Lakoda was grateful to run into Conrad. She immediately handed him the slip of paper and began to sign without using the charm to translate what she was saying. "It's her. I know it is. After all the searching, this HAS to be her." Her eyebrows were furrowed, and her hands moved with vigor behind the words. "The words, how they're describing what's happening, 'voices of loved ones but not finding them', 'a maiden singing'... that has to be my voice!" It was about ten years ago her voice was taken from her, and her life turned completely upside down. The only ones to know her true story were those who had been in the guild the longest, one of them being Conrad. She rarely opened up about that night to those just coming in. It took her years to feel included within the guild and to be trusted with everyone else besides Master Midarah, Samuel, Everette, and a handful of others.
Aria was surprised by the familiar voice and did exactly as she was instructed to do. To her amazement, the chains fell away into nothing as if they had never been there. The girl rubbed her free wrists, and felt her blood froze when the Horned King noticed what was going on and was clearly upset by it. There was no time to lose now; everyone was depending on her. “Thanks Dolli!” Aria called to him. She then held out her hand, her keyblade being called to her freely. Smiling to herself, Aria first ran to Master Thallasa and slammed her keyblade against the chains a few times. Her goal was to try to free everyone with the time window she had, and first would be the Master and then everyone else. Soon Master Thallasa was free, and Aria was quick to move on to Illiana, then Qamar, then the others. Soon everyone was freed, and Aria looked to Master Thallasa. “Now what? Do we run with the others? Or stay and fight?”
Aria wiggled around her chains the best she could, but the metal dug and bit into her skin, making her wince and grit her teeth. There were tightly clad on to her. She stared at the Light Chaser bracelet still in the way, glowering at it before the voice of the Horned King brought her back to attention. She saw what evil thing had sprung forth and gawked at it for a moment. It was as if she was staring at her own nightmares, except this one was real. Her nightmares became real too more recently, but she was faced with death... again. Was this the fourth time now? Maybe the fifth? She was starting to lose count by now. Aria looked over to see Qamar panicking and pressed her lips in a thin line. She then lowered her head, reaching out to the connections she made with her friends, no matter how brief or how long they had known each other. Please find us, she mumbled. Please, please, pleaaaaase find us. Either that, or let me get my keyblade back. Aria tried her best to awaken the power within her, picturing the energy traveling up to her hands and making a keyblade appear in her grasp. Her hands opened in a fan as she shook, trying so desperately to break past the hold that was on them. "Come on... Come on, come back to me..."
The carriage ride back was peaceful enough, with all the excitement of the day winding down. Once they arrived at the Guild, they were met by Nagata who had returned from a mission, and carried Thea to bed. Izra was shown where she would be sleeping and was given a change of clothes, pajamas, basic hygiene products, and a warm meal to fill her stomach. Everyone had officially settled in for the evening, and Master Midarah had retired to her office to speak with Zephyr. Spoiler: Conversation with Master Midarah and Zephyr The young master had her rabbit in her arms, stroking its fur gently as she offered a place for Zephyr to sit in a comfrotable dark cherry-wood chair with red pillows on the bottom and the shoulders to make it more comfortable. "Now," the master said as she sat down in a matching chair herself right across from the teenager. The desk was right by her, for she liked to keep an open space between her and her guild mates as much as possible when speaking to them. "What would you like to discuss with me?" Master Midarah inquired as she rhythmically pet Artemis. Once Midarah herself had gotten situated, Zephyr took the time to sit down in the seat offered to him. It took a bit for him to get comfortable, but that also could've been because of what it was that he wanted to get off his chest. He finally sat still and turned his attention in Midarah's direction. "It's about the Thea, Gavin and I went on. How much about it were you told by the magic council?" "I was told all that had transpired from the report that was given. That your mission was not what it was written to be, that children had been sacrificed for some time in that village..." Midarah spoke grimly as her heart felt heavy from the circumstances. "And for some reason, the message that was said to have been sent several times to call for help didn't reach their ears. They were afraid there were dark connections afoot, and the Mayor and his people were not acting alone. Thus is why they were reluctant to let Izra go... Though it appears she had completely severed her own ties to the Dark Guild she was previously aligned with. What is on your mind?" Master Midarah coaxed again, looking up at Zephyr while still holding her pet. As Midarah had recap everything that had occurred on their mission, Zephyr himself was further collecting his thoughts. Though it was really more mental preparations for what he had to say. Part of him still felt unsure about telling this to anyone, least right away and at the same time he knew he'd feel worse should something happen as a result of his silence. Moments passed and Zephyr let out a sigh, ready to continue. "After the demon was dealt with, she'd left a warning of sorts to me. Someone or something is looking to attack the guild, to attack us!" Master Midarah frowned and stopped her motions, causing Artemis to lift his sleepy head to look up at her. "Zephyr, did she said who or what would be preparing an attack on us...?" she asked calmly. She wanted to hear her guild mate out and not to brush things aside. The Divine Rose had very few enemies as far as anyone was aware, but it was better safe than sorry to be on the cautious side. "She didn't," Zephyr said. Her words had been dancing about in his head since he was first told them. He'd remember if there was a certain name mentioned. "She only said that they would pluck us off one by one." Repeating those words had caused Zephyr to shift uncomfortably in his seat and what really had him on edge. Master Midarah could see that her guildmate was troubled by this, and her heart went out to him. She practically raised him since his arrival here, along with some other guild members. She arose from her seat, carefully setting the rabbit down before approaching Zephyr and crouching in front of him. “We will handle this,” she assured him. “It could be an empty threat, or it could actually mean something. Whatever the case may be, we will keep watch. It’s too soon to say anything, but that doesn’t mean we will brush it off.” She placed a hand on Zephyr’s shoulder and squeezed it lightly while trying to give him a reassuring smile. “The Divine Rose will handle whatever threat will come... rest assured.” She then stood back up slowly, and then glanced to the outside window. “It’s close to nightfall now... will you be able to sleep alright?” The reassuring smile and comforting squeeze to his shoulder did ease some of his worries. It was the actions he'd imagine a mother giving to her young which was fitting given that Midarah was the closest thing to a mother he's had. He appreciated this, all of this from the bottom of his heart. "I know." Zephyr allowed the ease to remain with him as he spoke once again. "I'll be fine, thanks." “Alright...” Master Midarah smiled gently at him and nodded her head to him. “Then go wash up and rest well, young one. If you need to talk to me or you have trouble sleeping, you know where to find me.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The forest itself created a lonely spooky vibe to it. More so with the rolling, evening fog and the sounds of nature echoing here and there; a hoot of an owl, a howl of a lone wolf, sounds of bugs and frogs echoing off of each other. Three cloaked figures stepped through the forest, meeting in the middle. As they approached, the forest seemed to grow eerily still. There were sounds of clumsy feet pushing through the brush and snapping the twigs under heavy feet. The figure on the farthest right was about to step forward when the one in the middle raised up a hand. All looked to the direction of the thickets that were swaying and rustling erratically as someone stumbled through. Mayor Nudgav’s chest heaved up and down as he tried to catch his breath. Twigs and leaves were sticking out of his curly, grey hair, his clothes were ripped and torn in various places, and he was splashed in mud and swamp water. “To think you would be brave enough to show your face here…” The one on the left darkly stated. “It was not to be this way!” the mayor spat as he regained his bearings and stood on his feet. “You promised the demon would be strong enough to sustain my town and kill all trespassers.” “And she served her purpose well,” the one on the right responded with a sly grin. “There was nothing in the contract of our demon stopping guild mages. The child that was causing your sacrifices to slow was the product of your own doing. Not ours… You were to rely on the demon or seek to destroy the rat yourself.” “Your foolish job almost had us exposed.” “Enough,” the one in the middle finally spoke up. “You’re giving this poor man a hard time… He surely deserves a drink after the rough day he had.” They then produced a water pouch with a silver goblet, filling it up and handing it to the mayor who took it and drank it up hungrily. “Th-thank you,” the Mayor gasped between gulps. “I will fix this somehow. It will all be forgotten about.” “Oh, you’re right,” the one in the middle replied. “It will be forgotten.” Just then the mayor began to gag and hold his throat. He was unable to breathe and reached out in agony to those in front of them. They looked on, uncaring, amused, or stone-cold. “You’ve done enough damage, old friend. It’s time for you to rest now…” As the mayor sunk to his knees and then fell face forward to the ground, the one in the middle looked to the others. “And what of Rezit? How did their mission turn out?” “The snake perished, my lord. A guild by the name of Divine Rose took on the job and slayed the beast.” The man in the middle tilted his head in curiosity. “The Divine Rose you say? Hmm… Most curious... And you. What have you heard of the amulet? Was it retrieved by Jy, Reuben, and Lytton.” “No my lord,” the one on the left responded. “They were stopped by mages of... er... I believe it was also the Divine Rose?” “That guild name again…” The man let out a laugh, grabbing at his head and shaking it. “Ah, the Divine Rose… Such fond memories of that quaint place.” The mayor was gasping out his last breaths of air as vines suddenly erupted from the ground, covering the mayor’s warm body and pulling it into the fog. The middle man chuckled darkly and placed his hand on his hip. “I’ll be damned… It’s only fate we met them of all guilds. Tell the others to keep an eye on them. They are no threat to us so far, just mere nuisances. As for the traitor… She’s in the hands of the Magic Council now.” He gritted his teeth and turned to face the full moon. “That’ll will have to be taken care of in due time. For now, we carry on normally…” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A few days had gone by since everyone returned from their missions. All reports should had been turned in by then, and Master Midarah had been reviewing them. It was quietly in the abode, rather chilly too. Fall was around the corner, and it was still a little too warm to light the fireplaces. Still, the rooms stayed comfortably cozy to say the least. Lakoda walked down to the Main Hall, yawned soundlessly while stretching her arms above her head. She then smacked her lips and followed her nose to the smell of breakfast. She went to grab a bowl of bacon, eggs, and hash browns when she noticed the job board. "Oh, new jobs..." Lakoda walked over to the board with her bowl in hand, picking at bits of bacon and nibbling on them. She scanned over the ones that were sitting up there; one of them was oldish, two of them were surely new. She scrunched her nose at the fishing job, seeing how much jewels were offered. She nearly spat out her breakfast and did a double take. Guild mates would be set for life on rent! But then another mission caught her eye. She read the first few lines, and then suddenly felt her blood grow cold. She placed her breakfast down on the the table, reaching to the job and gently tugging it off the board. Her eyes read and reread the mission over and over again until realization settled in. Food forgotten, Lakoda gripped the job in her hands and beeline out of the Guild Hall to go find Conrad.
Aria didn't know what she was expecting when the Skull King wanted them to surrender, but it wasn't to be knocked out by some kind of smoke... or gas. She coughed as she covered her mouth with the collar of her shirt, and seeing the ones she was supposed to protect go down in an instant along with Qamar and Illiana. Panic overtook her, and she summoned her keyblade, pushing through the fog that was starting to cloud her mind. She staggered forward towards the Horned King, keeping in mind to try to knock him back to stop this madness. As she raised her keyblade with a yell, her vision blacked and she felt the pressure on her lungs lift as well as the gravity of her body. She had succumbed to the hex and fallen to the ground, the brightly colored keyblade fading away. She gagged and wheezed, rolling on her side to see Master Thallasa being the last one to stand until Aria couldn't see anymore and her mind spiraled away... .... When she finally came to, she groaned, her eyes fluttering open. She saw that she was no longer in the swamp, but in a darkened room with a robed figure standing in the center. She tried to adjust her body, or get up, but she felt her arms tug onto something as well as something cold digging into her wrists. "What...?" Aria moved her head, seeing that her arms were chained above her head and she was standing upright. Frowning, she tried to will her keyblade to her, but found she could not. No... Nononono.... Aria was now fully conscious and had a better look around her. Everyone was tied up in a similar manner, some of them coming out of it, others not. Her attention then turned to the center of the room, recognizing the Horned King with the powerful, foreboding Black Cauldron. Ah man, this is bad... Her eyes landed on Qamar and she saw the girl was fully awake as well. "Qamar, are you okay?" Aria called out quietly to the girl, hoping not to catch the attention of the sorcerer.
Aria didn't like the answer she got from Master Thallasa, but there was nothing else the girl could do. She mumbled to herself and kicked at the ground while trying to fight down her fears. They were more than capable of handling themselves... She didn't like to be separated from them for this long though, and even more so now that the way of communication had been severed. The girl gasped when the spooky voice boomed out and summoned her keyblade as the Horned King made his grand entrance along with his goons. Aria instinctively stepped in front of the group, ready to defend them at all costs. However, there were other things to consider. Aria hesitated, looking to Qamar to see her still eager to take down the king and his men. She then glanced to Master Thallasa, seeing her lower her keyblade. She then looked back to the group, seeing those they would have to protect. It would be four protecting four against sixty or more plus a wicked, powerful king... They had no way to defend themselves or fight at all. "We can't," Aria finally said lowly to Qamar, placing her hand on the girl's keyblade. "Not right now. I'd rather fight too, but... It's not just us anymore," she said, gesturing to others behind them. "We four are the only ones with magic and power... If one of us gets overwhelmed, that leaves one of them at risk. They can't do anything to save themselves if we can't get to them in time." Aria reluctantly made her keyblade disappear and then held up her hands in the air to surrender. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she stared coldly at the Horned King. She would love to more than anything to beat him where he stood, but as Master Choma taught her, there were going to be times where she need to evaluate her situation and sometimes not fight. This was one of those times. She didn't take the Horned King's words lightly in regards to he would kill them if they didn't surrender.
Aria gradually stood up and brushed herself off after all the chaos was done and over with. She sighed and looked to the small group. "Well... I guess that's that." She stared at the Black Cauldron, wondering how they were going to get around the obstacle of a literal human sacrifice to destroy the thing. As she was pondering on this, she suddenly felt a twinge in her heart like something was wrong. She frowned and turned to the North while the unsettling feeling resonated through her soul. She reached for her family ring, fiddling with it on her hand. She didn't know why she felt it, but it bothered her. Aria then grabbed her communicator out of her pocket and clicked it on. "Torrin, are you there?" She was instantly replied with the sound of static and she panicked. "T-Torin? Answer me." Again she was met with the unsettling noise and she tried a couple more times before looking to Master Thallasa with a worried expression. "I was just talking to him last night... Something is wrong."
The witches were weird to say the least. Everything in this world was weird though, so there really wasn’t much to complain about. She scratched her head and then took a quick glance at Qamar when she told him he should just give up the sword. A magic sword to be exact. “It is special,” she agreed. Though she couldn’t think of anything else to exchange. The witches were hard on their bargain, unless... “Treasure from a land far away won’t suffice you?” She was referring to the beads she got from the space pirate world. There was no way she was going to give up her magical bag that could practically hold anything in reason.
Izra smiled kindly at Thea, and then looked at the other two boys. Without much of a word, she approached them and gave them both a quick hug before backing off and bowing her head to them in respect. "Thank you again..." The small group loaded into the carriage, Izra sitting in the middle by Midarah and Thea. They were soon off, and well on their way back to the guildhall. "I believe we have an extra room prepared for you," Master Midarah commented to Izra. "That way you don't have to give up your room, Thea." The woman chuckled and folded her hands in her lap. "Did they tell you the conditions of your release...?" The light in Izra's eyes faltered and she looked down at the floor. "Yes. That I can't leave the Guild Hall unless I'm with you or an S-Class Mage...?" "We might make other arrangements down the line," Master Midarah said with a slight smirk on her face and winked at the young mage. "After all, you did save my guild members... They're like my family to me. And, well, I just met you today, but I have a feeling you will be made apart of our family... If you already haven't," she said, referring to Thea. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I think I will tell Samuel he's an uncle later... Who knows, he might already know about it?" Lakoda listened to Shawn's explanation, and then glanced around a moment. There was a paper napkin on the table, and Lakoda had a pen in her pocket. She pulled it out and drew three dragon like heads, all facing counter-clockwise and had frills on their spine. They all connected in the center and Lakoda pushed the napkin towards Conrad. "Kind of like this..."
Aria placed her hands behind her back and walked around the towers of cauldrons while examining them. “I don’t really think the Black Cauldron would be in plain sight,” Aria thought out loud. “What if it’s hidden somewhere...?”
Aria slid down next to the others and looked ahead at the foreboding... abode. “I don’t like it either,” she replied to Gurgi in a mumble. She could feel the hairs on her neck stand up on end and absently rested her hand on the pocket with the communicator in it. “Like I said earlier... nice place to have a cauldron of deathness and dispairness hiding around.” She clenched her fists before flexing her fingers to shake off her nerves before looking at the rest of the party. “I guess we need to go forward, check it out and see where it’s at... let’s go.” With that, Aria began to walk towards the hut, keeping her wits about her as she made her way to the front door. She tried her best not to focus on the spikes with skulls on them since they gave her creepy and scary thoughts of what happened to others who came this way before.
"Yeah, no nightmares last night," Aria replied to Qamar with a smile. She remembered that there was a commotion outside her tent last night, but she wasn't going to press on details on that. And for that, she didn't feel like she needed to tell everything of her conversation with Torrin. She then looked ahead when Grumpy Fairy and Master Thallasa motioned for them to follow and quickened her pace to keep up with them. Aria made a face when they began to trudge through very gross mud and shuddered at the sloshing sound it make every time she took a step. "Well, with something big and powerful like the cauldron with darkness untold..." Aria glanced around the scenery. "I think it's safe to say this is a nice place for it... Everything is dead, and sad, and..." Her shoe nearly got stuck in the mud and the girl stumbled to the left, almost falling in the yucky mud, "gross... Bleh."
That's right. Their mission as keyblade wielders was to stop the darkness from spreading... And with the hint that the princess had already been found, Aria glanced at Eilowny and made an 'o' shape with her lips as she got the message. It was then they were suddenly floating out of the pond cave, and while everyone else was freaking out, Aria couldn't help but to break out into a grin. "Weeeee~!" It was much different from being on a glider high up in the air, but it had the same effect of making butterflies flit around in her stomach. Soon they landed on the shore. She was astonished they didn't even get wet and looked back at the pond in wonderment. This world was really weird. Aria overheard Taran's and Gurgi's comments and giggled a little. "I bet Illiana and him would make great friends," the girl said with a slight smile as she began to follow after the fairy. The down mood she was in yesterday was nearly gone, and a little of her sass was returning again.
Izra's head snapped up when she heard a familiar voice. Her eyes landed on the small group before her, shocked by their sudden appearance. "Th-Thea...?" Izra was suddenly hugged by the little girl, which made her stand their in stunned silence for a moment. The guards moved away from the pair while Izra stared down at Thea, not believing what she was seeing. Her eyes suddenly became cloudy with tears, and her chin quivered in a moment of weakness. Izra fell to her knees and brought the young girl into her arms, hugging her tightly as she was trying to get a hold of her emotions. "Thank you.... Thank you for coming for me..." She squeezed her firmly one more time before letting go and looking up at Gavin and Zephyr as they joined with the rest of them. "I didn't expect to see you here," she stated with a nervous laugh, sniffing and rubbing at the corner of her eyes. "Here are the girl's belongings," one of the knights said as they pulled out a gunnysack with a few items and then an intricate black instrument case that had carvings of butterflies and leaves on vines. Master Midarah nodded as she took the things reverently. "Thank you... I assume we're free to be on our way?" "Yes ma'am. You may leave at any time." "Very well..." Master Midarah looked to the small group and smiled softly at the reunion. Despite for the reputation of the Divine Rose taking in "strays", she didn't mind it one bit. This was one of the reasons why she decided to become a master after all. "Come along then," she said to the group. "Let's go home." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lakoda blanked out during Conrad's explanation, blinking her eyes as she absorbed as much information as she could. Snapping out of it, she folded her arms and stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. "Aw! You got to go monster hunting without me?!" She scoffed and turned her nose in the air. "No fair..." She then looked at him and gently nudged him in the shoulder. "At least it went well, and you're not dead. I would have brought you back to life just to kill you again if you died on a mission with or without me." She then glanced at Shawn, and she smiled before her shoulders shook. She was giggling, but of course no sound but the air escaping her nose could be heard. "Sort of... We were delivering some cakes and cookies to a baby shower... We got ambushed by these pesky mages from a dark guild I believed. They thought we had an artifact on hand and... turns out we did." Lakoda scratched her cheek in thought and took a bite of her sandwhich. The joy of not being able to speak was to have a necklace doing the talking for her while she could eat. "Did you know that Samuel has an older sister...? Apparently she was the one we were delivering the cakes and goodies to... The artifact was something Samuel's older brother made? Some kind of protective talisman... Did you know he had an older brother, too...?" Both her and Conrad had been in the guild for a while, Lakoda longer than him by five years. Both of them knew of Samuel, but Lakoda was stuck in her own little world for a while due to unusual circumstances. In the past years of being in the guild, she had flourished into a more confident young lady; no longer shy of her inability to speak like everyone else.
Aria couldn't help but to sigh out a little when Illiana was already butting heads with Qamar. She rubbed the back of her neck and looked between the two girls before kicking at the ground a little. "Well... There's no use leaving until things in this kingdom are patched up. As much as I want to join the others again, it'll probably be safer for everyone if we take down the guy that's causing the most trouble." She shrugged her shoulders a little. "Or maybe we can split up to get the different tasks done all at once?”
Welp, based on what was said, there's more pros than cons for Yang to be Saskue and Ruby to be Naruto
Aria saw that Eilonwy came to and sighed out in relief. Once the girl regained her senses, and things started to get a little weird with fairies showing up, Aria helped her to her feet and listened as Illiana and Qamar answer the questions. She hung back, waiting for them to get the answers they needed.
I got to sleep in between working. xDx that was the part of my summer.
Oooo, ya know, no one has ever asked me to do art for them. But I would be happy to try it! Since I'm new in this realm, we'll go with with "munny". I don't want you to pay real money if it doesn't turn out as you had in mind. xDx You can PM me or tell me here what you have in mind, and I'll see what I can do
Aria groaned and forced herself to sit up, shaking her head a little to try to get some water out of her ears. She then stood to her feet and offered a hand to help Qamar up. Once that was done, she then went over to the NPC's- uh, meaning, Eilonwy and couched down by her. She placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, gently nudging her. "Hey, are you alright?" Aria wanted to see if she got a response out of her before she summoned her keyblade in attempts to do a Cura spell to see if that would help. Either that, or CPR if necessary.
