Atmos lead one of her students away Torrin told him they weren't going to take any extreme measures. "If you say so..." Boreas said a little bit hesitantly. Then Aster joined them and tugged at the bracelet with Boreas watching closely, as force was applied to the bracelet the bracelet started to shrink and grow tighter around Aria's wrist. Torrin then tried something to get the bracelet away and it seemed to work but Torrin pulled away his hand in pain, it looked like he burned his hand, Aria helped him with his hand. "Torrin, if I helped you or you'd use my armour to protect your hands from the heat?" Boreas asked, it seemed to be working so perhaps with some additional protection it might work. As they all went inside Boreas gave Adalric a hand with getting Tinarah to a room, then found himself a room. Boreas found himself in a bed resting as much as he could, even when they were in the castle of the masters supposedly safe according to Aster but old habbits died hard. Back home he always slept very lightly an attack could happen at any time and he was always ready for one, it had been drilled into him by his military service, it's what saved him a few times as well as out in the fields they would get raided by night and by the time Boreas had gotten up and ready they would already be upon him. Even if it were the safest place in the universe with no Light Chaser threatening them at all and he would still sleep lightly. He even had gained a reputation for sleeping with his eyes opened sitting in a chair, it had freaked out his mother a few weeks ago when she found him like that, but he didn't do it often. Boreas awoke from his sleep, there were screams.... Boreas shot up and activated his armour again he left his room, summoning his blade. There were more screams and Boreas followed the sound, was this an attack? Aster had mentioned the Light Chaser didn't want to try his luck in here but at a night raid or early morning attack, to chip away at their numbers? The Light Chaser had already proved to be a cunning foe. But it didn't make any sense, there was by the sound of it only one person screaming. As Boreas got closer he heard the door being beaten down followed by shouting. Torrin's shouting, Boreas bolted down the hallway to go find his friend and back him up. He arrived at the broken down door to see Torrin telling Aria to breathe and Aria apologising to Torrin for waking him up. Realizing it wasn't a night raid Boreas unsummoned his Keybblade and deactivated his armour. "Is everything alright here? I heard screams... you okay?" Boreas asked. From what Aria was saying there was something strange going on regarding dreams. "What happened?"
Boreas watched Torrin closely and was rather glad that his friend didn't draw his weapon and start a fight, as much as he would back up his friend in said fight regardless of the consequences. This master apparantly knew his name in some way as she instructed him and Adalric to get Tinarah to a room. It struck him as odd that she knew Torrin reasonably asked why they wouldn't immediately get the explanations. Aster pointed out that every would want to go fight and she hit the nail right on the head as he wanted to fight, he may have been underprepared but he wasn't weary from battle... well not from battling this threat anyways. He hated sitting around and that's why he had always gone on patrol when not in battle just to be doing something useful. Before they left to bring Tinarah inside a little lad appeared soon followed by others a cat soon shot past his legs to dig his way onto Adalric's leg. Boreas recognized none of the people that appeared although they didn't seem to be hostile. The girl that had been going at both him and Torrin now snapped at the man carrying Tinarah for apologizing for her and then she told him they had been training for 5 years and been through hell before. Boreas knew what that was like for a certain extent, he had been training for longer than 5 years before being sent to war. More people joined them one with a rather bright haircolour told the girl that she could pick up the cat. As everyone had arrived Atmos went looking after a student. Boreas listened as Torrin explained to Chrono that his sister had been recovered. When Torrin beat himself up over the trap he understood the way his friend felt. He too should have seen it coming. Boreas listened as a girl mentioned getting a trinket from the Light Chaser that kept her safe and they assumed kept tabs on her. He had heard Torrin mention her name and he recalled what he had been told by Torrin before about the Princesses of Heart. Perhaps a trick for morale damage, think they had recovered the girl, perhaps this was merely convenience for the Light Chaser to keep the girl out of his hair while he rounded up the others, he could then smash his opponents and take the last piece in one go and execute his plan. "That does sound like a logical plan on his part, it would also mean that this is going to lead into a rather obvious trap, if I were him, I'd come back after retrieving the other princesses, smash the opposition retrieve you and finish up." Boreas said. "While it has helped keep you safe, the bracelet is a risk that must be eliminated as soon as possible. Perhaps the masters here have some tools to remove it, perhaps and I'm sorry to say we may need to take extreme steps..." Boreas said not going into detail. "I guess for now, we ought to keep an extra eye on you, what do you say Torrin?" It was cruel to treat an ally like a prisoner but to have someone with such an unknown factor by their enemy in the midst of their assembled forces and seat of their power. He'd play the bogeyman, just so no one else would have to.
Conrad smiled as the little girl introduced him to the farmer. "Well met." Conrad said "And don't thank us yet, thank us when this is all over." Conrad looked around him at the farm. "You are correct in assuming so, I'd like to ask a few questions for our investigation into this disease that has been wreaking havoc within the village. First I'd like to ask about how many people have gotten outsiide of the village at the farms?" Conrad asked, if there were far fewer or no victims here at all then the source lay in the village. "I'd also like to see the animals and the crops in the fields, althought I must admit I am not an expert so I'd have to rely on your expertise. Have there been any sick animals or crops that are not healthy?" Conrad asked, it was better to admit he was going to have to rely on the expertise of the farmer. "And if possible I would like some samples so my friend can look into them to look for potential sources of the disease. I am aware I am asking a lot of you in this hour of need and I would understand it if you couldn't fulfill all requests." Conrad said, this might not have been the easiest mission to go on and it would require some work to get it done.
Boreas looked around the steps only realising too late that Tinarah slipped from his grasp. He quickly knelt beside her and checked she was still with them, but only barely. "Sorry for that." Boreas said, he felt a little bad dropping her like that. "Hey Torrin give me a hand would you?" He asked his friend. According to Atmos this was the Castle of the Council, when the other person looking a lot like Atmos appeared. Boreas remained at Tinarahs side as Aster explained and then he clued in a council of masters, they had been hiding instead of commiting all their might to the fight against the Light Chaser and he felt his anger rising at the thought. Torrin seemed to feel the same way as Aster asked what her sister had gotten involved in and stood up from kneeling beside Tinarah, she'd be alright she just needed to rest and recover her strength. "I guess you don't know what happens out in the wider world when you are hiding under a rock, we're waging a war if you missed the memo, your war mind you." Boreas said rather angrily, he was angry at the fact that maybe even an entire council worth of masters had been sitting here holed up in this fortress while out there people they were charged with protecting were dying. Torrin voiced the concerns he too felt. He outright laughed at Aster when she told Torrin he didn't know what he was on about when she herself was wondering what Atmos had gotten herself into, had she actually known what was happening out there then she would know how serious the situation out there was. "Ooooh this is just too precious first you wonder what master Atmos has gotten herself into and then saying Torrin here who has been fighting your war for atleast a year doesn't know what he is on about..." Boreas said laughing outright at Aster. One of the students then approached Torrin and started rambling about not having seen enough worlds destroyed or people killed. "The point you appear to be missing is that those worlds were your charges to be kept, where were you when they fell and the people were lost? Our master taught us to always fight, try to defend what is worth defending. And while you took your sweet time training to 'take over' from us much was lost, because we are spread too thin to hold the line everywhere, too few in number so now you blame us for not doing your job properly then be my guest please show me how it's done because I am open to a lesson." Boreas told her. "But I digress you're right you know we all ought to calm down, and when I say all of us I don't just mean the 'ragtag group' but you too." Boreas didn't feel intimidated by Qamar because while she threatened them, between Torrin and himself he could take them and while she tried using her height to try and intimidate them but he noticed that she only was able to speak on eye level because of her shoes and was rather tempted to point it out but it wouldn't help in the situation they were in and just kept it to himself. When Adalric asked forgiveness on Qamar's behalf Boreas nodded. "You are forgiven, Torrin's frustration stems from the fact that he has been spearheading a war against the Light Chaser for a year with minimal back-up only to learn there was back up holed up here all along." Boreas said, turning to the lot more reasonable student. "Need a hand?"
Tinarah had kept up to the best of her ability and while Boreas had hoped there'd be more physical strength left in her, he had overestimated how much strength she had left, as she reached out he made his keyblade disappear, took her hand and slung her arm over his shoulder, supporting Tinarah as he got her out of Choma's castle. "I'll get you out of here, even if I'll have to carry you too." Boreas said to her as he continued to lead them away from the raging battle, he hated having to leave Torrin behind fighting that, not that his contribution would help much in the fight and he'd probably die without purpose or contribution, but it felt wrong to run from a fight no matter how atrociously the odds were stacked against them. As Boreas lead them out into the courtyard the weight of Gero on his shoulder started to slowly lighten up and Boreas soon was left holding nothing over his shoulder, he looked around him in confusion, the man he had fished out of the ocean at the edge of darkness was gone. He resummoned his keyblade with his now free hand and scanning around him, expecting an ambush just after this supposed Master had vanished, the Light Chaser had already followed Tinarah here, was this meant to divide them up even further to make them even easier pickings, but nothing of the sort came. "Tinarah, keep your eyes open, expect a fight as I am not at all liking this..." Boreas said slowly and alertly moving forward, blade in hand. When Gero re-appeared in front of him, he lunged and swung his blade at him out of reflex, before he could stop himself and see who had appeared before him. Before the realisation of what had just happened could sink in he found himself pushed away and into a portal. Emerging at the other side Boreas looked around, Gero was gone, the other man fighting the Light Chaser was gone... He was left here with just Tinarah, Atmos and Torrin, wherever here was as the surroundings were unfamiliar. The castle looming in front of them was greater than any he had seen and imposing. "Are all of you alright? Where are we? And what happened back there?" Boreas asked them, sure how they got here was Gero using portals to get them away from there, but where were they sent? And what would stop the Light Chaser from following them here?
Ulrich was asking his question when he heard the heavy footfalls belonging to Aspire, only for Lynda and the clockwork golem to join him by the end of the sentence. With Lynda mentioning that Miss Harbrook apparantly having had a rather bizarre meeting with Mr Gallahowe, did this mean that the theory sergeant Crowne had provided had substance to it then? Could it truly be a large powerplay? Either way he had Lynda to answer, he took the letter from his pocket and offered it to Lynda. "I found this on her desk, it's a letter voicing her frustrations regarding the Grand Minister's objections to miss Harbrook's plans about census and background checks for Hirokiri immigrants. According to this gentleman right here she wrote it this morning and intended to send it today depending on the outcome of the meeting earlier today." Ulrich said, not mentioning that perhaps the concerns of miss Harbrook were well founded as their prime suspects were in this case Hirokiri immigrants. Perhaps they might have to pay a visit to the Steiner institute and see if they could track down this latest graduate, but that meant going after Gallahowe and an investigation most certainly wouldn't be welcomed by such an influential person as it might damage their reputation, but they were the Constabulary and shouldn't deter them in the pursuit of justice.
Torrin had been about to tell him something, it sounded like something important that he had been thinking about for a while, perhaps his own return to the Realm of Darkness? It mattered not, not even the compliment that Torrin had given him about his good sense mattered. Something was wrong, very wrong and the two of them had abandoned the opportunity to talk with just the two of them for the first time in six years for whatever was happening inside and none of his training could have prepared him for the sight he beheld when he had entered the main hall. There was a man in a black cloak fighting Master Atmos and another man he didn't recognize. While he had seen fighters keep up with two opponents before he hadn't seen anyone simply block keyblade strikes with their bare arms. From Torrin's reaction, Boreas knew it could only be one person... it was the Light Chaser, their opponent was this powerful? Fighting two masters to a stand still while unarmed and doing so with an incredible ease... Torrin had fought against this for a year and not fallen? While Boreas had improved his skill on the field of battle he knew he was far from Torrin's equal. Boreas derailed all the trains of thought when Torrin ordered him to get Tinarah and Gero as they needed to leave and quickly. Boreas activated his armour and summoned his own keyblade, if their enemy was here he might not be alone and Boreas wasn't going to let himself be caught even more unprepared. He should have seen it coming though, he had known that there was no sense in simply releasing Tinarah if only through a roundabout way to sow confusion, confusion among your enemies was useful but it should be capitalized on. Boreas went up the stairs taking a moment to drag Atmos back to her feet and rushing upstairs, he gave priority to retrieving Gero as a Master he was a capable combatant and a valuable asset. Boreas rushed for the room where he had left Gero, while wary of his surroundings prepared for an ambush. Arriving at the room, he found the master of masters still out cold, a shame but no matter. Boreas unceremoniously slung the older man over his shoulder keeping one hand free to wield his own blade. Making his way through the Castle towards Tinarah's room he shortly arrived at her room, the door was closed. With no time for normal courtesy Boreas tore the door open and stepped through quickly scanning the room, finding Tinarah leaning against the wall. "Alright, Tinarah, unless you wish to die here, afraid and on your knees, I suggest you stick close to me. Torrin, Atmos and whoever the other person might be are combating the Light Chaser as we speak and they're outgunned, they're simply buying us time. We're burning sunshine here and gotta go, now, so follow me and try to keep up, I'll do what I can to keep you safe but we gotta hurry. I'd hate to have to explain to your brother how his sister got killed, so don't make me have to do that and go see him for yourself. You didn't make it through those five years just to fall short at the finish line did you?" Boreas said, wasting no time to turn around and lead Tinarah downstairs. If they were going to get out of here they might have to simply flee into the mountains and see if they could lose him there, after all Atmos had mentioned her portals didn't work so that's why she ended up in the Realm of Darkness, unless it was only the light portals that were useless, either way this was going to be either rather simple or a challenge and Boreas having seen the power and cunning of his enemy prepared for the worst.
Conrad followed Renza down the road and smiled as she giggled and picked the flowers, the little trip away from the village seemed to already lift the little girl's spirit, Conrad was glad to see the change. His question had clearly given her the impression to not dally anymore as she didn't stop to pick any more flowers and Conrad simply followed along, he hadn't minded her slightly distracted behaviour, and on the return trip he wouldn't say anything about it or perhaps tell her it was alright if she just picked a few wild flowers along the way. While Renza trotted ahead of him it didn't take too much effort on Conrad's part to keep up with her with his longer legs. They soon arrived at the farmhouse that Renza had pointed out earlier, it was a decently sized building, rather sturdily build. The farmer that was hard at work in a vegetable garden, sensed their approach the man had been glad to see Renza and he couldn't blame the man, during such times seeing an almost carefree child was always a relief. When the girl was asked who she had brought with her and was unable to answer the question as she had never caught his name he whispered back to her. "It's Conrad. Go ahead, tell him who I am and what we're here for." Eventhough he was perfectly capable of answering the question of the farmer himself, he figured that it couldn't hurt letting her introduce him. After Renza gave him a brief introduction he offered his hand to the farmer.
The reprimand he had expected from both Torrin and Atmos didn't come, however his question was answered, Torrin was pondering the other version of him in this other Realm. Sure the accusations made and the bits and pieces she did reveal didn't paint an awefully pretty picture for them. However that was where ever that place was and it wasn't here, sure he prided himself on his loyalty and Atmos too had praised the loyalty he displayed towards the King, but to not stop his friend from murdering their wife or assisting in the slaying of masters without a question, he felt like he had more sense than that. He didn't think he was able to do whatever that version of him could. As for Torrin while he didn't know what had changed in his friend he was fairly certain that not even this man sitting in front of him was capable of doing that. "It's another version of you, it's not exactly you, perhaps looser morals or a certain sense of being in the right justified those actions, I don't know, either way that's not you. You wouldn't take your own wife's life, nor anyone else's without a very good reason. But you wouldn't simply expand those reasons to encompass more people than they should." Boreas told his friend, still why did the Light Chaser send her back through such a roundabout way, eventhough Torrin was convinced it was the real Tinarah the feeling of there being more to this didn't leave him. You didn't just send a prisoner away with no reason at all. When Atmos and Torrin spoke of giving Tinarah some space he simply nodded, Torrin had reminded him he had been pushing quite a lot, but it had to be done and if she'd have to hate someone it'd be best if it were only him. When he met Torrin's look at him he knew that his friend wanted to say something but couldn't find the words. When Torrin got up to go outside he too got up to follow after him, they had quite a while to catch up on and perhaps the words his friend had just been looking for would come to him when it was just the two of them. Torrin had always had the chance to be open and honest with him and while he sometimes dreaded what he had to say it was better than not knowing anything at all. When heading for the door in silence however he heard a shout from upstairs, it was an unfamiliar voice telling someone to run. This didn't sound good at all. "Torrin, you heard that too right? Something must be wrong, let's go." Boreas said heading for the stairs.
Dubhán smiled a little when Noire told him she had no idea why he'd bring a piece of rope. He figured she probably hailed from the protection of one of the four Kingdoms unlike himself and Lloyd, it never hurt to have a piece of rope with you, especially when you could run into unexpected situations that would prolong the activities beyond the relative safety of the village. You could extract one of the strands for making snares, use other strands to help create a sturdier shelter. It definitely had it's uses and he knew he was going to defy the instructions of Noire and perhaps risk his own beat down by her but a piece of rope was light and usefull, it's usefulness far outweighing the small inconvenience of having to bring it along. While he had been waiting for Noire to answer, he had caught the discussion between Lloyd, Arian and Noire, Lloyd made a good point that while Arian made some questionable jokes he was still commited to the fight as Dubhán had seen for himself in the fight not long before. He would have to keep it in mind to prevent getting annoyed too much by said antics after all he was on the same team now. Dubhán listened silently to Noire's explanation for her behaviour and then simply excused himself to go gather up his things from the room and then acquire the supplies he thought he might need, mainly rations and water, but also grabbing a small coil of rope and a fire steel. He didn't count on having to spend prolonged time in the wild but it was good to be prepared for the particular eventuality, especially considering how the other day had gone.
Ulrich listened to the answer of the servant, so they weren't sure when it had been written except somewhere in the past few days. He understood the servant's concerns regarding his own job and the uncertainty this whole case brought them in. "Well, if Miss Harbrook is found guilty of this crime she will be punished accordingly, unless you were an accomplice in all this nothing will happen to you, atleast the Constabulary won't do a thing, what Mister Harbrook will do is not for me to say." Ulrich answered, making sure to keep his weapon pointed at the floor. So she had been busy over the last few days, perhaps this servant could shed some more light on it and help out. "Did Miss Harbrook behave oddly? Did she meet with anyone unusual? Or do you perhaps have a diary or other schedule I could look at to see who she met?" Ulrich said finishing up putting all the things back in the drawers. Hmmm perhaps he might even try and cut a deal with this servant after all they seemed rather concerned for their own hide, but then again, he'd have to watch what he'd do in that case as to not bring his own integrity into question.
Torrin told him to back off and in that moment Boreas realized the irony in the statement. Boreas had reined Torrin in when he was going too far at the beach and now his friend reined him in as he kept pushing. That Torrin nearly attacked both Tinarah and her brother should not be held against him, he didn't had any hand in that and thus no responsibility for said actions. As for the accusations raised against him by Tinarah, this was another timeline or as Tinarah put it potentially even a whole different realm. "There is no blood of a master staining my hands, at all as for Torrin's marital status I just met a man I haven't seen before for 6 years it'd be news to me if he had a wife now. And while my loyalties lie with the Throne and by extention with Torrin I have a lot more sense than that. Either way I bear no responsibility for whatever happened in this other time or realm, those were not my actions." Boreas said before Tinarah left them on their own, he'd back off now, not that it mattered as she had left. Sure she only experienced whatever version of him there was on this other side, but that wasn't him. He wouldn't follow that blindly would he? No if Torrin asked him to kill masters for no reason he'd refuse, he might even draw his blade on him. As Tinarah left him with Torrin and Atmos he was preparing himself for a reprimand and there would probably be questions from Torrin. He had followed the conversation between Atmos and Torrin and his friend believed this was the real Tinarah. Although he did mention confusion. Was he confused by the accusations from Tinarah? That the two of them were killing Masters, about Tinarah's imprisonment? After Tinarah had left them at that table he looked at Torrin. "What is it that you are confused about? Perhaps together we can make sense of it." Boreas offered Torrin. Two, perhaps three minds were better to make sense of something. And it gave him something to do while they waited for Master Gero to wake up and they could travel on.
@Maka Albarn eeeeeeyyyy, let's do this.
"Not a problem, Master Atmos, glad it helped." Boreas said taking the activator back she then left them alone to make food again this time for Gero, at Torrin's request, but they had no idea when the man would wake up, it could still be a few hours away, perhaps more either way in that case perhaps simply reheating the food would do in that case, after all it was just soup. Boreas simply snorted "You know, if you had told me that a few years back I would have laughed, but yeah I can kind of see it now, you really have the face for it." Boreas responded jokingly. Turning his attention back to Tinarah, he faced her glare. He tried figuring out what was in that look it was definitely animosity but why? He hadn't seen this girl before, they had fished her out of the water saving her from a watery grave and sure the questioning may be rather poorly timed but that didn't warrant such animosity, something more was going on. Boreas listened to the answer that Tinarah gave him, his face unmoving, not phased by the glaring of those hollow eyes. So she noticed it was unusual for her brother to get mad so suddenly but didn't think much of it? Not even in five years time she had taken a moment to reflect? It was understandable that the Light Chaser employed deception, it was a potent tool when implemented and employed correctly. The target seemed to be fairly well selected too. She asked him what else she was to believe. "Well, if your enemy tells you you are going home and you end up being thrown from a bridge by your own brother who as you say normaly wouldn't get mad. I'd say you missed a couple of red flags." He said, sure in the moment itself it may be hard to see the things that were off but there must have been a moment in those five years for reflection, unless she was scared to look upon the events that had happened, if she thought them the truth it was indeed a terrible truth to face down, but that should never be an excuse to back down. Tinarah mentioned she had been in another time, that in combination with the fact Master Gero had been there would have been an adequate explanation for the strange portal that had deposited them. She still had that accusatory look on her face. She had been to another time atleast that is what she mentioned. Did something happen there that made her look at him like that as he had never met this girl before. "Why are you looking at me like I drowned your goldfish? I never met you before but you're looking at me like I commited some horrible crime..." Boreas asked calmly narrowing his a little at Tinarah, did an older version of him do something to her? He had a little bit of an idea as to what kind of person was in front of him and he knew that asking the difficult questions was going to be more problematic than normal but still it had to be done.
Master Atmos didn't get a chance to respond, while also being more concerned with the well-being of the girl they just rescued from the water. It was fair enough, luckily the girl did give him some useful instructions. Boreas simply went up the stairs and was faced with a trio of hallways, one straight ahead, one to the left and one to the right. Last room on the left... Boreas went to the left and walked to the final door, the room he was faced with seemed to be perfectly fine, except for one slight problem the bed was too small... Boreas sighed and checked the next room, which was rather brightly coloured and rainbow filled. The bright colours weren't exactly to Boreas' taste but then again it wasn't his room, here too he ran into the same problem and went ahead with finding a proper room, he eventually ended up at what he could only presume was the Master's room and put Gero in the bed, he checked the man's pulse, heart still beating fine. When Boreas rejoined the others he saw Torrin zoning out, lost in thought, Atmos was nowhere to be seen. "I put him in the Master's room." Boreas reported, sure he hadn't put him in the room of the girl as she requested but it was hardly his fault she used to have a bed that was too small, in addition the girl wouldn't have anywhere to sleep if he put Gero there. He took a seat opposite of Torrin, just as he snapped back to reality with Atmos coming in to serve soup to Tinarah. Although it turned out that Torrin could easily go for a bowl of it too and Boreas grinned at his comrade, who didn't seem as amused. "Oh come on, lighten up, Torrin. You're in good company or are you just going to be gloomy all the time?" Boreas said, before turning to Atmos "Seeing as you do not require it anymore may I have my armour back, Master Atmos?" Boreas inquired. He'd imagine at some point soon he too would get an interrogation session by Torrin. "So this Chrono, tossed you off a bridge because you wouldn't calm down... and you didn't think there was anything wrong there, that it was a trick perhaps?" He had heard her mention it on the way in and thought about it while he was finding a room for Gero. He was rather curious to how this girl looked at the events she described, see what sort of person she was.
Boreas simply listened as Tinarah answered the questions, the speech seemed slow, but watching the girl curl up in the sand between answering the questions told him that she was in worse shape than first assumed. It looked bad and while he understood Torrin's concern regarding the situation, although if they just left this place to go somewhere where they could take the time to determine whether this was a trap or not and let this girl recover. With Torrin confirming the answers this girl gave were truthful, he still seemed to be a little suspicious. Was this what the war against the Light Chaser had turned him into this. Perhaps it was war in general that changed people like that. As his own first thought was this must have been a plot or the Light Chaser distracting them while preparing to plunge a dagger into the heart at the right time. With Torrin taking charge saying they weren't going to reunite with the other group until they were absolutely sure this wasn't a trap he raised a good point. If caught in a trap you fought as hard as you could, worrying about keeping everyone safe distracted from that and in a war, you couldn't get everyone out alive. Although he would personally have to make sure Torrin didn't go down before he himself did, it was his duty and probably something Torrin hadn't considered. After Torrin had healed Gero and Tinarah neither of which seemed to really have improved from the spell, not to Boreas' surprise with Tinarah still looking sick. With Torrin supporting Tinarah and opening the portal, Boreas merely picked up the unconscious Master Gero and waited for them to get going. Torrin had let slip he had been suspicious of Atmos and this Choma too. Were none going to pass without scrutiny? Would Torrin question him too? He merely cast a glance to his old friend. Something had happened in that year to make him this suspicious, Torrin had always been wary, something taught by his father much like Boreas had been taught the same thing, but this was going far beyond those lessons. "Alright, let's get going." Boreas said carrying the Master through Torrin's portal, it wasn't one of their dark portals and it made sense in this state it would be far from beneficial to subject these two to more of the Darkness. The portal was warmer than he was used to, it felt kind of pleasant but strange to him. Boreas admired the castle on the other side as he waited for the others to get through. It was cold here and there was snow on the ground here and Boreas while not minding cold normally started having problems because of his wet trousers. Seeing that the snow wasn't present a few meters closer to the castle Boreas opted to wait over where the snow wasn't around and was greeted with warmth. Had he known they were going into the mountains too then he would have prepared quite a bit better for this journey, atleast this Castle had been protected with this spell and Boreas lucked out, this time. Torrin explained to Tinarah that Aria had already been found and that she had been wrong about her brother Chrono. "Atmos would you mind showing me where I can put this man in a bed or somewhere else more comfortable than a sandy beach or the floor of this castle." Boreas asked.
With Samuel heading inside and them agreeing that they would reconvene in an hour to see what they discovered and where to allocate their resources next. Everette seemingly didn't care too much about who went with him either and so they left it to Chief Yolvun to decide. The chief wanted Renza to go with him to get away from all this. It hadn't been this bad since the start of the outbreak, but certainly the last few days if not week must have been this gloomy and that wasn't a good place to be for anyone, child or adult. The look of the town was miserable and the small spark of fear hadn't left him yet so he too was glad to get away from this place, he knew though that he would steel himself to do what they could if it had to be done even if it meant staying here for a long time. He was kind of glad Lakoda hadn't come along with him on this mission to spare her from this miserable place although at the same time her company would have been greatly appreciated. He mentally distanced himself from that line of thought to focus on the task at hand, which was going around the farms with Renza. "I have no problem with it at all, Chief Yolvun." Conrad said offering a smile to the little girl that was to accompany him. "Alright, Renza, lead the way." Conrad said taking note of the time as they were to return in an hour, although he wouldn't be extremely strict with the time table as Everette most likely would want him to be. This girl was getting a sort of break of this and Conrad wasn't going to be cutting it short. They left through the same gate they had entered through earlier. He followed the little girl down the dirt road. "So Renza what farm are we going to first?" Conrad asked the little girl leading the way.
Boreas swam as fast he could to the man in trouble, putting his arms under his arm pits and swimming on his back keeping the body of Master Gero on top of him. He was still faster than Torrin was in the water. When the water was shallow enough to stand Boreas dragged Master Gero ashore and checked his breathing, he was fine other than being weakened and cold from the water, having lost consciousness. When Torrin arrived and summoned a fire, Boreas joined standing by it after he had put the old man he had recovered down by the same fire to warm up as the water was rather cold. Master Atmos recognized the man, claiming it was someone who had apparantly died. "Was a body ever recovered or had he disappeared for long enough to be declared dead?" Boreas asked Atmos, if the man looked exactly the same as he did back in the day and had been confirmed killed then something rather weird was going on. When Torrin introduced him he simply bowed. "Pleased to make your acquaintence." The girl Torrin had rescued from the water didn't seem to be in good shape and seemed to know this Master Atmos too and it turned out this was the missing person they had hoped to recover. Someone apparantly lost to the Light Chaser being delivered right to their doorstep by a portal of which the type hadn't been seen before by any of them... that would imply that Torrin either never saw a portal of the Light Chaser in a year of fighting or something else was going on here. As it would make no sense for the Light Chaser to just let her go like that, there had to be an angle somewhere he wasn't seeing. When it was discovered that Gero had created the portal it atleast made more sense to him than have her appear delivered from the Light Chaser out of nowhere. Because he doubted this girl was in the shape of fighting enough to escape the Light Chaser and outright letting her go didn't make sense. The girl confirmed to know both Atmos and Torrin and if this master of masters title was anything to go by they would have another powerful ally. She had been gone and while Boreas had no frame of reference he trusted Torrin's claim that she couldn't have aged that much. "I know you were trying to get her back after all Atmos mentioned it to me, it's why you went to the lion's den in the first place." What was standing in front of them definitely wasn't a child and while Torrin was already questioning the person, Atmos raised a very good point. Torrin and himself were accustomed to this Realm, if Tinarah was on the team to fight this Light Chaser there was a very high probability she wasn't from the Realm of Darkness. "Torrin those first two questions are fair enough to see if they are the real deal, but that last one can wait for now. Atmos has a point we ought to get her somewhere more suitable than a sandy beach on the edge of Darkness." He turned back to Atmos. "I take it the honour is all mine again? Where do we need to go?" Boreas said as he put the tunic and boots he had discarded earlier back on as the skin had dried by now. His trousers were still wet but it didn't bother him as much.
Reporting in.
Torrin showed a little bit of regret on how this potential trap to be laid. He couldn't fault his friend, if a comrade of his had been captured he too would recover them if given the opportunity even if it may have lead to problems later. "You know I would have done the same right? Either way what's done is done." Boreas said, before paying attention to what his friend had to teach him. It was quite the nice trick and it took significant effort on his part to be able to be able to replicate the rather interesting trick. He concentrated, envisioning his keyblade taking on the form of a repeating crossbow, the width of the blade increased slightly, the decorative wing along the blade mirrored to show in the opposite direction ending instead in three studs one above the other, the guard of the blade only existing on the underside, the hook-like cuts of the key forming on both sides to create the crossbow limbs. It didn't get strings as they weren't necessary. Boreas shouldered the crossbow and looked along it's length as if to aim. This felt a lot better than simply using his keyblade to aim at the enemy to cast a spell and might help with improving accuracy. "Now, that is a very neat trick, this is gonna be helpful for spellcasting, feels a lot better than simply pointing my keyblade at them." Boreas said, just thinking of perhaps other options for later, not that he would try creating them but it was nice to think of the other options. Torrin cut himself off when the wind picked up, which according to Torrin never happened here. Boreas followed his friend's gaze and saw something happen in the distance, a portal, with two people stepping through, but something didn't seem right and Torrin ran into the water to get over there. Boreas took off his green tunic and tossed it on the beach, also leaving his boots behind he ran after his comrade into the water to go help the people in the water, he was a bit behind Torrin and hoped he'd arrive in time, Boreas didn't hate swimming as much as Torrin, he actually used it to keep in shape and was closing the distance with Torrin and the two newly arrived people. Boreas heard one of the two people shout to go for the other and being the faster swimmer he went for the person that needed it most and headed for Gero to pull him back to shore. "Torrin I got this one, you help that one." Boreas shouted to his comrade.
