Fantasy [Private] El Stories

[ChibiSkye]

It was a long walk back to the ship. A seriously long walk. The silence only made the time pass slower as Rena trudged behind Dust, deep in thought.

Did we really change that much in such a short period of time? Sometimes it's hard to remember how happy we were. Sometimes I feel that it was all a dream. A dream... How do I know that I wasn't dreaming?

She glanced up at her brother's back. She didn't see any of the fatigue or complexity like she had expected to see. Instead, she saw the outline of his back as a child, back in the forest of the elves. Then she blinked and it was gone. She continued on in silence, staring at the ground.

Fume

 

[Late]

"...I have enough of this."

Xavier felt Perkisas annoyance and suddenly his legs shifted. He quickly got up, nearly banging over the table. Perkisas managed to manipulate Xavier's head, able to make him move but Xavier being fully aware of it. Xavier made some attempt to sit back down but he suddenly wanted to get some fresh air.

"Looks like I'm going out for a bit," Xavier said to them. "Komodo."

Komodo perked up after finishing his last piece, licking his lips before following Xavier out the door. The time Xavier was outside, Perkisas release hold of his mind in which Xavier felt anger rising up in him.

"I don't appreciate the fact you can control my body whenever you want."

"You think it's easy? It's rather difficult, especially at this state," Perkisas growled low.

Xavier sighed, looking around for nothing in particular. "So shoot, what's your issue this time."

"I didn't ask to be part of a merry group. You're wasting your time on these people when you should be training and searching for the owner of Henir's Time and Space! This is a waste of time and every second I get more frustrated about our situation. There is something unnerving about this dimension, I can feel it, but I don't know what it is."

"How about we have a little patience about this? Not everyone is ready to go beyond their strengths," Xavier grumbled.

"Patience? I was very patient since day one, very patient. I kept quiet most of the time, observing for any improvements. And what I get? Nothing but a merry group who take their time stuffing their faces in food and personal feelings."

Xavier wanted to argue but at the same time he didn't want to make the beast any more upset. Probably a habit of his when he was training under Cornelius. "So..."

"We either leave the group or push them to get going. If they ever fall behind then fine, survival of the fittest. Time is money, Little Fire, we need to use to efficiently and not waste it on others."

Xavier stayed quiet, unsure what to do at the moment. Komodo looked up at Xavier curiously, tilting his head. The trainer sighed, ruffling up his own hair. It was probably best to do what Perkisas wants to do.

Heavengiver Breakthrough Phant0m

 

[Heavengiver]

Rain
​

"Perkisas...I wish mystical beings were more reasonable."

"Rain, you are a mystical being."

"I was human once! I understand connections and bonds are super important to humans."

Sighing, Rain gets up and smooths her dress.

"Let's get going guys. I'm afraid my friend is a bit impatient. We can get to know each other on the road."

Leaving Arya and Phantom to go with Xavier, she walks over to Steele's room and knocks on it to grab someone's attention.

"Airi, I'm afraid we're leaving now. I hope that we meet again. Give Steele my regards."

The dancer rushes out of the inn to go find Lara. She eventually finds the girl by the bank, seemingly bored out of her mind. Rain waves at her, gesturing towards the exit.

"Lara, we're going now! Sorry to keep you waiting."

"I can't wait until we get to Hamel. No one messes with me in that place."

"I'm well aware that you can drown everyone in our group if we ever get there."

"Dragons...if it wasn't for Rui, I would start hating them. I'm glad Perkisas doesn't exist in our world."

With a heavy groan, Rain drags her body outside the town and starts walking towards Altera, whipping out her notebook and drawing the enemies they had defeated the other day. Her group is getting bigger for sure, but it was far from the homely feeling she gets when she's with the El Search Party. She hides her growing indifference for the dimension she's in deep in her mind.

Late MementoDei LegenDarius I iFlipTables Phant0m Breakthrough

 

[MementoDei]

Lara Tureen

Spoiler: Current Appearance

Lara simply nodded with a smile as Steele went away. Good, all pieces were falling into place and she would only have to throw the dice at the right time. If Perkisas lost his human shell, then there would be no problem in the future for the other side, if, by then, they would still have their uses. It was still very intriguing how both gods were playing with this time around, sending people back and forth through dimensions and fusing souls of powerful beings in the bodies of humans while letting the ones coming from powerful lineages die...in the hands of demons or the undead, like her. Why they were creating so many anomalies, she didn't know, they were maybe planning something beyond another cycle, but what could that be? Not even Glewin's most ancient memories could answer that.

A world where all life depended on a single stone, a soul devourer stone only satiated by the souls of a selected few powerful mages, non-human mages, put forth by Ellia as the original guardians to make light win against darkness once and for all. In very counted occasions, when the world had fallen to the hands of one of the four races (humans, forest elves, dark elves or demons) another group of guardians rose and awoke the El's true nature and died once Ellia won. Each of those times, however, Henir hadn't shown any interest in the world, so why now? What was his motive to fight Ellia so vigorously, what had awoken his desire to win what had already been stablished as the light's victory?
"Lara, we're going now! Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Don't worry, Rain. I'll never complain over free time. I'm guessing we'll not have much rest from now on."
She replied with a chuckle. Lara took her belongings and followed "Henir's" creation.

LegenDarius Heavengiver

 

[Phant0m]

"What?" Phantom whispered as he watched Rain exit the Inn. Even Xopetec was silent, as the goddess had to take a moment to process the girl's words. The priest stood and he glanced around before he started after Rain before stopping. "What do you think?" He asked out loud, "Do you really think we should stay? You haven't deal with Henir in...what, forever?" Phantom dragged his staff behind him as he paced, a little ways from Xavier. "Oh, now you're completely silent." He huffed.

This was no good if Xiopetec doesn't have any advice for what Phantom could do or any warnings. He wasn't kidding when it has been forever since Xiopetec had even heard, or dealt with Henir, and going so long without any followers...well, she forgot her place amongst the gods. She's like a solo goddess who constantly nags in her priest's head, and Phantom grew accustomed to her constant comments, but he loved her warnings. His goddess is so protective of him, being her only follower, and Phantom took comfort in her protectiveness....most of the time (she can be very unbearable sometimes). Xiopetec's voice was a constant thing in Phantom's life, after his fall out with his family. So with her being silent for more than a few seconds, Phantom suddenly felt naked and his breath kinda caught in his throat, but he closed his eyes and continued pacing. Phantom is very familiar with traveling, he knows the feeling of wandering around, and so he tried to take comfort in that as he waited for Xavier to make a move to catch up with Rain. That way, Phantom wouldn't feel so awkward trying to go after her alone.

Heavengiver Late

 

[LegenDarius]

"Airi!" Ren called, shaking her awake. "We gotta go!"

He packed his stuff and headed out the door. "Airi! Come on!" he shouted before running off. He stopped by the restaurant with a small plastic box to collect as much food as he could for the journey. He had been informed that Stella had paid for their meals, so why not use it? After he packed his next five meals, Ren headed out the door and jogged down the dusty pathway that meandered through town. The air was hot but not humid, in fact, Ren found the clear skies quite pleasant. He caught up to Rain and her group but made sure to stay away from Xavier.

"Hey," Ren said to her. "I wasn't planning on leaving just yet."

Heavengiver Phant0m Late I iFlipTables MementoDei

 

[Fume]

As they walked, the chained notice that his supposed sibling looking at the ground. Perhaps it was the silence affecting her or maybe she was reminiscing on the old days, he didn't know. Still he didn't brought anything up, it wasn't his business to meddle, in fact it was but a blind eye was cast.

As they boarded the ship, he took out his notebook and flipped from the pages before finding the code.

"Code 00201, we're leaving this place." He ordered the floating Nasods and in a few moments they relaid the order to the others. "Rena, this might be a odd request, but could you stir something for us to eat? We haven't had breakfast. And I gotta talk with the both of them for a bit." He talked to her as they passed the cafeteria, briefly seeing them. "Speak of the devils. Add, start up the engines we're heading out now."

"Now? Are you sure, hybrid? I'm not going out there if the area isn't safe to take off you know!" Add informed slightly unease if there were gonna be complications.

"We're free to move. I made sure." Dust reassured while looking at Oblivio. "You, we need to talk. Privately." He signaled his ally while Rena went into the kitchen to make them their food. "Follow me to the sky deck. We'll be alone there for a bit."

"What's with the hurry, hybrid? It's not like him to hurry things up, unless that guy in the footage told him that he has a time limit around here... is he that much of a big shot in the demon realm? Or is there another reason? Bah, whatever let's just go to that island! Kekeke, I can't wait to see the real Nasods! Not this makeshift junk." He commented as he ignited the engines and started flying out of the area.

Reaching a part where they couldn't be seen in the cameras, Dust signaled Oblivio to stop.

"I've got a message from a mutual benefactor of mine of Henir. Oblivio, you aren't consider a threat by Hennon yet, but he already knows of you." He informed and saw a speck of emotion on him. "So, it's as I thought, you've left Henir behind. And by looking at that Nasod equipment, you're trying to do something about it's corruption." He passed about while having his hand under his chin. "As far as I know there's no way to cure it, actually you simply can't in this day and age. Not much information on it and too little resources to create it even. And no matter what you create, it'll only slow down because you lack a power source to slow it enough to stop the spreading." He then looked at him.

"But then the question is, why the hell would a Henir's disciple decide to leave so suddenly from him? It makes no sense, unless something changed." He pointed at him. "Something that now puts your faith in second place, making you cut your ties with Henir. I'm not gonna go and mettle with your stuff, we're allies after all, but I have to ask one small question from you. Will you still watch my back, while I'm watching yours? Believe me when I'm saying that depending on what you answer will change our partnership and on how much I can help you." This is was a necessary question, he can't just spend resources if his ally will just leech out of him.

K KizayaTaishuro ChibiSkye

 

[ChibiSkye]

As Rena busied herself with a salad, she let out a soft sigh.

"What am I doing here... I wonder how Ash and Rain are doing. Will they be angry at me for betraying them? I mean, no! I didn't betray them on purpose! At that time it was because of-"

Realizing that she was talking out loud, she looked around in a hurry and relaxed after seeing that there were only Nasods in the kitchen with her. Another sigh.

"Did I make the right choice?"

 

[Heavengiver]

Rain
​

"Thanks Steele. I'm glad that you're still on board."

She goes back to drawing in her notebook, but she has stopped drawing native enemies. Instead, she's drawing random people, from Aisha to Chloe to Karis. Rain writes in short descriptions of each character, smiling as she makes humorous one-liners for some of them.

"We should draw the others in this group as well. Their strengths and weaknesses will be useful to know if we have to fight clones of them in Time and Space."

"Okay, maybe later."

She glances at her description of Rena.

"A forest elf that resides near the Tree of El and one of the starting members of the El Search Party. Prefers to use kicks and arrows, but as of this dimension, she favors her legs over her bow. Easily corruptible, and when corrupted, is unrecognizable from her normal self."

LegenDarius Phant0m Late Breakthrough MementoDei I iFlipTables

 

[Late]

Xavier noticed the group was moving now and felt some sort of relief. Though for sure he does need to be a bit persistent now and then, just so Perkisas doesn't keep pestering him. It was for just for the best.

Xavier kept quiet in the group, still bothered what Perkisas said to him and watching Komodo distracting himself with a few rocks that happen to be in the way. He made some entertainment for himself, kicking the pebble ahead and going off to chance after it. Xavier wished he was carefree as his dragon.

It wasn't long that Komodo noticed they were going to walk in a new area and looked back at Xavier for permission. Xavier let out a short, soft whistle in which Komodo chirped in response and flew off to explore around. Xavier watched his dragon flying off, subconsciously rubbing the soft pads of his fingers together.

Heavengiver MementoDei LegenDarius I iFlipTables Breakthrough Phant0m

 

[MementoDei]

Lara Tureen
​

Lara glanced briefly at Rain's notes and frowned at Karis' image. So that was her name. Lara reminded herself to ask Dust later if she could also take that demon's life. Even if he refused, she would not rest until her rapier had shredded that demon to pieces, painfully, slowly, until she begged for mercy. Her expression quickly softened as Rain turned the page towards a drawing of Rena. The Soul Priestess still couldn't believe how closely they resembled each other.

"Idrak..." The priestess' lips repeated her friend's name inaudibly and a memory imposed itself in her mind: She had come back from Sander and had eaten a delicious breakfast in Idrak's cafe just at the crack of dawn. It was a quiet morning and yet they talked of her travel to the desert's commercial heart. Her friend's eyes glimmered with wonder, asking only for more details. Idrak sometimes made jokes about Lara's misadventures and they laughed at how amazingly mundane the world turned out to be no matter how little or well they had explored it.

Her blissful remembrance brought a genuine smile on her face for the first time since her death.

"You draw very well, Rain." She said in a slightly nostalgic voice before continuing the way at her pace, which was a little slower than the rest without any magic to boost her speed. She hated to admit that despite being dead and having a demonic body, the scars of the past still took a toll on her capacities. She was falling slightly behind, even from Perkisas' shell, who was visibly lost in thought. The priestess wasn't certain on how much power she would need to catch up again, so she used the smallest quantity she could create. To her amazement, it was good enough and she was walking once again in the middle of the group.

Heavengiver LegenDarius I iFlipTables Late Phant0m Breakthrough

 

[Heavengiver]

Rain
​

She had just turned the page to start drawing the fire priestess when Lara complimented her. Rain suddenly became nervous, never one that took compliments well.

"O-Oh...thank you. I thought that I would draw the characters that might appear in Time and Space for reference."

The dancer continues to draw, deciding not to draw the traitor and switching over to sketching Altera and the surrounding areas.

"Will the Nasod King still be there?"

"I actually don't know."

She ponders a bit at her other self's question. What could they do in Altera if he isn't there? Raven and Eve are also located there, but she gave up wanting to meet her friends' counterparts.

MementoDei Late Breakthrough Phant0m LegenDarius I iFlipTables

 

[LegenDarius]

Ren flinched. Rain could draw very well indeed, being able to create beautiful depictions of people with just a pencil. But one of those people brought back a string of unwanted memories.

"Karis..." Ren seethed under his breath.

MementoDei Late Breakthrough Phant0m Heavengiver I iFlipTables

 

[iFlipTables]

"Mmph... Sheeps and pillows and... Steele yelling?"
Airi woke up to see Steele leaving the room.

"Ahhhh... Wait..."

Gathering all her stuff, she quickly went to the lobby and caught up with Rain and Steele.

LegenDarius Heavengiver

 

[MementoDei]

Lara Tureen
​

Lara's smile faded away and she nodded. She became aware of Rain's true intentions. She would observe them all and find their weaknesses, the extent of their power and record it all in that notebook. The priestess decided to never break more than one magical seal in their presence and to never let them know of Lunæ Lumen nor her ability to completely absorb the souls of her enemies.

Well, it wouldn't hurt to use that information for herself when the time was right. She could kill Joaquim, Ran and Karis easily if she knew exactly their abilities without having to face them in direct combat. She couldn't rely in Berthe's memories, because demons usually tended to hide their deck from others and they were very clever to do so. Anyone could backstab them if they got to know every ace under their sleeve. The case of Luciela R Soulscream was among the best examples of how trust over her power, showing off too much to others and trusting others with a similar power range proved to be a fatal mistake.

She lowered her voice before answering to Rain as she drew what Lara vaguely recognized as Lanox's priestess.

"I see. That's very useful. If I was you, I would also put some details concerning the administrators' power, if you know it. We'll be at their mercy if things go south."

Heavengiver

 

[Phant0m]

Phantom walked at the back of the group, with his staff strapped to his back. The priest had his arms folded over his chest as he started humming, changing the gate of his pace from borderline dancing to prancing or to a regular walking pace. His humming was initially loud, but he lowered the volume so it became more of a background noise. Something to fill the silence for Phantom as he waited for Xiopetec to finally tell him something.

Phantom looked over his shoulder when he heard Airi approaching the group and he gave a smile and a wave. "You made it," He told her with a light chuckle.

I iFlipTables

 

[LegenDarius]

"A-Airi! Good to see you!" Seeing the girl made Ren snap out of those painful memories. He flashed Airi a genuine smile before remembering Rain's note.

"H-here," Ren said, slightly flustered. "Rain wrote you a note while you were sleeping..." With that the elf reached into his cloak and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He handed it to Airi and walked nervously as he waited for her response.

Heavengiver I iFlipTables

 

[Heavengiver]

Rain
​

"I-I will try, but I'm afraid my knowledge is very limited."

Indeed, she didn't know what Glave or any of Henrir's disciples can do. Wasn't it why she pursued him in the first place? He held power that could potentially help her defeat the demons, but in terms of his actual strength, she had no idea.

And based on what Lara had asked her that night, it seems like Lara knows more than she did on Henrir. The ideas of his disciples...was she really an anomaly?

This thinking is frustrating her. To relieve her aggravation, she decides to continue her sketch of that damn fire priestess.

"Anything with fire really hates us."

"Can't help it when our natural element is the complete opposite."

She doesn't pay attention to the rest of her group, but she started to dislike the feel of the ground against her feet. Rain absentmindedly taps her feet several times and glides ahead, letting water flow from her feet as she silently draws.

MementoDei

 

[MementoDei]

Lara Tureen

Spoiler: Appearance in Ereda

​

Her small talk with Rain got her thinking that the probability of that girl to be in the same class as what Glave wanted the priestess to become was near zero. It had been the first time Henir had fused souls without the intention of leaving them to his order's claws. Just what was going on in his mind?
"Oh, you know what we want, my sweet Lara. And you'll help us if the time comes. We know you. And you know us"
Lara turned around, only to see the weird nomad, Arya, Perkisas' shell and Airi sleeping peacefully.
There was no doubt about it now, Hennon had connected her mind to his. The group had camped for the night, all of them were fast asleep and only a few hot sparks remained of the campfire. She got up and began to walk, putting a hand on her weapon when Luto appeared suddenly before her.
"Well, what a surprise to see you in good company, Lady Lara."
The priestess glared at him and pulled out her weapon, ready to fight if she saw him trying something weird.
"Interesting. What is a person of your kind doing so far in the desert?"
"Just admiring how desolate the place I grew up in is before it returns to the void, hahaha."
Both of them mumbled their replies menacingly, waiting for the other to make the first move. Even Luto's grin was heated by the flames of his bloodlust. He wanted to fight the dark priestess who had made by herself a breach in their world and created a world of her own. As for her, she felt his desire for a good combat and that urge made her the darkness within her crave for the same. She smirked and let out a scoff.
"Feeling nostalgic? Now that's a first for a disciple. Don't they reach you that everything will become meaningless?"
"Hahahahaha, you sound just like that Hennon kid. I don't like him a lot, but I wouldn't be an old man if I didn't criticize the youngster that took my place."
"Is that so? Then we share a common dislike, Luto."
The red-eyed man smirked. Henir had been right to send him here and talk with her. The girl had learnt their credo on her own and maintained a state of chaos everywhere she went. She loved destruction, she hated light and had extinguished it from her mind. There really wasn't any better candidate. He opened a portal towards Ereda's ancient Coliseum and the distortion in time and space swallowed both of them.
Torches of red fire lit the arena as thousands of masked disciples and apprentices stood on the grey stone stands, greeting them with a calm yet fiery ovation, clapping softly. Some of them hollered her name or Luto's before being cruelly silenced by their seniors. Right in front of her was a more privileged place where Glave and Hennon watched, amused, the combat that would ensue.
"What's this, Hennon? You want me to beat an old man?" She growled.

The blue eyed man simply burst out laughing, silencing the entire stadium, before announcing that the combat had to begin. The applause resumed and more of the disciples yelled the name of who they believed would be victorious.

Luto got up of his chair and transformed it into a spear that glowed with an eerie turquoise light. Lara broke her illusion spell, revealing her true appearance and broke the first seal shortly after.

A wave of energy lifted a curtain of white sand towards Luto, blinding him for an instant. Lara took the opportunity to dash towards him at an alarming speed. What Luto first saw of her was her rapier's shining as it aimed for his eye. He barely parried the hit with his weapon's blade and was impressed to see that Lara's weapon hadn't shattered at its contact. Lara followed her first attack by a rain of others, all aiming at vital spots, but Luto was a master Spearman and parried them all before finding a chance to lower his stance to sweep Lara's feet with his spear, making her lose her balance before planting his weapon's blade through her heart.

The stadium stood silent as Lara coughed blood, groaning in pain.
Her vision was getting blurry. No, she wouldn't die to his hands. She didn't want to lose. Luto took his spear out, sullied the pristine sand with her blood, but he knew he had only awoken a more powerful beast.

Lara's tattoos began to glow intensely, absorbing all the mana aound her, turning the sand as black as onyx and the body of some apprentices turned instantly into ashes. Her wound closed and her eyes turned completely lilac and the horn at the side of her head simply vanished. Her rapier began to shine intensely, then, she vanished. Glave looked everywhere for a breach in the dimension, but found nothing. She was still there. Somewhere, but he couldn't tell where. The echo of a step startled him, Hennon barely turned to see Lara on the corner of his eyes, the priestess stood calmly in front of them.
"I won't obey any god. I won't kneel to their useless wishes. Put yourselves in my way again and I swear that my blade will feed on your blood for all eternity."
"You've got some guts, Lara. That's why Henir loves you. Don't you see he's doing all this in your honour? Even if you kill us, the true God will find a way of bringing you to his side. It's not in your best interests to refuse a gentleman's invitation."
"Hah. As if a god seeking for annihilation or his servants would be considered gentlemen. Farewell, Hennon."
The priestess vanished again and this time, she opened a breach that made her go back to where she was before. She activated her seals and her illusion magic again. Back in the camp, she laid on her sleeping bag and stared at the night's sky, waiting for morning as her wounds closed. She closed her cloak on her shirt so the blood on it went unseen.
**************************************************************************************************************************
Back in Ereda, Hennon let out a sigh while he filled a golden glass with wine.
"Don't you find it attractive when women pretend to be difficult, Glave? I know she's head over heels for me already. The way she talks to me is always very passionate. Last night she melted under my touch."
Glave rolled his eyes as his superior took a sip of his drink.
"Keep telling yourself that and next time she sees you she'll beg you to follow her to the grave."
"Oh! A lover's suicide? I would prefer to kiss her before that, though. What do you think?"
"That it's hard to tell how serious you are sometimes. I wonder why our God always chooses people like you or that girl to be his most powerful servants."
"Are you jealous, Master Glave?"
Glave chuckled and served himself some wine before taking off his mask, revealing his ageless face partially deformed by scars that had blinded his left eye.
"Not at all. On the contrary, I think you have proven to be a great leader despite being among the youngest generations of us. I just find your preferences sometimes disturbing."
The Henir's order leader laughed as he clinked his cup with Glave's.
"You're not in the position to treat me like a freak because of my actually good taste in women. Last time I checked, you were getting quite interested in a black haired human pedd-"
"Hennon, you're one syllable away of receiving my punch to the face. I suggest you respect your elders for once."
Hennon filled another glass for him before answering in an exaggerated dramatic voice:
"Oh no, Master Glave! Please, I beg you, everything but my beautiful face! How could I face Lara if she sees my nose broken? I can't take such shame upon my honour!"
Glave glanced at him, wondering for how much time he would continue his joke around what could possibly be his replacement if Henir wished it.
It was then that he looked once more at the centre of the Arena and was shocked to see Luto's corpse rotten to the bone in the middle of it. Most of the disciples had already got out and Hennon's voice returned to his usual menacing tone:
"This is why you never got further than a Kerberos for all this time: you lack insight. You can't take a look at the whole picture without forgetting crucial details. You can't grasp the true nature of the void if you blind yourself away from this world. It's sad, really; you can barely admire a small fraction of Henir's kingdom."
With those ominous words, Hennon retired himself for the day by opening a portal towards the void.

 

[Late]

As they camped out for the night, Komodo returned back to Xavier with a good handful of el shards. Xavier studied the minerals carefully and he slightly frowned after noticing a few were tainted, ruined. He separated them away from the ones that were in good condition. It was a bit strange since he never had more than one el shard being tainted before. Perkisas words about this dimension was slowly starting to get to him, the "corrupted atmosphere".

The trainer gave Komodo a treat for finding the small gems and the dragon went ahead to nestle himself close to Xavier, ready to sleep for the night. He looked down at his gauntlets, silently deciding to keep them on just in case. Especially since they're out in the wilderness. Already he felt like he was going to have another nightmare, or some sort of dream he will not be able to understand. It made him uneasy, thus taking him awhile to fall asleep with Komodo by his side.

The dream for the night was rather different than he expected. He was in a house, standing in a hallway. After realizing he can move around, Xavier took careful steps around the area, noting how the wood doesn't creak under his weight and the doors he pass by were closed. He reached to the end of the hallway and stepped out to find himself in a wide room.

Xavier glanced around as it seem to look like a guild room of sorts, until he noticed three individuals in the room. He doesn't recognize the first two, but immediately knew the third one who was sitting on a chair and holding what seems to be a dragon egg close to him. A child but Xavier immediately recognized himself; the hair, the eyes, even the small scar over his chin.

As for the other two, they were...more like a blur. Though after observing his younger self, watching him flinch every once in awhile and having a sad look, the two must be arguing. He managed to register the muffled words of "dangerous" and "threat". Xavier questioned on when did this ever happened in his life as he was fully aware he never lived with humans before at a young age.

He perked up when his younger self finally got up from his seat, still having the egg close to him as he was terribly afraid to lose it. Xavier followed after his younger self, curious where he was going. They made it outside but it was rather dark, causing the boy to stay put at the edge of the stairs. Xavier watched the boy taking a seat at the end of the stair case, putting the egg on his lap. His younger self seem to be relaxed that he was now out of the room, quietly stroking the egg as if trying to comfort it. Xavier eyed at the hands, slightly surprised that they were without the gloves and showing off burn marks.

The boy eventually took out a flute, a small wooden one that appeared to be hand made. He played the instrument to himself, focusing on the notes he played as he fingers seem to dance over the holes. Xavier strained his ears in hopes to listen for the music. The time he heard three notes, suddenly his dream was interrupted with Perkisas crashing through, the scene burning away as the dragon leered at Xavier.

"Wake up."

Xavier woke up immediately, inhaling deeply as he blinked a couple of times. He saw the night sky though after tilting his head to the side, he saw the incoming sunlight from the horizon. It was awfully quiet at the camp, except a few chirps from krickets and tweets of morning birds that were close by. He slowly sat up, thinking he heard a flute close by but his ears were ringing. Komodo shifted when Xavier was sitting up and eventually the dragon opened up his eyes, letting out a small yawn.

"Rise and shine. I been wanting to teach you something new that I feel like will be rather effective for large group of enemies," Perkisas rumbled in his head.

"So early..?" Xavier whispered.

"Yes. Come on now, and take that dragon of yours, too. I am aware that you two combine your powers in awakening and I feel like this training might benefit him too," Perkisas quickly added.

"What about the others...?"

"Im sure they don't mind your disappearance, maybe a few will be happy about it," Perkisas grumbled. "If they ever start moving we can easily catch up with them. Plus, I taken noticed Komodo is rather good with his nose. It won't be an issue."

Xavier sighed lightly as he got up. He packed up his sleeping bag, doing his very best to not make too much of a noise. When he was done, he clicked his tongue for Komodo to follow. Komodo perked up and followed after Xavier, curious where they're going as they left the camp.

 

[iFlipTables]

Airi silently accepted the note and read it. Seems to be a misunderstanding. Interesting. She crumbled up the note and stuffed it in her bag.

Glancing at Steele, Airi stuck out her tongue.

"Bleh! We wouldn't make a good pair! We would be the best pair!" She cried childishly.

Heavengiver LegenDarius

 

[Heavengiver]

Rain
​

When they settled down for the night, Rain takes out her dress and starts sewing again. The stars shone brightly in the dark sky, and Rain is reminded of the time that Elsword talked to her about his dream.

It was a night similar to the one she is in now.

"Hey Rain. I need to talk to you about something."

The girl turns around to see the Sword Knight looking at her with tired and gloomy eyes. She tilts her head at him. This wasn't the Elsword she knows, one who storms into trouble without hesitation.

"Why me, Elsword? Isn't Rena a better person to talk to?"

"I guess...but I have a feeling that you'll help me more."

The healer pats a spot next to her on the log she was sitting on. Elsword drops himself down, heaving a heavy sigh.

"I've been having the same dream the past few nights. There was a hoard of mysterious creatures closing in on me, and I think I was going to die. But then, someone came to save me."

"Do you know how she or he look like?"

"It was definitely a girl. She was dressed in all white, kind of like a goddess."

"I see. Anything else you can remember about her?"

"No, unfortunately. She must have been speaking to me, but I couldn't hear anything. Then, she turned and decimated the wave of creatures surrounding us."

His face then grimaced.

"But they kept coming. She grew more and more exhausted, and then all of the sudden...!"

Visible tears started to streak down his cheeks, but the boy either didn't know he was crying or he didn't care. Rain realized that this dream was something more than a nightmare.

"She got stabbed everywhere. There was no mercy for her. And I...I couldn't even move. I couldn't help her, save her!"

Rain shakes back her tears at her recollection. His voice, the look in his eyes...it just clashed too much with who he really is, and it broke her heart seeing him like that. She looks up at the stars again and sings a lullaby as she continues to sew, eventually passing out onto the dirt floor. The dancer was too caught up in her memories (and her sewing) to notice any changes to the group.

Late MementoDei LegenDarius I iFlipTables Breakthrough Phant0m

 

[KizayaTaishuro]

Oblivio/Carna

His convictions had wavered, that was the truth. The thing he was worried about was...was it that easy to leave Hennon? The man had been ecstatic that a three-century experiment had succeeded. Carna couldn't escape full corruption. Soon, he would turn into something else. He still had time left. Still had some time left to spend with his brother. For now, he had to do whatever he could to keep things in balance.

"Things won't change. I will watch your back," he said. Part of him wanted to scream at himself for leaving Henir's side. Sooner or later, this part of him will end things.

"You'll return to me, won't you? Those times in the Void that we spent together...you won't ever forget." No, he wouldn't forget. Who could forget after seeing chaos itself? He could feel that same imprinted loyalty pulling him back, slowly unhinging his wavering faith. No...not yet. He won't return yet.

Although his brother had worked with him to try to slow the corruption, he already knew the result.

Fume

 

[Phant0m]

Phantom had woken up in the middle of the night but kept his eyes closed. He had been taught as a child that if he just closed his damn eyes then he would fall asleep. At that thought, Phantom turned on his side and opened his eyes. The priest stared blankly at a desert shrub in the distance before looking up at the black sky. He started to count the stars when he gave a little jolt when Xiopetec finally made a comment. He slowly sat up. "Hold on," He whispered as he climbed out of his sleeping bag using some of his magic to increase his stealth a bit to make sure no one would awake, and moved away from where the others set up camp. Phantom glanced over his shoulder and noticed that someone in the group was absent at the moment, but he shrugged and continued on before stopping far enough that he could still see the outline of camp. The priest looked around, making sure he was alone before he knelt and bowed, so his face was almost touching the sand.

Phantom felt weird getting into this position to "pray", but if anyone stumbled on to the priest, he already had an excuse on his tongue. "Alright," He whispered still. He didn't wanna risk waking the others. The priest listened to the goddess speak in his head, at first she was rambling before she asked him a question: was he loyal to her? "Why are you asking that?" Phantom frowned, "Of course I'm loyal to you. I mean, I'm not with my family because I wanted to worship you instead." The priest straightened, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not leaving the group. I just joined," He argued as he adjusted his position to sit cross-legged. He pulled his scarf over the bottom of his mouth and his hood up when he felt the sand in the wind started to assault his face.

He fidgeted with his staff as he waited for Xiopetec to vocalize her concerns. "I mean...I know Henir's bad news...sorta? But you don't need to worry about me suddenly changing gods," Phantom assured and he yawned. "Can the rest wait for tomorrow? I really need to get back to sleep-no. Nu-uh, you're not going to get all up in my dreams to try and give me all these warnings and suspicions." The priest stood and quietly made his way back to his sleeping bag and climbed back in, facing the night sky. He counted the stars again before he drifted back into sleep. Phantom woke up in the morning to Xavier packing his sleeping bag and he cracked open one eye to watch the dragon boy leave camp. The priest sat up, stretching and he stared at where Xavier was with a raised eyebrow. He made a move to sneak behind Xavier-just to see what he could be up to and come right back to camp-when Xiopetec's firm refusal made his pause. Phantom tilted his head and he sighed as he laid back down and feigned sleep until the others finally wake up.

Late Heavengiver LegenDarius I iFlipTables Breakthrough MementoDei

 

[MementoDei]

Lara had been the first one to awaken, but the third one to make her consciousness visible. First was the dragon kid, then the mad priest. The morning's quiet turmoil had come and Lara got out of her sleeping bag, carefully ensuring that her cloak covered her bloodied shirt and headed out where the portal had opened. She had to use Lunæ Lumen for the third time to win against Luto and even then, the battle had been fierce. If it wasn't for her Golem's help, she would've lost more than a hand in combat. She frowned, remembering the vague smile Henir's oldest disciple as the souls Avalon liberated ate his corrupted flesh away. She had killed a priest, a priest weakened by too many reincarnations during Elrios' multiple cycles. She still couldn't believe it, yet she remembered consuming his soul. He had lived as a hu man long ago, even before Glewin. His memories gave her the clue on why Henir was looking for this time around. She wouldn't be able to keep her freedom for long, as Hennon had told her, but if she had killed one priest with her power, she would gladly kill many more to delay Henir's goal until her own had been fulfilled.
She caught a glimpse of Perkisas' shell training and continued to observe him in the distance, putting stealth runes over her and lowering her mana aura. Her vital signs were no existent, so no dragon would be able to detect her presence because of her beating heart or even her breath.
Heavengiver Phant0m LegenDarius I iFlipTables Late Breakthrough