Wartime Reverie

"Oh good, I have a message from Rob, he says he will continue on to Eclipscion and if you still want his help follow after him, the war will be heading in that direction any way" Claire said in a bored tone "He said you would understand and that it doesn't matter if you follow or not your memory will return anyway someday, probably" Claire paused as she listened to Raxtion "Oh god another one"

 

Raxtion turned to Claire with a confused look. He was so deep in thought that he had completely missed most of the conversation, only picking out key words that were strange to him. "Eclipscion? War? God? What are you guys talking about?"

"Well, I suppose when there is no where else to go, one must move forward." Nny entered the tower slowly, checking his corners for any traps.

 

"Hmmm...." Vendeval put his hand to his chin. "Eclipscion sounds like a good place to start; even if it's suicide now that a war has broken out." Reese wondered about his exact meaning. "So you are saying we should go?" He turned to face her. "Yes, that is my exact meaning in a less wary form; and why DOES everyone have amnesia anyway?" he said in agreement with Claire. "Did some great being come in and rob you all of the proper brain function in that portion of your mind?" Reese frowned. "I don't know, I've lost my memory." She turned to face Claire. "I guess we're going." She didn't really know how to explain the current situation to Raxtion.

 

Claire sighed as Raxtion asked questions but she remained quite as the other two spoke. "You are among your own kind kid, people who do not originate from this world, none of us have personal interest in this war and thus no real personal stake towards each others fate apart from our own compassion" Claire said coldly to Raxtion.

The tower hallways were a massive maze that went up and down. The walls were dark with no light and made of cold metal, most of which looked like it was falling apart or rusting for some reason. Many hallways had collapsed and others had holes in the ground that seemed to drop into and endless abyss.

 

On noticing how dark the tower was Allen created an orb of light and set it to floating above him and Nny; he didn't say a word, just created the light and let it illuminate the area around them. He let Nny lead the way, since he didn't have any idea where to go anyway. After awhile he wondered allowed, "What is this place?"

In the present...

Piiro yanked on one of his chains and pulled his dagger free from the knee of one of the survivors, he and Freia were taking a break from looking for their targets to have some fun. He smiled wickedly as he caught the dagger and spun its chain viciously above his head, preparing for another strike. The survivor struggled to pull his leg free from the ice that stuck it to the ground, so he could try and run. As Freia laughed at their victim's suffering, she noticed someone else walking in the area. She thought she recognized the new girl's face and pulled out the list of their targets to confirm. Sure enough, there she was. One Miss Jen Morotoa, one of the targets they had been sent to kill. Freia turned to her brother and told him about this. Piiro glanced at the newcomer, then back at his current victim. "ALRIGHT!," he exclaimed loudly. "FINALLY!" Jen turned towards the sound of Piiro's voice just in time to see him throw his dagger straight into the survivor's head. Jen gasped in horror and Freia smiled cruelly at her saying, "oh don't worry sweetie-." Piiro finished his sister's sentence as he prepared to attack Jen"-You're next!"

 

Raxtion understood the woman well and choose to not ask any more questions, whatever these things were would soon be revealed to him when he would witness them. Raxtion then smiled and said "I hope you don't mind me asking but what's your name?"

Nny walked with Allen through the tower making many observations, but not understanding how they all connected. Was this another illusion? Or was this an actual tower that had been devastated? Nny figured the Black Phantom might have done it, but he wasn't entirely convinced.

"I have no idea." Nny responded "It could be anything... especially with the possibility of illusions clouding our sight of reality." Nny continued through the maze of halls and stairs with Allen, but it never seemed to end. "Allen, what can you gather? Does this place look familiar to you in any way?"

In between Jen and Piiro and Freia stood Dr. Traken. Though he was old, he refused to let these vile things cause anymore trouble. He had to do something. "Miss, run away. There is not much we can do against these things. But you are younger than I, and have much to live for. Run while you still can!"

 

"Kind of," Allen said. "It looks like every other old, decrepit building I've ever been in. But I don't think I've ever seen this exact place before." Allen looked hard at the area around them, trying to see if he recognized any of it. "I'm guessing since you asked me about this place that you don't know much about it?"

Jen stood still, unsure of what to do. She wanted to run, but she didn't want to leave this man alone to death, even if he was willing to die here.

Freia raised an eyebrow at Traken, then double checked their list of targets. She turned to Piiro and said, "we're in luck brother, the old man's on the list too." Piiro smiled wide and exclaimed, "two for one, I love it!" Then he looked them over and said, "they don't look very tough though. I guess we can each take one. Who do you want.?" Freia looked at Traken and Jen before saying, "you seemed so excited to kill the girl, I'll take care of the old man, so you can play with her." Piiro's eyes lit up, he thanked Freia and then used a jet of fire to catapult himself over their target's heads and behind Jen.

Jen whirled around to see Piiro land behind her, and he looked Jen over as he began spinning one of his daggers around on its chain. "I hope you know that you're quite attractive," he told her. "I'm not just saying that either, I mean it. You are hot. And I'm going to enjoy watching you bleed."

Freia pulled out her fans and assumed a combat stance, looking at Dr. Traken and smiling as she did so. "So tell me doctor," she asked him, "do you know what it feels like to freeze to death?"

 

"No." Nny said. "I'm sorry, but I haven't. If it happens to be an illusion, then it isn't from our memories. Its probably from the Black Phantom's memories." Nny continued to walk around with Allen, seemingly coming across nothingness. No signs of life, no other social interactions. It was somewhat disturbing. What could have happened to this tower? Nny decided to no longer dwell on question when they would probably reveal themselves later. He then turned to Allen. "Say, one more thing. Why do you think the Black Phantom took the form of a little girl?"

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Dr. Traken made little marks into the ground with his cane as he looked at Freia. "I do not. If I did then I would most certainly be dead and not on your list of innocents to slaughter." Dr. Traken remarked sarcastically. "I have been afraid of death for years, I knew that one day I would eventually die, but I had always thought it would be alone and in old age. In reality, you killing me would be a kindness that I would gladly welcome. However, the girl must live, and therefore, I shall not die without protecting her first!"

Music:

Dr. Traken finished the circle on the ground and then grabbed a knife from his pocket. He threw the knife at Piiro. Then suddenly his cane transformed into a sword before them all. He turned around and began an attack on Freia.

 

Allen stopped walking and looked Nny. "Y'know, I haven't really thought about it." He thought for a minute then said. "Maybe it's not on purpose, maybe that's just the form she naturally takes as a representation of her childlike mentality. Maybe that's actually what she looks like and she's just not bothering to hide her appearance. Maybe she's just doing it to mess with us, play with our expectations or throw us off guard or something. Maybe that's just her favorite form. Or some combination of reasons."

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Piiro deflected the knife with his chain, causing it to go off course and make a (relatively) shallow cut on his arm instead of meeting its intended target. He grimaced slightly at the pain, then returned his attentions to Jen, his smile returning. He kept one dagger sheathed as he fought, holding back to make the killing more enjoyable. He threw his unsheathed dagger at Jen's thigh, intending to play with his victim like a cat with a mouse. Jen dodged to the side and sent a small bolt of electricity down Piiro's chain, not enough to seriously harm him though, she only wanted to stop her attacker, not hurt him. Piiro chuckled as he was knocked down by the electric shock. "Clever girl." He figured this would be fun.

Freia formed ice on the ground and used it to quickly slide away from Traken's attack. She then used more to slide around to the side of him away from his sword arm. She moved quickly and gracefully, almost as if she were doing some kind of dance. She slid in toward Traken and prepared to slash at his throat, but at the last second she spun around his back and tapped the back of his sword hand with one of her fans. Forming ice around it in an attempt to freeze his sword to his hand and reduce his fighting abilities. Then she slid away from him.

 

“Claire Vastia” Claire said to Raxtion “I am with my partner but at the moment he has a few things to take care off at the moment.

The ground under Nny and Allen creaked the whole time they walked but as soon as Allen finished talking the whole section of floor under the two gave way dropping them several levels, when they stopped falling they landed in a room that was circular, there was rows of terminals in the room that circled some type of platform in the middle of the room. The Lights in the room turned on at a dim level and some of the terminals powered up as well, but they were all password protected.

 

Raxtion smiled at the woman and then said "Well, its a pleasure to meet you! I would tell you my name if I knew it... But it sounds like you know of something we all don't. Care to enlighten us on a task that you believe needs fulfilling?"

*************************************

Nny was about to respond to Allen when the floor broke open beneath him. The fall was long enough for him to realize what had happened and recover easily. In mid air, Nny gained balance and landed on the ground with his two hands and feet. Nny glanced up at the broken floor and sighed with relief. Thankfully it wasn't a trap, because if it had been, Nny would not have been prepared to fight. Nny then looked around at all the terminals lining this lonely room and decided to see if he could find anything interesting on them. However, the first one he checked was password protected, so he moved on. Then next was also password protected. Then the next and the next. Nny examined each and every terminal looking for one that wouldn't be locked.

Dr. Traken looked at his frozen hand and frowned. He focused his knowledge and abilities as he turned the ice into fire, and then flinged it at Freia. However, that was just a distraction as he quickly ran at her and began engaging in close combat again.

 

Allen formed a light board as he was falling and road it to the ground. He walked up to one of the terminals and looked at it. For a moment he tried to think of what the password might be, but then he decided that since he didn't know what would happen if he got the password wrong that he shouldn't mess with it. Instead he climbed onto the platform in the middle of the room and started examining it.

*******************************************

Piiro threw his dagger out to the side, then pulled it towards Jen and made a wide arcing slice towards her. Jen created a force field between her and the blade and knocked it back. He continued attacking with his single dagger to no avail, every attack he made was either avoided or blocked. Piiro caught sight of his sister fighting Traken and their eyes met.

Freia sidestepped the fire coming at her and just narrowly avoided Traken's next attack. She closed her fans and used them to block Traken's incoming attacks. Her eyes met with her brother's and in that instant they communicated a plan between them.

Freia opened her fans and slid back away from Traken, looking as if she were preparing to attack him. Piiro held his dagger in his hand and pulled his arm back, preparing to attack Jen. They attacked simultaneously. Freia created a wall of ice between her and Jen, and Piiro launched a wall of fire at Traken's back. Jen's legs were encased in ice and her hands were frozen at her sides.

 

"I can't answer yet" Claire said to Raxtion then faced the others "Lets go, its a long journey, so lets find transportation in the next town" Claire said as she started walking, "maybe we could enlist in the eclpiscion army" she joked to herself.

As Allen climbed up on the platform there was the sound of something clicking. A few seconds later all the terminals turned off and an alarm started blaring. All around them the sounds of large machinery turning on could be heard.

A young person in a black coat and wearing a white mask landed between Traken and the fire, they raised their hand and a rune appeared in front of them that dispelled the fire, they drew a rapier and took a battle stance. "That is enough" they said to the siblings, their voice heavily distorted but still understandable.

 

Vendeval and Reese followed Claire. As She mentioned joining the Eclipscion army, Vendeval thought about the possible benefits. "Hmm..." He wondered aloud. Behind him, Reese was wondering what the group would do when they reached Eclipscion. "What kind of transportation were we hoping to find?" She asked Claire.

 

Jen tried to turn her head and look at the person, curious what could have a voice that sounded like that.
Freia assumed a combat stance, preparing to act if she needed to.
Piiro started spinning his chain above his head, upset with this stranger for interrupting his fun, and completely ready to add him to add them to the body count if he had to. He asked indignantly, "oh yeah? Says who?"