous, so that was great. Two, she hated unnecessary face to face combat. But she might have made that clear with the first round of guards. Still, now she was alone and the Boogeymen were apparantly outside, so she couldn't help but be a little worried. To be on the safe side, she pulled up her hood and changed her natural features to hair and eyes both the color of midnight: a hundred shades of dark blue all dancing together to look all but black. Then she pulled her daggers out and wrapped her hands around them and stepped out into the blackness of the hallway.

She was immediately unsettled. The darkness the enveloped her was thick and...not natural. The dim candles that dotted the hallway seemed to be stifled out and their light disspated into the black. Luckily, it wasn't completely dark so she didn't freeze and go into a panic attack, and her eyes quickly adjusted from so many years spent slinking around in the shadows. So she was able to duck as a gun was pointed at her forehead and a trigger was pulled. She could just make out the dark cloaks that populated the hallway and cursed under her breath. Ulysses was right. This looked ugly. She quickly scanned the hall and found that the best path was straight throught the middle, so she began to hack her way through. She drop-kicked a guy in the knee and cut his achilles's tendons (his agonized groan told her he wouldn't be getting up anytime soon) before jumping up and blocking a blow with a short sword with her crossed daggers while narrowly avoiding a second slice that she swore cut off some hair. She then took a side step and spun around to dig one blade deep into the side of a third enemy and slid between the legs of another. It was bloody for her, but effective. She was out of their blockade and was sprinting forward in a zig-zag pattern, barely letting herself wince as a gunshot then two then three rang out behind her. Luckily, she knew that guns worked better when you weren't trying to hit a sparatically moving target.

Aer stopped as soon as she hit light and lowered her daggers into her cloak. She blinked into focus and moved to a side wall to try and scan for Ulysses. Had he broken through? Of course he had. He knew what he was dealing with. Aer had been running on pure skill and adrenaline, and she had made it. So where was he? She couldn't go through the people to look for him because of the state she was in. She had a lot of blood on her, which she realized now was her own as a sharp pain finally broke through her wall of adrenaline. Had she been shot while running? If so, they were damn good shots. More likely it was a cut from a sword she hadn't seen, but she had no way to tell. She put her hand to her left side and pulled it away, covered in blood. That was just what she needed. A gunshot wound added to her luck on that mission. She sighed as she leaned behind a plant and tried to stop whatever blood was trying to get out of whatever wound she had with her thankfully red cloak.

"Hey! I need some help! She's injured and there are some mercenaries chasing after us!" she heard a slightly familiar voice say to her left. She looked to see a blue head not to far from her and sighed in relief. She took a step forward and winced, but refused to let any pain get to her from the minor wound. She had to stop herself from calling out his name though when she saw who he was talking to; before him stood the Duke's son and his princess bride, escorted by some strange man. Idiot! she screamed at him in her head. What do you think you're doing talking to Louis Auttenburg himself?

Suddenly, Aer saw the guard get up. What was she up to? Aer wondered. She saw her making her way up the halls and decided to follow her, losing interest in Ulysses's ignorance and pursuing the strange actions of the seemingly severely wounded girl. When she was about halfway down one, out of the sight of others, Aer put a hand on her arm. "What are you doing?" she said snidely. Hatred fired up inside her, but she had seen the people in the halls. They were pretty dangerous. "It's not safe here, stupid. Or is that gunshot wound not enough to remind you of that? You should get out of here and get that treated. Don't try to be a hero." Aer wasn't sure why she was trying to protect the girl, but it was just her impulse. It was probably that little bit of her mother's gentle personality in her that forced her to be nice even to people she didn't particularly care for.

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Character Portrait: Aer Shevna-Ray Character Portrait: Cináed Rubina de Amore Character Portrait: Maximilian Van Eyck Character Portrait: Ulysses Adler Character Portrait: Flandre Mistus Character Portrait: Paragon
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The scene before Ulysses was utter chaos. Crow, the infamous Number 2, had the bride as a hostage, a strange figure busted through the ceiling, a man in a long black coat came in with a dirk at the ready, and Guard Girl and her buddies had the whole area surrounded. Aer was nowhere to be seen, though she was probably lucky not to be in the middle of all this. The air was extremely tense, everyone in an aggressive stance, ready to strike before the others. Things were going to get bad very quickly, and Ulysses knew that he had to get out of there. With all the commotion going on, slipping out of there would be easy, and he was just about to hop out of a nearby window, but something brighter than anything he's seen before caught his eye.

The red-head had been quiet through most of the ordeal, speaking only to Crow to save that little bastard of a child from death. She had seemed to be in a state of pain, and now she seemed to be in agony. Seconds later, she had burst into flames. Ulysses knew he should have jumped out of that window while he could, but the spectacle was too dazzling to move. Everyone seemed to be staring at the blaze as it soon started to catch onto the rug she was on. The guards were horrified, calling her a witch and readying their weapons to impale her. Just before they could, Crow had ripped the armor off of one of them and bit deep into his arm. The man screamed in pain as Crow sucked away. The next thing Ulysses knew, the guard was thrown across the room, and Crow had snatched the the flame girl and carried her off toward the entrance. It was all too quick, and Ulysses shook his head, climbing through the window.

He didn't expect a hand to grab him by the collar of his shirt and slam him against the wall. The wind was knocked out of him and his vision blurred. When he regained the ability to see, he wished he could lose it again. He had a pitch black helmet staring right at him, and a blade pointed at his stomach. Ulysses started to have a hard time breathing, his hands sweating. It was one of the Black Horizon guys from the hall, judging by the wounds he had. The wounds, however, were gone, all healed up. He pondered how that could be, before the guy smacked him against the wall again. "After all this time, we finally got you." There was something in his voice, some sinister edge to it. While he was noticing the different voice, he seemed to be drawn toward the guy's hand. There were things sticking out of his arm, black tendrils with dark purple spots on them. They moved with a mind of their own, some of them going for Ulysses' neck. The man snickered as he pulled up his other arm and examined it. "Strange, right? Things have changed since you scuffled with us last. We've been doing some testing with supernatural entities, and made a breakthrough in soldier advancement." He put his arm down and looked toward the hallway. His buddies started to file out, their wounds fixed and the same tendrils escaping the breaks in their armor. He turned his helmet and stared at Ulysses. The man's eyes glowed the same purple as the tendrils did. "Fortunately enough, there are other high value targets here, so you won't be lonely while we haul you all in." From a pouch on his belt, he pulled out a small crystal. He proceeded to throw it out the window. In midair, the crystal burst in a shower of sparks. After that, things would only get worse.

The front door exploded in a shower of wood and stone. From the dust, a towering giant came out. A golem, an artificial being of rock, stood at the ready. Black Horizon troops filed in behind the construct, each as menacing as Ulysses friend. Soon the whole front of the mansion was blocked off by a sea of black. Ulysses was speechless. If it was chaotic before, it's all out anarchy now.