Kilroos (Rise of the Guardians)

Mahlo could practically feel the anger resonating within Quinn, although she chose to bite her tongue for the time being. He had seen it too--Ren had committed the mass genocide on the species she considered her guardians. Ren's death was interesting, and the death of his family was, too. What she said made a great amount of sense, although he kept it to himself. He listened to the words she said regarding the other book, nodding. The lore behind the split of the Dark Swamps and the High Clouds was always murky, but it seemed as though this story held some form of truth. 

"Well," Mahlo nodded, "Truth is definitely a good thing. I figured the lore behind the lands wasn't as simple as storytellers liked to make it out to be." 

He was suddenly caught by a deep, masculine voice. He darted his head to the source and found that it was...the book? "Of all the things I've seen today," He muttered in exasperation. Going by Quinn's apathetic reaction, the Dark Swamps wielder knew that only he could hear the voice. He listened to the story, his frown deepening with each word told to him. As he looked to the last page, he was astonished. He put the pieces together--Quinn's whole family was murdered by the gang that she eventually killed herself. Her conviction was...To care for him. 

He set the book down, clearing his throat a bit. He decided to keep the information to himself; For now, anyway. He reached over and grabbed another one of the books that hadn't yet been read, looking through it carefully.

Julius nodded, "Then once Lynn has recovered we should make haste." However before they set off, he hoped he could read some of the books. He sat down on his bed and opened the book he had previously started reading. It was on the weapons of Mist Mountains, a history book of why these weapon were made, how they were used exactly, and how they were crafted.

This book was sloppily put together. The spine was cut into different sections. Other sections looked older than others and seemed to be poorly sewn into the spine. As he opened the book, the pages let out that satisfying crinkling noise as the dry paper split from its neighboring page. This book seemed to have more images in this with names of the weapons under it with brief descriptions and diagrams of how they were crafted and who by. Quinn’s throwing knives were in there along with her three switchblades that she always seemed to have on her person. Mahlo came to a middle section that was one of the largest sections that held the first page a sienna color from the age. The picture was of the Onyx Scythe with two words underneath it. “Eliminare malum” The words were very clearly written and seemed to be stained onto the paper. “Get this Mahlo…” Quinn seemed to grab his attention a moment.

“There was a man that lives beneath the Hydra. It’s said he was the first settler of the swamps. He tamed the Hydra using magic and was said that he was banished from the rest of his clan for constructing terrible experiments on people. It was said that he had wanted to create the perfect little girls Nani, Marrissa, and Cetera. He was with the group from High Clouds and was supposed to be their so called leader, but was always pestered and belittled about his dastardly projects. It says that once the people of the clouds found out that he was under the Hydra they had already been spreading lies about how the place began. Banishing more of their people to the swamps letting the City grow with horrible people, eventually the sorcerer had used the Hydra to drag three victims into the tunnel under the swamps. Nani, Marrissa, and Cetera. Working endless hours on them he took notice that they were dying from his little project, and instead sacrificed his magic into all three of them. Once the Sorcerer died, the girls were not exactly themselves anymore, they had become beings that would die unless they reached magical enlightenment by finding immortality. They had approached the Hydra and the Hydra had produced them a Scythe darker than the cave they were in. Nani had taken it in hand and instantly the girls had begun to fight over the scythe. Cetera had eventually stolen the scythe from Nani and was the first to discover her new powers by having a Demented Form or ‘Shadow Form’ take her place while she left with the Scythe.” Quinn took a little breather. “Didn’t… didn’t we meet someone named Nani?” She went back to reading. “It says that Cetera was being consumed by her amount of power. The town had strung her up by chains and stole the scythe from her. The first wielder was the man that had attempted to torture Cetera in front of Nani and Marrissa that simply stood and watched. Pushing a knife into the little girl’s eye she screamed and screamed before she started laughing and squirming as he had the knife completely into her head. The man stepped back looking up at her as her demented form ripped out of the chains, pulling the knife out of her eye, before pointing the purple blood at the leader saying words in a warped tone: ‘That sorcerers power… I know what I have to use it for. I know what he did for us… My new siblings… They are to die… I need to gain his power back…by killing both of them… he has given us an immortal journey… I will fulfill his dream of eternal life.’“ Quinn went quiet and looked up at him. “It says she’s still alive after running away from them… Do you think Sugar High is Cetera?” Quinn raised the book up to Mahlo pointing to what looked like the same language his weapon’s name was written in.

Julius was eager to read his book on the weaponry of the Mist Mountains. As the boy scanned through the pages he would take notice that a majority of the weaponry was spears and that some were short, others with long blades others with various names under them with names of owners and men that had forged them, however there was paperwork that had fallen out and onto his lap. Opening the piece of paper there was a diagram of his own spear. The words under it said “Fortissimis Lamina” There was writing on the back of the paper stating: “Dormientes dederat lum montis grata mihi exponere vellet in fratris aeterna protectione undas vovi mandans ei , ut custodiat animam meam in montem ei mali omnibus diebus vitæ meæ. Dictum mihi, quod semel decretum est mons tetigi hastam. Potentiae autem evigilabunt : tempus enim prope hasta . Invenire dictam rationem habeo , sed suus aliquando spero cito specie montem ipse.” The book didn’t give much more information on his specific weapon. He would have to ask someone to decode whatever language was on the paper.

Mahlo didn't hear Quinn at first. He was instead paying keen attention to the picture of his very own scythe, the words underneath it intriguing him while simultaneously giving him a headache. He exhaled, "We have to get this decoded." When he looked back up at her, she began to tell him a story about a sorcerer--A man who lived underneath the Hydra, and three girls that he had committed experiments on. Mahlo remembered the name, and winced, "Yeah--I think I remember that name."

He listened to the rest of the story and sighed, shrugging once again, "I don't really know. I guess we'll just ask her," He joked, looking at her and grinning before grabbing another book.

Julius looked at the paper and paused. He squinted and gazed at the spear. It looked a lot like the Mist Mountains artifact but he couldn't translate the writing. He turned the paper around, trying to see if it was code or something, but it seemed to be hiding nothing. The young boy scratched his head then sighed. "I knew I should have paid more attention in my classes." He got off the bed and walked up to Lissette. "Excuse me madam." He held up the paper, "Could you perhaps translate this for me?"

Sasha forced a smile to Lynn when she opened her eyes, she was worried that she would yell at her for helping her or something. But she just rolled her eyes, Sasha hide her relief and focused on the healing. Then a new face met her eyes, the lady had huge horns, which caught her attention most of the time. She was weird looking... but didn't scare her, instead she was curious. She then offered herself to heal Sasha up as well, just the little bit of wounds left on her tho. She giggled at the thought of having a "healing chain", but she saved the commentary for herself.

After a few minutes, she was done. "I hope you feel better Lynn, you had us super worried for you....I- I'll go with Roy now". Sasha then turned and waved at the young king before leaving the room and went towards her mentor. "It 'seemed' that things cooled down for a bit. And everyone were reading books, she made a disgusted face and said to Roy "I don't really like to read boo-......" she looked at him and frowned continuing her sentence "We're reading books aren't we....". She closed her eyes for a second and sighed deeply "Oh well... yay books...." she said forcing an excited voice tone, she waited for Roy to bring her a book or something. She doesn't like to, but since this is a really important situation she'll do her best to find relevant information.

Quinn smiled sarcastically looking at Mahlo with her eyes narrowing. “Can you imagine trying to have a decent conversation with that psychopath? It would end up in blood shed.” Quinn giggled slightly before reading in her book more. A ringing noise began to resonate in Mahlo’s ears. Quinn’s breathing became more noticeable to him and then her heart beat. He heard the book that had spoken to him before again. “Darkness follows you child.” Again, Quinn did not hear the book, but this time Mahlo wasn’t even holding the book and it was speaking to him. “Ren is a force that is becoming unstoppable. He is residing in that small child and festering like a parasite. He will wound your relationship with the young girl if she is not recovered. Ren will devour the young girls light. Remember one thing for me young man… Death only affects the living.” The ringing didn’t stop even after the book stopped speaking to him. A figure stood in the corner of the room. The book Mahlo had recently put down opened again. The figure seemed to be a silhouette that was looking directly at him with the dimmest and smallest of light for eyes. Shifting closer, the page flipped again. Closer. The crinkled paper flipped. Closer. The paper flipped rapidly now as the figure stood in front of him looking down at him. He couldn’t move. Nothing in the room was moving anymore. Not Quinn, or the speck of dust in front of the candle flame.

“Mahlo… Carnavo…” The voice was wispy and his scythe glowed an immense blackish purple. The paper opened up to the picture of Mahlo’s Scythe and the paper began to bleed. The figure had held his hand out, just as Mahlo does and the scythe came to him now resting in the figures hand. “You wield me like I am just any other weapon. You are the Welder I am the Wielded.” The voice became clearer and much deeper. “You must hold me as if I am your partner, not some knife a thief holds. You have discovered my name but not my purpose. Eliminare Malum. Eliminate Evil. Once you reach enlightenment… I will unleash my full potential to you. We will be one. I have seen many of your kind fail to find my purpose, but it seems the time is coming close, and you are the one to discover the purpose of the Artifacts of the Five. Your intrepid actions will not go unnoticed young man. I have faith in you, and you should have faith in me. Your temper will best you if you do not contain yourself. I will not activate in the hands of a villain. I will speak to you again one last time before we conjoin.” The ringing stopped and Mahlo’s eyes became watery and fuzzy until the figure vanished from sight, but now the scythe was hovering in front of him. Quinn turned and looked over at Mahlo. “Are you al--“ She stood up seeing his Scythe floating. “What’s going on?!”

Julius felt an oddly disturbing presence the moment he placed his hand on Lissette. Once Sasha left and Liss was done with the young girl she turned to him and looked him over before smiling. “I uh… I don’t know how to read young man… It’s why I left the swamp child and the dark elf. “I can speak many languages, but I don’t know how to read…” She blushed under her tattooed skin and made a nervous smile. “I-I’m sorry.” Xerxes got up before looking down at Lynn and came over to Julius looking over his shoulder he pulled the paper from him like any adult would. “Fortissimis Lamina. That’s ancient tongue Julius. The language lives now only through the elves. We only briefly touched this language in your classes, but I am sure Roy or Q know—“ Julius also began to hear ringing in his ears as everything slowed down and came to a stop. A white figure began to form that was hanging around Xerxes’ shoulders looking down at Julius. “Julius! You finally know my name! That’s fantastic! I’m super excited!” The spirit then giggled. “I am Fortissimis Lamina! Or well… in your language Strongest Element. You have some pretty neat powers young man! I like zooming aro—Oh, by the way I’m the spirit of your artifact. I picked you to be my wielder! Kinda cool, huh?” The voice was very light and pretty like a little girl. “I have to say your guardian has been sleeping for awhiiiiiile, but your guardian’s name is Vae Quietus, or Sleeping Doom. He’s a big meany. Always rude to his little brother. I digress! You have been through a lot… if you weren’t the wielder, I’m sure you would still be living a false dream your father had set up for you… You and I haven’t been able to do much, have we? Not to worry! We’re actually the closest to each other than those other bimbo’s. All you have to do is find out the purpose of the artifact and wake up the sleeping bully! Doesn’t sound hard does it?” She was still leaning on Xerxes’ back as she flicked her finger opening a dark brown book. “Don’t worry too much about that letter. It’s from the first man to ever hold me! He was pretty determined like you were. You kinda remind me of him ya know?” The spirit giggled again. “Read that book.” She pointed to the one she opened. “That one explains more of your history… well… our history. It’s a pretty neato story too! It tells you about Solidum Venenum, or how he calls himself now, Skye. I’ve seen him in past lives, but… he’s been…” She seemed to mellow out. “I won’t spoil any details! I’ll talk to you again once we get our purpose resolved. Hopefully that’s soon! You already found out my name! I’m so excited!!! Be wary of Xerxes… He might be the last one you’ve got…” She was happy again once more before warning him vaguely and vanishing. Julius’s hands became numb and his legs were heavy as Xerxes had resumed talking. “How to explain it a bit more to you…” Xerxes looked up at him as the boy seemed to fall to his knees in front of Xerxes. “Is something wrong?”

Sasha had groaned to Roy, and he was no fool, he knew she didn’t like reading. “I know you aren’t exactly looking forward to this part, but we need some insight on this whole reasoning of even fighting the Champions. We need answers.” He seemed stern but spoke soft heartedly. “Let’s go…” Roy walked Sasha over to their house which was relatively empty considering Zayne and Cassie were gone, along with Esti. “I kinda miss Cassie…” Roy confessed as he opened the door to their room. “I have a few books here. Grabbed the one’s that seemed to be the most important.” Roy sat down on the bed and opened one of them. The spine was covered in vines and moss was growing on it. “You should have seen the room. For the High Clouds it was beautiful. They all looked like our mini cities… “Do you want me to read to you? Because I can if you want… It looks like some of these have passages with ancient writing in them.” He didn’t even wait for her to answer before he showed her the book. “Hey look! Your Guan Dao! It says under it the name of it! Captus Desiderio… which means… Misunderstood Regrets…” Roy’s voice then went silent as it looked like he had just stared at the paper and then Sasha felt a cold aura around her. An elvish girl sat on the floor next to her Guan Dao. Her pitch black skin seemed to glisten as her tail flicked by her feet. The girl’s voice was very upset and highly filled with sadness.

“Yes. My name.” Sasha could not speak to her even if she tried. “You and I aren’t quite acquainted… you prefer your own powers… I can understand I guess if you want to be a healer… bender of vines…” The spirit shrugged. “My maker made me to reach out to humans for help, but no one has achieved the enlightenment to even set her free of that forest… Petra… You already met her… OR well… Kevin… Petra is in love with the spirit of the Swamps but their hatred made them grow apart… Just like the Seas and Mountains brothers loved each other until Kilroos drove them apart too… but the Sands. Since the leader already has the seas and the sands… We will never have the help of their guardians… You can call the spirits of the cities or the… Artifacts of the Five to be the last good remaining in their souls… They were created by Kilroos after their hatred corrupted them. Offering weapons to people to find the purpose of the weapon… which you all know is inevitable… The champions are waiting for you… At some point… you and I should be acquainted… I would love to be in your hands…” The young girl looked over the weapon. “Eliminate Evil… He is my pair… He and I are the best paired with each other since our spirits created us. Just like how the Mountains and the Seas are better together… Pay attention to your adopted elven father. You do want to leave this place don’t you? The Clouds I mean. There is a way for you and your father to leave and never return… You have much to learn…” The moment the spirit left the Guan Dao fell onto the floor and Sasha felt as if her heart was about to jump out of her chest. Her left ring finger burned with the intensity of the sun before Roy had finally started moving again hearing Sasha’s groans. “Sasha?” He turned looking at her concerned.

Lissette left the room to walk out into the main room again. She was useless once more. “What can I do…” She felt a presence come from a room near her and she walked in opening the door, only to realize it only opened to some extent. Bottles had filled the room blocking the door from opening and Liss frowned. “Oh… what a mess.” Opening the door she flung it open and lodged the door into the wall it was attached to, the doorknob now stuck in the drywall. There on the bed was Edon and she waltzed over to him before shifting into a white panther. Jumping up onto the bed she stood over him purring loudly and actually laid on him pretending to sleep.

The experience was... breath-taking. A combination of mystical and wonderful, as well as just awe-inspiring excitement. He was given an opportunity, he was given a chance, and he wasn't going to let it slip through his fingers. However he did have to mull over a few things the spirit had said, mainly surrounding the great guardian of Mist Mountains and that small snippet about his father locking him inside a fake dream.

From the stuff Xerxes had already told him, he got the message that his father was not a good person, but for even an ancient spirit to have bad views, he felt even worse to have such a man's blood running through his veins. However it was just another hurdle to overcome, another door to push open so that he can come out the other side stronger.

He still wanted to translate the letter, and according to Xerxes, only the elves would know what it would mean. Thinking of the elves, he wondered if Sasha was graced with a meeting of her weapon's spirit. He soon realized he was just sitting there with Xerxes staring at him concerned. He looked up in surprise. "Oh sorry Xerxes, tried to dig up residue memories about the language." He chuckled and smiled softly, "Came up with nothing. I think I'm going to keep reading, I'll ask Roy about the letter later."

He got up shakily and made his way to the bed, sitting down and picking up the leather book his weapon had told him to read. "Fortissimis Lamina... Strongest Element..." He whispered softly as he flipped through. However thinking about her name shifted to the other name he had learned, Vae Quietus... as well as Solidum Venenum. The Champion that rendered the young king useless and chucked the great Knight Captain Xerxes like a bale of hay. The spirit said he'd learn more about the Champion with the book, perhaps secrets... secrets... the spirit said how they would talk more once purposes were resolved.

She also said to keep Xerxes close as he might be his last, something. Wonder what that meant for Lynn... his grip tightened on his book, he wouldn't let anything happen to Lynn after what happened to her the first time. He needed this power to protect her... to protect everyone.

Julius picked up the leather book as it sat on a large full page image of a man that looked like Skye. The image was taken several thousand years ago and Solidum Venenum was underneath him. Skye looked rather human with reasonable traits and description below him. Behind Skye was 8 people. Skye was the first Champion to be partnered with Zenith and the 8 people behind him seemed to resemble a rainbow and there in the middle was Skye holding one of the people’s hands. A young woman that seemed to have skeleton hands covering her and very exuberant frilly clothing. Flipping the page was a long diary-esque passage. “I am fearing for my life. I write in this language so that the man does not exactly know what I am writing. I am acting as if I am writing about what their ritual they are doing about this artifact that Kilroos wishes. I am in the Rushing Tower where they do many sacrificial ceremonies in the name of Kilroos himself. The god has chosen these 8 people to become his sole disciple. And they are chanting something. Skye is looking at this orange haired woman as if he cares for her for some reason, but Kilroos demanded that he let go. After Skye had been removed from the 8, they all joined hands and formed this being. He is not human, if you even call him a ‘he’. The 8 formed a being that Kilroos has called ‘Zenith’. Zenith was granted the power of Spiritual Spears that create a light around them. He can create them at any point in time. Kilroos is coming back. That being is huge… I feel nothing but cowardice and fear running through my spine as he speaks in the ancient tongue to Skye. Skye seems very distraught and upset. Kilroos is explaining to him that since he has abandoned his home of Mist Mountains, he will be sentenced to its demise, however Skye seems a little bit better now as he stands closer to Zenith. Skye looks as if he wants to hold Zenith’s hand, but the creature denies any contact and relinquishes Skye to stand on one of the alters. Five children with weapons laying at their feet are screaming and crying but at this moment a white light blinds me and the children rot where they lay and the weapons glow run dark as Kilroos decends back into the ocean. It seems as if the weapons were deactivated by the god. The booming voice of Him echos through these large halls. “There will be a time for me to return. I bequeath these younglings powers onto you Solidum Venenum. You will guard my Light for the rest of your days until my Light is able to summon me once more. I will finally end these troublesome deities from existence and create a better conflict ridden world.” Skye had fallen deathly ill and seemed to have died on the ground. He isn’t moving… Zenith is coming over to me I” The next couple of pages are blank.

Xerxes smiled and made sure Julius got up alright and then sat on Lynn’s left side grabbing several tools. “Alright there champ, time for the hard part. You want something to bite on?” Lynn huffed. “Yes.” She spoke shortly and quick. Xerxes turned his body and handed her a small wrench to place in her mouth. “You said you can’t move your arm anymore?” Lynn nodded. “Mhm…” Xerxes winced. “Alright, just give me a moment while I look for—“ Xerxes rammed her arm into place as he distracted her with his voice. Lynn, caught off guard, crunched down onto the wrench and screamed as tears filled her eyes. “Hold on, hold on! Almost done!” Xerxes used a screw driver to screw back her shoulder piston into her plate attached to her shoulder as Lynn held perfectly still screaming in agony. “Almost got it! You’re doing well!” Lynn began to have her leg kick and Xerxes stood holding her down before connecting the nerve lines and letting her go. “Done! Done! Done!” He raised his hands, covered in her blood, as she huffed. Leaving teeth marks into his wrench he smirked. “You got yourself one hell of a jaw there Lynn.” The girl said nothing as she continued to huff hard and short. Xerxes removed the wrench from her mouth and placed it into a bucket. “You did great, Lynn.” Xerxes then got out some other tools and began fixing the smaller issues with her arm. “Sophia did great with this one. It looks like a lot of things just came apart, they didn’t break. What… what did he do to you?” Lynn turned so she was on her right side. “He tortured me. Duh. I don’t want to get into it too much. I don’t ever want to see his face again…” Her voice became somber and low.

Julius put down the book and sighed. Holy Kilroos... Skye is ancient... older than Zenith... an abomination made of eight different what seemed to be powerful magicians of sorts. The boy had seen what the champion's weapons could do, he still remembers the corpse of Sugimata and the Princess. Skye used to be part of Mist Mountains, and even outdated the artifacts, which he guessed were the five weapons that absorbed the spirits of the children. The story troubled him though, just making him realize he was a playing piece to Kilroos even more. But the weapons were deactivated, so what brought the spirit back to life? Julius shivered, it must mean Kilroos is coming back... and the deities must be the guardians, so a battle of epic proportions must be coming.

The book answered few questions but made even more questions. Julius frowned and put down the book, rubbing his eyes. He wanted to talk to the spirit again, but he needed to find his purpose first. Maybe the letter from the first wielder who she said he reminded her of would help answer that question. Xerxes was repairing Lynn and Julius decided to leave the two alone. He took the letter off the bed and walked out of the room, and found Roy with Sasha. "Sir Roy, could you possibly decipher this for me?" He held the letter up.

“A scythe… spirit? Your weapon is possessed?” Quinn looked up and down the Scythe as little bits of static seemed to rush off it. “It looks like it’s… alive.” The aura was low but it looked as if it was a pulse. “A purpose? A purpose for what? Us? Your weapon?! I mean there are many stories going around… If you want we can get dressed and go out and find out some things with the locals. I am sure Jycer has some wise citizens. We should also check on the queen. You also have one more book to read. This is so much to do and we just woke up… We technically only have 2 days for our tracks on Esti to die out.” Quinn was panicking and sat down looking at the floating Scythe. “It talked… It spoke to you… Just like the Traveling Story speak to me. Your scythe’s purpose. Maybe when you’re done with your final book we can converse with the others and see what they gathered.” She smiled nervously as the scythe seemed to be whispering overtop of itself to Mahlo. Not anything in particular, but it was soft. Each time it pulsed and set out a pulse of electricity Quinn’s heart stopped with chills going down her spine. She whispered just loud enough for Mahlo to hear. “It is alive…”

Floating over To Mahlo it placed itself in his outstretched hand and he felt his heart and his weapons pulse beat together as one. The blade was facing him and the sockets of the skulls seemed to be piercing his soul as they faced him. The aura around his hand now seemed to feel warm. He knew that his blade was trusting him more than just letting him use it for his own gain. It was as if he was holding a life in his hands much different than holding a child. It was a part of him. The room stood quiet and even Quinn stared at him as the static even went up his arm as it seemed to be “looking” at him. Quinn finally spoke up after what felt like 10 minutes. “Do you want to read your book first Mahlo?”

(Roy will respond to Julius once Sasha responds)

Mahlo heard Quinn's words, but he didn't process them. As the scythe moved to his hand, he stared at it, narrowing his eyes. There was a certain intensity to the aura, a warmth in his hands as the pulse of the weapon and his heart beat as one. They were intertwined with one another, spirit with wielder--if he carried out the spirit's purpose, the spirit would carry out his own. The Dark Swamps wielder heard nothing but the whispers of nothingness that encompassed his hearing. His next breath was soft, shaky. 

"Do you want to read the book first, Mahlo?"

Mahlo blinked, staring to his lover. Quickly he nodded, grasping the only book that he hadn't read. He opened it with his free hand, looking through it.

In the book was the name again, Eliminare Malum, and it was written right on the first page. Blood was spattered on each and every page and as Mahlo touched the page the ink and blood seemed to get a glisten to it. The pages were frozen in time and looked as if someone had just written these pages. The book was an autobiography of the young man. Written by an Elf named San’ji Muerlos and the book opens to the first page and the scythe seems to become heavy. The book reads (This will be in snippets. It’d stretch the page way too long if I put the entire book in this post):

Eli was born in Quirela with extraordinary powers, however the boy was instantly taken from his mother while she still hadn’t taken his umbilical cord off. A guard had removed him from his mother and instantly brought him to the castle of Quirela to begin his life of servitude. The Queen ruled the city with a stainless steel fist, always working on her military. Eli was sentenced to live with the Queen and become her personal guard, and in order for him to have undying loyalty to her, she would raise him as her son.

On his first birthday the young man had begun to develop his powers more and more. He was a very dark and devious child. He loomed behind his mother and hardly spoke, mostly because if he spoke out of line it would be a long week for him. He knew better, even at the ripe age of one year old. The child was walking and talking on his own but never spoke to anyone but the queen. His powers grew the more she punished him. His eye had become blood shot from his mother slapping him so hard for picking up his fork before her at dinner. His blood shot eye became dark and his skin began to turn into stone. The harder she hit him the harder his skin became until one day she hit him, and her hand had broken.

By this time the queen had become a true mother and had kidnapped a prince from Oridune making him her lover. The young prince would stay a prince as she would not wed him. The first child she produced was a young girl by the name of Isis Lionel. The young girl was about 4 years younger than Eli and they began to grow up together, however they each had different ways growing up. The young girl was treated as she should, and Eli became suspicious. He looked nothing like the queen and the young girl looked nothing like him. At the very young age, Eli was wiser and stronger than any other toddler.

Now 10 years old Eli had been practicing his training for 5 years and was wielding his weapon he made by hand. A scythe with the skulls of the humans he had tortured himself. At this age Eli spoke to no one. Not even his mother. His skin looked as if it was cracked in some places, his eyes were no longer a dull green, but a soft gray. His hair black and was perfectly cut by the Queen’s royal barber. Eli looked almost like a masculine porcelain doll with no acne, and the right amount of muscles for a growing young man. One evening the Royal family was at dinner and Isis had pointed at Eli’s face taking notice to the crack in his face. “Mother, why is his face cracking?” The queen stood and walked over to Eli grabbing him by the nape of his neck while he sat perfectly still with an emotionless face. “No matter how strong you are, there is always a weak spot.” Placing her finger on top of his right eye she began to press down and the crack became larger. The young girl across the table was petrified as Eli no longer took this from his mother and rammed his hand into her corset locking the metal into place making her begin to choke. The prince sat and did nothing while the little girl ran over to her mother trying to get the corset off her mother. Eli stared at the young girl with his wounded eye and his scythe came right to his hand. The young man’s aura was so dark yet so pure that it was black and warm. The scythe had pulled that energy coming from the young boy and into itself charging it with immense power. Bringing the scythe up, he had beheaded the young Isis to the ground. The blood pooling onto her choking mother. Eli glared down at the woman with his gray eyes and frowned finally showing emotion. It was disgust. Stepping onto her stomach he released the corset letting her breathe. He wouldn’t take her life. Watching her scream and try to breathe over her fallen daughter made him feel much better. The guards had finally come in and took notice to the small beheaded girl and they instantly took Eli away from the queen, however he had stolen his younger sister’s head. Throwing him into the dungeon he had pulled the head out of his coat and used the scythe to peel her skin back and eventually used his magic to fuse the skull to the top of his scythe.

The following day the queen had sentenced Eli to a beheading. The young boy had his scythe taken from him which only seemed to make his frown deepen. As he was mounted into the guillotine the blade came down and the blade broke in half when it had come into contact with his neck. The young boy now had a smile on his face as his mother watched in fear. “AGAIN” She ordered as the executioner had placed another new blade into the guillotine. This blade stopped right at his neck instead of breaking this time. The queen was now frustrated with the young boy and she sentenced him to stay in the dungeon while she took a trip to the Rushing Tower. Eli sat in the dungeon for a few days and the prince had come downstairs giving the boy his scythe and the executioner’s blade and smiled before dropping tools. “Two is better than one, no?” Eli loved his prince father whether he was really his father or not. He was the best thing he had.

The queen had returned and Eli had his scythe one more time, but a much smaller blade was now under his first blade and he sat in the corner smiling. Something his mother loathed seeing. “Your existence was already premade for you, bastard. I thought I could keep you longer but apparently your eleventh birthday is soon and you must return to Kilroos. The damned god had made your mother pregnant in hopes of creating the perfect feud. The perfect conflict. Kilroos has given me immortality, but only your blade can kill me… but that’s the fun part… No one will know how to use you, and you will be damned to serve hundreds… no… thousands of people… before I see any demise.” She laughed as more guards had come to take the young child to the Rushing Tower. A man was ordered to write the entire ceremony down in order for the queen to enjoy her bastard son rot in front of a god. The young boy had been strapped down by powerful magic to an altar with his Scythe levitating by his feet. He was then obliterated by Kilroos’ power and his soul was placed inside the scythe to stay dormant until the right time.

Edon had drank until he passed out, a clever cure for insomnia. And the dreams weren't so bad either.

Suddenly, he found himself awake from his slumber... with a... cat on him. Big cat. Big, scary, cat. "What the-- what the fuck?"

He realized it was sleeping and froze up. The old man exhaled. So this is how it ends... he pondered, remaining motionless. Edon was oblivious to all that had transpired, eventually he'd need an explanation.

The white panther had opened her eye and shined a brilliant green eye at him and smirked. The animal had smirked before stretching and then flopping back down onto him. “You’re pretty warm! Must’ve been all that alcohol.” Her voice was low and calm before she licked her lips. “I’m not going to kill you. I’m just looking for someone. My husband spoke of you helping out this group here… I’m looking for a man. One I’ve never heard before. Kehl. Do you know of him?” The large tail flopped as her ears seemed to contradict her soothing and calm voice. “It’d be in your favor if you knew. I am known to have QUITE the temper…”

Sasha stood still as a chill ran down her spine, the cold sensation made her unable to speak up. In that moment a voice started to talk to her, it was.... the spirit of her artifact?, she was confused and did have a few questions but she focused on paying attention.

A few things caught her attention more than the others, like a way to escape the prison she's forced to call "home", and how the weapon wanted Sasha to bond more with it. Thinking about it she hasn't used her artifact much... always depending on her powers to get out of tricky situations. She did feel kind of bad for that. When the lady stoped talking, her artifact fell to the ground. She holded her ear with one hand, it was burning for some reason. Then Roy asked her what was wrong, "N-Nothing, my ear got all weird..." she steped closer to the artifact and took it with her back to the bed, siting down with the weapon in her hands, she stood silent for a moment "Oh! Sorry... uh... keep reading please, I'm listening. Is there something else about my artifact?, I'd like to know more details and information about it." she said intersted as she looked ar her weapon.

The old drunkard grunted as the beast flopped back onto his frail torso, dulling the relief he had felt moments after seeing it smirk. Obviously, this panther was more than met the eye. But, Edon didn't care. Edon was tired. Edon wanted sleep. But he also wanted to... not... die.

The intruder issued a strange compliment, to which the man replied: "Thanks...?"

The cat went on to explain its intentions. It spoke a name, a familiar one. Edon did his best to avoid seeing this 'temper'. "Kehl...? Yeah, I've seen him around Jycer a few times. I mean, if you live downtown you've probably at least heard of the guy. Magician, wears clown make-up," he said, "Never really talked to him. Word is he's dangerous, but that's pretty common nowadays."

The ex-mentor shifted a bit under the panther's weight, "Could you please... get off of me?"

Mahlo had hoped that the final book would give him some sort of purpose, some form of reason as to what the scythe's spirit wanted. He managed to get that much and more the moment he began to read.

The scythe spirit, known as Eli, only wanted to kill the queen of Quirela; the woman he had called mother for a long time. The scythe was the only thing that could possibly kill her. Mahlo glanced over to his glowering weapon and exhaled, "Well that's a tall order," He muttered.

He promptly shut the book, throwing it back to the bed before standing, "Well, I know what I have to do now," Mahlo turned over his shoulder to Quinn, "We have to go to Quirela."

"Are you sure you're okay Sasha?" Roy looked her face to see if she was lying or not, but he simply just took her word for it. Roy went to go look back to the book and was quickly taken off guard by Julius coming to Sasha's room and asking him to read the ancient text. "Hmm, sure." Roy looked over at Sasha and pointed his finger as if to say 'One minute'. Clearing his throat he read the passage first before speaking it to Julius. "The sleeping mountain had given me the spear with gratitude, explaining to me that he wished for eternal protection from his brother in the clear seas. I vowed my life to the mountain telling him that I would guard in fact agree to him. The mountain said once I touched the spear that decision would seal the pact. He spoke vaguely saying it will awaken when the time comes. I have yet to discover said reason, but I am hoping it's sometime soon, this weapon was forged from the mountain himself." Roy flips the page over and shrugs. "That's all it says." Roy held out two books. One about Quirela and the other about Oridune. "Sasha had these with her when she took them from Q. If you want you can take the Oridune one. Oridune had issues with Clear seas, but Zayne can't really worry about that now..." Roy went quiet and handed the book to Julius. "Might have some stuff about the Mist in there." Roy turned back to his book for Sasha.

A bird sang outside their window as if it was just another day. The fifth day for the group. It hadn't even been a week and they had already lost so many people. Roy sat there staring at the book and sighed once before sitting on his bed facing Sasha. Crossing his legs he read a paragraph before speaking to her. "Captus is one of the most difficult artifacts to wield. The hardest to understand and feel for. This book was written by a previous Wielder..." Roy looked up at the small girl to make sure she was paying attention. "It says: One morning while I was asleep I felt a tickle on my nose. A droplet of water had hit the tip of my nose and I woke up to see an odd looking girl. She was something I had never seen before. She didn't speak to me, but she just had her tail sway. I felt extremely odd until I realized she wasn't looking at me, but at the Guan Dao I had kept on the wall. She shook her head as if disappointed in me. I didn't understand what it wanted and tried to tell it to leave, but when I spoke all I heard was a terrible ringing noise in my ear. My ring finger burned and I tried to scream. All it did was flick its tail and watch me squirm. I never picked up that Guan Dao again." Roy raised an eyebrow and looked at Sasha.

Picking up another book he seemed a bit shocked. "Oridune flats?" He blinked. "This book was obviously in the wrong section, but I'll read it to you anyways." Roy read ahead and his shock came back. "This... this book actually has information on Captus... Her people were indigenous to the flats. It states all sorts of different kinds of life that lived in the flats but Captus was not like her people appearance wise. Their kind took care of the land while the people around them were building walls taking animals lives and using all of their trees and land to create buildings and use to make fires and waste. Captus actually has a memorial in the flats for... fighting back. She had gone to the Oridune city to ridicule the King of Oridune for his misuse of their land and required them to move. The king took this as a threat to his kingdom and instantly sent her to death by combat. She was to fight the massive animals the flats had to offer which was a terrifying tiger that seemed to have chimera characteristics to it. She was given a weapon to fight with but told the king she could talk the animal down from fighting. Captus actually was able to talk the animal down, but after the crowd noticed the extreme distaste in how the fight was going the guards were ordered to induce rage into the beast. Captus tried and tried to talk the beast down but she was eventually mauled down to near death. Kilroos absolutely hated Captus and her reasoning to fight the beast. Plucking her from her own death he removed her from the stadium and went back to the Rushing Tower. Taking the Guan Dao with him he placed it on the end of the Altar and them placed the girls dying body by it. The girl tried to use her powers to "root" herself into the ground and produced a rapid cherry blossom tree. She was the first of the children to arrive. Kilroos thought it would be comical to attach the girl to a weapon. Something she so rightfully went against and would be banished to use. The curse could only be lifted until she had slain the beast, by herself and without her powers." Roy seemed baffled. "This was written by a Royal Guard of the Oridune city. We should head there and see if they have any information about this beast. All they have is a painting of the thing." Roy handed her the small painting of the chimera.

As Julius returned to his room after his rather quick meeting with Roy, Xerxes was flipping through one of the books. "Julius, your book talks about the mountain... The spirit Vae... There was a man that traveled to the top of Vae each and every day... He had eventually went up to the peak and created his own forge. His alias name was Et Fortissimus Corde, however he was known by his brother Iros as Tethos. Vae had come to love Tethos and made sure the forge was the best Vae could offer him. He became a blacksmith and taught the people of the mountains his ways. The mountains was the first colony besides the sands to be created and thus a lot of the man's work spread through the continent leaving other blacksmiths jealous of his work. This set Solidum Venenum into action. One morning while Et was forging, his young daughter had been up with him doing her daily training. She always got the best of the armor her father made for her every year, until Skye had cut the black smith's hands clean off. The young girl had frantically tried to stop the man but was to no avail useless to watch her father suffer for a moments time before being taken and set to sink to the bottom of the clear sea. Skye had kidnapped his daughter to bring with him to the rushing tower and brought the smith's ultimate prize with him, The spear you're holding Julius. The mountain is named Vae... and seeps out ash for the man Tethos of whom it cared about the most. Skye removed that happiness and Vae had gone into a slumber. Forti is the one in your spear. Isn't she?

Lissette had shifted back into her human form as she had her hands on his arms she slowly sat up and sighed. "I smell something familiar..." Getting up off him she looked out the door and there stood a man with long oddly devilish horns picking at his nails. The tall dark skinned man had a muscular toned body and seemed to not wear anything but what looked like demonic scales over certain parts of his body with large massive bat like wings. His smile matched his dark twisted aura as he seemed to simply be waiting there. His harsh yellow eyes met with Lissette's overpowering green eyes and spoke with distaste in his voice. "Oh there you are. I thought I smelled betrayal." Lissette slammed the door shut and looked at Edon on his bed. "You need to wake up. Are you just a human? Got anything you can offer me old man? I know who is out there and let me emphasize that he is by no means here to be our friend."

Quinn had gotten up and looked a bit uneasy. "Mahlo we have a lot to do. Quirela will be on our way there. I mean... we still have to find Esti. We need to find Cassie! They need our help. We should be happy just to have Lynn back! We gave two for one! We're still losing this battle we are so involuntarily in!" Quinn stood. "Plus doesn't Sasha have two more books with her ON Quirela and Oridune?" She stretched a bit and opened the door. "Let's go get them from her." She went to leave but instantly stopped upon seeing Lars. "Uh. Hello?" Lars turned and smirked wickedly looking at Quinn. "Hello young lady. Go get my sister out of that room for me. Kinda in a hurry here" Quinn narrowed her eyes. "I'm kinda in a hurry trying to save some friends of mine. I'm not going into Edon's room. Are you stupid? The man's unpredictable. You do it." Lars chuckled. "You see... I didn't ask..."


FLAT KING: http://sta.sh/0a734vt8zvi
LARS: http://sta.sh/0126ybmaec96

"Fortissimis Lamina." Julius completed. "The Strongest Element. Yes that is her name." He sighed and walked over to look out the window. "I'm not strong enough Xerxes... this trip has shown me that. I need you to teach me more. I need to train more." He looked back at his mentor. "You think going to this smithery may help us? Or maybe this mountain. If I can awaken what that... thing silenced, perhaps I can tap into the power that was left there. What do you think? Should we go on our own journey?"

Xerxes shifted a bit and looked at Lynn. “Well, you do still have those two trainers here to help you. We can find them. There is a forgery up near the entrance. We could check in there. It seems like Skye had taken something from Fortis. Her father. More than likely we will need a place to catch up with everyone once we are done, we will be going the farthest from our intended destination. Speaking with everyone before we leave should be our first priority.” Xerxes stood and looked up at Julius with a slight smile. “Don’t let her overly drastic frown fool you.” Lynn spoke over Xerxes the moment he said frown. “I AM NOT FROWNING IT’S JUST MY RESTING FACE.” Xerxes laughed. “You’re frowning and you know it.” Lynn sucked her teeth. “Nuh uh.”

Julius nodded, he had forgotten about the two trainers Sophia had told him to meet with all that had happened. Sophia! Julius covered his eyes, what about Sophia? They couldn't just leave her in the hands of Sirius, he would kill her! He would torture her and destroy her. However he knew he was too weak to save her. He would just cause more trouble than help. I can't just abandon her though! He groaned. "Xerxes, would Sophia ever forgive me for this? I can't just leave her, but I can't help her. What if she dies? I'll have your... my... her blood on my hands." He slid down the wall and sat down. "We need to hurry. I need to get strong enough to save her. Time is against us." He quickly got up so that he could get the good byes out of the way. He grabbed his artifact from its place by the door and opened the door stating. "Roy, Sasha. Xerxes, Lynn, and I are..." He noticed the guest at the door, and looked at the man's horns and overall image. "Who's that?"

Mahlo knew that it was a stretch, but he would have loved to go on to Quirela and get the whole thing over with. Sadly, there were still other things that had to be done. Getting Esti was becoming the primary priority. He sighed, following Quinn out the door. He was stopped by a man who had quite the resting bitch face. Mahlo crossed his arms, analyzing him.

The two shared a stare, and Mahlo was never one to back down. He didn't look at Quinn when he spoke, "Go get Lissette, Quinn," He spoke softly, "I'm sure I can keep him company for a few seconds."

Xerxes moved to place his arms around Julius and got down on one knee attempting to remove his hands from his face. “Knowing your mother, she would do anything to keep you safe. Sadly, as the life of a king, others are more willing to push you out of the way and only them get trampled, than pull you out of the way and both stay safe. The first is the easiest.” Xerxes stood as he got up. “I’m sure Sophia knew we were in a hurry in the first place, and suggested them for convenience.” Xerxes followed his King out and Lynn got up slowly before making her way out as well. Sasha and Roy were in the other building since Julius came back to his room with Xerxes and Lynn. Mahlo and Q stood on the other side of the grand hall while the new man stood impatiently by the door. Lars turned his attention to the boy and smiled almost predator like. “My name is Lars. I’ve been hunting this bitch of a sister for a long time. She’s evaded me for the last time.” His arms stayed crossed as he turned to Mahlo. “Keep me company?” His wings flared. “Is that a subtle threat?” His eyes turned to Q as she seemed to shuffle towards Edon’s door. Xerxes stepped out of the room along with Lynn and they held their weapon in front of him and their bodies so he was out of any kind of danger. Lynn spoke first. “Are you a Champion?” Lars raised an eyebrow. “Of what?” That kind of answered Lynn’s question but she backed up towards Julius. “Never mind.” Lars had his wings flex and he glared back over at Mahlo. “So where are her children? They aren’t permitted to breathe either.” Q was banging on Edon’s door now. “Edon? Lissette? We need you to come out” There was silence and then a massive crash. Quinn broke down the door and noticed that Liss had shifted into a ram and broke a hole in the wall and running out of sight. “She is fleeing!” Lars shrugged. “She needs your little group to survive. She’ll be back. So, I think I’ll stay with you as well." He smirked looking at Quinn.