Chronicle Four | The Catalyst - Chapter One: Buried Feelings - Part 2

Thu Apr 16, 2015 2:06 pm

The sound of the tempered water sloshing around under the sea vessel known as Lex's ship was quite clear, almost reflecting the amount of excitement that the fair skinned man displayed about getting to his destination. But not quite, and thankfully so. It was a sunny day out, white puffy clouds were slowly rolling through the blue skies as the smell of salt air dominated the seas. Lex was embracing it openly, standing at the bow of the ship as he looked out over into the vast distance with his arms crossed and his clothing fluttering a bit in the wind. Slowly the blond haired girl would approach his direction, her eyes glued to the unrolled map that she had been looking at for the past hour. “Lex, are you sure the Azure Knight is in this direction? China is quite a longs way from Europe and it's been weeks since he's been spotted there, how do you know he didn't just go west instead?” she asked, finally glancing up from the parchment. The man didn't bother to turn from facing towards the other figure, his gaze fixed upon the very distant patch of land that was starting to come into view.

“In all honesty, I'm not fully certain. He could be anywhere in this hemisphere for all we know, but something tells me that he's going to be in China. I believe the sword draws me to other strong entities, as crazy as that may sound. The Azure Knight is one formidable foe and his strength shouldn't be taken lightly, it's only natural that the Catalyst would lead me straight to him.” he explained, tapping his right hand against the hilt of the new sword he brandished by his side now, the sword moving slightly from his hip. Veronica had seen a lot in her time, things that most people couldn't even fathom. And despite even being only a year younger than him, she had to admit that her acquaintance with the man made her gain a bit of mutual respect for Lex. Still, this was something left to the whimsical powers of a sword and she wasn't exactly fond of that. She was never thrilled at the idea of so much traveling around away from her homeland, but if it was necessary then she couldn't argue.

“Alright, then let's hope that he's there. The Azure Knight is not someone to mess with and I wouldn't want him getting more powerful with each soldier and civilian that he slaughters.” she insisted. The young man nodded as he turned back towards the sea, his mind drifting onto just how difficult it would be to fight this monstrosity. The legends spoke of some vile things that he could do, but not only that, his raw and violent power that could destroy structures with single blows. It was going to eat at him of course, questioning if he could defeat such a creature and help keep balance within the world. He would just have to find out once he came across the cursed sword, something he was becoming more confident of doing with the new blade that he had acquired in that cave.

The muffled whirring sounds of plane propellers continued droning on as Lex faded back into the present, realizing that he was still within the air in his biplane, flying towards one of the most important sites yet, India. Sometimes he wondered how his visions didn't get him killed, creeping into his mind like that while he was flying an aircraft, that seemed rather dangerous no doubt. But it seemed to stand that such imagery wouldn't even form in his mind if he wasn't expected to be safe at the time anyway, so he simply left it at that and checked the map that he had brought along. As the air blew around him while he breezed through the darkened blue cloudy skies, both the piece of paper and his faded blue scarf fluttered gently through the wind, his eyes glancing up from the map to see the sun disappearing into the horizon, making its way to the other side of the planet while the stars began to slightly become visible.

After taking another moment to confirm where he even was, he tucked the map into his coat pocket and then adjusted his course a bit, steering slightly to the left before his gaze fell upon the surrounding cloudy sky around him. It was times like this that he wondered why he didn't fly his aircrafts more often, despite having the time and resources to do so. 'Perhaps I should stop working so often...' crept a suggestion into his mind. Well, he could do that, but who would find the artifacts and make sure that all of his original equipment didn't fall into the hands of anyone else? He couldn't have that, so his focus went back to getting to India as fast as he could, his leisurely flying session that he figured he was going to have no longer became a luxury, pressing a bit more on the throttle so he could go faster and reach his destination faster. It didn't take long to reach it actually, at least, according to the map's coordinates logged into the plane's GPS.

But what he was looking at brought so many questions, the young man grumbling to himself as it struck him that the large piece of land floating in the sky couldn't be a good sign whatsoever. He was nearby India, but the first thought that came to mind was that the floating 'structure' could very well be a part of the burial site he was looking for. He had never heard records of Earth being split into pieces at some point, at all. Not only that, but he also never heard of a gigantic wall that bordered the outside of India like that, which would serve to be a problem. He had to admit, this wasn't going to be easy at all. With no equipment or worthy weaponry, both him and his biplane could be shot out of the sky in a moment if he tried anything sneaky. The safest route, the only route, was to check with the authority of the place. Something told him that the floating island was more or less the location to find such a thing, since the actual country was far larger to be searching for someone in charge by scratch.

He ran the options through his head, pulling back on the throttle quite a bit so the plane could slow down and he could think about them. Anybody he would come across could be hostile, in which case he assumed he would most likely lose his plane in during a fight with anyone but safely get away through magical means. There was also the notion that they could in fact be friendly, but of course they would watch over his shoulder during his entire stay there and inquire him about what he was doing there and what he was trying to uncover from the earth. That exactly wasn't going to go well, it was always safe to assume that anyone hearing about the concept of power would try to take it for their own, so he had to come up with some way to escape the moment that he got his hands on that sword. The last option was to agree working with any hostile authority figures for a while until he got close enough to get to the burial site and get that sword. That would take time though, and not only that, but give them more of a chance to find out more about him and what he wanted to do in the first place.

Lex hummed in thought as he slowly approached the floating island, merely meters away as he realized that with what he was equipped with, he didn't have many choices besides extreme violence or being subjugated to hide within their own walls. He made no attempt to hide his approach, the whirring sound of his plane being a fair warning of his arrival as he coasted the skies and circled around the area to look for a safe place to land his aircraft, lifting up his goggles for a moment to glance down at the paved streets of Szalnor, staring in amazement at its seemingly perfectly symmetrical design. Eventually he would find an airstrip after several minutes of flying around the island, slowly approaching it to have a safe landing and get his mission started.

Thu Apr 16, 2015 7:38 pm

It was one those moments, those inevitable moments that Minerva had. She had to scratch an insatiable itch, the need to explore. A curious girl over three thousand years old will of course will find many ways to try to entertain and occupy herself as the days and years go on. New experiences, new people... all of which Minerva had an interest in. She had spent considerable amount of her life traveling the world of Asteria, but this time...this time will be different. She would travel to another dimension. Admittedly, this wasn't her first time to do so, but her previous travels left her curiosity unfulfilled as many dimensions did not have magical items or magic in general among the people she encountered. For Minerva was a great collector of knowledge and items, particularly those with magical properties. However, lately, Minerva was also gaining an increased interest in technology. After all, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

But anyway this time she traveled to a very interesting version of a planet called Earth in which magic and technology of the highest form were in equal abundance. So Minerva could not help but decide that this place is where she decided to spend a considerable amount of time in.

Stepping out of her portal, she appeared in a back alley in a large city which so happens to be floating in the sky. She wasn’t sure what to make of the local populace, and figured that she would naturally stand out as her appearance was of a Victorian era petite girl in her late teens, with pale skin and dark blue eyes. She went out and walked the streets trying to mimic the behavior and mannerisms of those around her. Everything...was just beautiful and pristine and everyone ...was happy. It was too ideal and Minerva found it boring, but decided to hold judgement for now.

She had spent the last few minutes pickpocketing the locals seeing if she could find something interesting, but she only found normal everyday items like keys, writing utensils, tools and even candy (which she kept but returned the others). She was able to find a small restaurant on the edge of the city. It was one of those with a few small tables outside next to building to where patrons can enjoy the beautiful weather. It was a perfect time to relax and enjoy a cup of tea as she people watched. Not much time had past before she spotted a figure off in the distance who had just landed on a distance airfield. From a quick glance she could tell that he was not from around here. She mentally compared herself with this supposed foreigner who was presumably coming here to explore a distant land. She giggled to herself at this mental image as if this somehow made her similar to a person she had never met. A silly thought like was enough to make him stand out in her mind.

Sat Apr 18, 2015 7:47 pm

Artist: Thomas Bergersen - Song: Dragonland

Szalnor was a land unlike any other on the face of the earth, in that it was not. Those pesky laws of gravity held down any other country, and yet this one swam through the clouds, holding itself up with seemingly nothing but magic and fairy dust. One could study the underbelly for days to months and not find a single propeller nor jet keeping itself afloat. It was a befuddling sight to witness at first, perhaps awe-inspiring, but in time it would become normal; a landmark told of in books of tourism and geography alike. The nature of Szalnor begged the question of how one travelled to the mystical floating island, and the obvious answer was through a flying contraption such as a plane or jet. Lesser known was the method of public travel that Eldrazi as a nation used, though it was unfortunately exclusive to the denizens. It was not the most common destination, for Szalnor was the capital of Eldrazi, intended for the more notable individuals. Perhaps that's why it was the more difficult part of Eldrazi to reach, but there was the rare traveler who just happened to have their own means of reaching Szalnor, and at the very least they would be greeted with a friendly face. It was unlikely they would be staying for any extended amount of time, but cordiality was good nonetheless.

As the mysterious traveller approached the landmass, his vehicle would notice a slight bump as the atmosphere changed. It was as though he'd passed some invisible threshold where the air pressure normalized and the wind softened its strength to make for an easier glide. The air was much more breathable and sweet even; in fact, within a matter of seconds for the man to become accustomed to the atmosphere, he would begin to feel unnaturally virile to the point where he felt more powerful. The air came with a pleasant musk of energy that graced his own, and charged him up. It would be an unorthodox experience to say the least, perhaps one that distracted him when he got within eyeshot of his greeter. Standing at the edge of Szalnor so closely that a single step would plunge him into a great fall to a watery grave, was an ivory-haired man with pale violet skin that seemed unearthly. His bangs were uneven so that his right eye was shrouded by the locks of hair, but the back was neatly kept and tucked into the back of his uniform. He looked up at the flying machine with cloudy gray eyes, each their own miniature storm. He wore a strange dark blue uniform that was loose and encrusted with teal gemstones on his shoulders and elbows. He had large black boots and a cape was flowing gently behind him. He looked far out of his time, but uniform was uniform for a Graustrom Quincy. He would wave the aviator over towards a relatively open space not too far from city grounds, where pedestrians could be seen going by their business. Beyond them were drones of a sort, floating mechanical spheres that either idly floated by or worked to assist the denizens of Szalnor when they needed it. With what brief look could be taken of this place, it made Szalnor look like a well-oiled machine, where everything just went smoothly and efficiently.

It was almost needless to describe how breathtakingly beautiful the great silver spires of the cities were, shining so brilliantly as the sun poured down on them. It was a utopian marvel, truly, with streets of metal, rivers of sparkling water forging through them and underneath bridges, grass greener than you've ever seen undulating in the soothing breeze. Just standing in this place made you feel better, and it was as it was created to be. Now, when the newcomer had finally settled his vehicle down, the white-haired male would stride up to him and greet him with a polite bow, causing his cape to fall by his side. ''It's not very often we recieve visitors here, but we aren't in an especially convenient position to have them, now...'' he pronounced in a soft but very well articulated accent. He seemed to have just the slightest tinge of Swedish ancestry leaking through, but it was easy enough to understand his words. The way he held himself was also notable, carrying a casual grace that never broke. It was like his posture and gestures were rehearsed, as much as the expressions on his face. Like royalty of old ages, he seemed very concerned with the way he presented himself. ''My name is Rayner. And I have the misfortune of--''

He would be very suddenly cut off by the loud reverberations of electronic sirens all going off at once. From behind and around the many orifices of the city came an affluence of these spherical drones, their singular 'eye' at the front of their chassis glowing with a red luminence that suggested hostility. Rayner became tense, turning to observe what all of the cacophony was about, as they were not headed towards them, but towards another scene nearby. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and yet the flying machines converged onto a figure standing across the way, dressed in resplendence of an era behind her time. All was confusion until the drones spoke, and as it spoke, all forces of authority in the immediate area were paged with details to situation through the lightning fast efficiency of the W.C.I Network. ''Halt!'' rung the synthesized voices of the drones in unison, surrounding the lady in the black dress. ''Remain in place until an Eldrazi authority can oversee your arrest. You are hereby charged with the crime of petty theft.'' All around, people were stopping to watch, as such a sight was rare within this place. The chorus of the Praetorian drones was loud enough to be heard for a couple blocks, and from the landing area where the two dark-skinned individuals were. Rayner looked somewhat befuddled for a moment, but eventually sighed softly. He would glance over toward the new arrival briefly and utter a rushed apology before vanishing from the spot. He'd used the Quincy application of the God Step to leap into the air, and land before the strange woman in a fraction of a second, perhaps surprising her and perhaps not.

One of the Praetorians would suddenly project a stream of rays from its frontal lens, creating a two-dimensional image into the air that was slightly translucent. At first there was nothing but a solid gray rectangle being displayed on the hologram, but then a video began to play of the woman mere moments ago, in high definition at that. It showed her brushing very close to another man travelling in the opposite direction, pausing when they were right beside each other. Then, it zoomed in to show her attempts at pickpocketing the male, before the entire hologram fizzled into nothingness. Truthfully, this woman probably did not need to be shown the video to know exactly what she did to be in the middle of this, but what the video displayed was that she had been caught by the city's surveillance. The walls of Eldrazi had ears and eyes, even if it did not appear to be that way. This was technology on a different level than this one may even realize. What's even worse, is that when she had thieved from the innocent man in the video, she would not have gained much of anything of worth in the process; there would be no money for the concept of an economy did not exist in Eldrazi. Any worldly possessions could easily be replaced and were often so personal that they held no worth to anyone else. The mere act of pickpocketing betrayed her; she stood out like a sore thumb. ''You don't belong here, now, do you?'' Rayner would call the woman out with, raising one of his brows as he spoke. If she was committing such an act inside Eldrazi, then that implied that she'd not gone through the screening process, and that meant she'd arrived into the Dominion through other means. The Quincy would be visibly tense, anticipating what the woman had to say or do.

''Just who are you, now?''

Thu Apr 23, 2015 1:35 am

Lex's trip towards the floating mass of land didn't seem all that difficult, but that soon became the problem for the man as he could feel the difference within the atmosphere, making the ride become far too easy to control through. Sure the skies had been clear during his entire trip there, but little details like the amount of wind resistance he got during the entire trip there and the faint smell of the ocean sea disappearing entirely rose a big concern. Had he been caught in some type of mind trick of some sort, something that attacked at his senses? Suddenly his mind flashed onto a figure, one that looked quite similar to him besides an important difference of his left eye seeming to be missing a pupil. At first, Lex didn't understand why of all times would he be sent a vision, but from what the figure in his mind seemed to be mentally screaming out, he was starting to understand. 'Genjutsu? I highly doubt anyone of that timeline could still be alive after so long who had mastered such arts, but it isn't worth risking to find out.' he thought as his occupied mind's eye seemed to clear once again.

To anyone else, those two changes may have meant nothing to them, but to Lex, this kind of sudden shift made him tense up in anxiety, remembering the many times he had witnessed the other variants of himself lose loved ones or, on even rarer occasions, get themselves killed from not taking subtle things into account. Immediately he took out a small pen knife and stabbed himself on the side of his forearm, hissing in pain as he winced at the sudden rush of shock that shot up his arm. This was the universal 'cure' to being caught under a genjutsu that his other variant had learned throughout his lifetime. There were other methods to break out of such a thing, but he lacked the important components when it came to other means of freeing himself from such mental illusions. He possessed no 'chakra' nor any means to directly counter it with other jutsus. Instead, he would use this tried and true method of trying to get rid of this sudden problem.

Unfortunately, this didn't seem to be having any effect on his senses, despite the numbing pain of the stab wound that he had given himself. He grumbled lowly as he winced again, reaching into a compartment of his plane to grab for a roll of sanitized cloth to wrap around his wounded arm, his mind drifting onto the second option at hand. This place could have had some form of force field around it, which wasn't far fetched considering that it was floating in the sky in the first place. The only problem with this idea was that he could imagine that such a means could easily cause a lot more than just stabilizing the area and giving it a sweet aroma. Nanobots could have been inhaled into his body since the moment he entered the area, or some lingering spell of a ticking time bomb to keep all those that inhabited the place in line while at the same time protecting them from those who wanted to inflict harm on the community.

Now perhaps yes, this may have been a bit far fetched, had it not been one of his previous lives before him that did something of this caliber already with the control over his own city. Perhaps the one in charge here hadn't come up with such an idea yet, or didn't have the means to, but he wasn't willing to take that risk. He needed to get onto his journey and then hurry up and leave this place before they had the chance to blow him up from the inside or something. That was the man's final thoughts as he started changing his outfit, taking off the slightly sliced jacket he had been wearing and putting on a brand new one over his cut arm before touching down, his plane slowly skidding along the open grounds as his focus went onto the man that had been standing at the edge of the island, obviously waiting for him. Lex's mind drifted back onto the force field-like material he had passed by earlier, thinking that perhaps it acted as a form of detection as well, that whoever didn't have whatever 'spell' or 'nanobots' nestled inside them, they were detected as obvious newcomers, and were possibly a threat. It would make sense to why someone would be greeting him already in such a fashion, as if he was in fact an old war buddy of Lex's or something.

It was strange enough to think about, considering that the man was actually in some type of military garb. Lex had seen a lot of uniforms in his time, the cheating help of being able to see the daily lives of his former counterparts, but one uniform that was unnervingly very similar to the one the man was wearing stuck out to him, recognizing it right away as a garb that two different variants of himself had encountered. One during the nineteen forties, and one during the fifty nineties since Earth's Salvation. It was plain as day; the Nazi uniform. He kept his eyes on the pale violet male, watching him bow as he hopped out of his plane and pulled his goggles up to rest onto his aviator hat. He was greeted with overwhelming polite gestures and a smooth Swedish accent. As he kept talking though, it wasn't hard to realize that what he was saying pretty much declared that Lex would have to leave, and pretty soon. One of two things was most likely about to happen. One, Lex just got himself into an unwanted and very outmatched fight with an entire 'city' which was very unlikely that he would last against for more than a few moments since he didn't have his equipment. Or two, the man was going to 'politely' advise that he leave, which, as better as that sounded compared to the first option, still left Lex with being stuck to figuring out how he was going to get that sword.

He had given this place a good observation from the skies though and it was fairly clear that the place had been heavily terraformed, whatever part of India was used to make this, IF any part of India was used to make this, Lex wasn't going to be able to find it through digging it up anymore. No previous data on his scouter meant that he had no exact location to start excavating for his treasure. The man simply folded his arms and was about to let Rayner continue for a bit longer before he suddenly stopped, Lex's ears picking up the sounds of sudden sirens before Rayner apologized to him and disappeared from sight. Perhaps visitors weren't exactly the highest priority here when it came to security of the island, seeing as he wasn't important enough to kick off the city grounds right away. Lex wasn't interested in the commotion nor its cause, not looking for a sense of adventure to get him into any trouble with the authorities. He was just happy that Rayner hadn't noticed the fresh wound he gave himself through some type of scanner of some sort, which reminded him right away of something far more important than just waiting around patiently for the man to return.

Lex pulled off his aviator hat and retrieved his scouter from the cockpit, adjusting it on his face before immediately pressing the scanning button to begin the process of scanning everything around him. It began logging the location on the map, the size, the materials that everything was made out of, and even the overall design that made this place. The process only caused several low electronic chirps to emit from the device, the man turning his head slightly left to right so that way his tinted blue lens could catch several parts of the structures and streets of where he was nearby. Lex had always been thorough with his collecting of data and information and he was going to make sure that he didn't come up short this time around either. He needed as much information as possible if he was going to survive this place, he had to take it seriously.

Fri Apr 24, 2015 6:03 pm

Minerva was in no sense of urgency to do anything, and in fact was content just to take in the surroundings. Perhaps she would go and find out what kind of magic and technology exist in this dimension. She was here for fun of course, but also to learn. The first of such curiosities was a flying machine of sorts off in the distance. It captured her interest as nothing of the sort existed on Asteria, only large dirigibles and massive flying castles. She couldn’t see very much detail at this distance and wondered how it was powered. She assumed that such vehicles were commonplace and therefore decided that she would look into the matter later.

Minerva was just finishing up her tea and opening up her parasol in her right hand and was preparing to head back into the bustling streets when she heard a loud and unmistakable noise. A siren for an emergency it must have been. She looked around to see what was the matter. Maybe there was an accident nearby? Wouldn’t that be exciting. She didn’t have to guess for long as the situation became abundantly clear to her when she noticed a multitude of metallic sphere like objects surrounding her with such speed. She sighed. It was no surprise. This wasn’t the first time that she had become an object of interest in a particularly short amount of time when she entered a different dimension to another world. This might be a record actually as she had only arrived a couple of minutes ago. They took their security seriously it seems. When the machines explained to her that her pickpocketing was the center of this commotion, she couldn’t help but tilt her head slightly. They considered it petty theft yet it warranted such a response from authorities and it was something worth arresting someone over? Apparently these people are ignorant of the concept of proportional response. In any case, Minerva had countless encounters like these some more extreme and dangerous and some not so much. While there was the odd and rare exceptions to where the natives were hostile to her presence, the vast majority of people she encountered became much more amiable when she explained that she was not here to cause anyone harm or trouble. However, she did in fact take other peoples’ possession without consent so she mentally remind herself that such actions she felt inconsequential will be taken seriously by others. Her carefree attitude had gotten herself in trouble. Nobody is perfect after all.

Before she could finish her thoughts, an odd gentlemen popped in front of her. She would have been startled, but anything is to be expected in a foreign land and she didn’t think that the spherical machines would be the only thing to come to her. She was going to introduce herself, but was interrupted by some type of light projection that showed an image, technology similar on Asteria. It was a video displaying the evidence of her petty theft. She was actually quite impressed that not only had the authorities captured the crime, they also had it ready to show her right then and there. Actually, it was quite nice of them to show the evidence of such accusations as sometimes she been accused of something that she didn’t do. She appreciated the gesture. It was after this did the person before her spoke and asked her the obvious question she had head many times throughout her life. But this was no time to reminisce. Minerva believed that honesty and politeness was the preferred policy and smiled warmly.

“Hello there. My name is Minerva Winthrop. How do you do?” she said with an air of grace and elegance along with a slow curtsy. “You can consider me to be a tourist. I understand that you have caught me in the act that is unbecoming of a lady. It was a little exciting adventure for a bored lady that I took to far. Such theft no matter how small has no place in your respectable society and I truly apologize for my actions. I ask what I could do to rectify such transgressions.” She said sincerely. “May I ask who you are and where I am, good sir?”

She decided to leave it at that and wanted to see how lenient these people may or may not be. She didn’t make any sudden moves and was in no mood to fight.

Wed May 06, 2015 1:17 am

Artist: Thomas Bergersen - Song: Dragonland

Rayner did not relax to the soothing politeness of the charged felon, for it was too easy to misconstrue the snake's tongue with the lamb's. The only pleasantry that he would relinquish to her was that of refined professionalism; at his job, and his conduct. There was a clear process outlined for criminals found in the land of Eldrazi, and it was especially enforced in the capital of this great land, as it should be. Here served as an exemplar to the rest of the Dominion, and its failures resounded loudly through its derivatives. This was a place lauded for being utopian, a place where everything goes right and nothing goes wrong, almost absolutely. It possessed a culture where even the slightest crime was a large black mar on their reputation, a reputation that was young and malleable at this time. Simply put, Rayner—who sought to see Eldrazi become the great Arcadia that its creator envisioned—was obligated to crack down on such petty demeanors that would have otherwise been overlooked in another land. Whatever small etching of remorse there was in him for the strict policies of Eldrazi, it was easily overruled by his sense of duty, and his mistrust of the woman before him. Her seeming lack of knowledge about where she was more than unsettled him, leaving him grasping at several very unlikely theories as to what this one's story was. The most probable of them, should her words even mean anything, implied a crippling failure in the security of Szalnor. And, as they could all see, it was a potent system as is. Every fiber of his being was telling him simply to not trust her, and to follow his conduct, so he would.

''Well, lady Minerva...'' he began, unable to discard his inbred manners to this day and age, even in his perturbation. ''my name is Rayner and I am the one who is going to have to escort you out of the Dominion of Eldrazi. We do not have prisons here, but a criminal found guilty is to be exiled. More than just pickpocketing someone, you are not an authorized citizen of Eldrazi, nor are you expected, so I'll just—'' He was going through the motions, explaining the system to yet another individual simply because the process of Eldrazi was new. But, before he could finish, he was yet again interrupted by something. He would abruptly stop, and lose his focus as though someone else were speaking to him. His apathy would quickly turn to dissatisfaction at whatever was going on in his head, before releasing a small sigh and closing his eyes for a moment of silent acceptance. When he opened them once more and refocused on the one known as Minerva, he would speak in a reluctant tone. ''Our leader wishes to speak with you, apparently, and right away. I would highly recommend you simply follow me, and refrain from using any of your powers. I don't know who or what you are, but wherever you came from, things are different here. It's best you just cooperate and not overestimate your chances of getting out of this.''

Without further ado, Rayner would turn around sharply, causing his cape to swish up into the air slightly. He simply began walking away, the drones walling off every other direction with their presence. His direction seemed aimless at first, but in no time at all, a large black line would appear in front of him in the middle of the air. Several other lines bisecting it appeared, creating what looked like a set of teeth. Then, predictably, that maw opened up to a darker area beyond, somewhere that was inside. Rayner walked through without hindrance, and the rift stayed open for Minerva to follow suit...

~

''Greetings, Lex Prailius,'' uttered a disembodied female voice not mere feet away from where the man aforementioned stood. The voice was perfect in pitch and tune, but lacking the natural timbre of a living being; that is to say, this voice was synthetic in nature. The man would notice, as the voice accosted him, that the readings of his scanner would slowly drift into static. It would be only moments before the imaging was completely jammed, creating only a dissonant mess of gray and white pixels. Shortly thereafter, a much more colorful array of pixels would begin to form in the three-dimensional space just next to Lex, much like how a hologram would be formed. As the dots of light coalesced into one form, the result was a youthful female that was stunningly lifelike. If it had not been for the display of being constructed initially, it would very likely fool any person with eyes with which to see her with. She was a light-skinned girl of a delicate body type, with short blonde hair and large cyan eyes. Her outfit was predominantly snow white, but had several details in yellow. The strangest parts were detached sleeves, seemingly made of glass but malleable like cloth. Another odd fact that could be stated about this girl is the way that she floated a few inches off the ground, though it was quite an easy feat for a hologram. She looked unblinkingly into Lex's eyes, her face devoid of emotion, only moving her lips to approximate her speech.

There was something to be said on how this image seemed to know his name, though it did not elaborate on it, continuing on as though it were casual information. ''My creator has noticed your arrival and has taken a keen interest in it, and apologizes for the delay in receiving you. She is expecting you, if you'll just walk through this portal, here.'' She lifted her arm rather mechanically, giving an open-handed gesture toward empty air just before it began to open up the same way it had for Rayner and Minerva; the two instances occurred at the same time. ''I can assure you that any issues can be resolved by speaking with her, including your mysteriously malfunctioning equipment. I've been Vi, and good day, sir.'' After a short curtsy, the hologram dispersed with a subtle computerized tone, leaving only the portal behind. Sure enough, his scanner was still showing up static, so there wasn't much option open to him if he wished to do what he came here to do.

Beyond the rifts was what could be called a throne room: Lex's portal here was just a few feet from Minerva's, though strangely out of arm's reach from either party. They would arrive at the center of the massive room, with a ceiling a dozen meters above them and enough area length and width-wise to host a football game. The floor was polished gray marble, bisected by a long red carpet that went from the grand entrance to the throne area ahead. The 'throne area' was risen above the rest of the floor, with a set of steps up to it. Once up there, there was a spectacular view to the outside of Szalnor, where one could see the everyday goings of the city from an elevated position through a large wall-to-wall window. Then of course, there was the great throne itself facing towards them, in the center of the platform, made of some silvery metal and seated with crimson cushions. Strangely, though, there was no one sitting on the throne. Rather, the leader of Eldrazi would walk around from behind the throne, presumably having been drinking in the view from the window. Her heels clacked loudly on the ground and only did not echo due to the vast size of the room. She presented herself in uniform, giving her audience a warm toothy smile and clasping her hands behind her back as she looked over to both Lex and Minerva.

''Surely the barrage of introductions must be exasperating for you two, but allow me to impart one more: I am Nozomi.''

Fri May 08, 2015 12:21 am

He waited patiently, just silently reading through the information that showed up on his scouter for the next few minutes before it slowly began to malfunction. There wasn't much of a surprise there, he had expected it at some point for a form of security to try and jam his signal. His equipment could possibly have bypassed it, but in a situation like this, he didn't even want to bother with such a risk since he didn't have it, which was the entire point he was here. Following suit to his scanner's 'mysterious' malfunction was the hologram of a female to kindly alert him that the one in charge wanted to see him. His immediate concern of course was that she knew his name, despite not even having the chance to tell them. Whether it was a display of power to him to show that they had things on lockdown or that they could very well find him if necessary, he didn't like it, he didn't like it one bit. The grimace on his face showed as he listened to her continue on with her programmed words before she disappeared just as whimsical as she had melded into existence, leaving the man alone to travel into the portal right next to him. It was then that he would turn to look at the forming waypoint of transportation and frowned just a bit harder.

”Hehehe, what a fucking fool, you were always so weak when it came to her Lex. That's why I like you, you're so damn predictable. You're so god damn noble and high and mighty until somebody threatens her life, then you attempt to do whatever it takes to save her. Hahahaha! Priceless!” came the snide remark of the Celotrian standing in front of him. Lex breathed as calmly as he could, despite the many bruises and heavy cuts that were displayed across his body, simulating that he had been in quite a fight or two. He glanced at the mocking individual, his eyes narrowing with distaste and venomous hatred for the similar looking gray fox. What he hated most was that he couldn't do anything to change his situation, just staring at the sinister grin of his doppelganger as he gestured towards the swirling portal that was beside them. Pyra was in trouble and he had already killed over a hundred or so trained military officials just to get this far, not to mention Duplex's personal bodyguards before being told that his wife was 'supposedly' in a fight for her life at that very moment. It could very well not be true, a painfully obvious trap and walking through that portal could get him killed here and now. He would be leaving his family and friends with no explanation to what happened to him and leaving them even more vulnerable to such psychotic killers like Duplex. But if it was true though...

The light grey fox began walking towards the portal while balling up his fists, blood running down from his forehead and trickling down to run down the side of his face as the only thought that ran through his mind at that very moment was Pyra's safety. That was before it faded to the death of his arch nemesis, causing him to give the most vicious glare he could at the slightly darker furred vulpine. “Mark my words Duplex, when this is all over, you better hang on to the coat tails of those damn Eternals you serve so damn much, cause I'm coming to fucking kill you, bet on it.” he seethed, thinking about the lives of those soldiers that had been tricked into ambushing him. Duplex simply gave a dark chuckle before moving his hand to gesture a mouth open and closing at a steady pace. “Yapity-yap-yap motherfucker, that's all you do Lex. You better get going, Pyra's not going to last long if you're stupid ass is staying here talking to me the whole time.” he said, breaking into a sinister grin again. He was right, he couldn't waste his time with foolish pride, he had to get going or he was going to let one of the only few things left that he loved in this world die. No more words were exchanged, the fox turning away from his supposed duplicate and walking towards the portal again, slowly easing right on through until he faded away from existence from the area entirely.

Lex's vision faded back to the present, his gaze falling onto the portal in front of him as he thought about his current options. The person in charge knew his name without him saying a word and considering he was just a random nobody who didn't even belong in this timeline, this wasn't just something that could be looked over. He literally existed in this universe for only a year and had been nowhere near this hemisphere during its entirety. Whoever he was dealing with either wanted to flaunt their power to him before forcing him to work with them, kill him, or both. These were quite bleak options that were rolled out for him, but if he wanted that sword, there was no other option. It was the only chance he had at getting the power to fend people off at superhuman levels in the first place, so he needed it if he wanted to continue finding his equipment or else he was bound to die by just about anyone in this world due to their spiritual and physical prowess. With that thought in mind, the dark skinned male gave a low exhale before walking through the portal finally, having taken about two seconds of hesitation to see the vision clearly in his mind before it had faded away.

He could see the 'humble' abode in which he was sent to, not finding it surprising that they would be directed straight to the throne room of whoever was in charge. With his scouter out of commission though, he had no use in being 'taken aback' by the décor, only looking around to see if he could find anything suspicious of the area that stood out or that seemed dangerous. For the most part, it seemed like a normal room, but he was met with two unique figures, one standing beside him a few meters away and the other coming from the section behind the actual throne, introducing herself as Nozomi. As much as he figured it would have been rude, he still decided to say nothing, just standing there for a moment before giving a gentleman's bow and then becoming upright again. There was nothing he could say, the woman obviously already knowing his name and he wasn't one to do the whole cordial crap if it wasn't necessary.

Her uniform screamed familiar just like Rayner's though, which meant she was either donning herself as a fan of military heirarchy or she just really liked the fashion. In either case, she most likely meant business and he was in no mood to play 'fancy' in order to try and get what he needed. If she wanted him dead, what was the point anyway? He would simply wait in silence to hear what else she had to say to him, contemplating that saying less in this situation may have meant a whole lot more in the end. What did she know? How far did she know it? Was she aware of his current quest? Would she even reveal how she knew his name? He could perhaps find these out if he just remained patient, so he figured he would do so with his hands by his side, where they could be visible and cause the least suspicion. The last thing he wanted was for this woman to be overly cautious of him for no reason if she was actually a legitimate figure of authority. Who this other woman was standing beside him, he had no clue, but he figured that if she was in the same distance as him while coming from a portal as well, then she may have been in a similar position as him; either being a newcomer or a person Nozomi may have wanted dead. He was sure he would find out soon enough.

Fri May 08, 2015 8:33 pm

Minerva was slightly annoyed that the authorities decided to take her out of the country. She guessed such a decision was not so bad as some other encounters in the past wasn't so peaceful. However, before Rayner could finish his sentence, he became distracted by something which was made clear by his speech and mannerisms, that not only was Minerva not being escorted out of the country, but rather she was being invited to see their leader, although Minerva felt that Rayner did not personally seem welcoming. Getting the chance to see the leader?... That was more like it, she thought. It was quite sudden to see the leader as she wasn't in the city for very long...this was peculiar. Perhaps this was an effect of this overly paranoid society taking notice of a foreign visitor of an unknown quantity. Rayner advised her not use any of her powers. She couldn't tell that he knew what she could do or that he was simply assuming, but she understood. Minerva assumed that this world is crawling with powerful people to warrant such a police state.

She wanted to ask more questions but decided that she should do as she was requested without a fuss as a sign of good faith and followed Rayner through the rift as she didn't really have a choice in the matter. If they wanted to harm her, they would certainly tried something rather than deception.
She ended up in a large, ornately decorated room with what looks to be a throne in front of them. Minvera had seen many similar rooms in her lifetime and she already could tell that Rayner did not lie and did bring her to the right place. She also noticed that Rayner was not to be found, but she didn't look around too much, she didn't want to appear to a be a curious little child who gawked at every little thing. She did however noticed another person appeared next to her facing the same direction. So this wasn't going to a private session, she thought to herself. Before she finish more of her thoughts, she saw before her what was obviously the person that summoned them by the looks of it. Based on the way she walked and stood and the way she spoke, it was clear that this person was of some importance, if she not the actual leader that she was told who wanted to see her.

If this person was indeed the leader, Minerva was actually more interested than usual and even pleased that such a person was a female, a young and beautiful one at that. Minerva was used to meeting many leaders, Most of whom were men, either a drunken lecher or a power hungry war monger. Sometimes they were a drunken lecher and a power hungry war monger... and sometimes even a power hungry lecher and a drunken war monger. However female leaders usually possessed a more diverse type of personalty and therefore more fun to socialize with. Minerva found herself in bed with the last female leader she encountered, but that would be a story for another time and she focused on the matter at hand. After Nozomi's introduction, the man simply bowed in silence. Minerva smiled as she performed a curtsy, lifting her dress with her right hand and holding her parasol with the left.

“I am Minerva Winthrop. Thank you, my lady for honoring me by granting me an audience.”

Minvera did not want to say much, nor did she felt the need to. Leaders tend to care more about what they wanted to say and less on hearing what others had to say. It was normal.

Sun Jan 03, 2016 12:40 pm

(End of topic)

Chronicle Four | The Catalyst - Chapter One: Buried Feelings - Part 2

Chronicle Four | The Catalyst - Chapter One: Buried Feelings - Part 2

Re: Chronicle Four | The Catalyst - Chapter One: Buried Feelings - Part 2

Re: Chronicle Four | The Catalyst - Chapter One: Buried Feelings - Part 2

Re: Chronicle Four | The Catalyst - Chapter One: Buried Feelings - Part 2

Re: Chronicle Four | The Catalyst - Chapter One: Buried Feelings - Part 2

Re: Chronicle Four | The Catalyst - Chapter One: Buried Feelings - Part 2

Re: Chronicle Four | The Catalyst - Chapter One: Buried Feelings - Part 2

Re: Chronicle Four | The Catalyst - Chapter One: Buried Feelings - Part 2

Re: Chronicle Four | The Catalyst - Chapter One: Buried Feelings - Part 2

Re: Chronicle Four | The Catalyst - Chapter One: Buried Feelings - Part 2