Ww - the coming storm

[Esme]

The blind realm still hadn't gone back to being blind, it was still the ruined courtyard, now with a bit more blood in random places, as well as a darker form of Alec, known to others as the personality of Meido. Meido stood up staring at Alec as she marched in, hands tigthened into fists. "Don't you look delightful." She remarked almost instantly getting decked into the bloody fountain water for it. Turning she looked at Steven, knowing he had followed. "What happened to her."


~


Leslie nodded her head, not really understanding what he was getting at, or what type of mess training could cause, "It's okay..." Bowing her head to him, she kept her eyes off of him. Something he said finally clicked, "Accidents?" There was actual fear in her voice. The gourd of sand at her hip was hear-able now as it sensed Leslie's distress and started whipping up a storm inside the bottle...

 

[Riddle78]

Steven walked up beside Alec,and glanced between her and Meido. He sighed,and said, "Innos sent another goon. He had a reflector ward. Your mother,Yumi,tried to hit him with a magic bullet...But it was reflected,and tore straight through her heart. There was nothing we could do. I'm sorry,and I accept full responsibility."


Steven bowed hishead,and knelt before Alec,in a sign of humility.


~~~


Borghen heard Leslie's toneand the sudden sound of swirling sand. Realizing his mistake,he whipped around and raised his hand in an apologetic manner. "I didn't mean to scare you! It's just,accidents happen when there's mistrust. If you don't trust someone,and they approach you,you may flinch away. This can proove disasterous...Especially for your first trial. I will not lie. It's life threatening,if you fail. Do you still wish to do this?"

 

[Esme]

Alec nodded her head before taking her hat off and running a hand through her hair. Meido slowly stood up out of the fountain, shaking blood off. "What the bloody hell was that for?" She barked only to get her shadow mouth stitched shut by a magic needle. "Talk again, you no longer have a tongue. Trust me, it isn't fun either."


Her hands tightened again. "Where is Innos located...?"


~


Leslie nodded her head again, still a bit jumpy. She always was. The sand died down a bit till it was just a background noise. "It will help the Sir make the world better if I do." she stated simply, fully believing the lie that had been told to her.

 

[Riddle78]

Steven said,while still kneeling, "He is a god. Where else would he reside except Godshome?"


~~~


Borghe nooded. He opened the door to the cellar,and revealed it to Leslie. It had barrels of fine wines along one wall,some of which had holes and gouges,with a quagmire of wine nearby. At the end of the room,several target dummies were lined up,all of them looked like they were fed to a wood chipper,then roughly reassembed. There was a space cleared near them. "This is where I shall train you. I'll do my best to make it more presentable,after this session."

 

[Esme]

Alec nodded her head before a portal opened up behind her. It didn't lead to godshome, but rather a cabin. Stepping through it she moved towards the building before knocking on the door of it gently. She had no idea what she was doing, she was certain if Meido could talk she would be telling her this is stupid. But the idea was stuck in her head, and if she could get vent ...


~


Fidgeting with the hem of her jacket, Leslie nodded her head. "It's fine..." Nervously stepping farther into the room, she looked around a bit more closely before her eyes settled onto the dummies. "I could...um, stitch those up like new again, as payment for this..." Leslie would have looked back at Borghen, had it not been for the fear she got from it. So she opted for turning towards him, and keeping her eyes on the ground, a way of showing he was above her and she understood and respected that.

 

[Coro]

Vent heard the knock, and went to the door, falling over once before adjusting.


"That had been a niccce nap, too!" He exclaimed, opening the door to Alec. His semi-drunk grin faded immediately, and he straightened up, his eyes opening wide, no sign of drunkenness.


"..... Alec..... Are, you okay?" He asked tenderly.

 

[Riddle78]

Steven looked up,and saw Alec was gone. He saw Meido,and asked, "So,are you,like,Alec's Dark Side,or something?"


~~~


Borghen looked at Leslie,and said, "We are equals. The payment I expect for this training is twofold: For you to survive,and for you to do your best. I will do my best to guide you. But it is up to you to walk the path."

 

[Esme]

Meido leaned her head back, her jaw staying in place and the stitches tore off. Looking back at Steven, Meido smirked. "More like her nightmare."


~


Alec looked at Vent and instantly hugged him tightly, her nose catching the scent of something off but it didn't really register at first. "Isn't that the understatement of the year." She muttered.


~


Leslie nodded her head, still not looking at him. "Shall we start then?"

 

[Coro]

Vent sighed, and hugged Alec tightly as well.


"... I'm sorry. I was a second too late. If.... If I had gotten there a minute.... Thirty seconds earlier...." He stumbled on his words, feeling less and less drunk every passing second. Alec had a buzz-kill effect on him.


He shook his head.


"Revenge?" He asked, a dangerous tone in his voice.

 

[Riddle78]

Steven nodded. Then,he thought of something...


"Have you ever heard of the Twin Blades of Flame and Storm Igni and Rudra?"


~~~


Borghen nooded. "Yes,we shall. Stand over there,by where the area's been cleared."

 

[Esme]

Alec shook her head and pulled away from Vent. "Revenge is not what I want." She stated simply. What she wanted was Innos's heart in her hand so she could crush it. "But I do want Innos dead. So we can be done with this already."


~


Meido tilted her head to the side, "Why would you want to know about them?" the way she said them was about equal to the way someone would refer to a half rotten animal run over one to many times on the road.


~


Leslie nodded and stood where she was told to. Folding her arms behind her back and waiting. She really didn't know what to expect.

 

[Riddle78]

Steven smirked,and said, "We both know that Alec wants to kill Innos,God of the Bargain. Without Innos,this eye would become powerless. Besides...I want Innos' last sight to be me breaching the contract. Having Igni and Rudra would give me an edge in the battle,and,as a bonus,not leave me entirely powerless after Innos dies."


~~~


Borghen nodded and said, "Let the Trial of Nerves begin."


Suddenly,giant bladed pendulums appeared and were anchored to the celing above Leslie's head.


"Your nerves must be as steel to survive this trial. Begin now."


With a loud rusty grating sound,the pendulums began to fall.

 

[Esme]

Meido laughed. "Inga and Rudra...they are... how do you say. Difficult." She looked up at the dark sky the blind realm was supporting at the moment. "So what prey tale would you want to know about them....?"


~


Leslie blinked a few seconds before a squeak of fear came from her and her arms tightened up and covered her ears, her whole body moved to take up the smallest amount of space possible as if it would reduce damage in any way shape or form. As Leslie's fear spiked, the sand in her gourd roared before the cap came off and it wrapped in a small shield around her trying to protect her, with a few small opens for air.

 

[Riddle78]

Steven raised an eyebrow. "Everything. I also want to know their current location."


~~~


The pendulums swung by Leslie,only their air current disturbing her sand barrier. After the pendulums cleared her,they vanished. Borghen could be heard applauding Leslie,in his steel gauntlets.

 

[Esme]

Meido looked directly at Steven and suddenly, in a single flash of thoughts, there was a shared link between their minds, he oculd find any thing he wanted to from her mind by just thinking about it, and vis versa though she wasn't about to do that.


~


Leslie shivered harshly for a second at the sound of metal agaisnt metal before it registered as it being a form of clapping. The sand separated a little bit allowing her to see out and allowing Borghen to see her two eyes staring at him.

 

[Riddle78]

Steven was floored by this sudden surge of information. But... "Where was that...It seemed familiar...Please,show me about that place."


~~~


Borghen stopped applauding and dropped his arms. "You passed. But know that sometmes,even curling up into a ball will not save you. Do you wish your second trial,or do you wish to rest?"

 

[Esme]

Again another surge of information regarding the umbralus scroll and realm went into Steven's head.


~


The sand slowly went away and Leslie stood up again, visibly shaking. "S-second trial."

 

[Ranmyakki]

As Starr was about to respond to the 2 all 4 of them could hear a humming noise from the gunship that hadn't been there a second ago.


-fwizped- (Sound affect fail \/)


Suddenly the Gunship was in complete darkness and emerged flying over Berlin seconds later. A mansion could be seen just bellow the gunship, perhaps 400feet down. The gunship began descending. Starr and Rafael were shocked at what just happened wondering exactly what all that was.


The ship had landed and the pilot waited for everyone to exit the vehicle before taking off towards a different part of the mansion. "Ahh, here we go. Now then, I'll be off to see to my master." The man walked off quickly towards the doors. "I have no idea" Starr finally replied as she turned to look at the others.

 

[Coro]

Vent grinned.


"I'm always ready to fight. We'll kick this God's ass." He said, cracking his knuckles.


He went and pulled a shirt on, then joined Alec outside.


"..... You may be fighting for revenge, but....." He started, sighing. "..... I am. Innos has pissed me off for the last time." He said firmly, his Umbralus marks flashing for a second, going an even darker black.

 

[Esme]

Alec smirked. "Glad to have you on our side..." Looking back at the portal still standing into the blind realm that wasn't really blind at the moment she frowned. "I think we might want to go back before Steven pisses off Meido and she tears into shreds..." Flicking her hat she reached down and grabbed Vent's hand before walking towards the portal, not even phased by what she was doing in the slightest.


~


Though she had said she was ready to go for the second trail, Leslie's body was not. Shock was a strange thing like that. A few seconds later, she was wavering back and forth a bit before passing out and hitting the floor with a light thump.

 

[Riddle78]

Steven's eyes widened. "The Umbralus Void... Thank you,Meido. Now...To find Vent..." Steven whipped around to see Alec's portal,and saw she was dragging Vent toward it. "Good."


~~~


Borghen nodded,and picked up Leslie,and carried her out of the cellar,and to her room. He set her down in the bed,and left the room. He went back to the cellar,and began to clean it up.

 

[Coro]

Vent rolled his eyes and smiled gently as Alec took his hand and took him towards the not-so-blind blind-realm. Within the portal, he saw Steven, and immediately narrowed his gaze. Vent as still not entirely happy with Steven.


He let Alec take him into the blind-realm, but didn't say anything.

 

[Esme]

"Neh, nothing to thank for..." Meido said before her eyes drifted over towards the two coming towards them. "Lovely weather were having..." She muttered before spalshing blood from the fountain onto the Alec. Letting go of Vent's hand she shrugged, completely ignoring Meido's actions as a way to snubb her. "So...Steven, where is he."


~


While sleeping, Leslie curled up into a tight little ball, crying though she didn't know it. Her head was still pounding and her viens were still full of adrenaline from the scare, it was lucky she didn't have a panic attack really...but it didn't matter. She was helping protect the planet from a monster...

 

[Riddle78]

Steven nodded to Vent and Alec,and said, "Innos is in Godshome. But first,I need to arm myself. The Eye is an artifact of Innos,and he can control the flow of its power. Vent,I need access to the Umbralus Void"

 

[Coro]

Vent's vision narrowed more.


"..... For what?" He asked, a touch of anger in his voice.