Kilroos (Rise of the Guardians)

Sasha felt a huge relief when the man smiled back at her, she steped away from him as he replied back to Edon. Looking at Zayne talking to Q she frowned, the woman was clearly nervous. She then looked at Cassie and sigjed deeply, thinking on how she has to tell her what happened earlier...

The girl returned to be next to Roy, she looked at him and noticed a deep concern, she felt guilty for it. Probably she made him feel bad with her words. She slowly got near him and lofted her hand grabing his, "I'm sorry..." she said to him as she looked at her mentor.

Zayne was happy that Quinn agreed to watch his sister, but he was a little upset that he had spooked the elf. Smiling at Q, Zayne replied, "You're the best! Sorry if I spooked you, I was just being silly." Esti and Q mentioned something about wanting meat, which for some reason gave Zayne a very powerful tugging feeling deep inside of him as if there was something he knew he had to do. "don't worry, Elfie!! If you're hungry I'll get you some food and this time it will be much larger than a bird!"

Mahlo listened to Edon speak, and the old man had quite the point. He agreed with pretty much everything he said, and was starting to respect and take a liking to Edon with each passing comment he made. Even if he was just a smelly old ex-mentor.

Mahlo felt Zayne's presence beside him, snarling inwardly. He didn't say anything to the Clear Seas wielder as he spoke to Quinn and stayed by her side, all the way up until Esti ran up to the group. He smiled faintly at her, she never bothered Mahlo. As long as it was just her, he was just fine with her staying with the two of them. Zayne's comment about getting her something bigger than the birdie irked him, and he also wondered what exactly Zayne needed to do that he needed Esti gone for. 

As Esti got into Quinn's arms, he smiled to the both of them as she called them Mama Quinn and Papa Mahlo. It was fitting names, he thought, even though the girl wasn't related to him at all. As Quinn commented on her dry arms (dry enough to cut somebody), Mahlo raised an eyebrow in concern. Something wasn't right about the way she had been lately, although he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Dissatisfied with mahlos reaction, Zayne let out a long sigh before wrapping his arm around the edgy guys shoulders. Zayne greeted Mahlo with a smile before admitting, "you know what, buddy, we got off in the wrong foot. You're a pretty cool guy, and I'm sure you're just misunderstood. After this whole adventure blows over I'm sure we're going to be stuck together like family. Yup, we will definitely be seeing a lot more of each other, I'm sure of it!"

Zayne was being genuine and truly friendly towards Mahlo, which was unusual from his boopity self. This personality is practically foreign to the clear seas wielder, but it isn't new. It's almost like this is how he's supposed to be.

Roy felt Sasha’s hand grab his and he didn’t even acknowledge her, but he gripped her hand back. She said she was sorry to him, but she didn’t know the magnitude of the words she was speaking. Sorry was just the beginning. “You’re going to have to speak with Gannon if you don’t plan on going back Sasha. More than likely he knows a lot about guardians than we do.” Roy looked past her apology and seemed to look at the ground. The trees were starting to dissipate and more tall grass was starting to pop up around the area. Roy slowly let go of Sasha’s hand. Gannon turned his head hearing Roy and frowned. “What’s going on now? I heard my name.” Roy glanced over at Gannon. “She doesn’t want to come back to the High Clouds.” Gannon blinked a bit astonished. Even Q turned looking over at Sasha a minute before turning back, being distracted. “But, dear girl… I know the Clouds guardian is not as… loquacious as the others, but our guardian protects our Oasis with his life.” Roy nodded. “Petra is our Guardians name. She guards our forest along with the Paralyzed Spirit.” Gannon nodded. “That spirit is nothing to mess with. It looks cute, but it is seriously sinister.” Gannon shook his head and turned to Sasha. “At the library I can explain to you a little bit better about why leaving your city is… not the best idea…”

Quinn glanced at Zayne up and down before he talked about getting her something bigger than a bird. “I hope you aren’t giving me dead animals to treat me like an animal, I am civilized.” At least now she was. “I am a carnivore, but I do like my meat cooked, bird or not, thank you.” She held Estrella close as she watched Zayne walk over to Mahlo and her heart sunk hard into her gut. Zayne put his arms around her Wielder and Quinn instantly glared at the tailed man. “Please get your arm off h--“ Zayne instantly felt a sharp cut along his arm. A knife flung into the ground that seemed to look like one of Quinn’s. “I’d advise you take your arm off him. He’s under heavy guard.” The elf had her arms full with the small girl, but the dark elf smiled softly at Zayne. Quinn shifted Esti in her arms as the little girl spoke softly into her ear. “So is Zayne.” Q raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?” Esti was gripping Q with her nails digging into her as her gold eyes stared at the ground where Q had walked. “I’d be shitting you, but you’re my favorite turd.” Esti grinned wide and sniffed the elves hair and kicked the ghostly knife on her hip. “You smell good.” Q looked at the girl as Esti had her arms around Q’s neck, her gold eyes looking over at Mahlo, then to Zayne’s blood coming from his new wound on his arm. Cassie seemed to frown. “Stop weirding Q out Estrella.” Esti’s eyes became black again and blinked. “But Q likes me!” Cassie mumbled. “Mhm” under her breath as the group noticed tall trees in the distance. A large crater being held down by massive chains. Stomping of several large entities were heard ahead of the group.

The princess pointed up ahead. “There is skyline. Only a little bit more to go until we meet a giant guarding the chains!” Lynn turned to look at Xerxes and Julius. She whined softly only to Xerxes. “Can I please put my arm around Julius? I wanna be his friend too you know.” Xerxes looked down at Lynn’s eyes sparkle as she gripped Xerxes’ hairy arm with her well cleaned robotic arm and small hand. “pleasepleasepleasepleaseeee!?” Xerxes smiled. “Don’t bring it up again, and only for a moment.” Lynn squealed and swung her arm around Julius’ shoulders and smiled at him. “We’re gonna have so much fun kickin’ ass Julius!" Her bright blue eyes met with his red as she smiled happily. “I got special permission to have my arm on you, so I’mma milk it!” Lynn goose stepped her way playfully with her king a bit too excited to go to this big city. “If only Royals are allowed here, why are there so many houses?” Gannon turned to Lynn. “Skyline City is actually a large library. As big as a city.” Lynn’s eyes looked at the massive floating hunk of rock. “Wow, that’s… that’s amazing!”

Esti nibbled on Q’s shoulder, but not hard enough for Q to care as the small girl turned to Sasha. “I like your hair. It reminds me of candy.” A large amount of laughing was heard up in front of them. “Me too! Me too!” Up in a tree there was one dead giant strewn across the tree tops, blood dripping through the leaves and onto the ground. Many animals blown apart and strewn all through the opening of the forest welcoming the group to the Skyline forest. “I made so many Lolli’s from this giant hussy! I can’t wait for show and tell!” Sugar High was visible from far away, but a hoodie covered glitched version stood in front of Julius. A deep frown on her face. “Ew. I smell the other shadow man on you.” Sugar turned to look at Lynn with her arm around the king. “Well well. Hello there.” She clapped her hands and glitched a bit as she stood in front of the group. “HAPPY LEARNING YOU STUPID HUSSIES! CIAO!” The glitched version vanished while even the real Sugar High vanished. The princess stood a bit unnerved and stared at Julius. “Anyone care to explain what or who exactly that was?”

The boy smiled meekly at Lynn and he wondered if she would be okay with him putting his arm around her shoulders. However the scene ahead of him made him forget all about it, blood pooled on the ground along with the corpses of animals, even a giant had fallen victim to whatever catastrophe hit. And that catastrophe's name was Sugar High. The young king wanted to pay the girl back for everything she did to Xerxes, but the one in front of him was fake, and the real one was too far away for him to do anything definitive. He sniffed himself in curiousity, I smell? But I showered... by other did she mean Sirius? He wondered what what she had said to Lynn meant and watched the Champion disappear before his eyes and he turned to confront the princess. "That was a Champion, goes by the name of Sugar High. She's a maniac... but as you can see," he glanced at the chaos, "She has the strength to make all her wildest fantasies come true."

Sasha looked at Gannon with a sad expression, she listened carefully andnhen with a confused face she asked "Who's Petra?". Completly forgetting Kevin's actual name. Then everyone's attention changed to Sugar High, Sasha looked around to see if any other champion was near, she didn't let her guard down after realising it was simply a sort of illusion.

After a few seconds she left. As if they just wanted to remind them they were being observed every second of the day. Sasha stood near Roy and allowed Julius to answer the princess' question. The girl kept thinking on why it was such a terrible idea to don't go back home.

Mahlo glanced over at Zayne as he made his attempts to be friendly. The Dark Swamps wielder raised an eyebrow, unsure of how to react to this new side of him. There was a part of him that wanted to tell him to fuck off and push him out of the way, however he seemed genuine at the same time. Maybe he was actually trying to be friendly.

But even if he did happen to be genuine, this was the same man that raped Quinn. Could he just instantly forgive that? Of course not. 

The male narrowed his eyes at him, as if prepared to say something. However, before he could, he watched a knife whizz by. The blade collided with the arm of Zayne for a moment, causing blood to slowly seep out. Quinn's voice caused him to turn, and the wielder managed to suppress a smirk. She was adorable when she got protective. 

Mahlo's enhanced hearing caused him to be able to hear the low conversation between Esti and Quinn. He let forth an elongated exhale...before turning to Zayne as they walked, "What is going on with your little sister? She's acting so...Strange."

His train of thought was halted as they turned forward to the figure of Sugar High in the distance. Mahlo emitted a low growl, a defensive animal's sound. He waited for the woman to say what she had to before disappearing into nothing. He looked back and forth at the carnage and had to give her credit where it was due: She was good at making murder look easy. Even so, the fact that she consistently followed them was enough for Mahlo to look over his shoulder.

"We have to get into Skyline," He said, "We might be safer from her in there."

Zayne smiled back at Q, even with his new scratch! "You better be careful too, Elfie! I've got a bunch of crazy people following me around too." Chuckling at his own joke, Zayne really had no idea about the assassins following Mahlo around. "Just remember that you agreed to watch after that one tonight! She's your burden now!"

Mahlo mentioned something about Esti being different, which was sort of strange considering they really only knew one another for a few days. With a puzzled look on his face, Zayne turned to Mahlo and added, "Nah, she's always been weird like this. Esti's always been my partner in crime. Erik was always too much of a wuss to do anything really fun. He's more like Dad, while Esti and I are actually pretty cool."

There was a crazy pinata party waiting for them at Skyline, except someone had already busted up the pinata's pretty good. It must've been someone's birthday, but where was the cake? Bam! Sugar High appeared out of nowhere! Zayne never really got a good look at her before, and she seemed like she would be really fun to party with sometime. Unfortunately, the group missed out on the party and the guest of honor was quickly departing. With a heartY smile, Zayne threw his palm in the air and gave Sugar High a big wave, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU TOO YOU STUPID-..... hey Cassie, what's a... hussy?"

The young king was right about that. Sugar High would get what she wanted, and would constantly strike fear into the wielders to remind them that she is always there watching them. She never truly leaves and tends to be about 3 steps ahead of them. Maybe more. The princess seemed to look around angrily. “I can’t use my powers outside of the city, but I can certainly say that I despise any unjust disorder, and she’s full of it.” Cassie spoke up to the princess. “It seems like the other colorful girl destroys while the princess fixes.” Q looked over at Zayne and then down to Esti as she hiccupped her eyes went from black to gold quickly and then back right after the hiccup ended. It was quick but Q looked down at her with a sigh. “Your eyes keep changing colors Estrella.” Cassie heard Q and turned to her quickly. “Sh-She does that sometimes! It’s just like Erik or Zayne. Their eyes change colors!” Esti whined. “I feel sick mama Q.” Q turned the girl to face away from her. “Throw up thataway.” The small girl closed her eyes and instantly fell into a deep slumber, becoming dead weight on Q’s arms. Q then narrowed her eyes looking at Cassie. Cassie giggled wryly and looked over at Zayne. “Why do they need to watch her tonight anyways? You going somewhere?” She then heard him ask her what a Hussy was. "Uhm... I'm... I've never heard the term before." Q spoke up. "Whore. It means whore."

The princess and the group walked on as Lynn skipped around Julius and Xerxes. “This is gonna be so much fun! I wanna fight her!” She turned back looking at Julius with a wide smile on her face. Xerxes looked at the girl. “Calm down. You are guarding your king. Act like it.” Lynn sucked her teeth and kicked the ground as she crossed her arms. “You’re no fun Captian…” Roy looked over at the mountains and smirked before looking down at Sasha and losing said smile. “Come time we learn of this conundrum Sasha. Whether you leave or not, I cannot leave the clouds. You would be on your own. Not like you’d never make any friends. You’re great friend material.” Roy smiled for his wielder as they entered the blood ridden forest. Cassie whined as she put a shield above her head to keep the blood from dropping down onto her. Lynn seemed a bit uneasy once they waltzed in.

The trees seemed to be leaking something. The princess walked over to the one tree that seemed covered in it. “These trees are petrified…” She wanted to put her finger in the silver liquid, but Gannon stopped her. “No! That is mercury young miss. If you touch that you may lose that finger!” The princess stumbled back. “B-but! It is all over the trees! The giants and animals will touch this! Was this the girls doing?” Gannon walked forwards and shook his head placing his chin in his palm. “No… no… This was someone else… the girl was just staged in front of it… Don’t you think someone would have heard the explosions if she took down a giant? This is a silent killer. We need to keep moving.” The group moved through the forest without any more complications as long as no one tried to touch the silver liquid. Xerxes held his axe parallel with the ground over Julius to shield him from the dripping blood. A large giant stood by a chain guarding it well as the woman giant sharpened her long blade, which was bigger than the tree. “Halt! I need your papers!” Gemini skipped over to the woman and held her papers up. “I hope everything is in order! These are requests for my followers to come with me into Skyline!” The giant read over the tiny words and looked down at the group. “Yes.” The giant stood up and flicked the metal blade she had in her other hand. The sound reverbed off the chains as an ethereal staircase flowed down. “Take stairs. Quickly. Do not hurt Library.” The stairs would only be there as long as the reverb moved through the chains. The princess smiled at the group. “Race you to the top!” Q’s eyes became small as she looked at Esti’s dead weight.

Mahlo didn't take much from Zayne's answer, as he seemed rather ignorant to what was going on with Esti (Or maybe he knew what was going on after all and pretended to be ignorant to the situation). He sighed, moving closer to Quinn as he walked through the mercury-ridden forests. He placed his shielder up over his head in an attempt to shield him (And mostly Quinn) from the mercury, although the blade only covered so much.

Eventually, they made their way through the forests, glancing at Esti as she had become nothing more than dead weight. Her behavior was nothing like that of a little girl should have, and it was concerning him further and further with each passing moment. He exhaled a chuckle at Quinn's response to Zayne's question, a faint smile crossing his face for a moment before fading as he saw the giant guarding the chains.

In one day he had a seen a drunk, a clown, a psychopath in shadows, a horse-woman, and a woman who managed to kill a giant. A female giant with a blade the size of a tree wasn't something he necessarily felt like seeing today. 

He watched as the stairs seemingly materialized out of nothing, looking to Quinn's nervous expression. He pursed his lips for a moment as the princess raced up the stairs. He grabbed Esti, cradling her in his arms as a smirk formed on his face, "I'll race you up the stairs," He said, running up the steps with the little girl in his arms at surprising speed.

The young king drew Lynn close to him so that she was also protected by the ax. He looked with curiosity at the liquid that covered the trees, "It looks like liquid metal, but it's not hot at all..." He took out his sword and wanted to scrape some off to examine. It was dangerous enough to possibly take a finger, could it possibly destroy metal? But it wasn't damaging the trees so this should be fine. He looked at the liquid closely, but he saw the guards in the distance and quickly wiped his blade on the ground and then sheathed it. He looked at the woman's giant sword and at the chains, amazed at the quality of the blade. A smith had forged the weapon with care and done it well. As they climbed up the stairs, he took it slowly and steadily, simply enjoying the sensation as Mahlo and the princess ran ahead. He looked over at Lynn, "Do you want to run up the stairs as well?"

She has seen too many weird things today to even get shocked at anything else. Sasha looked at the princess giving the giant guardian some papers, and didn't pay much attention. Until stairs came out of nowhere and one word triggered her childish spirit race....

Sasha looked up to Roy with a gigantic smile, and yelled "RACE!!!!". Taking his hand she pulled him with her and started to run upstairs. Surprisingly enough she was able to actually pull Roy with her and run at an actually fast rate at the same time. She really wanted to win.

Miss Lynn smiled as Julius pulled her to him as she gazed at the paralyzed bark. “Mercury in the trees? That doesn’t seem normal.” She glanced at Xerxes from time to time, but he said nothing about her touching the king. Maybe it was because he grabbed her instead of her grabbing him. She felt special to be this close to her king. Looking at the female giant she was in complete awe. The reverbs off her weapon made the magical chains create a staircase. The princess did not get her papers back, so this was certainly a one-time trip. Lynn blinked and noticed the princess run up the stairs with great vigor screaming a very competitive word. Race. Lynn was all cylinders for this as she watched the others run up. “Yeah! Yeah! Let’s go your highness!” Xerxes was a bit surprised that they now were going to be challenged for their speed, which him, Gannon, and Edon were not equipped for. Xerxes instantly picked up the old man like he was a football and hiked him up the stairs, quite far behind.

Q felt Esti come out of her hands as Mahlo took the girl in arms and began to sprint up the stairs. The dark elf only took a minute before realizing that he was going to race her. A wide and playful smile finally cut through her cute gray cheeks as she quickly gaited up the stairs close behind Mahlo. Lynn instantly smiled at her king bouncing. “I’ll beat you up there!!!” She squealed as she hopped up two stairs at a time to try and catch up to the elf and Mahlo. The princess was the furthest as she giggled like a little school girl almost effortlessly skipping up the steps. Roy was ready for Sasha once the word was mentioned and quickly kept up with the girl as he was trained to be agile and always on his toes. Roy turned noticing that Xerxes was built for bulk, not for speed and then noticed Xerxes held out his hand to Edon, as if letting the older man know Xerxes could help him. It only took a couple of seconds for Xerxes to try and catch up carrying Gannon as he bounced against the Captain’s waist. Cassie Pulled up her dress and stepped up the stairs with two feet at a time. Running in a dress wasn't exactly that suitable. "Z-zayne? I think I need a little help..."

Zayne didn't really like the whore word, but hussy was fun to say! A place in Zayne's mind worried about his little sister, but Zayne reassured himself that she was probably just tired.

The trees they passed by looked extremely neat, and a certain someone with a fluffy tail wanted to touch them. Badly. However, Gannon said that they would lose a finger if they poked at the murr-.. mooerrr-... the silver stuff! Zayne cringed at the thought of such a thing. He needed every extremity that he had.

Tick tock boop bop, Zayne turned back around from gazing at all of the nature to see that some big chick had made a magical staircase out of some music. Zayne was about to ask the guard for guitar lessons, considering he's always wanted to learn, but his attention was quickly captured by Mahlo. That bastard had challenged everyone to a race and had given himself an unfair advantage. The Clear Seas wielder had already booped up five steps before he heard Cassie calling to him. With one swift, fluid motion, Zayne back flipped back down the stairs landing as a gigantic golden jungle cat. He turned his head and smiled at Cassie. Zayne could easily win the race, but not if it meant harming or leaving his Cassie behind.

Cassie wobbled a bit on the stairs as he back flipped down to her. The young woman smiled and climbed onto him holding her headdress on her head tight. “Alright! I’m ready!” She honestly could have just lifted her dress up more to run at full speed, but that wouldn’t be as fun as riding a giant kitty up the stairs. She sat like a lady would on a horse and gripped her arms around his neck and hands in his mane. Keeping her body low she nuzzled into him and narrowed her eyes ready for lift off! The ring was beginning to dull and was a terrible sign that the stairs were beginning to fade. Everyone was nearing the top, but it seemed like the ring was going much faster than the group. The princess was nearing the top. “Hurry Hurry!!!”

Sasha let go of Roy's hand as she noticed that he was also running. She heard the princess giggling as if she had already won. Sasha smiled, she's not strong without her powers, but she was really fast. Sprinting even faster and actually focusing on running as fast as she could she slowly got closer to the princess with a smirk on her face.

He couldn't imagine moving this quickly in Gairon and enjoyed the rush of cold air slapping him in the face, toying with his hair and snapping at his clothing. Julius stumbled and huffed, being dragged along by his arm by the ever-enthusiastic Lynn. He couldn't help but get caught up in the excitement as they rushed closer and closer towards the top. He looked around to see the scenery below him. Trees stretched seemingly endlessly to both sides of him, swaying slightly in the wind like a massive ocean. The boy didn't realize that the thrumming in the background had begun to fade and with it the stairs. But soon he began seeing the color seeping out of the staircase and then the princess yelled at them to hurry. The fear of falling motivated him to run faster, and his stepping became more sure and soon he was running next to Lynn rather than bobbing behind, "I can't... believe this!" He complained. He looked back briefly to see the captain chugging along behind him, carrying both of the old men in his arms as he crashed up the stairs. Julius hoped Xerxes would be able to make it, because if he couldn't, Julius wondered if his powers would be enough to save his mentor.

It took almost no time at all to catch up to the group with Zayne passing at least ten steps per stride. It looked like he would be able to get himself and Cassie to the top in time, but the rest of the group wasn't looking as well off. Q would probably live if she fell considering she was all ninja, but Gannon and Xerxes would certainly be donion rings. The plan for now was to make it to the top, let Cassie down, and help out anyone else if he could. Cats always land on their feet, right?

Sasha really wanted to win... But she noticed how the stairs began to fade out and looked behind. Some people ain't gonna make it, they were just too slow. "AWWWWWWW" she whined to herself, and began to slow down slightly. She turned behind her and focused on Xerxes, Gannon and Edon... he was... in the air but the landing wasn't going to be soft anyways. And so, using her telekinesis she pulled them upstairs as fast as she could, she aimed at the top these guys were actually quite heavy but it took her only a few seconds to do what she wanted. Once she made sure that they'd all be safe upstairs she let them go. Without looking behind, Sasha started to run again. Stoping so suddenly earlier made her gasp for air in each step, hopefully the adrenaline will be enough to recover her breathing and made ir to the top in time.

There was the rare occasion that Mahlo was smiling big as he ran up the stairs with Esti in his arms, looking back at Quinn every once in a while as she caught up rather quickly. He saw everyone else behind them, catching up as well. He didn't consider this a race with everyone else, just with his mentor.

His smile suddenly faded upon realization that the stairs were beginning to fade. He heard the princess urging them to hurry, and the Dark Swamps wielder was suddenly taken over by his instinct. He grasped Quinn's hand and ran with her, catching up with the princess as fast as he could before eventually sliding over to the top before the stairs could fade away. He was exhaling heavily, panting, but otherwise okay. He placed Esti down against the nearest wall he could find and stood upright, breathing in and out.

He turned to Quinn and chuckled to himself through the deepened breaths, "You were behind me when I grabbed your hand, I still won."

Gannon’s response caused Edon’s stern expression to melt into a deep frown. He turned away dismissively; the man had no interest in arguing. The drunkard had already learned more than he wanted to about the old mentor. Everyone was always so stubborn when it came to beliefs, clinging hopelessly to their own personal truths. Edon was guilty of extreme self-loyalty, but so was all of mankind. Among the many thoughts swirling around the mind of the old drunk, only one appeared to be complete: He knows nothing of my heart.

As the group kept moving, Edon maintained his position in the back of the crowd. He walked at a moderate pace, keeping to himself, occasionally letting his eyes wander. The old drunk was amused at Quinn’s bold nature, flinging a knife at Zayne. Bonus points for the grey girl. Dark Swamps folk seemed to still be as tough as they used to, Edon took pride in that.

Then the old man heard the princess declare that they had reached Skyline City. He shrugged, looking up at the large floating mass of earth. It was an old foe, one he was hoping he wouldn’t encounter again. Though, here he was, staring at the library with disgust. Maybe they installed safety railings since last time, he thought.

The annoying squeak of childish laughter emitted from nearby. Edon looked at the giant’s corpse, then to the hooded girl who seemed to have appeared out of nothingness. After a brief exchange, she vanished. She didn’t seem to like Mr. Nightshade either. Enemy of my enemy is my friend? No. Edon had no interest in making friends. Zayne then said something stupid again, which had gotten old. The princess demanded an explanation as to who the giant-killer was, the old man looked to the group, also curious. He wasn’t very surprised with the answer.

The group then came across a female giant, who demanded they present their papers. The princess handled it. After the giant had flicked the chains, a staircase appeared. Edon stared solemnly at the newly formed path to Skyline. It was then that everyone’s brains seemed to diminish as they sprinted up the stairs like morons, racing. Edon refused to run. He gripped Xerxes with a grumble, letting the large man carry him up. “If you drop me--" the man paused, "...Just don’t drop me."

Time was running out as the ring seemed to be quicker than the group. The man’s eyes widened as took notice of the dissolving stairs. Edon called up, “Hey! Old guys aren’t very fast!” Sasha then used her telekinesis to assist the elderly, how sweet.

The group sprinted up the stairs as fast as they could as they could. The Princess was breathing hard as she placed her hands on her knees. Next was Zayne and Cassie, Mahlo, Sasha, Q, Julius and Lynn, then lastly Xerxes with the older gentlemen. Xerxes huffed hard as sweat fell down his face. That was a lot of work for even someone Xerxes’ size. The princess had to catch a breather while Xerxes placed the men down on their feet before hunching over, trying to hold back vomit. The massive man hasn’t run that much in a very long time, not including lifting anything while running. Lynn frowned and rubbed Xerxes’ back before looking over at the princess. “Just give him a minute.” The princess nodded. “Then let’s all sit and take a short breather. She looked to the left out of the rock pathway they were sitting in. Out towards the sunset she smiled and then looked to the right into the city. “We’ll be going into the Main building first. The Librarian is usually there or in his office. We need to check in with him first. E-Edon…” She looked a bit nervously at the man. “Since you’ve been here before and aren’t exactly… welcome… I need you to slip in through a side door. I’ll meet you by the map section. We need everyone to come with me down to the main building. Edon should be fine. This is the most secure city in the entire continent.”

Once Xerxes was ready to go he cracked his shoulders and trudged behind the princess towards the back. Looking at Gannon the old man thanked him. Cassie giggled hopping off Zayne. “That was fun! We should do that again sometime! I’ve never actually ridden any kind of animal besides that shark thing in the sands… well… let me elaborate. I’ve never ridden anything tame… er… nevermind…” Cassie blushed and seemed to stagger away. “This place is filled with so much knowledge… I want to read so much about my kind.” Q huffed softly as she stretched her legs a little bit walking by Mahlo. “Yeah yeah you won. Only cause I let you.” She walked next to him and looked at all the different large buildings. Each building was another section of the library that all came down into the main room. Gannon looked at Edon wondering why he wasn’t supposed to be with the group. Roy wasn’t out of breath at all. He stood by Sasha looking down at her. She was extremely competitive, but also burned a lot of her energy. The small girl was fast. “Q.” The High elf spoke to the Dark elf. “I have a question for you.” Q turned and started to walk next to him, scowling a bit. “What.” Roy looked at the eerily glowing knife she acquired from the fortress. “Do you remember what that knife does?” Q nodded. “Of course I do. Why?” Roy glared at it. “It’s been giving off a black mist for a long time now. You haven’t noticed it, but I have. We need to see if there is such a book on that knife.”

The princess made her way to the door of the main hall and opened it with ease. Walking in she noticed the librarian was nowhere to be found. “He must be in his office.” The moment she finished her sentence a lithe figure came up through the floor in black mist. The face not seen as the room suddenly became very cold. The princess backed up into Lynn looking at the figure. “O-oh! There he is!” The figure was slender. Death like. The Lithe wraith seemed to heave whispers lingering around it, but none of the voices were understandable, like another language. The whispers seemed to move with the figure as it moved face to face with the princess. “Welcome princess… and… guests…” The voice was wispy and seemed to blow through the air around the group. The Wraith Librarian was not very pleased about having others in his library, but as the team looked around there was many other smaller wraith’s moving around and fixing all of the books organizing and shifting through the shadows. “Princess Gemini… Beware of the Dark Swamps section.” The princess turned to Mahlo as if to question the librarian and then stammered. “I- I uh Yes sir.” The Wraith Librarian seemed to float towards a desk. “Don’t let me see him princess.” Gemini became very nervous and instead of lying she nodded. “Yessir!” She then looked at the group. “Let’s go to the map building first…” She nervously laughed as she ran towards the right hallway expecting the group to follow.

In the Map building the door was open. There was no need to knock considering no one could get into the city without the stairs. Edon would easily walk in. The small wraiths moving around fixing up the maps. As soon as Edon walked in the door the wraiths stopped and looked at him. These Wraiths had little hands holding the thin paper with the map scribbles on them. The entire building was organized by year, area found, and if the map’s been written on or not. There was even some maps covered in blood. Treasure maps, Sailing maps, and even construction maps. If Edon wanted he could look through the maps. If he does want to look through them, he can, but he cannot leave the building with the map, or the smaller wraiths will alert the librarian. The group has not met up with him at this point.

Mahlo couldn't help but simply smirk at his mentor as she huffed, walking next to him. As Roy called her over and started to talk with her, his response was a faint scowl as he looked forward at the looming buildings of Skyline. There was a feeling in the pit of his gut that didn't quite sit right, especially as they walked into the library. The fact that Edon wasn't even wanted here was something that needed to be discussed; What exactly happened that caused the former mentor to practically be unwanted by anybody in the general vicinity?

As they walked through, Mahlo at first saw nothing. Then, a chill ran down his spine as a shadowy figure materialized. Wisps of smoke and darkness wrapped around himself, and suddenly the wielder took notice of the smaller versions of the Librarian floating around within the large expanse of the library. The warning against the Dark Swamps section caused Mahlo to whip his head back in the Librarian's direction. Based on Gemini's general reaction to the wraith, Mahlo decided to keep his mouth shut and find out himself (later on when he didn't feel eyes all over him).

Gemini seemed terribly nervous as she ran toward the hallway that lead to the map section. Mahlo was compelled to join her, however he simply stood there and thought for a moment before eventually meeting her. He looked from Quinn to Gemini with a curious flicker in his eyes, suddenly craving an adventure, "We get Edon," He whispered, "And then we go to the Dark Swamps section"

The old man’s feet touched the ground. He took a few steps backward, looking to Xerxes. The ex-mentor spoke sarcastically, “Next time, I’ll carry you.” Edon then left the large man to recover and thanked Sasha. If it weren't for her, they may not have made it. He stood idly as the rest of the group caught their breath, his eyes wandering. Edon took a few steps toward the edge of the floating rock, processing the distance between the library and the ground. He shook his head, shrugging. It’s a long way down…

A knot-like sensation had manifested itself in the pit of the man’s stomach. It had been there the entire journey, growing as the path to Skyline shortened. He had been aware of it, expecting it, he had to-- otherwise the feeling would consume him. Edon was adept at disciplining his emotions, though memory could never be overcome. Remembering, like thinking, was dangerous. But for some reason, the old man remembered anyway.

The drunkard snapped out of his trance as the princess addressed him. Edon turned, looking to Gemini and nodding. Before walking off to his destination, he called to the others casually, “If I need help, I’ll scream in agony or fear.”

The old man made his way into the map building, entering with ease. He closed the door behind him, turning to see a plethora of smallish wraiths gawking at him. At first, he ignored them, eyeing the various sections and documents. Edon then looked over his shoulders to find that the wraiths were still staring at him. It gave him the heebie-jeebies. He resisted the urge to make a caustic remark and returned his attention to the maps, going to the section marked with the most recent year. He started with bloodied maps, then quietly flipped through the others looking for anything of interest.