[IC] ANKL Chapter I: As if a Dream

[Code: PIRULUK]

Lee had provided Katherine with a version of the story which absolutely, undoubtedly painted Rein as the antagonist in the scenario...

...Well, she wasn't exactly wrong.

Rein had indeed punched her without warning, but she had a perfectly good reason: she hated her name. It wasn't her fault Lee didn't know that.

Still, Rein said nothing and slumped over the table, planting her chin firmly on its surface as she inwardly sighed, hoping this whole thing would sort itself soon. She was getting hungry. She started considering what she would do about lunch.

[Chim]

Lana’s shoulders tensed up when Natalie suddenly embraced her. She did not hold the girl back, being stunned by the reckless action. The darkness still surged around and Lana could clearly see how her opponent fell prey to her fear. But in the back of her mind she wondered why Natalie was this close to her. She closed her eyes when the redhead’s tear fell onto her shoulder. So this was it? This was as far she could go?

She felt disappointed and sad at the same time. Surely Natalie would plant a knife made of ice in her back any moment now. And there was nothing Lana could do about it. Her reaction time was delayed by the sudden embrace. Lana’s guard was down and that would be the end of her. No more fighting and standing up to protect people she didn’t really know. Which was so unlike her. Deep down Lana always felt she had to change. Be more social and open so she could make more friends and have fun instead of being by herself most of the time. But none of that mattered anymore.

"Just remember, you chose this."

What? Lana’s eyes widened in shock as Natalie was gone. For the second time in a handful of seconds the redhead managed to shut down Lana’s body by taking unexpected actions. And for the second time she was forced to watch how the frozen blade impaled one of her new found friends.

Lana started moving, far too late, towards the Eye of Hope. She heard everything the girl said to Haley and immediately realized her mistake. She had been too forceful when trying to stop Natalie. Hell, she even ignored her mother’s advice not to trust creepy strangers. “We have to stop her!” she yelled in panic while looking around to see if others were around to help. Without really knowing what to do, and confirming Arturia would survive, her feet automatically ran towards the same direction as the Eye of Hope

[Shamitako]

Katherine

Katherine sat calmly at the table with Emberly, sipping her tea. Unsurprisingly, neither of the two girls seemed to have any intention of reconciliation.

"I'm hardly stalling, Emberly." She said calmly, "If ten minutes isn't enough for them to make up on their own, then they're not going to have any choice. Although at this point we're already down to eight minutes."

The pressure was getting thicker very quickly, Eden's Curse would be approaching soon. It looked like ten minutes had been too generous, and it also looked like neither of the problem girls had any intention of talking things out. Another few minutes passed and Katherine suddenly stood up in her chair.

"Well, neither of you seems to have much intention of solving this problem, so I suppose I'll just have to resort to violence." She said cheerfully.

In a flash she was at their table, which she proceeded to flip high into the air. As it spun upward, she grabbed both girls by the collar and using strength that she hardly looked like she should possess, tossed them both onto the floor. They slid a short distance but found themselves stopped as an elbow collided with each of their guts. Without stopping, Katherine was back on her feet as she spun around and delivered a solid side-kick to the still-spinning table, sending it flying towards the door. The door opened and a small girl suddenly found herself flung directly back out the door. The table came to a rest blocking the lower half of the door. Katherine clapped a single time to bring all attention to her.

"Now then, would the two of you like to make up?" She asked with not a hint of the menace her words clearly intended, "Or would you rather I leave you to the oddly dressed girl out there who has every intention of killing all of us?"

Eden

The table hitting her the instant she crossed the threshold was not within Eden's expectations. Clearly Kallisto hadn't been as a distracted as Eden had hoped. Still, it would stop her. She climbed back to her feet from the spot she had landed on the floor. Angrily, she stormed back to the door, where the table still sat, She reached forward and effortlessly tore it in two as though the wood were paper.

"KALLISTO!" She yelled, "You know full well why I'm here, and you also seem to still know exactly how to piss me off."

She looked around the room. Two girls lay on the floor behind Kallisto, and another sat at a table off to the side. She waited for a moment, preferring to leave the explanations to Kallisto. It would be much easier to convince them to join her if Kallisto explained what was happening.

(OOC: I may make other posts tonight but probably not. I actually have to sort out a new scenario as someone made a choice I wasn't expecting)

[Shamitako]

Sharp

Sharp had to agree with Sion, but because of this he decided that he had no time to voice this opinion. He fired off a couple more blasts while Riv distracted the creature, but the rifle was obviously not doing its job fully; it took three hits to take out one tongue. Sion's Ice blasts has a significant effect though, each shearing through an entire tongue. The issue was that whenever a tongue was destroyed, more were created.

"Hey, guys, I have a hint for you." Lexi called, "Adepts can make a lot of stuff but don't hit very hard."

Make a lot of stuff, eh? That gave Sharp a new idea.

He allowed the rifle to disperse and then began running to his right. With each step, a burst of flame rose up. He was thinking that perhaps he would be able to maintain his power even without directly controlling it. That was how fire worked after all, one did not directly control it, once simply created it. Each burst morphed shape, forming into a small mortar. Then, after creating twenty, he fired them off. They bombarded the toad, burning several tongues but not breaking any.

"Uh, I meant a lot of different things, but that works too." Lexi called, "Just be careful not to hit me, I don't want to accidentally kill the toad in self-defense."

Sharp rolled his eyes, after this he was going to give Lexi a good talking to about priorities.

Layla

"Perhaps your choice to view him as an enemy despite your similarities is exactly why he trusts you." Layla said solemnly.

She trusted Arya at her word, but if Eden's Curse had bestowed his power on her... She wasn't entirely sure what to do, but she at least knew where to start.

"At the v-very least, I'm s-sorry." She said, "Sorry for m-my part in creating this wo-world that you hate. It was n-never my intention t-to hurt anyone."

Feeling very uncomfortable, Layla moved to change the subject.

"A-anyways, I c-can't turn your powers on. The words for T-time were never c-created." She explained, "H-he was lost before we started s-sealing abilities in our children. We'll need to g-go find Eden's Curse, N-nayru, or a descendant of A-adam--not that a-any of you would kn-know what that means--if we want to cr-create them and unlock your a-a-abilities as a Time Eye. I'll l-let you guys p-pick."

(OOC: Still sorting something out with Lana/Arturia, I'll get them ASAP tho ^^)

[Jory]

Riv

The girl thought for a moment, examining the effects of the group's attacks. It seemed as though the Ice projectiles had done the most damage out of all of them, plus Lexi had said Adepts didn't do much damage. Added to the fact that she was a Light element, that meant Riv wouldn't be doing very much damage at all. My attacks barely fazed that Toad. We're going to have to get creative, she thought to herself. Noticing they'd begun sinking down on her nose, she pushed her glasses back into their proper position. Sion was powerful, but apparently ♬Green is not a creative color!♬ she thought in a singsong. "I think we're going to have to work together, guys!" she noted. "As individuals, we barely scratch this thing!" Riv said as she approached Sion. She began formulating a plan, taking into account what each of their newly-acquired powers seemed to be.

"Sion, I guess you can fire Ice projectiles? And Sharp, you have the same powers as I do, just with Fire. So what can we do?" she pondered aloud. "If we keep attacking head-on, eventually we're going to end up hitting Lexi. If she weren't a frickin' goddess, she'd die from our powers, so let's consider this practice!" She snapped her fingers, coming to a realization. "If its tongues are the hydra's heads, then we have to be like Hercules! Saving the damsel in distress, then killing her in a magically induced rage!" She thought for a moment, as if reconsidering. "Okay, well more the first part than the second, but still! We need to rescue Lexi first, then beat the Toad! Sion, your ice can cut through the tongues! Sharp, make something to cauterize the wounds before new tongues grow out! I'll do my best to save Lexi while you take out the Toad's anti-air! Ready? Go!" she shouted enthusiastically.

She closed her eyes, willing the Light into shape on her back. It formed two butterfly wings that fluttered gently against the breeze created by the fire mortars. Her hands began to glow as Light bridged the gap between them, forming what looked like a military grade grenade launcher in between her hands. "When the going gets tough, the tough get grenade launchers!" she said excitedly, giggling before flapping her wings and taking to the skies. She flew directly upward, being cautious to avoid the Toad's tongues as she climbed higher. Once she was satisfied that she was near the outer edge of the tongues' range if not totally out of it, she began flying over the Toad in a fairly moth-like pattern, flapping her wings erratically to change her position. She fired the grenade launcher two dozen times as she flew around, bolts of light dropping onto the Toad and exploding into brilliantly blinding sunbursts. Hopefully between her evasive maneuvering and her blinding shots, the Toad's accuracy would be too impaired to knock her out of the sky. She held her altitude and kept firing, waiting for Sion and Sharp to create the opening she needed to swoop in and grab Lexi out of the clutches of the ample amphibian.

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

Esyllt's orbs dimmed for a brief moment. She had thought that she was unique in the fact that she obtained a power. But according to Layla, the others were eligible to unlock their powers as well. Layla described her as being a "Hope Vine." The ability to empower others was neat and all, but she was totally lost on how to use her power. She wasn't sure if her lack of control was due to her experience. Maybe it was because she had no target to begin with, and it went for her roommates, whom she harbored no ill intent towards. But what if that wasn't the case?

She'd have to keep that train of thought for when someone decided to annoy her. Before she lost herself in her own questions, Arya's outburst made her come back to her senses. Esyllt hadn't entirely realized that there were other people out there, who expressed their discontent with society. She had thought that everyone was just too mindless, too ignorant, too self-absorbed in their own business to care about the *horrible atrocities* that were being committed in Kalo. She had thought that there would be no one sane enough to attend Opium Institute. At least, she hadn't found anyone who was opinionated enough to voice their thoughts. Esyllt smirked. Lo and behold, Arya was one of the people she was looking for.

However, she'd have to put her other agenda on hold, as there were more important matters to attend to.

"Running straight into Eden's Curse without Arya's abilities being unlocked sounds rather dangerous, and I have no idea what a descendent of Adam is. How about we go and find Naryu?" Esyllt suggested. If Layla had awakened, chances are Naryu has as well. All they had to do was find another crazy chick firing lightning. Or something. She didn't know if it was this room or something, but she was starting to become increasingly uneasy. There was something in the air that was making her uncomfortable, but she had no idea what. She kind of wanted to leave.

"Also, Layla, dear, is there a way to deactivate my power? I'd like to stay a little more conspicuous walking around," as she twirled in a circle. Her dress fluttered harmlessly behind her, as well as her orbs which seemed to dance around with her.

[Code: PIRULUK]

Rein barely had time to register Katherine's movement when the teacher's elbow struck her stomach with tremendous force. Pain erupted throughout her body, centered around the point of impact. Unexpected pain, intense pain.

Delightful pain.

Rein wrapped her arms around herself as she squirmed around on the ground, savoring the exotic flavor of unexpected pain. Her eyes rolled back as her face devolved into an expression of pure bliss.

Oh, it had been too long since she had experienced such passionate pain, such delectable pain!

She slowly staggered to her feet and approached Katherine meekly, the picture of the stoic, unfeeling girl completely tossed aside, leaving behind a mass of raw vulnerability, as she slowly approached Katherine with a bit of drool flaking from her lips.

"...more..."

Then she noticed the other girl who had just been thrown back by a table. She blinked several times, then shook her head furiously to clear it of her blissed-out state. She needed to be at her best for now. Depending on how things developed, there might be a chance to experience more...exquisite...pain.

She subtly licked her lips in anticipation.

[Hiss13]

Sion

Sion really could not keep up with the all too dynamic Riv. A girl like that who could pull off one-liners at the drop of a hat was always the type of person who would just keep barreling forward without a care in the world and eventually leave Sion in the dust.

It was all she could do to try and grab onto the coattails of people like that.

"Slice, then cauterize." Sion muttered. It was not a bad strategy, per se. There were still a crapton of unknown factors left but there was plenty of sense in at least trying to go with Riv's suggestion.

Once again, she aimed her palms at the large animal. In rapid succession, she started firing ice spears, one after the other from alternating palms at each of the tongues.

[Sutoratosu]

Arya

She grimaced at the sight of the twirl, just a bit, though she said nothing. Esyllt worried about looking conspicuous, but what she should've been more concerned about was the sheer impracticality of having to fight in a freaking ballroom dress of all things. Would they all receive such ludicrous wardrobe changes whenever they used their powers? Every time? God, she shuddered just thinking about the prospect... there are just some things you don't wear to a battlefield, and fully-formal evening attire is definitely somewhere on that list. When you grow up the child of a soldier, who themselves grew up the child of a soldier, who in turn grew up the child of a soldier... you learn at least that much.

"I don't think an enemy who is currently coming to try to murder you and the other goddesses will be exactly eager to help us out here..." She seconded, trying to push the idea of the potentially mandatory, gaudy dress-up out of her mind... for now at least. "and trying to find the descendant of whoever the hell Adam is within a school that probably has at least a few hundred girls in it sounds like a hassle, one that'll take time we probably don't have. Might as well just do like Esyllt says and go the quickest and surest route."

[K_H]

Anna

After hearing Layla tell her what her Chant was, Anna nodded, keeping it in the back of her mind, and waited for everyone else to finish. Then, she made a statement based on what Esyllt had said.

"If I remember correctly from the things my mom told me about concerning our religions, each of the Goddesses are associated with two Elements each, and they may come in handy when trying to find Nayru. Here's what I remember from what she said: 'Layla, the Sister of Power and Fear, is the Mistress of Thunder and Darkness. Nayru, the Sister of Reason and Logic, is the Mistress of Ice and Soul. Alexus, the Sister of Luck and Dreams, is the Mistress of Water and Hope. Kallisto, the Sister of Faith and Love, is the Mistress of Fire and Light.' So, going off of that, if we find someone who has mastery of both the Ice and Soul Elements, we'll have found Nayru."

She then walked over to the door, which was still open, then stuck her head out into the hallway to see if there was anyone nearby in the halls, looking in both directions.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Emberly

"What the in the seven hells..." Emberly thought to herself as the scene unfurled before her. She was having trouble processing it all she knew was a tinge of regret sprang up in the back of mind. Well, it wasn't actually new, it just resurfaced it's ugly head from the depths of her mind. Miss Katherine attacking the two girls was strange enough, but the table she sent careening into one who had just arrived was just another level of confusion. So much was happening so fast. So much for a normal day... so much for whatever this was. Drake just suddenly felt so in over her head. She definitely wanted to scream, nut because she was scared but more because she wanted to figure out if this was some kind of... cruel dream or not.

She could scarcely believe this all was happening. What had she gotten herself into? Hadn't... hadn't she only been doing the right thing? How did it get here? So many questions, currently no answers. So, why not at least try to make sense of them. She stood up, staring at this... new arrival and then back to Katherine. She was unsure of how to precede here, but she'd make it up as she went along. It always made sense to do so prior, so, she'd continue with the tried and true. "Miss Katherine what... is going on?" she then realized what the new arrival had said. Kalli... Kallisto? That... surely couldn't be right. A goddess amongst mortals? That sounded preposterous. It didn't help that she herself held little belief in deities to begin with. It made this even more odd and confusing. Before Katherine could answer her first question Emberly hastily inserted the new one that wouldn't leave her mind "W-who are you?" she seemingly asked this to not only Katherine but to the new arrival as well as she continued to look back and forth between the two, dumbfounded.

[Shamitako]

Haley

Haley wanted to chase after Lana, but Arturia clearly needed more immediate attention. The girl was clearly going into shock and Haley needed to stop it. She couldn't do anything to help ease the pain directly, but perhaps Arturia's nerves were too distorted for her to focus. Haley shut her eyes and concentrated, imagining that she was back in the library. When she opened her eyes, the world around her had matched to her imagination. Artuia's blood has disappeared and was now a mess of books. Nothing was solid, however it might just be enough to calm Arturia down before she realized it was fake.

"Hey, Arturia, are you okay?" Haley asked calmly, "You really should get off the floor. Here, I'll help you pick those up."

She knelt down, feeling the odd squishing sensation of warm blood rubbing against her legs. She mimed picking up books, the illusion following her motions and raising the fake books in her hands. She felt more blood coat her fingers, some crawling up under her fingernails, but she kept at it. She needed to get Arturia back.

Riley - Different hallway

It didn't take long for Lana to catch up to Riley. She found the girl standing in the middle of a hallway, talking to a redhead with a ponytail and a strange outfit. It may have taken a moment to register, but she realized that this was Nayru. She was able to overhear some of their discussion.

"...erstand that you don't like my methods," Said Riley, "but it is necessary that Arturia experience this adversity."

"But surely there was a better way of going about it than stabbing her in the gut." Natalie responded, "What if she succumbs to the pain? Her powers can heal her body, not her mind."

"She won't."

"This still feels wrong. I'm not entirely convinced you didn't just do it because you enjoy watching others suffer."

"Haley is completely committed to Kallisto, so we have to ruin Arturia's trust in the goddesses before Haley can bring her over to their side. And I'm not like your sister, my desire is not for their suffering, but to end my own."

"I know, I know. I saw what Kalli will do if we don't stop her. But I've never been much of an 'ends justify the means' type of person. Both of my lives have always lived in the present, trying to find the best course of action to achieve 'now.'"

"Very well, I'll keep that in mind for the future. And may I suggest that the proper course of action 'now' is for you to duck?"

Natalie didn't question, she simply did as Haley suggested, and Lana quickly saw why as a large book suddenly came spinning at her over Natalie's head. It caught her off guard and struck her square between the eyes, knocking her unconscious.

~~~

When she awoke, Lana was in a bedroom. Not one of the standard four person dorms, but a small room with only a single bed--to which she was strapped with a pair of leather belts. The room had no windows, nor had the tenant spared money on a clock, so she had no idea how much time had passed

"Well now, look who's awake." Came the seductive voice of the Eye of Hope from beside her.

Riley was now back to her normal t-shirt and miniskirt, her eyes no longer the starry blackness of her transformed self. In a way, this normality could be said to make her even more frightening.

"You'll have to forgive me for the welt on your head, but I needed to incapacitate you before you made Haley and Arturia or worse, Kallisto, aware of my plans." she said, "If it helps any, I promise not to kill you. Although I may have to torture you a teeny bit. No telling Nayru though, it'll be our secret~"

Riley giggled and gave Lana a cheerful wink. Whoever would have thought that relief for her pain would fall right into her lap? It was simply too good to be true, and would be too good to be true if Natalie found out.

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia opened her eyes after a few moments, as they had squeezed shut in her pain. Still breathing somewhat heavily, the girl was greeted with the sight of. . . carpet? And a stack of books? She raised her head enough to look around. The first thing that came into sight was Haley and some books, and then the rest of the library around them. She felt at her abdomen without looking before she answered the other girl's question. "I. . . think so? Weren't we just in the hall. . .?" She stood up, almost staring at Haley with confusion written all over her face.

[Shamitako]

Layla

"Um, y-yes, I'm the Goddess of P-power, I know what my s-sister's powers are." Layla said, a touch of indignance creeping into her voice.

Nobody wanted to hunt for the descendant of Adam, which she couldn't really blame them for. She knew it was a longshot, she had only brought it up because it was what she wanted to do. There was only one of his descendants in the entire world, the chances of them even being in the school were slim. But if Lexi and Kalli and Yui were here, why not a child of Adam? But she had given the choice away, and she would have to live with that. Perhaps Adam would come looking for her.

"A-alright, let's go find N-nayru." She said, "A-and Miss Esyllt, you can t-turn it off just by th-thinking it off."

She then gathered a couple items from her bag, most notably a pair of red-lensed sunglasses, and headed out into the hall.

The best way to find Nayru was to check out all the redheads attending the school. And the best way to do that was to ask the head redhead herself, Helen Opium. Layla led the way towards Mother Opium's room, which was in a separate building from the student dormitories. It was reaching towards the early evening, so it was likely the Mother was in her room by now. She stopped momentarily outside the Mother's door, too nervous to knock herself.

"Uh, so, th-this is Mother O-opium's room." She said, just in case any of the other girls didn't know, "A-anyone want to d-do the oh-honors?"

(OOC: Mother is a formal title for the head of any institution that deals with raising or educating children, in case you were thinking it was a religious title like Father is IRL. More informally she could also be called Miss Opium as though she were a teacher or other direct authority figure. Or one might simply refer to her as Helen if they were a close friend or one of her peers. Never call her Miss Helen as you would one of your senior students, that's extremely rude)

[Sutoratosu]

Arya

She looked around at the others, taking in the brief moment of silence. Odd that they were here of all places, standing outside Miss Opium's door. Well, no more odd than anything else this morning, admittedly. One would think that even in human form, a goddess could just pick up on the signatures of her sisters, if they all were apparently awake and active again. Well, regardless, they didn't have all day, and it wasn't like this was exactly her first time meeting the Headmistress in person. Arya was already at the door and rapping her knuckles three quick times against the hardwood before any further discussion could be had, backing away to beside Layla.

"So..." She began. "if you took us here instead of just going right to Nayru, I'm guessing you can't sense where any of the others actually are. But how exactly are you going to explain any of this stuff to Miss Opium though?"

[Shamitako]

Sharp

Riv distracted the toad, using bright bursts of light to keep it from taking her down.

Sion fired ice at it, ripping through tongue and flesh with precise bursts.

Then it was Sharp's turn. He ran a shallow arc in front of the toad, releasing orbs of fire periodically. Each stretched out, forming a rifle. He began to fire them off in time with Sion's ice blasts, immediately burning the wounds Sion caused shut. The multitude of tongues began to wane in number, and soon Lexi could once again be seen through the writhing mass. Sharp gave her a close look to make sure she was alright, and was only partially surprised to see her braiding her hair. Her braid now went all the way through her hair, encompassing what had formerly been a ponytail.

"Are you doing your hair?" Sharp yelled in astonishment.

Lexi looked up in surprise and said, "Oh, uh, yeah. I was bored waiting for you guys."

A moment later, a bolt of ice sheared through the tongue that held the goddess, freeing her.

"Alright, that's enough." She said.

A storm of white flared up around her, ripping and tearing away at the tongue that held her. She landed on the ground and immediately charged the thing. She collided with its gut, but didn't stop. The storm tore into the toad as Lexi pushed forward. Then the storm died out, or rather, it died out everywhere but Lexi's hand. The toad started to fall forward, clearly in agony, but Lexi didn't let it. She raised her hand, the storm still raging away in her palm, and when the toad's skin made contact with the whirling white it was flung backwards. Blood spewed forth from its rent guts, showering Lexi in crimson.

She the turned around and said cheerfully, "Now then, shall we go murder ourselves up a doorway?"

(OOC: Wait, did I say there wouldn't be gore? Oops...)

[Shadow Sketches]

Lee

The young girl was caught completely by surprise, her eyes widened in shock as she watched Katherine send the table flying. She barely had time to process what had just happened before she herself got thrown back like a ragdoll. Lee squirmed on the ground slightly, trying to recover from the agony of having the stomach that had just been recovering from a punch to a gut earlier that day already be abused once again. The pain brought out tears that Lee refused to let drip down her face, instead the unshed tears welled in her eyes. Raw anger and pain could be seen in pools of pale blue as she glared at the second woman to abuse her in just that day.

She noticed the other strange woman bust into the room but all her focus was intent on Katherine. She wasn't sure was going on but the one thing she did know was how pissed she was at this so called 'teacher'. Rein's strange actions only made things more confusing, the psycho actually seemed to enjoy the abuse. Lee couldn't join in on Rein's pleasure, she was not a fucking punching bag.

Slowly, Lee lifted herself off the ground. One arm cradling the stomach that would most likely be bruised at this point. Her furious gaze never leaving Katherine. In the end, she only knew of a couple words that were appropriate answers to give Katherine once she was fully standing up.

"Fuck. You."

[Shamitako]

Kallisto

"I am the goddess Kallisto, I've been incarnated as human for reasons I don't know." She explained, "And right now this young girl here has come to kill me."

She took a half step forward and held her fingers out towards Eden, giving therm a single snap. Golden sparks formed at her feet and traveled up her body. Her feet became adorned in golden silk slippers. Her legs were coated in a red triangle pattern. Her long orange skirt was replaced by a short, uneven gold one. From the waist of the skirt a golden ribbon wrapped its way up and around her upper body, tucking back into itself after passing over her chest. Her arms had a matching pattern to her legs. And her nails were painted, the middle finger and pinky of each hand in red and the rest in gold. Her hair was now in a long ponytail that looped around back into its starting point, and it was now long enough for the lowest point on the loop to hang down just below the edge of her skirt.

"Very well, fuck you too." Kallisto told Lee, "I shall leave you to Eden's Curse."

She couldn't deal with a stubborn ward, so she removed Lee from her mind and focused on those who were more willing. She obliged Rein, grabbing the girl by the throat and flinging her so that she slid to a stop at the foot of the table Emberly sat at. A shiver of excitement ran down her spine but she quickly dispelled it, this wasn't the time for self-indulgence. She snapped her fingers again, and a fiery red shield arose around Emberly and Rein.

"I'll give you both a chance to join me in fighting in the future, but I don't have time to explain that right now, so just sit tight."

(OOC: I didn't copy/paste anything IDK wherever you got that idea)

Eden

Seeing Kallisto cast aside the girl gave Eden great pain. To her, each and every person was precious, and yet Kalli had thrown her away without so much as a second thought.

"You underestimate me, Kalli," she said, "I have no intention of harming anyone but you and those who side with you."

She calmly walked past the bewildered Kallisto to the girl. She looked up at her, calm and reassurance in her features. She reached out applying a slight pressure to the girl's mind to find her name within her memories. She hated that her abilities were broken in this would such that she had to be breaking someone to help them, but it was a struggle she simply had to overcome.
"Forgive me for the slight pain, Miss Lee." she said, "I'm sure you're seen the horror of this world, particularly that inflicted by followers of the goddess who chooses to cause you pain. I have come to end that, will you join me in my endeavor?"

[Shadow Sketches]

Lee

Lee couldn't find any words for a moment. She watched Eden's curse walk up to her with dread, she didn't know the girl and could only assume the worse was about to happen. To her surprise, Eden's curse was mysteriously gentle. Lee slightly winced as her mind was pressured uncomfortably but the pain was not the same as the punches she had endured. Her mind raced as she began to go over what was happening in her head, nothing was making sense. If she hadn't watched Katherine's appearance transform right before her eyes she wouldn't have believed her to be a goddess. But there was no denying the magic she had witnessed.

She should have felt honored to be in the company of Kallisto. But all Lee felt was anger and disdain, it didn't surprise her at all that Kallisto had forsaken her. She expected nothing more of a goddess that had just moments ago assaulted her.

Lee focused her attention on Eden, a steely look on her own face. "I've had enough of being knocked around for one day." she said, "Guess it's time to fight back. I will join you."

Edited May 12, 2016 by Shadow Sketches

[Shamitako]

Eden

"Lovely" Eden's Curse said kindly, "Then I would appreciate if you would call me Eden."

She grabbed Lee's hand and led her back to the doorway, standing in defiance of Kallisto. She applied a small exertion of power, making just the slightest change to Lee's soul. She wouldn't feel it, but it would effect every aspect of her destiny.

"Miss Lee, I would like you to say the following, it will give you access to the powers locked inside of you, those of an Earth Blade.

"Heart and soul forever torn

Endless sea of endless hate

Reaching out to tear down scorn

This blade of mine does reach forever

Salvation is my true endeavor"

(OOC: Eden teaches unique chants BTW, so this only works for Lee)

[Chim]

Regaining consciousness went slowly for Lana. She felt the bruise pulsating were the book had hit her, but the pain was dull. Probably because she was still dazing and hadn’t regained her full senses yet. Until she heard Riley’s voice.

“What did y-“

Lana"s voice stopped working halfway when she realized she couldn’t move. “What’s going on?” she protested while trying to free herself from the belts. She immediately began to panic when she noticed her surroundings. A dark, unknown room with nothing in it but a psychopath as a companion. Fear began to spread through her entire body as she finally faced Riley.

“Why are you doing this? And what did you do to Miss Natalie?”

[Shamitako]

Haley

"Actually, um, we're still in the hall." Haley explained, "It's just I needed to calm you down."

She didn't end the illusion quite yet, she needed to make certain Arturia maintained her senses before she did that. Haley wasn't any kind of expert on being stabbed, the only time it had happened to her, everything had gone black instantly.

"this here is an illusion I created with my powers. Nothing here is solid." She said, "If you're calm now, I can dispel the illusion and we can try to figure out what to do next."

Riley

Riley licked her lips hungrily, eager to get on with her plans. But Lana had questions, and she couldn't simply leave them unanswered. It wouldn't be any use if Lana was nothing more than confused.

"What's going on, is that you saw things you were not supposed to, and now I am going to punish you for it." She said, "The why is actually quite complicated, but I can make it sound simple: I have need of the girl named Arturia, acquiring her is of deep importance to myself. However she must be in the right state of mind for her to be of proper use to me. As for Nayru, the one you call Natalie, I did nothing to her. I simply convinced her that she had need of Arturia as well and she willingly helped me fool you."

She then reached out to touch Lana's face, cupping her hand over Lana's right eye. An odd burning sensation began to form in her eye socket, as though a low flame were licking at the back of her eye.

"I have a uniquely powerful ability, one which allows me to glimpse into the future and find despair." She told Lana, "But this power comes with a unique price: I am in constant agony."

The burning intensified, the pain spreading throughout her entire eyeball.

"But there is a remedy for this agony, I simply have to inflict pain on others. And if it comes to choosing this infinite pain over hurting someone else a little, I'm sure you can understand why I choose the latter."

A sharp stabbing sensation drove its way through the flames, feeling as though it were slicing Lana's eye in two.

"I even have a special ability made specifically for the task of inflicting pain. Usually I only do this to men, because nobody cares about them, but since I'm keeping you locked up anyways, I may as well relieve some of my pain, no?"

The searing and stabbing intensified, the pain climaxing at levels unimaginable by most. And then there was a snapping sensation and it was gone. Riley withdrew her hand from Lana's face, the previously empty palm now lightly grasping a small object. She turned her hand over next to Lana and slowly opened it. Sitting softly in her palm was an eyeball, it's deep green staring directly towards its matching partner

"I'm sure to you that felt like a living hell, but to me it would have been like a cool breeze. And now, thanks to your enduring that hell, I'm free of my agony for a short while."

Riley withdrew her hand and placed Lana's eyeball on a small end table. She then took a finger and touched it to the inside of the empty socket, sending a jolt of pain through Lana once more. No smile spread across her features, no giggle escaped her lips, no seductive gestures were made. Her face was almost entirely blank as she heartlessly tormented Lana

(OOC: In case you couldn't sort it out, Riley is on Lana's left, she reached across her. BTW, I recommend freaking out, that seems like an appropriate reaction)

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia was quiet for a moment. "I see. . . Wow, I was kind of hoping I'd just hit my head or something and we really were in the library." She took a deep breath, still half-expecting that pain to come stabbing back. "Shit," she sighed. "Okay. I think I'm okay. Let's go." This still feels like a dream. . . a really fucked up dream, but still a dream. She glanced downward at the pile of books. That's. . . that's gonna be a pool of my own blood. Yep. That's fucking fantastic. Good thing I'm not one of those types that faints when they see blood.

[Jory]

Riv

The girl blinked repeatedly, for once unable to find words for what had just happened. She fluttered lightly down to the ground, her Light constructs dispersing as she touched down. She shrugged at Lexi, then looked back at Sion and Sharp. "I guess I'm ready to go. Sion, Sharp, you guys good?"

((sorry for super short reply; shoulder's still hurting, but I don't want to hold this up any longer))

[Hiss13]

Sion

Sion's face could only show pure disgust and confusion as she watched rain of crimson descend onto Lexi. Her eyes closed and she pressed against her forehead before giving out a tired sigh.

It was one of those days…

One of those weird, overblown, and over-the-top days that Sion could never find herself blending into.

"I'm ready…but was the rain of blood and guts…really necessary…?"