Return of the Emblem Chapter Fourteen: Nine

[scorri]

Erion had been disappointed when Cass couldn't tell him much, but nodded. "Right, so just picture what I want... But if I don't even know what I can do, how can I know what I want?" And then Amalia commented with some new information. He blinked, standing with his mouth slightly agape for a second. "I... I what? Turned into Blake? But... I mean..." He hesitated, wondering.

[Nanami Touko]

"Weeeeell... You were talking about how the fight wouldn't be something Blake would have wanted, and then... You were glowing bright, and you became him-- or looked like him, for a few moments. I seem to remember you saying something, but... I didn't exactly know Blake, so I don't know if it was in his voice, or not. I'm a bit, uh... Out of sorts," she said, swaying a tiny bit and correcting herself, fairly quickly, "but I remember that much. You can ask Raquel when she returns, if you don't believe me. I'm sure she'd remember that."

[Snike]

"Do we have a way of subduing or killing Samael in the first place?" Axel asked, as he had not been informed of the exact details. "If not, it might be better if we just keep Reina away from harm instead of laying a trap and failing."

***

"Sounds like illusion magic. Interesting," Thanatos said, as he put his hand on his chin. "You might be able to change how you appear to others. At least, part of the time in any case."

***

Lane would've intervened had it not been for Nyx's silent order otherwise, but since he couldn't, he had to watch as Nemesis attacked Raquel not once but twice with her sword. The first swing was dodged by some impossible burst of speed- the emblem's power evidently at work, - while the second one struck true. Or it at least appeared to, until the pink-haired girl transformed with a flash into an orb of golden light. When she reappeared on the ground, Raquel was holding her side. Strangely, there didn't appear to be any blood coming from the injury.

The servant of Nyx approached the sitting girl and offered his free hand to her, all the while looking at the sword wound- or where it was supposed to be, since it was healing itself. "Huh."

[Phoenix]

Archives

There really was no blood, and now, save for the slash to her coat, and the exposed skin beneath it, there wasn't any evidence of an attack. Nemesis' words rang loudly in Raquel's ears. It took her a moment to even notice Lane offering her a hand. "Oh, thanks," she said, accepting the help. Once she was up, she looked at the cut fabric and winced. "I'll have to fix this later, I guess." A patch would look rather ugly but she didn't know nearly enough about synthesis to fix it via magic. Nemesis' words came to her again, making her wince even harder. The wound beneath the cut had healed almost instantly. What on earth made her think she couldn't fix a simple cut like this without sewing tools? "Let's ... get going ..."

She certainly had some things to think about, but for now, it was time to go find the others. "I'll get us out of this place first, and then you can show me the way from there." Raquel closed her eyes, trying to isolate herself and Lane. She made certain not to do anything else until she was sure she had the two of them firmly established in her mind. "Got it," was a final warning for Lane to brace himself, not that it would make much of a difference. Both of them were enveloped by the emblem's light, and disappeared into two small orbs. They wasted no time and raced off through the entryway and up the staircase beyond. If they had been moving any faster, the average person catching a glimpse of them wouldn't be sure what they'd seen.

With his only ally gone, Morpheus slipped into the shadows of the outer chamber, hoping to find some alone time. "Well that was frustrating," Nemesis sighed, "but I think she's starting to understand."

"Is this really the best way of handling her?" Lilith asked, looking pleadingly at Nature.

Nature met her gaze. She looked almost confused for a change. "Why do you believe you are the only one capable of yielding up that power?"

Lilith's eyes leaped from Nature as she considered the unexpected question. "Do you ..." her eyes found their way back to the Goddess' avatar, "see something in her that I don't? Giving up the emblem was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I don't think she's the kind of person who can do something like that."

"There are so many Raquels," Nature sighed, "some of them can go above and beyond your sacrifices. Others would be crushed by the mere prospect. You fear she'll become addicted to the power she wields, and that is why you must keep your distance for the time being." Lilith was about to speak again, but Nature started again, first. "Your fear isn't for her sake, but for our government. Sensing that, she can see you and your wishes as little more than an obstacle. Don't let fear steer you toward the very outcome you are trying so hard to avoid. Remain calm, be patient, and remember that she has struggles of her own."

Nature looked to Lilith's sister. "A word."

"Certainly," Nyx nodded.

Dining Hall

Cassandra's dagger disintegrated in her hand, forming a puff of golden hued smoke and vapor that quickly vanished. "If it's like a disguise then I guess you just have to imagine yourself looking and sounding a certain way. Go ahead and try it." Suddenly, she raised her hand to try and stop him before he did anything. "You have to mean it, though. Don't think about it or try to figure out how it works. Just ... will it into existence. 'I am this person, right now.' Think something like that and mean it."

House

"If he bleeds, we can kill him," Anna said plainly, "I'm more worried about keeping him restrained long enough to try and get some information out of him."

[Thany]

"right, lead the way boss." :she said to him a bit excited: "it will be so good to get my lance back."

[Snowy_One]

Robin extended her hand, keeping a firm grip on the apple slice to ensure he couldn't just yank it away. "Have you seen Nico?" she repeated, losing hope that he had. It didn't matter. At least Chip was finally down from the rafters.

[KentaEzren]

"But what if she knows he would be coming? would she try to fight us off?" Kenta asked them.

[Snike]

"Magic seal. And maybe just cripple him, depending on his regeneration," Axel offered, with a shrug. "Gabriel, do you think he'd regenerate limbs?"

***

Raquel seemed to be in a state of almost... shock, after the attack, as it was a second or so before she accepted Lane's hand. He just nodded to the thanks and waited for her to compose herself. The man nodded again at the direction to act as guide once they were out of the cathedral, but before he could react they were off, covered in golden light and moving... presumably outside, at a high speed.

[scorri]

Erion hesitated and then nodded. Hmm, so now who should I look like? ... Heh, I wonder... Looking over at Thanatos, he smirked slightly and said, "Want, huh?" Right. Come on emblem. I will look like Thanatos. No questions asked, I'm going to look like him and heck, sound like him too. A soft golden glow surrounded the man for a second, and when it faded, a copy of Thanatos stood in front of the other with a smirk on his face that looked out of place. He looked down at his body and opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, he seemed to shiver and then his appearance returned to the normal Erion one. "Well that was... interesting. Going to need to work on that one for sure."

[-Cynthia-]

"Let's all meet in the mess hall shortly then. I want everyone ready to head out for the mission as soon as possible," Veronika announced, before turning her attention to her own preparations. "Any idea where I can get a sword around here?" she asked Miguel, turning to him.

--

"I am also concerned that looking for Reina may put her in more danger. It's...not impossible that I would be able to reason with Samael given our similarities, though from our earlier meeting that seems unlikely. At the very least, I should be able to conjure a barrier should matters end in violence," Lysandra added.

[Phoenix]

Plaza

The acolytes of the order of Nature weren't sure what to think when two orbs of light raced silently past them, briefly dispelling any shadows they past and causing visitors to point and stare. Some of them past the two orbs off as light spells cast by some pair of competing youngsters. While that wasn't common, it was the only thing that made sense to them.

Out in the plaza, at the southern entrance of the Cathedral, the two orbs reached the top of the massive staircase and then stopped cold. They disappeared, leaving Raquel and Lane behind to be gawked at by the few people that were in the area. "It's really hard to control the speed," Raquel said, wishing she'd been able to do a few practice laps in the circular outer chamber of the archives. If there was a place to get a handle on ones maneuverability and mobility, it was probably there. Far from Raquel's mind at the moment were the people eyeing her and wondering where she and her companion had come from.

Dining Hall

Morgana's face darkened quite noticeably when Thanatos' doppelganger appeared. That she didn't say anything at all somehow magnified the ominousness, making Dominik a little nervous. Cassandra didn't see her. She was more focused on the illusion, which turned out not to be entirely foolproof even at a glance. While Morgana and Dominik saw the illusion the way it was supposed to be seen, the image of Thanatos, to Cassandra, was transparent, like a thin veil that had been carefully placed over Erion, who she could still see, albeit far less clearly than usual. That obviously wasn't what others were seeing. She could only assume the illusion was working properly, and that fellow emblem users like herself were resistant to the effect for whatever reason.

"Well, it almost worked," Jethro shrugged.

"Almost?" Dominik smirked, "if not for the general sense you get from the two of them, you wouldn't be able to tell them apart at all." His smirk vanished when he felt Morgana's gaze on him.

"If you say so," Jethro looked away disinterestedly. No point arguing with a blind man, he figured.

Stables

Robin wasn't letting go of the apple slice, so Chip shrieked a demand and pulled as a few tiny bits of chewed apple escaped his mouth.

"Hello, horse," Olga greeted the disinterested equine. It couldn't hurt to ask since Niko wasn't answering her calls, not that he did very often. If she could reliably find him that way, she would have stayed put at the entrance, called out once or twice, and waited for him to come to her. "Have you seen a sheep around here? He's smaller than you and will eat just about anything that looks edible, bar nothing." The horse just stared at her. Maybe some training would be in order after this latest incident, she thought.

Courtyard

"That's where Nadine comes in, I think," the boss reminded Thany, "I don't know my way around this place that well yet." The tents scattered around them were obscuring everything that used to be in clear view, which only added to the confusion. One would have to know the general layout of the fortress, or be around seven feet tall to navigate the place without a guide, now.

Miguel frowned at Veronika, "Isn't Raquel an merchant? I mean we have--had--an armory but you'd think it'd be easier for her to loan you a weapon instead of having to buy one from Belo's people." He was aware that Raquel wasn't around at the moment, but there was no clear indication she was in serious danger, at least none that he recognized.

"We lost over a hundred people, we've got more spare swords than we could ever hope to sell or put in a new armory," Nadine noted.

Miguel sighed, "Well that's depressing. If you need a new sword, you'll have to speak with the armorer about it. The army can't go around giving away free weapons to civilians or mercenaries just because we're understaffed."

House

"No, she wouldn't," Gabriel answered Kenta's question. Reina was about ten years old and friendly to just about everyone. Fighting people off wasn't really her way of doing things. Maybe once she was older, but for right now, she needed help if she was going to be protected from Samael and his ilk.

Before Gabriel could answer Axel's question, Anna spoke up. "Do you think he'd answer questions with his arms and legs missing?" she asked Axel, somewhat rhetorically, "I'm fine with the magic seal. We most likely need it, which is why it's factored into most of the battle plans I made so far, but we can only go so far and still have a coherent prisoner."

"Our regeneration isn't based on magic," Gabriel said, "so there's no way he can regrow lost limbs. Even if he could, it would take time. Days? Weeks? Months? I'm not sure but that's not really important if he doesn't get away." Gabriel's expression changed, from casual to something more worrying, at least for Anna. "It doesn't matter what we do to him, though. If he escapes alive, the next time we see him, he'll be as good as new. Making artificial humans is difficult. Making spare parts for them on the other hand ..."

"That would be child's play for them, I take it," Anna gritted her teeth. "Well Lysandra, I wouldn't be opposed to having you along, even if it only buys us a few words, but I'm not sure we can take him just yet, not with what we've got, currently."

Edited April 4, 2016 by Phoenix

[Thany]

"oh right, sorry. i just got a bit excited at the fact im going to be getting my weapons back, tho i wish we were moving along faster then we are right now," :she lightly complained:

[Nanami Touko]

Well, that was terrifying, with her head where it was. She knew it was the Emblem magic; she'd just told him about it, but it was still incredibly jarring to see Erion... Not be Erion, and then be Erion, in a matter of moments. "Wow... That's a rather scary magic. You could do a lot of bad with something like that... Not that I think you will, but, in the wrong hands, and all that." She couldn't quite think of the good that you could do with such powerful illusion magic, though... Maybe Erion had a better idea.

[Snike]

"Yes. There are ways to staunch pain," Axel said, bluntly. "But resources is the main problem, again."

***

"Keep in mind that you would only appear and sound like them," Thanatos said, expressionless. "So you might want to limit your impersonations appropriately." No sense outing the emblem wielder's ability to see through it, just yet.

***

Once they reappeared, Lane took a moment to balance himself and not retch. After that, he decided to take a quick look around. They were outside the southern entrance of the cathedral,. The sky was a clear blue, the sun was out and a pleasant warmth, and the duo must have made a scene for the few people that were around. Right, back on track.

"You did great, especially for the first time since you've remembered," the servant of Nyx said to Raquel, unable to completely rid his tone of the slight happiness he was feeling. "In any case, we should get moving. Follow me."

Lane then waited for a few seconds, then went out into Europa proper. Maybe I'll be able to get to a mirror there.

[KentaEzren]

"We'll have to weaken him, then. Maybe we can convince him." Kenta told them.

[-Cynthia-]

"Raquel has a lot going on right now, but I suppose a simple purchase should be easy enough for her to handle," Veronika conceded. "Do we have any idea where they might be reappearing?" she asked Uriel. This magical stuff is still so beyond me...

--

"Do you have a magic seal? They aren't exactly easy to come by," Lysandra asked. I wonder who these people are exactly and what they're after...time will tell.

[KentaEzren]

"What exactly is a magic seal?" Kenta asked.

[scorri]

Uri shook his head. "I don't even really know if they plan on coming back at all today or anything. I suppose it depends on how things go? Hopefully they are not gone for too long though..." He sighed. All of this chaos that they had gotten themselves involved in. Hopefully he had made the right decision.

Erion nodded. "So if I'm going to be using this to impersonate someone, I had better know their mannerisms well. Oh, the use I could have had for this earlier in life..." He sighed dramatically and shook his head. "Ah well. Though I wonder... Do I need to be imitating someone specific or can I simply change my appearance..." He concentrated for a few seconds before glowing slightly. When the glow faded his normally white hair was a deep black and a weathered scar cut across one cheek, while his skin tone had deepened significantly. Glancing at his hands, he grinned. The effect faded quickly and he idly mused, "So I need to get better about controlling this, but still... It could be quite useful. Never know when you need to avoid attention." Heck, if I could have changed my appearance a while ago, I may have never ended up with this group...

[Phoenix]

Plaza

Raquel followed along, only now noticing the stares and fingers hitting them from every general direction. "I guess it might be better to go on foot; I wouldn't want to lead a bunch of unwanted guests to Weyland's." Now that she thought about it, Weyland was a pretty interesting, more importantly famous, man. To be going to his house should have stirred up more, rather any excitement in her. For whatever reason though, be it the odd sense of familiarity that hung over everything since she'd spoken with Nature, or meeting the Goddess herself, she just wasn't excited about the prospect of visiting the famous inventor at his home.

Dining Hall

Dominik smirked. An impersonator, was it? "It's a shame my little sister's always so busy. I'm sure she could help you master that skill quickly." He got a silencing glare from Morgana, but any potential damage had already been done. She stepped beside Thanatos and waited quietly.

"Well, it's working so that's good," Cassandra said, shrugging.

"If you say so," Jethro sighed. Were they all seeing the same things, here?

Courtyard

If they were ready to go ... "Okay, follow me," Nadine said, starting off ahead of the group. Miguel stayed where he was, and Zachary, the Boss, and James, followed after.

"I hope they aren't gone for that long," Zach frowned belatedly, "we've got work to do."

"Like what, chasing down overpowered maniacs?" Nadine asked, looking over her shoulder at the thunder mage.

"Pretty much, yeah. World's not going to save itself."

"The world, huh?" she murmured. Lofty goals, that one.

House

"We've got limited access to one or two," Anna said, mulling over their options. She glanced at Kenta, a little surprised that he hadn't heard of magic seals. "Magic seals draw magical energy onto and into themselves before a mage can use that energy to cast a spell. The larger the seal, the larger the effected area."

"... and the bigger the explosion when all that energy reaches critical density," Gabriel reminded her. Using a magic seal against anyone with vast reserves was never safe, especially not for whoever was carrying the thing.

"That's always a risk but not a very realistic one since we're only going up against a couple of dozen mages at the most when all is said and done. It would take a lot more power than they can bring into a battle to overload any seal we'd be using." Gabriel was going to have to take her word for it, but safety was one of her top priorities for this particular mission.

[Snowy_One]

A shrieking monkey, one with fangs clear in its mouth, even if covered in apple bits, was likely a very bad thing to antagonize. As such Robin relented and let the piece of apple go, unsure if she should try to give him the third, and final, piece.

"Olga, are you trying to become a horse whisperer?"

[Snike]

"Kind of unfortunate that we don't have access to a pre-detonated one. We could use the shards, in that case," Axel said, frowning. "If not to affect regeneration, to hamper magic without actually risking an explosion."

***

"Right, well it appears as though you have learned how to use your ability," Thanatos said, glancing at Jethro for a moment before returning his attention to Erion and Amalia. "We should probably be going. Let us step out to warp."

After saying this, the Angel of Death headed outside of the dining hall in seeming silence.

Dominik, go speak with Sardis and his subordinates. Ask them if they knew that Jethro was an emblem wielder.

Keeper, step out of the dining hall, but stay in the general area, just in case something happens.

***

"It might've been easier had we used your ability, but then again we might've gotten lost," Lane said, with a slight frown. "I'm not the best at relaying directions. Besides, we wouldn't be able to take in the fresh air as much."

[Nanami Touko]

What a truly terrifying ability... But Erion seemed pleased with himself, and he had proven trustworthy so far. He could be trusted with power like that, she was sure. As for herself, the pain had dulled considerably, but it was still throbbing in her back. Something that wouldn't be stopping any time soon. "Warp?" she asked, starting to follow after Thanatos. "Oh, I... Suppose we won't be staying here. Right." That made a bit of sense, why would they stay there? But were they going back to get Raquel, or were they headed back the base? Raquel could probably make it back on her own, given her powers...

[KentaEzren]

"Magic has always seemed interesting to me. I wish i had a chance to master it." He sighed. "Well... Anything else about our target?"

[scorri]

Copy boss. Let me know if you need me or any weapons for the group. Keeper continued lounging against the wall where he'd stayed ever since the group arrived at the estate. It seemed like there was lots of interesting things happening right now, which was to be expected. Hopefully this group that his boss had decided to support was strong enough to deal with it all.

Meanwhile Erion shot Jethro a slightly puzzled glance but gave a mental shrug. Everyone else seemed to think that everything was working alright. He'd have to practice, but still! With a grin at Amalia, he followed Thanatos outside. "Well, time to get back to the rest of them. I'm sure Uri will be glad to see you back."

Uri nodded gravely. "If we are to fight against these dangerous enemies, it would be wise to be as prepared as possible. After all, fighting with a reduced force would only risk us even further. I will do my best to keep you all alive, but to do so, it would be best if we could even the odds as much as possible."

[-Cynthia-]

"Learning magic does take a lot of time and effort, but it can be well worth it. Some people think that they can't learn magic past a certain age, but I've known a few who have proved otherwise," Lysandra remarked to Kenta, before turning her attention back to the task at hand.

"I will say that if he's anything like his father, he will have prepared for the possibility of a magic seal. I think it may be still be our best option but...prepare for the unexpected," she cautioned.