Sutoratosu

Grand Hall, Rafters>Servant's Quarters Aurora stared blankly at the sheet of black silk in her hands. The power she had felt briefly surge through her, as it had done once already and nearly again when the fire fleshbag had appeared, was already beginning to recede. She still heard the faint echoes of the voices in her skull, nothing more than sweet nothings whispered on the wind now that their corrupted energies had been mixed, expelled, and sealed within the fabric in her hands. One in particular had struck her as odder than the other two, as it'd attempted to gode her to it's bidding... sounded rather pathetic, he did, going on and on about his Mother and something or someone called a "Cetra", honestly, compared to the other two forces, that one had simply refused to shut the fuck up... The other two were actually bland in comparison though. One had simply encouraged her to embrace the darkness; there had been one slight issue however. Aurora truly had no idea what the difference between light and dark even was anymore, and the spider could not give into something she knew not even existed. The last voice had been a stereotypical demand to do it's bidding- it had been the easiest to ignore, ironically enough. No food, no favors, that was her policy and she hadn't been about to change it just because of some disembodied force of evil. As peculiar as the whole experience was however, it didn't last very long. In due time, that same Dead Part of her that had been lurking saw fit to surface again, just for a few moments... but unlike the last time it had, when she argued with the adventurer, here it had brought with it a power the likes of which Aurora had felt few times before. And with that raw power, that fierce, unbridled spark that burned like an ethereal flame and carried such impact as heavenly thunder, the dead part of her had in one fell swoop silenced all three voices. And Before Aurora's conscious mind even realized it, her hands had gone to work spinning the shining sheet of ungodly darkness before her. "Cold..." the spider whispered. She poked at it once more with a single finger. Cold indeed... but not like the chill brought by ice. No, for this cold was like the encroaching abyss of death. The bone chilling despair of imminent destruction, hopeless endeavors, broken dreams and lost causes. This cold was the sensation of having died without ever truly living to begin with. Aurora withdrew her hand. The feeling was unpleasant, to say the least, probably even worse for her than it would be for most other beings, given those predatory senses paired with the inherently superior magic sense that came with Godsparks.... so unpleasant in fact, she didn't want to spend another moment with this Hellish fabric in her possession. Gathering it up, she could hear the Orc's announcement as he passed through the hall, and eventually into the Servant's Quarters. Without hesitation, she followed after him, holding the folded sheet of darkness at arms length as she called out to Mar "Orc, take it... Fabric feels like death, Aurora don't want it...bad fabric, makes Aurora feel like... nothing matters."

"Can't believe today... was a good day."

"Pathetic." Cadence said as the Halbredier came for her... and promptly missed his strike without her even having to do much sidestepping. She could see just how green he was, and honestly all it did was drive the silent fury in her heart even further as she dashed in and slashed against his ribs in retaliation. Not only was this piss ant baron commiting treason, he had apparently hired some greenhorns to do his dirty work too. A tantrum thrower and a wandrought who was too cheap to pay for quality thugs, now that... was truly something. Retreating back to the trees beyond his lance's reach, Cadence called out to the Pirate boy nearby "Karik, help me put this poor bastard out of his misery!" N9, Throw another Iron Knife at Cav 5

Servant's Quarts>Grand Hall "...." Aurora simply looked at the two barrels that the Orc had left her, her interest in the human having since faded. So her hunch had been proven right, the woman really was just a weak conduit and the initial burst she'd felt truly had been from a force far greater. And once this hunch had been proven true, the very force that drove her own self forward had retreated, as if in disappointment. Soon after the Orc departs, Aurora herself leaves the quarters, seeing no real reason to remain other than a quick mental note to avoid the flesh-bag who apparently had a lot of fire with her. Beside's as odd as the Orc's proposition had sounded, she saw no real reason why not to agree. He actually had the food to back up her payment, and had even given her payment in advance, like that fancy mask wearing fleshbag... and unlike that damn Tiger and his little toy. Even now, Aurora was skeptical of his apology, he could've easily had his little human attacking her in mind as a method to not have to hold up his end of the deal... Regardless, soon after she found herself up in the rafters again, overlooking the grand hall. With one of the barrels in hand, she sniffed it for a bit before finally beginning to drink the dark liquid...

Servant's Hall Aurora looked at the Orc as if he were crazy for a moment. Sensing herself how much whatever creature in his possession is struggling though, she eventually growls to herself and carefully picks her way closer to the room in question. A thin veil of starlight begins to cloak her body, as the miniature universe on her back again bloomed to life and showered her immediate surroundings in even more cosmic radiation. Despite every part of her instincts shouting at her to get as far away from the surge as possible, there is something greater underneath, something stronger... a curiosity the likes of which, she has never felt before. Even as much as she loathed this power, still... she could not deny that she had some interest in what could've caused the wave. Something else drove as well, besides mere Curiosity... so much energy gathered in one place, this... presence, nigh divine in nature... it felt as though the same force that had seized her mind and her mouth earlier was beginning to stir in response. A force that unlike the crippled remnants of the Spider, did not know fear... Slowly, Aurora poked the door to the Room open, and peered inside of it's confines, ever on guard... only to stand back in perplexion as she found nothing but another human woman lying on the bed. This? Was this what had cuased all this? No, no... now that she was closer, Aurora could sense just how dimmed the signature was around the stranger. It felt like the same type of energy as the wave earlier, but no where on the same level of magnitude- whoever she was, whatever she was, she probably was just channeling or borrowing from whatever source had caused the surge... which begged the same question she'd came in here to solve. What the hell had caused the surge???

The Barracks; Smithy Room With Tama's voice to keep her from getting too far off track and the Spider's healing preventing her body failing again, Ghost had eventually found the Smithy after some trial and Error. As Tama had recounted to her, she found the Ale the Orc spoke of, and trusting her old Deva- it was hard not to honestly, with her head feeling as though it were in a fucking vice and the nigh epileptic bouts of light, sound, and information still trickling in and out of her mind making her feel as though she would wretch right there on the floor -found a place to sit and took a swig. Interestingly enough, the drout tasted rather... pleasant, like a field meal she and so many others had while on a campaign. Campaigns... yes... it was starting to come back. Her time in the valley of death had threatened to make her soul let go of all it's ties to the mortal realm and embrace the sweet bliss of eternal slumber, just as it did most souls. It was not that the memories and experiences would be gone, persay, only buried, suppressed, so that even those who suffered the most in life might finally know peace... The peace... of sweet Oblivion. Or at least... that is what the imperial scholars always professed. Hells though, there many faiths within the continents. It bothered, as she kept drinking. Everything. How she'd gotten here to begin with, the fight she'd little chance of avoiding with Ryder, the raw power the boy exhibited... 15, no, 16 years... such a short amount of time, she knew he had been a powerful infant, but... to grow so exponentially that not even someone of her calibre had stood much of a real chance, so quickly. The people she had seen as she was dying. Casor, the Emperor, the Scholars... Jehenna's eldest son, Absalom, that desert prince who had died defending his home and people.... friends, allies, enemies. All of them dead. Some of the old... some not so old. The places she had seen. The futures she had seen. The world that the boy might bring about, if even just his current power was any indication of what he was. All that changed, however, when the wave came. Like searingly hot fire, the presence entered both her and Tama's minds. Ghost nearly choked from the shock of it, the Tiger simply remained silent. And then, as quickly as it had come, it faded back to nothing. And Ghost had something else to bother her again... or perhaps give her some releif. It had not been Ryder. His true force, his unbridled might from the souls he had consumed, it was a sensation of far greater savagery, a greater hatred and fearful aura than this force conjured. Still, she could not help but wonder... "What... what was that?" "Seems that someone else has arrived..." Servant's Quarters Before Aurora can do much to respond to Mar, her attention is drawn away from the Orc and towards one of the rooms further down the hall. Like a wave, she felt the sudden burst of energy entering this realm, and within less than a second, she was backing away from the sudden disturbance in the force, hissing with a mix of contempt and fear at the room in question. Whether Mar had felt the same thing she had was anyone's guess, but either way, the Spider seemed exceedingly on edge compared to just a few moments ago. Fire burned, this very concept was ingrained into her very being, the most basic part of her instincts, and Fire as intense as she sensed did nothing but remind her of the curse she endured even now...

((Kek)) Even as she asked the question however, she could feel her agitation build. The anima were going practically wild as she had wound up the shot, her fingers crackling with a subtle current of electric force. Just before she sent the projectile flying, she shook her head, scowling "-On second thought, I don't really care; Your story ends here, delusional lap dog...let's see your precious Church save you from this!" with that final send off, nothing on her face by a cold glare, and the Anima coursing through her body like the heat of a fire, she finally threw the blade, brimming with static as it was. And in that moment, a light rivalling the might of heavenly thunder bloomed in the air, as a tremendous boom tore through the din of battle around them and shook the very ground Cadence and the rider stood on. The entire area filled with the stench of burnt ozone... and charged flesh as well, as a lone, womanly scream resounded from where the rider had been and a splash. Not even seconds afterwards, a streaking bolt of gold arced it's way back out of the heavens and down towards the girl's position, and she caught in hand as if she knew exactly where it's flight path would take it, flicking the blood off in one smooth motion before returning it to her sleeve. As the glow faded, the Troubs remains could be seen face down among the currents of the lake a gaping hole where her heart and part of her spine had once been now turning the water a murky crimson around her. Her horse was nowhere to be seen at first, but those with great enough hearing would likely hear the beast's panicked cries as it fled further and further into the forests to the south of the keep. Cadence looked around at the rest of their opponents, that same cold, unfeeling glint in her eyes. She was beyond the point of caring; Pirates and bandits and rogues... and now Traitorous bannermen filth. Fine, let the conflicts keep coming, afterall, it was becoming more and more obvious with each battle that she and her fellow guards all had a special knack for exterminating Rats anyway...

Cadence had already dashed from out of cover and closer towards the injured healer, as Karik finished his own exchange. Her eyes held nothing as she drew the knife from her sleeve with a flick of the wrist, though she was curious, as she sent the blade on a hurtling path aimed for the woman's heart... "Tell me before you die, how much did the Baron pay you lot to do this crap?" Head to O9, finish Troub 1 with iron knife

Servant's Quarters "I see. You've our thanks," The tiger nodded, before vanishing altogether. In his place was a simple orb of cracking storm clouds that floated over and into Ghost as she got up. Before she could do anything else, his voice already rang out in her head. "Come now, keep it together, just let the memories shift themselves back into place for now. If the revival hasn't turned you into a Husk or a Revenant now, then you'll be fine. Besides, you've caused enough trouble for me as it is...let's find this Smithy..." The woman began to walk away from the scene, towards the direction Mar had arrived in, using the wall to guide her. ****************** Aurora kept her eyes fixed on the Caller until she'd exited the area altogether. Finally though, with the murderous stranger gone, her rage seemed to soften a bit as looked at the Orc. He wasn't one who she knew particularly well, but from his scent she knew he was one of the two she'd sensed earlier. "Foooood?" she asked, lowering herself on a single thread of silk till she met mar's gaze face to face. She looked at the barrel with the honeyed meat, though her gaze drifted and stayed on the other one, far more scrutinizing... "What does dark brew do? Aurora no get cursed from it, will she?"

Servant's Quarters Aurora sensed it all happening far before ghost did, scowling as she leapt up and off the ground and skittered into the rafters above. The woman meanwhile stood little chance of keeping her bearings, as fogged as her mind still felt with the images and disordered memories that flooded, landing flat on her ass in the puddle of Oil. Tama Vajra just looked on, breathing a sigh of relief that the needless bloodbath had been apparently diverted. Aurora piped up before either of them though, her position painfully obvious up in the rafters, given she was still giving off that radioactive glow... "Fleshbag appeared with Tiger, Tiger said she'd give Aurora food for healing dead woman! But Tiger lied, Fleshbag gave no food when she woke up, Fleshbag tried to kill Aurora!" "Yes, my apologies for that..." Tama said "She's... not quite all there I suppose, after recent events... perhaps we were already a bit too late, if what she said is true and she did see the Void...that might explain why she was a bit... manically aggressive for a moment there. Souls recalled from the dead in our... homeworld, I suppose, from what the Spider told me... they can be a bit problematic when one gets called back from Oblivion and into their body...tis quite a delicate process, one that... if done improperly can have some... consequences for both the living and the resurrected...regardless" The tiger turned his attention to Mar. "Regardless, I suppose...an explanation is in order: This woman here, she's my partner. Not long ago we found ourselves on this... world rather than where we originally intended to escape to, and when we did, she was on the verge of death. We came here, to this keep, seeking... aid. That's when the Spider showed up, claiming she was the only healer you lot have here..."

Servant's Quarters The spider's attention peaked elsewhere, as someone called her from afar. The woman on the floor had recovered rather nicely, over the course of the spider working on her- turns out all that anatomical knowledge of tearing humanoids and other creatures apart to consume them came in quite handy for repairing internal damage. Tama said nothing meanwhile, as the Spider began to move closer towards the noise. Good, he thought, perhaps if she were distracted, she'd forget about the deal and they might not have to spend the rest of the foreseeable future feeding some hybrid monster... She didn't get far however. Not long after the spider finished, Ghost eyes flared to life once again, alight with her disoriented gaze as she rose from the floor, and almost on instinct, focused in on the beast who had her back to her, her Voice welling up in her throat before she was even consciously aware what her body was doing... Mar- Presumably somewhere in the Grand Hall near the entrance to the Servant's Quarters All the elder orc would've heard in response to his proposal meanwhile was a sudden, violent shout in a woman's voice, and an explosion following not long after coming from the servants quarters, the detonation so loud it shook the very doors on their hinges and caused more than a few motes of dust and loose debris to fall to the ground around them. Even the very rafters themselves shook from the vibration. The area stood silent in the immediate aftermath, but the event had managed to knock one of the doors ajar, ever so slightly, and the Orc would've heard muffled conversation emanating from far down the corridor... Servant's Quarters "Stop, you fool, this is the one who just saved you!" Tama leapt over the woman and landed without a single sound of impact in between her and Aurora, eyes burning with chagrin as he tried his best to prevent the slaughter... not that he had any physical form to actually restrain either of them with though "Calm yourself, do you even remember what happened just a few moments ago, how you were on the verge of death!?" "Tiger LIED! Should've turned your fleshbag into a meal!" Aurora cried indignantly. Despite most of the corridor immediately surrounding her now nothing but a shredded, broken ruin of stone and wooden splinters, she seemed relatively fine as the thin veil of starlight vanished from her form. Already, what little wounds she had received from the assault were closing on their own. Regardless of how little it had done however, the way the Arachni bore her glistening fangs, her body lit with the surging glow of cosmic radiation and a spear burning with the fire of a star now in her hand, she wasn't much in the mood for talking this out... A shame too, considering only then had Ghost seemed to regain her grasp on reality. "I... who are you? What is this place- I remember... Oblivion, the void. I was dead, yet something pulled me out of it..." The spider gave no answer, instead beginning treading forward, her pace slow, deliberate. She passed right through Tama as if he weren't there at all. The Tiger again tried to exude his Godly Pressure, but as enraged as the Arachnoid was, it did little but agitate her further. Still somewhat disoriented, Ghost backed away at the apparent threat, reaching for the instrument around her neck... This was about to end in blood...

Ghost-Somewhere in the Servant's Quarters The caller stood, faded and invisible before the aging walls of the keep. Despite it's appearance as a seat of power from so far in the distance, up close, she could see just how decrepit and pitiful it looked. Not a single guard standing watch either on the ground or from the ramparts, not a single sovereign flag flying or banners waving. The thing looked as though it had sat for decades with neglect and the ravages of nature as it's only curators. And yet, try as she might, she could not bring herself to turn from this obvious sham of a place and head deeper into this town, where life and activity bustled and there would obviously be someone or something that could help her, as opposed to the ruin she was going to find within. Something beckoned her forth. Tama was silent, pensive, she could feel. She took a step forward, then another, and another, still limping, her blood still dripping onto the sand and stones, completing the long, crimson trail leading deeper into the desert. She was too tired to bother finding the proper way in, and she didn't need one either, with her abilities. Even with most of her Voice stolen, there was one inherent specialty the boy had failed to steal... And there she was, heading right through the very wall she'd approached; Out of the wilds, out of the sand and the sun and the wind and right into the Interior of the keep. She made only passive glances at the room around her, some sparsely furnished quarters of some sort, just like the outside of the place, it looked like it had been neglected for decades. Ghost took a few steps further. Out of the room and into the long corridor outside, itself lined with an arbitrary number of similar rooms that she cared nothing to look through right now- so far she had no idea whether this place was totally abandoned or not, and looking at the general disarray of the place, it spoke heavily to the former. Her legs seemed to grow heavier beneath her, as she pick a random direction down the hall and headed in it. Her lungs labored harder and harder by the moment; she needed no air while she was faded out, or at least, she had simply retained such an ambient amount in her pocket space whenever she went in that suffocating had never been an issue before. but she still felt some level of fatigue from her injuries, and it was only growing greater by the second. The hallway seemed to not change with her pace; no turns or bends or alcoves, just more doors to more rooms, and finally, her legs gave out beneath her. And in that very moment, with her body no longer able to maintain its Spatial Mimicry and returning fully to the physical world, the blood from her many wounds beginning to pool on the stone floor and carpet of the quarter's hallway. She gave out a few last breaths- she had been lucky to make it even this far, she supposed, a normal person, someone without the power of Voice to reinforce their mortal coil, would've died a long before they ever trekked through miles of desert to find help... but alas, it looked like Help was something she'd not find here, as her conscious began to fade... "So this... is it? After all these years, this is how I die. The father of my child dead by my hands, the tyrant I once served murdered by the very child he stole from us, and my own life taken by him not long after...perhaps... perhaps this is for the best. Perhaps in his fury... Ryder will right the wrongs that Sumur has wrought upon the continents. Perhaps the era he will bring, truly will be better than the one that preceded it. Perhaps he will become... the ruler the world needs... great and terrible at the same time. Or perhaps my mistakes back then have ultimately turned a boy into a monster who seeks only to kill and destroy. I suppose... I won't be around to see how it plays out either way." "Ghost! Don't you dare give into The Oblivion, you are stronger than this! Our fight is not over, you can't simply lay down like a dog and give up!" Aurora-Somewhere in the Servant's Quarters The spider peered down from the rafters as the stranger suddenly appeared, battered and bloodied on the floor, her arrival inexplicable, but the stench of blood and encroaching death all too familiar to her. After the strange voice had taken her over and the argument it had with the adventurer, she'd gone off to see if any other strangers had gotten in, only to find this place here with so many rooms. The moment she saw her though, predator wasted no time, dropping down from the shadows, but before she could even close in on the dying woman a voice rang through her body and mind with the force of a freight train, as the air in the hallway seemed to fill with static. "Halt, beast...." it snarled, and as it did, an orb appeared over the woman's body, hovering protectively in the air as a massive apparition manifested itself soon afterwards. Though the Deva's form was translucent and likely had very little bearing in the physical world, the mere sight of his sudden appearance and his nigh god-like presence was still enough to make Aurora slowly back away. Though the opportunistic glint of hunger remained in her eyes. The apparition of the great man-tiger circled his Caller, fangs bared at the spider. "Another step closer, and I will rend you from this very reality-" a bluff, of course... perhaps such would've been possible back during the Old Era when his power and those of his fellows were at their height, or if Ghost hadn't been so thoroughly defeated and ravaged by the boy's power, but as it stood he could do little to really stop the monster if she was determined enough "Tell me, who inhabits this place, and where is the nearest healer? She won't last but a few minutes longer without aid..." Aurora looked at the fleshbag he protected in silence. Ironically, she seemed both the best and the only healer there, from what she'd seen of the others currently in this castle thus far. "Fleshbags..." she answered simply to the first part of his query, only continuing when the old king's fangs began to electrify with an audible pop and his at her ambiguity, "Fleshbags... from many worlds... Outworlders. strangers, idiots, some smart ones... fighters. Killers. Most of them, gone right now. Disappeared, went to other places... might be back. Supposed to be... hunting? Killing something... something big, something... beyond infinite. details, blurry...but fleshbag with many wounds said... not strong enough, any of us...not yet" Even as she spoke, the scent of blood was growing heavier. This particular fleshie seemed to have lost quite a bit of it, so much so that Aurora reckoned had most any of the others gone without the same amount, they'd already be dead. She crept a bit closer to inspect the body, only for the old king to exude a wave of pressure that made her feel as if she were choking on the very air itself, eyes alight with gold. "Are you deaf, or merely simple? I said no closer, do not try me. Answer the rest of it, and do so quickly before I show you my true temper..." "No healers." Aurora said, shaking her head. "Except.... Aurora." "And where is this Aurora you speak of now? Out with the others you mentioned?" "Looking... at her. Here. Now." Tama's expression shifted from one of intimidating authority to a bit of surprise, but nonetheless, he did not skip a beat in his interrogation "... look here spider, this woman behind me, she is my Caller, my link to the physical world and my partner; I cannot allow you to eat her, but if you help save her, I will be in your debt for that, as will she" "Looks like more value in just... eating her. You look like... a ghost. You smell like...nothing. And you make... no sound or vibration when you move. And She smells... like death is already knocking at the door. Life can't drag on much longer, soon... the candle gets snuffed. I don't think... you can hurt me" As if to test her theory, quick as lightning she balled her hand into a fist and sent it flying towards the Tiger's mouth, faster than even he could've forseen. Instead colliding with flesh or any sort of organic matter though, she phased right through him, shattering the stone floor with a moderately loud crash and sending dust flying. Tama looked on with a scowl, backing away from her as the debris settled. The fact that he had not immediately retaliated only emboldened Aurora "Fuck, she saw through it..." "Consider your actions carefully spider..." he began again, in full damage control now that his jig was up "these warriors you mentioned... this hunt for 'something big', you say you all are not strong enough, is that what your were told? Well, there is strength in numbers... if you eat her, you will be losing two potential allies in whatever your mission is, and I'm sure from how you phrased it, you could use all the help you can get..." "Have enough people" the spider hissed "too many, new smells, new fleshies, I sense them already, different places in the castle... too many at once, for me to investigate all...others will take care of it. I don't care about your help, Tiger..." Tama growled, at that. He was fast running out of options in the short window of time he had left to save the woman. Already, he could feel the last of her life fading away... within mere moments, as she died, their pact would be null and void... and he did not want to think about what would happen then. Something came to him swiftly however, as he looked at the spider- by mortal standards, she probably would've been beautiful, if it weren't for all the Arachnid bits, but Tama could see the raw hunger in her eyes and her small frame... "What about food, spider?" "F-food?" She said it like an eager child almost, despite having practically raided the whole damn Val Habar market in total secrecy not even a full hour or two before all this... "You give... Aurora food?" "Yes, but only if you help..." Tama answered without hesitation. The fact that they had no food on them was nothing- they had gold, what the queen had given ghost for funds on her mission, and much of that still remained. They could always deal with going out and buying from whatever merchants occupied this world after Ghost was safe "Heal my caller, and I promise you spider, you will have a just reward for your efforts." He paused for a moment, guaging her reaction. She was coming around to the idea from the pensive expression on her face, but Tama could tell she was still debating the maximum gain of the two paths... "If you eat her, what? You'll be full for a few days, perhaps a bit over a week, but then you'll just get hungry again. If you save her though, you can have far easier access to food from now on... won't have to worry about hunger anymore" He was pushing this, he knew it. Further than he really should've, but damn it all, Ghost was drawing her last breath right in that very moment... Finally, though... Aurora nodded her head, eyes sparkling with a different type of glint than what he'd seen before. It wasn't hunger, but he knew not what she was about to do. And he didn't have any real choice but to let her do it either, as the pact began to fall apart. He stepped aside and the Spider fired her own unique brand of laser at the fallen albino, like a flash from the blue, and already Tama could feel the caller stabilizing. It was nigh miraculous even, it was as if the spider had the power to not just heal, but instead turn back the very hands of time to restore the body to a previous state. The blood Ghost had lost trekking towards the keep still formed a trail on the stone floor behind her, but it was as if... she'd never lost any at all, from what he could sense. "...Fleshbag better keep your promise, tiger." the spider muttered as she continued to undo the carnage. Slowly but surely, the woman was backing away from Death's door. But even with Aurora's abilities, she still a ways to go before she was out of the woods entirely...

Fire and light rained down upon the barren sands, turning them molten and glass, ether and song pouring through the growing rift in the air. The very sands whipped into a frenzy as the fabric of reality itself wa slowly twisted and contorted to the point of tearing, a fracture in this world, a window into another, foreign and ancient, great in it's fury as an ungodly roar poured through and shook the very earth itself in the area. A light seemed to be swallowed whole the moment it touched the breach, only growing fainter as out of it was thrust a being clad in scales and cloth, rolling to a halt in the sands for at least several meters, as if thrown through the portal by a force far greater than it could've defended against. Another roar resounded from the portal, this one clearly of rage, the shockwave of it's fury threatening to send the woman even further back. She stood, hair that was once white as snow matted with blood, her face in much the same condition, one of her eyes held shut and blinded with the amount that coated her face. The cloak she wore hung in tattered ribbons from her shoulders, black flames licking at them even now as the Voice of the beast struggled to maintain itself so far from it's source, this tear the only current connection between their realities. Even so, the boy and the beast were intent to have her soul, this much she knew, this much, she dreaded. And like clockwork, his conjured abomination thrust it's own arm through the opening, slamming the earth with great and unfathomable force; there was little time for Ghost to do anything but her speciality- fade out of the world, and let the thing strike at the empty air her physical body once occupied... she could feel even that power waning however. The beast lashed about the area with it's talons, sickly appendages the size of longswords that glowed with a faint green hue as they slashed at the air. Once more, the former master kept her bounds to this new world's physical realm superficial, limbing her way closer to the Voice Gate she'd torn into this world, welling up the last of her power in her chest, a faint, but soon surging glow of gold and silver burning there like hot fire... And with a deafening shout that rocked the very land and sky around her, her words masked and warped by the sheer might of her vocalization and the otherwordly power of her immortal soul, the portal that she'd used to escape was suddenly and viciously slammed shut, cutting off Beast, Boy, and her former world from this one. The flesh of the beast's rampaging arm was severed with brutal swiftness, the newly repaired fabric of this reality acting like a guillotine as it returned to it's normal state, and down, down, down the dead limb fell, spasming with the last vestiges of life and animation before at long last going still. And in those moments just after, it too vanished from this world completely, fading into a glittering shower of lost Souls and their Voices. It was only then that Ghost released the breath she'd not even realized she'd been holding, gripping the shattered and shredded remains of her arm, trying, and failing, to staunch the flow of blood with pressure alone; she was far too tired to expend anymore of her Voice than she'd done already with this last resort, and even more, she feared she may not have that much left to begin with. Up until the very moment she had shut the gate, she could feel him draining her on the other side, feel her heart and soul wither under his relentless assault. The boy had truly been intent on destroying her both in body and spirit. And he had damn near succeeded. "Alba..." the Deva called to her, even and nuetral though his gravel tone usually was, now there was nothing but a distinct concern as he urged the woman, "There, in the distance, a settlement... a fortress, hurry. These wounds will not allow you any liberty of time. Do not die on me..." "I make... no promises that I... can't.... keep," the caller choked out in return. Finally she allowed her bound to this world's physical plane to reconnect itself, her body returning to tangible mass as she limped further and further towards the bustling hub of trade in the distance. She had no idea where she was- but it was clearly not where she had intended to throw her Voice to. This place looked nothing like the Exiled Lands of the Deva, felt nothing like it... even the very air was inherently incongruent with her homerealm, not in the way of that which hails from another continent, but that which hails from another world. She bowed her head to the sun, the heat beginning to bake the blood covering her body and leaking from her many wounds, a crimson trail sizzling behind her with every step she took. She had known this was possible, with a powerful enough Voice, to rend the very fabric of time and space so thoroughly that one could access lands so far removed from their world, the distance between was quite literally unfathomable by mortal minds and unperceivable by their brains... and yet, here she was. But such feats were tales left over from the Era of the Gods, the Era where the deva still walked the earth as great forces to be reckoned with, without the aid of callers and summoners. So with the majority of her might stolen, how had she managed it? She did not know. Tearing a way open to the exiled lands was one thing, it was still apart of the world, just one that had been sealed off from the physical realm... but to completely transcend the bindings of her reality and pass through to another one... No. She shook her head, it didn't matter. She had done it, she was alive. She would be back... when, she didn't know. Whether she'd be able to ever stop him, she did not know. But she'd made enough mistakes, and there was nothing that would stand in her way of righting the biggest of those... She continued to bleed, as she limped through the desert. Slowly but surely, the settlement came closer into her view.

"Aye..." she said, "It's as good a place to start as any. Hopefully we're not already too late..." Even as she said it though, the foreboding in her gut grew stronger. Shaking her head, she set off again. She didn't quite know where exactly the college was, but such an important structure to the city's history would be doubtlessly easy to narrow down from any others by it's architecture and expanse alone, surely. And if it became necessary, they could always simply ask directions...

"I've got a bad feeling about this, Ecquis..." she answered with a scowl, once they were finally far enough. 'bad feeling' was probably the understatement of the year, with the vast array of ways this could all turn into an inescapable hell "...We just got out of one huge mess yesterday, getting into an even bigger one is the last we need. Besides, I doubt there's much any of us can do to help here, without risking far too much... We just should go find the others and continue on as far from here as we can, before something goes wrong or someone does something stupid..."

"Dragons may be closer to that than you think..." Maya muttered, before briefly bowing her head slightly "Thank you. May the goddess bless you, and your fellow craftsmen... I'm sure whatever the outcome, the near future won't be easy for any of you." With that said, she turned and walked away towards the direction the man pointed to, looking back to Ecquis and Dash both, but saying nothing. Ecquis would've recognized the beckoning in her eyes easily enough, considering last night... She needed to talk with them, but this was no where to do it. Further up the road, out of the way and away from any witnesses; she did not think the craftsmen here would willingly aid the crown, but it was still better to try and minimize the amount of information about Saffron and their group that might be overhead...

Tesla Holds, satisfied that she finally got vengeance on the weird sphere thingy that vaguely reminded her of the spike ball from the maze

"Well, it's... certainly different from the messes we've dealt with lately. But still a mess to clean up regardless..." Cadence sighed, as she looked around at the various soldiers and hired thugs lurking just on the other shore. First it was low born criminals acting like scum, and now some spoiled little nobleman was throwing a tantrum and commiting the lesser equivalent of treason... "On second thought, scratch that. The cause behind all of this is just... pathetic, really. Even those rogues had more spine than this...kidnapping, threatening murder, attempting to besiege his Lord's estate... all because one high-born bastard doesn't know how to accept rejection?" Regardless how stupid the cause of it all seemed though, it was happening, and they were here now. The others could probably use another hand to defend the old Lord, and those sparce groves by the manor's entrance would make the perfect cover... Move to N13, Equip Iron Knife

"...I see," She was silent for a moment, as she took the new gem and stowed it into her sleeves. Despite her outward expression remaining relatively unchanged though, one of the heal gems within her robes burned with an aqua light... a sinister light. One that died quickly, as she shook her head "That's... just despicable. Seems the arrogance of the crown knows no end, even common brigands would give better offers for a craftsmen's service..." She would know, ironically enough. The Greys had been a bit...stricter with their code than probably just about any typical band of brigands, bigger than most as well but even they had lacked the resources to actively maintain and expand their own armory without outside assistance. Enlisting the aid of the local smiths in the communities they gave back to had been about the only way they'd survived as long as they did. Well, that and their leadership; once Don was dead and Caesar had thrown himself into the embrace of sweet nihilism afterwards, ventured off to go end himself somewhere, there had been no saving that organization... "I thank you for your offer," she finally nodded "but you've already done enough, and the Goddess will see her justice meted out... one way or another. Though... Do you happen to know where he'll be making these demands?"

Behold, my Tertiary, far better optimized than both Aurora and Tesla put together! Alba "Ghost" Vincula

"Perhaps that is true in your realm, then. Perhaps the version of humans you are used to, are a bit more sensible than the ones I once dealt with. And perhaps in your world, Dragons actually care about more than their own hoardes and their own territories...were you to come to my home plane though, you'd find a literal world of difference...about a great many things" The force paused, obviously pensive. Home Plane... Home... how would she get back there, eventually? Surely, there had to be some way besides just wandering around in some castle, dropping onto random worlds to do mercenary work... regardless, it's attention returned to the conversation at hand; home twas a matter for another time... Even with the visage of old friends and foes alike passing through her mind... or what was left of it, in this fragile, damaged shell of a body... "Regardless, from our discussion thus far it seems we are at an impasse... We obviously hail from worlds that are all too opposite each other..." Her expression darkened, just for a moment as her eyes flashed and burned out like an elder star issuing it's last breath of hot fusion before dying for good. Even with her form and position now indistinguishable in the darkness, her voice still echoed among the ceiling "And from two sides all too opposite each other as well... adventurer. Trying to get either of us to understand the other... is like trying to make the moon and sun swap places in the heavens." Yes... yes, It hadn't been hard to figure out what he mostly likely was, as much as he'd defended humans despite their follies. Even with her memories fragmented and missing as they were, she could recall similar snippets from the past... coming from mouths beholden of similar ideals. Rangers, Fighters, Wizards... Captives during the war. Crusaders in the war against Dour. It was spotty, but there were enough pieces that she knew for the most part the general theme of the nonsense they had always spouted when they were bound up... There were a few creaks in the rafters, heading away from the center of the room- had to have been intentional on the spider's part, given she'd entered the place and followed them earlier without a single noise. Within just a few moments though, there was no sign she'd ever been there at all, nor one of where she'd tread off to within the fortress...

((sorry huk, looks like we gonna have to cut it short, Zet is on my ass to wrap this up so he can get to the map...)) Cadence took the ribbon gingerly, looking it over. Even as non fashionable as she was, she had her doubts about whether or not something this blue would go well at all with the fiery thematics her coat and her created. One look at Rayne's armor and shirt though.... eh, maybe. She reached up behind her head and started tying the thing into a bow, hands so deft, even without the add of any looking glass, it was as if the motions were second nature. "W-well... I guess it's alright..." Cadence uses the Dancer's Ribbon

Tesla viciously attacks Flamer2 at E4

"I never claimed innocence to begin," just as it was fading away, the adventurer seemed to have drawn whatever forced her mouth out again, seeming to ignore Andre on sheer principle alone "But I cannot speak for all monsters, only my own kind. Guilt and innocence though, aren't what matter here. Truth is. My kind, we don't fight what we are, we don't try to fool ourselves or the world around us. Where humans veil the blood on their hands with politics and excuses that grow thinner by the ounce; They say things like that it was necessary, that they had it coming, that any sacrifice is an acceptable one if it succeeds in the end, that they are nothing like us, so it's okay... my kind, does not bother with such excuses. We don't shrug the responsibility onto anyone but ourselves. and we don't try to project any other image than what we truly are- predators, killers. And as a predator, I've killed more men than I can count. Humans on the other hand, hide behind pitiful lies because they are too weak to shoulder the weight of their own acts, they are so conflicted, so at war with their own souls, that in order to accept the fact that they can commit acts just as base and bloody as any of the monstrous races might, they must fabricate stories, and false justifications... and they let them serve as masks with which they may go out and soak the earth with as much blood as they want, and simply blame the mask once it is time to take it off. But it is not the blood that is split that taints humans... no, no... blood is split everyday. Organisms are born and die in countless droves every hour, for such is the way of the natural world. Selection of the fittest, the strongest get to go on and carve the future, the weak die if they fail to stay out of the way. Even if humans claim to be above such base evolution, they too are just as subject. Every war they fight with each other, ever major conflict, every killing they have created among themselves, has simply been another point of natural selection. And for that... one might actually commend them... taking the future of their species genes into their own hands, in a roundabout way, despite being so unwilling to acknowledge their aggressive behavior for what it really is. No. No... where the problem truly lies, is in Mankind's fear... of his own self. The only race to walk the earth and dominate it so thoroughly, and yet still, he refuses to look at himself in a mirror without his face painted and blushed. Refuses to accept that one way or another, he is a predator, just another animal in the kingdom, just another link in the chain. Refuses to acknowledge that at our most basic components, we are, all of us, monster, beasts, and man, far more alike than we are unalike. He puts on a facade of imagined virtues and vices that do not exist in nature; there is no virtue, only life, and death. A never ending cycle, A balance...delicate, ever teetering. One that, despite feeding as heavily into as any of the rest of us, mankind still somehow manages to tip the scales far more than any other race. Takes more than he needs, starts getting greedy, forgets to leave a bit to grow back latter. No concept... of sustainability. In my world alone, humans infest the surface with their rampant growth in numbers... they pop out children faster than they can even grow crops or build huts to shield themselves, and much faster than they can replenish the world around them, letting it deplete and die with no real hope of ever rising again. How man fails to comprehend the very balance he was born into... I do not know. Even my kind, descended once from mankind as we once were, know to never kill all our prey at once, . We know that while we are predators, we are not above the cycle... that what we take will be exacted from us, in one way or another. Hmph... we could've brought humans to the bring of extinction generations ago if we tried... brought many species to it. But we knew restraint. We knew when to stop, if even for no one's benefit, but our own later down the line. We don't fight the chaos of our hearts, we embrace it... we don't fight or try to master our base instinct, no, we embrace it, work with it, let it keep us grounded, lest we forget our place. After all... how can you expect to hunt gazelles for diner, when your ancestors already killed them all and left nothing behind? Humans know nothing of restraint... conservation, foresight... they lack it where it counts the most. They Devote their efforts to the artifices and institutions they made, and in them try to seek some deeper meaning in the world, when in truth... they would find the greatest meaning of all, if they simply stopped fighting what lies buried in their own hearts. It is man's own fear that is the real problem, in the end. It is man's fear that sows the seeds of not just his own destruction, but the destruction of everything else in the cycle as well. He will not learn, has not learned, over all the eons of time he's been given, and someday, after he has taken and taken and taken and refused to leave the seed for renewal behind, the world will be able to give no more. And Mankind will cease to be... just as all races will. All because, a few little squabbling, hairless apes could not muster up the courage to face the fact that they are the same as the beasts they posture themselves so high above. All because they place more value on some idea of superiority and transcendence... are more fixated on their own... arrogance... than ultimate survival. and so... no one will survive in the end."

"Because typical humans are all too eager to kill any and all who are different." It was the first, and only, complete sentence that had come out the spider this entire time. The sensation of the words that came of their own accord intensified and soon pushed her into the background, as one of her eyes took on a barely noticeable tint of green. she continued, "So savage, they will even continue the slaughter among themselves, if there are no other races to draw it out. Creed, Nation, Allegiance, any excuse they can use. Humans mixed with monsters... simply an invitation for even greater hate. An even better excuse to kill for- lurking threats, just waiting, in their eyes. And when they cannot find true differences, they will create false ones, and let them divide the people. Humans preach, spout dogma, stand on a moral high ground of glass... just like Elves, but elves don't breed like rabbits. Claim that they are the pure ones, the heirs to the moon and the stars, heavens and the earth. They subjugate and conquer, each other, and other races. Those who cannot be broken, cannot be whipped, those who try to fight back...they ruin. They hunt, and hunt, and never stop, until it is done... no matter how many they lose." and with that, she seemed to retreat deeper into the shadows, though her eyes remained as twin glowing orbs under it's veil. One blazing with a bright, emerald green now, the other still silver as it had once been. Whatever pain she once felt from the curse... it was nothing compared to wave of raw will that had come over her, the flood of mingled, turbulent emotion that gave positively no fucks about any muzzle, a wave of memories long old, memories of war, memories of castle walls and sealing gates... memories that once belonged to a being who would speak her mind freely, gods and devils alike be damned. A wave that came from apart of herself she thought dead or missing or both, much like... A part that had escaped the purge. "Humans by their very nature... try to exterminate or enslave any and all monsters and odd ones, once they are found, Dragon. Doesn't matter... how much human blood they have. One drop of anything that doesn't resemble them, that doesn't walk or talk like them or abide by their delusional little view of the world, and that is it, their fate is sealed. but by their very deeds, Humans prove themselves nothing more than beasts themselves, driven by base paranoia and mistaking their ridiculous penchant for xenophobia to be a pitiful righteousness that most will cling to up until the very moment they die. Such is the way of men." The green was already beginning to fade...as her voice died back down and the dull throb of the flame started to actually mean something again. The twin silvers once more gazed down at the new comer, but with nowhere near the drive or purpose of just moments ago. The presence she thought was dead shrunk back to where it had come from. And with it, the sparse memories it had brought forth as well...