Ain't A Hero

Season 2

Bryan Schuder

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.

Beta Release

Updated 04/05/2019

Ain't A Hero

Season 2

Dedications

Episode 14

Episode 15

Episode 16

Episode 17

Episode 18

Episode 19

Episode 20

Episode 21

Episode 22

Episode 23

Episode 24

Episode 25

Episode 26

Timeline

Blaureiter Lecture

Beckerin Deals

Quick Physical Identification Guide - Flames of the Phoenix

Dedications

First and foremost... A special thank you to all the crazy humanity loving folks over at /r/HFY ! Out of all the places on Reddit for writing, you all are the most accepting and welcoming bunch of them all. As long as humanity is involved some how and you want to write, /r/HFY will give you a place to call home. I was not only surprised to find people interested in this crazy tale, but people who repeatedly read episode after episode... And still wanted more. I will try to deliver more! Second season down, hopefully a third and more to go!

So, in an inconsistent arbitrary order of me looking through the series posts, thank you to these fine folks that provided commentary (both praises and criticisms) and those who subscribed. (Please let me know if I missed anyone!)

roflmaono (Brave, brave volunteer editor!)
Attamark
Lithuse
KillerKolonelz
RougemageNick
Twister_Robotics
joe_wood
Fly18
Lurking_Reader
Waspkeeper
bontrose
carpkiller
KahnSig
Shactus
michael15286
Krynja
ProfessorVonSagan
Layxe
zarikimbo
Ryushimojii
atomic_cheese
Rand__Rahl
NinjaTurple
fatboy93
PhalanxLord
Slayalot
K2MnO4
zymurgist69
ChainsawNagitana
Eater_of_yellow_snu
Jonfirst
Nuke_the_Earth
Isitalwaysthisgood
Red-Shirt
WandererOfTheMind
ImperialForgeMaster
barely_harmless
Maxkenny09
Alphamole0
Random-Hats
Applepielord1244
Fieryfight
ccassidyx9
Ghrrum
Thatfurrykid
tipsy_topsy
DudeGuyBor
InitiativeTwentyOne
Sakul_Aubaris
antonthekiller
pie4155
ragnoraknow
nerdy_n_dirty86
RedTheReckless
Shiamu
ZeDestructor
Omega048
MavenDeviant
HardAtomicSmile
testicouille741
Deathcoolbro
SirSchmoopy111
Halefor
cochi522
Olindoga
smeik111
explosiveelephants
LIKE1OOONINJAS
Cyber_Reader
ruruwkzu
spaceminions
CSlade1
JoshXH
sic99
Leginp
Firenter
lazyviking3742
ryan_morland
SirIronTwig
ChainsawHalberd
elemental821
MaartenS16
RollSavingThrow
randommlg
GrayMatter01
Daevis43
Glaris
vittupaahan
Admiral_Sylvor
TRN42
Golddrake
Repeated_613
Voobwig
Dr_Acen
Honoris_Causa
nuacc2
sluglie
mortalnine
mheiszler
pennythoughtful
IntelligentDemise
Makyura
minkshaman
Fkn_Ra
WakelessTitan
BlessedPatrick
ikbenlike
maaghen
Shaeos
garrdor
wiggamail
allorigional64
DarkLordZargon
bracabrad
Stordabjornen
ubercaesium
kaloshade
LurchTheBastard
kumo549
splash_43
Meh12345hey
F0rg0tMy70gin
Dolduck
jaredzz
KorbenD2263
PresumedSapient
minicooper237
mudkip201
Netmantis
Kasaeru
UnholyReaver
Just_a_stae_of_mind

-14-

The television in the living room shows a historical documentary. Occasionally, a head turns to watch a brief segment before returning back to current projects. Aristespha flips her long, silvery blue hair back with a sigh and sorts through another stack paperwork. She lifts the stack off the coffee table and places it in another pile next to her on the couch. Cideeda squints her eyes to focus upon a small patch of torn fabric on her body suit, while she rests upon a nest of pillows on the other half the couch. She carefully weaves a needle between the fibers around a tear in the garment and cinches the edges closer together. Dretphi sits on the floor nearby in the middle of five baskets, each with a name written on the side. She plucks an article of clothing off the top of the large pile next to her, briefly examines it, and tosses it to the matching basket. Sotalia slowly traces a finger nail along the text in a notebook, pouring full attention into each word. She eyes over at the various alchemy instruments and ingredients along the kitchen counter top, bites her lip with frustration, and grumbles to herself as she scrutinizes her notes more. The kitchen door opens and Bach backs into the area with a laundry basket in his arms. He pivots once clear of the door and continues into the living room with a grimace upon his face.

Dretphi glances over to Bach as he places the laundry basket down. "Any success with your clothing?"

Bach immediately shakes his head and snorts as a reflexive chuckle forces its way out. "Not really. I mean, the duster is salvageable. But... The shirt is total loss. And the pants..."

He kneels down next to the laundry basket, rummages through the mix, and pulls up a pair of very holey, burnt pants. Dretphi's eyes follow the length of the pants and she can only blink while her lips twist slightly. She holds her face with a hand while covering her mouth, and nods in agreement. "Yes. Those are rags now. You will need a new pair."

Sotalia lifts her head away from her notebook and looks across the way to see the hole, burn ridden garment hanging from Bach's hand. She places her hands on her hips, rolls her eyes, and cracks a smug grin from the corner of mouth. "Rags?! Come on, don't you recognize designer clothing when you see it? I'm sure some teenager would pay top coin for THAT."

An eye brow perks on Cideeda's face and her eyes turn up from her repair work. She examines the pants and her mind churns on an idea. Eventually, a scheming smirk grows on her mouth. "Hey. Fold those up and put them with the bot's head."

Bach quickly rotates to face Cideeda and tilts his head in mild confusion as he narrows his eyes. "Are you actually going to try to sell my holey burnt pants?!"

Cideeda shrugs as she focuses back on repairing her suit and drags a threaded needle up off the body suit. "You'd be surprised what sells. Again, I don't make the fads, I just sell to them. Anyway, Steve at the game shop put me on the local aethermail list and I just found out a fandom convention is happening in a week and a half."

Aristespha pauses from calculating numbers on one of her tablets and leans back into her seat on the couch. She lightly taps the tablet stylus to her lips and she glances through thoughts in her head. "You know I haven't been to a decent convention in years. I actually wouldn't mind going."

Bach thinks for a moment and nods. "Same here. I haven't been able to afford to go to one for a really long time. Used to be a lot of fun back in school."

Dretphi shifts her gaze between Cideeda, Aristespha, and Bach with curiosity growing. "I have never been to one of these conventions. Heard of them. Never gone. Would not mind going."

Sotalia glares at the others through the opening to the kitchen, her jaw hangs open in astonishment, and she poses incredulously at what she's hearing. "You all DO realize, we literally do what those people obsess and act out at those places? Right?"

Cideeda perks an eyebrow at Sotalia. "This one is a general fandom convention. They have a little bit of everything. So, the whole adventurer fandom thing is only a part of it."

A devious grin creeps onto Cideeda's face as she continues her description. "I mean, this is a larger one. It even has a large ballroom just dedicated towards all the various vendors of small, unique items that many claim to be of a magical nature..."

Briefly, the cheek around Sotalia's eye twitches as the corner of her mouth draws upwards. She quickly directs her head downwards to her alchemy project. Cideeda pushes up into her pillow covered seat upon the couch and develops a toothy grin. "And, the writer and artist for a particular series is on a few panels."

A few moments of silence hang in the air, as expectant members of the group watch and wait for Sotalia to speak. While Sotalia stares down onto the counter top and goes through the motions of combining ingredients into the glass bowl, she bites her lip and contorts her face as her will loses restraint on desires. "Well, if you all want to go, I'm... Not against going. You might want to check with Sebastian."

Bach rolls his eyes and laughs. "Oh, he'll go. Hell, he probably could be in the open. We'll just say he's a hologram or magical illusion. By the way, anyone know where he is?"

Aristespha lifts her arm up and points her finger in a sweeping gesture towards the outside, while an unamused expression seeps onto her face. "He's outside trying to spy on THOSE adventurers. Nothing to speak of at the moment. Thankfully, they're staying on their property."

Sotalia groans and shakes her head as she pours a vial of liquid into the mixing bowl. "Still can't believe they picked the one place next to us."

Dretphi dons a stern expression as she flings a bundle of clothes into one basket. "That was not coincidence. Previous seasons, they kept adventurers in poor places. That house is generous."

Aristespha crosses her arms with a twist of her mouth and eyes Dretphi with a confirming nod. "I thought about that, too. We're going to have to be careful if they're around. Don't need to give them any material they can put on the show."

Cideeda sinks down in her pillows and works the needle through another spot in the fabric mesh of her body suit. "Well, hopefully they'll find something else to do and let us enjoy the rest of the week off. I'd like to see if we can get the plasma projectile cannon and minigun working."

Sebastian's ethereal form passes through the sliding glass door and coasts into the room. "Anything new?"

Bach sets out the last article of clothing from the laundry basket and glances up to grin at his brother. "Up for going to a con in a week and half?"

Sebastian twists himself to face Bach mid flight excitedly and halts his drift through the room. "Hell, yes! It's been forever since I've been to one. Been so busy between getting a group together and chasing Noxian that last few years that the opportunity never came up. But... I don't know how much I'll be able to enjoy it... being a ghost and all. I'll make do."

A smiles forms on Aristespha as she stares at Sebastian. He lands his feet onto the ground, pivots in place, and catches her eye on him. His eyes scans the immediate area around him before he raises a curious eyebrow at her. Aristespha continues to smile and gives Sebastian a sly wink. "Of course you'll make do. Guess who's going as a magical interactive illusion to the con?"

Sebastian stands in thought and his mind mulls over the concept. With a growing heroic smile, he puffs out his chest, brightens his visage, and puts on his best hero pose. "Hello! Welcome to the convention! I'm your friendly interactive illusion, state your command, and I will try to comply."

He releases his pose, places a hand on his waist, and scratches his chin with the other. "You know, that could actually work. No one would even bother to question such a thing."

Cideeda chuckles to herself and with a sly toothy grin. "And, we'll only have to pay for five passes."

Sebastian glances at Bach with a nonplussed expression and crosses his arms. "Is it strange that I'm honestly looking forward to seeing how much I can fuck with people in this form, bro?"

Bach shrugs and holds his hands up to his sides. "I don't know, man. Might as well have fun with it? It's not like many people get a chance like this."

Sotalia calls out from the kitchen. "Aristespha! Okay, I'm at the last part of this potion. It's seventy milliliters of the cherry flavoring? Correct?"

Aristespha blinks and shudders her head. She quickly snaps her confused gaze to the awaiting Sotalia. "No! Twenty milliliters of cherry flavoring! Where did you get seventy from?!"

There's a long silence afterwards, eventually broken by the sounds of notebook pages flipping back and forth. Sotalia mumbles out loud as she leans very close to her notebook. "But I wrote down seventy for some reason, why the hell would I write seventy but it actually be twenty- Oh gods dammit!"

With a quick, violent flick of the wrist, Sotalia sends a small plastic pen at the lid of the kitchen garbage can. The pen contacts the lid, bounces the lid to open downwards, and falls into the plastic bag. Sotalia groans as she pours twenty milliliters of cherry flavoring into the mixing bowl. "Next time we go shopping in town, let's pick up some decent pens."

Bright columns of light pour through the forest canopy onto the mossy ground below. Small patches of underbrush shake their remaining beads of morning dew with the gentle wind as the light sways along. A fvalian woman in a plain green blouse and dark blue skirt follows behind an emin woman wearing a form fitting and revealing gray t-shirt and equally matching shorts. Both maneuver their ways through the trees and brush towards the edge of the forest. The fvalian woman directs a whisper to the emin woman. "Tassilda?! How close are you going to get?"

Tassilda briefly eyes back at the fvalian with a confident, smug grin. "As close as I can, Deedri. How close did you get?"

Deedri nervously turns her head back and points out a spot quite a distance away. "Over there. I just watched them briefly yesterday before they called us in for individual interviews."

With a quick roll of the eyes, Tassilda quickly returns her head away from Deedri's spot and focuses ahead to a patch of grass behind a concealing, short shrub. "Come along now. I want to get a good view of these practice exercises you saw."

Deedri glances to Tassilda and back before reluctantly walking to the same patch of grass. She carefully sits down and settles next to Tassilda, carefully peeking over the very top of the leafy plant. Tassilda guides a finger in front of Deedri and directs her gaze to three people stand in an open field. "There they are. Both the mages and the intern? Interesting. I wonder what poor examples of spells they are going to teach that... Intern."

Deedri shakes her head slightly and frowns gradually as her eyes remain fixed to targets in the distance. "I wouldn't call him an intern. At least, don't treat him like one."

Tassilda lifts an eye brow and draws the corner of her mouth to a side while her eyes shift over to Deedri. "Really? That's how they even referred to him and I haven't seen anything to the contrary. Is there something you haven't told me?"

Deedri blinks, pivots her head at Tassilda, and quickly shakes her head. "No. It just doesn't make sense to me. From the information Samantha gave to Chad, he just joined recently and never completed school. But, somehow he put up that barrier the military had to blast off. I mean, that magical barrier didn't dissipate, it actual shattered and continued to exist after that weird magical cable was pulled off! Have you ever known an intern to do magic like that? Because, I sure haven't."

Tassilda's eyes drift back forward, away from Deedri, and guide the rest of Tassilda's head along. Her expression wanders as her mind ponders recent memories. She pulls a few strands of her black hair over a horn and squints her blue on black eyes into the distance. A few seconds later, her eyes flit open as something in the distance seizes her full attention. "They are practicing magic. Good. I wonder what... She... Is capable of."

Deedri concentrates her sight in the same direction as Tassilda. "She's pretty good. She's been practicing a fireball spell a lot, but it's strange. She's direct casting, but there's something else going on. Even with my mage sight I can't tell what exactly is going on from this far away."

In the distance, Sotalia stands with her hands out around a glowing, orange-red orb of flames. The orb fluctuates and gradually changes colors to an orange-yellow hue, while Sotalia grimaces and her postures strains. She eventually drops her head down and exhales dramatically letting her shoulders droop. Bach takes a few steps to Sotalia's side, and gestures with his hands to the orb while saying something. Initially, Sotalia drifts her glare away from Bach as a pout forms and her hands slowly slide the orb from Bach's reach. He pinches the bridge of his nose, holds his hands out to his side, and speaks to Sotalia. Tassilda notices Deedri's ears perking and training upon the conversation, and she leans closer to Deedri. "What are they talking about?"

Deedri squints and her ears deftly aim themselves to the distant conversation. "He's trying to get her to use her mage sight spell, but she says she can't while focusing on casting this one. And he just offered to... Hold the spell for her?"

Tassilda blinks hard, cocks her head to the side, and mumbles in confusion. "Hold the spell? How does he expect to do that-"

Bach slowly extends his arms out, positions his hands at the ready around the flaming orb, and speaks again while craning his head around to gaze at Sotalia's face. She briefly eyes Bach. With a sigh and growing appreciative smile in the corner of her mouth, she pivots her body towards Bach and carefully slides the orb between Bach's awaiting hands. The orb momentarily shudders slightly as it remains still between Bach's hands when Sotalia draws her hands away. She shakes her hands, stretches her arms back, and walks around, taking time to work out the tension in the rest of her body.

Tassilda stares wide-eyed with her jaw creeping open. Deedri directs her eyes over to Tassilda, raises an eyebrow, and twists her mouth. "So. He's the intern. Who never finished school. And just started adventuring with a group a few weeks ago."

Tassilda slowly nods as her eyes continue to track the events before her. Her jaw rises back to close her mouth as her expression charts out her contemplation. "I think I understand your suspicions, quite clearly now."

Aristespha stands up from a seat upon a bench near Bach and Sotalia. She moves to a spot near Sotalia, catches her attention, and alternates pointing at each others eyes while talking. Sotalia nods attentively after each key point in Aristespha's instruction. Aristespha stands right beside Sotalia, gestures towards the flaming orb Bach maintains in the space between his hands, and both close their eyes after Aristespha's cue. Aristespha opens her violet glowing eyes first and carefully watches Sotalia. With an initial struggle, Sotalia manages to open her golden, glowing eyes and keep them consistently bright. Bach tows the flaming orb closer and hovers it conveniently close to Aristespha and Sotalia. After a minute of debate between them, Bach's eyes flash to a bright blue. The flaming orb's color changes slowly from orange-yellow to bright blue-white. Sotalia and Aristespha scrutinize each second of the orb's transformation and Bach takes moments to rotate and adjust the orb's position to demonstrate some aspects of the process. The orb compacts down in a smaller ball and the waving flames disappear to a thin jet veil that covers the surface of the orb. With a final nod from both Aristespha and Sotalia, Bach swings the orb away from Aristespha and Sotalia, and aims it towards a large boulder in the field. With a flex of the the hands, the orb flies from Bach, darts across the open field, and explodes upon impact with the boulder.

Tassilda sits back upon the ground, straightens her back, and crosses her arms. She takes in a slow, deep breath, and exhales just as slowly. "What just happened there?"

Deedri draws her head back from watch over the top of the shrub and gazes at Tassilda. "I don't know. I didn't catch anything he did there. That may have been direct casting. Maybe some form of it that I've never seen before? It's too far away even if I did use my mage sight."

Tassilda shakes her head as she lifts a hand to place upon her cheek and rest her face against. "Maybe."

A devious grin widens from the corner of Tassilda's mouth and she turns her gaze directly upon Deedri. "Regardless, I believe WE WILL be visiting this spot quite bit more often in the future."

Deedri dons a weak smile and darts her eyes nervously around before settling upon Tassilda. "O-Okay. I don't have any problems with that."

A thickening front of clouds coasts overhead and occasionally obscures the sun, drawing patches of shadow upon the field. Sotalia, Bach, and Aristespha stand in a rough group near the wood plank table. Sotalia interlocks her fingers, flips her hands around, and stretches her arms out with a content grin beaming on her face. "I think I'm getting the hang of this low level stuff."

She slyly shifts her eyes to the side and gazes at Bach. Her eyes gently narrow and her grin tinges with a sinister motive. "Maybe someone will teach me that wonderful disintegration ball spell in the very near future."

Bach averts his eyes to one side and then another and puts on a wary smile. "Ah, you know... All in good time. Right? How about we sure up those low level basics and then cover some slightly more advanced topics. Then, we'll definitely get to that spell."

Sotalia pivots upon on foot to face Bach, focuses a frown lead glare upon Bach, and breathes out a low growl of building frustration. Bach blinks as Sotalia places her hands on her hips and postures with obvious irritation. He slowly directs his attention to Aristespha and motions with his eyes to Sotalia trying to maintain an honest smile. Aristespha rolls her eyes and takes a few steps to stand in between the two. "Bach. You should teach her the spell..."

A smug smile pushes the frown off Sotalia's face and her pose gradually changes to a more triumphant one. Aristespha catches sight of Sotalia's posturing, flashes a wicked smile, and rotates her head to Sotalia. "BUT. Sotalia, you need to get MUCH better at controlling your magical energy flows."

Sotalia immediately snarls her lip, crosses her arms, and turns her head away with a pout forming quickly. Aristespha claps her hands together and her expression brightens as her eyes look to both Bach and Sotalia. "And I have a way of helping you learn and teaching a valuable skill that is normally reserved for medical mages."

The pout on Sotalia gives way to an unamused expression that thinly hides her developing interest. She returns her gaze to Aristespha and awaits with a slight sway of the hips. Aristespha smiles and gestures with her arms for both Bach and Sotalia to come closer. "Since we have three major magic users in the group, with different levels of magical energy reserves, I think it would be prudent to teach you two about energy transfer between people."

Sotalia perks a brow, cracks a smile, and unfolds her arms placing her hands on her hips. "Now we're talking. It's about time! I forgot how many times I've asked you to show me that."

She narrows her eyes quickly at Aristespha and her smile fades back. "And I almost forgot how many times you said you were too busy to show me."

Aristespha continues with a happy grin as she holds her hands out to her sides with a shrug. "Well, things have changed. We have some time now and we have a third mage in the group which will make this a lot easier to teach."

Bach scratches the back of his head and puzzles at Aristespha. "Why does a third mage this easier?"

Aristespha glances over to Bach with the happy grin now hinting a sly, ulterior motive. "Because, with your ability to manipulate low level energy flow, I fully expect you pick up any lesson I give very quickly."

She turns a gaze directly at Sotalia and perks an eyebrow at her. "Then, you'll be able to help Sotalia get the practice she will need."

Sotalia stares back sternly to Aristespha. The two maintain eye contact for a few seconds before Sotalia breaks off to huff and sulk. "Damn it. I'm getting better."

Aristespha places a hand on each of Sotalia's shoulders and lowers her head slightly to look Sotalia in the eyes. "You most certainly are. Just keep in mind how much more you'll do with your massive reserves of magical energy when you learn more about energy control. I think I know a simple enough way to demonstrate the potential to you, that will certainly motivate you."

Sotalia contorts her mouth until her pride subsides, cracks a smile, and sighs. "Okay. Let's see it! I'm curious as to how this is suppose to motivate me."

Aristespha lets go of Sotalia's shoulders, takes a step back, and holds an open, palm up hand to both Back and Sotalia. "Okay, you two. Put a hand in mine and get ready to cast a spell. It's getting a bit dark from the clouds, so let's make it the simplest light orb spell. I am going to compare the energy efficiency between how you two cast spells."

Both Bach and Sotalia place hand in one of Aristespha's. Aristespha closes her eyes briefly and reopens them with a glowing violet light. She turns her head to Sotalia and eyes down to her hand. "Go ahead and cast."

Sotalia watches her hand and she quickly gestures with very small motions of her fingers. With a smug, confident expression, an orb of light appears above Sotalia's hand in mere moments and hovers there. Aristespha nods and then rotates her head to Bach. "For you, I want you to keep on casting that light orb spell of yours until I tell you to stop."

Bach simply shrugs as his eyes illuminate blue. He looks down at his hand and a glowing orb floating above his hand greets his gaze. He reaches with his other hand, plucks the glowing orb away, and releases in the air nearby. He repeats this process for the second, third, forth, fifth, and sixth orbs. Sotalia slowly removes her hand from Aristespha's and crosses her arms as her mouth opens slightly at the scene. Bach continues to create the seventh, eight, ninth and tenth orbs. Sotalia squirms while resettling her crossed arms and tilts her head as her mouth hangs open in an indignant confusion. Bach removes the eleventh orb from his hand, quickly scans the immediate area around him filled with other orbs, and flicks the orb in hand towards the tree line. He sends off the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth orbs off roughly towards the tree line. As one orb drifts over a low, short patch of bushes, it drops sharply behind the bushes and disappears out of sight. Sotalia's indignation gives way to sheer astonishment and she dramatically mouths in a quiet whisper to Aristespha. "Really?!"

Aristespha glances over to Sotalia and slowly nods with a tight smile on her face. As Bach readies for the sixteenth orb, Aristespha calls out quickly. "Stop. That's about the same amount of energy used."

Sotalia taps her fingers on her arms and twitches her mouth while she processes the demonstration. Bach gazes up at the darkening skies as the lighter clouds of before are now the dark, heavier variety. He fans off the orbs near him and pinches one in hand to wield around. Aristespha's eyes dim back to normal and she drops her hands to her sides. "I hope that was informative for the both of you."

She glances over to Bach, but rests her remaining gaze on Sotalia. Sotalia briefly narrows her eyes at Aristespha, but releases a sigh and nods a few times with an uncomfortable smile. "Yes. It was."

An eager grin cracks upon Sotalia face and her confident aura seeps back up to the surface. "So? About this energy transfer skill you are going to teach us."

Aristespha's eyes track a drifting light orb and she gently coaxes it into her hand. "Let's go inside, first. It will take awhile to explain the basics and I don't want to be interrupted by the rain."

Bach and Sotalia agree. Bach and Aristespha both walk towards the house and use the light orbs to shine light ahead on their paths. Sotalia takes a few steps, stops, quickly pivots, and snatches an idle light orb. She tags behind the other two and examines the light orb more often than using it for a light source. A loud rumble of thunder rolls over the area from the distance and motivates the three to speed to and through back sliding glass door.

As the field darkens and the dark clouds completely coat the sky above, two figures rush across the open grass. Their march shifts to a full charge as drops of rain fall upon the area. The pace of drops increases and further obscures the figures as they halt around the wooden plank picnic tablet and drifting light orbs. The orbs move erratically to the figures, some disappearing completely while a few dim. The two figures dart off back into the tree line, with dim points of light tracing them the whole way.

The rain pelts the side of the sliding glass door and echoes soft patters into the living room. Dretphi aims the remote at the television screen and flips through a number of channels. With a sigh, she drops the remote onto the coffee table and sinks into the couch cushions. Cideeda slowly blinks she fends off a fit of drowsiness and stretches out her arms and legs on the other side of the couch. She turns her head to eye Dretphi. Dretphi also turns her head to meet Cideeda's gaze. Cideeda simply nods once and dons a sly, toothy grin. "I think it's time. I'll get the adapter cables, you get the television ready and clear the area."

Dretphi cracks an equally sly smile and gingerly stands up from the couch. Cideeda pulls herself off the couch and walks fast into the hallway. A few seconds later, the faint sounds of shuffling and rummaging carry into the living room. At the dining table, Aristespha, Bach, and Sotalia sit on one end. Sebastian hovers over head and splits his attention between Aristespha's lesson and Cideeda and Dretphi's new project. Sotalia concentrates her mind and presses her open hand against Aristespha's. Sotalia contorts her face in genuine struggle as her eyes faintly illuminate a golden light. Meanwhile, Aristespha calmly watches Sotalia's antics and continues to keep her hand in place. After a few seconds, Sotalia carefully draws her hand away and small ball of magical energy emerges from Aristespha's hand. She continues drawing her hand back and a grin of sheer accomplishment flashes onto her face. As her fingers curl around the energy ball, Sotalia hoists her hand up into the air, beaming. "YES! Finally! Wow! That was much harder than before. Holy shit."

Aristespha smiles, places her hand down, and glides it over to secure a mug of tea. "Hence the difference between a cooperative and idle energy transfer. Your body and mind naturally want to avoid leaking magical energy everywhere. So, when you are not willing it, magical energy will tend to keep to established flow routes and avoid deviations. Also, established flow routes are typically the path of least resistance in comparison."

She lifts the mug up to her mouth and slips the hot, steaming brew. With a calm grace, she places it back down and continues. "There is another type of transfer. And that is confrontational energy transfers. Those are the type made when the mind and body are on a full active defense. We'll cover those another time. For now, you can practice the basics. If you need more of a challenge, you can use magical energy insulation techniques from basic spellcasting to put up a more active defense."

Behind Aristespha, Cideeda skips through the hallway archway and hauls a metal suitcase covered in various game and game company stickers. Dretphi withdraws her head from behind the television, nods at Cideeda, and returns to the back of the television. Sotalia swings her gaze to Bach and radiates a superior arrogance through a cornered smile. "I'll have you know, I was top of my class in all my spellcasting courses."

She presents her open hand up to Bach and focuses her eyes upon him. "I'll just use a number of those insulation tricks and maybe a few of my own to make it challenging to you."

Bach tilts his head to the side and meekly shrugs at Sotalia. "Umm... How about we just try a few of those cooperative energy pulls and maybe a few idle ones? Let's make sure we know what we are doing before making needlessly difficult."

Sotalia narrows her eyes at Bach and her smile morphs into a devious grin. She provocatively lowers her eyelids and her tone patronizes. "Aww. Are you too tired? Did those little light orbs run you out of energy today?"

She dramatically sighs and rolls her eyes dismissively. "Well, if that's the case, I guess I understand..."

Aristespha glares towards Sotalia and frowns. She begins to open her mouth when Sebastian flies down next to her and whispers into her ear. "Wait. Look at my bro."

Aristespha spots an odd, wry smirk hidden in the corner of Bach's mouth away from Sotalia. Bach places an open hand against Sotalia's and smiles. "Okay. I'll humor you."

Sotalia smiles eagerly, rolls her shoulders in a stretch, and settles into her seat at the ready. She focuses on her and Bach's hands. "Whenever you are ready. Don't hold back, because I want a challenge. Surprise me."

She closes her eyes and takes a long deep breath in. Bach's smirks erupts to a wicked grin. "Okay. I'll surprise you."

Sotalia's eyes fly wide open as she reacts to the sudden, firm grasp of a hand on the back of her neck. She eyes the path and finds Bach to be the hand's owner. Before she can open her mouth, a sudden pull of magical energy stops her. Her jaw opens midway through a gritting her teeth and her lips twist in confusion. ""The fuck-"

One eye nearly closes in a cringe as her head tilts to one side. Her shoulders tense up and her spine squirms into a near arch. Her toes curl and her fingers claw up. Finally, she howls out a mix of utter shock and girlish disgust.  "AIIIEEE!!!"

Bach quickly removes his hand free from the back of Sotalia's neck with an orb of magical energy securely in his palm. Sotalia covers the back of her neck with her free hand and flashes a death glare right at Bach. "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!"

Aristespha tightly secures her mouth with a hand and can barely contain herself as snorts of laughter leak out. Sebastian keeps his mouth shut with the stiffest smile he can muster and avoids accidental direct eye contact with Sotalia. Cideeda stares over towards the living room table and blinks in confusion while she holds a game controller and its plug. Dretphi just finishes turning the television back around before she snaps her head to scan dining table area. Bach grins triumphantly and displays the energy orb. "Well, your surprise of course."

Sotalia's eyes flash with anger at Bach, but she quickly subsides to an amused smile. Immediately, Bach's grin decays to a much more wary expression. Sotalia lightly chuckles to herself and sighs. "Well. To be fair, I DID ask for a surprise."

She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "And, I did goad you. But, your master plan has one flaw."

Bach darts his eyes around his mind in an attempt to locate what the flaw is. He feels four points of pressure pressing upon the back of his hand. Bach aims his head down to see Sotalia's fingers weaving between his and curling to press her thick black nails into the backside of his hand. Sotalia torques her hand forward and Bach seizes to attention. She extends her free hand, points to the energy orb in Bach's other hand, and gestures by opening and closing her free hand. Bach grimaces, grumbles, and places the energy orb into Sotalia's awaiting hand. In seconds, the energy absorbs back into Sotalia and she releases her grip of Bach. Aristespha rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "Okay. Are you two children done for the day?"

Sotalia nods simply with a content smile. "Yes, teacher."

Bach glances over while rubbing his hand. "I'm good. No more surprises."

Aristespha props her arm on the table top and rests her chin upon her hand with a sigh. "Good. I do have a question for you, Sotalia."

Sotalia curiously faces Aristespha and pays attention to her. "Yes? What is it?"

Aristespha presents an amused expression and lifts her mug of tea close to her mouth. "So, did it feel like a bucket of ice water going down your back?"

Sotalia nods very quickly and squirms a bit in her chair. "YES! Oh gods! It's like someone dumped the ice maker down the back of my shirt."

Bach eyes Sotalia and snorts with a snarl of the lip. "Sort of like someone casted a freeze ray spell up your back?"

Sotalia opens her mouth, halts, quirks an eyebrow at Bach, and pulls her mouth to a corner. "I hope you aren't holding a grudge for that? I honestly missed that time."

Bach shakes his head and shrugs. "Nah. I just thought it was good point of comparison."

Sotalia returns to Aristespha with a quizzical expression. "How did you know it felt like ice water down your back?"

Aristespha finishes a long sip of her tea and continues to smile with a tinge of nostalgia. "Oh, it's something all the medical mage students would do to keep each other on our toes. If you got caught napping anywhere other than the break room or were late to your shift because you were napping in the break room, you could expect a VERY rude wake up. Honestly, that sensation is almost better than coffee."

She places her mug back down on the table and casts a gaze to both Bach and Sotalia. "And, in emergency situations, that region is one of the easiest to access places to tap into the body's major magical energy flows. It was not uncommon for a medical mage to snag a student for magical energy when the situations got dire."

Her face dons a stern, dark glare and her tone turns serious. "That said, I would recommend you two stick to hands and arms for practice. You two aren't medical mages and neither of your energy control skills are good enough to casually play around with major energy flows like that. Understand?"

Both Bach and Sotalia nod slowly, wide-eyed. Aristespha resumes a smile. "Very good."

A melodic, electronic tune sounds out from the television. Aristespha, Bach, Sebastian and Sotalia shift their attentions over toward Cideeda and Dretphi. The two sit comfortably on the couch, each with a game controller in hand. Upon the coffee table, the holoplayer projects a status screen while a series of adapters and cables run to the television and an old gaming console. Sotalia's eyes widen upon sight of the assembly and she slides back in her chair. "Well, that's enough training today. We'll continue tomorrow."

She gets up from the chair, strides over to the couch, and perches upon a couch arm. "I call next!"

Bach turns back around in his chair, bites his lip, and faces his head to Aristespha with a quiet voice. "Ah... Sorry, if I went a little too far with Sotalia and trying to pull energy from the back of her neck and all."

Aristespha softly chuckles and shakes her head slightly with a quiet response. "Oh, don't worry. You have far better energy control and you wouldn't have done anything to harm her. Also, someone needed to put her ego in check and you just happen to know the right way to do it."

Sebastian leans in closer to the conversation with a proud grin. "And well, you had every right to show her up, bro. She called you out and you delivered."

Bach nods calmly and lets out a breath of relief. "Okay. Wanted to make sure I didn't do anything too stupid."

Sebastian snorts and winks to Bach. "No worse than standing out from cover, raving like a madman, and taking pistol shots at a rampaging combat robot."

Bach groans and partially buries his face into a palm. Aristespha gently pats Bach's shoulder. "No need to kick yourself, it did that more than enough."

Sebastian leans further and partially through the table to look at Bach directly with a sincere smile. "And you saved our asses. So, can't fault you too much."

He rights himself and watches a video game load up on the television screen. He drifts towards the couch and glances back. "Now come on, I can't play so you'll need to defend the family honor."

Aristespha stands up from the table with her mug in hand. Bach pushes his chair back and joins the gathering. He watches the title screen appear and amuses in honest surprise. "Wow! Champions of Nexus. I haven't play this since school."

Aristespha crosses her arms with a slight grin and nods. "Yes. We found an old warehouse and for some reason there was perfectly good system and cache of games. I've been trying to get back to what I was back in my medical mage school days. Who did you normally play?"

Bach scratches the back of his neck and sheepishly admits. "Um. Ionis, actually."

Aristespha blinks and cranes her head toward Bach with a trailing pivot of the body. "Ionis? Really? I could never figure out his power up chain and his energy use is ridiculously hard to manage..."

She stops talking and returns to watching the television screen. Bach watches the action on the screen and does not notice Aristespha's musing.

Howard's voice resonates through the speakerphone. "How are our adventurers settling in? Any good moments for show?"

Samantha stacks another pillow onto the bed and settles herself on top and into the pile. "They're doing just fine. And plenty of moments when moving it."

She rolls over closer to the aetherphone on the nightstand. "We got an hour clip alone of Chad, Tassilda, and Trakenthin in a yelling match at who would get the biggest room. The best part I think was seeing Mordoran and Deedri working together to sneak their stuff into two of the rooms off at the end of the house."

An intrigued trill colors Howard's voice through the speaker. "Ooo. That's a possibility I hadn't quite considered yet. Let's leave it alone for now and see if something sparks. Also, is the crew enjoying their house?"

Samantha smiles as she types notes into her laptop. "Yes we are! A really good vantage point, great reception with the wireless cameras, and plenty of room for us to stage."

Howard yawns as the creak of a bed frame echoes in the room on the other side of the call. "Excellent. Turned out to be much cheaper than the hotels. Anything else before I get some much needed sleep."

A plotting grin draws upon Samantha face, she leans in very close to the aetherphone, and speaks with a suggestive tone. "Yes. Quite. One of our cameras pointed to the forest near the other group caught Deedri sneaking off into the forest yesterday. Then today, Deedri and Tassilda went out together."

A quick sudden squeak of the bed frame and the sounds of covers fluttering sound out before Howard's voice grows closer with an anticipating breath. "And?!"

Samantha bites her lip and seductively tenses her voice. "When the rain fell, Gerald recorded them running from the forest carrying some kind of magical artifacts. They played off needing to change in their rooms to the others, but they actually were studying the artifacts."

A giddy chirp peaks out of the speaker. "Keep me updated. Watch quietly for now."

Samantha grins deviously. "Will do."

-15-

Bach pulls the humvee door shut and settles back into his seat. Cideeda swings her head out her window and guides the steering wheel. Aristespha glides her finger across a tablet surface and carefully browses pictures of various items. Bach leans over and catches glimpses with honest interest. "I've never been to a Merc-Mart. I've heard they have everything and anything."

Aristespha shrugs with a slight side to side motion of her head. "They have good a marketing department. But, their selection overall is better than most places. Unfortunately, they are a bit proud of their prices."

Sotalia happily cranes herself around her seat and excitedly smiles to Bach and Aristespha. "Which is why Free Fridays are THE BEST! I can't wait to see what they have on their point tables!"

Bach blinks and eyes between Aristespha and Sotalia. "Point tables?"

Aristespha stirs her mouth for a moment before she glances at Sotalia and signals with a hand gesture. Sotalia takes in a breath and subdues her excitement enough to explain. "Okay. Merc-Mart keeps a huge inventory of many things. Once every while, they will clean out the old inventory and put it on display tables out front. Depending on how much you buy during their Free Fridays, you earn points. You can use those points for cash back on your purchases, OR you can redeem them to get things on the tables. Everyone calls them point tables because that's where you spend your points."

Aristespha raises her tablet near Bach's view and he examines the pictures of items on the screen. She scrolls through a pages of inventory. "To help advertise the event, they post many of the point table items on their Aethernet page. This store actually has a few interesting items."

Cideeda glances into the rear view mirror towards the conversation. "As pricey as Merc-Mart is usually, they actually discount the point tables A LOT. So, you can get decent deals."

She aims her eyes back to the road ahead of her. "One time we found the carbon fiber plate kit to Dretphi's armor suit. I think it was only missing one plate?"

Dretphi holds up two fingers and calls out. "Two plates. Not important plates. I use the old plates instead without problem. That was a good find."

Sebastian materializes in the aisle. "Not a bad place, if you go at the right times. We have a team membership and we get a few perks. The after-hours order and pick up has been handy in the past."

Aristespha shakes her head with a slight chuckle. "Still can't believe you managed to get all those sandwiches."

Bach quirks an eyebrow and turns to his brother. "There's a story here, isn't there?"

Sebastian rubs the back of his neck with a proud grin. "Well. Yes. It was a few months after Aristespha joined up and we just got done combing through these old ruins looking for Noxian. It was really late, and we were lucky to find a Merc-Mart with an overnight parking lot."

He holds his hands out to the sides and continues. "Our finances weren't organized as they are now, so we only had a little bit of money on hand to buy some food. But, the vending machine stuff wasn't looking that great. So, I had an idea."

Bach stares at Sebastian with corner pull of the mouth. "Well, that's always a dangerous situation."

Sebastian eye rolls and returns the stare to Bach. "Come on, bro. I occasionally get a good one. Anyway. We pooled our money together and I went to the after-hours window. It took some negotiating, but I managed to get a great deal on all the deli sandwiches before they cleared them for the night. Even had change leftover."

Sotalia snorts as she covers mouth and speaks under her breath. "Negotiating? So, that's what you're calling it."

Sebastian turns his head towards Sotalia and crosses his arms. "Well. Uh. Yes? It took some convincing to get such a good deal."

Cideeda shakes her head with a smile. Dretphi cracks a slight grin. Aristespha rotates her head to Sebastian and gazes into his eyes. "You can tell everyone what really happened, dear. It's okay."

Sebastian briefly grimaces and squirms. He shrugs it off, unfolds his arms, and places his hands on his hips. "Well, okay. I may have used my charms on the lady at the window. There's nothing wrong with a few choice compliments to make someone more agreeable with you."

Aristespha draws a sinister grin across her face as she continues to maintain eye contact. Sebastian's eyes dart around at the attention upon him. "Hey! I got a lot of good food at a really good price, when we needed it!"

Aristespha shifts to a sly smile and resumes browsing on her tablet. "We know. I saw the numbers on the receipt."

She pauses a few moments and finishes with a playful tone. "Especially, the hand written numbers on the back of the receipt."

Bach shakes his head away from Sebastian and pinches the bridge of his nose with a not surprised expression. Sebastian sighs as he weathers the amused looks of everyone else. "Well, no one's stomach complained, I know that for sure."

In a massive warehouse, rows of overhead lights illuminate the dozens of long, wide shelf-lined aisles below. Droves of people wander between the tall shelves and flow through from dividing walkways into other sections of the huge mega store, Merc-Mart. Bach's eyes gaze in astonishment at the facility. He takes moments to stop walking to process all that he sees. He scans around the area and spots Cideeda and Aristespha staring intensely at a display in the electronics section. He quickly moves across the walk way, swims between sections of space scattered in the flow of customers and carts, and arrives behind Cideeda and Aristespha. Aristespha glances back and nods to Bach. "Wondered where you got to. Did you find anything?"

Bach shakes his head and briefly grits his teeth. "Uh... No. To be honest, this place is bit intimidating."

From the sword sheathed on Aristespha's back, Sebastian's ethereal voice emanates. "I know what you mean, bro. First time I went to one of these places was with Sotalia. She basically just dragged me around while I gawked like an idiot."

Bach blinks his eyes and lifts his head to stare at the high storage shelves. "I thought UltraStop was huge. We'd spend hours in one of those on the weekends back in school."

Sebastian laughs with a ghostly echo. "I remember those days. Too much fun almost getting kicked out every other weekend."

Bach lowers his head back down and finally pays attention to the merchandise in the aisle. "I can't believe Amaranth Valley is big enough for a place like this."

Aristespha comments with an explanatory tone. "Merc-Mart actually doesn't count on surrounding towns to be customer bases. They pay attention to common guild mission locations, historical points of interest, and unclaimed zone borders. About the only reason they are near any towns is for the workforce to staff the store."

Bach nods and crosses his arms while he ponders the concept. "I guess that makes sense. All the ruins around here, the weird zone, and near a number of main highways. Huh."

He shifts his focus upon the display that Cideeda continues to study carefully. A number displays line the wall, each selling various electronic devices. This display showcases the pieces and parts for kit build headphones. Bach reaches out, lifts a cardboard backed plastic package, and examines the device within carefully. "Headphones?"

Cideeda nods, twists her mouth, and places her hands on her hips. "Yes. I've been wanting to get some new ones. And Merc-Mart actually carries most the F-Tech custom pieces."

Bach places the package back into the display and scratches his head. "I never knew there were so many different styles and designs."

Cideeda glances over to Bach with a grin. She brushes out her large, furry, tufted ears with a hand each, and points to both ears. Her ears lift up and drop down a few times and she winks. "Normal head phones aren't comfortable on these."

Bach acknowledges Cideeda's point, and scratches his chin. He investigates the different parts with a new curiosity. Cideeda returns to analyzing the display. "F-Tech started out in old Fvalian territories. So, they've always designed with different ears in mind."

Aristespha reaches out, plucks a package off the display, and brings it closer to read. "If I remember my history classes right, F-Tech was either the second or third foreign company to be granted distribution rights within Evuukian counties."

She waves the package up and down and eyes Bach with smile. "As goofy as Evuukian politics are, they at least get it occasionally right for rest of us."

Cideeda takes two packages, places them in a shopping basket on the floor, and lifts up the basket. "These should work. Same cup and headband styles as my old ones, but I'm definitely going for the softer padding."

Aristespha places the package into the shopping basket. "I think I'll do the same. My headband is still okay, but the cup padding has worn out. I'm getting tired of waking up to pinched ears."

Bach perks a brow and quizzically looks to Aristespha. "Listening to music when you go to bed?"

Aristespha shrugs as she aims herself towards the opening of the aisle leading to the walkway. "Little bit. Depends on mood..."

She briefly eyes the hilt of the sword. "And if I'm trying to drown something out."

Sebastian's quiet voice comes from the sword just loud enough for Aristespha. "Really? You know I haven't been even able to snore."

As Aristespha walks away from the other two, out of the aisle, she lowers her head momentarily with a longing smile and speaks underneath her breath. "I actually miss being woken up in the middle of night to that sound."

Sebastian sighs and responds with a cheerful tone. "Don't worry, you won't miss it for long. We're making progress. One day at a time, dear."

Cideeda's ear flicks back away from Aristespha's direction and returns to its resting position. She pulls a short, tight smile as she watches Aristespha from the corner of her eyes. A few seconds later, she works the sad smile off her face with a positive expression, and ushers Bach down the aisle. "Where to next, Aristespha?"

Aristespha taps a spot on her tablet and checks a box on a list. She searches the area and points over towards another section of the store. "Let's join back up with Dretphi and Sotalia. Bach needs some new clothes and some proper sparring gear."

Bach moves along at the pace Cideeda sets and grumbles. "Well, I don't need that much. Just a few shirts and pairs of pants really..."

Sebastian laughs ethereally from the sword and calls out to Bach. "Yah... No, bro. You need some new clothes. I actually recognize most of the socks and underwear you got from our school days. Seriously, bro. My treat. Actually buy some NEW clothes for once."

Bach sighs and shrugs with a hands out to the sides. "Okay! I guess I should to go along with all the other changes in my life."

Sebastian musters up some bravado in his tone. "That's the spirit! Also, I think we need to make sure Sotalia doesn't wander off to the point tables without us."

Cideeda snarls her lip and rolls her eyes as she flexes her claw-tipped fingers. "Gods if that woman spends all our points on magical crap..."

Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia walk out of the rows of merchandise coated tables. Individual bags of merchandise fill a single shopping cart. Dretphi guides the cart with one hand and lifts up a small fluffy toy boar out of a bag with a happy smile on her face. Cideeda glares out of the corner of her eye at the single bag Sotalia carries while humming gleeful tune. "I still think the 5% overall discount would have been a better deal."

Sotalia flashes a pout at Cideeda and draws the bag up into her arms. "But, they had so many neat magical things with a really low point cost! You got that dock for the holoplayer. And everyone else, got something."

Cideeda shakes her head and sighs. "I know."

Aristespha pats Cideeda on the shoulder with a smile. "Don't worry. Merc-Mart would probably fight stacking that many discounts with my Grand Library discount."

Cideeda nods, shrugs, and opens her bag up to glance at the holoplayer dock box within. "True. And it will be nice to have a proper dock for that old holoplayer."

Sebastian chimes in from within the sword. "Hey, we found that copy of Zone Runners for that old console."

Bach closely examines the game box in his hand and blinks in stale surprise. "I've haven't seen a copy of this since back in school. Only one guy in the dorm managed to ever get a copy."

Sebastian laughs briefly. "All the hours we put into that one epic run."

Bach shakes his head slowly and places the game box in bag inside the cart. "We almost got to the Veil. Wouldn't mind trying it again someday."

Aristespha directs everyone's attention towards Merc-Mart's dining area. "If no one is against eating here, I'm a bit hungry. Anyone else?"

Dretphi nods in agreement, returns the fluffy boar back into its bag, and turns the cart towards the exit doors. "I am not against it. I will put our bags in the humvee. Order a number five special for me."

Aristespha leads the rest of the group towards the order counter. Large displays showcase the common menu items and many of the daily specials. Aristespha, Bach, and Sotalia slowly scan the menu, each pair of eyes following rows of text. Cideeda quickly spots her choice and walks up to the counter. Bach scratches his head and twists his mouth. "Well, I'll give the house special a chance. I'm going to go find the bathroom."

He maneuvers around the numerous tables and chairs spread out in the dining area. Eventually, he goes around a corner and finds a walkway going down along a wall of external windows. The bathroom signs immediately catch his attention and he quickly moves through a doorway.

Minutes later, Bach exits the facilities and steps down the path. He gazes outside through the windows to the paved walkway running through a grass lot, surrounded by small bits of shrubs and other landscaping. As he returns his focus forward, he notices someone. Sitting a number of window side tables down, a man sorts through his order and checks each item. He wears chest and leg harnesses over a tough, padded jumpsuit. Along with instruments on the jumpsuit, a personal radio rig runs along the chest harness and technologically advanced goggles hang from his neck. He raises his head, brushes his hand through his bright, blonde hair, and exhales with relief. Bach halts and stares at the human man, as recognition trickles into his expression. The man shifts his attention up, catches sight of Bach, and opens his eyes up fully. "... Holy shit... BACH?!"

Bach's eyes fly wide open and a huge smile explodes on his face. "KALEB?!"

Kaleb throws himself out of his chair and stands straight up with his arms out. "Motherfucking Bach Warwick! Where the fuck have you been, you bastard?! Get over here!"

Bach steps up with a hand out and grabs hold of Kaleb's. Both shake hands before patting the other one back with their free hands. Kaleb moves back and glances over Bach. "I'll be damned. Out of all the places to find you. How the hell have you been?"

Bach shrugs and laughs with a tinge of embarrassment. "Well, that's kind of a crazy story, really. I don't know where to start."

Kaleb holds his hands out to the sides with a grin. "Well, I'm not doing anything right now. Tell me all about it."

Bach takes a deep breath in, scratches the back of his neck, and squints while his brain flips through recent events. "Well, long story short for now... Sebastian got taken down by Noxian, but he didn't die technically, and ended up tracking me down. He and his party practically abducted me and have been getting me into adventuring. And I've been on a few crazy missions and..."

Kaleb blinks a few times, lifts his hands up to Bach, and narrows his eyes curiously at Bach. "Whoa! Hold up. Back up to that first point. Shadeesa and I saw the news about Sebastian and his group. He's not dead? Technically?!"

Bach rubs his eyes into a pinch of the bridge of his nose. "Yes. It's a bit weird. I know, how about we go to my group and he'll explain it him... self..."

Kaleb nods quickly and snaps his head out towards the rest of the dining area. "Sounds like a plan. Where are they at?"

Bach's attention locks onto another target out the window behind Kaleb. Bach blinks a number of times slowly as his mind fails to fully process what he sees. Outside in the grass lot a large scaly creature wanders out in view. Walking on four legs with feline grace, the massive creature steps lazily behind a small shrub and sits down to tower above it. It's long tail coils up nearby and folded wings shudder as it yawns open its wide maw. Bright green eyes focus down upon the small shrub and a black tongue licks the creatures lips. The sun shines across blue and black shiny scales, broken up by white bony plates. The creature claws the dirt around the shrub, and digs the top layer with dexterous hand-like paws. It cranes a head down with its long neck and open maw, and fits most of the shrub within its mouth. The maw closes tightly around the shrub. It lifts up its head, pulls the shrub effortlessly out of the ground, and slowly chews upon the plant while bits of dirt shake from the roots with each motion.

Kaleb turns his head back to face Bach and quizzically asks. "Hey? Bach? Where are they at-"

He notices Bach staring past him and follows the path of Bach's eyes to a point behind him. Kaleb tenses as he sees the creature and growls in frustration. "Oh, gods dammit, Lagi!"

He rushes down the dining walkway to an external door to the grass lot. Bach tilts his head to the side and mouths in a state of confusion and shock. "Lagi?"

Kaleb storms out with a stomp to each step and throws his hand down with a snap to point at the ground. "LAGI! SPIT IT OUT! NOW! You're being a bad boy!"

Lagi stops munching upon the shrub with roots dangling and slowly shifts his gaze to Kaleb. Lagi's eyes narrow upon Kaleb. Kaleb stops in front of Lagi and looks at the creature with a stern glare. "You put it down, right now! That's not your shrub, you can't eat it! Put it down now, or no treats after dinner tonight."

Lagi watches Kaleb's glare and grunts with defying frustration and a trailing snort. Kaleb crosses his arms and dramatically taps his foot while maintaining a parental stare at Lagi. "Put. It. Down. Or. No. Treats."

An odd silence falls upon the area. Kaleb and Lagi maintain eye contact throughout the quiet, tense moments. With a quick squint, Lagi opens his mouth, draws the rest of the shrub into his maw, and closes with cheeks bulging slightly. Kaleb pivots around throws his hands up in the air and calls out. "Welp! No treats for you!"

He reaches inside a chest pocket, pulls out an aetherphone, and waves it above his head. "Guess who I am calling? I'm going to tell her what you did and you better hope she just sticks with tonight."

Lagi's eyes flit wide open and his pupils dilate as a particular thought crosses his mind. Lagi drops his head down above the new hole in ground and deposits the shrub into it with a low, guttural wretch. The coating of mucus and phlegm glistens in the sun as the half-chewed shrub settles crooked. Lagi's front paws quickly sweep up loose dirt around the base of the shrub and pat it down haphazardly. He speeds over behind Kaleb, attempts to nuzzle his head on Kaleb, and pleads with various pitiful whines. Kaleb stands firm, holds the aetherphone in front of him, and hangs his thumb above the call button on the screen. The whines grow more desperate as Lagi begs for forgiveness. Bach carefully opens the external door and steps through the doorway outside. He turns to see Lagi with his jaw almost on the floor. He rubs his eyes and blinks again as the sight of Lagi completely dumbfounds him. "Lagi? That's you?"

Lagi ceases the begging and whining, and lifts his head up to the sound of Bach's voice. His eyes lock onto Bach and his jaw opens. With a happy shriek, Lagi lunges out into a hopping gait right at Bach. Bach's eyes fly out to their widest and he throws out his hand to the over ten meter long creature. "Lagi! Sit! Sit, Lagi! Lagi?!"

Inside a number of people watch the scene unfold outside. Sotalia stands up from the table with Aristespha, Cideeda, and Dretphi, and narrows her eyes at the outside windows. "What is going on over there- What the fuck is Bach doing outsid-?!"

Lagi charges up to Bach, sweeps Bach into tackle with his front legs, and curls up around Bach. Sotalia glances back to everyone else to see the awe-struck, blank stares of everyone else. Aristespha, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia tear out of their seats and run towards the exterior door.

Outside, Kaleb jogs on over and calls out. "Bach? You okay?"

Bach's arm reaches out and pats the head of the purring beast defensively curled around him. "Yah! He's still pretty gentle despite how big he's gotten."

Lagi whines happily and shudders his wings. Bach works himself out free of Lagi and lightly headbutts the creature and scratches under his chin. "Yes, I missed you, too."

Kaleb walks around Lagi and stands next to Bach. Aristespha, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia pile out the door and witness Bach petting the large creature. Aristespha examines the situation and her mind trips over some long forgotten bit of information. Cideeda and Dretphi cautiously approach and shift their attentions between Bach and Lagi. Sotalia holds her hands out in front of her and yells out with an incredulous expression on her face. "Okay?! What the fuck is a DRAGON doing out here?!"

Sebastian voice startles and confusion overtakes. "Wait, what?! A dragon?!"

Aristespha blinks and grows a curious grin upon her face as she eyes Kaleb. "Kaleb Hellstrom, I presume?"

Kaleb pivots to Aristespha and nods with a slight bow. "Yes, ma'am. I-"

A spark of recognition erupts on Kaleb's face and he smiles. "Oh! Your Sebastian's group! Where is he?"

Sebastian's ghostly form materializes next to Aristespha. Lagi spots Sebastian, cranes his head over, and pauses with a quizzical tilt. He examines Sebastian and acts out his confusion about Sebastian's visage with a series of dramatic whines. Sebastian nods to Lagi with a calming smile. "Don't worry, boy. I'm doing fine all things considered. It's only temporary."

An awkward pause in action hangs around. Kaleb takes in a long breath, puts his hands on his hips, and chuckles. "Well! I get the feeling we have A LOT to talk about."

The group collectively nods, including Lagi. Aristespha briefly eyes the windows leading inside and sighs. "If I may have a suggestion, let's continue this back at our place?"

Bach traces Aristespha's glance and tenses upon the sight of a small audience of a dozen people. Sebastian shrugs and waves to people. Many wave back and resume eating their food while continuing to watch. One man gestures for the group to keep on going. "Don't mind us!"

Kaleb slowly nods and points to the harness and saddle upon Lagi's shoulders. "If can give me the address, I've got a holographic HUD with a navigation system."

Gerald stands up from his chair and walks out a doorway onto a small balcony that overlooks the large backyard of the property and provides a useful vantage point of the neighboring houses. He lifts a condensation covered bottle of beer up and pours a swig into his mouth. With a distant gaze, he surveys scenery from his top floor view and slowly breathes. Creaks and cracks sound out from the stairs near the entry to the bedroom and Samantha steps onto the landing. She scans around the room and pauses to note major caches of equipment with a short grin. "Well, I see you've settled in quickly."

Gerald glances back and casually shrugs. "Pretty easy when you have plenty of space to scatter stuff around. I'll sort it out later. Just happy enough to get it up here."

Samantha steps carefully across the room, avoids large blockades of travel containers, and slides next to Gerald on the balcony. "This IS a nice view. I can see why you claimed it."

Gerald nods and waves a point across the view. "Pretty enough. But, I especially like the clear shot I've got of our adventurers' yard and..."

He circles his finger over a spot containing a large open field, diagonal from the adventurers' yard, and directs Samantha's attention after taking another swig from his beer. "The nice shot of our OTHER adventurers."

Samantha leans over with a squint to trace the path from Gerald's arm and grows a mischievous grin. "Oh! That IS nice. I'm sure you got some plans for that."

Gerald chuckles and flits his eyebrows with a smug smirk. "Oh, yes. I'm thinking of using the outdoor case with a telephoto lens with the motion trigger. Fix it on the railing. Still haven't decided on the high resolution camera or that one with the good night-vision mode."

Samantha stands back, crosses her arms, and rests her chin on her fist with a sigh. "I'd go with the high resolution one for now. I'll talk to Howie and see if he can send us another outdoor case, because I would love to have both at the ready. You never know what's going to happen-"

A loud shriek echoes out from above and low, repetitious thumps vibrate the air. Samantha blinks and searches to the left and right of herself. Gerald eyes spring wide open and he tilts his head up. The balcony briefly darkens as a huge shadow passes over it. Samantha continues her hunt in vain. "What WAS THAT?! It sounded like a hawk, but huge!"

Gerald's eyes affix themselves to a single target. He slams back his beer til empty and tosses it aside as he reaches through the balcony doorway. Samantha briefly puzzles at Gerald when her eyes find the source of the strange noises and she snaps her head to it in wide-eyed shock. Her jaw drops and her mind struggles to find anything coherent for her mouth to say. Lagi stretches his four legs out for a landing as a pair of massive front wings and a pair of smaller back wings blast air across the grass of the distant field. He touches down with a smooth routine and Kaleb pats him on the head as he looks back to check on his rider. Kaleb leans over, says a few words to Lagi, and waves his hand towards the wooden plank picnic table. Samantha slowly pivots towards where she remembers Gerald being. "By the gods, I hope-"

She smiles wide and watches Gerald adjust his large shoulder camera rig. Gerald feels a pat and squeeze on the shoulder from Samantha and he laughs. "You know better than to ask that."

Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, Sotalia, and Sebastian gather near the picnic table with Kaleb and Lagi. Bach walks up to Lagi with arms outstretched. Lagi quickly nuzzles his head close to Bach and purrs with a low rumble as Bach scratches under his chin. Bach smiles and hugs Lagi. "I missed you, Lagi."

Kaleb shakes his head with a grin as he watches the two. Dretphi approaches Kaleb and calmly asks with a tinge of eagerness. "Would it be acceptable for me to pet Lagi?"

Kaleb looks up to Dretphi, chuckles, gestures with an outstretched hand in front of him. "Oh, go right ahead. He LOVES attention. I won't be able to convince him to go back home until he shows off for a bit."

Cideeda steps up to the side of Dretphi and pets Lagi along his head and neck. Sotalia crosses her arms, takes a breath in, and alternates a demanding stare between Sebastian and Bach. "Okay! I'm going to ask the question. Dragon? Why? How? When?"

Bach and Sebastian exchange looks and sort through a number of expressions. Sebastian shrugs and tilts his head to the side. "Well, I did mention a few times my roommate had a pet dragon."

Sotalia glares a Sebastian, throws her arms to the side, and directs them towards Lagi. "A little dragon. I honestly didn't think it was a legitimate dragon."

Bach steps back from Lagi, allows Aristespha to take his place as she caresses Lagi, and scratches his head. "Well, back then, Lagi could fit in the bathtub."

He pivots to face Kaleb and points a thumb over to Lagi. "How big has he gotten?! I'm already amazed he grew in the back wings, but he's HUGE."

Kaleb takes a deep breath in, exhales, and blinks as he strokes his chin in thought. "Umm... Last time Shadeesa and I managed to get a tape measure on him, he's easily pushing a fifteen meter front wingspan and maybe eleven meters long head to tail."

Sebastian eyes Kaleb with a sly grin. "Aha! So you and Shadeesa are still keeping in touch?"

Kaleb works a smile on his face and laughs. "You could say that. In fact, I wanted to thank you, Sebastian."

Sebastian perks an eyebrow and places his hands on his hips, the sly grin morphing closer to smug. "Really? And, why is that?"

Kaleb stands up straight and proud. "Well, I finally took your advice and asked Shadeesa out. I'm a biologist. She's an exotic veterinarian. And well, I got a job traveling to strange and weird places, which worked perfect for her research of creatures that live in those same places. We've been together since a few months after you graduated."

Bach and Sebastian look at each other and then focus upon Kaleb with smiles. Sebastian rubs the back of his neck and with an ethereal chuckle. "Damn, Kal. That's really awesome. I figured you two would do well-"

Kaleb holds a finger up and takes a slow dramatic breath. "I'm not done. But, you're right. We've actually settled down a few hours away and well... We're expecting our first in six months."

Sebastian's mouth opens silently in dumbstruck awe. Bach walks and shakes Kaleb's hand. "That's great news!"

Everyone speaks congratulations and Kaleb humbly accepts them. "Everything is good. Shadeesa makes sure of that. She can give more details, herself. When we get inside, I'll get a video call going to her on my aetherphone. Hopefully next doctor visit, we'll find out the sex of the baby and figure out if the baby will have her mother's horns."

Sotalia pauses from petting Lagi and glances back at Kaleb with interest and a hopeful smile. "So, Shadeesa is a full emin?"

Kaleb turns his attention to Sotalia with a nod. "Yes."

Sotalia bites her lip and shifts to confident grin. "Well, if she needs a half-emin to talk to, I'll answer any questions she's got."

Kaleb exhales in relief. "Thank you! Any bits of knowledge will help us so much."

Lagi lifts his head up, cranes it over to Kaleb, and mutters a little grumble. Kaleb rolls his eyes and pats Lagi's head. "Okay! I was wondering when you'd want to show off for everyone."

Kaleb sweeps a gaze over everyone else and gestures out into the field. "Would it be okay if Lagi does one of his spells? It's something he likes to show new people."

Bach looks around for any objections and points off to the lone boulder in the field. "I don't have any problems. It's the field we train in anyway. That boulder is usually the target."

Kaleb nods, steps next to his saddle on Lagi, and pulls out a large high-tech pistol from a holster. Cideeda squints her eyes at the pistol and quirks a brow. "That's a Particle Power Blaster isn't it?"

Kaleb lifts the pistol up and aims it into the air with a sly grin. "Yes it is! It's pretty vanilla, but it has a multi-spectrum laser target painter module. I use it point out things to Lagi."

He whistles, snaps his fingers, and levels the pistol at the boulder. "Lagi! Get ready!"

A spark of excitement courses through Lagi's bright green eyes. He slowly unfurls his massive wings into the air as the blue and black scales shimmer between shades. His claws on all feet dig into the dirt and anchor in the soil. Lagi's mouth opens wide as glowing trails of magical flow funnel towards a central point in front of his mouth. Sotalia slides next to Aristespha as they both carefully watch. Sotalia eagerly waits and speaks to Aristespha. "This is so cool! I remember the last time I saw a dragon breathe fire, it jetted almost a hundred meters across the sky!"

Kaleb taps a second set of triggers on the pistol and a bright blue beam flashes on the boulder. Lagi's eyes focus and the magical energy warps. The energy erupts into a flaming orb of orange fire as more magical energy flows into it from roots across Lagi's body. Aristespha slowly closes her eyes, reopens them with a violet glow, and concentrates her attentions with wonderment. Sotalia pauses her excitement as the orb triggers flashes of familiarity that border on recognition. The energy orb near Lagi's mouth condenses to a slightly smaller form as the colors shift from orange to yellow to blue to blue-white. The rolling flame exterior gives way to a powerful jet torch that roars out loud. Sotalia tilts her head to the side as recognition floods her mind and her jaw hangs open. Aristespha dons an amused grin while she enjoys a glance at Sotalia's face. Kaleb pulls and holds the second trigger. The blue-white orb of magical fire streaks across the field and crashes into the boulder with an explosion of flame. The shock wave ripples across the grass with a loud thunderous boom. Lagi quickly turns his head, witnesses everyone's reactions with a toothy smile, and happily hops in place. Sotalia blinks out her astonishment, gradually pivots around, raises a hand to a point at Bach, and narrows her eyes to query. "You have something to do with this. That's not normal for any dragon I know of."

Bach awkwardly shrugs with his hands out to his sides. "Uh, yes. Turns out dragons learn the fire blast spells from their parents. Neither of Lagi's were alive, so I... Improvised?"

Kaleb laughs and places his blaster pistol back into the holster on Lagi. "It's strange, but Lagi only ever paid attention to Bach when it came to spell casting. So we figured, he might learn from him. Lagi knows a lot of different spells from Bach."

Sotalia's eyes open wide and she grins ear to ear as she flutters her eyes a Kaleb. "Well, I would LOVE to see them. Would it be too much to ask for Lagi and you to showcase a few of the more spectacular ones?"

Cideeda calls out with a toothy grin. "I'd like to see a few more! That was pretty amazing."

Dretphi excitedly nods with a large smile. Aristespha takes seat on the picnic table bench and amuses at Bach's uncomfortable expression to Sotalia's gaze. Kaleb nonchalantly turns to Lagi. "You up for a few more?"

Lagi nods his head with a wag of his long fanning tail. Kaleb walks away from Lagi, points to the boulder, and takes deep breath. "Okay, well, I'll do some of the routine. This next one is called Homing Laser. Available in single shot or flurry attack."

Peering above a small shrub, Deedri and Tassilda stare eyes wide open at the large, blue-black dragon sunning himself in the field. Tassilda leans her head next to Deedri and speaks out the side of her mouth. "What is a dragon doing here?!"

Deedri rises above the top of the shrub with her hands covering her mouth and shakes from her excitement. "I-I-I-i... I can't believe it! It's a really dragon!"

Tassilda warily eyes over to Deedri and returns her attentions forward to Lagi, the dragon. "How about we sneak back and call it day?"

Deedri bites her lip and grins. "I'm going to call it over here."

Tassilda snaps her head at Deedri and blinks a number of times. "You're what?"

Two hands reach out over the bush and gesture Lagi over. Deedri clicks with her mouth and directs her voice. "Hey! Over here!"

Another set of arms snatch the first set away. Tassilda puts her face in front of Deedri's. "WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING?"

Deedri pulls her arms back and perks a brow at Tassilda. "Calling him over. I want to see him up close."

Tassilda shudders her head and narrows her eyes. "Are you insane?! That's a dragon!"

Deedri slowly nods her head and takes a deep breath with a determined expression. "Tassilda. I know. My undergraduate thesis was titled The Engineered Genetics and Magical Alterations of the Modern Day Dragon. So, when presented with an extremely rare octopod, tame, and unusually large dragon... I'm going to get a good look at him."

Deedri's assertion surprises Tassilda and she leans away dismissively. "Okay. Go ahead. Go pet the dragon."

Deedri smiles, stands up, and walks out to Lagi. "Hey, big guy! What's your name?"

Tassilda pivots her head and watches with a wince that fades. She squints her eyes. Events astonish her, and she mumbles to herself. "She's... actually petting it. It's purring?"

She watches dumbstruck for a minute. Eventually, she stands up, brushes the dirt and leaves off her form fitting outfit, regains her air of confidence, and struts out. "Well, hello. What big tough dragon do we have here?"

Deedri holds a tight smile and eyes Tassilda. Tassilda catches the look and sighs as she scratches underneath Lagi's chin. "Well, I couldn't very well let you have all the fun."

Inside the living room, everyone gathers around the dining room table. On the table, an aetherphone screen shows an emin woman smiling warmly. She exhales in joyous relief as she wipes a tear off her white freckled cheek underneath her green on black eyes. "It's just so good to see you again, Bach. And to know you're not dead, Sesbastian. Kaleb and I were so worried, but didn't know how to contact you."

Sebastian grits to a smile. "Well, we haven't been very reachable, to be honest. My fault there."

Bach shrugs with a sigh. "And, I kind of dropped off the radar for bit. So, my fault there, too, Shadeesa."

Shadeesa guides her dark green hair over her light gray pointed ears and shakes her horned head. "Oh, it doesn't matter. We got each others contact information. I'll hopefully be there in person in the near future. Or you all are more than welcome to come visit our home. Whatever works."

Kaleb focuses on the phone and pulls his mouth to a corner. "Hmm. Hate to break up the party, but the day light hours are running thin. Hey, could you check the radar real quick for me, please?"

Shadeesa spins to a side with a small squeak of a rolling chair and leans out of view. "Yes, I will. And... Oh my. Good gods, really?! Again?!"

Kaleb leans in closer to the aetherphone with concern. "Did that damn weird zone kick something else out?!"

On the screen, a hand grabs around the lens, carries the other end, and clears out of the way to show a weather radar image with large, dangerous looking storm cells. Kaleb hems and rubs his chin in contemplation. "Well, damn, going right in my flight path back the house. That is pretty big. It looks slow moving, too. Okay, I need to lea-"

Shadeesa's voice sternly calls out through the speaker. "Stay for the night."

Kaleb lifts an eyebrow, stares a his phone, and begins to open his mouth. The image on the flips back to Shadeesa's face. Her stoic, stern, unamused glare slices through the screen at Kaleb's very being. Bach and Sebastian instinctively take a step away from Kaleb and wait. Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia exchange bemused glances off to the side. Aristespha curls a hidden smirk. Kaleb nods his head and smiles with a resigned breath. "You are right."

Sebastian takes a step back to Kaleb's side. "We won't put you out into the storm. You are welcome to our most comfortable couch."

Bach taps a fist into Kaleb's shoulder. "Plus, Lagi can curl up comfortably in the garage. I'll just need to move my bike."

Cideeda drops into a seat on the couch. "Hey, you can help us suffer through watching the tonight's episode of the Next Adventurers of Nexus."

Kaleb crosses his arms. "That works. We haven't caught the latest season yet. Is it interesting?"

Silence looms in the air before a consensus of nods follow. Kaleb warily picks up his phone from the dining table and walks over to the couch. "I think we might want to get caught up."

Shadeesa nods on the phone's screen. "Yes. I think we should."

-16-

Bach brushes his fingers through his long brown hair and tilts his head back into a yawn. He rubs the remaining traces of sleep from his blue eyes and pauses a moment as he spots a stray gray hair hanging prominently in front his eyes. He switches his focus between the gray hair and white hairs part of his normal streak. With a quick clamp of the fingers and pluck, he tosses the gray hair off to the side and returns his attention to his bowl of cereal on the dining table. "Damn, it's been FOREVER since I binged on Zone Runners."

Kaleb loses a fight against an infectious yawn and shakes his head afterwards. He scoops up a spoonful of cereal from his bowl and holds it midway up. "No shit. That was nice. Wish I could have stayed up longer."

Bach shrugs, chews a few times before swallowing, and nods his head back to the coffee table. "Well, that third run was too good to risk sleep deprivation on. I think it was better we saved it for later."

Kaleb nods in agreement and cracks a slight grin. "Well, it gives me a reason to stop on by again."

Sebastian floats in through the kitchen door and drifts out to near the dining table. He glances to Bach and Kaleb and then eyes behind at the kitchen door with an amused smirk. "Despite how big he's gotten, Lagi is still the spoiled little dragon we used to chase around the campus."

With a snort, Kaleb shakes his head of blonde hair and rests his spoon into his cereal bowl. "Well he's still just as thrilled about baths as he ever was, too. What is he getting into, anyway?"

Sebastian scratches his chin and briefly pivot towards the kitchen door before returning his focus to Bach and Kaleb. "Oh, he's doing a bunch of tricks for pieces of jerky."

Kaleb rolls his eyes and sighs with a partial smile on a side of his face. "Can't believe he's even thinking about treats after all he drank yesterday."

Bach perks an eye brow and stares at Kaleb. "What DID he drink? In fact, what ARE you feeding him these days?"

A chuckle erupts from Kaleb as he eyes Bach with a sinister grin. "Used cooking oil. Leftovers. Whatever plants that aren't part of the landscaping. Small children that get lost in the woods. But, mostly used cooking oil when doing long flights."

Bach blinks a moment, drifts into a long thought, but eventually nods in a strange acceptance. "You know. I'm really not that surprised. After a few of the things I've seen him eat... or at least attempt to."

Sebastian crosses his arms and widens his eyes as another memory arrives at the front of his mind. "Especially after the synth diesel incident... That residential director was PISSED."

Kaleb rests back into his chair with a smile. "Well, his stomach hasn't gotten any less indestructible and destructive. Shadeesa keeps track of his nutrition for anything he needs. But after all my research, those Pre-Cataclysm scientists covered all the bases for all the biological basics when it comes to Lagi's ancestors. He just needs a food source dense in energy and his metabolism will do the rest. Just mapping out the digestive processes going on will probably get me enough material for my doctorate."

Bach sweeps the bottom of the bowl with his spoon for the remaining milk and cereal, and looks to Kaleb. "Does he still eat rocks?"

A low grumble sounds out from Kaleb and lifts his hands up into the air. "Occasionally. I kind of wish he would stick with that instead of what he's been doing lately."

Bach places the spoon into his bowl with a slight clink and focuses on Kaleb. "Shrubs?"

Kaleb groans and throws his head back. He sways his head shoulder to shoulder with annoyance and drops his into a hanging nod. "YES. Gods... Shadeesa was out picking some wild berries with Lagi following her around. She fed him a few and went inside. Well, let's just say the next morning there were A LOT of uprooted half-eaten bushes and shrubs in the area."

He props his arms upon the tabletop and rests his head between his hands with an unamused expression. "He's on this one dragon quest to find other tasty shrubs, bushes, and hedges. Thankfully, most places I stop at are willing to overlook their landscaping getting eaten and are quite happy with the free disposal of cooking oil and customers a dragon attracts."

The kitchen door opens up to reveal Sotalia and she steps forward to the refrigerator. Wearing confusion fighting contemplation upon her face, she opens the fridge open, retrieves a plastic bottle of a fruit flavored shake, and strides over to the dining table. With a firm grasp, she pulls back the chair, sits down, quaffs some of the fruit shake, and eyes Bach, Kaleb, and Sebastian. "Okay. That dragon outside is unlike any I've ever read about or seen. Let's start with the basics. How the hell did a biology student get a dragon?!"

Kaleb blinks and bites the lip around the corner his mouth. He takes a long breath in. "Well. Here's the quick version. I needed to take an elective at the last minute to keep my scholarships. There was this selected topics course in dragon biology. Turns out it was mostly military guys taking the course for credit, so they meet requirements to ride dragons. I was really the only one interested in the details of the biology, and the professor and I got to know each other. Due to the death of mother dragon, there was a clutch of eggs and I got one. Bach, Sebastian, Shadeesa, and I hatched it and raised Lagi during his early years. Now, he's a big dragon and I'm furthering a whole new field of study."

Sotalia pauses in thought, narrows her eyes, and points at Kaleb. "Okay. First question of many. Who the fuck was your professor that even had ACCESS to dragon egg that could spawn a beast like Lagi and even give it to you?!"

Another long breath pulls into Kaleb's lungs and he grits his teeth into a wary smile anticipating Sotalia's reaction. "Well, a Commander Blaureiter."

A distant gaze takes hold of Sotalia face as her recognition of the name solidifies in her mind. She pulls her head back slightly, refocuses upon Kaleb, and her eyes widen. "Wait... The? Commander Blaureiter?!"

Bach nods slightly and looks around to everyone else before settling on Sotalia. "I guess. He didn't care to be called commander most of the time. He really liked professor more."

Sotalia slowly and firmly rubs the temples of her head before sliding her hands through her dark red hair into a grab on each of her black horns. "Are you- Really?! You guys know Commander Blaureiter?!"

Her vision locks onto the floating ethereal visage of Sebastian and she snaps her face to a glare right at him. "Why the FUCK didn't you EVER tell me this?!"

Sebastian darts his eyes to either side of him, drifts back at bit, and throws his arms up in the air. "It never came up! I didn't know you were a fan of his! We just treated him like a good friend most of the time and really awesome guy for teaching us how to take of care Lagi."

Kaleb glances at Bach, who returns the glance, and both share a bit of wary trepidation. Kaleb sighs and works his mouth to a firm smile. "I got to know Blaureiter. He was very interested in having an honest student for once and I learned a lot about the Pre-Cataclysm, First Period, and Second Period histories when it came to dragon biology. I even got to meet... Blaureiter's dragon..."

Sotalia's jaw slowly drops and shock claims her face as all the other possible expressions are too dumbfounded to act. With a quick head shake she regains her senses and gazes at Kaleb with a genuine interest. "By the gods... You met the Night Terror."

Kaleb nods, exhales as memories arise in his mind, and squirms a bit in his seat. "Yes. That was quite a harrowing experience. Just the stare she gave me the whole time. But, as Blaureiter said, she was just being defensive of her eggs."

With a flit of her golden eyes, Sotalia straightens herself in the seat and floats her hand to point towards the kitchen door. "Wait... No..."

She bounces her gaze to the door and gathering of Bach, Kaleb, and Sebastian a number of times. "That goofy, playful, child-like dragon, through that very door and just outside the garage, is the son of THE Night Terror?!"

Bach, Kaleb, and Sebastian exchange glances, eventually direct their attentions to Sotalia, and nod in unison. Sotalia sinks back into her chair and drifts her gaze around. "The Night Terror. A winged weapon of mass destruction. A creature that once broke out of her military containment to destroy a twenty kilometer stretch of anti-air batteries, because she felt insulted that one took a shot at her."

She covers her mouth in thought, pulls her grasp down to her chin, and eyes Kaleb. "I just can't believe it. The terror that took both the arms of Commander Blaureiter and could breathe fire so hot it melted stone... But, wait!"

She pivots in the chair and leans towards Kaleb, narrowing her eyes. "I remember reading about The Night Terror's death! A positive lightning strike in a maelstrom? They said all four of her eggs were donated to different nations' research facilities as part of an old peace treaty."

With a nod, Kaleb agrees with Sotalia and stares at her. "She broke out of containment in a strange fit and she wanted to get out for some reason. And when flying around, she got hit with positively charged, magic empowered lightning strike."

He pushes back into his chair with a serious expression. "She was dead and her first clutch was in trouble. They couldn't find another dragon to tend her nest. Most fled in sheer terror when they caught scent of it."

Sotalia rests her elbow on the table top, props her head up with the back of her hand, and ponders in thought. "But, most attempts to hatch an egg without a parent usually results in a pseudo-dragon or whelp."

Kaleb twists his mouth and grumbles. "Yes. But, I had a theory. Many younger breeds of dragon have various genetic and magical protections to prevent stolen eggs from becoming viable weapons. A few protections even manipulated genetics, so you couldn't really copy anything useful. It was very common in the second Post-Cataclysm period."

He places both elbows on the table, intertwines his fingers, and rests his chin on his hands. "For what she was she HAD to be descended from a much older, untouched bloodline. And, I bet the mate she found during her two week absence from a previous escape was from an equally old bloodline."

He lifts his head up, separates his hands, and grins deviously. "So, before the authorities came to take count and claim the eggs, I asked Blaureiter for the fifth one."

A few stray red hairs fall down off Sotalia's horn as she tilts her head to the side. She quickly sweeps them back over the horn and raises a very curious eyebrow. "Fifth? But, all the news outlets and government reports said there were four."

Kaleb slowly nods with a proud grin. "I know. And, I had the fifth one. So, there was only four left."

He takes a long breath in with a smile and explains. "I theorized there was a good chance those eggs didn't have all the biological protections and could be hatched into proper dragons without a parent. So, I explained my theory to Blaureiter and he agreed. When the officials came, they took the decorated war hero's word, since he was also the only person who could have ever gotten close enough to count the eggs. They continued to believe him well after they never found him caring for an egg or running around with a dragon hatchling. After a year, they never really checked further. And since each nation part of the peace treaty got one egg, no one really cared."

Bach chuckles with a smirk and tilts his head back. "Those were some crazy months. Still remember keeping that big egg between Sebastian and me on the couch when we played video games."

Sebastian crosses his arms with a smile and floats down to a seat upon a chair. "That freak winter storm, too. Heaters couldn't keep up and we nearly destroyed the clothes dryer warming blankets to cover someone while they held the egg."

Sotalia blinks and covers her agape mouth. A wicked grin settles down onto her lips. "If the results weren't outside in the front yard, I would never believe this. Your theory was correct, he hatched to proper dragon."

Kaleb snorts and draws a long breath with a tight smile. "Well, turns out hatching was only the first part... The easy part. The stories to be told and the many to never be told."

Bach coughs, leans next to Kaleb, and speaks out the side of his mouth. "By the way, did that sorority ever stop hating us for when Lagi chewed up all their laundry?"

Scratching the stubble on his cheek, Kaleb laughs with a roll of the eyes. "Yes. Eventually. When Lagi got big enough to walk people around on his back, I helped with a few fund raisers. Plus, they thought he was pretty charming when he wasn't trying to eat elastic out of their underwear."

Sebastian draws a wicked grin and sighs in pleasant remembrance. "I'd had almost forgotten how much attention I got when taking little Lagi out for walks. So easy."

Bach eyes Sebastian across the table. "And so many numbers?"

Sebastian shrugs with an upward, guilty glance. "Well... You know. When they come to you."

Aristespha squints her eyes into the distance over the tree tops of the forest next to the field. "I think I see them. It looks like they're coming this way."

She lifts up her arm and points out a huge creature flapping his large wings. Lagi speeds over the green canopy, the sounds of the forest intermittent through the rustles of leaves. He clears the forest into the open field near the house and aims himself to an area next to the picnic table. Bach, Aristespha, Sotalia, and Sebastian wave to the passengers riding the dragon. Lagi opens his wings out wide just short of the landing zone and air brakes to a gentle drop upon the ground, his claws grasping the grass as they make contact below. Kaleb pats Lagi on the side. "Alright. You've terrorized them enough, left them off."

Lagi crouches down onto the ground. Cideeda quickly dismounts from behind Kaleb with a graceful landing and springs up with exuberant excitement with her hands up in the air above her head. "That was AMAZING! I can't believe you do that for a living!"

Kaleb turns his head back towards Dretphi with a concerned smile. "You need any help? Lagi can squeeze down a bit more if you need it."

White knuckled hands release from handles on the large harness rig on Lagi's back and Dretphi slowly and purposefully draws in wary breaths of air with careful exhales. She guides her blonde braids roughly back with a free hand and blinks her wide gray eyes. Her calm, stoic demeanor reassembles itself bit by bit and she eventually shakes her head. "No. I will be fine. I can step down. Thank you for your concern."

She finally relaxes the muscles in her legs, lifts one over with a pivot in the saddle, and slides cautiously down to the ground. Steps stagger as she directs her body towards the picnic table bench. Sotalia walks to her side, pats her back, and holds her hand. Sotalia's amusement breaches into her smile, fighting to be a grin. "You screamed A LOT."

Dretphi nods slowly and gently places herself onto the bench with Sotalia's guidance. Kaleb hops down onto the grass and pats Lagi again. "You okay, Dretphi? I'm sorry, he's a bit of a show off with new people."

Dretphi rests her hand on her chest and takes another long slow breath. She cracks a grin and turns her head to Kaleb. "I am okay. Despite my outbursts. I had an absolutely exhilarating time."

Kaleb laughs, puts his hands on his hips, and gives Dretphi quick wink with a sly smile. "Well? Want to go again?"

Lagi cranes his head around Kaleb and gazes at Dretphi as toothy smile draws itself upon the open mouth of the dragon. Slow, careful airflow halts midway before it resumes and Dretphi's grin shrinks to a nervous smile as her eyes flit wide open. "Another time. Eventually."

Cideeda dons a toothy grin and struts around with a flex in each step. "How much do you usually charge for that long of flight?"

A loud snort comes from Kaleb and he chuckles out loud. "Multiple thirty minute rides?! I should show the price list Shadeesa wrote up. You should see the ten minute cost alone."

Kaleb feels his shirt pocket, flips the flap, and retrieves his aetherphone. "Speaking of... Her ears must have been burning."

With a tap on a screen button, Shadeesa's bright green on black eyes, white freckles on her gray face, and upward swept horns appear on the screen. "Hey! Good. I caught you before you left. It looks clear today, by the way. I also looked up on the guild system and found an aerial survey job on your way back."

With a quick nod, Kaleb rotates the phone screen out to everyone else. "Sounds good. Just got done doing a few flights with everybody, so Lagi is ready to go."

Shadeesa waves with a glowing smile to everyone through the screen. "Hey everybody! I'm glad you got a chance to fly. Unfortunately, I need them back now. You know how it is."

Aristepsha perks an eyebrow, lifts a tablet off the picnic table, and steps over next to Kaleb. "So you two are in the guild system? Would you mind sending me your ID number? I'll send you ours."

With few taps on another device off screen, Shadeesa returns forward to the camera and Aristespha's tablet chimes. "I completely forgot! If we see any work near us, we'll definitely let you know."

Bach crosses his arms and eyes Kaleb with a quizzical expression. "So, what types of missions do you take from the guild?"

Kaleb's eyes search his mind and he twists his mouth in though. "Ah... Well... Mostly surveying, aerial photography, and exploration near weird zones. Nothing too crazy. Just flying around. Occasionally, we get search and rescue. The nice thing is that Lagi can go where a lot of planes, helicopters, and drones have problems without any trouble."

He scratches underneath Lagi's chin. Lagi purrs lowly, closes his eyes, and angles his head to guide Kaleb's hand to the right spot. Kaleb shakes his head with a smile and gazes back over to the rest of the group. "That's the nice thing about creature that can manipulate magical flow and put up defensive barriers. So, those contracts pay pretty good. There's even a good market for delivery to remote locations. I once delivered food to a science team researching some hard to reach mountains."

With a final pat on Lagi's head, Kaleb rolls his shoulders in a stretch, and straightens up his posture. "So, we are totally exploiting the big goofball."

Lagi's attention shifts to a number of small bushes nearby. A long sigh comes from the aetherphone speaker and Shadeesa lowers her head with a bit of embarrassment. "Showing Lagi off pays the bills really well. Hopefully, in the future, I'll get my veterinary practice set up, and we'll live off that. And let Lagi, just be Lagi."

She rolls her eyes with a shrug and tight smile. "But, I can't ignore how much people are willing to pay to be near a dragon that won't attempt to eat them at first sight and who knows a bunch of cute tricks. Anyway, Lagi doesn't seem to mind it at all. Oh! That reminds me! Kaleb?"

Kaleb pivots the phone to his face with a curious look. "Yes?"

Shadeesa's voice cheers up and shes clasps her hands in front her. "The convention we're scheduled for? I checked the location again, and it's nearby Amaranth valley! We'll be in the area this coming weekend!"

Everyone exchanges cheerful looks and interest grows. Bach smiles and eyes Kaleb. "Well, I guess we'll have to go now. We'll HAVE to see your act."

A groan of comedic dread emanates from Kaleb as he looks up to the skies and lets his arms droop down. "Oh gods. Be warned, I'll be wearing an old knight's costume."

His glare locates Bach and Sebastian, and alternatives his focus between them. "If you can keep the peanut gallery commentary to a minimum, I would REALLY appreciate it."

Shadeesa voice calls out from the phone with playful defensiveness. "Hey! I think you look good wearing shining armor. And, I really love my princess dress. Unfortunately, it'll probably be the last time, for a while, I'll be able to fit in it. So, I want to enjoy it while I can."

Sebastian lets out an ethereal snort and gazes at with genuinely happy smile. "Well, we'll definitely try to make it out. With a dragon there, I might actually stand out the least for once."

Kaleb glances over at the phone screen and holds it out one last time. "Okay. I'd better get up in the air. Say bye, Shadeesa."

On the screen Shadeesa waves through the screen. Kaleb aims the screen at his face and grows a loving smile as he watches the screen. "See you in a few. Love you."

A softer tone of Shadeesa's comes through the phone speaker. "Love you, too."

Before the connection closes, Shadeesa quickly drops in one last remark. "Oh! Don't forget the stop by somewhere and get some milk! Breakfast was really rough this morning."

Kaleb give a simple, confirming nod with a wink, and presses the close button on the screen. He walks up the group, shakes hands, and exchanges goodbyes. A loud crunch and a series of snaps gets everyone's attention. Lagi swings his head back and lifts it up, with a number of small branches and leaves filling his mouth. Kaleb grumbles and musters his parental prowess. "Lagi! Spit it out now!"

In the front yard of a two-story house, camera crews move about and keep their attentions upon Chad, Tassilda, Deedri, Trakenthin, and Modoran. Chad carefully combs his coiffed light brown hair, adjusts his collared, down-down shirt, and brushes off his designer blue jeans. As the camera man levels the tilt of the camera and pans the aim over, Chad almost instinctively assumes a heroic pose and makes sure his well defined, tanned physique hints through his clothes. A boom mic finds its way in the air space above Chad. Samantha emerges from the mass of crew, inspects the scene, checks her clipboard, and points to Chad. "In three. Two. One."

With a final wag of the finger, Samantha signals Chad and he directs his gaze right at the camera. He takes in a long breath, places his hands on his sides, and puffs his chest out. "I have been thinking greatly about how to improve our group. I, along with my party, have the talent. We have the burning desire for adventure that only the Flames of the Phoenix can show to the world. But, I thought... We are still lacking something."

Chad casually, but purposefully, struts over towards a shiny, new, and black sport utility vehicle. He pivots slowly, rests his hand upon the front fender, and straighten his posture. Brown eyes lead the rest of his face to the camera and present a wink with a gleaming, white smile. A near seductive undertone hints within Chad's voice. "And, I figured it out. What better thing for a promising adventuring party to have than a means of transportation befitting them. When the quests come in, we need the ability to venture out to them... In style."

Behind the camera crew facing Chad, another team maintains a watchful focus upon the other Flames of the Phoenix members standing underneath the front porch overhang. Modoran rests his back against the front door frame with his arms crossed and rolls his dark blue eyes away from Chad's monologue. He lightly taps the back of his short, white haired head against the door frame in a futile attempt to distract himself, feigns an arm stretch to cover his long, dusky bluish gray ears, and mumbles to himself. "We get it, Chad. It's a fucking nice car. Can you stop the info dump and take us somewhere in it?"

A furry, tuft tipped ear perks away from Modoran and Deedri glances over with her auburn eyes, as a long braid of red, white, blonde, and tan hair slides from her shoulder. The medium length fur on her long, tapered tail brushes against the other side of the door frame underneath her skirt. She holds her claw-tipped hands together in front of her on her blouse, breaths in long, and releases a hopeful sigh. "Well, I'm just happy we'll have a working air conditioner. Those vans were pretty dreadful."

Tassilda tosses back her raven black hair around her swirling backward pointing horns, narrows her blue on black eyes at Chad, and raises a brow. She places her thick, black nailed hands on her hips and shifts her shapely figure into a more revealing posture. With a quick pass, she adjusts the waistband of her tight fitting yoga pants and arches her back just enough to reveal more gray, patterned skin through her equally conforming top. She cocks her head to the side with a slight sneer, as her small pointy ears break through her hair. "So, I have to ask. Is there a Grath word for... this... display?"

Dark bronze arms flex their muscles while Trakenthin keeps his arms crossed. His hazel eyes leads the rest of his face to look down at Tassilda, the sunlight reflecting off and through his short styled, dirty blonde hair. He quirks a brow and slowly returns his gaze ahead. Muscles idly flex upon his large, very muscular frame through his gym shorts and tank top, many small scars apparent upon his arms and legs. With a grunt and tug of the corner of his mouth, he directs his voice to Tassilda. "Yes. It translates. Large surrogate manhood."

Tassilda cracks a sly smile and crosses her arms with a lift underneath her ample cleavage. "You will HAVE to teach it to me. Chad doesn't know Grath."

Samantha calls out to the camera crews and members standing on the porch. "That's good. I want some promo photos of the SUV right now. Alpha Crew, I need you to setup inside around the table for mission planning."

Modoran slowly rises his face towards the heavens and closes his eyes in grim anticipation with a groan. "Gods, what I wouldn't give for something to come up to put that off. My aetherphone is still charging."

Deedri's ear flicks and she blinks. She takes a step forward and squints up to the skies with hand shielding the sun from her eyes, as her ears scan above. A loud, low shriek cries out distantly from above. Gerald immediately freezes and then hoists his camera up to the sky, frantically making adjustments as he searches the sky. Another similar shriek starts but abruptly halts with sickening hacks and retches. Deedri's curious puzzlement tinges with disgust and she places her hand over her mouth. Faint, low powerful sounding thumps of air resonate from above in a strange pattern. The distant hacks and retches continue with wet gurgling and loaded coughs punctuating the moments between. The noise visibly upsets the crew and hampers their desire to find the source. Tassilda pulls a frown heavy by the corners of her mouth, places a hand firm upon her chest, and exhales fighting nausea. "Oh. My. Gods. What is that?! It almost sounds like when one of my mother's cats hacks up a hairball."

Trakenthin curls a lip in a snarl and grits into a frown as he scans are the area. "It reminds me. When my dogs would vomit a bone."

With a sudden final, muted retch, the sickening noises stop and the thumps of air fade away. Modoran's eyes dart around and he puzzles the situation even more. "Well, it's stopped. But, I don't know if that's a good thing."

Deedri's ears lock onto a strange new source of sound and mumbles to herself with odd bewilderment. "A whistling... Getting louder?!"

An explosive, wet splat echoes out, as a spray of viscous, gel erupts outwards from the hood of the shiny, new, black sports utility vehicle. Bits of glossy matter plaster the hood and windshield of the vehicle along with many people nearby. Crew members examine themselves to see what now resides upon their bodies. Samantha lowers the clipboard from her face and inspects herself to find nothing. She glances at Chad in front of her. He glares distantly, an absolutely unamused expression in full control of his face. With a gradual pivot, he beholds the minor disaster behind him. A gelatinous mess of mucus, chewed up leaves, and small gnawed branches coats the front of the sports utility vehicle. The now not-so-new, questionably shiny, green on black sports utility vehicle. A similar pattern stains the back of Chad.

Deedri blinks in sheer astonishment as she keeps her mouth covered by both her hands. Modoran hangs his jaw open absolutely speechless and only manages a wide-eyed stare at the scene. Tassilda lifts one arm up, places the hand in front of her mouth, and gazes in wonderment, her eyes scanning the devastation. Trakenthin tilts his head to the side, then sways it to the other side. A grin rips across his mouth and he erupts into a booming guffaw. Chad's back straightens and he spins in place with a hand pointing quickly to Trakenthin. "Shut the fuck up, Trakenthin! I REALLY don't need your shit right now!"

Camera crews quickly clean their lenses, find their new marks, and ready themselves. Trakenthin continues his laughter and only pauses to call out to Chad. "Correct! You have plenty now!"

A low growl crawls out from Chad's mouth and ceases as a devious grin overtakes his face. "Well. Since YOU are so amused by this, MAYBE, as party leader, I should task with you cleaning it up! We'll see how amused you are afterwards. I did pay for this for the group, and you've been slacking on your chores!"

Trakenthin crosses his arms tightly, puffs out his chest, and dons a defiant sneer. "I will NOT clean."

Chad puffs out his chest in response, narrows his eyes at Trakenthin, and tilts his head back. "That's probably for the best. Given how much you stink most the time, I think it'd be worse off."

Tassilda fails to contain herself and a titter escapes her lips. Chad snaps his head in her direction and puts forth a mean grin with a condescending tone. "Well, Tassilda... You have any ‘useful' tricks for this or are you just going to stand there and let everyone else do the work?"

Tassilda places her hands firmly on her hips, levels a death glare at Chad, and growls out to him. "I'm sorry! Maybe if our glorious leader could pick missions better, we wouldn't be in situations facing creatures without minds to charm! You have an Enchantress! Not a-"

Chad interrupts quickly and dismisses the rest of what Tassilda plans on saying. "Useful mage? I'm fully aware of that, along with everyone else!"

Tassilda marches out to Chad, swearing in her native tongue. Trakenthin follows her after another quip offends his ego. The three engage in a three way stand off argument. The camera crews morph around and hunt for ideal angles and perfect positions. Deedri draws a long breath in and exhales as she lowers her head with a sad frown. Modoran glances at Deedri, pulls the corner of his mouth in thought, and eyes the front door. He grabs hold of the door knob, opens the front door, and directs his voice. "Hey! They're fighting again! Might want to get out here."

Seconds later, a number of crew members rush out with equipment hastily in tow. Modoran gives them a quick nods and waves as they pass through. When the last one clears the doorway, he gazes at Deedri and puts on a nice smile. "Hey? Deedri? You want to get a look at missions before everyone else?"

Deedri startles back to attention and pivots to face Modoran. She glances behind her at the fight, just in time to see Chad scoop up a congealed blob of goop from his back and focus upon Tassilda. Deedri returns her head to face Modoran, gives simple nod, and musters up a happy smile. "Yes. I don't feel like watching another fight, right now."

Modoran smiles slightly, bows, and gestures with a wave towards the door. Deedri walks forward through the doorway, and Modoran follow behind her. He steps to her side and glances over with a bit of curiosity in his expression. "I have to ask. Do you KNOW what that was?"

Deedri halts in place and nervously darts her eyes around the room. "I, uh... I... Um..."

A light chuckle comes from Modoran and he holds a hand up. "Later, where the cameras aren't?"

Deedri smiles and quickly nods. "Yes."

Modoran nods in return and scans the large dining table with various papers and documents across it. "Understood. Let's what they got in store for us."

Outside a loud shriek of disgust blasts from Tassilda. "AHHH!! You fucking asshole! It when down my top! EEWWW!!"

Bach squints at his aetherphone and reads a message out to himself. "Next week's episode will be interesting... Looks like THEY got some new wheels to drive around in."

He shrugs and puts his aetherphone back in his pocket. Sebastian glances curiously at Bach. "What was that again?"

Bach gestures with a wave in the air in front of him. "Ah, it was Kaleb. Looks like the adventurers next door got a new car. He must have seen it on his way out."

Sebastian nods and briefly eyes out the sliding glass door of the living room. "Well, good for them. Hopefully, it'll take them on some missions far from us for a while."

The television flickers on and Bach rests the remote on the couch. "Well, they haven't bothered us yet. Maybe if we ignore them, they'll leave us alone?"

A low ethereal, echoing grumble sounds out from Sebastian's visage. "I don't know. They might be fine with doing their own thing, but I get the feeling the people behind the show aren't going to leave it alone."

Bach throws his hands up in the air and shrugs. "Oh well. At this point, after dealing with cyber-zombies, a spirit commanding teenager, and a super battle bot... I doubt they'll be much trouble in comparison."

Sebastian crosses his arms, lets his eyes trace his thoughts in his mind, and pulls a corner smile. "Ah, your right, bro. And, if they get too annoying, we'll figure something out."

Bach flips through the wasteland of channels upon the television and leans his head towards the dining table. "So, what's the agenda this week?"

Aristepsha lifts her head up from the arrangement of papers upon the dining table and leans backs into her chair. "Well, first thing Monday, I think we should schedule a meeting with Captain Hackle and see what he would like to discuss with us."

A wave of unease flows through Bach and he twitches a sneer through a slight frown. "Okay. Just make sure it's somewhere public? I don't know. I guess I've just read too many rumors about how some nations have handled some adventuring groups in the past."

Aristespha turns in her chair and gazes a Bach with an amused grin. "Don't worry. We'll disavow any evidence of your handiwork if they pry too much. Anyway, I think Captain Hackle just wants to have a nice chat and know who is in the group. Even the military has a hard time getting information from the guild."

Sebastian eyes Bach with a smile. "I wouldn't worry about it too much, bro. Usually, they just want to know who is in their territory and chat. And they might have some useful information about Noxian. It wouldn't be first time some official has passed along intel unofficially to us to help us out. They don't care much for what Noxian has done either. A lot of containment and cleanup most don't want to have to do."

The sound glass vials rattling around rings out from the kitchen. Moments later, Sotalia walks into the living room carrying a handful of small vials. She quirks a brow at Bach, with a sly grin. "Don't worry. You're only an intern, they won't expect anything of you. Knowing how some military groups are, they probably won't even want to talk to you."

She hands a small vial to Aristespha, moves next to Bach, and holds one out to him. Bach carefully pinches the sides the glass container and examines it closely. "Fair enough. If nothing else, they'll probably blame all the crazy stuff on you."

He squints closely at the red fluid inside the small vial and shifts his stare to Sotalia. She hoists up a similar vial, shakes a few times to the attention of Bach, and uncorks it with an eye roll. "I'll try it out first. I'm sure this batch will taste right this time. I made sure to recopy my notes with functional pens this time."

She places the mouth of the vial to her lips, tips her head back, and displays the empty vial with a gaze to Bach. Aristespha levels an examining eye to Bach and waits with her vial at the ready. Bach inspects Sotalia's expression for a number of seconds before he opens his vial and drinks the solution. His eyes wander around his head as he gauges the response from his taste buds and eventually gives a satisfied nod. Aristespha tilts the vial back into her mouth and comes to a delightfully similar conclusion. Sotalia grins proudly and confidently strides back to her alchemy setup in the kitchen. "See! I know what I'm doing. I'll get the rest of the batch portioned out and bottled."

She walks through the doorway and almost immediately spins back around with a hand pointed generally towards everyone else. "Oh! If Bach keeps on doing any more crazy magical stuff, we might want to get him reclassed as something other than an intern."

She flashes a devious grin to Bach and winks. "As much as I'd love to make claims to some of your more interesting feats, there's some credit I think you solely deserve."

Bach narrows his eyes and twists his mouth with a series of various uncertain expressions. "Why do I not feel exactly good about that?"

Sotalia shrugs with a flippant smile and slides the rest of the way through the doorway. Sebastian gazes over Aristespha shoulder and scans through the listing of aethermail messages. "Any word from Nash?"

Aristespha sighs and cracks a half smile. "He's still working on it. He sent an aethermail about what he's done so far. They've found a system that should run the software, but now they are trying to get it either running on the actual hardware or figure out how to emulate it."

She taps a title line in a list and the full body of the message open up to fill the entire screen of the tablet. Sebastian's eyes traces the words on the screen and snorts in a laugh. "Damn, he's got a way to describe his day. Whipping graduate assistants into shape and press-ganging student workers. Testing the limits of tenure? Look at this line... I found some old network cable, so I should have a new whip ready tomorrow. If the free coffee and donuts doesn't get them motivated, this will?! He must be hilarious to work with."

Aristespha's neutral expression pours into the tablet and her eyes follow the same lines slowly over and over again. Sebastian notices the strange gaze. "Um? You okay? Dear?"

Aristespha blinks and turns a loving smile to Sebastian. "Yes, I am, Sebastian. I'm trying to figure out which bits are facetious and which are actual. He purposely mixes them up to keep the administration guessing. So far, I think the network cable whip is real."

Sebastian blinks and snaps his eyes towards the screen. Aristespha continues to smile and she points out a line. "Don't worry, the coffee and donuts are too. He usually gets a few boxes of the really nice selection of specialty shop ones. He actually treats the students a lot nicer than most of the faculty."

Bach contorts his face and glances at Aristespha. "There's something worst than the possibility of being whipped with a networking cable?"

Aristespha slowly turns with a dark grin and shadowy eyes towards Bach. "Oh. Yes. Someone has to be the target of an induce vomiting spell when you are learning to cast it."

Sotalia groans from the from the kitchen with heavy disgust in her tone. "Ewww..."

-17-

Dretphi reaches over, grasps onto the barrels of the minigun, and slowly torques the assembly. Cideeda holds a flashlight at an exposed section of the machine and concentrates on the function of the mechanisms inside. Seconds later, a cracking grin works onto her face and she nods with confidence. "Yes. I think we can do something with this."

Dretphi stops rotating the barrels and glances towards Cideeda, running her hand over the weapon. "Can it be adapted to our use?"

Cideeda dons a full, toothy grin and pats the minigun. "I think so. They removed the delinker and added a return path for the spent casings. Finding an ammo belt with take some time, but it seems to take the older rifle rounds."

A sly smile creeps onto Dretphi's face as she carefully examines the device upon the pads on the dining table. Cideeda briefly grits her teeth, sighs, and examines a note covered pad of paper. "But, then there's rigging up an ammo backpack, reducing the weight, designing handles and safety features, and..."

Each of Cideeda's bullet points chips away at Dretphi's smile and reality looms over the project. Dretphi sighs and eyes over the minigun as she rests back into her chair. Cideeda continues with a wink to Dretphi. "We'll have to figure out a rate of fire you can handle."

The sly smile returns to Dretphi's mouth and she nods with gaze at Cideeda. "That step will be fun."

Cideeda chuckles and flips back the pages folded over on the notepad. "Yes it will. We'll probably have to get Bach to help brace the thing for the test firing."

Bach walks through the hallway archway and looks over to the dining table. "Why is my name being mentioned this early on a Sunday?"

He stops as he recognizes the minigun on the table and quickly traces the path of the barrels. Noticing the firing line, he takes a swift step back. Cideeda laughs and shakes her head. "Don't worry. The firing pins are in a bag and I've put safety plugs in the chambers. Plus after what you did to it, anyone will have a hard time doing anything accidental with it."

Dretphi grips onto the barrels and manages a slow spin. Muscles in her arm flex into definition with each partial turn of the device. "Significant amount of force required. Repairable."

Bach scratches his head of brown hair with a nod. His gaze drifts over to the nearby wall and he points a thumb over to the large plasma projectile cannon. "Any big plans for that thing?"

Cideeda turns in her chair, crosses her arms upon the top of the back, and rests her head down with disappointment pulling at her mouth. "Unless I somehow get a working micro-fusion power pack, probably nothing anytime soon."

Her ears droop down and she releases a long sigh. "Anyway, if I somehow got my hands on a micro-fusion power pack, there's a number of other things I'd use it for first. But, I can't bring myself to just pawn that cannon off."

Eyes wander toward Bach and he darts his head between the curious and expectant gazes of Cideeda and Dretphi. Cideeda props her arm up and rests her head on top with a toothy grin. "Do you have any plans for it? Could you have any plans for it?"

Bach eyes the cannon and returns a wary expression to Cideeda and Dretphi. "Uh... I won't say no. But, I'll be honest, I'm not quite there with my abilities, yet? And, I'm not really that keen on giving that thing life so soon after it almost annihilated me. Just saying."

Dretphi's eyes search her mind before she grants Bach an accepting nod. "Understandable. In the future. We will ask again."

Cideeda settles back in her chair and cleans up the area. She turns her head slightly towards Bach with a devilish grin and a wink. "Just make sure you have a few plans when we ask."

Bach lowers his eyelids and grumbles. "No pressure, I'm sure."

Cideeda playfully puts her hands up in the air, shrugs, and clears the space beneath the minigun as Dretphi lifts the weapon off the table onto the floor. The sliding glass door opens up. Sotalia leans into view midway of the door's height from a patio chair and scans the room. Her eyes lock onto Bach and a smile pulls onto her face. She shuffles the rest of her body around in the chair, raises an arm in front her face, and gestures a curling finger at Bach. "Bach, could you come out here? Aristespha and I were having an interesting discussion and since you're awake..."

Bach groans as he cautiously pivots to meet Sotalia's all-too-happy face. He lifts an eyebrow and points over his shoulder towards the refrigerator. "Before I play guinea pig, I'm getting a breakfast shake."

Dretphi eyes over to Cideeda. Dretphi motions her head slightly towards the sliding glass door. Cideeda nods and leans closer to Dretphi over the table to whisper. "This could be fun to watch."

Bach empties the last bit of the breakfast shake from the plastic container and rests it on the patio table. He rubs his eyes with both hands and drags them down underneath his jaw to scratch his shadow of a beard. "Okay. What experiment am I going to be a part of today?"

Aristespha settles into her patio chair, sips from a mug, and sighs with a roll of her eyes. "No experiments. Just questions."

A low grumble sounds out from Bach as he glances over to Aristespha. "That's how it starts."

Sotalia crosses her arms and postures confidently. "Can you do a flight spell right now?"

After few tugs at the corners of his mouth, Bach takes a deep breath in and shrugs with a long exhale. "No, haven't managed that."

Sotalia blinks to a blank face and her jaw drifts open while her mind reprocesses a theory. "You don't have a flight spell?"

Her eyes search her mind. She briefly bites her lip and eventually draws a scheming grin across her face. Aristespha smiles and holds her mug with both hands near her face as few strands of silvery blue hair blow free. "If I may guess, sustained generation of force to counter gravity, pushing against wind resistance, and creating acceleration is a bit much right now?"

Bach nods in agreement, scratches the back of his neck, and aims his sight upwards. "Yes. I haven't figured out the optimal means of doing all that. And well..."

He turns to face the group of Aristespha, Sotalia, Dretphi, Cideeda, and Sebastian. "It's also REALLY dangerous to experiment with flight without safety equipment, an open area, and someone to spot you. There's a good reason those normal flight spells take so much. A LOT of safety features woven in there."

Sotalia pulls a hand free from her arms and points quizzically at Bach with an honest question on her face. "Then how did you clear that courtyard so quickly when running from the security bot?"

Dretphi pivots in place gradually and perks a brow at Bach. "You outran me when we pursued you."

Cideeda places her hands on her hips and gazes with a playful sneer. "And, you dodged that net shell from my shotgun. That was an expensive shell you completely avoided... magically."

Bach closes his eyes momentarily and reopens them with a slight blue glow. He drifts centimeters off the ground and hovers in place. Parts of his body shift in very small motions as he drifts off center. As his stance shakes more and more, Dretphi positions her hands near Bach while Cideeda does the same on the other side. Bach gradually lowers back down to the solid brick of the patio and his eyes dim back to normal. "That's about all I got when it comes to hovering. Now, I'm able to generate force and use it to move parts of my body. It works, but it's limited by physics and biology."

Sebastian shakes his head and floats closer to Bach. "Damn. Well, we'll have to work on that. Not to put any pressure on you, bro. But, it would be really nice to have someone else who can do some flight spells."

Bach lifts an eye brow and stares at his brother with a smirk. "I know. But, that might take a while."

He feels long-nailed fingers slip in between the back of his neck and the collar of his t-shirt. The front of the t-shirt collar tightens against Bach's throat as someone pulls. Bach contorts in his own shirt and spins around. Sotalia grins wide and focuses her gaze right at Bach with an oddly calm, cheery tone. "What are you waiting for?"

Bach's confusion surfaces immediately and he squints his attention directly at Sotalia. "Um, well. An explanation?!"

Sotalia places her free hand on her chest. "Well, you see. I can spot you during your training..."

She waves her free hand in a long span out towards the open field of the backyard. "We have a very open area for you to do your training in..."

She snaps a point to Cideeda with a sly smile. "And, we have safety equipment?"

Cideeda's eye dart around in response but eventually her mind focuses to a nod with an equally sly smile rising to the surface. "Yes, we do! We still have those climbing harnesses from that one mission in the mountains."

Dretphi tilts her head down to Cideeda. "Mine will fit."

Bach shifts his desperate gaze to Aristespha. Her hands wrap around the mug on the patio table. She slides the chair back and stands up from the patio table. "I think I'll need another cup for this. Anyone else?"

Cideeda and Dretphi follow Aristespha inside. Both quickly move to the hallway, while Aristespha nonchalantly picks up a few more mugs and packets of tea. Bach rests his attention with Sebastian. "Brother? Come on. It's too early for this."

Sebastian hovers up to Bach and releases an ethereal sigh as he looks right into Bach's eyes. "Bro, you in are in capable hands. We have the means. We got a lot of ground to cover before we go up against Noxian. And really, bro... I can only make strong suggestions to everyone else at this point given my lack of a solid body."

Bach merely stares with eyelids at half mast towards Sebastian, sounding a low, defeated growl.

Sebastian shrugs with his hands to his sides. "Personally, I'd really like see that Air Catapult spell of yours again."

Sotalia leans to the side of Bach and makes eye contact with Sebastian. "Ooo! What's that one?"

The sun attempts to shine high above through the overcast sky and cloudy shadows project upon the land below. A gentle breeze drifts through the fields and the front lawn's tall grass. Aristespha stands on the front door landing and pans her sight from one distant end of the roadway. She looks down at the overgrown lawn for a number of seconds before squinting off towards the other distant end of the roadway. "We really need to mow the lawn."

Sebastain's ethereal voice emanates from the sword at Aristespha's side. "We? Dear, that's what neighborhood kids are for. There's got to be one around here somewhere that would do it for some random trinket we found adventuring."

Cideeda steps out from the open garage door, stretches both her arms above her head, and glances over to Aristespha. "I'll send an aethermail to Steve and see if he knows of anyone. Most did seem really into the few things I brought. I wonder if any of them collect coins. Still have all those penny coins from that one empire that no one seems to want."

Bristles brush repeatedly against concrete and sweep up a cloud of dust and debris. Bach moves a pile with a push broom out from the garage floor into the driveway. He places the broom up inside the garage near the door and spots something in the pile. He kneels down, flicks a few bits of futz away, and retrieves a few centimeter wide dragon scale. He stands up, walks over to the other side of the garage door, and holds the scale up in front of Cideeda. "You think you can get one to work for a dragon scale?"

Cideeda's eyes immediately catch the black-blue glint of the scale as a beam of light grazes it. She carefully pinches onto the scale and nods towards Bach with a scheming smile. "I might be able to work something out."

Bach looks to Aristespha, traces out her stare towards the road, and returns to her with a quizzical expression. "So, what time did you all agree upon meeting up?"

Aristespha blinks, glances over to Bach, and then retrieves her aetherphone from a pant pocket. She taps a screen and the clock appears. "Today, Monday at noon. When I called him this morning, he said his schedule was clear today. He still has a few more minutes."

The front door open inwards and Sotalia steps out onto front door landing next to Aristespha. She flicks a few stray hairs over her horns with her hands and leans over to look at the clock on Aristespha's phone. She places her hands on hips, arches her back into a stretch, and scans the roadway. "Well, I hope this doesn't take too long. I really could go for more flying lessons today."

A loud single laugh erupts from Bach and he shakes his head while contorting his lips. "Not today! Already booked!"

Sotalia snaps her attention right at Back and narrows a glare. "What?!"

Aristespha puts her aetherphone away, draws a long breath, and sighs with an eye roll. "Yes. He's helping me with research and materials manufacture."

Sotalia shifts her stare at Aristespha's face with a quirk of a brow. "Can't that wait? I finally get a chance to do some flight magic for honest work reasons..."

Aristespha tilts her head towards Sotalia and speaks in a quieter tone. "After being swung into a tree by tether from a hover disc, I believed he needed a break."

Sotalia crosses her arms, pivots away to face towards the road, and bites her lip in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I forgot how easy hover discs drift laterally. It's been a few years since I tutored in that type of magic."

The inside door leading from the kitchen into the garage opens up to Dretphi. She steps down the few stairs, walks behind Bach and Cideeda, and squints at a distant military truck moving up the road. "I see a vehicle. Maybe theirs."

A blinking yellow turn signal illuminates as the truck approaches the mouth of the driveway. It slows to a turn and pulls up just behind the group's humvee. The driver's side door swings out and a human woman hops out of the truck with a skip to her step. She quickly readjusts her green military uniform on her slender frame and finishes with a corrective tilt of her hat upon her short, light brown hair. After a few steps to the front of the truck, she stops and waits patiently. The passenger's side door closes solidly and a tall, thin man moves out from between the front of the truck and the back of the humvee. As he turns to approach the front steps, the woman immediately joins his side with a very proper, official stance that contrasts the more relaxed posture of the man. When the man reaches the first step of the front stairs, he stops, lowers into a slight bow, and extends his hand to shake Aristespha's with an almost undetectable smile near the graying corners of his mustache. "I am Captain Hackle of the Greater Azure Alliance. Am I safe to assume you are Lady Aristespha?"

Aristespha returns the gradual bow, reaches out, and firmly shakes Captain Hackle's hand. "Yes, you are."

Captain Hackle straightens his posture and allows his smile to grow a tiny bit more. "Excellent. I am happy you returned my call and offered to meet me. There's a number of recent events I would like to discuss and a few bits of information I would like to relay. But, first... Let me introduce two members of my unit."

He sidesteps and pivots with a gesture towards the woman at his side. "This is Sergeant Violet, an expert on information acquisition and analysis."

Sergeant Violet bows and holds out her hand to shake. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Aristespha returns the gesture and shakes her hand. Sotalia quirks an eye brow, stares at Sergeant Violet, and curls a lip into a smirk. "Information specialist?"

Sergeant Violet rotates herself to meet Sotalia's gaze, proudly smiles back, and straightens her posture with arms behind her back. "Yes! I assist by gathering data about the where, when, why, who, and how of any assignment we are given. Then, I find relevant information to relay to others in my unit."

Sotalia twists her mouth, gently narrows her eyes at Sergeant Violet, and speaks with sprinkles of condescension. "Okay, give me an example of this relevant information."

The corner's of Sergeant Violet's smile sharpen to make way for a confident grin and she focuses her full attention to Sotalia. "Well, Sotalia Aurica Feratosia, I know you are second generation half-emin, scored eight thousand six hundred sixty nine cells when you tested at the small magic university near your home town, your current age is-"

Sotalia's eyes flit wide open as surprise completely flushes her expression and she interrupts with a very respectful tone. "Let's keep it civil! Um... I can see why your skills... Would be very useful."

Captain Hackle sways his sight to Sergeant Violet, presents a purposeful small cough, and pulls a corner of his mouth. "Now, now. We are here as guests. Could you please assist Specialist Thayal with removing their property out of the truck?"

Sergeant Violet sends off a smug glance to Sotalia before exactly pivoting to face Captain Hackle into a salute. "Yes, Captain!"

She departs straight to the military truck with a stiff march. Sotalia settles back against the door frame with squirm of her crossed arms. Bach, Cideeda, and Dretphi exchange tight lipped expressions as they try and fail at suppressing their smiles of satisfaction. A brief snort from Bach prompts an equally brief glare from Sotalia. Sergeant Violet halts near the bed of the truck, draws a deep breath in, and shouts out in a shrill bellow. "SPECIALIST THAYAL! Get your butt into gear and get the other end of this artifact! If I for a moment do not feel you are putting your effort into carrying it, you will be on double PT until I believe you are contributing your fair share!"

Wide eyes immediately find the source and witness the spectacle. Sounds of panic scurry around the bed, until a lanky half-emin man shoots up from the bed. "Good fucking gods almighty... Yes, ma'am!"

Specialist Thayal places a hand quickly to the side of his head in a salute, pushing away long black hair underneath a horn roughly broken short in comparison to the other. He reaches down to lift up the end of a roughly-edged, golden sheet of transparent stabilized magical energy. Sergeant Violet lowers the tailgate, grabs hold of the other end of the sheet, and narrows her eyes at Specialist Thayal. "Ma'am?! I work for a living! You will address me as Sergeant until I deem so otherwise! Do you understand me!?"

Specialist Thayal snaps his posture rigid and straight, assists in carrying out the golden sheet out of the bed of the truck, and grits his teeth with a sneer. "Yes. Sergeant."

Captain Hackle returns his head from observing behind and pans a face between everyone else with a long sigh. "If you could please excuse Sergeant Violet, she recently made the rank and is establishing herself to the rest of the unit. In particular... Specialist Thayal has gone to great lengths in the past to... Earn... the particular attention he is getting."

He glances back over his shoulder as Specialist Thayal and Sergeant Violet move the golden sheet up towards the front door. He speaks with a calm tone and pauses to punctuate the moments he spends finding the right words. "As a point of order, I wanted to return this strange bit of magic we had to... Separate from the entryway into the ruins you successfully sealed. If you would not mind, Specialist Thayal has some questions to ask."

Both Specialist Thayal and Sergeant Violet place the golden sheet on the grass in the front lawn. Bach squints his eyes at the golden sheet and recognizes it. Specialist Thayal steps up next to Captain Hackle, examines everyone present, and points to the golden sheet. "Okay, first off... Who the fuck made that?!"

Eyes concentrate on Bach and he eventually raises his hand weakly after feeling the peer pressure.

Captain Hackle gently lifts the cup to his lips, carefully tilts the tea into his mouth, and almost silently places cup back onto the dining table. "You are an interesting group, which I appreciate. I must say for your short time here, you have shown your capabilities amazingly."

Sebastian rests in a chair next to Aristespha and across Captain Hackle with a proud smile. "Well, we try to do the jobs right. Despite what some of them turn into."

Captain Hackle nods, briefly gazes outside through the sliding glass door, before returning to face Aristespha and Sebastian. "Hopefully, Sergeant Violet and Specialist Thayal aren't being too nosy, but I do appreciate all of you humoring our questions."

Aristespha nods gracefully and gradually lifts an eyebrow with a smile. "It's only fair since you've given us some interesting information about the area and rumors about odd events."

Captain Hackle draws a slow grin and nods a tiny bit. "Yes. Rumors, simply. Nothing more. No official backing... officially... of course."

Sebastian mimics a similar nod. "Of course."

Captain Hackle takes hold of his hat, bows forward in his chair before rising. "Unfortunately, I must attend to other affairs today. I would actually prefer to stay longer, given my... Next stop."

Sebastian quirks a brow as he floats up to a stand and tilts his head to side looking at Captain Hackle. "What would that be, sir?"

Captain Hackle places his hat upon his graying, short curly hair and sighs as he straightens his uniform. "Your neighbors."

A small twitch pulls at Aristespha's cheek underneath her eye. She stands up out of her chair upright, and calmly exhales. "I can understand your trepidation."

With a nod, Captain Hackle walks towards the sliding glass door and halts before he opens it. He turns back toward Sebastian and Aristespha with a smile. "Yes. A requirement of my job. Speaking of jobs. I actually have an assignment I would like to send to your group through the guild system."

Aristespha crosses arms with an interested smile and perk of the brow. "We may be interested."

Captain Hackle nods and looks outside to Sergeant Violet and Specialist Thayal. "A number of days ago, a farmer provided my group shelter during one of the strong storms. In return, I gave him my contact information and if he needed help, I would try to provide. He called me this weekend. He has an interesting problem with a pack of large bird-like creatures that now prevent him from getting to certain parts of his farm safely. Unfortunately, they seem to be a protected species and a straight elimination isn't allowed. The local government will be happy to relocate them, but will not do the initial capture. My group isn't particularly geared for this type of task, but I feel your group would be... Much more appropriate for the task at hand."

He pivots his head just over his shoulder with a calm demeanor. "Would you be interested... Or should I forward the task to your... Neighbors?"

Sebastian begins to open his mouth with a quizzical expression on his face. Aristespha speaks up strongly and clearly with a tooth revealing, gritting grin. "We shall take it."

The humvee bounces along the narrow dirt access road, kicking up dust and the occasional rock. As it closes in on a gate within the fence row, it slows to a stop with hint of squeal from the brakes. The powerplant inside spins down, all the doors open, and everyone works their way out of the vehicle. Cideeda steps up to the fence upon the crest of a hill and surveys the huge, wide-open grassy field opening up down from the fence. "This actually really pretty. Not a bad day for another nature hike."

Aristespha walks up next to Cideeda and scans the horizon, checking on her tablet in between sweeps. "Hopefully, nothing too demanding, so we can enjoy the rest of it."

She bites her lip and sighs with a glance behind her to the rest of the group. "Again, I wanted to apologize for signing us up for the mission without consulting everyone else, first. I wasn't exactly thinking clearly at that moment."

Sotalia stretches her arms over head, rests her hands on her hips, and assumes a confidence stance as see gazes into the green field with a sly grin. "As IF we'd let THEM have anything after us."

With a long yawn Bach, ambles up to the gathering at the fence row and clears the sleep from his eyes. "Well, it's not a cyber-zombie den, an abandoned park, or a ruin. So, it's already got a lot going for it."

Dretphi stares off in her own thoughts, her focus elsewhere in her mind, and she slowly pronounces a long scientific sounding name to herself. "I should know that name. Familiar."

Sotalia glances over to Dretphi, shrugs, and crosses her arms with a puzzled expression. "Well, I tried searching all night. I only got a few bits of info about the creatures. They sound like big angry chickens."

Cideeda lifts up a pair of binoculars, aims them into the distant parts of the field, and slowly pivots herself in a sweep of the horizon. Aristespha taps on her tablet a few times and furrows her brow as different results pour onto the display. "Unfortunately, it seems that the species name applies to a number of different breeds of all shapes and sizes. Natural, genetically modified, and even magically modified."

Sebastian's transparent visage materializes behind the group and chuckles to himself. "Yet another wonderful thing our ancestors left for us to deal with."

Cideeda halts her pivot, leans forward with the binoculars, and pulls her brow over the eyepieces in surprise. "Holy shit. Are those..."

Dretphi quickly strides next to Cideeda, taps her on the shoulder, and holds her hand out. Cideeda lowers the binoculars, blinks, and places them in Dretphi's awaiting hand. Dretphi lifts the binoculars up to her eyes, briefly searches the area, and then stares... silently for a minute. Eventually, she removes the binoculars from her eyes, twists her mouth, and simply says. "Oh."

The moments of full attention from everyone else in the group prompts Drepthi to continue with a further explanation. "I know what these are. Their name in my language translates roughly. Thudkicker."

From the treeline surrounding the field, four tall, large bird-like creatures casually hop over the fence. Each creature walks upon two long, thick legs, with three sharply clawed toes each, and investigates patches of grass in the field with long feathered necks. Their feather covered oval bodies only show the faintest hints signs of small wings tucked away. At the front crest of their heads, each has a large bony crown encircling a head dress of colorful feathers. The tallest of the group stands close to two meters tall, with the rest not much shorter. Dretphi passes the binoculars to Aristespha. Sotalia casts a quick incantation, places her fingertips together, and squints through the space between. Aristespha lowers the binoculars from her blank face and hands them to Bach. As the situation dawns upon all members of the group, expressions grow uncertain and mix with heavily with unease. Sebastian watches the change in his team, puffs up her chest, and addresses them with hearty bravado. "Alright everyone! Team planning on the hood, let's get a plan together."

The pack of thudkickers wander the large, open field as the wind gently blows towards the awaiting group, hiding the forest line. Sebastian hovers briefly out from behind a tree, checks the current position of the pack, and returns to gaze at the group. "Okay. Final review of the plan. Aristespha and Sotalia will go invisible and move to the middle of the field. That'll give me enough range from the sword to fly around and get the leader's attention. When the leader charges after me, the rest will join up with the leader to assist."

Sebastian points the Sotalia. "Sotalia should have plenty of room to levitate and isolate one from the pack. Which given how notoriously single-minded they get when defending their territory, they won't immediately realize they are missing someone. Correct?"

He shifts his attention to Dretphi. She nods. "Yes. Notoriously single-minded. All will focus on the leader's target until the leader decides."

Sebastian directs his focus to Aristespha. "Aristespha will sedate them with a spell. Sotalia will drop them off near Dretphi and Cideeda, who will tie them up and drag them off into the woods. Bach you keep lookout in the treeline near the middle of the field and be ready to come up with a distraction in case we need one."

Dretphi takes in a breath and speaks calmly with hints of concern. "Thudkickers have good vision, good senses of smell. Keep hidden when possible. Watch for wind changes. They are NOT stupid. This breed often lives in weird zones."

Sebastian nods and checks with everyone. "Everyone. If they don't take the bait or it becomes too dangerous, everyone scatter and regroup at the humvee. We'll figure something else out from there. Ready?"

Nods and affirmative expressions appear all around.

A gentle breeze blows in waves across the field. Two faintly distorted, transparent figures crouch down in the middle of the field. Sotalia's voice crackles over the radio. "We're in position and ready."

Cideeda's sounds out over the airwaves. "Ready here."

Bach secures his helmet and gives a thumbs up to Sebastian next to him behind some underbrush. "They're all in position. Ready when you are."

Sebastian nods, quickly zips off to the open, and flies towards the pack diving low into the taller grasses. Bach calls out over the radio. "Sebastian is going in."

Sebastian rises out of the grasses right next to the pack and lets out a loud, annoying, ethereal cough. The largest thudkicker immediately snaps to attention and focuses an angry glare right at Sebstian. Feathers ruffle up, stance shifts aggressively, and a low, powerful honk echoes into vicinity. The other thudkickers halt and gather in a rough V-formation behind the leader. Sebastian takes a few steps back. The pack takes a few steps forward. Sebastian hovers back at a constant pace, which the pack matches to maintain their distance. Sebastian darts out ahead at and the pack charges out in a full sprint after him. Bach keeps his eyes on the progression of events and uses the radio. "They took they bait! Sebastian is moving them to staging area, get ready."

The Sebastian flies in circular path around the field with the pack in feverish pursuit. As the last of the pack passes between pairings of Sotalia and Aristespha in the middle of the field, and Cideeda and Dretphi hiding just beyond the brush line, the transparent distortion around Sotalia fades and she expediently runs through a series of incantations. As she finishes, the trailing thudkicker not only falls behind the pack, but speeds opposite from the pack despite how fast its legs kick against the air below. It hovers against its understanding towards the center of the field and halts. A similar distorted transparency disappears around Aristespha. She points with glowing violet eyes at the confusion upon the thudkicker's face and releases a directed wave of energy. Its eyes close and body goes limp. The snoring beast drifts away towards the edge of the field and lands gently on the grass. Dretphi jumps out from the brush, snatches up the legs of the creature, and points them upwards to put the thudkicker on its back. Cideeda rushes out with thick rope and quickly wraps coils around the legs and secures the bindings. Dretphi directs Cideeda to the head. "Secure the beak. Tie the neck to the legs."

Bach alternates his attention between Sebastian's progress around the field and the rest of the team. Sotalia and Aristespha grow transparent and resettle into their mid-field hiding spot. Cideeda finishes her knots and Dretphi drags the huge bird off the field into hiding. Sebastian glances over mid-flight and sees the staging area clear again with everyone back in hiding. He curls his path around and lines it up for another pass into the area. Bach radios an update. "He's coming in for another pass."

Sebastian blazes through with the pack in tow. Sotalia becomes visible again and rapidly works the motions and flows for another casting of a spell. A trailing thudkicker separates from the other two and drifts towards the center of the field. Midway towards the center, the bird sporadically bobs down, returns to previous height, then bobs back down again. Sotalia mutters a series of curses in a few choice languages and grumbles to herself. "The FUCK are you doing?! Stop doing that!"

Aristespha's voice comes from a faintly distorted transparent figure next to Sotalia. "What's going on?"

Sotalia grimaces and growls as she readjusts her gestures and concentration to a challenge of her power. "I think the bird is actually trying to counter my spell! And, it's doing too good of a job of it!"

The cloak of invisibility falls down from Aristespha and she focuses her glowing violet eyes at the erratically hovering thudkicker. "By the gods, it is! It's actually consciously directing magical flow against yours! It's really crude, but..."

Sotalia snaps a worried glare to Aristespha with a grit of her teeth. "Crude and effective! Can you knock it out?! I'm wasting a lot of time and energy fighting it!"

Sebastian checks over towards the middle of the field and flashes concern over his face as he continues to jet over the grass. He slows down when he glances behind him to see the pack drop to a slow walk. The lead thudkicker sways his head side to side and carefully examines Sebastian in front of him. It lowers its head to sniff the ground behind Sebastian and comes to a complete stop. Sebastian eyes over to the middle of the field as Aristespha throws a more powerful wave of energy to finally sedate the hovering thudkicker. His eyes shift over to the treeline. Bach meets Sebastian's eyes and he radios out. "Problem! I think the leader has figured out Sebastian. They're not chasing him anymore. I'm going to try to distract them."

Bach lifts his hand up as a glowing ball forms and he flicks it off. The ball flies out in a guided path right in front of the leader. It flits and flutters around the leader's head, but the creature disregards the ball and continues to the sniff the air. Sebastian calls out to Bach and catches sight of Dretphi just now tying up the sedated thudkicker. "Bro! I don't think it's falling for that shit anymore! I think it knows something is up!"

Bach's eye dart around and his mind races through all the pieces of the situation. Dretphi and Cideeda try to wrap up the thudkicker on other side of the field. Aristespha and Sotalia begin to focus magical energies for invisibility. Bach grits his teeth, secures his helmet on his head, and rushes out to Sebastian. He searches the ground, spots something, and cracks a devious grin across his mouth. As the pack leader begins to turn its head away from Sebastian, a loud shout from Bach seizes its attention. Upon facing Bach, a large, old cow pie impacts and crumbles across the face and beak of the pack leader. It sniffs the air and draws in the unmistakable scent of old cow manure. The odor whips through the nasal passages and the brain full halts on all thought processes, letting pride take over completely. The leader's eyes glow dimly red as every feather ruffles and it bellows out an enraged honk that resonates throughout the region. Sebastian's jaw drops. "Wow."

He stares at Bach for moment before yelling out. "RUN, BRO!"

Bach whips his jaw shut, his eyes illuminate a bright blue, and he tears off at speeds beyond expectation. The leader races off in a psychotic rage, red flows of magical energy course around its body and savage honks shred the air. Bach screams out into the field and over the radio. "NEW PLAN! IT'S AFTER ME!"

Bach blazes down the field, a faint hint of blue energy vapor behind him. Long, fast strides keep his speed up and the distance between him the enraged thudkicker. Aristespha's voice comes over the radio. "We're ready, get over here!"

He streaks towards the staging area and nearly flies through it with the leader right behind him. The other thudkicker crosses into the zone much later. It seizes still, floats up stiffly, and receives a powerful energy wave blast. Sotalia deposits the creature for Cideeda and Dretphi, releases the spell, and pants. "No more chancing. Let's skip the cloak and use the energy for the big one!"

Aristespha nods and concentrates her energy. Dretphi and Cideeda rapidly bind up and drag the creature off to the others hidden in the forest. Sotalia yells over the radio. "Bring the big one in Bach!"

Bach pace continues to gradually slow, the distance between him and the leader closing, and his breath grows shorter with each second. He banks around the edge of the field and lines up for the approach. The enraged leader narrows the gap. Bach bolts through the trap, Sotalia activates her spell, and the thudkicker lifts off the ground. Aristespha takes aim. A loud honk bellows out, a flow of red energy pulses across the thudkicker's body, and his feet touch ground again a wavering field of energy fades off. Sotalia struggles to perform the incantations for another attempt. Bach slows down to a stumbling run. Aristespha sends a wave of energy at the leader. It pauses for a moment. It blinks and stumbles forward. But, it releases another loud honk and launches into run. Bach spins around to see the creature charge down at him and his mind panics for a solution as he lowers his head in exhaustion. He lifts his head up and calls out on the radio. "Dretphi! How do these things challenge each other?!"

Dretphi halts in shock at the question, her eyes speed through her mind, and she commands out. "Stare! Honk loud! Kick up the dirt! Flare out your plumage!"

Bach grits his teeth, locks eyes with the charging thudkicker, screams out a strained honk, repeatedly kicks up the dirt behind him, and flares out his duster. The creature drastically slow down, stops a few meters short of Bach, and curiously glares. After a few seconds, it returns a different tone of honk, scratches at the dirt beneath it, and flares out its feathers. Bach keeps his eyes on the creature and carefully speaks into the radio. "Okay. What now?"

Dretphi watches the scene and continues to instruct Bach. "Circle with it. Keep eye contact. Watch its head."

Aristespha and Sotalia rush across the field down to the distant face-off between Bach and thudkicker. Magical energies gather for spells as they move. Cideeda runs with shotgun ready and Dretphi not far behind. Bach and the thudkicker circle around, each matching mannerisms. Bach notices flows of magic creeping up the neck of the creature, muscles tensing, and balance shifting. "Uh, what's next after the circling?"

Dretphi voice sounds out over the radio. "A headbutt."

Bach's eye flit open and he watches the head of the thudkicker rear back, more magical energy flowing up to it. His lip curls to a sneer, and he narrows his eyes with a grit. A brilliant blue glow flashes out from Bach's eyes and streams of magical energy spiral up his body to his head. Bach rears back his head with sheer determination raging upon his face. Bach and the thudkicker lunge heads first at each other and collide in a thunderous, solid thud that bounces off the nearby hills and back into the field. A bright flash fades from the contact point and the two remain in contact with each other for a moment. The thudkicker staggers back, dizzily stumbles over itself into heap, and releases a loud grunt before a series of snores. Bach straightens up with a triumphant ear to ear grin, cracks spidering out from a central point on his helmet's magical, golden barrier. "Fuck you. Chicken."

His expression drastically changes as pain receptors finally inform him of his sheer stupidity. "Oh gods, why did I do that... OWWW!"

-18-

Golden eyes peer over the front passenger's seat head rest in the humvee. Straight, dark red hair waves with the wind venting through the lowered door window and strays over horns. The head rest conveniently obscures Sotalia's ear to ear, highly amused smile as she sits knees into the seat and gazes upon Bach in the seat behind her. Nearly fully reclined back in the seat, Bach exaggerates a breath into a groan and winces from the last tap of Aristespha's gloved hand. Aristespha settles into her seat across the aisle from Bach, slowly shakes her head to rest into her hand with an eye roll, and puffs. "How you haven't even managed a concussion is astounding."

Sebastian's ethereal voice resonates from the sword resting next to Aristespha's seat. "Honestly, it's genetic. At least that's what mom always said about dad. Then again, dad said the same thing about mom. Depends who you asked and when."

Dretphi carefully lowers a plastic cold pack onto the red, lightly swollen patch in the middle of Bach's forehead. Bach slowly raises his hand up, grasps onto the pack, and secures its position upon his head. "Thank you."

A few lights pats from Dretphi's hand contact Bach's shoulder and she rests back into her back seat. She picks up Bach's helmet next to her on the seat, carefully rotates it around to examine the fading crackle in the magical barrier, and eyes Bach with a humored smile. "I tried to warn you they headbutt. Did not intend for you to respond in kind."

A long groan mumbles out from Bach with a withering sigh punctuating the embarrassed upwards wave of his hand. "I know. I- Uh... I... Got caught up in the whole moment...? I... I don't know. What the hell was I thinking?"

Sotalia slides her hands over the top of her seat, wraps her arms arms around the head rest, and plops her head upon the top of the head rest with a radiant, smug grin. "Well, there's a gross assumption right there. Thinking?"

The cold pack gradually shifts back up Bach's head and clear of his line of sight of Sotalia. He manages a weak glare at her and deflates as she continues her grin right back at him. "At this point, I'm not even going to argue. It hurts too much."

Sotalia unwraps an arm from the head rest, flips open a pouch on her belt, and retrieves a vial. She holds the vial in the air over the aisle, waggles it in sight of Aristespha, and directs her attention at Aristespha. "Is it safe for a simple anti-inflammatory?"

Aristespha glances up from the windows of text upon her tablet, briefly quirks a brow at Bach, and rests her smirking gaze with Sotalia. "Yes. Go right ahead. I'm sure our brave hero of the hero will appreciate it."

Sotalia cranes the vial over above Bach, taps it upon his knee, and offers it to him. Bach flutters his eyes open under the shadow of the cold pack, spots the vial, and drifts his free hand to grab the vial. "Thank you, too."

He briefly lifts his hand from the cold pack, uncorks the vial, tilts the vial into his mouth, and replaces the cork. One hand returns to securing the cold pack, and the other hand presents the empty vial back to Sotalia. "I'm not going to live this one down any time soon..."

Sotalia giggles to herself and dramatically shakes her head side to side. "OH. No. Of course not. What was the one liner? Fuck you. Chicken?"

Bach cringes and exhales defeat. Aristespha closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose. "You are certainly Sebastian brother."

Sebastian's voice calls out from the sword. "Hey, I don't know how to feel about that. Anyway, I think it was pretty fucking awesome, bro! You beat that bird at its own game. Seriously, fuck that overgrown chicken."

Dretphi leans forward, rests a hand on Bach's shoulder, and smiles at him with a slight bite on her lip. "You have earned a rare honor. Few challenge a thudkicker. None previous have won. None were sober."

Sotalia chuckles to herself and crosses her arms back around the head rest. "I still can't believe you won! Doesn't that mean he becomes the pack leader or something?"

Dretphi sits back into her seat, searches her mind with her eyes, and simply shrugs. "Yes. If the pack had been awake to witness."

The driver's side door opens and Cideeda hops into the driver's seat. She looks down the aisle from her seat and scans her gaze between everyone else. "So, how's patient?"

Aristespha draws a corner of her mouth into an amused half-grin and eyes over to Bach. "He'll live. Hard head intact, pride defended, sanity questionable, and ego shrinking."

Cideeda nods, gives a toothy grin to Bach with a quick wink, and turns forward into her seat. "Well, the thudkickers are in the hands of relocation folks. I got our restraints and rope back, and..."

She reaches into a vest pocket, pulls out a folded piece of paper, and lifts it over her seat to Aristespha. "A delivery confirmation receipt."

Aristespha plucks the paper from Cideeda's hand, opens it up, nods, and positions it out in front of her tablet. "Excellent. I'll get a photo of it and send it along with the rest of the paperwork."

Cideeda quickly examines her immediate area of the cab, inserts a fob into a port on the humvee's dash, and glances over to Sotalia, still sitting knees into the seat. Sotalia squeaks as she startles, tenses up, and reflexively throws her arms down to protect her sides. She searches the region next to her side to find the finger point of Cideeda and follows it back to her stare. Cideeda lifts a brow, twirls her finger, points down, and gestures towards Sotalia's seat belt. Sotalia blinks, pouts, but eventually spins around to sit down properly in her seat. "Aww..."

Cideeda flips a series of covered toggle switches on the dash, locks them in place, and presses the ignition switch solidly. "That's enough for now."

A low whirl spins up to a high pitched whine and a muffled pop erupts to muted roar as the system status lights upon the dash flick to green. Cideeda lowers her head to angle her view up into the sky. "I I want to get home. Walking back, the clouds looked really off. I don't want to be driving in whatever they're bringing."

The constant sound of rain drones throughout the house. The intensity wavers with the gusts of wind and rattles of drops upon the glass windows fill in the audio void. A snore rolls out from Bach as he unconsciously draw up bed sheets. The room lights up brilliantly as white flash beams in through the windows. Bach's eyes stir and crack open to thin slits as his pupils drift side to side aimlessly. The explosive, house shaking boom launches Bach's eyes wide open. He waits with muscles tense and surveys the situation. He watches the eerie ambient dim, green glow radiate from the windows above the head of his bed and erratically pulsate. Eventually, Bach sits up in bed, groggily failing to catch the warm cold pack as it flops off his forehead onto his bed sheet covered lap. He pulls off the sheet, pivots his legs out onto the floor, and stands up to face the window. Outside through the window, the rain falls in sheets upon the glass. Dark green, omnipresent light oozes through the clouds over head and flickers of purple, pink, and orange streaks through the same clouds. Bach slowly blinks, clears the sleep out of his eyes, and freezes as a distant low, rumble vibrates the windows. He continues to scan the scene through his bedroom window and only manages to mumble as his mind provides no answers. "What the fuck is this?"

In the living room, the television casts a glow onto the couch and coffee table while a single light in the kitchen illuminates the area. The kitchen door opens from the garage to reveal Cideeda pressing a button on garage side of the wall. As a mechanical groan of the garage door cycles, the chorus of rain gradually loses out and eventually subsides to the background noise when the garage door seals up. Cideeda closes the kitchen door, releases a satisfied breath, and brushes back her wet short, multi-colored hair back with her fingertips. After a few moments of twirling the humvee's key fob with her other hand, she glances down at her water soaked nightshirt, pulls away it away from her figure, and sighs as it resumes clinging the moment she releases it. Sotalia stirs within her house coat, turns her head towards Cideeda, and speaks quietly. "You know we have rain coats, right?"

Cideeda steps forward across the kitchen floor, her bare feet barely sounding out a light, wet pats with clicks from her claws. She puts her hands up to the sides with an acknowledging smirk. "I know. But, honestly, I don't think it would have helped much. I'll be right back. I got to get a new shirt and wring out my tail."

Sotalia resumes her attention to the television, lifts up a remote, and aims it at the screen. Pressing a button, the on-screen display shows the volume increasing, and the audio from the broadcast climbs out of the background storm drone.

"... we are currently still getting confirmation from the Greater Azure Alliance Department of Meteorology. But, from all observations and our equipment, a Maelstrom Warning is very likely for cities within the project path of the storm. Amaranth Valley and surrounding areas are presently under Severe Storm warning for the reminder of the night and..."

Bach wanders groggily out from the archway leading to the hallway as Cideeda casually slides pass him. Cideeda quickly pats him on the shoulder as she passes. "Morning."

Bach yawns and nods towards her. "Technically... I guess."

He pauses and notices at the wet sheen the kitchen light casts upon Cideeda's hair. "You've been outside."

Cideeda nods and sighs with a shrug. "Didn't want to risk our only ride to this mess outside. Got it in the garage, along with couple liters of water in my tail alone."

She walks down the hallway to her bedroom and goes through the door. A few seconds later a rolled up, wet nightshirt flops onto the floor just outside door. Bach blinks, returns his head forward, and moves next to the nearby arm of the couch. "A maelstrom? I thought we were too far out for those."

Sotalia shakes her head with an uneasy twist in her mouth. "So did I, but I guess if the storm picks up enough from the weird zone, it can stay near maelstrom stage long enough."

The dim green glow through sliding glass door flickers pink with bright flashes of white. Bach and Sotalia snap their heads to gawk outside as flashes pulsate to many individual constant glows. The dim green drifts between a strange range of colors as the sky paints itself with a fading rainbow of streaks. Mixing with the torrents of rain, orbs of magical light pelt and bounce off the ground. A low distant hum resonates through the structure of the house and a lightning strike in the distance erupts to spidering swirl of expanding miasma. The concussion wave of the strike warps through the walls of rain and impacts the house, shaking to a long rumble. Sotalia stares in awe with her jaw agape. Bach slowly blinks as he stretches his facial muscles in search for a properly impressed expression. Cideeda's wide eyes and narrow pupils reflect the barrage of lighting from outside as she peers out from the hallway archway. She holds up a finger, points down the hallway, and uses her free hand to pull down her dry nightshirt the rest of the way. "I'm going to wake Dretphi up, if she isn't already."

Sotalia places her feet squarely on the ground, quickly stands up rigidly, and nods slowly. "I'll get Aristespha up, she'll want to see this."

"This is an update from Greater Azure Alliance Department of Meteorology! We have confirmations from multiple sources that the storm is now classified a Class One Maelstrom! Residents in the path of the maelstrom should seek shelter within an interior room, basement, or dedicated storm shelter..."

The picture on the television shifts, shudders, skews, and distorts as the alert scroll overlay attempts to display. Aetherphones throughout the house fire off loud emergency alerts. Finally, a chorus of sirens across the country side spin up to a haunting wail that echoes in to swirling glows of the sky above.

Bach feels a tug on his foot. A quick grumble and turn in the sleeping bag upon the living room floor, he tries to continue sleep. Another harder pull on his foot stirs him from slumber and he groggily cracks his eyes open to see Dretphi holding onto his foot through the sleeping bag. Dretphi nods to Bach. "I apologize. I need your help."

Bach flutters his eyes and slowly sits up feeling the haze of sleep drift begrudgingly away from his body. He rubs his eyes, yawns, and scratches his emerging beard. "Sure. What do you need?"

Dretphi pivots her head towards the sliding glass door and points to the golden magical barrier encasing the entire door. Bach follows her direction and blinks as his brain loads in the information from last night. "Oh, right. I remember. Let me get that down."

Bach unzips the sleeping bag, steadies himself up on his feet, and examines the area. Cideeda snores quietly on the couch. She unconsciously wraps blankets up around her from another resting spot on the couch and flicks her tail from underneath the sheets. Bach glances at the other spot on the couch and the chair, and quirks a brow at Dretphi. "Aristespha and Sotalia are up I guess. Investigating outside?"

Dretphi confirms with a nod. "The house is intact. Both checked for lingering magic. They are now outside to assess the property."

Bach stretches his neck side to side, fights another yawn, and scratches his side. "Probably a lot of trees down. That was something else last night."

He looks over towards the dining table, which rests against the wall to make room for the collection of patio furniture originally from outside. "I'm glad we got the patio stuff inside. After that first chair tried to float away, I'm pretty sure it all would have been gone."

Dretphi slightly grits her teeth and gives a slow nod as she stares at the furniture. "With our rental deposit."

Bach stands idly looking around in a near daze. Eventually, he catches Dretphi gazing at him. He matches her eye contact, thinks through a moment of confusion, and remembers his original task as he rubs his eyes again to mask embarrassment. "Oh, right, the barrier. I'll get that real quick and help you with the patio stuff."

Dretphi crosses her arms and smiles as she watches Bach groggily step to the sliding glass door. "Coffee has been made. Do you require a cup?"

With slow, exaggerated motions, Bach confirms. "Y-yes, please."

Dretphi steps over a fallen tree in the forest and scans into the distance, deeper in. Bach follows suit and guides his foot over to the other side and studies the torn, snapped roots laying above the ground. "This is impressive. I knew the wind was powerful, but... Wow."

Kneeling down, Dretphi examines the forest floor soil and traces a channel worn by water flow with her eyes. "Tremendous amount of water contributed. These water ways lead towards the stream."

Bach stares off in the distance, squints his eyes, and perks a brow. "That thing must have been river last night."

Dretphi stands back up, walks off towards the background babble of the stream, and checks the area as she travels. Bach follows behind. Both wander through the forest as their footsteps sink more into the ground within vicinity of the stream. Mud and dirt coat the banks of the stream as a constant flow of water rolls over the stones in the creek bed. The stream fills out into a wide, shallow pool section of silt slurry. Sunken into the middle of the pool, a large tusked creature lays on its side with a complete covering of murk on its hide. Dretphi stops as she spots the creature and a frown drags down on her face. "Oh."

Bach notes the change of mood, looks out in the same direction, and develops a similar expression. "Damn. Poor thing. Must have worn itself out and drowned."

A labored breath struggles to get inside the lungs of the creature and it releases a grunt. Dretphi's eyes flit wide open and she jogs over to the edge of the pool. She halts, lowers herself down, and cranes her head to examine the creature carefully. "It is alive. Do not know if dangerous."

Bach stops next to Dretphi and shrugs with uncertainty. "Umm... Well, even if it is dangerous, I don't think it can put up that much of a fight. I've got your back."

Dretphi glances over with a reserved smile, nods, and steps into the pool. Her hiking boot sinks into the pool and touches solid ground halfway up her calf. She cautiously squats down next to the meter long creature and gently rests a hand upon it. She feels the rise and fall of its breath and moves her hand along its side. Bach works his way through the pool and stands nearby. "How's it looking?"

Petting its fur, Dretphi twists her mouth as her eyes analyze the boar. "Do not know. It is weak. Dangerous to treat a boar of this siz-"

Her hand stops. She presses her fingers into its thick coat around its upper back and follows an outline of a small boney bud. Dretphi's eyes slam wide open, her jaw drifts open, and her hands scoops water onto the thick fur. Each handful of water washes away more of the dirt coating to reveal hidden patterns and colors of the fur. Dretphi gasps in shock, dives her arms underneath, and attempts to dredge the boar up from the mud with no progress. "Help. Get him out!"

Bach drops down to his knees and digs through the mud. After a few more attempt to lift the creature, Bach growls and slaps his hands on the surface as a blue glow flashes from his eyes. "To hell with this!"

A sprawling mesh of magical energy strands erupt from Bach's hands across the surface of the water to the boar and dive underneath the surface. Within seconds, the muck recedes from the body of the boar against an expanding lattice energy, creating a clearance underneath and around its legs. Dretphi quickly slips her arms underneath, hoists the critter up, and rushes back to the house with Bach right behind.

Aristespha covers her mouth as her eyes dart around to various parts of the boar. "I can do the basics, but I specialized in humanoid medicine. Any specific spells may do more harm than good on him."

Dretphi gently props the boar's head upon a folded towel and exhales full of concern. Sebastian floats over gathering and works through his thoughts until one hits him solidly. A smile cracks on his face and he points to Bach. "Bach! Call Kaleb and Shadeesa."

Bach meets his brother's gazes, thinks, and roll his eyes at himself. He reaches into his pocket, pulls out his aetherphone, and concentrates on the menu interface. "Dammit! That's right!"

He taps a few on screen buttons and a rhythmic chirp sounds out from the speaker. Moments later, Kaleb's voice calls out from the phone. "Hey! What's going on? We were wondering how you guys weathered that maelstrom."

Bach holds his phone out and speaks out. "Well, we're all fine. But, we've got a veterinary emergency on our hands. I'll turn on the video."

Kaleb's voice drifts with tinges of confusion. "Okay... Well, Shadeesa just got out of the bathroom, let me get her over here."

Bach aims his phone towards the boar with Dretphi and Aristespha to the side. The phone screen displays Kaleb sitting down and adjusting his view closer to his face, just as Shadeesa comes up behind wraps her arms around his neck. Shadeesa stares into the screen and squints. "A veterinary emergency? What kind of-"

Kaleb scrutinizes the image of the mud-caked boar and hems as his mind flips through possibilities. "Well, it looks like that boar has been through a lot, but that coloration on its fur..."

Shadeesa's head leans forward, her face gradually getting closer to the screen. She eventually reaches a hand out and directs their screen. Kaleb curiously eyes Shadeesa as she hang over him and watches the pupils of her eyes expand. She bites her lip with an ear-to-ear grin and excitedly stammers. "That's baby dire boar. An actual dire boar piglet. The coloration of the fur, the size,... Does he have the start of any horn, bones, or spurs along his back?!"

Dretphi lowers her head to look into Bach's aetherphone camera, nods, and parts some of the boar's fur to reveal a boney bud. Shadeesa's full attention locks onto the phone and her excitement curbs into determination. "Okay. Aristespha, could you start giving me basic vitals and information? I'll instruct on what you need to do to make sure he's stabilized until we get there."

Kaleb turns his head towards Shadeesa and cranes it back with a raised eyebrow. "Uh? Get there? We aren't leaving to convention until tomorrow. Our hotel reservations aren't until tomorrow night, Thursday night. It's Wednesday, today. I don't feel comfortable with you doing that long of a round trip either and..."

The explanation halts at the same moment Kaleb feels Shadeesa's arm around his neck tighten by a minute but important amount. Shadeesa aims her gaze at Kaleb and the two maintain eye contact for a few seconds. Minor shifts in expression exchange between the two, before Kaleb sounds out a long sigh. He smiles at her and nods. "Okay. I want to help the piglet, too. I just want to make sure everything is in place for you."

Shadeesa pecks Kaleb on the cheek with a loving smile. "I'm only three months along. You have my full permission stop me in the future when I get too crazy with traveling."

Kaleb shifts his eyes to the camera on his aetherphone and cracks a smirk. "Bach? You hear that? I need a witness here to call up in the future."

Shadeesa narrows her eyes briefly at Kaleb and flashes a pout. Bach awkwardly smiles. "Uh, sure. Well, anyway, I'll offer my bed for the night if there's no objections. I think the couch will be clear since we aren't taking shelter from any maelstrom."

Sebastian judges the agreeable reactions in the room from Aristespha, Cideeda, and Sotalia. He rests his gaze upon Dretphi as she continues to pet and comfort the baby dire boar, her concern and attention far from the current conversation. Sebastian smiles. "Well, since you volunteered, Bach. I don't believe anyone has any objections."

Kaleb gives a thumbs up through the display as both of Shadeesa's hands take hold of the phone at the other end of the call. "Thanks. I doubt we'd be able to book a decent hotel at this point. Well, I'll hand the phone over. Got to get Lagi loaded up and ready."

The display shows Shadeesa's face in full as she settles down in the chair and dons an expression brimming determination and focus.

Breaths of condensation form on the outside glass of the sliding door from the nostrils of the black and blue dragon, Lagi. His eyes follow the activity inside the living room while pressing his head against the glass. Shadeesa lifts her head back, rolls her shoulders to stretch, and sighs with a smile. "If he's this goofy and worthless now, I think he'll be just fine to stay the night inside."

Dretphi holds another handful of cereal loops in front of the baby dire boar's sniffing snout. He casually licks up the cereal and munches down with a constant, happy wag of the tail. Aristespha props her arms back and leans herself back on the floor next to Shadeesa. "I hope I'm not asking too much, I would love to get the recipe for that nutrient paste you have. Didn't know of that was a trade secret or not."

Shadeesa shakes her head, brushes her apron off, and giggles. "Oh no! It's a something I've worked on for cases like these with exhaustion, starvation, and so forth. It very similar to the standard nutrient mixes, but I put a few fast absorption spells on it. I'll warn you, it's really potent, so only use very little once a day. The side effects are annoying and messy."

Kaleb sorts through items in a medical pack on the dining table and grumbles loudly with a sarcastic ring. "And make sure you label it clearly when put it in a cream cheese tub."

Aristespha, Dretphi, and Sotalia glance over to Shadeesa, who momentarily grits her teeth in an embarrassed frown and bites her lip. She quietly whispers. "I changed up the binder and flavoring after that... incident."

Sebastian slides next to Kaleb, pulls his gaze away from the gathering around the dire piglet, and whispers to Kaleb. "Any more details to that story?"

Kaleb sighs and shakes his head. "Three hours at a rundown truck stop bathroom."

Sebastian lifts his hand up and slow nods with a tight smile. "I know your pain. On and off, half a day, camp ground with an old outhouse."

Kaleb and Sebastian exchange nods of commiseration. Dretphi brushes the clean hair ridge of the dire boar with her finger, a smile ever present on her face as she puts forth another handful of cereal in front of the critter's snout. Aristespha shifts her eyes over to a paper notepad between her and Shadeesa and lets her eyes study it. "I see the similarities between our professions, but the differences are fascinating... And, I'll admit, quite challenging."

With a happy smile, Shadeesa shrugs and places her hands on her lap. "Some days, I don't know why signed up for it all. There are many days I would really LOVE to have the wealth of premade spells, potions, and procedures humanoid medicine has. But..."

She reaches her hand under the chin of the baby dire boar and scratches underneath with her long nails. The boar happily releases a series of short, muffled grunts with tail wags. Shadeesa chuckles to herself. "I'd miss opportunities like these."

Bach walks out from the hallway entryway and sniffs the air. "I still can't smell anything out here."

Cideeda steps past him with a shake of her head. "Don't worry about it. You don't have my sense of smell. The bathroom and tub are back to normal enough."

Bach wipes his hands with a towel over his shoulder before rolling it up and placing it in a nearly full laundry basket. "Well, at least the big piglet cleans up nicely. I'm amazed how well simple baking soda works for that."

Shadeesa glances over to Bach and Cideeda and then returns her head towards the baby dire boar. "I tend to use it to not upset the natural oils in the hair and disrupting any natural scent too badly."

Cideeda lightly sniffs the air and stares at the dire piglet. "It's certainly a bit stronger than it was before."

Shadeesa shuffles her legs underneath herself from a sit and works her way up to a stand. "That's good. I think the mother is still alive and well."

Mid-way through, Kaleb moves to her side and offers assistance which she lovingly accepts. She steps over and lowers herself onto a chair next to the dining table, stretching her legs out inside her scrub pants. Dretphi looks up from the large piglet and perks a curious eye brow at Shadeesa. "What makes you say that?"

Shadeesa settles back into the chair and thinks her theory out loud. "Well. It's theorized that dire mothers not only use natural means to keep track of their children, but a lot of magical means, too. I think the little one got separated in the maelstrom. The mud blocked the natural scent and magical chaos disrupted the magical tracking. And given how calm and friendly he is... He still thinks his mother is still around and has nothing to worry about."

She rests her eyes at the dire piglet with a smile. "Hopefully, if he's outside long enough, his mother will pick up the scent and find him. As happy as he seems, I believe the mother will be amicable. But, we might keep our distance to be safe if she shows up for him."

Sotalia ponders about the theory and her eyes catch Lagi's long stare. She pivots in place to meet his gaze. He eyes her and then glances at the handle of the sliding glass door. After a few seconds, he repeats the gesture, slower and exaggerates the individual motions. Sotalia tilts her head to the side and blinks at the antics of the dragon. Lagi blinks slowly, sighs with a slight droop of his shoulders, and lifts a clawed paw up. With claw tip point, Lagi aims at Sotalia. Sotalia directs a finger to her chest. Lagi nods, moves the claw point to the sliding glass door handle, and pantomimes sliding it open with his paw. Sotalia gawks in astonishment and directs her voice behind her towards everyone else. "Um? Is there any reason the dragon would be asking me to open the door for him? I think he could do it himself, if he wanted?"

Kaleb exchanges humored glances with Bach, Sebastian, and Shadeesa, and laughs. "Oh, don't mind him. He's just trying to work the system... Again. He's been told HE can't open doors unless they've been specifically marked."

Sebastian shakes his head and hovers over to catch sight of the patiently waiting Lagi. "Still following that rule. Huh? You certainly left some mental scars on him, Shadeesa."

Shadeesa crosses her arms and puffs up. "Listen, first few times he opened the door to the dorm apartment bathroom and stole my clothes and towels while I was in the shower was cute. Everything after the tenth time was aggravating. I had to do something."

Bach lowers his head into his hand and rubs his eyes into a pinch of the bridge of his nose. "Oh. That summer he learned he had opposable thumbs. That was rough a one."

Cideeda twists her mouth in thought and eyes over to Bach. "He can pick locked doors?"

Bach shakes his head and grits with a pull at the corner of his mouth. "No. That actually would have been cheaper. He used to either rip the door knob off, chew a hole into the door itself, or try some kind of magic upon it if it was locked."

He glances over to Kaleb with a knowing smirk. "Never got that deposit back on the apartment I bet."

Kaleb snorts into a dry chuckle as he places a hand on Shadeesa's shoulder. "No. Of course not. We were lucky after you and Sebastian left to not have to pay extra."

Shadeesa places a hand on Kaleb's and sighs with slow shake of her head. "I'm just glad we found something else before he got his first growth spurt. It took FOREVER for him to realize how big he had gotten and not get stuck in everything."

Kaleb directs a whisper to Sotalia with a sly grin. "You want him to be your friend forever?"

Sotalia looks quickly over her shoulder with a perk in her brow. "Sure, I guess."

With a wink and obscured point to the door, Kaleb continues. "Open the door for him. He just wants to stick his head in for a bit, anyway."

Sotalia walks over towards the door. Lagi's eyes open wide and he scoots over towards the side with handle on the sliding glass door. Sotalia grasps the handle with the full attention of Lagi upon it. She clicks the lock open and pulls the door open with a slow slide. Lagi watches the door open, wobbles in anticipation, and halts as he waits with his eyes upon Kaleb and Shadeesa. He gradually moves his head through the doorway, constantly checking for any objections. After a minute, he nuzzles his face on Sotalia's side and purrs. Sotalia smiles, shakes her head with her eyes looking up, and scratches underneath the dragon's chin.

Sotalia walks on the noon sun lit path leading from the back patio towards the picnic table with her aetherphone pressing against her ear. "Yes, mom. I know I should have called you sooner, but yesterday was pretty crazy. But, I'm fine. When the maelstrom hit, we put up some wards and camped out in the living room. Quite the light show, but didn't do too much damage to the area."

She casually strolls and rocks her head side to side with the other side of the conversation. "Well, Bach and Sebastian's old college friends are here and I think later they're going to head off to their hotels for the convention happening in town. Some science fiction, adventuring fandom thing, I don't quite know. We're going to go to it."

A smile cracks on Sotalia's face with the response through the phone as she closes the distance between her and the picnic table. "Don't worry, you know I'll get all my nieces and nephews souvenirs. They've sent me plenty of messages about the last ones. I still don't think they should have aetherphones at their ages."

She bites her lip into a satisfied grin and stands next to the picnic table. "Well, we'll just have to keep our opinions away from Maelvia and Talelia won't we?"

Her grin softens to a smile and she takes a long breath in. "I love you, too, mom. I'll harass dad later when I think he's near a phone of some kind."

With a quick few Emin words, Sotalia finishes the conversation and hangs up the call. She examines the gathering at the table. Kaleb kneels down on the ground with a high end camera, aims the lens at the dire boar piglet hunting through the high grass for cereal loops, and clicks a number of pictures. Shadeesa and Dretphi take turns reaching into the cereal box between them and each tosses a few loops out into the grasses in front of the piglet. Shadeesa scratches a few more notes onto the pad of paper next to her and props a grinning face with her arms upon her lap. "I can't wait write up my notes. Not many people have ever gotten this close to a dire boar piglet, and this young."

Dretphi holds open a hand full of cereal which the piglet happily presses his snout into. She pets it on his head and ruffles the bristly ridge of fur on the back of his neck. "A rare honor. Possibly unique. How long will it take for the mother to find him?"

Shadeesa tugs a corner of her mouth and exhales uncertainly. "I don't know. I don't think long. The few people that have been crazy enough to trap and remove a baby from any dire mother usually had the mother showing up within a day or two, despite dozens of kilometers."

With a scan along the treeline surrounding the clearing, Dretphi nods, sighs, and returns a smile at the cereal crunching creature. Kaleb stands back up, presses few buttons on the camera, and hovers the device in front of Shadeesa. "These came out pretty good."

Shadeesa lifts her head up, hoods the view screen with a hand, and giddily shakes on the bench. "Those are going to be great! I know I shouldn't be thinking business at a time like this, but damn if documentation of the treatment of a dire boar piglet isn't going to get some attention for my future practice!"

Kaleb nods and rests the camera upon his chest from the attached neck strap. "Hopefully, we'll be going to conventions for the sake of going to them more in the future... Despite how profitable presenting a dragon is."

Cideeda slides next Kaleb with a blue-black dragon scale in hand and a sly, scheming expression on her face. "Speaking of which, do you have anymore of these?"

A brow perks, Kaleb gives a nod and directs Cideeda over to Lagi. "Yes, I do. He typically looses a few when new ones grow underneath. But, I often pluck them before they get too roughed up. People pay more when they look nicer."

Cideeda rolls a hand gesture with the flit of a brow and gazes at Kaleb. "So, how much trouble would it be get a few more?"

Kaleb laughs with a wry smirk. "Not hard at all. There's a few overdue that have been bugging him. Any particular reason? Going to try to magic up your own dragon?"

Aristespha disgustedly scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Oh gods! Do people still believe those myths and legends?"

Bach slowly, dramatically lifts his head up and down and groans. "Oh yes. There's whole aethernet forums dedicated towards finding the secret, forbidden formulas and forgotten spells to summon all kinds of things. Good for a cheap comedy reads."

Sebastian shrugs with his hands out to side. "Well, you can't exactly blame them. It's kind of hard to sort out the fact from fiction with a lot of this stuff."

He waves over his ethereal visage. "I mean, I can't say anything. I'm stuck in a magic sword with a number of mages around to me, a dragon over there, and a baby dire boar eating breakfast cereal in front of me.

Aristespha narrows her eyes at Sebastian, huffs as she returns to look forward, and grumbles. "I still question the sanity of anyone expecting to spawn anything other than biological hazard with household cleaners and projecting a few magic sounding words out of their mouths."

A loud crackling snap echoes into the area and silences all conversations. Out from the treeline through a wide gap between trees, a huge two meter tall creature walks effortlessly through a large bush. Bony armor plates cover parts of her head, large tusks gleam in the daylight, and a ridge of back spines rustle with each shift of her shoulders. The dire boar moves with pride and purpose in each step, leaving a strange barely visible miasma wafting out. With glowing green eyes, she scans her head around before settling upon the picnic table and focuses upon the dire boar piglet. In her pause, five piglets of similar size with similar fur patterns trot out from the cleared path and wander around her. Wide eyes from everyone at the picnic table quickly find the dire boar mother. Lagi cautiously steps next to Kaleb and Shadeesa, lowers down to the ground, motions with his head back to the saddle on him, and whines a series of low tones. Kaleb rests his hand on Lagi. "Good thinking, but let's not jump to conclusions yet."

Shadeesa gawks and her hand pat around to find Kaleb. She speaks out the side of her mouth and pokes him in the side to punctuate. "Kaleb. Camera. Record. Now."

Kaleb lifts the camera up, aims, and presses the recording button. Sotalia steps carefully behind the picnic table, kneels down next to Aristespha, and maintains her watch. "Are you feeling that?"

A violet glow radiates from Aristespha's eyes and she finally remembers to blink at the sight before her. "I'm seeing it."

Cideeda retreats back, putting the picnic table between her and the dire boar. Sebastian glances over, nods in agreement, and drifts forward. "Okay everyone. Let's be ready to run if needed."

Bach regains his attention long enough to notice the dire boar piglet still sniffing through the grass for cereal. He leans over the table, reaches over, and pats Dretphi's shoulder. "Hey. Point the piglet at his mother. I don't think he's paying attention."

Dretphi blinks her mind back into focus, glances down at the piglet, and rattles her head in confirmation to Bach. She puts her arms on either side of the piglet, gradually eases him to rotate around, and directs his facing right at his mother. She slides her hands back onto his back legs and pushes gently but firmly forward. The piglet lifts his head up from the grass when he no longer sniffs food, searches around, and stops his head in the direction of his mother. With a series of delighted grunts and a constant vigorous tail wag, the piglet trots down the slight hill and straight towards his awaiting mother. She lowers her head, meets her snout to his, and sniffs. She raises her head up and focuses her eyes at the gathering around the picnic table. The stare takes time to rest upon each person present, an odd flicker of the eyes each time. With final snort and sniff, she blinks long to a final gaze before turning around and marching off with piglets in tow. Everyone watches as dire boar mother disappear into the forest. Sotalia glances over the general area before striding off towards the house. "I'm going to go inside for awhile, anyone is welcome to join. I'm... a bit... thirsty."

The group arrives to a quick agreement and soon make their own ways towards the house, including the dragon.

-19-

A few beams of morning light slip in through the blinds and reflect off the hard armor plates upon the desk. The air current from the oscillating fan gently and slightly pushes the soft armor suit upon the free-standing hangar. Dretphi concentrates on her tan tone hands as they braid the last bit of long hair in front of her face. With a few twists, she slips on a stretchy band to secure the end and inspects the braid, running her fingers from the dirty blonde end to the platinum blonde start upon her head. She twirls her hair in her fingers a few moments before dropping the braid upon her chest. She lifts her head up into her bed pillow, searches above her on the shelf behind the bed, and stretches her muscular, grayish striped arms out to grasp an object. She brings the small fluffy toy boar down to the focus of her steely gray eyes. A smile briefly rises upon her face but fades as a frown tugs down the corners. She rests the plush toy boar upon her rising chest, ruffles the wild furry head ridge, and exhales with a long, sad sigh as her blonde brows droop. A knock at the door snaps her attention forward and she sits up quickly. "You may open the door."

The door opens slowly and Bach leans around into view. He politely waves and glances at Dretphi. "Just wanted to let you know, we're about ready to head off to the convention. I think Cideeda finally figured out all she's going to try to pawn off to convention folks."

Dretphi nods and dons a mild smile to mask her frown. "Good. I am interested in what will happen today."

Bach returns the nod and smile, but his eyes home in on the small toy boar Dretphi holds against her chest. Dretphi notices where Bach's eyes affix in brief puzzlement, glances at the toy boar in her hands, and realizes she still holds the toy. While a slight bite of the lip, she attempts to casually put the toy boar back upon the shelf behind her, and tries to obscure some embarrassment. Bach blinks and drifts his gaze elsewhere around the room. "Miss the little pig, don't you?"

Dretphi pauses mid stretch of her arm, returns her hand in front her with the fluffy toy boar, and noticeably sighs. "Yes."

A tug at the corner of his mouth prompts Bach nod in a similar sentiment. "Glad we found him and got the help he needed."

Bach's eyes glance at Dretphi with a smirk on his mouth. "You really wanted to keep him."

Dretphi blinks, sways her head slightly shoulder to shoulder in an internal debate, and shrugs. "Feelings conflicting."

She holds the toy boar in front of her with both hands and thinks out loud. "I would have been happy to raise the boar. Would have been difficult. Albeit rewarding. Ultimately. I am delighted that I was not needed. The best course happened. I am happy to have made it possible."

She twists around, places the toy boar onto the shelf, and turns herself to place her feet onto the floor. A warm smile returns to her face and she gazes at Bach. "Thank you for your assistance. I do not know how much time we had. You made sure we did not waste that time."

Bach scratches the back of his head and ties to humbly play off the given credit. "Ah, you carried him the rest of the way and were at his side the whole time. I'm glad the mother showed up when we were outside."

Dretphi glances over from tying her boots and takes a long breath in with a serious hint in her tone. "Indeed. Walls may have been missing when she was done."

She stands up, brushes her shirt and shorts in place, and walks towards the door. "I am ready. I am curious as to what I should expect?"

Bach's eyes dart around in thought as he bites his lip trying to condense a proper explanation. "Well... I'll try to best explain some of it on the way there. It's hard to explain. You'll understand once you get there."

Crowds of people flow through the divided paths of registration lines and gaps of space between traverse the snaking runs when people shift forward in line. A floating animated visage drifts above the hordes with extravagant messages heralding the Amaranth Adventure Con in grand spectacle. Intermixed in the masses, people showcase their colorful, themed attire and discuss many topics of fiction and more between themselves. The parallel conversations rise into a low, droning echo in the high ceilings of entryway of the convention center, but small bits of dialog lodge themselves in Cideeda's ears as she navigates her small frame through the gauntlet. A tall emin woman poses seductively in a succubus costume and gives a wink to photographer. A passerby stops, points out the emin woman's tail, and puzzles. "How did you do your tail? That's so life like!"

The emin woman giggles with a beaming smile, strokes her tail up into her hand, and wags it slightly. "Oh, it's no trick! My great grandfather was Fvalian, so it shows up in my family. It really sells the whole outfit!"

Cideeda slips in between a few armor suit wearing graths, deftly dodges the swing an over-sized plastic sword welding human, and slides by a group of evuukians comparing older era mage robes. With a final dash through a momentary break in the waves of visitors, she rushes clear to the awaiting group of Aristespha, Bach, Dretphi, Sebastian, and Sotalia. She retrieves a collection of badges and pamphlets from her backpack and distributes them to everyone else. "Whew. It's been awhile since I've had to dodge that many people. But, here's our weekend passes, official literature, and guides to all that's going on."

Aristespha clips her badge onto her belt, next to the sword, and flips through a few pages of the guide. "This is quite the place. It feels weird. Feels like I'm in a-"

Cideeda grins slyly and perks an eyebrow. "A shopping mall?"

Aristespha glances over to Cideeda and slowly nods. "Yes!"

With a few claw-tipped page flips in the guide, Cideeda shows Aristespha, Bach, and Sebastian an About page. "It used to be. But, a few decades back some crazed, rich old adventurer sunk his life savings to buy this place after an economic slump and overhauled it into a massive convention center. Offered discounted rates to attract renters. Now, it has some kind of convention every month with this one being THE big one."

Bach opens his guide to the same page, lets his eyes trace down the paragraphs of text, and nods. "Can't go to the adventures, so bring them to you. Not a bad retirement plan."

Sebastian hovers over Aristespha's shoulder as his eyes follow the words on the page. "Wow! He lived to hundred sixty three, not bad at all."

Aristespha thumbs through another set of pages and flits a brow with a smile to Sebastian. "To think Pre-Cataclysm life expectancy was approaching two hundred. I still find it astounding what they did without magic Pre-Cataclysm."

Her attention snaps to a spot on a schedule and her pupils creep wide at the event title. "Interesting. I did not think they'd have something like this here."

Sebastian twists his mouth at the title and grumbles with an ethereal resonance. "Well, I guess I'm going with you to that one."

Aristespha slides her finger over to another part of the schedule and watches with a loving smile as Sebastian's eyes light up figuratively and a tad literally. "Don't worry, Sebastian. I think we'll both like this one afterwards."

Boyish glee swells on Sebastian face as smile firmly plants itself. "Yes, dear. I believe two hours of Sword Style Demonstrations would be great for the both of us to experience together."

A voice from the crowd calls out a comment. "Awesome illusion!"

Sebastian blinks up from the page, turns himself to the source of the voice, assumes a bravado filled pose with a snapping point of the fingers, and smiles heroically at the passersby. "Enjoy the convention!"

The passerby enthusiastically waves back as the surrounding group of friends react in astonishment as the Sebastian "illusion" responds. Sebastian returns his head next to Aristespha and chuckles to himself. "Holy shit, I think this illusion ploy might actually work. This is going to be great!"

Bach stops shuffling pages in the guide and examines the schedule closely. "I think I might join you two for the sword style event. Might be helpful for me to see some other styles..."

Sebastian stares a Bach with a quirk of an eye brow and narrows his ethereal gaze at him. "Let's concentrate on getting you proficient with A style, first. That's next on the list after flight."

A low groan rumbles from Bach as he matches Sebastian's gaze. "I know a style!"

The amusement wanes from Sebastian's expression as he tilts his head back and away with an examining glare. "Does that style involve THROWING the sword? I distinctly remember THAT."

Bach averts his eyes, grits in embarrassment, and attempts to shrug off the unamused gaze of Sebastain. "Dammit! What else was I suppose to do? I could never match you in sword fighting. So, I had to... Improvise."

Sebastian rolls his eyes and sighs with a begrudging smile and laughs. "Well, that instructor learned never to pit us against each other ever fucking again."

Cideeda stifles a snort at the interplay between brothers and wanders her focus to Sotalia and Dretphi. "Hey, you two find anything... yet?"

She watches Sotalia and Dretphi stand, idly grasping onto their badges and guides, and stare off to the convention around them. Dretphi's eyes scan the area, slowly taking in the spectacle before her. A strong smile of delight claims her mouth and she continues to watch people in costumes and listen to passing discussions. Her mind's focus seizes her and directs her gaze upon two grath men hauling a large flat stone grill top. Her jaw drops at the sight of a grath woman carrying a collection of cooking utensils. Sotalia gawks in stunned silence and manages to break away to turn slowly to the group. Her face remains indecisive on an expression. "I've been watching all this for the last twenty minutes."

She drifts her gaze across the group and tries on another look of confusion. "I still have no idea what is exactly going on here."

Cideeda toothily grins, exchanges humored looks with Aristespha, Bach, and Sebastian, and returns to Sotalia. "Don't worry. Just pick something from the guide. You'll figure it out."

Sotalia nods in a daze, lowers her eyes uncertain to the guide in her hands, and wanders aimlessly through the pages. "Right. Okay. Sure."

Through the wide halls of mall turned convention center, people flow from place to place. Individuals dart through with purpose in mind, while loose groups wander from one location to another as they experience what Amaranth Adventure Con offers. Bach manages to locate a sparse spot out of the main river of traffic. With a few well-timed side steps, he shifts out the masses into the clearing and slows his pace to appreciate the void. A number of benches and chairs offer their surfaces, which Bach gladly utilizes. He unfolds his guide and searches his pants pocket. After seconds of curious confusion, a pen finds its way into Bach's hand as he withdraws it. The pen strikes a few spots on the guide's schedule and circles a number of others. Minutes go by with Bach idly tapping the pen upon the page between a number of options. He lifts his head up, places his back firmly against the wall behind the bench, and closes his eyes while his ears filter through the chorus of sounds in the area. Conversations drift on by, distant echoes of loud voices escape from large rooms with celebrity panels, and various other noises peppers the soundscape. But, a nearby sighing whine from a small child catches Bach's attention. He opens his eyes, scans the traffic free area, and locates the source across from him in another collection of benches. A sitting evuukian woman gently rubs the shoulders of a small child standing in front of her in a comforting attempt. The little boy holds a wand in both hands with a sad stare of disappointment. He waves it around with a vigorous effort, but the wand remains inert and nothing happens in the space before him. A long, sadder sigh escapes from his breath and he resumes the longing stare at the wand. The evuukian woman leans forward, wraps her arms around the child, and rests her head on top of his, letting her long golden brown hair flow around, obscuring his long but rounded tip ears. "I know my son. We'll try tomorrow to see if we can find that dealer again. Maybe he can get it working for you."

The boy idly, and as carefully as his young motor skills can manage, guides the wand through various motions. "It was working. It lighted up and everything. Am I doing something wrong, momma?"

The boy's mother cracks a reserved smile, leans back, and ruffles her son's dirty blonde hair. "No, my dear Mylo. I think it's equipment failure. You had it working just fine. I saw you. It was very good."

Mylo looks at the wand and concentrates on it intensely. A strong tug pulls the corner of Bach's mouth. He lowers his head back to his schedule and taps the pen idly upon the page. In his mind, a long ignored motivation stomps around. The same drive behind the recent split-second shields saves, heroic plasma barrages, energy draining D-ball, and bold thudkicker challenge... Now loudly, annoyingly taps its foot behind the other machinations of Bach's mind with a demanding glare. A long wince overtakes Bach's face with a twist of head over the span of a minute, before he exhales to resignation. He places the pen back in his pants pocket, folds the guide back up, and stands up with a hint of heroic determination seeping into his expression. With purposeful, calm steps, Bach walks over in front of woman and child. "Excuse me. I couldn't help but overhear that you have a problem with a wand?"

The evuukian woman blinks her focus away from Mylo, gazes up, and nods with a smile at Bach. "Why yes. I purchased a toy wand for him, since he was enamored by it. Too many stories about his grandfather, I guess. Unfortunately, I think this one is broken... But, I couldn't find the person I bought it from."

Bach returns a smile on the edge of grin and understandingly nods. "He may have left for the day. If it's not a problem, I could take a look at it and see if there's anything I can do about it. I have some skill fixing electronics."

The smile on the woman's face grows brighter and she lowers her head next her son's. She directs his attention to Bach and in a motherly tone asks. "Mylo, do you want the man to look at the wand and see if he can fix it for you?"

Mylo glances up at Bach, back at the wand, and then back up, extending the wand in his hands toward Bach. With a slow descent, Bach kneels down, settles on the floor, and takes the wand from Mylo's hands. Mylo's mother softly pats her son on the shoulder and watches. "I greatly appreciate you taking the time to help. If you can get working even for an hour, I'll be in your debt."

Bach examines the plastic wood-texture, toy wand and rests the it in the palm of his hand. A grin widens on his face, blue flickers into his eyes, and he hovers his other hand over the wand. With a slow twisting, pull to the sides, the wand hovers midair and disassembles methodically in all its pieces. The parts hang in the air between Bach's hands and his glowing blue eyes scan the components. Eventually, a stray wire away from a solder joint bends around from the influence of some force. Bach briefly glances over to the awestruck mother and son, who witness with jaws agape. "There's the problem. This one was probably the last one made for the shift and they skimped on that wire. Give me a moment."

The stray wire end frays out the individual strands of copper before they intertwine into a properly braided wire. The blob of solder morphs from a solid cloudy gray to a liquid silver that reaches out and seeps into the wire as it closes in. The wire settles onto the solder joint with a cooling coat of silver securing it to the spot. With a waggle of a sensor part, the light from the tip illuminates and a small speaker chirps out. As the floating parts snap and merge together into the complete toy wand, Bach stares at the toy and thinks. A bold grin dawns on his face. "It should work just fine now... But..."

He glances at the mother and gazes a the son, as that drive finishes the grin on his face. "I don't think you came out just to settle on a simple toy wand..."

A bright flash of blue shines from Bach's eyes and he concentrates upon the wand. Thin shimmering fibers of magical flow waver out from his hands, contact the wand drifting in between, and sink in. Pathways of multi-color energy etch onto the surface of the wand in systematic, geometric designs that encase the entirety of the wand. In between the larger paths, patterns of magical mesh grow into the outer surface and partially sink into the plastic. The process shines brilliant lights upon the area and the faces of the mother in astonishment and son in sheer wonderment. The magical flow wanes, the glows fade, and the wand feathers down upon Bach's open palm. He lowers his hand to Mylo and gestures with a gradual lift. "Take it. It is yours."

Mylo blinks as his young mind recovers from the spectacle, reaches out with his hand, and grabs onto the toy wand as his mother watches, her face attempting comprehension but failing halfway through. He lifts his hand up, his finger on the other hand approaches the power button, and Bach shakes his head. "Not yet. It does work as a regular toy wand. But, try it right now without turning it on."

Mylo stops, angles his head to stare with a youthful attempt to raise a brow, and squints back at the wand. "How?"

Bach chuckles to himself, clasps his hands together, and mimics straining in concentration. "You know how you tried to think really hard to get it to work before? Try that again, just imagine all the magic going right to it."

A long gaze of uncertainly tinges childish suspicion before Mylo takes the wand in both hands and stares at it. Moments pass before the expression on the child flickers from a faux concentration grimace to proper focus. With a flash of determination beyond his age, the pathways of the wand illuminate and the tip sputters to a shining haze of green magical energy. Mylo's eyes flit wide open as the green glow and joy lights his face up. He waves the wand around, notices the trail of misty energy lingering, and launches out his mother's arms to twirl the wand in rough shapes around in an empty area nearby. Mylo's mother reacts with a hand covering a gasp, gazes in disbelief, and rushes over to hug Mylo and lead him back. Bach slowly nods in a content satisfaction at the scene. His mind wanders and notices something very strange of the acoustics in the area. The normal drone of the convention center seems quieter. Something muffles the audio from the background activities behind him. Bach begins to pivot his kneel upon the floor and catches a glimpse of a someone holding a phone recording the scene. Then another... And another... A whole crowd of people watch on as Mylo playfully draws shapes in the air, many with phones recording. Bach returns his head forward wide-eyed and darts his eyes around hunting for an exit route. "Shit..."

As the thoughts of the cameras weight in Bach's mind, he shrinks his posture and scoots carefully away to an opening around the gathering. With each kneeling shuffle, he carefully glances to the camera holding crowd, waits for a response, and then continues on. Mylo's mother finally convinces Mylo to go where she keeps pointing him. He walks with wand distraction securing his attention and she looks up to the crowd. With a defensive, but respectful motherly glare, most in the crowd stop recording. A few politely ask questions with many breaking off into their own debates about the events. Mylo's mother senses something missing and glances to the spot Bach was. She snaps her head around to points around area and stares at the crowd. "Where did he go?"

Smells of delicious food from all around the world mix into an alluring aroma that wafts above in the high windowed ceilings of the food court. Sounds of heat sizzling intertwine with cookware rattling and conversation enriching the area's canvas of sound. Bach navigates through the walkways, changes impromptu lanes a number of times, and finally finds refuge in an unused alcove. He pulls out his aetherphone, glances down, reads a message, and searches the area for anyone familiar. Moments pass and he feels a strange set of pressure points press into arm with a slight tug. Cideeda's voice directs Bach's attention down to his side. "So... What's this I hear about some mystery mage fixing up toy wands into artifacts of power?"

Bach eyes widen and he tries to casually avert his gaze away from Cideeda's piercing emerald pupil stare and toothy grin. "Ah... Um... What are you talking about?"

Cideeda narrows her eyes, maintaining the grin, raises her aetherphone up from her side, holds the screen out, and adjusts it to align with Bach's face. "Oh, don't play that game with me. I don't know anyone else that can pull this trick off. And, neither does the rest of the aethernet from the looks of it."

The video replays on Cideeda's phone, showcasing previous events from a perspective behind Bach and over to the side of his shoulder. A strong twitch yanks at the cheek beneath Bach's eye and a wary, unnerved grimace forms. Cideeda lowers the phone down, pats Bach on the shoulder, and laughs. "Don't worry. Everyone was too focused on the magic to get a good shot of your face. And most the aethernet armchair mages are too busy in arcane knowledge pissing contests to bother figuring out who you are."

A long sigh escapes Bach's lungs and he stares at the ground with a hand on his chest and relief solidly upon his face. "Oh good. I really didn't want to have dodge attention and questions for the rest of the convention."

Cideeda glances up from her phone at Bach and shakes her head with a smirking smile. "Still questioning the logic behind arming a small child with potent magic."

Bach lifts head up toward the ceiling with a long eye roll and groans. "It's not anything powerful. It's just a simple magical focus. A training tool. Simple energy collector piping to a simple vapor light trail effect. My dad had a bunch of different ones to help refine his magical flow control."

A poke into his side prompts Bach to lower his head back down to Cideeda. She gives a wink, smiles, and points to a table near several large stone grill tops. "I know. Anyway, Aristespha, Dretphi, and Sebastian are over there. Let's eat, first, then worry about how much you are trending on social media."

Cideeda steps forward with a sly grin and Bach follows immediately behind with a worried look on his face. "I'm WHAT?!"

Dretphi sits patiently at the table as her gaze wanders between the stone grill tops and grath cooking. Aristespha taps through menus on her tablet upon the table with Sebastian hovering nearby watching over her shoulder. Bach settles in a seat next to Dretphi, rests his elbows upon the table top, and props his head up. Dretphi leans over and speaks without taking her eyes of the culinary progress in front of her. "Excellent timing. They are close to completion."

Cideeda slides into the seat between Bach and Aristepsha, carefully slides her phone over towards Aristespha, and nudges an elbow to her. "I see you found the app they posted for the convention."

Aristespha turns her head with a hint of curiosity to Cideeda, scrutinizes her expression, and aims her eyes down at the phone with a quirk to the corner of her mouth. Cideeda discreetly tilts her head to Bach, glances to the phone, and holds a finger to her lips. Aristespha nods back, slides the phone over next to her tablet, and taps a prominent play button on the phone's screen. "Yes. It's really helped with planning everything out and posts all the updated information."

Cideeda sways her head to face Bach pokes him in the shoulder. "You have the app, yet? Get your phone out. It allows you to show your schedule to other people and plan with others."

Bach grumbles a moment before reaching into his pocket, retrieving his phone, and holds it out as Cideeda directs, nearly commanding, Bach on the setup process. Aristespha focuses upon the video and watches it silently play. Her expression softens over time, a warm smile grow on her face. Sebastian smiles proudly, glances over to Bach in mid-distraction with Cideeda, and unconsciously tries to rest his hand upon Aristespha's. As Sebastian's ethereal visage starts to pass through, he sighs but halts as Aristespha's hand rotates and grabs hold. Sebastian turns his gaze towards the faint violet glow of her eyes. The video ends with both watching happily. Aristespha discreetly slides Cideeda's phone back, pressing it carefully against her elbow. Cideeda without changing her focus from Bach, deftly grasps the phone up, taps a few spots on the screen to exit out of the video player, and hoists it up next to Bach's phone. "Here, let me add you to group and we can see our schedules and choices."

Aristespha's eyes eventually dim down to normal and she gazes at Sebastian lovingly with a happy sigh. Sebastian chuckles quietly and shrugs. Sotalia drops into the seat across and blinks wide-eyed to the group at large. "Okay. I think I'm figuring this all out. I'm going to things, I'm doing things, and I'm seeing things."

She shakes the rest of the daze out of head, and takes a deep breath in with a sniff of the air. "Now it is time to eat, so I can go, do, and see more things."

The alluring odor seizes her attention and pulls Sotalia around in her seat. "Wow! That smells amazing! Is that what we're getting to eat, because I'm all for it."

Dretphi nods quickly with a wide smile and keeps her eyes on the grills. "Yes. All cooked properly."

Sotalia leans her head back at Dretphi quizzically. "How so?"

Dretphi lifts her hand to point out and explains energetically. "Stone grills. Dense stone has very small holes. The stone is oiled. Takes time to heat up. It stays hot no matter what food you put on it. When you are done cooking it will warm the house at night."

She shifts her point, directs everyone's attention to collections of ingredients nearby on tables, in buckets, and some in water, and continues with excitement welling. "Main ingredients. Very few other small ingredients. Plenty of spices. Those that you need very little to flavor. Those that are trivial to have great amounts of."

Dretphi sits up in her seat and thinks a few seconds, twisting for mouth to test out words in her mind. She looks at the group with a renewed calmer smile and carefully speaks with her hand gesturing to the grath cooks. "There have been many times in Grath history when we could not anticipate what food would be available. Grath developed streamline, simple recipes. Focus on the preparation to compensate for lack of abundance."

Bach pays attention to the careful movements of the cooks as they shuffle food around on the grill, moving much from the center region to outer areas. Cideeda flips through the screen on her phone and notices a new update from the Amaranth Adventure Con news feed. She taps the notification and the article expands out on her phone.

"Mystery Guests of Honor revealed to be The Next Adventurers of Nexus's own Flames of the Phoenix..."

A strong cringe distorts Cideeda's face and she snarls her lip with a stare at her phone as a painfully familiar promo group picture fills the screen. She manages to fight back a grit and draw a calming breath through her sharp teeth. "Well, that's... interesting... news."

Bach tilts his head back and aims his glance at Cideeda's phone, prompting a lift of an eyebrow. "Oh. Well... There goes the neighborhood."

Aristespha cranes her head over, catches a glimpses of the source and headline, and returns to a series of taps on her tablet. "I'm not exactly surprised. But, it looks like they are pretty booked for the rest of the convention."

She hovers a finger over a spot in the convention schedule app and waits. Sebastian angles his view to read what lies underneath and curiously turns his head to face Aristespha with an evil grin forming. "Really?"

Aristespha bites her lip, let's a playfully sinister drive contain her fleeting embarrassment, presses down on the schedule spot. An alert pops up on Bach's and Cideeda's phones. Both slowly rotate their stares from the alert and concentrate their collective, awkward confusion at Aristespha. Cideeda glances back down at her phone and returns to face Aristespha with her head turning away but her eyes maintaining lock. "Whatever are you thinking, woman?"

Aristespha shrugs with feigned coyness and averts her eyes up and away. "Oh, I don't know. All of them... In one place... In front of a few hundred people... On a question and answer forum, for two hours?"

Cideeda blinks, lowers her head, widens her grin, and taps a spot on her phone. Bach twists his mouth a few moments before firmly placing his finger tip on his phone screen, right on the same schedule spot. Dretphi quirks a brow, retrieves her phone from her shorts pocket, and quickly reads through the screens to find the current topic at hand. A crack of grin forms as she taps her phone screen, and casually places it back in her pocket. Sotalia darts her face between the others in confusion. "Um? I'm missing something. What is it?"

Aristespha spins and eases her tablet to Sotalia. Eyes traces through the literature on the screen, and Sotalia laughs to herself with a dark undertone. "Oh. Well, I know where I'll be tomorrow."

A directed voice calls out from the grath grills. Dretphi snaps her head towards the origin to see an older grath woman gesturing everyone at the table to come over. "The food is ready!"

She stands up, halts herself abruptly, and turns to the group. "Please enjoy what you want. I will pay. It is rare to enjoy this away from home. I want to honor all of you with this meal."

She waits patiently for the rest of the group to move before her, but her eyes betray her immediate desires as they sneak moments at the food. Sebastian smiles proudly at Dretphi and shakes his head. "Thank you for the honor, but there's no need to wait for us. Get over there."

Dretphi bows slightly to the group and happily rushes to be the first customer in the serving line.

A chorus of laughter echoes above the crowd around the simple wooden riser, cobbled stage in a large mall hallway intersection. Kaleb secures his pants with a pull, readjusts his helm back upon his head, and twists his fake breast plate back straight on his body. He stomps up to a large stone prominently in the front center of the stage, rubs his gauntleted hands together, and firmly grips the sword stuck in the middle of the stone. He briefly lifts his head over his shoulder to a Shadeesa with a heroic grin and nod. "Don't worry my fair princess! I will have this sword out in no time and use it slay the dragon!"

Shadeesa rests her elbow on a handrail in front of her, props her head with an unamused expression on her face, and watches Kaleb with narrowing eyes from a platform decorated as a tower balcony. She sighs with a dramatic eye roll that flows her fanciful green princess dress and shakes her head to the crowd. "Heard that a few times before."

Kaleb's grin to the audience drops as he snaps his head back again. "Uh... A few times? How many times?"

With a dismissive wave, Shadeesa stands up, taps a finger to her chin, and glances around the stage. "Oh, I don't know anymore, I've lost count. How many charred suits of armor do you see around here?"

The eyes of the audience along with Kaleb trace the many piles of decorative armor pieces littering the stage, and all finally settle on the sword in the stone. Kaleb looks uncertain towards the crowd, returns his gaze to sword, and then frantically pulls at the sword. He tugs, yanks, and theatrically strains with each motion, all the while the sword remains solidly in place. "Come on! Don't be shy, sword! There's dragon to slay! FULFILL. YOUR. PURPOSE."

Shadeesa blinks dumbfounded and firmly facepalms as the struggle continues to greater and more ridiculous lengths. "Really? This is what it has come to?"

She darts her eyes over the side of the stage and gasps with both hands covering her mouth. Lagi casually and confidently strides on the stage, examines the crowd, and acknowledges their cheers and cries out. While Lagi works the crowd, Shadeesa directs a harshly loud whisper toward Kaleb. "HEY! HEY! HERO! BEHIND YOU!"

Kaleb continues to struggle at a feverish pace trying to work the sword loose from the stone, while the children in the audience chatter about the looming Lagi behind him. They point, wave, and scream. Lagi steps closer and closer, his opening mouth leading the rest of his body. Kaleb's loud grumbling and constant loud pleads to the sword seem to overtake his perception of the world around him. Lagi hovers his wide open mouth just behind and over Kaleb, who theatrically powers all his remaining strength into one final yank of the sword. Kaleb plants his feet, grasps the sword with both hands, and whips his body up with a scream. "AHHHHHHh- Ooooohhh GODS!"

The sword launches out of the stone, frees itself from Kaleb's grip as he fall backwards, and flies right into the awaiting mouth of Lagi. A long dramatic moment hangs in the air as Lagi's mouth slams shut around the sword, engulfing it. Kaleb scurries up off the floor to the side of the stage and watches Lagi the dragon warily. Lagi blinks, staggers in exaggerated steps along the stage, gurgles out dramatic choking noises, and stiffly pauses in the middle of a spotlight upon him. With slow, careful grace, he places one fore paw on his chest, reaches up towards the light with another, and gazes into the heavens. The moment draws out to seconds before the spotlight cuts out and Lagi unceremoniously flops onto the stage floor, releasing a final thematically contrary death cry. "Bleah."

Kaleb slides step by step up to Lagi, checks with the crowd, shrugs, and pokes Lagi with a boot. He waits. He pokes again and waits again. Doubt no longer plaguing him, he assumes a bravado filled stance and gives a bright grin and wink to princess Shadeesa. "So? This counts, right?"

Shadeesa sternly crosses her arms with a huge twitch in her cheek, turns away with a flowing flare of her green dress, and walks out of view with her hands thrown to the sides. "I can't believe THIS! Years of waiting and THIS is the..."

With a shrug and pivot to the crowd, Kaleb gazes out with a sly smile. "Well, I'm counting it."

The lights cut out, the suspended stage curtain closes, and the audience cheers and applauds. Noises of movement sound out from behind the stage and stop as the curtains open back up. Kaleb holds Shadeesa's hand up high. Lagi quickly spits out a wooden sword onto the stage floor, sways himself over to join in the bows Kaleb and Shadeesa perform. The curtain close a final time and a convention staffer flips the show sign over to reveal no further show times for the rest of the late evening.

The crowd disperses over a few minutes, leaving only a group of people standing nearby. Bach fumbles with his phone, but eventually gets it to play back a recording. He chuckles with an evil undertone and holds up the phone so Sebastian can get a clear view. "I'm so saving this."

Sebastian grins and nods darkly. "Yes. If we could get in touch with that drama professor he took classes from."

Bach snorts and shakes his head as the video continues. "Oh, yes. I'm sure that whole department would be laughing their asses off at Mister I'm-Just-Taking-These-To-Kill-Electives."

Aristespha waves her hand at Bach and Sebastian, acquires their attentions, and directs them to follow around to the side of the stage. Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, Sebastain, and Sotalia congregate near Kaleb, Shadeesa, and Lagi. Shadeesa quickly seizes another chair nearby, slides it over, and carefully hoists her legs, with dress in tow, upon the seat. "I'm so glad that's the last show until late tomorrow. This princess needs to start wearing more comfortable shoes."

Kaleb slips off the costume slippers from Shadeesa's feet, tosses them into an open suitcase, and turns to the group. "Next script revision, I'll work in the princess having gel insole work boots."

Sebastian floats over to Kaleb and laughs with a smile. "That actually wasn't too bad. Good to know all those theater classes came in handy."

A sighing groan escapes Kaleb mouth and he rolls his eyes with a finishing shake of the head. "Well, I'm glad you enjoyed the show and didn't add too much commentary of your own. By the way, how's your hologram, illusion act been going?"

Sebastian shrugs with his hands out to the side. "Pretty good, I guess. Mostly compliments at how lifelike I am. No one seemed to recognize me or if they did they just thought I was joke done in poor taste. Everyone just thinks I'm some really amazing magical illusion."

Aristespha briefly looks away from admiring Shadeesa's elegant dress with Dretphi and Cideeda, and scoffs with a heavy dose of sarcasm. "Well, except for that one poor girl."

Kaleb narrows his stare quizzically at Sebastian. With an ethereal grumble and a palm firmly on the forehead, Sebastian sighs. "You know the sad part is, I really don't think that exorcism she tried was an act to her. She was so into it, I kind of felt bad when I was still standing there afterwards."

Bach glances between Shadeesa and Kaleb with a curious quirk of the brow. "So what are you two doing tomorrow?"

Shadeesa eyes Lagi with a playful roll of the eyes and smile. "Well, you know, pimping our dragon out to pay the bills."

Lagi gnaws on the wooden sword from the show, pauses when he notices the attention, shuffles the sword from his mouth underneath him, and attempts a disguise of innocence. Shadeesa shakes her head and returns to face the group. "Any particular plans yourselves?"

Bach digs out his battered guide from his pants pocket, unfolds it out, and flips through a number of pages. "Well, apart from one big event, I think I'm going to wander around the dealer room for awhile and-"

Sotalia blinks, scoots over to Bach's side, and squints at the page with her phone out. "Dealer room? What's that exactly?"

Bach opens the guide to a particular page with a map showing a section of the mall and circles out a large area with his finger. "Well, it's a huge area dedicated to shops and vendors of all varieties. They mostly just sell supposedly magical trinkets and-"

He winces when he realizes what he just said out loud. Sotalia's eye flit wide as she moves through menus on her phone to a picture gallery of the location, and grow even wider as she studies the pictures of the location. "Oh. We are definitely coming here tomorrow."

A distance away, Samantha and Gerald walk down a hallway of the mall towards the intersection. Samantha taps on her clipboard and nods to Gerald. "That should all work. They arrive tomorrow, do the first panel and-"

Samantha halts mid sentence to Gerald's pokes into her shoulder. She looks up from the clipboard, hoists her phone up, taps the screen a few times, and smiles sharply. "Oh. Howie is going to be so happy..."

-20-

Rows upon rows of dealer booths sprawl out along the set paths of the dealer hall. People ebb and flow through the aisles between the booths, with individuals stopping to admire merchandise or hear a sales pitch. Magical baubles, reproduction weapons, games, artworks, crafts, and other sundry prominently present themselves upon booth displays and receive praise from their owners in hopes to bolster the desire enough for the elusive purchase. Sotalia excitedly zips through the spaces between people from one booth to the next, often brushing her dark red hair to the side to gaze in wide, golden eye wonder at what awaits her in a particular booth. Bach wanders aimlessly, searching the crowd a few aisles over. He scratches his head of brown hair with strands of gray and can only express honest bewilderment at the moment. "Where the hell did she go?"

Cideeda blinks her emerald green eyes, with the faintest hint of a wince in the very corner of her eye, as the pupils track the other energetic Fvalian in front of her. She calmly guides her short cut, patterned mixture of brown, white, tan, orange, and black hairs back over her long furry ears. Her ear briefly, reflexively flicks when a stray hair tickles the fur inside, but levels back to point out from the side of her head. She maintains a toothy and outwardly cheery smile with the occasional searching dart of her eyes revealing the forced nature behind it. She nods calmly with the conversation washing upon her from a very enthusiastic Deedri. Her light brown skinned hand slides purposefully and slowly into her shorts pocket and retrieves her aetherphone. She aims the screen of the phone to her sight, quickly taps a message with claw tips of her other hand, and flexes her toe claws into the flat hall carpet. With a few flicks of her tufted, medium length tail, she shifts her lithe, fit frame into another variant of her previous stance. With an acknowledging nod from Cideeda, Deedri finally stops her long explanation and sighs. "I'm so sorry... I've been talking your head off. I'm not used to meeting other Fvalian's that aren't family. Especially other adventurers!"

Cideeda portrays a nonchalant smile and tilt of the head. "It's okay. I understand, really. It sounds like you've been doing some very exciting things with your group."

Deedri attempts a similar expression but honesty hinders the progress and she settles for a shrug. "Well, you know. They really do try, despite our... interesting... dynamic."

A crack of a grin forms in the corner of Cideeda's mouth and she perks a brow. "That I have seen."

Deedri's eyes awkwardly avert from the subject in her mind. She drops her focus down and then locks onto Cideeda's feet. "I HAVE to ask you something... Where DID you get those shoes?"

Blinks of puzzlement flutter on Cideeda's face and she glances down herself to examine the rubber and fabric, individual toed shoes with holes for her claws. Deedri bites her lip, takes a deep breath, and sighs. "I've seen you wear them. And, I'm honestly really jealous. They look so nice and... I bet they are so comfortable."

Cideeda shifts her gaze up and studies the regular looking canvas top shoes on Deedri's feet. Her attention rises up and she scrutinizes the regular knee socks, tasteful but mundane skirt, and average top that Deedri currently wears. Cideeda settles her eyes upon Deedri's pleading, auburn eyes. With genuine smile and brief relax of her body language, Cideeda taps up an aethernet site on her phone and reveals it to Deedri. "This is the company that makes them. They specialize in custom clothing for Fvalians. I've used them for many years and they work with you to get the sizing just right."

Deedri beams as she shuffles through her pockets, extracts her phone, and quickly makes a note of the site. "Thank you, so much! These last few small jobs we've been on have left my feet aching."

Cideeda guides Deedri through the aethersite on Deedri's phone, points out a few pairs of shoes, gloves, pants, and shorts. Bach rounds corner of a nearby booth back, scans the area with his aetherphone out, and spots Cideeda with a wave. "Hey! Sorry about taking so long. I lost Sotalia somewhere in the mix and tried to find her."

As Bach walks up to Cideeda, Deedri's eyes flit wide and her body language stiffens slightly. Cideeda pivots to Bach and rolls her eyes. "Not surprised. Don't worry. She'll show back up when she's either too loaded or too broke to continue."

Excitement from nervous energy leaps upon Deedri's face and she exaggerates a glance at her aetherphone. "Oh no! I'm so sorry, I need to run and get ready! Thank you so much! It was really nice to talk you!"

Deedri briefly awaits Cideeda's glance, happily smiles, bows, and rushes off into the river of people nearby. Cideeda watches Deedri slip away into the masses, rests her hands upon her hips, and puzzles about the sudden departure. "Strange."

Bach alternates his glances between Cideeda and the crowd Deedri disappeared into, before looking to Cideeda with awkward confusion. "Wow. Uh. Sorry, if I scared your friend away. I didn't mean to intrude."

Cideeda lifts an eyebrow at Bach with a twist in her mouth and crosses her arms. "I wouldn't say friend. More of a professional acquaintance at the moment."

Recognition dawns upon Bach and he opens up his eyes with a quick snap of the head to Cideeda. "Wait! That was-"

Cideeda nods simply, narrows her eyes at Bach with a curious grin, and lifts her ears up. "Yes, it was. She was really eager to talk to me. But, she was a bit... nervous about you."

Bach shrugs with his hands out to the sides and grits with a hint of a frown. "Uh, I really don't know. That's the second time I've been close enough to even to talk to her."

Cideeda pivots in place, lifts her arm up to prop her chin up, and stares into the crowd pondering. "I know. Certainly strange to say the least."

Steve rests his elbow upon the booth table, as he leans his large, heavy frame over to hold his tablet out in front of Bach's vision. He grins as he enthusiastically points out parts of the video playing on the tablet screen. "Come on, man! What's your opinion on this? I've been on a dozen forums and no one can agree upon what is going on to make that wand!"

Bach uncomfortably eyes the tablet screen, suppresses a corner twist on his mouth, and expresses a blatant shrug to Steven. He carefully glances over to Steve, averting direct eye contact to focus upon the merchandise in Amaranth's Wrath Game Emporium's booth. "Well, maybe it's just non-standard direct casting?"

Steve sways his head side to side in internal debate before circling a finger over another point in video, his eyes squinting. "I thought about that. But, that doesn't explain all this. This is stabilized magical energy. At least... That's what a few people on a few forums think it is. That usually requires a whole lab or altar or some kind of dedicated setup to do."

A low buzz vibrates the lose change in Bach's pocket and he pulls out his aetherphone enough to catch the brief message notification from Cideeda. He slides the phone back in his pocket, scans around the area quickly, and settles his gaze at Steve. "Well, I'm being summoned, I'll catch you later."

Steve lowers the tablet upon on the table top, sits back down in his chair behind the booth, and smiles with a knowing wink. "Ah, I totally understand, man! Don't need to keep you and get you into trouble with her."

Bach summons up an appreciative nod, pauses a moment as a thought wedges a bit of guilt into his mind, and sighs. "Hey, I just wanted to apologize for not telling you about being part of an adventuring group and everything. Kind of new to it all, so..."

A hearty laugh shakes out of Steve and he shakes his head with wide, happy smile. "It's cool, man! People come to my shop to get away from work. I totally so I understand. But, I figured you guys might be adventurers with the stuff Cideeda sells, or at least have some awesome connections. I'm just totally stoked you guys come to my shop! Those Next Adventurers guys haven't even looked at my place. You all are cool in my book."

Bach extends a hand with chuckling smile to Steve, shakes Steve's strong grip, and nods as he walks off into the flow of people traffic. He searches the vicinity briefly before continuing forward and ponders to himself while scratching his head.

Bach arrives next to Cideeda in a pocket of space between the flows of convention goers. "Thanks for the message."

Cideeda glances up with a sly grin. "I walked near there and saw Steve trying to get your opinion on one of those videos. Figured I'd give you an easy out."

A long sigh of relief escapes from Bach's lungs and he tilts his head back to gaze up. "Yes. I didn't think it'd be THAT popular."

Cideeda places her hands on her hips and perks an eye brow with short smile. "Didn't think that showcasing an unusual form of magic at a convention dedicated to everything adventuring would be popular?"

Bach levels his head forward, narrows his eyes at Cideeda, and slumps his shoulders down as he stares ahead of himself, examining the obvious error in his mind. "Point taken."

He thinks for a moment and scratches the beard hairs on his chin. Cideeda focuses her gaze upon Bach as she shifts her weight from one foot to another foot with a wag of the tail. "Plotting your next great reveal?"

After a blink, Bach shakes his head and crosses his arms. "No. But, the thought did cross my mind to maybe make a few more of those focus wands. I know Steve would be interested."

He quirks an eyebrow and smiles at Cideeda. "I know you don't usually mess with magic, but would you be interested in one? There's a few simple but really useful effects I may be able to get working."

Cideeda slowly drifts her eyes away from Bach and lets them wander around the area. She bites her lip to keep her frown from pulling down too hard and hints of sadness leak into her exhale. "No thank you. It'd be useless with me."

Bach's expression lightens, a positive tone reinforces his voice, and he gestures confidently. "Hey! Don't say that. It's frustrating initially, but once you get the basics of magical flow, it starts to make sense."

He notices Cideeda's stare into his eyes, sees the sadness tinge her smile, and halts speech with a mix of concern and confusion. Cideeda takes in a deep breath and sighs. "I really wish I could do magic. But... You're not the only one with a magical disability."

A flush of embarrassment floods up Bach's apologetic face and he struggles with a few words in his mouth. Cideeda breaks the gloom with a strong smile and shakes her head. "Don't feel that way. No one told you."

She averts her gaze briefly to release the last few clinging bits of melancholy. With a squirming shudder of her posture, she straightens herself back her usual confidence and looks to Bach. "Long story short. Had a run in with a Nightmare Geist, too. I was really young and it attacked my town. I guess, it grazed me? Didn't remember all that much from the attack. Just knew some adventurers fended it off and sealed it before I got killed."

She crosses her arms takes in a deep breath, glances forward, and continues. "Unfortunately, I was somehow left unable to flow magic. Something always disrupts the flow no matter how hard I try. No medical mage has an exact clue why."

With an accepting shrug and shake of her head, Cideeda rolls her eyes to Bach with a rumbling sarcastic tone. "Which is a real dampener on a young girl's dreams of being a mage, let me tell you."

Bach blinks in silence and deflates slowly as he keeps on failing to find something to say. He eventually, hides the embarrassment upon his face in the palm of his hand. "Wow... I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to bring stuff like that up-"

A sharp poke in the side grabs Bach's attention and he removes his hand from his face to meet Cideeda's eyes. Cideeda dons her trademark toothy grin and snorts. "Don't worry. I'm okay with it. And, it was over two decades ago. Mostly over it by now. I got to go to nice local college for technology and spend a lot of time with both my parents. It honestly worked out."

Bach rubs the back of his neck and sheepishly averts his eyes with an awkward grit of his teeth. "I still feel a little like an asshole..."

Cideeda pivots forward, lifts her hand up to a claw tipped point, and pulls Bach's shoulder down with her free hand to guide his eyes to a spot in the distance. "Well, you can still make something for me. Look over there and tell me what you see."

After a lot of squinting and following the path Cideeda's finger directs, Bach's eyes open wide as his jaw loosens downwards. He lifts his head back up, straightens his stance, and laughs. "I wondered if that old hag of a landlord had sold my junk yet."

In the distance, through the gatherings of dealer hall customers, upon a prominent decorative pedestal, in a booth filled with an assortment of proposed antiquities, resides a single translucent gold cup that faintly sparkles of stabilized magical energy. The man in the booth calls out to passersby and showcases his wares with professional salesman's flair. In between the pitches, his demeanor resumes that back alley vendor air as he examines his merchandise and seeks out another target from the crowd. Upon the display cases and platforms rest cards with extravagant claims in front of most items. The biggest sits underneath the golden magical energy cup. Bach squints and shakes his head after a few attempts. "I can't make it out. I wonder what the sales pitch for that is."

Cideeda snidely pulls the corner of mouth to a partial grin and narrows her eyes at Bach with an upwards flit of the eyebrow. "Behold the ancient magical artifact from the First Period. A mysterious item said to empower the liquids poured within it. Or, something like that. I stopped listening after the first few loads of bullshit."

Bach crosses his arm, leans his posture back, and inquisitively rests his stare at the booth. "I wonder how much he's trying to pawn the thing off for."

An evil grin creeps upon Cideeda's mouth. She draws a long, slow breath, places her hands on her swaying hips, and directs a fast whisper to Bach. A number flies into the air, into Bach's ear, and stuns his mind. He bluntly stifles an impulsive snort into a series of coughs as his sheer bewilderment interrupts whatever thoughts he had. "Really?! What a con artist!"

The evil grin pushes Cideeda's lips apart and she lifts an eyebrow to don a plotting expression to Bach. "I know... If he's charging that much to sell it... I wonder how much he'd pay for another "artifact"."

Bach's blue eyes meet Cideeda's emerald green eyes. Gradually, he almost mirrors a copy of her scheming grin. Cideeda holds a finger up, steps back, lowers her head, takes a breath in, and exhales. She lifts her head up to show a bubbly smile. Her body language lightens as she cutely sways and bounces with each word from her mouth. "Oh. My. Gods! You actually have one! I've been looking SOooo long for somebody to tell what this is!"

Cideeda pantomimes hoisting a cup up into view, perking her ears up and waving her tail for effect. She puts forth a very exited tone to her voice. "Can you please tell me what it is? You seem like an expert in this stuff and I have no idea what it is... I really don't need it. So, maybe you'd interested in buying it?"

Bach fights to keep his hand covering his mouth as he processes the dramatic act before him and laughs escape through his fingers. With a final pose, Cideeda relaxes back to her normal posture and demeanor, and presents a confident smile to Bach. "I think that will get his greed's full, undivided attention. Hopefully, just enough to be a bit too eager."

Bach scans around the area and searches for quiet, secluded areas. "I'll agree. If we can find somewhere out of the way, I'll form something up real quick. I'm thinking a wine glass. Nothing too complicated."

He glances down at Cideeda with a grin. "If this works, it might pay for some nice meals for all of us for the rest of the convention."

Cideeda cackles as her eyes bring down the full focus of her plotting on the con man behind the distant booth. "Ha! Once I'm done, he'll be paying for our weekend passes and meals."

A chorusing drone of idle conversations flood the long, open auditorium. Convention assistants adjust and secure advertising banners for "The Next Adventurers of Nexus", before scurrying off to sides of the large stage. One assistant positions microphones on the long table in front of seats, and another assistant follows behind placing name tags inside holders at the base of each microphone stand. People file in through the entry doors and take up seats towards the front. But, a few break from the pattern and divert towards the very back rows. Aristespha, Sebastian, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia move down the side aisle towards the very back row of seats and settle into the chairs. After a minute, Aristespha glances around with a guilty squirm and holds a mischievous smirk firm. "This feels strange. I so rarely sit on the back row of anything on purpose. I really feel like I'm completely up to nothing good."

Sotalia leans forward and directs her voice down to Aristespha with an evil grin. "Welcome to the back row delinquents club, where I spent most my school years. It's fun back here."

Sebastian chuckles and eyes Bach. "Bringing back any memories, bro?"

Bach rolls his eyes and groans. "Hey! I tried that whole studious, front row kid thing all through grade school and even high school. Back row for me after that for the most part."

An ethereal snort sounds out from Sebastian and he quirks a brow at Bach. "Hey, I remember you joined me up on the front row for a few classes."

With a shrug, Bach relaxes his shoulders and settles into his seat. "Those instructors were cool and pretty fun to be around. They were nothing like that one bitch I had for basic spellcasting form that HUNTED for reasons to fail me."

Sebastian shakes his head with a long, hard blink and exhales in agreement. "No shit, bro. She HATED you."

Cideeda laughs and stretches her legs out. "That's why you stick to the middle of the room. Teachers always check the front and back when they are looking for students to single out."

Dretphi squints her eyes and puts all her focus ahead towards the stage. "It is starting."

An announcer sounds out from the public address system. "Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention. Please give our guests of honor, The Next Adventurers of Nexus, The Flames of Phoenix, a proper Amaranth Adventure Con welcome!"

The gathered crowd cheers loud and applauds. Just as noise reaches an apex, the announcer yells out. "Welcome to the stage, the leader of the Flames of the Phoenix, Chad Bosch!"

Chad confidently struts out onto the stage in clean, new armor with the Flames of the Phoenix logo prominently on the breastplate. He waves out to the crowd with a gleaming white smile, nods to a few select areas, and stops center stage to give a dramatic bow. He stands back up from his bow, quickly shakes his head to settle his hair perfectly back in place, winks to an attractive lady in the front row, and finishes his walk around the stage to behind his center spot at the table.

"The alluring, mystical enchantress, Tassilda Evernia!"

A long, flowing, form revealing robe trails behind Tassilda as she steps with a suggestive sway in each motion. She stops center stage, bows down, and reaches her arms inside the opposing sleeves of the robe. Just as the room lights dim, she springs up, flings her arms out triumphantly, and releases a hundred small blue orbs of light out over the crowd and up to the lofty heights of the ceiling. She waves out to the astonishment of the crowd and blows a kiss to random person in the masses. Then, she follows a similar path to Chad and takes a seat left of him. The lights brighten back to normal as the glowing orbs feather fall very slowly down.

"The strong, tall, indomitable Trakenthin Brecomin!"

Solid impacts of heavy boots resonate out from the stage floor. Trakenthin puffs out his chest and continues to stomp across the stage. Near center stage, he pans a mean glare out to the crowd and shakes his head with a boisterous, dismissive grunt. He flexes his muscles underneath the armor plates strapped to him and snorts. He turns away from the crowd and walks around the table to take the seat right of Chad.

"The cheery medical mage herself, Deedri Preetta!"

The rhythmic ring of a small collar bell follows Deedri as she happily rushes out on stage. Her long braided-back hair bouncing on her ornate blouse and tail flowing along underneath her dress. She smiles brightly and waves out with both hands to the crowd. She stops center stage, straightens her posture, bows properly with both hands on her apron, and bounces along her way to the seat next to Tassilda.

"And finally, the dark, mysterious, Modoran Lotherin!"

The stage remains empty upon initial inspection. Members of the crowd search the area with a few camera operators panning around to various points upon the stage. A faint dark shadow on the stage floor shifts along at a steady pace and slows to halt at center stage. Flowing leaks of dark miasma erupt out from above the spot and spill forth out onto the floor. After a few moments of awe-struck gasps, the dark cloud disperses to reveal the nonchalant stance and casual smile of Modoran. As the last few bits of darkness disappear, Modoran looks around the vicinity, shrugs his jacket up with his hands in the pockets of his black pants, and ambles off to his seat next to Trakenthin.

A convention appointed host steps up to the stage and he goes into a speech summarizing the current season of The Next Adventurers of Nexus. In the back row, Bach aims his head high and studies the glowing orbs. "Why do these things look familiar to me?"

Sotalia quietly and sneakily performs an incantation with motions and directs a finger point toward an orb overhead. With careful concentration from Sotalia, the orb's feather fall changes to a guided flight path. The glowing orb eventually lands in her hand and she scrutinizes it carefully with her golden eyes widening with each passing moment. She stops studying it and passes it to Dretphi with a gesture towards Bach. Dretphi reaches her long arms over Cideeda to hold the glowing orb next to Bach's face. When his head turns to examine the glowing orb, Bach's eyes flit open and he pinches the orb out from Dretphi's hand. He places the glowing orb in between his hands, his eyes glow a faint blue, and sparks of irritation bubble into his expression. Aristespha, Sebastian, Dretphi, Cideeda, and Sotalia watch expectantly as the orb shudders and pops into a mist in Bach's hands. A strong twitch squints Bach's eye, while a mean draw pulls the corner of his mouth back to a grin. "Oh... So, you're going to crudely copy my spell... And use it for your own gain? Okay."

The grin expands to a dark smile upon Bach's face. "So, you like the glowing orb..."

The host flips through to the last card and speaks loudly into his microphone. "Well, that's the last of the question I have. Members of the Flames of the Phoenix, The Next Adventurers of Nexus, are there any announcements you'd like to make to our wonderful audience?"

Chad straightens his posture in his chair and beams with a heroic smile. "Why yes, there is! I would like to let everyone know that the fine folks at Stalwart Sword have chosen this convention to unveil their latest model, the Storm Striker. And to celebrate, they are putting forth their classic Still Sword challenge. Five swords lay still in stone, only to be moved by their true owner. Please visit, try to pull a sword out, and find out if one is going home with you."

As Chad clears his throat, a lone glowing orb with a tint slightly off from the rest descends from directly overhead and lands gently on Tassilda's head without any reaction from her. Chad grins big and gazes out into the crowd. "And after this very convention, we are going on a mission of great importance. One that is going to take us through dangerous territory as we guard an extremely important cargo. Unfortunately, none of us can divulge much more, but you'll see it all on next's week episode!"

The host nods out to the suspenseful crowd and directs a number of awaiting convention workers. "Exciting news! Okay, everyone, we are opening it up for audience questions! Please line up behind one of our wonderful assistants near you and we'll try our best to get to your question."

The host turns around to glance back at the panel and immediately spots the glowing orb sitting on top of Tassilda's head. His eyes dart around before he shadows his movement from the crowd, points to Tassilda with hands close to his chest, and gestures her attention to her head. Tassilda snaps out of her idle stare to the crowd, blinks at the host, and then plays off brushing through her hair. She feels the glowing orb, grabs hold of it, and with a faux laugh flicks the orb off towards the crowd. It drifts off but gradually reverses direction and aligns a return path to Tassilda. Her focus returns to gaze at the crowd with a sultry, seductive posture, that proves extremely difficult to maintain when the glowing orb bumps right into her forehead. "What the hell?!"

She swats at the orb and it zips just clear of her hands each time. Once clear of obstacles, it drifts closer and closer to Tassilda, only adjusting course to avoid obstacles and to keep track of her. A low rumble of laughter sounds out from the crowd as more and more eyes watch the scene unfold. Tassilda swings her hands out with a confident smile and releases a focused burst of wind, which the orb side hovers out of the way. She blinks her blue on black eyes in confusion, snaps a glare at Deedri next to her, and harshly whispers. "What's wrong with this thing?! What did you do to it?!"

Deedri shakes her head between Tassilda's stare and the orb, and nervously shrugs. "I-I-I don't know."

Chad narrows his eyes at Tassilda with a quirk to his brow and leans close to his microphone with a grin. "Having magical malfunctions again, Tassilda?"

A growing chorus of laughter wells up from the crowd. Tassilda grins nearing a grit at Chad, flutters her eyes, and fans an arm out at the approaching orb. "Nothing I can't handle. Just need to make a few adjustments on this one."

Chad laughs, eases back into his seat, and smugly smiles. "Heard that a few times."

Trakenthin snorts and resumes watching his aetherphone screen in one hand and idly toying around with a bottle in his other. Tassilda's composure cracks as the one light orb assault continues despite her best efforts with the crowd cheering on. The orb receives as much encouragement as Tassilda does at the moment. Modoran calmly watches the orb for a few seconds, ponders, and tilts his head as an idea manifests. He slides his chair back quietly, leans around the back of the chair, and directs a whisper out to Deedri behind everyone else. "Deedri! Deedri!"

Deedri's left ear perks to Modoran's voice and guides the rest of her head to meet his gaze. "Yes?"

Modoran eyes to the orb and Tassilda. "I think it only dodges fast movement towards it."

Deedri searches her mind, nods in thought, and blinks as a plan arrive to the front of her mind. She gives Modoran an appreciative smile and directs her attention to Tassilda. "Tassilda!"

A growl of frustration precedes Tassilda's response. "What?!"

Deedri glares sternly at Tassilda and calmly commands. "Sit. Down. Stay. Still."

Tassilda draws in a breath, begins to open her mouth, and the words retreat from her mouth as Deedri continues her glare. She lowers herself back into her seat, quickly brushes her hair roughly back in place, and adjusts her wardrobe before ceasing all movement. The light orb gently floats down and rests right on the very tip of Tassilda's gray skinned nose. Deedri carefully lifts her hands up, keeps both hands open and palms facing the other, and positions them to either side of the light orb. Slowly and meticulously, the gap between Deedri's hand shrinks. With a fast vocal incantation and subtle movement of her hands, a magical field appears between Deedri's hands and she pulls field and orb away in one swift movement. Cheers roar from the crowd, Chad claps with a smile, Trakenthin pays no attention, and Modoran sneaks a thumbs up and wink to Deedri. After a small bow, Deedri sits back down and the host takes control of the situation. "Thank you, Deedri! Always there to help the group!"

The host starts summoning questions from the audience and directing them to different members of the Flames of the Phoenix. In between questions, Tassilda and Deedri focus upon the captured light orb. Tassilda finishes a question with a nod, pushes her microphone away, and whispers to Deedri. "So, what's going on with that one."

Deedri bites her lip and anxiously glances back at Tassilda. "It's not one of ours. It... It's like one of the original ones..."

Tassilda blinks, rears her head back, and, in unison with Deedri, gazes out into the crowd. In the back row, a very amused bunch barely contain their mischief derived smiles and watch the realization upon the faces of Deedri and Tassilda. Bach chuckles darkly to himself. "Oh yes. We are here."

The questions come forth from the crowd and many members of the Flames of the Phoenix answer them, with a notable exception being Trakenthin who either grunts, rolls his eyes, or completely ignores them entirely. Bach stands next in line to speak into a convention worker's microphone and glances to his aetherphone as he waits. A large figure moves right behind him, which prompts him to look over his shoulder. He blinks in puzzlement as he recognizes Dretphi. "Oh. You have a question?"

Dretphi averts her eyes briefly and with a firm smirk on her face. "Yes."

The host catches a signal from an assistant up in the sound booth, turns to the crowd, and projects his voice into the microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, looks like we are just about out of time, but I think we can handle a few more questions. So, let's give the people in the way back a chance!"

The worker holds the microphone up to Bach and gives Bach a nod for a cue. Bach checks his aetherphone one last time and stares out front to the stage. "Well, this one is from a friend of mine stuck watching the hotel TV feed, and it's for Chad."

Chad's smile sours briefly with the sound of Bach's voice and he squints with a new interest towards the back area. Bach continues with a smug grin. "How's your car doing?"

Snickers and laughs echo into the open air. Each second of the din attempts to drag Chad's trademark smile down into an unamused frown, but he perseveres despite his ire. "Just. Fine. It took some effort... From all of us... But, the Phoenix will rise again."

A chime from Bach's aetherphone prompts him to nod and speak, before quickly moving back to his seat. "Thank you."

Bach sits back down in his next to Sebastian, who quickly peers over at the message from Kaleb on Bach's phone. Sebastian snorts with an ethereal echo. "Kaleb's right, bro. He is touchy about that SUV. He almost dropped that smile of his."

Aristespha curiously eyes Dretphi, ponders, and aims her question to the rest of the group. "Did Dretphi say anything about what she was going to ask?"

Bach, Sebastain, Cideeda, and Sotalia only provide shrugs of shoulders and shakes of heads to Aristespha. Dretphi steps up and the convention worker holds the microphone a bit higher for her. She draws in a breath, pauses, and speaks. For a number of seconds, a flowing, fluent stream of the Grath language leaves her lips with an eloquent pace and impeccable pronunciation. At the end, Dretphi pivots and walks away from the microphone, leaving a bewildered convention worker. Grath throughout the audience react with laughter, gasps, and snorts. A few non-Grath present similar responses, including Sotalia as she covers her mouth to muffle a snort into chuckle. A plastic cap flies off towards the heights of the ceiling with a jet of water not far behind it, as Trakenthin instinctively crushes the water bottle in his hand with a sudden clench. He snaps his head away from his phone and actively scans through the audience with angry sneer on his face. He bellows out a number of Grath phrases in a furious tone. Dretphi takes her seat next Cideeda and Sotalia. She eventually allows her eyes to meet the quizzical gazes of the group and sighs. "Pity. He can speak."

Other members of the Flames of the Phoenix give Trakenthin space while they get up from their seats to leave the stage and the host quickly calls out with a nervous smile. "That's all for now folks! Please enjoy the rest of the convention and be sure to visit out Next Adventurers of Nexus in Personality Alley for photo opportunities and signatures."

The large, long mall walkway skylights reveal the night sky overhead. A low, distant thumping radiates through to the airspace of the hall. A number of people move between demo and game booths trying their luck and skill. Aristespha casually strolls down the path between the gatherings of people and flips through various messages on her phone. The voice of Sebastain sounds out from the sword on her hip. "So, where are the others at, dear?"

Aristespha's eyes trace through a few more messages and she quirks a brow. "Seems like they ditched the concert now. Opening act was amazing. But, the main act is some pop star from another TV show and they left after the first few songs."

Sebastian hums in thought. "I think I remember, she's that crazy half-fvalian girl. Likes to stir up all the shock and drama."

A few more swipes of a finger sends more messages away on Aristespha's aetherphone and she puts the device away into her pants pocket. "They are going to the humvee to clear a path through Sotalia's purchases so Dretphi can get in the back. They'll be around the main entrance in a few minutes."

Sebastian chuckles ethereally from the sword. "Figures. Oh well. Hope she didn't go too broke-"

"Lady Aristespha?"

Aristespha slows her steps to a halt and gradually pivots herself towards the source of the voice. She lifts an eyebrow, shakes her silvery blue hair back, and directs her violet eyes upon Modoran. With a simply casual wave, Modoran smiles in return. "Hello. I am Modoran Lotherin, pleased to meet you. I guess officially now."

Curiosity pulls an amused grin on Aristepsha's mouth and she confidently walks up to Modoran. With a shift of her posture, she eyes Modoran. "Official enough. Any camera crews I need to be made aware of?"

Modoran laughs and shakes his head with an eye roll. "Not right now. They have a hard time finding me when I feel like it. I've got about a few more minutes before I need to make a presence to keep them happy."

A barely audible ethereal grumble resonates from the sword. Aristespha nonchalantly taps the sword a few times with her hand. Modoran quirks a brow with a sly smile and crosses his arms. "I have to hand it to your group. They certainly know how to rile up the more... prideful of my group."

An equally sly smile arrives upon Aristespha's face and she sighs with subtle shakes of her head and switch of her posture. "I have no idea about what you are talking about, sir. I believe you may have the wrong group in mind."

Aristespha and Modoran maintain stares as each analyzes the others' expression. Eventually, Modoran laughs into a sigh and lowers his head to a sway. "Oh my. Despite the group I'm with, let me show there's no hard feelings from me to you. How about I treat you to a few games at the archery booth here."

The young evuukian woman running a nearby archery booths perks up in her seat by the register and expectantly awaits attention from either Aristespha or Modoran. A momentary twitch in Aristespha's eye prompts her to gradually guide her view and finally analyze the booth near her. As she examines the layout and contents of the booth, she eventually rest her attention upon the bows. Her chilly, contemptuous glare condenses her harsh disdain upon the stylish wooden bows. With an audible pull of breath through her nose, she resumes her previously sly smile and politely shakes her head. "Unfortunately, I'm not much into archery these days. But, I do greatly appreciate the offer. It's charming, really."

Modoran blinks in confusion and perks an eyebrow up in genuine puzzlement. "Really? That's interesting. I distinctly remember hearing stories of a very accomplished, young evuukian woman performing great feats of archery for the Tarikira family."

Aristespha maintains her smile and shakes her head with sigh. "I'm afraid you must have mistaken me for someone else. I have personally have moved on from the bow."

An eager grin cracks upon Modoran's mouth and flits an eyebrow at Aristespha. "Oh, you just can't say something like that without a demonstration."

With a slow shift of her stance, Aristespha examines the booth table top. As her eyes faintly glow violet, she briefly holds her hand on the sword before grasping an arrow on the table. She twirls it in her fingers, until she grips near the fletching. Her arm extends behind her and her legs shifts with her balance. With a fluid whip motion across her upper body, she flings the arrow whizzing through air and solidly in near the center of target roughly a dozen meters away. She straightens up, brushes her hair back, and studies the dumbfounded expressions of the booth attendant and, especially, Modoran. Aristespha pivots and strides away with a wave behind her. "Have a good night."

Once out of ear shot, Aristespha's eyes dim back to normal and she dons an evil grin. "I hope you got to see what I saw."

A ghostly cackle emanates from the sword and Sebastian's voice finally breaks from the laughter. "I fully approve, dear. The look on his face was priceless."

Aristespha bites her lip and sneers as she rubs her shoulder and arm. "Need to get back into practice, I can feel that's going to be sore in the morning. But, I still got it."

Sebastian sounds out lovingly from the sword. "As if you could ever lose it, dear."

Modoran lowers his hand down from a weak, perplexed wave in response to Aristespha's departure. He gawks at the arrow firmly planted in the target and watches as the young evuukian woman pronounces some incantations and gestures to the arrow. With a few exaggerated motions, the arrow frees itself from the target, floats over at the direction of the woman, and hovers down upon the table. The evuukian woman gazes up a Modoran with an amused smile. "Wow, that was in there good."

The woman awaits Modoran and glances at Aristespha in the distance. "I'm about to close up for the night. Would you like a few free pity rounds before I shut down?"

Modoran blinks back to awareness, meets the gaze of the woman, sighs with a smile, and shrugs casually. "That actually sounds pretty nice right now."

-21-

Aristespha's faintly glowing, violet eyes examine and study the four remaining swords as Stalwart Sword representatives urge passersby to try their luck at pulling one out. She guides back her very long, silvery blue hair, allows it drape wavy runs upon her back, and refocuses her vision to the empty rocky pedestal. She idly runs her fingers along her extremely long, pointed ears, and brushes stray hairs off the tips behind her head. She rest an ivory skinned hand upon one side of hip, shifts the weight of her athletically thin frame to another foot, and contorts gray and blue hints of color upon her face with an intrigued eyebrow quirk. "Interesting..."

Sebastian's ethereally transparent form pivots in place to gauge Aristespha's reaction. He briefly squints his blue eyes at Aristespha's face and directs his gaze to where her stare concentrates. He folds his tan colored arms across shirt his covered muscular chest and tilts his head to a side. The loose pompadour on his head settles and a number of short brown hairs break free to hang in front of his face. The free hairs distract his eyes long enough for his mind to recognize the issue, and a quick hand rakes them back in place next to the white streak. Sebastain scratches the back of his head and leans next to Aristespha. "So. What do you see, my dear?"

A finger from Aristespha directs Sebastian's eyes and she draws in a breath hinting suspicion. "The empty pedestal's magic is gone. Some residue remains, but I believe the locking enchantment is on the swords rather than the pedestal."

Her eyes wander towards the center most, largest pedestal, and stop upon it. Sebastian darts his glances between the center pedestal and Aristespha. "Makes sense. So, what's wrong with the one in the center?"

Aristespha gradually pulls her head back, slides her posture, and rests her hand underneath her chin with a critical stare secure upon the center, sword-housing pedestal. "Originally, I thought the different pedestal explained the slight difference in that enchantment's aura. But, if the enchantment is on the swords, then that means the enchantment is different for the same thing. Unfortunately, the obfuscation and shielding they've used makes it extremely difficult to discern."

A Stalwart Sword salesman locks his gaze at Aristespha and waves happily. "Hello! I see you have a keen interest in our latest and greatest model. And, judging by the sword at your side, you most certainly have just as keen tastes, that Stalwart Swords aims to please. Please, come over, and let me help you find the sword for YOU."

Aristespha blinks, directs a smile, and starts to wave off the representative. Sebastian echoes a cough and grins with a sly shade. "Well, let's see what he can offer."

Aristespha halts, lowers her hand back down with an awkward stare to Sebastain, and she lifts a brow. Sebastain lifts a similar brow and eyes over to the rep, still grinning. A slyness cracks the smile on Aristespha's mouth and shes nods. Aristespha and Sebastain calmly walk over to the booth in front of the salesman. He smiles happily and bows in greeting to Aristespha. "Thank you for coming over and granting me your time. First, I must say..."

He examines Sebastian up and down with honest amazement. "That is a most impressive illusion you have with you!"

Sebastian puffs his chest out, postures proudly with a heroic flair, and winks at the salesman. "I know."

The salesman blinks and slowly returns his head to Aristespha. "Amazing. I can already tell you have particular desires in the swords you acquire. If it is not a problem, I would like to inspect your current sword and see what Stalwart Swords can do to exceed your needs. Do not worry, I am allowed by the convention to undo and redo peace bindings."

Aristespha and Sebastian eye each other with developing mischief in their respective smiles. Aristespha releases the scabbard's lock upon her belt, and gently rests the Sword of the Spirit Realm upon the table in front of the salesman. She awaits with Sebastian for the salesman's response. The salesman respectfully nods, aptly releases the convention mandated peace binding, and professionally slides the sword out from the scabbard. As his gaze takes in the details and workmanship of the sword, his mind processes the attributes to arrive at a very shocking identity. The salesman's smile wavers to building astonishment as his eyes widen to the artifact in his hands. After seconds of silence, he slowly slides the sword back into the scabbard, rests it back upon the table, stands up straight, and releases a composure regaining sigh. A different genuine smile appears upon his face and he looks to both Aristespha and Sebastian. "This is a very gracious, surprise honor you have bestowed upon me. To even examine such a fine blade is an amazing experience... As high as I hold Stalwart Swords, a unique blade as this is beyond us..."

The smile upon the salesman's face morphs gradually to previous variant. "But... A unique discount for a sword to compliment that fine blade is well within the capabilities of Stalwart Swords."

Sebastian crosses his arms and grins at Aristespha. "Ooo... He's good."

Aristespha lifts the scabbard and sword off the table, locks it back onto her belt, and smiles at the salesman. "I think we will take you up on that discount. We do need a training blade and a weapon grade blade that's roughly the same size, weight, and shape of my current one."

Sotalia stares expectantly at the fvalian woman behind the table. With a delicate grace, the woman signs her name "Ardere" on a Tinkering Tina comic with an artistic flair and a small drawing of the lead character Tinkering Tina. Ardere looks up to Sotalia with a smile. After many seconds of silence between the two, a toothy grin springs on Ardere's face and she tilts her head just enough to shift a number of auburn hairs loose from underneath the large bandanna on her head. "I'm so sorry. You're just going to have to wait until the next issue. I already gave away too much at the last panel."

Sotalia draws in a large breath and strains a long sigh as she lifts her gaze up to the ceiling of the long hall comprising Personality Alley. "Really?!"

Ardere shifts a curious glance to Cideeda while tapping her large black claw tips together on both hands. "New to the series?"

Cideeda shakes her head with a humoring smile at Sotalia's frustrations and nods slowly at Ardere. "Yes. She binge read the series recently."

Ardere pats down the bandanna on top of her head near two solid bumps underneath and tightens the knot in back. "Oh... That explains it. She just got through the Great Contract arc, didn't she?"

Sotalia lowers her head down, crosses her arms, and pouts. "Yes, I have. And, I have SO many theories and not evidence to neither prove or disprove them."

The pout gives way to a mischievous smile and Sotalia focuses her eyes upon Ardere. "But, I do have one theory that I do have evidence for."

A brow quirks up on Ardere's face and she squints with a scheming smile. "Which is?"

A giggle escapes Sotalia and she alternates her gaze between Ardere and Cideeda. "Tina and Byron are SO going to be couple in the future."

Ardere's eyes flit open in shock and quickly narrow to honest examination of Sotalia's theory. "Really? That's an interesting theory."

Cideeda laughs and nods to Sotalia with a tight smile. "I have to agree. There's something there between those two."

Sotalia counts off points with her fingers and lets her eyes hunt through her mind. "Despite all the times Tina's has practically kicked down the door to Byron's place, he's never mad at her for being there. Despite all the questions she asks, he'll always answer them... Even if he's grumpy about it. And don't forget the Embargo Arc!"

Cideeda places her hands on her hips and thinks out loud. "He forgets about collecting rent on her shop when business was bad, she's the first to check on him when he hasn't left the house in a few days, and he's the one that pushed her to lay down the contracting law upon that general."

With a quick pivot, Sotalia points at Cideeda. "And! Don't forget who he calls FIRST when he finds some crazy technology."

As both Cideeda and Sotalia contemplate the growing fan theory, Ardere tracks the conversation with great interest. A muffled buzz and phone chime startles her, and she retrieves her aetherphone from a pocket. With few taps of the screen, a text message from "Jasper" appears on the screen.

"Hey, sorry about the silence. Just got enough signal from a radio relay tower of all things. Found something from the zone you might like when you get back from your convention. After I get this to transmit, I'm heading to back to Gateway. Here's a picture of the find."

Ardere eyes focus upon the image and she fights back a wave of giddy delight. She covers her mouth briefly with squirm in her seat. Moments afterwards, she lowers her hand down, the giddiness fades to welling revelation in her expression. She reads the message one last time with a warm smile, returns her phone into her pocket, and resumes paying attention to the fan theory between Cideeda and Sotalia.

Sotalia rolls her eyes at Cideeda. "Self worth issues? He was the designer behind major innovations in robotics! How could he feel like he's not worthy enough for her?!"

Cideeda sighs and shakes her head. "He lost it all when that competitor company won that ridiculous lawsuit. He's got some royalties, the plot of land his house is on, and the shop that Tina is renting from him... For half market average."

A groan sounds out from Sotalia and she shrugs. "Well, I don't think we're proving it today."

With a quick nod to Sotalia, Cideeda pulls out her aetherphone with a toothy grin. "Before we go... Are you still interested in seeing fan findings of ancient technology?"

Ardere's ears perk up and her expression brightens. "Of course! What do you have?"

Cideeda presses a few commands in the phone screen and turns it to Ardere without saying a further word. Ardere's eyes lock onto the screen and almost reflect the image of the security bot head. Her smile grows into an ear to ear grin the longer she studies the picture.

A toothy grin forms on Cideeda's mouth. "Would you like to hold it?"

Ardere blinks, lifts her head up, and nods slowly with a smile. "I think I can take a lunch break."

Sotalia releases the collar of Bach's shirt when he drifts closer to her from an aborted escape attempt. She lifts a hand and points out a row of stalls and platforms with a variety of arcane markings and electronics intermingling the structures. "Here they are! These are the magical energy measuring stations I told you about!"

Bach adjusts his shirt collar back in place and turns his gaze upon the magical measurement equipment with an uneasy smile. "Neat. Um, reminds me of the one back in school. Must be showcasing the newer models... Well, that's pretty cool..."

He watches warily as Sotalia maintains a sly grin with her stare at Bach. She straightens up confidently and rolls a waving gesture towards two empty platforms and stalls, and concentrates on Bach with an evil tinge infecting her grin. Bach pivots in place to examine the stalls briefly and returns to face Sotalia with a pleading expression. "I can't beat you in raw power."

Sotalia places her hand on her chest with a happily amused smile and giggles to herself. "Oh, I know. I figured we could compete with efficiency."

With an alternating glance between the platforms and stalls, Bach catches the hints of the excitement Sotalia presently suppresses and sighs with an eye roll. "I guess it couldn't hurt. I'll take the one at the end."

Sotalia rushes off with glee to one of the attendants next to a "Merlinatech Magical Machinations" logo. The human woman gives a quick nod, directs Sotalia and Bach to the platforms, and explains the system. "With new revisions in the detection algorithm and energy flow sensors, Merlinatech has been able to reduce the size of our professional line flow meters to allow easy home installation! A mere corner of room is all that's needed where a whole room once was! All you have to do is stand on the platform and cast your spells. The system will measure the flow to, from, and within the space of the platform and calculate energy usage, among many other useful statistics. But, for demonstration purposes, we've put big displays to show energy usage."

The woman smiles wide and directs Sotalia and Bach's attention to the nearby stalls. "If you have any projectile, beam, or other types of spells, please feel free to use our containment stalls. We ask that you just keep it simple and moderate for safety reasons."

She steps back toward another group of interested people with a slight bow. "If you have any further questions, please ask. But for now, I'll let you put our equipment to the test."

Bach thanks the woman and swings his head over to witness Sotalia stretching her arms up and cracking her intertwined fingers. "Simple and moderate, now."

The grin assumes an almost seductive air and Sotalia bites her lip with a long breath in. "I'll try..."

With a few fast, hand gestures she flicks out a small training bolt of magical energy. It flies from the tip of her pointing finger into the space of the stall, impacts a barrier at the back, and dissipates. A few seconds later, a status message pops up on a flat screen monitor near her platform, and a colored bar highlights around the fifty unit range on a sliding number line. Sotalia puts her hands on her hips, sways them with a confidence nearing pride, and eyes Bach with a flitting quirk on an eyebrow. Bach sighs, shakes his head, pulling a smile, and holds his hand palm out towards his stall. A magical bolt forms immediately in front of his palm, darts out into his platform's containment stall, halts in the middle, and disperses into a mist. Bach and Sotalia pour their undivided attention to the display near Bach's platform. A status prompt appears on the screen and a similar sliding number line charts a much narrower range within the teens just short of twenty units. A zealous ear to ear smile expands upon Sotalia's face. Bach's jaw drops lower with each moment his mind analyzes the results. "How the fuck does that shitty of a bolt register so low?"

Sotalia's smile collapses to a neutral confusion shifting towards an extremely suspicious glare at Bach. "Shitty bolt?"

She crosses her arms, leans her head back, and bares her teeth in a sneer. "Oh, don't you dare flub these on purpose... Now give me a REAL one."

Bach blinks, droops his shoulders in defeat, breathes in, and projects another bolt from the palm of his hand. The smile returns in full force as Sotalia witnesses the display showcase a narrow bar hovering just below the ten unit range.

A small gathering murmurs a mix of conversation with a few occasionally pointing towards two displays near the platforms Sotalia and Bach stand upon. Sotalia squints and grimaces with intense concentration upon a forming ball of energy in her hands. She glances up at the stall for her platform, releases the ball towards the area within the containment stall, and watches the ball burst on the surface of the back target. Bach unrolls his hand out with a near mirror match of the energy ball. It drifts on its own into his designated stall, halts midway through, and bursts on its own. Status messages appear on the displays. Sotalia momentarily grabs onto her horns in frustration and growls. "Argh! How?! Just how?!"

Bach attempts in vain to contain an exceedingly amused grin on his face, and he turns his head away from Sotalia's eyesight. "Just a lot of practice, I guess."

The few technicians behind a collection of electronic and computer equipment stare in bewilderment as the readouts continue to vex and baffle their knowledge.

"Is it a calibration error?"

"No, we just calibrated it a few hours ago. Are they just less powerful versions?"

"That's the weirdest part! They're actually slightly more powerful, from the stall sensors..."

From around the corner of the intersection, a small horde of recording equipment hauling personnel orbit a singular lone emin woman. Tassilda proudly struts across the floor, granting a small wave to those that notice her along the path. Her ears detect the spike in noise from the small crowd around the Merlinatech demo space, and her head centers upon the source. Her eyes open wide the moment she spots Sotalia forming another energy ball and Bach idly flicking, very familiar glowing light orbs into the containment stall. A sneer flashes on her face and she dons a superior, dominant posture and steps with intent over to the platforms. Sotalia flings out another energy orb into the containment stall, studies the number, and groans as it barely improves over the previous. "Oh, you stop smiling already and start telling what I need to do!"

With a cleavage lifting cross of the arms, a condescending tone floats into the air from Tassilda's mouth. "Maybe consider a career in stage magic? You seem quite capable of drawing a crowd."

Sotalia stance snaps rigid and she pivots with a similarly dominant posture to glare with the faintest hint of a grin at Tassilda. "Oh, you flatter me. But, I can't compete with your demonstrable abilities upon the stage. Such a fine comedy yesterday!"

A light twitch tugs gently at the corner of Tassilda's eye and she cocks her head to the side, letting her long black hair sway along her revealing outfit. "Interesting. It seems strange for someone of your obvious experience to be instructed by the intern of your group? What deficiencies could you possibly be addressing?"

An evil grin creeps onto Sotalia's mouth and she lifts her head up with a shake of her dark red hair. "Refinements, really. As for the intern, I saw you've learned plenty from him yourself..."

She gestures with her eyes and swaying head towards Bach. The shift in attention from Sotalia, Tassilda, the crowd, and the camera crew stuns Bach clueless to action, as he holds a light orb in his hand with many floating in the containment stall for his platform. Sotalia rotates her head slowly to face Tassilda. A wave of unease flows through Tassilda's body, but a spark of insight from memories boils her confidence. "Certainly to be expected from a lady of your exceedingly refined age..."

A noticeable cringing grit cracks Sotalia's facade, and Tassilda delights in the sight. Tassilda walks to a platform next to Sotalia, stretches and flexes suggestively to the crowd, and magically gestures a small bolt of energy into that platform's stall. Sotalia responds in kind with a slightly larger bolt. Bach leans out from his platform to a better view of the events unfolding. "Ah, shit."

Sotalia and Tassilda continue their jabbing conversation while each produces a slightly more powerful spell to edge out the opposing. The number ranges on the displays grow with each round. Double digits, low triple digits, and moderate triples digits shift and sway on the screen. Both maintain respective airs of superiority and near sneering smiles at each other. A break in the action occurs as both build up their finales. Sotalia scoffs and forms the magical energy in her hands. "Let's make these count."

Tassilda dramatically, with an extravagant flair, opens her hand palm up to reveal a growing ball of green fire. "Yes. I agree."

The two continue to glare at each other, the magical flow condensing in their hands. A few technicians glance over to the containment stalls with nervous expressions. Bach follows the uncertain looks to the stalls as his eyes glow blue. He squints to examine the stalls, rears his head back, blinks, and steps off his platform. Sotalia readies her energy orb and waits. Tassilda directs her palm out towards the target in her stall. Both stare intently at each other and pause in silence as the cameras and crowd anticipate the moment they will release their potent spells. Sotalia flexes her arm muscles and Tassilda flares out her fingers- And Bach walks right between the two of them, snatches Sotalia's energy orb with one hand, and yanks Tassilda's green fireball away with the other. "Okay! I think that's enough right now. Looks like they need to let the stalls cool down a bit."

Sotalia's energy orb shakes for a few moments before puffs out into a cloud of energy, fading into Bach. Tassilda's green fireball flickers and snuffs out in a haze that drifts into Bach's hand. Sotalia grumbles and seizes Bach by the collar of his shirt. "Damn it, Bach! What are you doing?!"

Tassilda stands up straight, carefully examines the hand that the fireball once hovered near, and blinks in absolute, sheer bewilderment as to the fate of her fireball. Bach narrows his eyes at Sotalia and points to the stalls. "You were about to overload the system. So, I stopped you."

Sotalia glances over to stalls, squints as her eyes flicker golden for a few moments, and embarrassment washes over her with the release of Bach's shirt. "Oh. Right. Good call. Sorry."

Bach shrugs with an eye roll. "No problem. Can we get out of here? Away from the cameras? Please-"

He halts mid thought and feels the fingers in hand that seized Tassilda's green fireball. "What the hell? There's something on my hands. A powder?"

He moves the hand closer to his face and Sotalia quickly grabs his arm. She directs Bach's hand close to her eyes, squints, and puzzles. A sudden flash of shock erupts on her face and she cover her mouth before rearing back in a cackle. "OH. MY. GODS! It's copper powder! She's using material components in her magic!"

Sotalia continues a loud echoing laugh and looks to Tassilda with an incredulously amused expression. "Really?! You couldn't manage to use magic to make the flames green?!"

She takes a long breath, exhales to calm herself down, stands up straight, and walks near Tassilda. "So, I have to ask... Which kit do you use? I have to admit, back in high school, I used them, too. I liked the one with black candles myself, but you know how all the emin girls go through that doom and gloom stage."

Tassilda's normally gray complexion darkly reddens rapidly to a twitching furious death glare upon Sotalia. When Sotalia moves close with an expectant smug grin, a harsh spouting of the emin language escapes just above a whisper in volume. Sotalia halts, process the words, crosses her arms, and chuckles darkly as her eyes widen with a triumphant smile. "Oh! So, that's what you think of me! Mind saying that lovely term a bit louder for everyone else! I haven't heard that one in a while. Did your racist grandfather teach you that one?"

Tassilda whips around without another word, rushes away in an angry huff, and nearly knocks over a camera woman along the way. Sotalia waves with a delightful smile. Bach slides next to her, glances at the irate Tassilda in the distance, and glances over to Sotalia. "Um... Everything okay?"

Sotalia sways happily around. "Yes. I, SO, knew it!"

Loud impacts of padded training swords sound out into the high ceilings of the enormous warehouse. A few loud crashes of people hitting soft mats on raised platform resonate with grumbles and frustrations of defeat following. Dretphi converses with two other older grath. Both casually wear old grath military uniforms with many prominent awards and ranks sparsely decorating sleeves and front pockets. A few words laugh out from one man, he pats his the empty folded sleeve of his shirt using his only hand and shrugs with a nonchalant smile. Other man shakes his head with an eye roll, buries his face in the palm of his hand, and rocks with a chuckle. Dretphi stifles a reflexive laugh with a happy smile and continues speaking.

Behind her, a very old grath slowly steps forward with solid crane presses on the floor preceding his footsteps. He maintains a warm smile and gaze at Dretphi as he orbits around her to stand next to the other two men. Both men immediately recognize the very old grath, rigidly pause, and salute. The elder grath eyes the two. With some effort, he straightens his posture to properly fill out his uniform, stands taller than everyone else, and lifts a strong but shaky hand to his temple. With a nod, he releases his salute from the short white hair encircling his bald head, relaxes his back with a playful groaning eye roll, and chuckles. With a sly grin, he turns his head to Dretphi, shifts his support to the cane in front of him, points a finger her with a slight wag, and smiles as speaks a short sentence. Dretphi blinks in confusion and her mind sorts through memories in a rapid, desperate attempt to identify the man before her. The elder grath laughs, gives a comforting wave of the hand, and shakes his head with a smile. He taps the side of his head a few times to punctuate his words, and shakes a point to Dretphi before carefully lowering his hand down near his knees, and gestures a certain height. He draws himself back up, and joking references a topic that immediately causes Dretphi to blush in sympathy to her childhood. The other two grath snicker in fun and prompt another topic of discussion.

Across the way, a camera crew catches the thudding crash of an opponent upon the mats and a triumphant Trakenthin standing above with a practice sword end tapping the fallen opponent's chest. The referee witnesses and confirms with a hand gesture towards Trakenthin. "Winnner by vital hit, Trakenthin!"

A small crowd applauds and cheers, and Trakenthin absorbs the praise as he holds his arms out and up during his circuit around the mat. Cameras focus upon him and Samantha flips through notes on her clipboard as boredom assaults her. "Again, he beats yet... another opponent."

Trakenthin scans out around the area, his eyes scrutinizing each person for a possible opponent. His search expands outwards and further out in the warehouse full of practice mats and rings. With a brief double take, he finds his next target with a hungry grin spreading across his mouth and his eyes settle upon Dretphi in the distance. With a loud bellowing shout in grath, he snaps a strong point to Dretphi and issues a challenge. Dretphi cringes with low grumble and sighs. The one armed grath quirks a brow at Trakenthin, the other old grath sidesteps around to block line of sight between the rest of the group and Trakenthin, and the elder lifts a brow at Dretphi and asks a question. Dretphi shakes her head and narrows her eyes with her pupils gesturing to Trakenthin. She looks to all of them and points to the ground to highlight her query. The old grath men nod with the elder waving her to leave for now with a nod and an understanding smile. Dretphi respectfully bows, steps away, pivots, and power walks straight towards the nearest exit.

Trakenthin's expression sours as he watches Dretphi move fast towards the exit. He narrows his eyes, slides his stance back, and thinks. With a few moments, a mean grin crackles upon his face, and directs his full focus to Dretphi. He calls out to her, his words mixing with arrogance and contempt. Dretphi maintains her stoic demeanor and keeps her attentions forward. A long pause follows Trakenthin's last statement. He dismissively snorts and exaggerates the emphasis on a slow, purposeful grath sentence with anticipation in his eye. Dretphi freezes in place. A subtle twitch flexes her cheek, she lifts her stance, and draws in an angry breath through a grit peeking through her lips. The three old grath concentrate stoic, harsh glares at Trakenthin, with the face of eldest leaking out his boiling ire.

Dretphi's twists her head to a side to crack her neck, pivots to face Trakenthin, and powers forward cracking her knuckles along the way. The elder grath smiles, examines a nearby rack of training weapons, spots a weapon, and secures his footing. With a strong grip his crane, he lifts up a training sword with the end, feels out the weight, calls out to the one armed grath, and launches the weapon. The one armed grath effortlessly snatches the weapon out of the air, gives it a few test swings and swipes while he marches over to the side of Dretphi, and presents the weapon to her. The other older grath moves along side her and carefully whispers into her awaiting ear. Dretphi nods in confirmation with each paragraph of information and gradually shifts her mindset to a serious state. Samantha finally catches sight of Dretphi approaching the ring and her jaw drops in astonishment. "Holy. Shit. Everyone check batteries and storage drives! I want every bit of this covered!"

Trakenthin and Dretphi stand near the middle of the mat and wait with their padded training blades ready. The referee glances at either of them, holds his hand in the middle, and then lifts his arm up with a step back. "Fight!"

Trakenthin launches a flurry of strikes upon Dretphi. Each impact hits solidly against the defending blade of Dretphi. The two circle around the surface of the mat, Trakenthin aggressively assailing Dretphi with barrages of swings and swipes. Occasionally, Dretphi attempts a strike upon an opening but Trakenthin proficiently blocks. As the constant exchange of attacks continues, Dretphi's blade rocks back more and more with the next wave from Trakenthin, who begins to intermix more banter and derisive words between his attacks. Dretphi's serious, concentrating expression never wavers. Samantha studies the combat and cocks her head with an emerging suspicion as she catches the stoic amusement of the older grath nearby. "What's going on?"

With an elaborate overhead slam upon Dretphi's sword from Trakenthin, she drops to a knee. A flare of eagerness ignites Trakenthin's eyes and he steps forward to power down his blade against Dretphi. She maintains the shaking deadlock above her with both hands on her sword's handle. Trakenthin glares at Dretphi with a gritting grin expressing his unyielding desires for her defeat. As Dretphi locks eyes with Trakenthin, the serious expression shatters to reveal a wide tooth bearing grin and a fire of sheer confidence in her eyes. Trakenthin's bewilderment barely gets a chance to manifest when he feels something different about the blade deadlock.

New lines of muscle definition emerge upon Dretphi's arm as she powers her blade up toward Trakenthin. She draws up her knee from the ground to put that foot underneath her and a hand frees itself from holding the blade to sweep forward a clawing grip around Trakenthin's ankle. Dretphi roars upwards with the defiant flex of every muscle in her body, and she yanks out Trakenthin's foot from underneath and up in front of him. Following the guidance of his leg, Trakenthin drops flat on his back to loud resounding echo of the warehouse. He attempts to blink, but his eyes flit wide as he feels Dretphi lever his leg forward. As he opens his mouth to growl, the pain of a boot pressing weight upon his sword wielding fore arm interrupts. Finally, Trakenthin recovers from the seconds of chaos to the pressure of a padded training sword on the side of his neck. Dretphi beams a furious glare upon him and slowly traces the tip of the training weapon symbolically across Trakenthin's neck. The referee examines the action, nods, stands up, and gestures towards Dretphi. "Winner by vital hit... Excuse, what is your name?"

Dretphi releases Trakenthin's leg, exhales calmly with an air sheer satisfaction, and respectfully answers. "Dretphi. Dretphi Prakkenten Reti Veranattin."

The referee confirms with a hidden contentment. Dretphi calmly exits the ring, returns the training sword to the smugly smiling old grath men, bows, and leaves quickly to the exit. Trakenthin sits up from the mat floor, blinks in sheer bewilderment, and stares silently attempting to comprehend the situation. A camera gets to close and suffers the full ire of Trakenthin when he backhands the lens right off it.

A large, loose crowd hangs out near the Stalwart Sword huge demo with the major topic being the last, remaining sword still in the large center stone. The other four sword stones remain empty with names and locations card in front to showcase the new owners of the swords. Bach steps up to the center platform at the direction of a Stalwart Sword representative. He carefully and firmly grips the sword handle, shores up his stance, and readies himself. With a strong attempt, his arm muscles flex, his body strains, but the sword remains in the exact spot without a single shudder. He shakes his head, looks up to Aristespha, Cideeda, Dretphi, Sebastian, and Sebastian with a nonchalant shrug and an accepting smile. "Oh well. Guess it's not for me."

"A valiant try! Quite impressive. Really..."

Bach stands back up and glances over his shoulder to see Chad Bosch waving to the crowd. Camera crews disperse into the area, while Samantha and Gerald maintain a professional distance away to overseer the impending operation. As Chad steps up to the side of the sword containing stone to work the crowd, Bach quizzically stares at the sword with a strange curiosity. He glances at Chad and returns his gaze to sword in thought. Bach's eyes glow blue as they search through his mind. A seconds later, his eyes flit wide and then narrows a quick glare to Chad. The glare fades with a scheming smile and the glow in his eyes dims back to normal. Chad maintains a bright heroic smile and eyes Bach. "If you don't mind... I'd like to give it a try. Sir..."

Bach nods against Chad's intimidating, demanding stare contrasting his smile, steps away with a welcoming gesture, and returns into the crowd. Chad keeps the stare upon Bach and only breaks off when he receives a variety of other stares and glares from Aristespha, Cideeda, Dretphi, Sebastian, and Sotalia. Bach slides in behind the group and Aristespha directs her voice back. "I sensed something strange about that sword's locking enchantment. Did you feel anything?"

Bach grins with a dark tint and laughs quietly. "Oh yes. When Chad walked up, I felt something stir. I think it was some kind of remote trigger stirring. I bet he's got a key enchantment or something on him."

Cideeda shakes her head with a dissatisfied sneer. Dretphi crosses her arms with stoic glare forward to Chad. Sotalia leans closer to Bach to participate in the conversation. "Fucking figures. I wonder how much the cheat paid for the privilege?"

Bach chuckles with an evil color and perks a knowing eyebrow. "Too much for what he's going to get."

Sebastian blinks, and hovers his head near to whisper to Bach. "What did you DO?"

Bach merely grins. "Oh. We'll see. I'll have to apologize to Kaleb later."

The group watches with less than kind, anticipating gazes as Chad secures his grip around the sword for his attempt. Chad calms himself, concentrates with a dramatic flair, and flexes his muscular upper body in an exaggerated display of strength to draw up the sword. The display eventually shifts towards genuine straining effort as the seconds wear on and the sword remains in place. Just as the determination upon Chad's face cracks to desperation, the sword gradually slides up to the silence of the crowd. The sword travels sluggishly out of the stone platform, ignoring the shakes of Chad's arms stressing against some force. When the sword arrives half out of the stone, it slams back into place and leads Chad's forehead to tap unceremoniously into the handle. Chad releases the sword, stands up, and assures the crowd with bold, heroic gestures. "Do not worry. It's just a little shy with such a wonderful crowd witnessing."

He squats down, carefully grips onto the sword tight, pans a gaze to the crowd, and traces a glare to Samantha and the confused Stalwart Sword representative that Samantha discreetly berates. He waits for crowd to quiet down, preps himself, and waits. With all the power he can muster, he puts all his strength into pulling the sword. It gradually moves up and rewards Chad's outstanding effort, up until the halfway point... When the binding force completely disappears. The large crowd cheers a chorus of laughter and applause when Chad flies backwards onto the ground and crashes out onto the floor. Sword still in hand, Chad summons all his being to contain the irritation swelling out onto his face behind his trademark heroic smile.

Kaleb doubles over from laughing and rights himself back up to face Bach. "Nicely done! That arrogant prick deserves all he gets. I wish I could have seen his face. It was probably just as bad as when you asked about his car."

Shadeesa shakes her head as she relaxes in a chair and pets Lagi's head at her side. "We need to be careful. If they keep it up, they'll put our act out of business."

Kaleb glances with a shrug to Shadeesa and Lagi. "They still don't have a dragon. I think we still got them beat."

The entirety of both groups converse about the events of the day, exchanging various stories.

"MYLO! Stop running! Get back over here!"

Mylo rushes toward the groups, waving his glowing wand around, and calling out. "Dragon!"

Mylo's evuukian mother runs after him with another human man beside her. The man calls out. "Come on, son! Slow down!"

Mother and father split out to either side, and close in on Mylo as he close in on the other two groups near Lagi. Eventually the parents manage to capture the excited Mylo. As Mylo's mother turns to apologize, she immediately recognizes Bach. "I'm so sorry for him- THERE YOU ARE!"

Bach blinks and weakly waves. Mylo's mother smiles and bows slightly. "You disappeared before I could thank you. Again, thank you so much! You've saved the day for all us and kept our sanity intact for a little while longer."

The human man, with the same dirty blonde hair color as Mylo, steps forward and extends a hand out to Bach. "Hello! The name is Mason Anderson. Just wanted to say thanks for helping my wife and son out."

Bach shakes Mason hand. "It wasn't a problem, really."

Mylo's mother lowers Mylo back down with a hand securing him from wandering too far. "Oh, that's right. I never got your name. I sorry to have been so rude. I am Lalyanpha and this is Mylokia, or Mylo."

Lalyanpha lifts her head up towards Bach with a smile and notices Aristespha. The smile tinges with unease as nervous energy seeps out. Aristespha's eyes widen and she raises a hand comforting hand to Lalyanpha. "Do not worry. I do NOT share those biases. You do not study proper medicine without seeing the fallacies behind those prejudices. You two have a beautiful son."

A great weigh leaves Lalyanpha and she sighs with relief as Mason wraps an arm around her. "Thank you. That's one of the reasons why Mason and I come to these type of events."

Mason grins and winks out to the group. "Also, I get free tickets from the organizers. Helps when you're the guy they come to fix everything that likes to fall apart around here."

Mylo looks pleadingly to his mother and points to Lagi. Shadeesa meets Lalyanpha's glance with a happy nod and gestures for Mylo to comes over. Lagi enjoys the new attention from little Mylo, and the gathering converses more about the events of the convention. Eventually, the groups go their own ways as the night sky in the above skylights wears on. Everyone takes great care to not disturb a sleeping Mylo from the cradle of Lagi's front legs.

-22-

Bach lifts his upper body off the bed and sheets roll off as he rises up to sleepily crack his eyes open. With a quick pan of the head about the room, he throws the bed covers off and pivots the rest of himself to place his feet upon the floor. A yawn pauses him briefly before he leans forward and stands up with the back of his hand driving the last remnants of sleep out of his eyes. His hands work out the tangles from his long brown, graying hair and guide the white streak to one the side over an ear. Blue eyes search around the room and Bach surrenders to another yawn with stretch of his back. He briefly stands tall with proper posture, sucks in his gut, and puffs out his chest in front of the mirror. For a few moments, he enjoys the heroic ideal in the tall, simple wall mirror. Then, he releases his breath, slouches, and slumps his shoulders. Bach examines the farmers tan on his forearms in stark contrast to the rest of his fair skin and scratches the forming beard under his jaw. With a general sigh of disappointment, he places his hand upon his stomach and stops in surprise thought. He glance down and notices the difference of where his hand rests in comparison to what he normally expects. "Huh..."

He searches the room in thought and eyes the door with a lift of an eyebrow. "... there is a bathroom scale..."

Bach opens the nearby dresser drawer, puts on a new shirt and pair of shorts over his underwear, and opens the door to his bedroom.

The bathroom door opens to a content Bach with a satisfied smirk upon his face. He steps out into the hallway, turns, and walks back toward his room. The mumbling voice of Sotalia emanates from her room and catches Bach's attention before he makes too much progress. He halts mindfully, slowly spins around, and cautiously approaches her room's open door. Bach carefully cranes himself around the door frame to peer through the doorway into the room. Sotalia sits, legs crossed, upon her bed in the middle of a collection of trinkets, folded space frames, shopping bags, and labeled boxes surrounding the area. Her attention focuses upon a single red crystal in her hand and the semi-circle of labeled boxes around her. She bites her lip in deliberation, gestures the red crystal towards one box before her head sways it back over to another box. As the debate in her mind continues, she idly grabs hold of her foot with a free hand while her other foot unconsciously fidgets. She blinks hard, straightens up her back, and opens her eyes to notice Bach in the doorway. Bach weakly waves awkwardly. "Oh, sorry. I didn't want to interrupt anything."

Sotalia lifts a brow with a smile and points the crystal at Bach to punctuate her thoughts. "Actually, perfect timing. You might be able to answer this one."

She rolls the red crystal in her hands until she secures it between a finger and thumb and shows it to Bach. "If you were a seven year old boy, would you be interested in a magical artifact that charges by sunlight and produces an illusion of a flame with light and warmth when tapped?"

Bach slides fully into the doorway with a hand on the frame, looks into his mind along with the proposed question, and quizzes back. "Can it light stuff on fire?"

Sotalia shakes her head slightly and maintains her curious gaze upon Bach. "No. Just light and safe to touch warmth."

With a shrug, Bach lifts his hands up around his sides, pulling a twist in his mouth. "Sounds neat, but I remember being a bit more into the more dangerous sounding things when I was that age."

Sotalia nods, directs her hand over a box, and carefully deposits the crystal into it. "That's I what I was thinking. Well, to Dellena that one goes. I think I got something for Kalant... But, I need to make sure Sontaila has enough small things to keep her distracted from anything I give Kalant."

As Sotalia wanders off in a dialog of thought to herself, Bach studies the area and walks into Sotalia's room closer to her bed. "Just curious, but what are you doing, exactly?"

It takes a few moments before Sotalia registers Bach's question and interrupts herself from the task before her to explain. "Oh, yes! I'm figuring what to gift my nieces and nephews from out of everything I've found and bought."

Bach glances down with a questioning quirk to his brow and allows his eyes to search inside the boxes with names written upon them. "So, you are gifting your nieces and nephews possibly potent magical artifacts?"

A sly grin grows upon Sotalia's expression as she narrows her eyes with a distinctive flits of the eyebrows in return to Bach. "Oh, yes. I believe I'm not unique in the practice, as demonstrated recently."

A long sigh precedes Bach burying his face in his hand and he groans in a mix of acceptance of fact and defeat from counterpoint. Sotalia chuckles to herself and she reaches an arm down deep into a thin rectangular frame next to her. "Not to worry. Anything I gift to my little ones I screen personally. I keep a whole stock of detection strips, meter vials, and the usual kits for figuring out what magic might be bound to these things."

Bach recovers his face from his hand, surveys Sotalia's room with interest, and stops his gaze upon a few square and rectangular containers in the corner. "I see. How many of those isolation containers do you have?"

Sotalia draws a small scroll out from the frame, shifts her glance to the containers, and taps a free finger upon her lip while she sorts out the accounting. "Aristespha and I originally got a dozen of a few different sizes. Two of them have worn out and their isolation enchantments barely work anymore. One was rendered useless when a dangerous artifact we found in a ruin exploded and sprung every safety on it. So, we have nine working ones."

She squints her eyes, leans forward across her bed, and cocks her head to the side. "Is that indicator strip blue?"

Bach steps close to the container in question and kneels down to scrutinize the bluish strip inside with a small metal cylinder and bright orange cap upon its end. "Pretty much. Huh. What type of indicator strip is this?"

Sotalia lifts herself back and plays with the small scroll in her hands while she ponders the development inside the container. "It's a standard two alpha magical type indicator strip. I'm not surprised it changed, since I remember feeling something strong in it when I picked it up at the dealer room."

Bach stands back up, scratches the back of his head, shrugs while shaking his head in confusion, and glances back. "What magic would be on a paint pen?"

A nonchalant smile crosses Sotalia face and she draws a breath in while she twirls the scroll over each finger on a hand. "Well, that's what I hope to find out. People have put far more powerful magics on stranger things..."

Bach keeps his face forward away from Sotalia as his eyelids lower half mast with an unamused tug on upon the corner of his mouth. Sotalia rolls her eyes with a smile and bites her lip. "Speaking of which... I bought some decorative wooden wands that would be perfect for enchantment into practice focuses."

Bach continues to face away from Sotalia, slowly breathes in, and slowly exhales. Sotalia grins with an evil tinge. "Such application of magic would certainly be a great exercise that would most assuredly count for today's magical training."

A few quick twists of the mouth and Bach pivots around with an accepting smirk. "Okay. You got a deal. How many?"

Sotalia angles her head away, brushes some of her dark red hair over a horn, and casually tries to play off her request. "Nine."

With a few hard blinks, Bach shudders his head side to side and squints at Sotalia. "Nine?! How many nieces and nephews do you have?"

Still avoiding direct eye contact, Sotalia counts out to Bach. "Three nieces, two nephews, and one nephew on the way."

Bach turns his hands up towards him, counts down from nine on his fingers, and flexes three remaining fingers on a hand to exaggerate his stare to Sotalia. "And?"

Sotalia sighs and sways her head around. "Well, my two sisters, too."

Two fingers curl down to the palm and leave one remaining index finger that Bach prominently holds up. He alternates his gaze between the finger and Sotalia. Eventually, Sotalia crosses her arms and perks a brow with a twist to her pout. "Well, one for me. I'm not missing out."

Aristespha presses down on the screen of her tablet over the play icon and watches another video of the creation of Mylo's wand. She smiles gently as she watches the reaction of Mylo and his mother Lalyanpha, and tilts the tablet up from the coating of papers, notes, and research materials upon the tabletop. Sotalia moves out from the hallway archway with the small scroll in hand. Bach follows shortly behind. She steps next to Aristespha and peeks over her shoulder to see the video on the tablet. "Aww. He is such a sweet little boy."

Bach cranes his head around, spots a glimpse of the video, and nearly immediately changes course for the couch. "Great... another video has surfaced."

Cideeda snorts as she adjusts a few pillows underneath her on her claim of the couch. Following a flick of her tail, she lifts her arm lazily up from the side and aims the television's remote at the screen. "Oh, that's nothing. You should SEE the comments on a video posted of you two and Tassilda. I've seen some aethernet forum fights, but these are amazing."

Cideeda's foot stretches out from her half of the couch and a cautious clawed toe gently pokes the side of Dretphi's leg. "And, there's rumors someone might make it into the next episode of you-know-what..."

A low grumble rolls out from Dretphi as she squirms for comfort on her half of the couch with hints of embarrassment sneaking into her expression. She attempts to maintain her stare forward towards the television while other eyes focus upon her. Eventually, she sighs with a curl to her lip. "I apologize. I did not think about the recording equipment at that time."

Sotalia snickers with a grin and glances at Dretphi. "What's there to apologize for? He asked for everything he got saying THAT to you. I just hope they got a good shot of you throwing him onto the mat, so I can see it."

Dretphi briefly meets Sotalia's gaze and gradually cracks a smile as her head returns to watch the television. "The recording equipment functioned properly at his defeat."

Aristespha rests the tablet down upon the table and rotates her chair with a slide out towards the rest of the group. She draws in a long breath and sighs with a serious expression to the group. "As the one that files the paperwork for the group, I'd like to remind everyone that such activities can alter perceptions of the group and could affect how mission bids are or are not accepted."

A sly grin grows on Aristespha's mouth and she perks an eyebrow while she tosses back her silvery blue hair. "But... Certain sacrifices need to be made from time to time for all the right unofficial reasons."

Smug satisfaction wafts into the air of the living room from multiple sources. Aristespha's eyes home in on the small scroll in Sotalia's hand. "What is that? The script on the outside seems to be... an old high Evuukian dialect?"

Sotalia lifts the small scroll up in her hand and positions it in front of Aristespha's view. "It's that decorative star chart I found a few months back. My little sister, Talelia, mentioned that Kalant is getting interested in astronomy, so I thought he might like this."

She places the small scroll into Aristespha's awaiting hands, crosses her arms, and grumbles. "But, I can't remember what calendar it uses for when you write in the date. Thought you might be able to figure it out quicker."

Aristespha nods, carefully unrolls the scroll, and examines the changing chart and scripts on the material. After a minute of reading, she reflexively groans in disgust, momentarily sticks her tongue out, and rolls her eyes at sudden realization. "Bleah. I remember. I am NOT going to honor that man by saying his name. It's practically the ancient Gregorian calendar, but just with a year and day offset based on that bastard's birth date."

With care, Aristespha rolls the scroll back up and places it on the table. "Before you gift it, let us see if we can adjust it to the proper Nexus calendar."

Sotalia snorts with a humored curl to her mouth's corner. "I still can't believe how many Evuukian high nobles tried to push their own calendars after the monarchy was dissolved."

Rubbing the temple of her head, Aristespha groans dismissively to the thought. "None of them were above a vanity project, especially... THAT one."

Bach quirks a brow and gazes over to Aristespha with heavy sarcasm in his voice. "Sounds like a revered historical figure you got there."

A series of small shakes of the head precede Aristespha taking a long breath to exhale out tinges of irritation. "Unfortunately, revered by too many evuukians in positions of power, even today. That man is responsible for popularizing so many terrible aspects of Evuukian culture..."

She tilts her head over to look sadly at the paused video of Mylo and Lalyanpha. "And making life hard for those that don't follow those aspects."

Bach nods and gazes towards Aristespha with a cautious curiosity. "I've always heard intermarriage with other races is really taboo with most Evuukians."

Aristespha nods slow and tugs at the corner of her mouth with distant dissatisfaction. "Taboo is a nice way of putting it. Most are disowned by their own families and many are forced to change their names legally to strip both house and family names from them."

She crosses her arms, leans back in her chair, and chuckles dryly with a dismissive crack of a grin. "And, it's just considered the proper procedure in proper Evuukian society. Gods, to think I was that deluded when I was young."

Sotalia pulls a tight smile and momentarily averts her eyes off from anyone with a hint of past youth reflection. "Well, you know better now. That's all that matters."

Following a scratch of the chin, Bach sits down in his chair next to the couch, eyes Aristespha inquisitively, and thinks a few moments. "If I'm not digging too much... Umm... What changed your mind?"

Aristespha smiles with a snort and gazes at Bach. "College, of course!"

She places her hand on the side of her face and her violet eyes search up in her mind for a particular memory. "Actually, one project, I will never forget, comes to mind. It was the start of my second year and it was a selected topics course in humanoid genetics and history. Oh, that first major project that sneaky professor gave."

Her hands reach out to gesture and demonstrate vague columns and rows of information. "He gave us a sample set of summarized genomes. We had information about the gender and race of each genome in the set. He wanted us to write up a simple ruleset to help categorize another set of genomes by race, that would be at least better than random chance."

Aristespha sighs, shakes her head, and rolls her eyes while she props her head up with her hand. "I was SO certain I had it figured out. Even tried to optimize it to use fewer rules for identification. I turned it in."

Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia crack amused grins as Aristespha dramatically drops her head forward and covers her face with her hands. Bach grits with an awkward smirk. "Not good, I guess?"

Aristespha lifts her head up to gaze up at the ceiling with her hands up and deflates. "Significantly worst than RANDOM chance. I was SO furious. I wrote the nastiest aethermail I have ever to any person. And, I used my entire spring break to research and show him wrong."

She sits in silence remembrance for a number of seconds before drawing the breath to speak again. "Sunday before the break, I started my research. Wednesday night, I couldn't process any more information. Thursday, I laid in my bed all day and comprehended how much an arrogant bitch I had been. Then, I spent the rest of the break trying to figure out how to make up for the worst aethermail I have ever written to any person."

Aristespha chuckles and smiles to Bach. "Monday after the break, I tried my best to apologize to him and he just laughed wanting to know what changed my mind. We had an amazing time discussing all the details of what I found."

Bach nods and shrugs nonchalantly returning the smile. "I didn't take that many biology courses, personally. But between talking to Kaleb and Shadeesa, it never seemed like there was that much difference between the races."

Aristespha slyly grins and sits up in her chair. "Oh! There is NONE. Biologically, we are all just post-cataclysm humans. No other species have formed."

She guides out a bundle of her silvery blue hair over her long pointed ears with one hand and gestures towards her eyes and facial coloration with the other. "The common characteristics that most attribute to defining a race are just a collection of Pre-Cataclysm genetic modifications that have been passed on in physically, socially, or politically isolated groups for hundreds of years. And, the most fascinating part is that the modifications aren't unique to ANY race."

She eyes Bach, focuses upon the white streak in his hair, and points it out. "For example, that white streak. You have it. Sebastian has it. And from the pictures Sebastian has shown us, your mother has it, too."

A realization lands solidly in Bach's mind and he blinks a few times as he cocks his head to a side. "Come to think of it, my grandfather has it and my great grandmother had it. And, there's a few cousins on my mom's side that have it. All in the... same... spot."

He crosses his arms in thought and lets his eyes search around his mind, before pulling down the white streak in question into his sight. Sotalia grins with a chuckle to herself as she walks towards the kitchen. "Oh, that's nothing. You should have been here the first time she ranted about all of this to us."

Aristespha twists her mouth with a bit of embarrassment and stiffens her posture. "Well, I was a drink too far that night and made the mistake of watching political news. I've learned to never let the two mix again."

Cideeda flexes out her hand in front of her and examines the claw tips on each finger with a content expression. "Still pretty amazing how it's the same modification that gives Fvalians claws and Emin their nails."

Dretphi raises her arm up and rotates her forearm to show Bach the gray stripes on her skin. "Never thought my skin would be similar to both Emin, Evuukian."

Sotalia withdraws her head from inside the refrigerator, takes a moment pose her head to showcase the side, and traces the edge of her pointed ears with a finger. "Same old modification on both Emin and Evuukian."

Bach shifts his attention between the different examples everyone presents with interest, but eventually settles down in his chair and shakes his head. "Huh. All the same mechanisms with just different settings?"

Aristespha slowly nods to confirm Bach's suspicion. "Exactly. And often, modifications are present but have very mundane parameters. So, you will never know normally. And, there's so much to be researched when it comes to how iterative generations, mutations, and magical influences have affected the modifications."

She idly pushes some papers on the table near her clear to the other of the table side and positions the small scroll in the middle of the bare tabletop. "I was VERY interested in that field, but standard and magical medicine captured my heart more. But, I still read up on the latest developments."

Sebastian drifts through the sliding glass door and adjusts his altitude to coast out of the viewing path of the television screen. "Well, nothing to report on the neighbors. Looks like they either busy or not currently trying to spy on us."

He lands standing next to the dining table and glances around to everyone else. "Did I miss something?"

Bach directs Sebastian's attention to his white streak and with an amused expression. "Talking about ancient genetic modifications we inherited."

Sebastian eyes light up with interest and he grins as the thought wells up in his mind. "Oh yah, bro. It's actually pretty neat stuff they're figuring out. What was the name of that paper you got a while back, dear?"

Aristespha carefully unrolls the small scroll out on the table top, pauses a moment, and glances towards Sebastain briefly. "I think it was called New Methods in Detecting the Propagation of Pre-Cataclysm Genetic Modifications, Sebastian."

Sebastian's ghostly form floats up, leans over the table to survey the small scroll, and looks toward Bach. "They talked about how most people have at least one modification somewhere in their DNA and it reminded me of that lab partner I had for that forensics elective I took."

After a few moments, Bach's eyes stop sifting through memories and he returns his gaze to Sebastian, quirking a brow. "The one with green hair?"

A few nods and Sebastian flashes a grit with an ethereal sigh of defeat. "We had a lab using microscopes to analyze hair. I joking suggested making bet on what her natural hair was... She warned me that it was green. But, I decided to call her bluff with dinner at a nice restaurant as the wager..."

Sebastian contorts his mouth a few different ways as his pride shrinks a bit, but eventually shrugs with his arms in the air. "Well, after paying for a very expensive dinner-"

Bach grumbles to himself in the gap of Sebastian's sentence. "And eating all your brother's frozen dinners for a month..."

With a flit of the brow Sebastian ignores his brother's addition. "I learned there are just some things you take someone's word for. Proved to be a lot cheaper for me."

Aristespha, Bach, and Sotalia sit around the end of the dining room table watching the pictures and text upon the small scroll shift and change erratically. Aristespha's glowing violet eyes dim down to normal and she removes her hands away from scroll. In moments, the scroll settles down to stable and consistent imagery and script. Sotalia smiles as she checks her aetherphone and compares a picture of the night sky to the image upon the scroll. "Looks like a match to me."

Bach blinks his blue glowing eyes to a regular blue and rests back down in his chair at the table. "I would not be surprised if they had a huge stock of these and just hacked in that date adjustment."

Aristespha closes her eyes briefly while she shakes her head. "I am certain someone tried to make a quick profit by selling them as promotional materials. But, thankfully, it was simple enough to undo."

Sotalia rolls the scroll's woven material back up and grips the roll in her hand. "Thank you, so much. I hope Kalant likes it."

Aristespha opens her mouth to speak, halts, and peers down at her side towards a chime emanating from her pants pocket. She reaches into her pocket, retrieves her aetherphone, and surprises herself upon reading the screen. "It's Nash! And, he's making the call?"

She quickly taps a few command buttons on her phone, rests it down upon the tabletop, and directs her voice. "Hello, Nash. I have you on speakerphone."

The phone sounds out Nash's voice along with a repetitious subtle background squeak of a rolling chair, a wariness hints color Nash's tone. "Good. I'd like to make sure everyone can hear this. I've got... News.

Sebastian hovers close to the phone. Cideeda's ears perk up and she sits up on her part of the couch. Dretphi reaches over to the coffee table, presses the mute button on the television remote, and twists her upper body towards the dining table. A long exhale echoes into the distant room through the phone's speaker and Nash resumes. "We've started to figure out the system based on the data you gave us. We haven't figured out what the extra data is all about, but I've been able to map the coordinates to locations using today's standard coordinate system. But..."

The idle chair squeaks stop and light taps come through as shoes plant themselves upon a tile floor. Nash sighs and groans. "Fuck it, I'll drop it now. I asked myself one of those questions. I asked myself, how the hell does anyone know a login to a system this old. Answer? They don't. They crack it."

Aristespha leans closer to the phone with growing concern on her face. "Nash? Are you okay?"

Nash coughs, recollects himself, and brightens up the tone in his voice. "Me, personally? I'm fine. Really. It's just I'm about to tell you all some details that just make room for harder questions. But... Long story short, someone cracked this system with Grand Library software... Five years ago."

Surprise and confusion spreads through the group, and everyone exchanges reactions before pouring full focus upon Nash's voice from the phone. "Judging the from the Oh Shit gasps and silence I heard, you are just surprised as I was. But wait, it gets weirder. The software used was ten years old. And, it's not the stolen hacking edition that most your black market tomb raiders often use. This was the official, tagged, archaeological edition."

Bach squints and twists his mouth while resting his chin down upon the palm of his hand. "What's the difference between the two editions?"

A rolling tap of fingers upon a desk resonates through the speaker of the phone and Nash thoughtfully breaths in. "Well, the hacking edition is designed to get the job done no matter what. While, the archaeological edition is designed to carefully open systems up, preserve the integrity of the target, and leave notes about anything changed for other researchers. It's the difference between drunkenly chainsawing a door open while raging about your ex, versus using precision tools to calculate and create a proper key to unlock the door."

With an understanding nod, Bach acknowledges as his expression perplexes about the analogy. "That is strange. Why would someone use that software to perform that task? And, huh..."

Nash's voice mirrors the confusion rising in Bach's tone. "Exactly! The only thing I can think of is that it was the only thing whoever had at the time. Which makes this next detail, a bit frightening to think about. That recent login you all suspect that Noxian used to acquire that data set... Was the same login created by that software five years ago."

Aristespha's light skin somehow pales more as shock widens her eyes and she covers the mouth of her dropping jaw. Sebastian blinks in sheer bewilderment before he changes his focus to Aristespha and attempts to get her attention to check on her. An awkward, tense silence looms above the room as minds process out new possibilities. Nash's voice rushes up from the background noise on the other side of the call. "Now! I don't know any more than that! Please don't make any assumptions yet! I want to make sure I get ALL the information first. Especially, before I have to report this to Grand Library's Powers-That-Be."

After a few waves of Sebastian's ethereal hand, Aristespha shudders back to awareness of the situation and draws a careful breath with nod to Sebastian. "I'll send you anything you need. This is certainly a twist."

Nash chuckles to himself and humors out some stress. "Oh, yes. This is WAY too much serious business for me. I'm just suppose to babysit graduate students and play tablet games during budget meetings. But, I'll do my best. Well, I really got back to this, but I wanted to pass this info along to you all. I'll send you the mapped out coordinates we've gotten so far."

Aristespha smiles and speaks in soft, comforting tone to her phone. "Are you going to be okay, Nash?"

A laugh sounds out from the phone and Nash snorts. "Don't worry. It's nothing a refresher course in all the ways I misspent my youth won't fix. You all take care. Really."

Before pressing the hang up button on the screen, Aristespha calmly speaks with warmth in her expression. "We will. You do so, too."

The previous awkward silence continues to hang above until a message notification rings out from the aetherphone with a tablet on the table buzzing moments later. Aristespha checks her phone, reaches out to the tablet, and taps through a few screens to get an aethermail open on the screen. "Well, here's the coordinate list. Looks like he's figured out what time stamp they were using and sorted it by the most recent. A few he's put notes about anything located near the point."

Aristespha reads out coordinate numbers from the list along with Nash's notes. After a dozen readings, her voice drifts as the monotony of the task distracts her focus. Upon mentioning a series a numbers, Cideeda's ears perk up and her eyes flash open wide with her posture shocking rigid. "What was that one?!"

A curious glance snaps to Cideeda from Aristespha, and she Aristespha carefully announces the coordinates in question again. Cideeda throws herself up from the couch and searches the area in an energetic hunt. "Where's THE map?! That sounds familiar for some reason!"

Dretphi thinks to herself momentarily, before pulling herself to her feet and holding a finger up with a bite of a lip. She rushes through the hallway archway to the office. The audible sounds of rummaging and moving items echo into the living room, before Dretphi steps back into the room with a large folded map in her hands. As Dretphi spreads the map out onto the tabletop with Aristespha, Bach, and Sotalia securing it down upon the surface, Cideeda slides into a space between chairs and leans over with her eyes scanning the entire map. A claw-tipped finger hovers above the longitude axis at the top of the map before carefully moving down square divisions of latitude. Her claw point glides along until it finds a familiar, previously made indentation on the material that fits her claw tip perfectly. Cideeda gazes to everyone with a toothy grin as she taps the spot with an air of victory. Sotalia blinks with her jaw slightly agape and places her hands on her hips with a conceding nod. "I'll be damned. You were right, girl."

Aristespha compares the location and the notes on her tablet screen. "That is a match, but that location's timestamp is ten years old."

While Aristespha head tilts to the side to entertain a spark of thought in her eyes, Sebastian nods with determination and a growing grin as he stands up confidently. "I think we found our next place to visit! It might be an old time stamp, but Nox has been reported to have been there in the past and the place he visited recently points it out, too."

Sebastian assumes a more heroic posture and smiles to the group. "That's enough to be worth the trip to me. Any objections?"

No objections present themselves over the idle pondering and figuring of the group over the new information present. Dretphi enters data into her phone, squints at a map with a highlighted route, and turns the screen towards the group. "Travel will be two days. The location is remote. Need to prepare to establish a camp. I recommend two weeks of supplies."

Cideeda nods in agreement while she studies the map. "That sounds good. If we're there for a week, we'll need to probably come back anyway."

Aristespha sits back in her chair, stretches her back out, and focuses upon her tablet. "I'll get to informing all the usual people. I'll let the guild and Grand Library watchdogs know."

Bach quirks his expression at the mention of the word watchdogs. "Sorry, but guild and Grand Library watchdogs?"

Sebastian rotates his gaze to Bach with a gesture of his hand. "Oh, they're groups you let know when you are going on risky trips and quests. That way if you don't check in or respond to calls, they know to send people after you."

Bach aims a quizzical glance to Sebastian. "Have you ever needed them?"

A collective energy of annoyance floats up to the surface from the rest of the group and Sebastian sighs with a noticeable dip in pride. "Yes. Once."

Cideeda narrows and shakes her head with a growl. "Let's put it this way, there's a REALLY good reason there's a lock on the humvee's fuel door and mesh screen collar inserts in the fueling tubes."

Sotalia crosses her arms tightly and sneers. "Fuck that hick town of thieving shits. I still think most courts would have seen fireballing that place as justified."

A video game displays upon a television screen in a modestly decorated living room. Various toys sparsely litter the area with a few partially wedged between couch cushions and on top of other items on a nearby bookshelf. Mylo sits with a game controller in hand next to Mason. He frantically presses buttons on the controller and vents his frustrations in grumbles and growls. He flops back into couch as the television plays a loud jingle for the character's demise. "Not fair!"

Mylo sits back up, snaps at his gaze to Mason, and pushes the game controller into his hands. "Can you get past this part, daddy?"

Mason takes hold of the controller, smiles, and shakes his head with a laugh. "Okay. But, you really need to do these parts yourself. I can't do just do all the hard ones for you."

With a quick nod, Mylo returns to his attention to the television screen. "I know. I'll do the next hard one. I promise."

Mason continues to smile, chuckles, and narrows his eyes in full focus to the screen. "Sure. Okay, now watch carefully, I'll show you the boss's pattern."

Lalyanpha dons a warm expression as she watches Mylo and Mason on couch before turning back from the archway into the small, simple kitchen. She adjusts a few dials on the oven, lifts a lid on a pot to inspect the progress of the contents, and opens a cabinet to reveal a number of ceramic dishes inside. She retrieves three plates from the stack inside the cabinet, opens a drawer below the counter top, and hovers a hand over the utensils. She freezes rigidly as a unique ring tone sounds out from her apron pocket. Carefully, she slowly retrieves her aetherphone, raises it up to her eye level, and stares at the caller's label in Evuukian. Lalyanpha closes her eyes, gradually draws a breath in, releases it slowly, and opens her eyes to stoic an expression upon her face. She taps the answer button on the screen, places the phone to her long pointed ear, and responds in a monotone proper high evuukian greeting.

An older male voice replies back in an almost equally stoic, monotone manner. The both sides of the conversation continue dryly and stilted. The strain reveals itself upon Lalyanpha's face but she continues to steel herself, until the older male voice wavers and pauses. Lalyanpha puzzles a moment and she clicks the volume up on the phone to concentrate fully on the other voice. Stammers briefly hinder the other voice but eventually the tone of a question arrives to Lalyanpha's ear. Her stance drifts looser, her eyes search for the reason, and she answers back in confusion. "Mylokia."

The silence lingers for seconds before sniffles precede sobs and almost audible tears echo from the phone's speaker. Lalyanpha eyes spring wide open as absolute shock and concern flood her face. She covers her mouth and she desperately attempts to determine how to react. She speaks with a shaky, worried tone to the other voice with series of similar sentences. Eventually, the older male voice collect himself with a series of sniffs, and voices out a long careful sentence. He pauses. And he prominently says a few key words. Lalyanpha gasps quietly and firmly clasps her mouth with her hand. She firmly closes her eyes and tears gush out down her cheeks. The other voice wanders a bit in audible, unsure thought. Lalyanpha removes her hand from her face to reveal a tear covered smile of absolute elation and her voice fights through sniffles and stammers to a warm, cheerful statement back. The conversation continues with moments of emotion that keep a smile on Lalyanpha and a happy tone in the other voice.

With a final power shot and trick slide from the player character, the boss drops down in defeat and the level completion screen flies up and a blitz of numbers count out with colorful animations. Milo cheers out and rocks happily on the couch. "That was amazing!"

Mason chuckles and ruffles the dirty blonde hair on Mylo's head. "Many years of practice."

As the sounds and music quiet down for the level transition, Mason directs his head towards the archway leading to the kitchen and concern tints his expression as he hears a series of familiar sniffs and sighs. He returns the controller to Mylo, pats him on the head, and smiles as he gets up off the couch. "Give the next level a shot. I'll go check to see how far along mom is with dinner, okay?"

Mylo nods quickly, faces he television screen, and begins pressing buttons on the controller. Mason carefully walks at a normal pace across the living room and passes through archway with an immediate pivot towards Lalyanpha. He quickly but carefully approaches as she stands holding her phone to her chest and staring idly with her head slightly down. As she sighs out, he gently wraps his arms around her and guides her close. "Is everything okay, Laly?"

Lalyanpha breathes out and rests her head against Mason's shoulder. "My father called."

Mason grimaces and frowns as he tries to comfort Lalyanpha. "I'm sorry-"

A renewed smile appears on her face and Lalyanpha reaches a hand onto Mason's face. "He- Someone sent him one of the videos of Mylo and me at the convention. He asked to know his name. He heard the name... He cried... I've never heard him cry."

She gazes up lovingly to Mason with new tears waiting in her eyes. "He said... He wants to come meet his grandson. He wants to meet... His daughter's-"

Lalyanpha pauses, closes her eyes to squeeze out new lines tears, and concludes the sentence with delight hidden beneath old pain. "...son."

Mason gazes into Lalyanpha's eyes, manages to fold up a clean section of his shirt off his chest, and dries off the tears from Lalyanpha's face. The two enjoy quiet moments in each other arms before they share a quick kiss. Mason gently sways Lalyanpha around in his arms with her shifting her weight in sync. Eventually, the two let each other go with Lalyanpha moving to inspect diner and Mason examining the area. Mason scratches his head with a tinge of nervous energy. "Well, any time frame for when he's going to visit? We don't exactly have the biggest place. But, we can manage something, I'm sure."

Lalyanpha shakes her head with smirk and opens the oven door. "Nothing yet. We both agreed to talk about it later after we've both emotionally rested. He also has to talk to mother, but she'll be easy to convince."

Mason exhales in relief and examines the area. "Good. I just want to make sure the place is presentable-"

Lalyanpha stands with her oven mitt wearing hands gripping a covered pan and lifts her eye brow to Mason. "We live in a house with a four year old. This is as presentable as this place is going to get for them."

The groan of an annoyed child radiates into the kitchen and Mason pivots to point towards the archway. "Speaking of which, I better go help him out, again."

A warm smile with wink meets Mason's glance back as Lalyanpha rests the pan down upon the counter. "Keep him occupied for ten more minutes and we should be good for dinner."

Mason nods, gives a thumbs up, and steps through the archway into the living room. "What's wrong Mylo? Another hard part?"

-23-

The humvee rolls along the roughly paved surface of the four lane highway. Thick forests border the clear shoulders next to the roadway. The suspension of the humvee constantly absorbs the many defects in the road and the vehicle adjusts direction within the extra wide lanes to avoid the obvious minor hazards. With a sudden shift in noise, the humvee rolls from the rough pavement to a gravel. The previous sudden shocks to the suspension system turn into sweeping rocks of the vehicle as tires follow the dips and rises in the gravel. Bach lifts his head up from his seat's headrest, blinks with a yawn, and glances through the window outside at a downwards angle. "Well, I guess we hit the Greater Azure Alliance road maintenance limit?"

Cideeda sits with her eyes continuously scanning the road ahead and gently pulls the steering wheel to follow a calmer path in the road. "Yes. I'm guessing in a few hours, I'll be luck to keep it at sixty kilometers per hour. Don't think this road is high a priority."

A sigh escapes Aristespha's lips and she draws a tight smile. "It's unfortunate, really. These routes used to be maintained so well when Greater Azure Alliance and United Appaland States had a trade treaty."

Dretphi stirs from her back seat, opens her eyes, and looks towards the front of the vehicle. "I thought about a route through Tanoo. It did not save time. This route is the faster option."

A pair of harsh bumps shake the vehicle, swaying everyone around inside with the upwards and downwards shift. Dretphi reflexively grabs onto bottom of the back bench seat to secure herself and groans to herself. "Despite unfortunate travel conditions."

With a snarl to her lip, gritting to the road ahead, and a wince in her eye, an apologetic tone tints Cideeda's brief frustration with the road. "Sorry about that one. Looks like the storms have done a number on this section."

Sotalia glances up from her phone, eyes the road ahead, and then rests her eyes back down on the device in her hands. "Still pretty good shape. I wonder if this is an old Train road."

Cideeda darts her eyes around to examine the various aspects of road design before her. "It definitely is. Extra wide lanes, huge shoulders, and the designation markers. They probably used to run some of their triple length haulers down this route."

Bach rests back into his seat and a thought tugs the side of his mouth. "Don't know if there's any truth to this, but I remember hearing a few rumors that the Train has been working on a new route through the Berland river valley. At least that's what the drunks at the bar kept rambling about."

Aristespha quirks a brow and eyes Bach curiously, focusing her intrigue upon him. "Beckerin mentioned similar. Did these drunks wear Train uniforms?"

A brow lifts upon Bach's face and he tilts his head to face Aristespha with a smirk. "They did actually. As much of a dump as Adison is, it does attract all the Train workers from the Hunt Train depot. Plus, the local bars were about the only attraction to that place."

Sebastian's ethereal voice resonates from the sword secured next to Aristespha's seat. "Noticed a few of those less than a block from where that shack you were in."

Bach shakes his head with an eye roll and sighs. "Yes. I stayed away from those places. Too many brawls on my front lawn at three in the morning to make me ever want to go to any of them."

A small smile finds its way onto his mouth and he relaxes his gaze up to the ceiling of the humvee's cab. "I usually went to an adventuring themed tavern a kilometer down the way. Nice atmosphere. And I traded magical tricks and trinkets for free food and drinks."

The pair of horns poking through dark red hair in the seat in front of Bach stir, rotate around, and lift up to reveal a pair of interested golden eyes. Sotalia grins, spins the rest of her body in the seat, and gazes at Bach. "Really? What kind of magical tricks and... trinkets?"

Flashes of embarrassment trigger a few winces upon Bach's face and he squirms in his seat. "Oh, just simple little bar games and other... stuff. They weren't anything too great, just what I could scribe on these little novelty scrolls the owner bought in bulk."

Sotalia's eyes narrow with an eager tinge. She wraps her arms around the head rest, places her head back down, and concentrates her stare at Bach. "Give us an example."

Bach lifts his head forward briefly and attempts to nonchalantly avert away from Sotalia to another part of the humvee cab. "Nothing great really. The old owner retired, sold it to his son, and made it into a sports bar. Not really worth talking about."

As his eyes drifts to another spot, he catches a glimpse of Aristespha with a wicked smile and momentarily pauses briefly in confusion. Aristespha maintains the smile as she focuses upon Bach. "I'm actually curious myself. What feats of magic keep someone fed and grant them free drinks?"

Bach examines the rest of the cab. Dretphi angles her head slightly from her lounge on the back seat and perks a brow. Cideeda glances up to the rear view mirror and graces the reflection back to Bach with a toothy grin. Sebastian speaks from the sword with a slight reverb and an amused tone. "We got a few more hours of travel today, bro. Plenty of time for you entertain us all about your magical tavern exploits."

The peer pressure compresses Bach into his chair and he awkwardly grits into a reluctant smile. Eventually, as the silence and eyes loom around in the cab, he releases a long sigh and palms his face. "Ah, shit..."

A gust of wind blows bits of debris and dust across an almost empty parking lot surrounding a single large wooden building. The wooden, rustic theme of the structure blends in with the remote location, despite the more modern underpinnings beneath surface. A fan inside an air conditioner units spins up and rattles the system to life. Next to the road at the edge of the lot, the internal light intermittently blinks inside of an old sign reading "Cookes Inn and Tavern". The flickering light casts far out upon the area and mixes with the warm evening twilight, eventually fading to the will of the ambient light. Two headlights crest the top of a distant hill and beam down the decline of the road. Within minutes the humvee's left blinker turns off and the tires rotate to guide the vehicle into the parking lot. A slight squeak escapes the wheel brakes as the ancient military machine slows to a stop inside the boundaries of a parking space next to the building. A gradual spindown of a turbine drifts to silence from the powerplant under the hood and the headlights switch off. Doors open up and Cideeda, Sotalia, Aristespha, and Bach disembark. Eventually Dretphi exits via the back of Bach's slid up seat. Bach slides the seat back into place, guides the door close, and scans the huge lot. "Doesn't look too bad. But, it's a bit... Vacant?"

Sotalia places her hand on her hip, sways to a side, and tosses back a few stray hairs over a horn. "That's pretty normal for these places on the outskirts."

Cideeda walks with a long stretch to each step, slowly directs her arms around to the limits of motion, and relaxes her body with an exhale. "Don't let the empty lot fool you. These places make a good bit of money."

Bach nods and squints his gaze out towards a series of long, large parking spaces away in a spacious lot with small utility station rising out of the pavement in the middle and between each. "I guess those spots over there are for the big trucks?"

An outstretched foots taps down next to Bach and Cideeda slides the rest of herself to stand beside him with agreement. "Yes. Usually charging, water, and waste hookups. They probably have a fuel pump somewhere in the back."

Dretphi reaches inside the back of the humvee, pulls out a rolling duffel bag, and carefully lowers it to the ground. Sotalia steps around the side of the vehicle, grabs hold of the top handle, extends it out, and rolls it out of the way. Another gust of wind breezes through the area, blowing ripples through clothing and a chorus of rustling leaves sounds out in the area. Dretphi secures another bit of luggage from the back of the humvee and rests it upon the ground. Aristespha picks up the shoulder strap of the bag, places it on top of her shoulder, and awaits with Sotalia. Cideeda approaches the back as Dretphi sorts through the various bits of equipment and reaches a claw tipped hand in to snag her backpack. Bach wanders over, reacts with a brief wide-eyed moment of surprise when his arms instinctively open out, and catch a simple draw-string duffel bag. Dretphi hoists another fancier version of the bag over her shoulder and closes the back hatch. Cideeda reaches into her pocket, draws out the humvee's controller fob, and clicks a series of buttons. After witnessing the few light blinks and a beep, Aristespha sets off towards to the front door of the building and glances back while she leads the way. "I called ahead and reserved one of the large common room suites upstairs."

Sotalia strides along behind Aristespha, rolling her bag with her. She lifts a brow with a sly grin. "Splurging a bit aren't we?"

Aristespha shrugs and returns her head forward. "I figured we might as well enjoy it while we can. It was about the same price as a bunch of smaller rooms. And, we'll have that part of the upstairs to ourselves and not get woken up by any later arrivals."

She wraps her hand around the metal horizontal handle on the ornate wooden door, pulls it open for everyone else. Sebastian's voice echoes from the sword at her side. "Everyone hit up the shower while you can. Including you, bro. It's a lot easier here than in the woods."

Dretphi shudders as a passing flit of memory on cringes across her face. "That is the truth."

A sneer perches on Cideeda's upper lip as she sighs out past frustrations. "Less leeches, too."

The group files in through the door into a large lobby. Worn but carefully polished wooden floors adorn the area and contrast against the intricate stone tile leading into the spacious dining hall. The tall ceilings provide ample room for local artifacts and other treasures on display. A wiry, muscular older man gazes up with a smile from the handcrafted counter. "Hello! Welcome to Cookes Inn and Tavern. I'm Goff, and I believe one you is Miss Aristespha."

Aristespha spins around from examining all the details of the lobby area and bows slightly to Goff at the counter. "That would be me, Mr. Goff. I called earlier today."

Goff stands up quickly from his seat behind the counter and grins happily as he pulls open a jingling drawer on the side. "Just Goff, ma'am. Mr. Goff is my father. Appreciate the respect, though. Let me get the key and paperwork up on the counter."

He fishes out a few keys and a few page stack of papers and lays them out on the counter's top. "Just got the room ready. Those should be freshest bed sheets and towels for quite a ways. And, I got some good options for dinner, too!"

Aristespha steps up to the counter, briefly studies the paperwork, retrieves a few cards from her pocket, and copies information onto key fields on the forms. "We will definitely be partaking. It was a long, rough trip."

Goff nods with a sigh, checks over the sheets after Aristespha fills them out, and shakes his head while he files them away in another drawer. "Getting rougher by the day. I wish the Greater Azure Alliance and the United Appaland States would get over themselves and strike a new trade deal soon. I've been real tempted to build an add on to this place just to sell tires and shocks."

He stands back up behind the counter, scoops the keys into his hand, energetically walks out from the counter, and excitedly gestures everyone to follow. "Let me show you all to your room. It's got the best view around. After you all are settled, come on down and I'll give you the grand tour."

Windows in the walls surrounding the dining hall shine back the warm lights inside against the darkness outside. Around the largest table in the area, Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia sit with plates of food encircling center serving trays. Sebastian hovers near Aristespha and enjoys the aroma of the meal. Goff settles back into his chair at the head of the table and laughs. "That's an amazing story. Ones like that keep me believing I made the right decision building this place."

Sebastian shrugs and chuckles with an ethereal echo. "We got plenty of them. I'm still amazed I'm not the strangest thing you've seen."

Goff returns the shrug and directs a wave to the general area. "This far out, I've seen plenty of crazy stuff. Plus, I'm originally from much further north, closer to the Lakes."

While Bach rubs his forehead in remembrance of previous injuries, Aristespha quirks a curious brow at Goff. "I have to admit, you picked a very nice spot for this inn."

Goff chuckles to himself as he collects his silverware upon his plate and slides his chair back. "Oh, I figured it out from experience. Used to go around with my son and crew down this very road doing tree care. Pretty good work, but I had to travel a bunch."

He stands up, lifts his plate off the table, and walks back to a door. "I lost count the number of times we had to camp out around this very place, and I figured... Someone needs to build a nice tavern and inn here."

After depositing his plate and silverware into a cart bin just past the doorway, he steps back out and gets behind an ornate bar with a wide selection of beverages upon the display shelf behind him. "When I finally handed over the tree care business to my son, I figured I'd might as well build such a place. That way, my boy and old crew always have a place to stay after a long trip."

Cideeda examines the craftsmanship of the wood work on the table, squints at a number of chairs, and then carefully scrutinizes the bar. "Is this all your wood working?"

With a proud nod from Goff, he grins and places his hand out upon the top of the bar. "Yes it is, ma'am. I always saved the choice bits of wood I got from the trees I worked on. After I retired, my wife demanded that I do something with it all. So, I built this very building and the furniture in it. She was happy to get the barn back."

Sotalia scoots her plate to the side to inspect the woodwork and lifts her head with a smile to Goff. "So, where is Mrs. Goff?"

Goff shakes his head with a happy eye roll. "Oh, she stays at our nice house down the road. She likes to avoid all the chaos here. She's always been the wiser one. Nice to have someone on the outside to bail you out."

Bach glances over to the bar and Goff, and scratches the beard underneath his chin. "Do you get a lot of people going down this road?"

Fingers drum on the counter top of the bar while Goff searches his mind with a few tugs upon the corners of his mouth. "Well. It's been a little slow leading up to yesterday. I got a few regulars that travel through this area a lot. A few couples that want a taste of the rustic life. One guy stayed a few days a couple weeks ago. Really nice guy, had a lot of amazing stories and we talked for hours every night. Then, yesterday..."

Quick snort escapes Goff and he grins slyly with a shrug. "I got my fill of chaos and fun for the month!"

A curiosity seizes Bach's expression and he pauses his spoon midway through transit to look towards Goff at the bar. "What happened yesterday?"

Goff whistles in thought as he collects the timeline of events in his head and a spark of excitement energizes his voice. "Sunday, I get the this call out from this lady. She says her group and another smaller group are heading out this way and they will need accommodations. First time in a long while, I'm going to have a full house!"

He gestures and pantomimes with his hands and grins as he continues the depiction of the events. "I get all the rooms ready, I even call up my old friend Oyn to come over and start cooking up a storm. I even convince my wife to come down and tend the front desk for me. The time comes when they said they're going to arrive... and nothing..."

With arms in the air, he shakes his head and pulls his hands down along this sides of his head. "I was starting to think I had made a huge mistake, but this one lady with a clipboard and a guy with camera, like one of those television cameras, comes in."

A slight crook warps the side of Bach's mouth. Goff continues with an idle roll of the hand to punctuate the situation. "She gives me this paperwork to sign to allow them to run cameras in here. I'm thinking its strange, but I don't mind showing the place and I'm not going to let my preparations go to waste."

He points to large main doors and rotates his gaze across the big dinner table to everyone. "The second I signed the paper, she radios to someone, the camera guy starts recording, and then this group pushes the doors wide open!"

Goff flicks his index finger up on a hand. "There was this heroic looking guy with a big bright smile..."

Sebastian halts mid drift and a barely containable cringe flashes upon his ethereal face, while Bach squirms a bit in his chair. Another finger rises on Goff hand. "An emin woman with black hair, blue eyes, and way less clothes than my wife approves of..."

A piece of meat flops back into the soup bowl when Sotalia's shudders shake the spoon in her hand. Goff counts off another description as he thinks more into that moment. "A nicely dressed fvalian with this bell around her neck."

Briefly a twitch squints Cideeda's eye and a low groan sounds out from Aristespha. Four fingers flex in Goff's hand and he looks up into his mind. "And, there was this evuukian guy that seemed nice enough but was scarce most the time..."

Aristespha rolls her eyes while Sebastian echoes a low groan very similar to hers. Goff closes his fist and holds a thumb up with a final shake for emphasis. "Finally, this BIG grath nearly clips the door frame coming in."

The grip tightens upon the fork in Dretphi's hand and muscles flex in her forearm. With an astounded sway of the head side to side, Goff laughs loudly. "The second they cleared the door and went up the counter, this flood of camera crews just filled in around them. Oh, the drama between them. They argued back and forth about who would get which bed in the other big common room suite. After dinner, they fought about who should do what and that on this mission. They were a mess!"

A heavy silence settles over the group at the dining table while Goff remembers other details of the events from yesterday. After a few minutes, Dretphi raises a hand with an index finger up and captures the attention of Goff. "Excuse me. Question. Did they state when they would return by this route?"

Goff scratches his chin while his eyes seek out a single bit of knowledge in his head. "I think they mentioned possibly in a few days. The woman with the clipboard said she'd give me a call if they were coming this way again. And, from where I guess they were going, it'll take a few more days to get there."

A collective release of tension fans away the heavy silence and relief finds the group at the dining table. Goff surveys the change in mood and quirks a brow with curiosity driving a smile. "They wouldn't happen to be friends of yours?"

Snickers, snorts, and laughs escape the group with shakes of the head. Goff grins, simultaneously places both hands upon the top of the bar, and nods. "Well, that sounds like at least a story or two to be had over a few drinks. Consider the bar open! I still got a run a business, but I'll let the first round go at cost."

Sotalia sips up the last bit of soup in her spoon, places it down, plucks a roll from a basket on the table, and waves it around in sync to her thoughts. "Speaking of discounts, Bach over here actually used to create this wonderful line of mini magical scrolls, perfect for a place like this."

Abrupt gurgling sounds out immediately after an ill timed gasp of food sends Bach into a coughing fit. The grin upon Sotalia's face adopts a sinister undertone. Goff blinks and then focuses his attention on the proposed concept. "Well, I'm always looking for things to sell or show. What do they do?"

Sotalia bites a piece off the roll off and continues to direct it around in her fingers to punctuate. "There's the random fortune teller, drink tracker, drunk detector, and..."

Cideeda dons a toothy grin with a mischievous gaze towards Bach. "Don't forget all the games. Bomb defuser, balance the card, and that mini role playing game. I still think that collectible card game would have done well if you had a marketing department."

A brief, sudden snort manages to escape Dretphi and she averts her eyes away while she contains a small smile from progressing further. "Love tester."

Sebastian's ethereal forms fails to hold back the cackle that triggers almost the rest of the table to laugh. Bach sighs with twitches of a lip curl and rolls his eyes. A few moments a facetious shrug and shake of the head accompanies a thinly veiled crack of a smile upon his mouth. "Well, all that sounds great, but I don't have anything to write on that would fit the bill."

Goff tilts his head down and examines the area behind the bar with a finger hovering with the focal point of his attention. He kneels down behind the bar, stops, and returns with a roll of receipt printer paper in hand. He puzzles over the item as he draws out a long sheet from the roll. "Will this work?"

Aristespha, Bach, and Sotalia spot and scrutinize the receipt printer paper roll. Aristespha and Sotalia nod in unison with evil tinges coloring their smiles. Bach only blinks with an awkward cringe, but his demeanor stumbles to a recovery and tries to adopt the previous facetious shrug. "That could work, but I would need special pens and inks to-"

Sotalia pops the remainder of the roll into her mouth, stands up from the table while chewing, flashes a lift of a brow to Aristespha, and holds her hand open as she walks from the table towards the main hall. Aristespha reaches into her pants pocket, settles the room key into her hand, and tosses it with flick to Sotalia's awaiting hand. "Third zipper pocket from the right. It's the small roll out kit."

A long exhale of defeat slowly vents from Bach and he pivots his head to the side and tilts up to Sebastian as he hovers nearby. "I guess I'm doing this, huh?"

Sebastian nods with his hands behind his back and glances down to his brother. "Yes, bro. You must placate them."

Bach drops his head low for a moment before inhaling a breath and lifting it back up with an accepting semblance of a smile. "Okay... Which one first?"

The sun floods the large, long common room with morning light. Six beds line up perpendicular to the outer wall, with each bed's position just under a wide window on the wooden floor. On the other side of the room two tables rest flush against the wall with a number of chairs each, and lockers line the remanding bit of wall after the dividing doorway. At the far end, another door opens to a flow of steam and bright light reflecting off bathroom tile. Sotalia steps out in bare feet onto the wooden floor and walks with relaxed smile. She balances the towel wrap on her head between her horns and keeps a hand on the towel tuck over her chest. She glances over at the other roughly remade beds and the layout of personal items each. She passes over the unused bed and pauses to stare at the furthest bed where Bach stirs, still sleeping. With an eye roll and an amused shake of her head, she continues to her bed with a quiet chorus of hardwood floor joining the pat of each foot. She kneels down over her luggage to pick out clothing for day and notices the hum of her vibrating aetherphone on the bed. A snatch later, she reads the message on the phone. She glances to Bach and watches. A long intermittent snore from Bach barely graces just above the background noise. Sotalia snorts to herself, shakes her head side to side while her thumb taps out a reply. A few seconds later, the phone vibrates with another message. Sotalia quirks an eyebrow and gazes at Bach. Slyness curls the corner of her mouth while evil widens the expression.

Bach slumbers on his side, facing the end wall, and subconsciously shifts his face away from line of sunlight creeping up the sheets. As the his current snore fades, a faint rush of air echoes into the room with a muffled sound of flapping fabric trailing. A damp towel impacts the back of Bach's head and part of it flops over onto his face from the momentum. Bach startles and stirs groggily from sleep and grumbles incoherently. His hand aimlessly paws at the towel on his face until enough of his motor coordination and consciousness reassembles itself. Bach lifts himself up to sit up in the bed, the towel still covering most of this head. Someone else in the room squelches a snicker. Bach manages to finally remove the damp fabric from his head to reveal a chaotic mop of hair and opens his eyes halfway in a morning daze. He spends most of a minute to examine the towel in between blinking and clearing the sleep from his eyes. Idle mumbles of deliberation seize Bach's focus and his head sways towards the source. His vision watches someone with an hour glass figure finish pulling up a pair of pants to the small of her back. Puzzlement and confusion mix harshly with the morning fog in Bach's mind, while familiarity tries to cut through the haze as Bach's eyes move up the two color pattern on the skin of the woman's back. The woman's black nailed hands reach up to the towel on her head and unfurl the fabric to reveal dark red hair and black swept back horns. Familiarity manages to finally shriek out and clear the lethargy in Bach's mind. As embarrassment flushes Bach's face and tightens his throat, shock drains the color and forces a gasp. A short lived, inhaled squeak results from the conflict and Bach nearly sprains his neck from the reflexive twist of his head the opposite direction.

Sotalia voice calls out after the sounds of clothes rummaging, luggage zippers, and button snaps. "You awake, Bach?"

Bach blinks in silence for a few moments in an effort to stall long enough for the speech centers of his brain to wake. "Uh... Y-yes?"

A few more similar noises emanate from Sotalia's direction. Then, a series of softer footsteps grow in volume from that direction. A curious tone colors Sotalia's voice as she snaps her fingers a few times to get Bach's attention. "Hey... Over here. Wake up!"

Hesitation impedes the pan of Bach's face and, with a deep draw of breath, he forces himself to turn the rest of the way. Sotalia lifts an inquisitive brow at Bach and stands at the side of Bach's bed with pants, shirt, and socks on. Bach relaxes and releases breath. Sotalia works a questioning twist to her mouth. "I guess I'll count this as awake. We'll be leaving in an hour or so. Shower and come down for breakfast. Your brother's orders, via Aristespha."

Bach nods in confirmation fighting a yawn. "Okay. I'll be down in half an hour."

Sotalia returns the nod, spins around with smile, and walks to the exit door. "Sounds good to me. I'll let them know."

As she opens the door and goes through the doorway to the hallway, the smile cracks with a guilty smirk. Bach watches the door close behind her and he stares forward in contemplation. A minute passes by before he tilts over onto his side upon the bed and groans to greet the new day.

In the middle of a wide, overgrown gravel road, the humvee slows to a stop just before the end of the road that fades to a thick tree line. Cideeda peers out through the windshield and scans the area around the vehicle. Sotalia squints her eyes to seek anything of interest in the forest bordering the road. Sebastian's ethereal form floats out forward from the aisle between Cideeda and Sotalia, and stares with uncertainty ahead. "Something is not right about this."

Cideeda taps her finger on the steering wheel in thought and turns her head to the side to check out the driver's side window. "We're the near the area people reported seeing someone matching Noxian's description. And, this is really close to the coordinates from the research base data. This is also a road not on any map I have."

Sebastian hovers while his eyes slowly pan the horizon, and hems to himself. He crosses his arms and drifts through the windshield out to the front of vehicle. "Okay. Let's get out and check around. If there's nothing here, we'll drive around a bit more."

Reaching under her seat, Dretphi rummages around for a few moments before pulling out a hard shelled case by the handle. "We should verify our position."

Doors open and the team exits out to wander and wonder at terminal point of the gravel roadway. Cideeda opens the back hatch and Dretphi reaches in to pull out three telescopic poles and a tripod. Aristespha, Bach, Sebastian and Sotalia spread out from the humvee. Both Aristespha's and Bach's eyes glow brightly as they carefully survey sections of the road and overgrowth surrounding. Sotalia eyes flicker to a constant dim illumination and she strains in concentration to maintain the effect. Sebastian rises high up into the air, rotating around to stare at parts of the horizon as he gains altitude. Dretphi opens up the tripod, rests its feet securely upon the ground, adjusts it to a level point, and then opens the hard case up. She carefully lifts a complicated piece of machinery, with elements of a sextant and other measurement devices, and attaches it to the top of the tripod. While Dretphi retrieves a book from the hard case, flips to a worn section, and reads intermittently between tweaks of setting knobs on the device, Cideeda climbs up to the top of the humvee and locks the telescopic poles into welded on mounts. After she extends the last pole, she screws in signal cables from a small, rugged electronic device into each pole's base underneath a covered flap. With a flip of a switch and a few button presses through the thick rubber weatherproofing, the screen on the electronic device springs to life with a series of numbers and gauges. Cideeda leans her head back briefly toward Dretphi. "It'll be a minute or two. Nav beacons are a bit old out here and using the old spec."

Dretphi nods in confirmation and returns her attention to the machinery on the tripod. "Similar delay. I want long measurements to reduce inaccuracy."

Bach scratches the back of his head, shakes it side to side, and alternates a glance between Sotalia and Aristespha. "Well, I'm not sensing anything magical around here."

Aristespha blinks her eyes back to normal, pivots towards Bach, and walks with a sigh. "Nothing, either. I really was hoping for at least an illusion spell. That actually would have made some sense."

With a hard close, Sotalia rubs both her eyes and shakes her head while she steps back to the group. "I don't see or feel anything over here. Feels normal to me."

Sebastian flies back down from a lofty height and lands his ghostly self to stand on the ground in front of the humvee. "Anything to report, everyone?"

Aristespha shakes her head and crosses her arms as her mind continues to process possible next steps. "No magical influence at the moment, Sebastian. If there is anything, it's no stronger the typical background magic."

Cideeda lifts the radio navigation console and shows the screen towards Sebastian, Aristespha, Bach, and Sotalia. "Land navigation beacons put us roughly where we think we are. I'm waiting for it the computer to refine the area down."

Dretphi's voice calls out behind the humvee, squat down and carefully writing measurements and calculation in a notebook. "Need time difference in measurements to reduce error. We are in the vicinity of where we should be regardless."

After a few nods, Sebastian points out towards the dead end of the road and moves slowly in that direction. "I think I saw an odd clearing a few kilometers away. I couldn't make out much more than that, but the clearing has a really weird shape to it."

The group roughly assembles behind Sebastian and ready themselves. Sebastian turns to face behind and smiles as he watches everyone else greet him eagerly. "Well. I guess no one is against a bit of a nature hike?"

Grins, shrugs, and smirk appears on all faces and Sebastian leads out the group into the dead end woods.

A chorus of leaves cracking and the occasional stick snap accompanies the group as they navigate through the thick forest. After a few minutes, Dretphi stops, reaches up to a tree branch, and lowers it down to her eye level. She studies it with full focus and her face reveals a mind churning through information. Sebastian glances back and calls out with hopeful curiosity. "Did you find something, Dretphi?"

The rest of the group halts their progress, face Dretphi, and wait expectantly. Dretphi looks around briefly, reaches out with her free hand to another branch from a shorter tree, and brings it down next to the previous. "Forest... Is not... Natural."

Bach blinks a few times and puzzles at Dretphi's statement. "How so? There's no magic that we've found."

Dretphi twists her mouth, lifts her head back, and her eyes search upwards in her head for the right phrase. "Not naturally occurred."

As her words enter the thoughts of the others, their attentions quickly involve the forest surroundings with a greater interest. Dretphi continues and pulls down the branches to showcase her findings. "The tall trees here are not native to this area. The short trees are. Both similar in appearance. From the same family. Different species."

She guides the branches back up to their respective trees and squints to glance into the forest ahead, behind, and to either sides of the group. "It is strange that the non-native tree is found only in a narrow band here. That species grows fast. Does not live long."

Sotalia twists her boot on the ground and pats in it a few times on the forest floor. She quirks a brow as she feels out the ground. "Has this been a really easy hike for anyone else? I just think this terrain should be a lot rougher? It's an incline, but really consistent?"

A series of long, slow nods punctuate Dretphi's silence. She kneels down, digs at the forest floor with her hand, and ponders implications between sifts through the dirt. Sebastian holds his chin, thinks, and gradually spins back forward to the direction of the clearing. "Let's see what this clearing is. It should be up ahead. But, let's approach it carefully. Everyone, stay in the forest when we get to the edge. I'll go scout ahead."

Sebastian glides out in front of the group. Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia spread out and cautiously hike on, keeping loosely behind tree cover as they venture forward. A quarter hour later, the group reaches the edge of the forest and finally take time to survey the clearing. Bach mumbles to himself in astonishment. "What the hell?"

Before the group an overgrown, wide strip of land cuts out into the hilly distance, devoid of trees. The grass growing on the strip maintains a strangely even height that matches the oddly flat topology of the land. Almost hidden, worn ruts indicate the only semblance of path through the grass. Off to the sides of the strip lay piles of different types of rubble that scatter out into the surrounding trees and provide a place for undergrowth to root. Sebastian jets back to the group and signals them out with a waving arm gesture. "Nothing dangerous I could find. But... What do you all make of this?"

Cideeda flits her eyes wide and points a claw tip to one of the rubble piles. "That's broken up asphalt! Gods! There was a road here!"

Dretphi nods with surprise infiltrating her expression. "Land has been altered to suit that purpose. Felt unnatural. Tilled. Packed tightly."

Sotalia puts her hands on her hips and idly gazes out ahead with a dumbfound expression. "So, someone removed this road and planted trees to hide it? Why didn't they just take it all the way to the highway?"

Aristespha draws a breath in and slowly exhales nervous energy out through her reserved stare to the situation before her. "It's less suspicious to keep that much of the road there than obviously removing it."

Sebastian shakes his head and sighs with an ethereal echo. "Something has been covered up. This is A LOT of effort to hide anything. There definitely IS something here we need to investigate."

Cideeda glances back and growls in frustration. "I hate to leave the humvee back there, but I didn't see an easy path through."

A sinister grin creeps up on Sotalia's mouth and she stretches out her arms over her head. "Oh, I'm very certain that can be arranged. I mean, the trees aren't native here anyway."

Sebastian laughs, stands proud to the group. "Sounds like a good enough plan to me. Aristespha, Bach, and Sotalia get ready to move some lumber. Cideeda and Dretphi, navigate the best you can and see if we can keep the clear cutting down to minimum."

A large furry ear twitches to a repetitive tapping noise on the roof of the humvee. Cideeda press down on a control button and her window rolls down. She reaches out through the open driver's side window and plucks out a small branch stuck in a gap between roof and roof rack. She brings the branch inside, directs it near Sotalia, and gives her a brief glare. Sotalia meets the glare and attempts to innocently play off the accusation with a shrug. "What? That wasn't on my side."

Cideeda's eyes roll and she chucks the branch out the window, resuming her focus on driving through the grassy roadway. Humvee rolls smoothly over the grass, only the constant patter of large grass blades add to the background rustle of road noise. As the vehicle crest over a hill, Aristespha rubs her temples as she concentrates down upon a tablet showing map data. "We were already kilometers off the main highway, now we've gone almost five more. Why is this not on any map? This isn't some kind of forgotten logging trail."

Bach cranes his head over from his seat to peek at the map on the tablet screen. "I keep on seeing more piles of road they ripped off, dumped in the forest."

Dretphi gazes out a side window and concern tugs at the corner of her mouth. "Without the road surface the forest will reclaim the area naturally. This was purposeful."

Cideeda squints out down the hill decline and opens her eyes wide. Sotalia tilts her head to the side in confusion. "Is that a town up ahead?"

Dretphi works her way up from her seat into the aisle to stare forward in bewilderment. Aristespha rolls her window down and leans out to get a clear look. Bach and Sebastian find a viewing path around the headrests of Cideeda's and Sotalia's seats. Cideeda focuses her gaze harder and puzzles at what she sees. "I guess it used to be. It looks abandoned for sometime."

The humvee drives onwards to the collection of rundown, derelict buildings. A faint squeal of brakes trails off when the vehicle stops short of a perimeter of barricades and huge warning signs encircling the main entry point. In many languages and dialects, the same phrase repeats upon each surface.

"WARNING! DEADLY DISASTER ZONE! NOTHING WORTH YOUR LIFE EXISTS HERE ANYMORE! GO BACK! THE DANGER STILL EXISTS HERE! NO HELP WILL COME!"

-24-

Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, Sebastian and Sotalia stand just outside the perimeter of fences, alert symbols, and warning signs. Pairs of eyes individually seek out contrasting elements from the landscape of caution and foreboding, but the searches eventually result in nothing. Bach glances to either side of him to gauge the demeanor of everyone, pinches the bridge of his nose with cringing close of the eyes, and draws in breath to sigh. "I get the feeling we are going to completely ignore these warnings. Aren't we?"

Sebastian turns his self toward Bach, lifts a brow, and shrugs with a nonchalant smile. "Half the places we usually go to on missions have warning signs, bro. And the other half usually SHOULD have them."

With a hand supporting her chin and an idle finger tapping the side of her cheek, Aristespha ponders about the signage as her eyes focus on areas around the messages. "It's very strange. There's no organization listed anywhere, but these signs are extremely well made."

A quick of flit of an eyebrow and Sotalia's eyes wander between the different alphabets and languages written upon the signs. "And, there's just about every major language listed here with a few older minor ones, too. I've never actually seen a warning message this thorough in so many languages."

She leans forward to read the smaller subtext under a large warning paragraph and returns her stance back with astonishment tempering her curiosity. "Wow! That's a really old dialect of Americ. Still can't believe the spelling rules back then."

Cideeda pans her gaze along the perimeter before her head halts at a large gate section of the tall, solid metal fence and focuses upon the thick, long weld running down between the gate and frame. "Interesting. Looks like whoever decided to not even bother with a lock and just welded it shut. I don't think they planned on coming back to this place."

Dretphi rotates her head to Cideeda and lowers the aim of her quizzical expression. "Strange. The gate must have been used before. Sealed much later. This fence construction is high quality. Built with the town?"

A nod slowly emerges from Cideeda and she meets Dretphi's face with a thoughtful gaze. "I think so. You can't easily put this much high grade steel up this well without some serious planning. This looks like a lot of the old small town perimeter fences my dad would get in the scrap yard when the town upgraded."

She places her hands on her hips and surveys the work ahead involving the welded gate. "I should be able to cut that gate open in an hour..."

Her weight shifts and she twists her upper body in her body suit to face Bach with a toothy grin. "Or, I'm certain Bach could crack it open in a few minutes..."

Bach blinks to attention and catches Cideeda's widening grin. He notices the encouraging looks upon him, stares briefly at the door, and lowers his forehead onto the palm of his hand. "Of course... Let me go forth, ignore all the warnings, and crack open the gateway to our doom. This makes total sense."

Sebastian rolls his eyes and shakes his head with an ethereal laugh. "Come on, bro. This is nothing on scale of crazy things you've done, even recently."

As Bach removes his head from his hand, he narrows his eyes at his brother and groans when he returns his gaze to the gate. "I know. I know. But, at least those other crazy moments, I didn't have signs, quite literally, everywhere telling me to do the opposite."

Sotalia stretches her arms and interlocked hands out forwards, straightens her back, and flexes her head from shoulder to shoulder with a growing grin. "Well, if you don't feel up to it, I'm still plenty fired up from that bit of deforestation. This gate won't be anything a few plasma flares couldn't fix."

A long sigh escapes Bach and he draws a long breath in afterwards. "No, no. I got it. Despite that little voice in the back of my head telling me not to."

Upon his face a grin cracks across from the corner and widens. "Plus, I'd much rather the gate be functional afterwards, just in case we need it."

A few blinks, Sotalia quickly aims her head at Bach with a quirk of the brow and a neutral expression on her face. She develops a sly smirk, flits her brow, and rests her intertwined hands on the back of her head. "Fair enough."

Sebastian nods and addresses the group. "Okay. Bach will get the gate open. Cideeda and Dretphi. I'm leaning towards camping out in the humvee tonight. Things have been plenty weird, I think we might need to be ready to leave on a moment's notice."

Dretphi eyes processes the situation in her mind and she examines the treeline near the grass roadway with a series of slow nods. "I agree. We should hide the humvee in the forest. Clear a path for escape. Hide obvious traces."

Cideeda directs a thumb behind her and grins to Sebastian. "I saw a spots not too far away that should obscure us enough and the humvee should fit into without too much trouble."

With a gradual pivot in place, Sebastain's ghostly form angles to Aristespha and Sotalia. "While they get camp ready, I'll scout as far out as I can. Could you two check for any possible magical weirdness?"

Aristespha smiles lovingly to Sebastian as her eyes illuminate with violet light. "I will see what I can find, Sebastian."

Sotalia notices the violet glow and squints hard as her eyes flicker a golden light. "Sounds like a plan. Gods, I still don't know how anyone does this for any period of time."

Faded gray asphalt roadways form a rough mesh around decaying buildings and overflowing vegetation. Years of abandonment eclipse the original craftsmanship of the structures and the long strain against the environment reveals the short lifespans left. With a low whistle, wind blows by a broken hole in a window as the traveling sun reflects of the jagged edges of glass. As a rusted metal post shifts to the will of the breeze, the sign face twists to reveal the stubborn paint outlines of the original message. "Central Administration Office."

Aristespha carefully approaches the sign, grips the edge with a gloved hand, and turns the barely legible lettering to her sight. "This... seems familiar to me. The terminology, the layout, and the building designs."

She releases the sign, straightens her posture, and pivots back to Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, Sebastian, and Sotalia. Her eyes search low for an explanation while her expression tries to fight the developing logic. "This HAS to be a Grand Library outpost. I've visited many and most were laid out very similar to this."

Sebastian pulls his head back blinking and directs his concern to Aristespha. "But, dear, wouldn't have this shown up in the searches you did on our map locations?"

Comfort fades from Aristespha's body language and she grits her teeth in a battle between bewilderment and nerves. "Yes. Yes, it should have. Something as significant as an outpost SHOULD have a number of entries in the main database... Unless..."

The rest of the group keeps their expectant attention upon Aristespha as she covers her mouth briefly with her hand and slides her hand down to her chin to speak. "This place has been... Decataloged."

When Aristespha returns her focus to the group, she watches expressions of confusion and uncertainty reflect upon their faces between themselves before they seek her. She draws a slow breath and exhales carefully. "It's a core Grand Library law that data within the main database can never be deleted. But, there have been some liberties taken with the catalog that indexes all the data. And, I think this is one of them..."

Aristespha crosses her arms, grips her elbows tightly, and her posture stiffens while she eyes the area with a new aura of caution. "We need to be extremely careful. I can't imagine what is here that has to be hidden so thoroughly, but... I've only ever heard rumors about minor items getting decataloged. Nothing like this."

Sebastian hovers close to Aristespha and gazes into her eyes. "You okay, dear?"

After a long release from Aristespha's lungs, she nods with a slight smile. "Yes. It's just the situation has changed in ways I didn't think it could."

Bach pans his stare out across the streets running between lines of derelict buildings and shrugs nonchalantly with a comforting smile to Aristespha. "I think I know how you feel."

Dretphi steps forward, squints her eyes to a point through the broken front door windows, and glances to Sebastian. "We have four hours left of daylight. Stay together. Clear perimeters of buildings. Search interiors?"

Sebastian nods slowly and rotates his ethereal form to the large, remnants of the Central Administration Office. "Sounds good. It'll take longer to investigate areas, but I would much rather keep everyone close. So keep within line of sight of someone else, and have anything strange checked for magic before disturbing it."

Sotalia direct her sight out to the horizons down each major roadway path with a twist to her mouth. "So, they built an outpost here. But, why? I haven't seen or detected anything strange yet. This is a lot to build in the middle of nowhere."

Cideeda smirks, unbuttons a pouch on her vest, withdraws a flashlight, and beams a bright spray of light towards the doors of the Central Administration Office. "Depending on how careful they were, we might find something in here."

Satisfaction wanes from Cideeda's face as she thinks about the circumstances around her and grumbles to herself. "But, this would be the first place I would clean out if I was getting rid of evidence."

Sebastian crosses his arm, floats forward, and shrugs with a glance back. "It's still worth checking out. If nothing else, maybe they were too busy removing all the secret files to get rid of general stuff?"

Bach scratches his head and puzzles to Aristespha. "Are Central Administration Offices similar to town halls or city capitals?"

After a few hard blinks, Aristespha arrives back to senses and faces Bach with a curious look while her mind compares concepts. "Yes, for most purposes. It's geared towards outpost management than legislature."

Pointing at the structure, Bach quirks the corner of his mouth and lifts a brow. "Think they have a map of the place in there?"

Aristespha nods with a growing grin and stares towards the front doors with a violet glow to her eyes. "Yes, they should have at least one."

Through weathered glass windows beams of light cast into the empty offices on either side of the main hallway and leftover reflections create ambient glows that spill into the hallway floor from the doorways. A weak breeze from all the fractured panes stirs the floating, illuminated dust in the stagnant air inside the Central Administration building. Steps upon the simple, smooth concrete floor echo distantly down the corridor, with even the softest pats upon the surface still sounding out. Dretphi stands in the middle of the central rotunda, scanning down the hallway leading to the exit, before she pivots in place to guide her sight to one of the many doorways in the large, circular room. A bright spotlight follows along as she directs the handheld lamp with one arm and keeps the other hand on her strap hung sub-machine gun. Sotalia exits from a doorway with a long sigh. Dretphi lowers the spot light down towards the floor away from Sotalia and shows a quizzical expression. "Anything found?"

Sotalia shakes her head, guides her hair with both hands over her horns, and places a hand on her hip with a mild frown. "No. Nothing. Not a damned thing at all. Whenever everyone left, they must have taken everything that wasn't nailed down."

Aristespha side steps out from behind Sotalia through the doorway with discouragement weighing heavily upon her face. "The times I wish people were not so thorough."

Bach wanders out into the rotunda from another doorway with shrug and a tug to the corner of his mouth. "We found nothing."

Cideeda's toed shoes lightly pat upon the floor and she shakes her head in thought. She idly scratches a furry ear with a claw tip and grumbles. "There's got to be something here. There's always something that gets looked over, especially when people are leaving a place with the intent to never come back."

She lifts her head up and her emerald green eyes hunt around the area with pauses along the way to squint out a theory. Sebastian drifts through a door and releases an ethereal sigh and shrugs with his hands up and out to the sides. "The rest of the rooms look pretty empty. Some rolling chairs, desks with all the drawers open, and a table or two. But overall, it looks like it was cleared out some time ago."

Bach continues a walk out towards reception desk off the center point of room, near the archway leading to the exit hallway. He places his hand on the age touched rolling chair back and gradually leads it away from the desk with the trace of a squeaky wheel. He spins the chair around a few times before settling it towards himself and taking a seat in it. Dretphi glances up to the domed ceiling's windows and eyes the orange light from the dusk sun. "An hour of daylight left. We should return to camp."

Sebastian nods with a frowning curl to his mouth and crosses his arms. "Yep. We'll try again tomorrow and maybe check further out. Don't worry, everyone. It's just the first day. We'll find something soon."

Everyone else shares some form of agreement to the sentiment, but the positive encouragement from Sebastian only briefly subdues the collective mild disappointment. Bach halts the slow spin in the chair, secures his feet on the ground, leans forward to stand. As he pushes the chair back underneath the reception desk, the chair stops short of intent with a soft thud and another lighter, crispier sound. Cideeda's ears immediately perk back towards the reception desk and twitch. Her head spins the rest of her body around and her wide eyes lock on to Bach. "Garbage..."

Bach meets Cideeda's gaze, puzzles a moment at the word, but gradually kneels down to direct his attention underneath the desk. He reaches under the desk and the crinkle of plastic twitches Cideeda's ears as it echoes into the rotunda. A toothy grin flashes across Cideeda's face and she rushes over to the other side of the desk to greet the plastic garbage bag Bach slides out from underneath the desk. Sebastian flies over ahead with renewed interest. Dretphi steps over and cranes above the reception desk to watch. Aristespha and Sotalia walk over and around to witness Cideeda gleefully slice open the plastic bag with a claw. Sotalia flits a sneer and rolls her eyes with snort. "This may be another part I'm going to leave out next time I talk to my mother."

Aristespha smiles slyly at Sotalia and lifts a brow at her. Sotalia crosses her arms, angles her posture back, and exhales dismissively. "If you can somehow spin taking a two day trip to a forgotten, forsaken town..."

She slips a finger out from her crossed arms, points to Aristespha, and then pans a wave out to the area. "Where something terrible may very well still exist, to dig through a bag of garbage, and NOT have it sound like a good reason for my mother to suggest a career change..."

Slowly Sotalia leans close to Aristespha with a smirking grin and quirk in the brow. "I'd love to hear it."

Aristespha eyes focus upon a series of number and letters on a tattered information pamphlet and she angles the document to discern the faded lettering along a number of crumple lines. "This document is in the database. It has to be. This looks like a valid database address."

She flips the paper around to stare at the "Orth Ridge Archaeological Site Welcome Guide" briefly, carefully folds it up, places it in a hard, thin case next to her seat, and releases a long sigh while staring at the ceiling of the humvee cab. "I wish we weren't so far out, so I could access the database right now. And get some answers to this mess."

The seat back across the aisle reclines and Bach settles in down into the new position with a few comforting hunting squirms. "That's still weird you can lose track of such information with just having the catalog entry removed."

A long boot thuds upon the cab floor in front of Aristespha and she flexes her sock covered toes. The other boot of the pair lands similarly. She drapes and wraps a blanket over herself and glances to Bach with a frown. "It's not usually a problem. But, the infrastructure the Grand Libary's main database uses to allow it's flexibility, robustness, and capacity can theoretically have such... issues."

Bach searches his mind and pieces together a question with his eyes. "What type of infrastructure is it... Well, roughly?"

Aristespha fidgets in her seat to find a sweet spot and rests her head against a small pillow. Her silvery blue hair flows over the pillow and she gazes at Bach with hints of internal unease leaking through her smile. "Well, it really used to one big massive, singular database a very long time ago. Unfortunately, a near crash occurred and they nearly lost a huge chunk of the records. So, a new design was requested and the chosen design happened to mirror a small version of the Aethernet system."

Bach's eyes open wide as the concept expands in his mind and he turns his head forward to process the idea with a number of blinks. "Wow. I've heard it was big and complicated, but a mini-Aethernet?"

A large figure stirs underneath a blanket in the back seat. Dretphi slowly rolls her head to face away from the seat back with a faint snore and a number of her blonde braids unfurl upon her pillow and face. The driver's door opens and Cideeda quietly steps up to slide into her seat. Sotalia pulls the front passenger's side door open and gently maneuvers herself inside the vehicle. Both softly guide their doors closed and tug upon them until each door latch engages with a click. Sotalia opens a dash compartment and stows a roll of toilet paper inside before closing it back up. "We checked the perimeter one last time. All the magical wards were undisturbed and active."

Cideeda cranes her head around her seat to glance to Bach and Aristespha. "Anyone else before I arm the exterior alarm?"

Both Aristespha and Bach shake their head and Dretphi sounds slow slumbering exhale. Cideeda smiles, returns fully into her seat, and presses buttons on the dash console. After a few final presses of the buttons on the side of the center in-dash display, status messages gradually and continuously scroll on the screen as it dims down. Sotalia looks around her seat as she reclines it down, stops above Bach's legs, pauses with the crack of evil on her face, but then raises the seat back amply above. She flashes a sly smile to Bach's watchful stare before flopping a pillow down and pulling a blanket snugly over herself. Cideeda raises her hand up from the center display and adjusts a few setting knobs on another vehicle system. A few moments later, a barely audible stream of air flows from the front air conditioning vents into the cab. Cideeda coils up in the front seat under blanket with the tip of her tail poking out and covering her neck.

The humvee cab grows quiet with the collective slumber of the group. While most the forest surrounds the vehicle tightly, a section of forest front of the vehicle maintains an ambiguous haze with details lacking focus upon inspection and surfaces transparent to the faint moonlight above. Further out, a number of small metal posts with antennas masquerading as twigs hide from outside view behind trees. Near each post, thick sticks with magically symbolic writing barely reveal themselves out of the ground and faintly illuminate in a split second pulse with each other. As the distance increases, the location of the humvee obscures quickly into the background of the forest, lining the grass way.

Bach's eyes shock wide open and he freezes rigid mid breath. A distant stare silently echoes onto his face. Eventually, his eyes break free and systematically inspect his surroundings. Aristespha sleeps peacefully with the slight rise and fall of her chest under the cover and a hand resting securely upon the Sword of the Spirit Realm. With a gradual tilt of his head, Bach watches Dretphi sound out the traces of a snore. He turns his head to glance forward at a few locks of dark red hair peeking over the head rest and carefully lifts himself up to gaze upon Sotalia's less than glamorous, sleep contorted face. Mumbles from Cideeda capture Bach's attention and he watches her grimace and cringe. She mouths out unintelligible phrases, clenches her fists around the blanket as tension travels through her body. Bach frowns as he witnesses another wave of discomfort affect Cideeda and cautiously leans forward with a soft voice. "Cideeda... Cideeda?"

A furry ear flicks and Bach pauses in uncertain thought and searches his mind with his eyes. He returns his gaze to Cideeda. "Cideeda?"

The same furry ear on Cideeda's head flicks again and perks towards Bach, shifting some of her short multi-color hair. Bach speaks calmly and gently. "It's just a dream."

Cideeda's face twitches and her lips move with faint vocals. Bach continues with the best assuring tone he can relay. "It's just a dream. A dream. It's not real. You can change it."

A clearer vocalization sounds out barely from Cideeda and Bach nods with his response. "Yes. A dream. Change it to what you want. You are okay."

A trailing confirmation drifts from Cideeda and, moments later, her expression calms and her body relaxes to a peaceful slumber. Bach dons a brief smile that wavers as he stares out into darkness contrasting the moonlit forest. His eyes hunt through the voids between the trees around the vehicle for minutes before resting his gaze upon the constant stream of nominal status text upon the dimmed center dash display. As he aims his head up from the display, he halts and closes his eyes hard. He draws in a shuddering breath and lowers himself back upon his reclined seat. He pulls the blanket back over his body, and directs a section to hood his head as he warily sighs with his eyes still firmly closed. Sleep eventually finds Bach, but at its own reluctant pace.

The rusting door handle gradually turns, the bolt grinds against the door jam, and specs of dust unsettle off the aging door surface. As the door gradually swings in, a claw-tipped hand follows behind the path to sweep the aim of a laser pistol across growing span. When the door bumps into the decaying rubber of the doorstop on the wall, another hand trains another laser pistol at the area of the room. Cideeda glances behind her to the glowing blue eyes of Bach. After a few sweeps of his vision into the space of the room, Bach shakes his head. Cideeda engages the safeties, holsters both her laser pistols, and lightly steps with a watchful eye hunting. Bach walks into the room and stands just behind Cideeda with a dimming gaze panning along the features of the room. "I don't think anyone has been in here in a while."

Cideeda moves next to a desk with an arrangement of items upon desktop underneath a faint gray haze. She rests a finger tip upon the surface and clears a speckled path with a drag across the surface. "Dust and some mold. It's been undisturbed and closed off for years."

Bach pivots slowly in place as he assesses the major contents of the room. Old books rest on the shelves with manila folders occasionally dividing sections and nearly bursting out with written notes. A drafters table sits at the ready near drawers of supplies and rolls of decaying paper. The desk prominently bridges the two sides of the room with a number of large ring binders stacked one corner with a variety of measurement hand tools arranged neatly. Finally, Bach settles his stare to a child's toy box upon a play rug. His expression unsettles at the sight and he directs his gaze back towards the desk Cideeda cautiously inspects. "This seems so strange... Especially, this room."

Cideeda nods her head and sighs as she surveys the area again. "I know. Most of the other houses were mostly cleared out or just abandoned hastily. This place feels like it..."

Bach turns to Cideeda with a frown. "Was left like this purposefully."

After a long breath, Cideeda agrees with a twist of her mouth. "Yes. Not just left behind, but left like this."

Silence looms above while Bach and Cideeda exchange glances between investigating parts of the room and finding possible items of interest. Eventually, the desk becomes the single focal point of both their searches. Cideeda kneels down, concentrates her stare along the gaps and joints, and shrugs. "There's no obvious traps. And, I haven't seen anything resembling one the whole time I've been here."

Bach reaches out a hand underneath the wide middle drawer handle. "Open it?"

Cideeda cranes her head under the desk, scrutinizes the underside of the drawer, and returns herself to stand. "If you don't feel or see anything magically dangerous, go right ahead."

With a secure grip on the handle, the drawer slides out with a little hesitation. The inside compartment reveals a single book with a necklace and ribbon wrap binding it shut. Bach and Cideeda tilt their heads in confusion, look to each other, and then refocus upon the book.

Aristespha leans herself into the room through the doorway and enters as the contents of the room capture her interest. "This is very different."

Bach places both hands on either side of the book and carefully raises it out of the inside of the drawer. He turns to Aristespha and angles the front of the book to her. "Very different."

A pair of violet eyes flit wide and Aristespha carefully extends her arms out with open hands to the sealed volume. "Oh. We are going search this place from top to bottom now. Let's get back to everyone else. They were about to check the bedrooms down the hall-"

Sebastian flies into the room and halts in between Aristespha, Bach, and Cideeda and gestures a finger to the lips. He signals them through the door and jets out. Sebastian leads Aristespha, Bach, and Cideeda to Dretphi against a corner waving a point to a faint trail of traffic upon the hallway carpet leading from the kitchen. Cideeda blinks in surprise and quizzically perks a brow at Dretphi in whisper. "I thought we checked the perimeter."

Dretphi nods in thought and sneers to twist of the lips as something comes to mind. "Back door leads to a brick patio. Connects to the driveway from the street. Surfaces that do not allow traces to last."

Sebastian floats over and quietly address the group. "Get ready. I'll go through the bedroom door and see what's there. Be ready for my command."

The rest of the group moves into positions lining magic and firepower down the hallway at the door. Sebastian nods and phases his ethereal form through the door. A tense silence looms over the group for a minute before Sebastian's ghostly visage pops through the door. "No one is in here. Don't see anything rigged to the door, but double check me on this side."

Cideeda creeps up to the door and her eyes guide her head in moving stare around the frame. She glances to Sebastian with a nod, reaches out to the door knob, and turns the knob with a push to swing the door open into the room. A fine layer of dust lightly shades the two dressers, a pair of nightstands, and the large wooden bed frame in the room. The group fans in and heads scan the area with Dretphi squatting down and squinting at the area rug on the carpet. "I am not able to determine how recent this activity was. Material is old. Dusty room. Closed environment. Strangely preserving. Not within a week?"

A low grumble sneaks out through Dretphi's voice as she frowns with frustration. "Could be more? Less? Difficult."

Cideeda grumbles and drags a finger tip along the top surface of a dresser to reveal similar results as before. Sebastian hovers into the room more with a hem and puzzles at the situation. "This house has been an odd one, figures it would be one of the last we checked for the day."

He pivots mid air and pans his curious concern along the area. As the rest of the group expands out into the space to investigate parts, Sotalia places her hands on her hips, lifts an eyebrow, and examines the space with an unamused expression. When she rests her glare to the shadowy corner behind the open door, her head halts abruptly and her eyes widen slightly. She casually steps over and pulls the door back to remove the shade from a simple wire waste basket. With an almost reflexive eye roll, she attempts to dismiss the object, but a reflective glint catches her attention. Sotalia kneels down, looks into the waste basket, and plucks out one of a number of plastic wrappers. She brings it close to her vision. Cideeda sniffs the air, pauses perplexed, and her nose leads her to see Sotalia holding up a breakfast snack bar wrapper. The odd silence attracts the attentions of everyone else, as they all collectively stare at the discovery. A few leftover crumbs of breakfast snack bar fall out onto the carpeted floor, each relatively fresh and mold free. Upon the wrapper's edge a future expiration date's ink contrasts the shiny coating of the wrapper. Finally, an extravagant promotional image overtakes most the wrapper's label space and features a recent group shot of the familiar Next Adventurers of Nexus.

Sebastian narrows his eyes, drifts near a large window, and gazes out through the clean spots of the dirty glass pane. Through the frame of the window, a long well engineered road leads out to a distant set of structures near the base of the nearby mountain. Sebastian turns to address the group with an air of determination. "I think we need to take a tour of this Orth Ridge Archaeological Site ourselves as soon as possible."

Dretphi checks her sub-machine gun and adjusts the strap to the large rifle on her back. Cideeda nods and subconsciously rests her hands near her holsters. An eager grin emerges upon Sotalia's face. Aristespha nod calmly and straightens her posture with hand on the sword at her side. Bach gives a simple thumbs up gesture with a smile.

Sebastian smiles proudly and gazes out through the window. "I'll scout ahead. Move fast there, but keep watch for anything off."

Gigantic, ancient structures stand solemnly in spite of the hundreds of years of exposure to the world. Stone, metal, and traces of arcane intertwine to form massive buildings of purpose that remain silent. Modern constructions add on minor conveniences overall via stairs, doors, walkways, lifts, and lighting. Massive areas with magical ruins and industrial equipment show themselves to the skies above whether by original intent or the eventual decay of time. Sebastian darts around to scan the path ahead, waiting for the rest to catch up to report. Dretphi and Cideeda lead the group with sub-machine gun and laser pistol at the ready. Aristespha and Sotalia follow close behind pondering the purpose behind this place. Bach tails in the rear and keeps a watchful eye behind the group and joins in on the debate about observations. "I have no idea what was suppose to happen here. But, it had to be big and significant."

Aristepsha's eyes wander between one significant structure to one of the many more littering the area and she pauses to rub her eyes away from the afternoon sun. "I know. And, so much effort and time was taken to set up here. But, why leave so fast? I would be disingenuous to say I'm not worried."

Sotalia rests her stare forward to massive, five meter tall modern doors enclosing the area the next archway leads to and notices the smaller sub-doors open to the dark area within. "I've seen a few places with that big and open style, but... I don't think this was a style choice."

Cideeda shakes her head slowly as her eyes peer through the contrasting darkness through the small embedded doorway. "The construction of this place isn't for looks. Despite how old this main roadway is, they only needed to install some safety rails. This was made to handle heavy, heavy traffic."

Dretphi and Cideeda pan their views and weapons through the open small doorway and into the next area. A cavernous echo faintly bounces around the massive space when Dretphi steps her large armored boot onto the roadway inside. A spotlight, flashlight, three different lights spells, and an illuminating ghostly figure shine out starkly and push out the shadows. Through small cracks and worn seals in the ceiling, natural daylight creeps in to provide a dim ambient light to the region. The bridging roadway from the doorway arches over the floor meters below and meters under the ceiling to lead to another archway with a similar set of modern doors. The group swells out on the heavy walkway in cautious attempts to perceive the distant and assumed walls in the inky black shadows. Cideeda steps quietly next to Bach and points her flashlight down over the guard rail to guide a spot of light through chaotic but undisturbed debris below. She winces briefly, uncomfortably squirms all over, and aims her flashlight ahead.

The pupils of Cideeda's emerald eyes narrow to pinpoints and a ghostly pale tone overtakes her face's light brown skin. With frantic, split-second flurry, another laser pistol leaves its holster, both aim rigidly ahead simultaneously, shriek to full power charging, and the flashlight bounces from free fall onto the floor. In moments, Bach snaps his head to witness Cideeda's terror driven determination, follows the trajectory of her laser pistols, and flits a blue glow in his eyes as he looks towards the distance. Horror floods his face and stun him, but a force from within powers through with gritting teeth and a snarling lip. His eye explode with brilliant blue light and swarms of magical flow channels swirl within and around him to condense between the palms his outstretched arms. Layer by layer tightly packed, hair thin rings of magical energy build upon each other. Each layer of rings rotate, spin, and turn to form a growing chaotic maelstrom of visual white noise in an orb form. The ball of destructive energy shrills in chorus with the powerful energy whine of the laser pistols.

Sotalia and Aristespha pivot simultaneously towards Bach and Cideeda when both shiver from some nearby source. Sebastian and Dretphi halt when familiar sounds reach both and rotate immediately to find the source. Dretphi quickly hunts through the void, raises her spotlight in the direction of focus, and instinctively raises her sub-machine gun as her body tenses. The spotlight shines against the far wall against industrial machinery and arcane components, except for one mass in the middle. Encapsulated in the border of illumination, a billowing cloud of black miasma lingers and remains in place. Ignoring all light with an aura of spite, the fluctuating entity idly looms around with the edges of its being flowing a black ethereal fire. Weapons and magics ready, the group engages an eerie stand off as the whine of a laser pistols and the chaotic shrill of a disintegration ball fill the background as frantic pants from Cideeda punctuate fear.

A minute passes, Bach squints, gradually tilts his head in thought, and breaks the silence. "That's not one of them."

With a sudden cringe Cideeda growls back with fully tensed, rattling grip on her pistols. "The FUCK do you mean?! I KNOW what it looks like! It's right there waiting for us!"

Bach releases a long, shuddering sigh, and draws a long breath in. "It's not a whole... Working one... It's not all there... It's like the components to make one..."

Cideeda defiantly maintains a panicked glare at the black mass encompassing a cylindrical tank. The mass oozes out through a rupture on the side of the container, while bits of arcane material, runes, and equipment lay in scattered fractures upon the floor and even into other pieces of nearby equipment. Bach gazes over to Cideeda and waits while struggling to keep the orb maelstrom. Cideeda's eyes dart over briefly and she blinks through to analytical thought. As her focus shifts to the scene rather than the dark miasma, a long painful sigh escapes and tension releases hold of her body. "It... It... would have come after us by now."

The laser pistols lower slowly, the charging whine disappearing as the safeties reengage. The disintegration ball shrinks with reverse flows of magic entering back into Bach's body until the last points fades. Bach relaxes his arms limply to his sides and pants with his head hanging. A grimace flashes upon his face and he growls loudly. "THE FUCK IS WITH THIS PLACE!? What THE HELL did they DO HERE?!"

Cideeda's gaze drifts around in her thoughts and glances over when she feels a Sotalia's hand on her shoulder. Cideeda looks to the concern on Sotalia's face and manages to return a smile with a nod. Bach closes his eyes hard and pinches the bridge of his noise with an idle shake of his head. Sebastian slides on over next to his brother craning his head to see Bach's face. "Hey, bro. You okay?"

Bach draws in a deep breath and eventually manages to nod. "Yes. But, holy shit. This is a bit much."

Sebastian stares out solemnly to the black mass leaking tank and eyes his brother. "Is that what they look like?"

Bach sways his head from one shoulder to another with a grim smirk. "Generally. Well, usually about four meters tall with all the fucking anger, spite, and hate you can ever imagine one damned thing ever having. But, mostly that."

Sotalia steps next to Bach, bumps her shoulder into his, and gazes at him with a masking grin over her concern. "Hey."

She winks with a sly tint. "You still have to teach me that spell."

An honest smile surfaces on Bach face and he playfully rolls his eyes at Sotalia. He feels a series of light but firm pats on his back, and glances over his shoulder to meet the warm smile of Drepthi underneath her helmet's visor. Sebastian looks towards the light coming in through the small door within the larger archway door. "Well, I'm going to check ahead. See if we can avoid any new surprises like that."

Sebastian pauses his flight next to Aristespha and hovers in front of her to parse her expression. "Dear?"

Aristespha turns to Sebastian, eventually relinquishing the tremors of anger, twitches of irritation, and strain of gripping frustration to her typical calm, neutral demeanor. "I'm fine. I'm going to get answers to this madness once we get within aetherphone reception. Someone WILL tell me what happened here."

Sebastian waits until she finally shows a loving smile and gestures him off. As the group reforms to previous marching order, Bach feels a set of light pressing claw points on his arm and gazes down to see Cideeda smiling back. She sighs and gazes at him for a moment. "Thanks for the backup."

Bach shrugs modestly with a smile and rubs the back of his neck with hints of embarrassment. "Well, I don't know how much it would have helped. I was just mostly scared there."

Cideeda tightens her wrap around Bach's arm and releases it to move back up to the front. "You still stood your ground."

Bach walks back to the reforming group. As the team approaches the door a powerful low hum resonates throughout the area. In between the group's startles and worry a voice echoes from the sword.

"ENERGIES. FLOW. STRANGELY... NOT. NATURAL... HE. RECEIVES. THEM."

-25-

Emerald green eyes peer out through the ajar small door within the larger modern doorway, and a furry ear angles out to scan the audio landscape. After a few sweeps of the immediate area, Cideeda's pupils focus on an opaque balcony safety railing panel. She lowers herself to a cautious crawl across the ancient stone flooring and slinks silently up to place her back against the panel. A careful panning gaze of the long overlook walkway satisfies her hunt for possible nearby threats. Edging her head close to the gap between panel and railing post, her eyes flit open in surprise and she returns to look at the doorway. Cideeda holds a finger to her lips, thumbs down behind her, points to either side of herself down the walkway paths, and nods. A heavy boot slowly presses down up the stone floor with care to the angle it contacts and Dretphi cautiously guides herself in a slow ducking crouch to another railing next to Cideeda. She keeps a hand on her sub-machine gun and another hand prevents the large rifle on her back from rattling against the hard armor plates on her suit. She eases herself to a kneel next to her railing panel and maintains a watch over the area. A faint ethereal glow illuminates near the door and Sebastian's transparent face gazes to Cideeda in anticipation. Cideeda nods with a calm, serious expression, points to the open sky, and mouths. "Open air. Bright."

Sebastian reaches his arm out low, watches his visage's glow fade against the ambient sunlight over the area, and then silently floats just over the floor to another railing panel. Aristespha, Bach, and Sotalia creep out in a loose line and fan out to positions in the shadows behind Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sebastian. Pairs of eyes peek around the gaps between panels and railing posts, and dart wide-eyed upon the vast area. Aristespha mumbles mutely to herself. "Gods... What is this place?

Beams of sunlight drift over the massive circular platform, and the shadows of overhead clouds take long seconds to traverse the diameter. Intricate meshes of ceramic, glass, metal, and advanced polymer form concentric rings around a central disc. Faint flows of white light wave inwards in sync to the low resonating hum. Wavering, snaking shadows develop underneath and contrast the warps of space just above the surface of the platform. White, nearly transparent energy flows through the warps and swim in the air from beyond the outer edges of the platform to the central disc. Upon the central disc, a humanoid figure stands in the middle of a gradual vortex of magical flow, and energy constantly merges into figure's body. Heavy leather boots shift to a wider stance upon the disc, and aging, worn cotton dress pants settle into the new position. Long sleeves cover rising arms and fingers flex within form fitting leather gloves. The hood of the pullover jacket lifts to reveal wisps of white hair fanning in the breeze, a bright blue scarf in a tight wrap obscuring most of the face, and a pair of gray eyes fluctuating white as the waves of energy pulse. Sebastian's jaw hangs agape, eyes open up, and an astonishment floods his face. "Noxian."

All other pairs of eyes immediately lock on to Noxian in shock and awe with certain pairs glowing blue, violet, and flickering gold. A minute later, heads turn back away from the gaps between and exchange glances to each other. Aristespha slowly releases a held breath and blankly stares off in uneasy thought. "I didn't recognize him immediately, but that handle of Elder magic flow is his. With what the sword said... That has to be HIM."

Sotalia narrows her gaze towards the rest of the group and sneers with confusion tainting her doubtful exterior. "How? I've felt his presence before. I would have been able to sense him well before this point if this was him."

Sebastian shakes his head and dons a frown tight upon his face. "It's him. I know those eyes. He may not have that old mask and outfit anymore. But, that is him."

He attempts a reassuring smile to Sotalia but only manages a smirk. "He's changed this tactics from the last time we ran into him. Even the sword didn't pick him up until now. He's been very stealthy and sparing with his magic lately."

A daring grin presses away the sneer and doubt upon Sotalia and her eyes flit brightly. "He might be low on elder magic."

Aristespha quivers a curl of a lip as her violet glowing eyes analyze the gentle, faint vortex flowing around and into Noxian. "May HAVE been. He's drawing in energy from that device. It must be a collector or storage system of sorts. I don't know at the moment."

Sotalia peers through the gap near her briefly and returns with determination bold upon her face and a harsh whisper "Well, we can't just let him charge back up! We HAVE to stop him!"

Sebastian gazes to Sotalia, lifts a calming hand, and ethereally sighs. "I know. But, we are facing a HUGE unknown here. We have no idea what's he's like after he tried his power against that rift."

His mind races through options while his expression idles between determination and caution. The humming peaks and suddenly dies off to silence. The group returns attention towards the circular platform and Noxian. Moments of silence later, Noxian's head lowers down to level from basking in the flow and he darts glances around in brief bewilderment. His shoulders droop, head lowers, and he pinches the bridge of nose with a grumbling groan. His low growls of frustration echo out against the surrounding, encircling tall walls of the region and funnel into Cideeda's perking ears. She concentrates upon the series of complains and draws a toothy smile. "I think the machine down there is a bit cranky from age."

The magic flows fade to slight warps of light and loosely follow Noxian as he steps off the center disc. He walks across the circular platform to a lone control station just outside the perimeter. After moving to stand in front of the ancient control station, he stares with a huff and contemplates the new state of circumstances. Seconds after playing out thoughts upon his face underneath the blue scarf, he presses series of icons upon a changing surface, adjusts knobs, and slides levers. He checks read outs, lights, meters, and other measurement equipment. He waits, shakes his head, and attempts another series of tweaks. Sebastian flashes a grin, turns his head away from watching Noxian, and quietly addresses the group. "Okay. This might be our chance. Cideeda and Dretphi, I need you two to sneak into some opposing cover with good vantage points."

Dretphi lifts her helmeted head just above the top of the safety railing and pans a stare across, stopping to scrutinize large evenly spaced support pillars for the balcony and small awning roof overhead. "The pillars present the better option available."

She lowers her head down, eyes the area below, and surveys around the circular platform. "Other options below. None grant an ideal firing position. Protective cover. Hiding spots."

Sebastian searches along the outer rim, and spots containers, relics, abandoned machinery, debris, and piles of never deployed safety platform equipment. "Okay. Aristespha, Bach, and Sotalia. We need to figure out how to shut that machine down enough to keep it useless for Noxian. Preferably as safe as possible. Of course, given current circumstances, we might need to push it a bit."

He meets Aristespha's and Sotalia's faces, and cranes his head over towards Bach. "Hey, bro? Did you hear what I said?"

Bach stares silently at Noxian, a neutral expression masking most the emotion. Slow shuddering breaths escape his lungs and a constant slight tremor shakes his hand idly resting on his leg. Dretphi follows Sebastian's worry to Bach, along with everyone else. She calmly reaches her hand out, gently rests it upon Bach's shoulder, and firmly squeezes. "Bach?"

Her hand buffers a tense flex of Bach's back as he startles, squelches an involuntary gasp, and blinks back to awareness. Bach turns towards Dretphi's warm, but worried smile, then to Cideeda, Sebastian, Sotalia, and Sebastain. "Oh gods. Sorry. Just spaced out there..."

Sebastian presents a comforting smile and nods. "Don't worry, bro. None of us really expected to find him here. Maybe the signs he was here at some point, but... This is a bit more than what I expected, to be honest."

After grimacing the emotionally concealing blank expression off his face, Bach manages to slight smile and sighs. "Seems to be the running theme of this place."

The group shares a series of nods, head shaking sighs, and other expressions that play off the stresses. Noxian stands up straight, draws a long breath, and crosses his arms. As he exhales, he studies another series of readings upon a magical screen streaming ancient text. He squints his gray eyes, reads the output, and flits his eyes open while his body tenses. He straightens his posture momentarily and bounds his eyes around the boundaries of his vision. But he then relaxes and resumes a cool exterior. He calmly pivots and meticulously hunts around the complex, paying careful attention to the shadowy areas and the balcony.

Sebastian dons a confident grin and resumes addressing the group. "Okay, one last time. Cideeda and Dretphi, take hidden firing positions and be ready for the signal over the radio or by me. Aristespha, Bach, and Sotalia, try to get close to the control part of that machine and figure out how to shut it down... Or what will shut it down. There's some stairs over there, otherwise maybe one of the ladders down will work. We'll see. I'll try to keep watch over and be ready to be a-"

A cool, collected voice projects itself out into the area. "Excuse me. Who. Is. Here?"

Tension flares up in everyone as Sebastian's jaw hangs open and his pupils shift to the corner over his shoulder. Noxian steps away from the control panel and walks upon the dusty floor surrounding the perimeter of the platform. "I KNOW you are here. Something has changed in this area. Please show yourself. I do not mean you immediate harm."

Noxian's angles his head to suspicious points around the vicinity, and pauses to seek out signs of activity. "To be honest, I'm actually quite curious as to how..."

He lifts a graying eyebrow, cocks his head slightly to the side, and gradually squints his searching stare. "And WHY are you here?"

Worry weighs down upon Sebastian and he see the looming tension hover over the rest of the group. As they remain silent, he searches his mind for possibilities and alternatives. He lowers his head while his ethereal eyes mentally flip through his thoughts. Each second his mind rejects another possible idea. He halts, lifts his head up with a reassuring smile, and nods. "Okay. Keeping almost the same plan, while he's distracted try to do your parts."

Aristespha narrows her focus to Sebastian and reads the details of his face. "Sebastian, how are we going to distract him?"

A sly smirk plasters itself upon Sebastian face and he quirks his brow. "Well. With the one thing he doesn't expect to see."

Silence hovers in the air of the arena around the platform and Noxian narrows his eyes as he continues to hunt for any disturbance or movement in the suspicious areas surrounding him. He pivots a step over towards the control panel and leans forward to squint at the status messages flowing on the magical surface. He holds the position, stares at the screen in contemplation, and rereads the same numbers with the contrasting color to the rest upon the display.

"So, Noxian. How's it been?"

Noxian eyes flit wide open and he swings his upper body to the source of the ethereal voice. He glares at the source, rears his head back in shock, and shakes himself to his senses with renewed focus on the visage in front of him. "S-Sebastian?!"

Transparent arms shrug nonchalantly and a smug grin presents itself upon Sebastian's ghostly form with a lift of the brow. "In the... spirit, I guess?"

He steps forward towards Noxian and crosses his arms. "Didn't expect to see me again, didn't you?"

Gray eyes sort through the flush of confusion and Noxian's face twists out bewilderment underneath a blue scarf. "Not exactly... Especially, considering our last encounter was less than... amicable?"

Sebastian's grin deflates to a mere smile and he locks his stare at Noxian. "You can fucking say that for certain."

Noxian straightens his thinner frame tense and lifts his head up to return the stare back to Sebastian. "Speaking of our last encounter, I saw the news report. I need to ask... Do you know if there were any other casualties besides yourself?"

Sebstian lifts a curious brow and tugs at the corner of his mouth. "Not really. I caught most of that blast of yours and the rift kicked up a serious concussion wave when it slammed shut. Maybe some broken bones and I think one guy got knocked out by some debris caught up in the wave."

Tension eases from Noxian's stance and he allows himself to relax to a guarded posture. "That is a great relief to hear. I'm certainly glad no one else suffered. I had difficulty garnering much information after that incident."

Sebastian drifts gradually closer to Noxian, maintaining a cautious watch on him. "Most the aether network towers in region overloaded and I think the network news crew's feed got cut. Nothing using the aether system worked for days around there and radio barely functioned."

He sneers and with a groaning grumble. "I'm guessing the producers decided to take some artistic liberties with the presentation to punch the drama up."

Noxian rolls his eyes long and sways his head side to with a curl of the lip showing under the scarf. "Tell me about it. Depraved and morbid as the usual."

He eyes the control console display momentarily and darts his eyes around the area with a long sigh. "Sebastian. I do not know what has happened to you, but I would be remiss if I didn't take the opportunity to say this."

Noxian's expression through gray eyes and blue scarf softens and the outline of a frown reveals itself. "I am sorry for the results of my actions towards you. I had to stop you, but I truly wanted something far less than your demise."

Sebastian lifts his head and examines the covered face of Noxian with an itching glare and an eyebrow lift. "I guess that's the best apology I'm going to get, so... Thank you? Haven't quite made it to forgiveness yet. I'm sure you understand."

With a slow nod, Noxian releases a singular laugh and glances back to the control system status display with a subtle seek of his field of view to the area. "Yes. I do understand. I very well can't blame you either."

Sebastian straightens up and eyes Noxian a with growing sneer. "Okay. Noxian. What ARE you doing HERE?"

Noxan tilts his head and flits his brow at Sebastian, a smirk barely perceptible through the scarf. "Well, if you have been here a while, the blatantly obvious. Finding a path towards completing my goals."

His demeanor mixes with reluctance and wonder as he gazes out over the platform and surrounding arena. "Turns out this ancient place could be of service to me... still."

Head looking away from Sebastian, a thought winces on his face and long mournful sigh escapes with an equally long, hard closure of his eyes. He reopens his eyes, forces the traces of sadness from his expression, and returns to Sebastian's stare. He focuses his attention upon Sebastian, cocks his head to the side, and puzzles with a quirking eyebrow. "So in fair play, what are YOU doing HERE?"

As Noxian's gray gaze pierces right through him, both figuratively and literally, Sebastian works his lips to a grin and postures darkly. "Haunting you, of course! Why else would my ghostly form present itself to you? Stranger things happen."

A deep smile forms underneath the blue scarf wrapping Noxian's face as he closes his eyes hard and laughs genuinely. His eyes open and emit a bright glowing white light. Sebastian widens his stare and leans his posture back. Noxian casually points a gesturing hand to Sebastian and releases a long breath. "That is a curious form of existence you presently find yourself in. Hmm. Interesting. That damned sword of the? Of the?"

He continues a with rolling hand gesture to Sebastian as he searches the top of his mind for the phrase. With hints of annoyance directed towards the sword more so than Noxian, Sebastian voices out a bit of sarcasm. "Legendary Sword of the Spirit Realm."

A faint sneer interrupts Noxian's smile under the scarf. "That has to be a translation error. I do not remember anything from that period having that fanciful of a title. But... That unique energy signature is quite unmistakable."

He levels his head to stare eye level to Sebastian, fills his lungs slowly, and speaks calmly with a tinge warmth in his expression and pleading tone hinting. "Before anything else happens... Your group has shown themselves to be the heroes that Nexus should have. And, the heroes that will still be needed, even moreso, when I set things right again. So... I will make this offer again to you and your group. Stop hunting me. Let me do what needs to do be done. And, I will do what I can to undo the harm I've caused."

An eerie silence hangs over the two as they keep their eyes locked upon each other. A minute later a defiant grin cracks wide on Sebastian as he chuckles to himself. "Sorry. But I'm going to have to go with a solid No."

Noxian laughs as he rolls his shoulders to stretch and nods in grim acceptance. "To be honest, I would question my judgment of character if you had said Yes."

He calmly walks towards the control machinery and maintains a watchful pan of the area, alternating between high balcony spots and low areas around the scattered debris and abandoned equipment. Sebastian's stare follows Noxian. He hovers closer to him and flares up his ethereal form brighter. "Stop right there, Noxian! Keep away from those controls. You can stop all this right now. Leave it alone. Now."

Noxian halts, glances over his shoulder at Sebastian, lifts a brow, returns his head forward toward the control system, and reaches out with a pointing finger to press a button. "I wonder who will-"

Two blue beams of light flash out from a dark area near a balcony support pillar, impact a warping coat of space around Noxian's center mass, and refract into chaotic scatters of illumination off to his sides. Noxian focuses an amused, smirking glare to the vicinity of the lasers' origin. "Cideeda! I see you brought your laser pistols today."

He eyes the support pillar, lifts an open palm up to aim, and narrows his eyes. "I'm certain you've slunk off to another position. But I can't very well leave that convenient hiding spot standing."

A small marble of white energy condenses in front of Noxian's palm, and with a sudden flex of his fingers, ray momentarily floods the area with blinding light and digs into the support pillar. A spread of brilliant cracks overtake the structure of the pillar completely and it crumbles into a pile of large, loose gravel. The newly formed chunks of rock rain down through the railing gaps onto the floor below the balcony and each impacts cracks out loudly. Three pairs of eyes glowing violet, blue, and wavering gold briefly watch the spectacle and return their peering stares out from behind the cover of a heavy cargo container to the control station. Aristespha, Bach, and Sotalia exchange glances before they collectively nod in agreement. Aristespha ducks back down behind and out of view along with Bach and Sotalia. She lifts up her aetherphone close to her mouth and keys the radio function. "Dretphi. Shoot the control console. It drives the logic behind the system to move energy around, but does not seem to be active in any other function."

From behind a support pillar on the opposing side of the balcony walkway from Cideeda, Dretphi peeks cautiously out and scans the situation below through her helmet visor with her massive rifle in hand. "Time required to ready the shot. I will be dangerously visible. Arrange a distraction?"

An eager, confident grin explodes on Sotalia's face and an orb of fire materializes from swirls of magical flow above the palm of her hand. "One distraction coming up."

With a fanciful flurry, Sotalia launches series of fireballs from alternating hands while she traverses the spaces between cover. Noxian cracks a brief smile, pivots towards the incoming projectiles, and extends his arms out. "There you are, Sotalia! I was curious how long you could actually wait before taking a shot at me."

His eyes brighten briefly as eruptions of magical energy burst out from his hands when the fireballs arrive a meter shy of himself. The projected waves of energy pop the fireballs effortlessly into fizzles of adrift magical mist. Noxian hems with tints of intrigue upon his face. "These feel a little different than before."

Aristespha glances around the container and pulls back to secure a firm grip around handle of the sword at her side. The sword rattles intensely inside its scabbard and Aristespha's annoyance plays out on her face while she closes her eyes in concentration. Sebastian halts, diverts his attention inwards, and smirks mischievously at Noxian. He zips in front of Noxian and keeps his ghostly visage occupying the hooded, blue scarf covered man's field of view. "So, about haunting you."

The humor quickly drains from Noxian's expression and he glares in sheer frustration at and through Sebastian. "By the gods, even in quasi-death you have figured out ways to be a nuisance."

Aristespha's voice calls out a fast series of incantations and she gestures rapidly to a final stance, releasing a powerful wave of energy across the distance between her and Noxian. The narrow wall of magical power glides quickly over the floor and splashes around Noxian, struggling to engulf him. The restrictive field strains against a protective barrier around Noxian. Noxian forces his movements through the barrier, fending of magical orbs, bolts, and rays from Sotalia. "Ah, yes! Your favorite trick, Aristespha!"

Another volley of twin lasers beam down from the balcony, before Cideeda darts back into the shadowy areas off to another spot along the balcony. With a bright flash of white from Noxian's eyes, the wave squeezing over him rips apart to misty sections against the swell of his protective barrier. He snaps an open palm at Cideeda's previous hiding spot. Another ray floods the area with light, energy fractures another support pillar, and the sounds of rolling rocks echoes out. Noxian aims his focus at Sotalia with slight curl to his upper lip, but suddenly releases his concentration to search the area. "Wait..."

Arcing out from behind cover, a large orb jets out in a winding, spiraling path and weaves chaotically through the air roughly towards Noxian. As the heavy magical bolt grows close, Noxian narrows his eyes and puzzles at the spell before him. "Is that an over sized magic missile?"

He maintains a hand out to deflect and disperse Sotalia's attacks, and squints to the lone flying ball of energy before eyeing Sebastian. "Gods. I sincerely hope you didn't drag some mage school dropout into this mess."

A bold grin pulls itself across Sebastian's face. "Well, about that..."

Noxian holds his free hand out, angles it up high to meet the incoming vector of the missile, and readies a field of energy in his hand. He maintains an unamused glare at his target until he flits his glowing white eyes wide in absolute bewilderment. "What was THAT?!"

The singular, large orb explodes into a swirling, interweaving flurry of slightly smaller, significantly faster bolts. They stream outwards and navigate to approach all sides of Noxian. Fascination fills Noxian's face and he watches the orb swarm close in with an expression of genuine wonder. He pulls his arms close to his body and the warping void of his magical barrier expands outs in anticipation of the missile pack. "Who IS this? That initial bolt didn't have the power to do this. But somehow, there was an energy surge that allowed it to spawn this many more bolts. I'm curious as to how much power is behind these."

Sotalia halts her attacks, drops back down to cover, and watches, eager to see the impacts. The swarm of magical bolts fly into close range of their target. But simultaneously, they halt just short of the barrier projecting from Noxian and idly hover in place. Each projectile adjusts its position clear of the magical shell when it fluxes around. Noxian blinks in sheer surprise and gazes quizzical to Sebastian hovering in front of him. "Who did you find?!"

He squints at the floating bolt with glowing eyes and mumbles to himself. "There isn't anything standard about this... even to the actual construction. How is it reacting to my movement? There's a control mechanism, but there would be too much interference right now with all the..."

A brief pause, a lift of the brow, and Noxian launches his hand out to snatch an orb. His hand grasps it tightly, a flash of white energy fills the bolt, and a streak of white flow zips through a barely visible, fine magical thread. The overpowering energy from Noxian burns through the ethereal filament, traces a path right back to the split point, and lights back to the origin. Bach crashes out from cover onto the floor, waves his hand frantically free of the magical thread right before the white energy graces the end, and curses as he flips the visor up on his helmet in a panic. "Oh, shit! What the fuck?!"

Noxian cocks his head to the side, scrutinizes Bach, glances over to Sebastian, returns a gaze to Bach, resumes a longer stare to Sebastian, and then opens his eyes wide in astonishment as he rotates his head slowly back to Bach. "The BROTHER."

Bach spins his head toward Noxian and blinks in shock at his statement. "Uh?! The what?!"

With a settling of his boots upon the floor, Noxian straightens his stance in contemplative thought and crosses his arms while he puzzles the situation. "Of all the things. I, truly, did not expect this as a practical possibility."

His eyes shift to pour his full attention to Sebastian's ethereal visage and balances confusion with genuine intrigue upon his expression, partially hidden by the scarf. "Why would you bring your adventuring school drop out brother into this? And, how is HE casting these strange spells?"

Noxian's gaze catches a glint of the shiny metal pommel of the sword at Aristespha's side through Sebastian's transparency and his ears decipher it as the source to an intermittent background vibrating rattle. A twitch itches the top of the cheek near the corner of one his eyes and his expression stiffens to an enthusiastic glare upon the sword with a snarling grin revealing his teeth. "Well. That would certainly explain some of this. But, certainly not all of this..."

He takes a step forward, his stare alternating between Bach and the sword. The moment he shifts his stance along with his motion, a beaming streak of light tears into the space behind him and an explosive, thunderous report aggressively echoes immediately afterwards. A thick, foggy barrier flashes up and protectively envelops Noxian. When the last traces of the cacophony dissipates out to the open air above and into the ancient stone around, Noxian slowly pivots in place and concentrates his wide, glowing eyes to witness a spinning rifle round hover a mere centimeter away from the center of the control panel. A warping field constricts and slows the round's rifling rotation to halt. Noxian traces the tunnel of disturbed magical energy, angles his head to follow the path cut nearly across his back, and directs a hardening glare to a space next to a balcony roof support. "As patient, calculated, and dangerous as always Dretphi."

He returns to analyze the rifle round and the system controls. After a struggling, thoughtful stare, he draws a long breath and enthusiasm fades from his face. A stoic expression overtakes him but barely contains the remorseful reluctance leaking around the edges. His eyes flit bright white and the control station stirs. Buttons press, levers move, and knob spins by themselves, and the status screen screams to alert streaming life as graphs slam out to their upper limits.

"BEWARE. ENERGIES. SURGING... TO. HIM."

A constant resounding vibration rattles the platform and surrounding structures. Torrents of streaming magical flows funnel into Noxian, the sheer volume flexing the fabric of space during transit from the platform. The cloth of Noxian's clothing ripples to the swirling energies, lifting the tail end of the blue scarf and feathering stray white hairs from underneath the hood of his pullover. He flings out both his arms to side, flexes his fingers, and feverishly utters incantations. Two massive roaring, flaming orbs expand into existence from his palms, rocket out to opposing sides of the chamber, and impact the balcony walls. Both explode simultaneously and releases pairs of snaking jets of flame. They billow out into all engulfing blazes and guide their expansion along elevated walkway. Cideeda snaps her head in shock to witness the fiery bright orange red wall ignite debris leading to her hiding spot. She reflexively bounds out over the balcony railing just as the flame flash fries her hiding spot. Panicked gymnastics and haphazard tumbling provides her with a passable landing upon the lower floor and she scampers into cover next to Aristespha. Solid boot steps stomp out upon the balcony walkway while armor plates rattle against each other. Dretphi throws herself over the balcony railing, crashes upon the top of wooden storage container, and spills out towards Bach when the crate structure shatters to a collapse. Sebastian flies back away from Noxian, pans a glance to Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia, and commands loudly. "Change of plans! Form up! We're getting out of here!"

He returns his tense stare to Noxian and witnesses the slow side to side sway of Noxian as he closes his eyes. Noxian reopens his eyes, dons a sad frown, and remorsefully watches the group form up. Sotalia expediently gestures and pronounces incantations with an arm throw to project a protective barrier. Aristespha concentrates with a brilliant violet glow from her eyes and sends out another barrier layer. Noxian lifts his arm from his side and directs a single pointed finger at the dual barriers and a beam of white energy flashes out. The energy arcs, sparks, and crackles into the barriers, both violently warp before they dissipate into shreds of fizzling magical energy. Noxian draws in a painful breath, shifts his arm's aim, and opens his hand, palm out. "I am truly sorry. This world needs heroes like all of you. But... I need to do what I need to do. Things HAVE to be set right. Unfortunately, you were able to find me. You are trying to regain your ability to stop me. And, you've come too close to halting my progress."

Magic flow erupts out from him and concentrates to a bright white ball in front of his palm. "When I am done, I will make sure that people know you all died heroes in their defense... despite how misled you all were."

He guides his sad gaze to Sebastian and sighs. "And if that damned sword survives this, I promise to find way to free you, so you may at least join them beyond in peace."

Horror chokes Sebastian and his eyes widen fully to the sight of the forming, lethally familiar energy gathering into the orb. Bach glances to his brother, studies with glowing blue eyes the condensing magic in front of Noxian's palm, and rushes out in front of the group. He slides to stop, extends his arms forward, and stares at Noxian. Magical flow gushes forward through and around Bach. Energy flows spin off his body and fly out to a developing hexagonal lattice in front of him. The lattice fills in with golden, translucent hexagon panels from Bach's hands and many other magical flow connection points. In mere moments a golden structured energy barrier melds into the floor and rises up tall to intersect the path between Noxian, and Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, Sebastian and Sotalia. Before a brilliant flash bathes the room, Noxian mutters. "A noble effort."

The pure energy beam slams into the golden barrier and splashes explosively out over the surface. The individual hexes of the barrier shudder violently, arcs of power crackle between, and the structure flexes chaotically. The magic from the beam infiltrates between the structural divisions and flushes out the golden color. Jets of the beam's energy flow out and reach towards Bach. A rush of white traces back through the tubes of flow from the shield and into Bach's body. Sparks blast from the clashes between energies within the flow outside of and inside Bach. Tension rips through and twists Bach's form, agonizing strain radiating throughout his being. His blue eyes flash out attempts to push back against the powers overwhelming him. Noxian blinks with bewilderment and squints his eyes to the struggle before him. "What the-"

Edges of white press against the glowing blue of Bach's eyes. Cracks fracture into the blue and spider closer and closer to the center. As the threads of white work near the center, a pinpoint of white flickers open well within the center of blue of both eyes. Abject utter terror ruptures and destroys any previous expression upon Bach's face. He grits his teeth, slams his eyes shut in a grimacing wince, and roars out in a bellowing howl of absolute defiance. "NOOOOOOOOO!"

Bach's eyes open to a solid, clear blue and vent out mists of magical energy. Streams of gold, blue, red, green, and other colors intertwine out from Bach within the magical flows and press back the white energies to the barrier. With a gigantic fluctuating surge through all the magical flow channels spiraling from Bach to the barrier, the hexagonal field expels a massive wave of the intrusive energy at Noxian. The wall of magic contacts Noxian, lifts him into the air, and drops him unceremoniously into a slide upon the circular platform, stopping at the center disc. Noxian blinks, quickly lifts his upper body off the platform floor, and manages to stand in the middle of the maelstrom of white energy that continues to seep into him. He stares toward Bach and the barrier. In addition to the golden hexagonal tiles, blue energies seal the divisions between, red threads intermesh inside the tiles, and a green coating rests upon the front of the constantly developing shield. As Noxian continues to gawk and process the events of the previous minute, the ambient vibration eases to silence. The remaining bits of white energy, including the expulsion wave from Bach's barrier, drift and funnel into Noxian. He pauses in thought for a moment, squints to the control station, stares at the shielded group, and glances up into the blue sky above. A swirling vortex of air spins up around him and he rests a gaze at the group through the barrier. "I think I'll take my leave now. There's nothing more for me here."

He focuses his attention fully upon Bach and pulls a genuine smile underneath his blue scarf as the end flutters around behind him in the air currents. "I do hope we meet again. Preferably, under less confrontational circumstances. Your name is Bach, if I am correct?"

Bach through pants and the haze of fatigue manages to grant Noxian a slow nod. Noxian lifts his head upward, bends his knees low, and lunges up into the air as a gust of air rockets him up into the sky. Sotalia shakes her head, regains her senses, notices Noxian gaining altitude, and runs forward. "What the-?! Gods dammit! He's getting away! NOT AGAIN!"

She straightens her posture, moves her hands in place to begin her gestures, and draws a long breath in. Sebastian snaps a point to Sotalia and yells out. "SOTALIA! STAND DOWN! DO NOT CHASE HIM!"

Sotalia growls defiantly with a sneering glance back to Sebastian and begins to cast her spell. "I'm just going to SEE which way he GOES! I'm not THAT crazy!"

The moment tries to move her arm, she feels a strong grip of hand clamp around her forearm. She flashes an irritated, teeth bearing grimace towards the owner of the hand and finds the outstretched arm of Bach. Her anger pops away and she blinks to a confused glare. Bach lifts his face to gaze at Sotalia and shakes his head, the physical, mental, and magical drain more apparent by the second through shuddering pants and drifting wobbles of his balance. "No. No. More. Risks. Today."

Concern flushes upon Sotalia's expression and she nods carefully, placing her free hand upon Bach's gripping hand. "Okay."

She feels the trembles from Bach through his shaking hand and gazes back to him. "You need to sit down. You can probably take the shield down."

Bach slowly nods and closes his eyes. The barrier fades back component by component through the channels of magical flow to Bach. The pants of exhaustion slow and Bach's stance stabilizes as the tremors subside along with the recovery of barrier energies. He gradually releases hold of Sotalia's forearm, slides his hand out from underneath hers, and lowers his head into the hand to cover eyes and forehead. Sotalia slides a hand underneath Bach's shoulder when his next step sways his upper body off balance. Heavy footsteps sound out behind Bach, and Dretphi secures a firm, gentle grip underneath his other shoulder and rests another hand at the ready on his back. "Slowly. No need to rush."

Dretphi and Sotalia support and guide Bach to cleared spot on the floor to an awaiting Aristespha with medical kits rolled out. Cideeda glances up towards the balcony and the lingering clouds of smoke underneath the roof awnings. "Good, it looks like that flame wall didn't catch anything too big on fire. We should be able to get back out the way we came in."

Sebastian releases a long sigh, vents out his tension, and nods as he pans his sight around the area. "Okay. After Bach gets checked out, we'll get out of here-"

Bach attempts to roll to his side, lifts his upper body off the floor, and stress shaken groans. "Oh, fuck that! Let's just get out of here right now. I'm okay enough to get the fuck out of here-"

A gloved hand grasps onto Bach's shirt collar, and guides his view to the narrowing eyes of Aristespha. She stares silently at Bach and he resigns himself back onto the floor. After removing Bach's helmet, she lightly pats him on top of his head with a slight smile. Bach tugs a wary smirk out from the corner his mouth and closes his eyes. After a few minutes resting upon the stone floor, he tilts his head toward Sebastian. "So, brother?"

Sebastian hovers over and kneels down next to Bach with a comforting smile. "Yah, bro?"

Bach sighs, closes his eyes, and opens to gaze up into the blue sky above. "How much longer are we going to be at this place?"

A twist fights to reveal itself on Sebastian's lips, but he quells it to keep a smile going. "Honestly, bro. I think we got more than what we needed. I don't think there's anything more we need to experience first hand with this place."

Sebastian slowly looks to rest of the group, and gauges their demeanor. "I think we should leave tomorrow. Head back to base. Objections?"

Between silent head shakes and post-adrenaline exhausted grumbles, no objections voice themselves from anyone.

-26-

Early morning sun beams through the rows of trees and scatters a warming glow upon the humvee. Aristespha, Cideeda, Dretphi, Sebastian, and Sotalia sit within a small clearing. Dretphi slides a spatula underneath the last few pieces of bacon in the frying pan above a small cooking burner. With care, she balances the last slices away and deposits them on a transparent green plate resting upon a log. The bacon settles in space between scrambled eggs, biscuits, oatmeal, and gravy. Dretphi turns the knob on the burner to an ending click and the blue jets of flame poof out. She glances at the full plate and the humvee, before gazing at the rest of the group. "I know we agreed to let him sleep. I prefer he eat fresh food."

Aristespha lifts her head up from her tablet towards Dretphi, thinks a moment in her mind, and nods with smile. "Might as well wake him. I doubt he'll sleep once we get back on the roadways anyway."

A wicked smile flashes upon Sotalia's lips and her eyes light with a mischievous gleam. She pinches the last piece of bacon off her plate between two fingers, places the plate to the side, and stands up to a walk towards the humvee. "Don't worry, I got it!"

As Sotalia moves away from the clearing to the humvee, Dretphi returns her stare behind back to the burner and rolls her eyes long with a grumble. "She enjoys the torment. Possibly too much."

Cideeda shakes her head with an amused smirk, sips coffee cautiously from a thermos, and sighs with an ending chuckle. "Oh, don't worry, girl. She's just having fun with his inhibitions."

She lifts an eyebrow and eyes Sebastian sitting in thought next to Aristespha. "I'm sure she did worst to you... Sebastian?"

With a few quick blinks and eye darts to find the source of his spoken name, Sebastian meets Cideeda's gaze, recalls the last few seconds in his mind, and nods with a tight smile and a tugging smirk. "Oh, yah. She's been pretty mild actually."

He laughs to himself, shrugs, and looks towards Dretphi with amusement. "Anyway... My bro will be fine. He needs to learn how to stop being so awkward, anyway."

Dretphi twists her mouth a few times, mulls over the concept in her mind, and sways her head side to side showing an air of uncertainty. "There are lessons to learn. Doubt the effectiveness of the method."

Cideeda bites her lip as her tail sweeps around behind her, rolls her eyes, and snickers in between sips of coffee from her thermos. "We shall see."

The smile upon Sebastian face fades as he returns his head to rest upon the fist of his propped arm and his ethereal visage stares distantly in thought. Aristespha diverts her attention away from the events in front of her and gazes to Sebastian with a quiet, calm voice. "Are you okay, Sebastian?"

Sebastian flits his eyes back to attention and pivots his head upon his fist to smile warmly to Aristespha. "I'm fine, dear. Just thinking about... Things."

A curious quirk of the brow poises itself over her violet eyes and Aristespha maintains a calm, piercing stare to Sebastian. After a few seconds, a long ghostly sigh escapes Sebastian and his smile weakens as the deeper thoughts rise up into his expression. "I'll explain it to you later, in private."

A gentle, gloved hand grasps onto Sebastian's free hand resting upon his transparent thigh and a pair of glowing violet eyes look into his with a concerned but warm smile. "Okay, Sebastian."

Inside the humvee, intermittent snores sound out from Bach. A blanket covers most his body and a small pillow supports his head that faces away from the morning light radiating through the passenger's side windows. The blanket swells with each long breath, settles with each exhale, and twists when Bach attempts to averts his eyes away from the sunlight. The front passenger's door engages and the sounds of outside leak into the muted interior as it opens. The front seat rocks slightly as a woman with golden eyes, dark red hair, and swept back horns places her chin down upon the headrest, wraps an arm around the seat, and eyes the sleeping Bach with a corner grin. Two fingers secure a piece of bacon between them and an arm cranes out to slowly waving the slice near Bach's nose. Seconds pass before twitching cheeks contort Bach's nostrils and his face animates with the first stages of consciousness. His head moves subconsciously and briefly follows the trajectory of the bacon when Sotalia draws it away. Bach's eyes flutter open and attempt to work through the haze of sleep to perceive Sotalia. A crispy snap and muffled crunches kick Bach out from his mental haze. Sotalia presents her devilish grin in between bites of the diminishing bacon slice, and focuses her golden eyes on Bach. "Well, good morning!"

Bach blinks the remnants of sleep from his eyes and navigates a hand from underneath his blanket to wipe the stubborn holdouts away. "Um... Morning?"

Sotalia rolls her eyes and sighs to a smile. "Yes. Dretphi wanted you to eat breakfast while its fresh and hot."

The blanket slides off to the sides of Bach's seat, and he pulls the side lever to angle the seat back from a recline. "Okay. That sounds good. Right."

The smile drifts closer to concern and Sotalia tilts her head to the side with her attention fully upon Bach. "Hey, are you okay?"

Bach blinks and yawns to awareness. He watches Sotalia vainly fail at suppressing a reactionary yawn and manages to put forth a weak smile. "I guess. I think? I don't feel bad or anything. It's just a lot to process, still?"

Sotalia rocks her head upon the headrest to a mimic a nod and renews her smile to Bach. "Well, that makes sense."

Long brown and gray hairs free themselves from last night's arrangement and eventually rest upon Bach's shoulders. He brushes a few stubborn spots with his fingers and finishes with a long sigh shaking head side to side. "I'm going to be honest... Yesterday really pushed me to the breaking point..."

The smile lowers gradually to frown as Sotalia watches the unease play out on Bach face from the memories of yesterday resurfacing. "I know."

She lifts her other arm from a wrap around the seat, stretches a hand out, places her fingers underneath Bach's chin, and angles his head upwards. She inspects Bach face for moments and gently guides his head to check a few spots. A smile reemerges on her lips and she drops her hand away from Bach's chin. "You are looking A LOT better today. And, since we're being honest, you really spooked me yesterday."

Bach tugs at the corners of his mouth, twists his lips, and briefly grits his teeth averting his eyes. "Ah. Well, sorry about that."

Sotalia slowly blinks her eyes, lightly sways her head, and pulls a grin from a corner of her mouth. "Sorry nothing. Thank you. Really. I needed someone to starkly remind me of the situation before I ran off doing something stupid in the moment."

The dry smirk finds its way upon Bach's mouth and he chuckles. "I'm glad, but I really hope it doesn't require something like that to remind you in the future."

A confident laugh escapes Sotalia breath, she lifts her head off the seat's headrest, and her arms settle to either side of the headrest upon the top of the seat. "I hope so, too."

Seconds of silence pass, a thought works itself across Bach's face and he finally glances back to Sotalia with a wary tone. "So, I guess you and Aristespha are going to question me how I sent that blast back?"

Sotalia narrows her eyes to Bach and slowly nods maintaining her stare. "Yes. Especially since that's the first time we've seen someone pull a return to sender on anything from Noxian."

She cocks her head to the side keeping her gaze upon Bach, places the now short piece of bacon in her mouth, bites sharply, and crunches loudly. "But, that can wait a few days after we get back to the house. I'm all for taking a few days break after all of this."

Her golden eyes focus out the back passenger's window and she twists her mouth in thought. "Anyway, I think Aristespha will be too busy trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with this place and whose head she's going to rip off when she finds out."

Bach exhales relief but quickly draws breath in and glances out through the window to Aristespha meters away in the small clearing. "I can't blame her. I'd like to know what happened here, but..."

He curls a lip into a sneer and groans. "Preferably not while we're here? I can read about this place from the comfort of the living room couch."

Sotalia draws air sharply through her nose and exhales long with a slow, exaggerated nod that trails off to a blinking sway of the head. She notices the small piece of bacon left, pops it into her mouth, and chews it away. Bach squints his eyes at Sotalia and quirks his brow inquisitively at her. "So, I have to ask... Was that one of MY pieces of bacon?"

A wicked grin flares up on Sotalia's face as she nonchalantly slides out of the seat and steps out the front passenger door. "Maybe? You should probably check your plate."

The orange dusk sky glows dimly through the windows of the decorated, wooden dining hall of the inn. Goff adjusts the television from an articulated wall mount out and aims it towards the table with the group. "I think I got the roof antenna right last time I climbed up there. We'll find out, I hardly ever turn this thing on unless its for a special event and the weather."

Sebastian laughs ethereally, grins wide, and crosses his arms smugly. "Well, it should be quite the special event given the week they probably had. I'm just curious how they are going to try to spin it."

Cideeda snickers with a dark, mischievous tone, glances to Dretphi, and pokes a claw tip gradually into her side. "I'm curious how they're going to frame that ass beating you gave your... professional peer?"

A low grumble resounds from Dretphi, and she averts an unamused, distant stare from Cideeda's toothy grin while pouring a ladle full of stew into her bowl. "That term is incorrect."

Anticipation squirms through Sotalia as she grasps hold of a bread roll and fidgets in the finely crafted wooden chair. "Oooo! I hope they do a nice segment between me and that Tassilda bitch! I wonder how much the camera caught afterwards."

Bach fends of his apprehension towards the television and the commercials running in the space before the next show. He focuses on enjoying the food in front of him and occasionally eyes the screen to figure out what the commercial advertises. Goff shrugs, walks back to his chair at the table, and slides himself and chair back in. "Well, I think that's the right channel. Anyway, I hope they show this place in a good light, if anything."

Aristespha directs a smile to Goff and covers brief giggle. "Oh, Goff. I wouldn't worry too much. Given how they usually act, this lovely inn will seem wonderful."

She tilts her head to the side and lifts a curious eye brow at Goff. "Again, I want to thank you for having room for us on such a short notice. But, I remember you said you usually had a few regulars frequent this inn."

Goff scratches the graying beard stubble underneath his chin and shakes his head with a long breath into his lungs. "Hey, I'm glad you all needed a place to sleep. For one reason or another, all my regulars either canceled or postponed."

Sebastian drifts over near and angles himself to look at Goff. "What were the reasons? If it's not too much to ask?"

The old man, Goff, gazes up into his head, mentally flips through a list, and maintains a count upon the fingers of his hand. "Let's see... A trade group from the Appaland area postponed a few days due to bandits deciding to camp out their main route down. But, last I heard they got some big mercenary group clearing the route ahead of them. Their sister group is on standby until that clears up."

He hems to himself as he sorts through a checklist in his mind and counts a few other points on his fingers. "Then, these reagent hunters canceled because a Terra Priest group was spotted recently in the place they wanted to explore. But, they mentioned there was another spot and would get back to me to make arrangements."

The chair creaks slightly as he shifts his weight upon the back and sighs. "I'm really sad the old guy from a few weeks ago had to cancel. I really enjoyed him being around. I was hoping to hear a few more of his stories. But, he had some really unexpected things come up and had to change up all his immediate plans. Even offered him a discount, but it sounded like he needed to take care of business first."

Bach glances over to Goff and tugs the corner of his mouth with a bit of interest tinged with concern. "Wow. That has to be rough on business."

Goff shrugs and holds his hands out to his sides with a nonchalant smile. "That's the nature of the business. But, it works out. You all needed a place to stay from what sounds like a rough few days, and I'm happy to be able provide a place. Anyway, usually for every thing that stops people from getting here, there's something that brings them here."

He rests an elbow on the table, waves a hand, spoons some stew with his free hand, and cracks a sly grin. "I don't aim to profit from disaster, but that last maelstrom sent a lot of people my way. And a lot of tree clearing work to my son."

The television blares out familiar fanfare and a series of graphics flash up on the display showcasing the title "The Next Adventurers of Nexus".

"Ladies and gentleman! We have quite the week to recap! Our adventurers have been quite busy! Tempers flared from confrontation...">

A brief clip of showcases the banter between Sotalia and Tassilda. The screen swipe cuts to a split screen graphic of Sotalia grinning menacingly with fireball in hand upon a golden yellow background. Tassilda's closeup smug, sly grin occupies the other side with her green fireball and a contrasting blue backdrop clashing with animated sparks to Sotalia's side.

Sotalia pulls a wide teeth baring smile across her face and points the partially eaten beard roll towards the screen. "Backgrounds that match our eye colors, not too bad. Almost looks like something from a fighting arcade game."

"Emotions exploded from unexpected defeats..."

On the display, the camera frames Trakenthin sitting unamused in the interview room as his body language borders on irritable. He crosses his arms, glares harshly into the camera, and growls lowly. A woman off screen questions him. "Trakenthin, what are your feeling towards Dretphi? Given your last match with her... And the question at the panel?"

Trakenthin remains quiet, but the glare intensifies upon the camera focal point and a persistent twitch forms in his eye. The woman continues her queries and shuffles some paper off scene near a microphone. "We have the original audio, but we actually have a translation of the exchanges that I'll read off. First, lets play the question at the panel."

An audio clip of Dretphi's voice plays out into the airspace of the room. Sotalia snickers covering her mouth and winks to Dretphi as a wicked smile escape the concealment of her hands. The satisfaction filling Dretphi's grin deflates to a neutral stoic expression the moment she notices the attention of Sotalia and the rest of the group. Bach carefully leans close to Sotalia and whispers to her. "What did she say anyway?"

Sotalia bites her lip with mischief under the watchful eyes of Dretphi, rolls her eyes, and softly answers back. "Oh, it doesn't have the same punch translated. The cultural contexts makes it really cutting."

As the woman off scene draws breath for her next statement, loud cracks of clenching knuckles echo in the room and Trakenthin pulls his fist back. The camera view shatters as his fist impacts the protective glass and it abruptly falls backwards to hazily focus on the lighting rigs above and spooked camera crew. Heavy foot steps stomp away from the microphone and a door slams powerfully with a trace crackle of splintering wood.

Cideeda pokes Dretphi playfully again with a claw tip and barely contains her laughter. "I can't believe how far under his skin you got! He can't even stand to hear your voice."

A content smirk sneaks out from the corner of Dretphi's mouth and challenges the firm neutral expression upon her face. The television cuts to another segment and the announcer's voice reads out.

"Curious covert conversations were had..."

From a distant shot, Cideeda stands along with Deedri in the dealer room at the convention, talking to each other. Cideeda's humors halts, her jaw drops, and her eyes widen with sheer bewilderment. "How the fuck?!"

She studies the screen, blinks, and turns her head to the side as her stare studies the dynamics of the shot. Her clawed hands gesture out the physics behind the shot in between alternating glances. One hand serves as the target and the other as the camera location. Cideeda squints at the screen, curiosity tempering frustration. "Wait! That's a downwards overhead shot. Someone actually climbed up into the maintenance walkways up in the rafters, found us, and recorded us?! That's it! I see support beams around the edges of shot. Who the hell?"

The imagery on screen cuts to another theme and the music mixes in with a pop rhythm. The camera moves forward down a dark walkway towards a figure on the center stage.

"But, first, the announcement you've all been waiting for!"

A video clip opens up upon the screen and overlays on top the stage scene. The video shows Chad standing up from a large, very familiar looking table in Goff's dining hall. He coughs loudly to capture the rest of the group's attention and addresses them. "I know you all have been curious as the exact details of the assignment and who exactly we are escorting back to Amaranth Valley. I believe it is safe to reveal the details. After the last show of her tour, we are going escort back the pop star Veevi Valiant."

A mild mixture of reactions stir in between Deedri, Trakenthin, Tassilda, and Modoran, with no strong acceptance or rejection and a generally bland reception overall. Chad grins brightly and draws a deep breath. "After which, she will join our group as a short term intern to experience the adventuring life herself, first hand."

Modoran's eyes flit open, he barely halts the inhale of water from his glass. He drops his head forward to empty the contents of his mouth into the glass before drawing a gasp. A wave of unease passes through Deedri and causes an involuntary cringe upon her face. Trakenthin slowly lifts his head back away from his meal, gradually pivots it to Chad, and concentrates a glare of brewing rage upon him. Tassilda crosses her arms with a hoist of her cleavage, flips her head up defiantly at Chad, and curls her lip into a disgusted snarl. A tense moment of silence looms over the Flames of the Phoenix and shatters to the tumultuous objections of Trakenthin and Tassilda. The window shrinks away to the background and the focus shifts to the stage lighting up. A half-fvalian girl struts across the stage to the walkway in front. She tosses her vibrant pink, long hair around and sways her long, short-haired tail in sync with each step. Her short, upright fuzzy ears perk as she lifts a microphone to her mouth and sings to the music playing. Clips of her career flip up onto the screen showcasing a variety of pop phases and themes, along with segments of her scandals and drama. Cutting through the din, the yells of Chad to the team rise out from the background. "It's ONLY for ONE mission! Just ONE!"

Aristespha widens her eyes in disbelief, hangs her jaw agape, and covers mouth and nose with both hands. Sebastian snorts and fails to stifle his ghostly reverberating cackles. Sotalia draws an ear to ear grin, props her arm upon the table, and rests her head upon her hand as she continues to watch the chaos upon the television. Cideeda blinks hard a few times and slowly shakes her head. "I have to admit, that's a little cruel and unusual."

Dretphi quirks a brow and glances to Cideeda quizzically. "She is the same one from the concert. I believe?"

Cideeda nods slow, draws a long breath, and exhales with a slight whistle. "Yes. Yes, it is. I think she's on a show called The Next Star of Nexus... Oh, I bet this is some kind of cross promotional ploy."

Bach grits his teeth and squeezes a sigh through, eyeing the progression of the drama on the television. "Well, I guess the good news is that they'll be a little preoccupied for a while and hopefully leave us alone."

An awkward tension wafts across the table as each member of the group individually realizes the proximity that such a personality will be to their current home. Goff shrugs nonchalantly and smiles humored. "Well, looks like tomorrow night is going to be really exciting again!"

Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, Sebastian and Sotalia focus their collective attention upon Goff, a mix of curiosity and dread playing out upon each individual's expression. Goff works his mouth side to side and hems with an ending chuckle. "As much as I'd love more of your business this weekend... It might serve you all better to head straight home tomorrow morning."

A late afternoon light illuminates the familiar and comforting living room from the sliding glass door. Dretphi sits upon the floor and sorts through the first load of dry laundry, placing folded clothes in the appropriately named basket. Cideeda's claws pick through the exposed components of her laser pistol, scraping bits of soot off and prying a small chunk of rock out from the focusing barrel. Sotalia sits on the couch, counting vials of potions and inspecting the parts and pieces of unrolled equipment kits upon the coffee table. Bach lifts a large metal case onto the kitchen floor from the garage and hauls it next to another similar container by the dining table. Moments later, Aristespha walks in through the hallway archway and stands straight with a neutral but serious expression. Sebastian hovers through immediately afterwards, stands next to Aristespha, and pans a gaze across Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia. He puts forth an admirable effort to maintain a confident smile that roughens around the edges as his mind concentrates on the prominent thought in his head. With an ethereal cough, he address the group in tone missing the usual bravado. "Everyone, if I could have your attention... I need to say something pretty serious."

The strange tone from Sebastian carries across the room, yanks everyone's focus away from their respective chores, and fills the room with uneasy tension. Eyes fall upon Sebastian and he continues his efforts to maintain a smile that fades quickly to wary smirk. He gazes out at the group and sighs. "I've been thinking the last two days, reviewing the situation... And how things are looking."

He lowers his head momentarily, ethereally sighs, and lifts his face up to meet everyone's eyes. "We got ridiculously lucky Thursday. There was a damn good chance that we could have all met our ends."

Sebastian face contorts as a flood of emotions fight to express themselves. "I know our profession is risky in general, but... I feel that some misjudgment of mine put us in that situation... That was completely avoidable."

He stiffen his lips, blinks hard, and gazes out to the group. "I know situations can change anytime, anyway on a mission and all of you have been extremely supportive. But, this last encounter with Noxian was too close... And, way too familiar to THE previous time we encountered him."

A shaky undertone fills his voice as he concentrates his attention and visits a glance to Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia. "I... I... I'm glad no one paid a price this time... Like I had to last time."

A slight wince washes over Aristespha's face. Various degrees of frowns push faces down and gloom looms into the room. Sebastian straightens his posture again and continues his address. "I can accept my fate... Eventually. But, I do not want anyone to suffer a worse fate because my failure of judgment."

He briefly grits his teeth, grimaces, and sighs in remorsefully. "We had NO BUSINESS confronting Noxian this time and especially THE last time down in Anta. As much shit as we give those guys in Flames of the Phoenix and previous groups on Next Adventurers of Nexus... I can't rightfully say my judgment was any better than theirs. I've been pushing the group too hard, too fast, and without being careful enough. I thought we might be able to catch Noxian when he was weak and just solve everything quickly. But... Noxian has changed his tactics and I don't know what he's up to anymore."

With distant stare forward, a head held up high, and stiff upper lip, Sebastian carefully speaks in a calm but wavering voice. "That's why in good faith, I can't ask any of you to continue on this path against Noxian. If anyone wants to stay away from him, I'll understand and we'll continue on as a group for as long as we can. We'll enjoy the time we have before circumstances catch up to Aristespha and by proxy of the sword... Me. And... If you want to leave the group... I can't blame you."

His stoic demeanor cracks and his words shudder with his trembling frown. "Truth be told... There's part of me that would be happy to know you wouldn't be steered Noxian's direction anymore."

Wide eyes gaze around the room as the heavy atmosphere weighs down and compresses the mood well into the floor. Traces of tears form in Aristespha's eyes as the silent collective contemplation lingers in the room. Eventually, Sotalia mutters swears silently to herself, lifts herself off the couch to stand quickly upright, and marches around the coffee table to stare Sebastian up in his face. She glares with a fury welling behind her eyes. "Fuck. You. Sebastian."

Sebastian's dour expression falls unceremoniously off his face onto the ground and his eyes widen with shock towards Sotalia. She focuses her stare upon Sebastian and pierces through his very being. "Fuck. You. Don't you DARE kick your own ass in front us and act like we didn't have a part in the whole thing!"

Sotalia firmly places her hands on her hips, perks a brow, and maintains a hard gaze upon Sebastian. "You've always involved us in every big important decision. You always considered our safety above anything else. And you have ALWAYS reviewed any plan with us and asked for our input. So, fuck you for dumping this bullshit all on yourself like some kind of martyr."

Her expression softens quickly while she looks into Sebastian's ethereal eyes and she blinks hard, wetting her eyes. "And, fuck you... For not being solid enough for me to slap some sense into you."

A small smile graces Sotalia's lips and she winks to Sebastian as she pivots to face Aristespha. "So, I'll do the next best thing for you."

Aristespha blinks with glistening tears hanging in her eyes and puzzles as Sotalia shifts her attention. Sotalia smiles, opens her arms up, steps forward, and hugs Aristespha with a soothing pat on the back. "There, there, girl. I am going to help you kick Noxian's ass and get Sebastian back whole again."

Tears finally escape Aristespha's eyes as the initial stun wears off and she wraps her arms around Sotalia with meek whisper. "Thank you."

A warm smile grows on Dretphi's face and she gazes to Sebastian with a calm, bright tone. "Important decisions rarely have best options. I believe we have taken the right options of the decisions presented. We will continue to make those decisions in the future."

She exhales slowly with a tension in her voice. "Noxian's actions concern me. I do not want to experience what they will become if unhindered."

Cideeda flicks an ear, stares at Sebastian with an amused, toothy smile, and slowly shakes her head with a long, exaggerated eye roll. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

She gestures with her hands to emphasize and punctuate her points to Sebastian with toothy grin. "Don't beat yourself up on my account. I'm smart enough to know well enough what I'm getting into. Anyway, I really doubt that letting Noxian mess with a magical rift or continue to charge up with some ancient artifact was going to lead to anything good for anyone. Don't work yourself up with the thought I'm going to leave now."

A strong smile forms on Sebastian mouth and relief loosens his stiff posture. He blinks as some semblance of tears reflect on his ghostly visage. A few seconds later, he gazes to Bach in silent contemplation and humbles his demeanor. "Bro, you put yourself in the line fire, yet again, and saved everyone. I... I've already put you into harms way enough as it is-"

Bach lifts his hand up, halts his brother's speech, and snorts as he contorts his mouth into a reserved smile. "Brother, I promised to help you and I am going to whether you fucking like it or not at this point. And, it's not like the broke quasi-mage life is calling me back."

He perks his eye brow up, strains his marginal smile, and exhales with a slight hiss as his eyes wander analyzing the situation. "I'm still pretty clueless to all this adventuring stuff. I'm still scared by some of the stuff we do. And, I'm just now feeling useful overall."

A solid grin pushes through the waves of doubt in Bach's expression and a moment confidence washes away the uncertainty in Bach's body language. "But gods dammit, you all are going to need my help to stop that crazy bastard from doing whatever he's got planned."

He pans a gaze to everyone else in the room, draws a deep breath, and sighs with chuckle. "And I'm sure we've all seen, heard, or read enough stories to know that anyone messing with power like that shouldn't be left alone with it."

Sebastian closes his eyes for a few moments, sniffs a couple times, and ethereally exhales his remaining tension away. "Thanks, bro. It's good hearing it from you."

Donning a renewed aura of bravado, Sebastian smiles confidently to everyone and nods. "Well, I'll do my best to lead us right in the future towards our goal of stopping Noxian. But, for now... let's take the rest of today and tomorrow to relax. We'll sit down Monday and rethink our plan of attack. The situation has changed again and I want to make damn sure we change accordingly."

Sebastian bites his lip with an eye roll and shrugs. "Sorry for any unnecessary drama, but I had to say something and make sure for everyone's sake. I do consider you all family and I want to do what's best for everyone... Well... The best possible given the likely world ending dark lord we have to somehow triumph against. Thank you, everyone."

Sotalia releases Aristespha, eyes Sebastian with a lift to her brow, and shakes her head with a smile as she walks back to the couch. Dretphi resumes digging through the dry clothes in the laundry basket and examining who they belong to. Cideeda turns herself back forward in her chair at the table and picks up a cleaning cloth with her focus upon her partially disassembled laser pistol. Bach gives a quick thumbs up to his brother, pivots, and then steps back towards the kitchen door to the garage. Aristespha gazes up to Sebastian's ghostly form and waits for Sebastian to meet her eyes. He smiles warmly back to her and she nods happily.

Bright white light shines from the headlamps on black sports utility vehicle and down the narrow residential road. Chad gradually adjusts the steering wheel to follow the contours of the dark road through the night. "Almost there."

Tassilda drops her head back into the rear driver's side seat headrest and groans as she rubs the bridge of her nose. "I can't believe we're going to try to teach that girl ANYTHING about adventuring. I sincerely hope whatever mission we have to bring her on is easy."

Squirms of nervous energy work their way through Deedri's body and she grits her teeth briefly as she stares out the rear passenger's window. "I just hope she doesn't get hurt."

Tassilda rolls her head on the headrest to face Deedri across from her with an amused perk to her lip. "Well, I do, too. As if we need anything more for her to complain about. I'm just glad she's staying at that hotel for the night, at least."

Deedri bites her lip and eyes Tassilda warily with a nervous air. "That, too. But, if she gets hurt, I'll have to treat her. And... She gives me strange looks that really make me think she's more than I want to deal with. Especially, alone."

Modoran's dark blue eyes dart between Deedri and Tassilda's conversation as it lowers to whispers. He eases himself forward from resting upon the third row seat and trains his full attention upon the discussion between Tassilda and Deedri, curiosity tainting his expression. Trakenthin tends a near sneering glare out the front windshield from the front passenger's seat with his arms crossed. He squints abruptly and focuses to a section of road in the closing distance. "Something ahead."

The vehicle slows to a stop and the lights project forward onto two blockages on the road. On one side of the road, a gigantic plant stalk arches from the nearby forest and a large circular seed pod flower lays crashed on the pavement. Huge leaves springing from the stalk shake as an animal pushes against it. A large boar with patterns on its back fur sniffs and snorts the pavement. He opens his mouth, bites down on a large seed, and munches contentedly. Chad tilts his head to the side and mutters to himself. "What the fuck?"

Deedri, Tassilda, and Modoran work their ways forward in the car and stare out to examine what lies ahead. Deedri points a claw tip towards the gigantic plant and her eyes widen in astonishment. "That's a protellow plant. And a huge one! I didn't know there any around here."

Trakenthin grunts and eyes the creature before him through the windshield. "Resembles a boar."

Chad lifts a brow and watches the boar continue to eat seed after seed happily ignoring the headlights illuminating the area. He presses a thumb on a steering wheel button and the car's horn blares out in the surrounding dark roadway. The boar stops, briefly glances to the source of the sound, and then promptly resumes eating another seed. Chad blasts the horn out a few more times and the boar still pays no mind. He thinks a few moments to a growing smirk, then eyes Trakenthin as he shifts the vehicle's gearshift to park. "Well, if you know what it is, then you can deal with it. Get it out of the road."

A low growling grumble sounds out from Trakenthin as he releases his seat belt buckle and pulls the handle to his door. He places his heavy boots firmly upon the pavement, stands up behind the open car door, and glares at the boar. He thinks a moment, loudly claps his hands together, and bellows out aggressive phrases in Grath to the boar. The boar pauses from eating, glances at Trakenthin for a few moments, and then consumes another seed from the huge, round flower. Trakenthin blinks, shakes his head incredulously, and steps cautiously towards the boar. Standing right beside the boar, he studies the creature and scratches his head giving a shrug to Chad in the sport utility vehicle. He lifts up his large boot, lowers it firmly onto the backside of the boar, and gradually applies pressure to push the boar forward onto the other side of the road. The boar shifts that direction initially, but soon tenses his body and applies his mass and muscle against the force from Trakenthin's foot, in measured defiance. Trakenthin stops pushing, places his boot back down, and watches the boar settle his footing to continue eating. He dons a greatly amused grin upon his face, chuckles to himself with a quip in grath, kneels down, and strokes the back ridge of hair on the boar's back. Chad's jaw drops, and he throws his hands to the sides. "What the fuck, Trakenthin?"

Deedri sees Trakenthin pet the boar and smiles excitedly with a bright glint in her eyes. "Aww, he's friendly. I want to pet him!"

Chad undoes his seatbelt, yanks his door open, and hops out of the car, narrowing his eyes at Trakenthin. "Get it out of the road already!"

Trakenthin glares back at Chad and growls at him as he calmly strokes the back of the boar. "I am trying."

Frustration overtakes Chad's tone and he shakes his head angrily. He walks up to the boar and glowers at him, pouring the full ire of his scowl upon the critter. "What's wrong with this thing? Shouldn't this pig be scared of us or something?"

After a few pulls to the corner his mouth, Trakenthin shrugs and continues to pet the creature. "Maybe. I am not familiar with this fur pattern on a boar. A piglet. Yes. Strange."

Chad buries his face in his hand and grumbles loudly. "Well, just pick him up and drop him off the side of the road, or something! Tomorrow is Monday, and I want to be able to rest sometime this weekend. I just want to get back before anything else happens!"

A loud series of snaps and cracks chain together to form a cacophony that echoes out in the area. Another gigantic plant stalk slips between the gaps of nearby trees and free falls down with a resounding metallic, dull thud upon the roof of the black car. A shriek and squeak intertwine in the background under the cascading rainfall of large seeds upon the metal body of the vehicle and pavement of the road. In the moments of silence afterwards, Chad slowly pivots to gawk in astonishment at huge circular, flowery seed pod resting within the fresh dent into the roof. He tries to form words but manages to only move his mouth to start of phrases. Trakenthin blinks in amazement, surveys the scene carefully, but glances to the boar who happily grunts and wags his tail. As Trakenthin feels the boar shuffle in place to excitedly squeal, he lifts his head and freezes in place as his eyes widen. In mere moments, Trakenthin scrambles from the boar, plants himself in his car seat, slams the door shut, and points out something to the rest of the group inside the car. Chad regains awareness to witness Deedri, Modoran, Tassilda, and Trakenthin staring in unison to the forest bordering the road. He pivots slowly, opens his eyes fully, and races to his front driver's seat. "Shit!"

As the car door closes, snapping and crackling noises erupt into the soundscape. A large two meter tall boar creature presses effortlessly through the underbrush. The dire boar's eyes follow the stalk to the vehicle and she steps proudly up on the road. An accompaniment of five other dire boar piglets spread out from the influence of a flowing magical miasma that radiates from the dire boar. Her maw clamps down the stalk. She shifts the stalk and slides the seed pod off the roof of the vehicle with a weak metallic scrape. The flowery seed pod crashes down on the pavement and a swarm of piglets descend over the seeds scattered around the now scratched and dented, black sports utility vehicle.

Minutes after the initial shock fades, the occupants of the vehicle deal with the situation in their own ways. Trakenthin smiles as he watches the piglets challenge each other for choice seeds. Tassilda stares in sheer fascination of the power and aura of the mighty dire boar. Modoran deftly picks off seeds from the roof through the open sunroof and gives handfuls to Deedri, which she feeds to piglets through her window. Chad lifts his head briefly from the steering wheel, weakly glares at the lone piglet in front of the car, and drops his head back down to a frustrated grumble.

Timeline

Week 1

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Week 2

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Episode 9

Week 3

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Episode 10

Episode 11

Episode 12

Episode 13

Episode 14

Episode 15

Episode 16

Week 4

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Episode 17

Episode 18

Episode 19

Episode 20

Week 5

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Episode 21

Episode 22

Episode 23

Episode 24

Episode 25

Episode 26

Week 6

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Episode 26

Blaureiter Lecture

In a large classroom, many conversations merge in the air above to a constant drone that lightly drifts into the background. College students of all races gather in the rows of desks and mingle idly with partial attention resting upon the prominent digital wall clock over the large white board at the front of the room. As the clock flicks over to the next hour, a tall imposing figure walks calmly through the doorway and turns to close the door behind him. The man returns his pose to face the classroom of students as the background noise drops a little as each side conservation resolves. A humored smirk cracks upon his aged, hard-edged face and he steps forth up to the lectern. Each military boot contacts the floor solidly with the full mass of the man's muscular frame weighing down. With a prompt pivot, the man gently lowers a heavy carrier cage upon the floor next to the lectern and releases his cybernetic grip of the handle. With his other cybernetic arm, he places his stack of papers upon the top of the lectern and quickly flips through the first few pages on top. A brief sign of relief escapes his collected demeanor when he eyes the text on those pages. With a quick brush of dirt off his camouflage military pants, he examines his sleeveless, loving-worn jacket for anything else before settling his sights on the now quiet class. "Hello, name is Professor Blaureiter. I will be your instructor for this selected topics course, Modern Dragon Biology, History, and Psychology, this semester."

A serious expression emerges on his face as he pans a scan of the classroom and firmly grips the sides of the lectern. "If this not the course you are signed up for..."

The stoic aura fades when a smile breaks through with a chuckle and Professor Blaureiter combs his synthetic hand through his swept-back silvery gray hair. "You may want to hurry and find it. But, you are more than welcome to stay. There's always a few who do every semester."

He lifts up his arm, holds up a single finger, and addresses the students out in the classroom. "Before we get to far, I'm going to answer a few of the questions I usually get and save everyone some time."

He raises both his advanced, cybernetic arms out to his sides and the artificial muscles define themselves underneath the polymer outer coating as he flexes them. "Yes, both my arms are cybernetic. They are very powerful, and, no, don't feel like demonstrating at moment. Feel free to come to Cybernetic Support Group sponsored sporting event this weekend on campus. And I'll leave the story behind getting the arms to the rumors for the foreseeable future."

Amusement flushes his face as he cracks a prominent grin upon his lips and watches the reactions in the gathering of students. He put his arms behind his back and stands up straight and proper. "Yes, I was part of a now defunct military unit that specialized in dragon riding. The unit had no public name and with absorption into the Greater Azure Alliance, I'm not sure what I'm cleared to know or say anymore about my service in Vukasin. So, I tend to avoid the subject. I've long since been discharged anyway."

A gray brow perks on Professor Blaureiter's face and he slyly smiles to the growing attentions of the audience. "And yes... We will talk in greater detail about my dragon, known by most as The Night Terror."

He pauses momentarily and stands in silence with a slow sigh venting out through his smile. "But, she will always be Nachta to me."

With a side step, he settles behind the lectern, flips over a few pages of notes, and searches with a finger for a particular spot. "That all will come much later in the semester after we cover the basics. So, any pressing questions at the moment?"

Blaureiter takes advantage of the moment of silence while students form questions and continues on with his lesson. "Okay, excellent! Don't worry, I'm available in my office after class for other questions."

He spins around, walks over to the white board, and hunts down a working dry erase marker from the tray underneath. "Most of what we will talk about in this particular class focuses on modern dragons and related creatures. And for all practical purposes, there are three main categories of dragons."

In large font, he writes out each category name on the board near the top and underlines each. "Whelps. Pseudo-dragons. And Dragons."

He turns around to face the class, meets the eyes upon him, and lets the dry erase marker in his hand hunt around. "Quick survey for my understanding. Raise your hand if you are a biology major."

A few hands go up. Professor Blaureiter nods and darts his gaze around to those who have their hands up. "Good. Veterinary sciences?"

Previous hands go down and a new scattered batch rises up. Blaureiter counts to himself and mentally notes the faces in the class. "Magical sciences and/or Adventuring?"

Most the remaining hands rise up for the first time and Blaureiter searches the room, glancing between sections of the room. After a few seconds, he pauses and pans a pointing marker to one student in the front row. "I think you are the only one who hasn't raised his hand. What's your major?"

The student blinks awkwardly and shakes his head out of the momentary stun. His large furry ears perk up, his posture straightens in the desk's seat, and he looks right at Blaureiter with his red on black eyes. "Uh... Um... Computer science, sir."

Professor Blaureiter halts himself a moment, thinks back in his mind, and develops a surprised but amused expression. "Huh. That's a new one. Any particular reason for this class?"

The fvalian man squirms a bit of unease out and shyly scratches the back his neck underneath his wild, long white hair with thick black claw tips. "Uh, I needed an elective and I've been interested in developing a game around dragons for my senior project, Commander-"

Professor Blaureiter coughs firmly and lifts an eye brow at the fvalian man. "Just Professor, please. Or Mr. Blaureiter."

A nervous cringe washes through the fvalian and tension stiffens his body. Blaureiter opens his hand, shifting the marker between his fingers, and waves down in a calming motion. "Don't worry. It's more of a formality to keep the university from getting into trouble than anything to do with me. Old politics between Vukasin and the founding members of the GAA. I'm just a professor now."

A wave of relief washes over the fvalian man and he exhales with a slight deflation of his posture. Blaureiter maintains his gaze upon the fvalian man, twirls the marker back into his closing hand, and points once last time to the fvalian. "What's your name, by the way?"

Honest surprise overtakes the young fvalian man and he toothily smiles as he returns his eyes upon Blaureiter. "Um, Tellerran Argos, sir."

Blaureiter nods, wags a marker at Tellerran, and smiles as he pivots towards the whiteboard. "Now that's a name. Hopefully, I can give you some good info for that game of yours. Don't be afraid to stop by my office if you need anything specific."

He studies the whiteboard with the three categories, spins to face the class, flips the marker in his hand to tap the board underneath the Whelp category, and quizzes the class. "So, Whelps... I want to hear from you all what traits you would use to describe them? Raise your hand if have something to add."

A few arms extend up with open hands from the crowd. Blaureiter surveys the class, settles his glance upon an evuukian woman in the middle rows, and points to her. The evuukian woman lowers her hand, guides some of her curly dark green hair back over her shoulder, flits an equally hued eyebrow, and dons a confident smile upon her face of walnut colored eyes and skin hints. "Very, very small creatures."

With a quick twirl of the marker, Professor Blaureiter writes upon whiteboard. "Yes, they are. I would go so far as tiny, especially when you compare them to a proper dragon. Their size is interesting, as it seems to be a genetic protective limiter that has stuck. The original whelps hatched from from full size dragon eggs and stayed that size. Even after generations of wild whelps, they only ever get to roughly four kilograms and a wingspan maybe a few centimeters over a meter."

He aims his marker out into the crowd, locates a large grath man, and directs his attention to him. The grath man lowers his long, muscular arm down, darts around his mind for the right words, and focuses the gaze from his pale golden eyes upon Blaureiter. He contorts the uncertain expression on his gray toned face, twists his brown haired brow, but speaks up. "Proportional to the original?"

Professor Blaureiter nods firmly to the grath man, as he proudly cracks a small smile. He adds another descriptor to the board. "Another interesting trait of whelps is that they maintain near proper proportions to the dragons their lineage derives from. That's actually one of the reasons they are known as whelps. Those that hatched eggs away from a proper parent initially thought they were just slow growing dragon babies, pups, or whelps. After a considerable amount of investment and no growth, they realized something was wrong. So, the term whelp stuck more than any other."

He finishes the last few characters for the particular subject and seeks another eager student from the crowd, his marker tip following his aim. The marker sight locks onto a emin man with prominent forward protruding horns that curl slightly back at the tips. As the emin man lowers his hand, he flips through a few pages of his notepad with the other, and rests the pen in his lowering hand upon a particular section. He glances up from his notes, pushes his glasses up his light blue skinned nose, focuses his violet on black eyes, and brushes stray short, dark blue hairs back. "From present research, it seems the whelps are quite... Prolific."

A light chuckle works its way from Blaureiter's mouth and he shakes his head with amusement. "That's a very nice way to put it. That was one thing early dragon egg thieves, poachers, and other less-than-official people found out. It seems that everything was scaled down, but kept intact. With recent investigations into whelp genetics, this was not an accident or glitch. There's evidence that genetic engineers took effort to make sure whelps could breed. No one expected that hundreds of years ago when they just threw them out into the wild or sold them as exotic pets. Now they're pretty common."

Blaureiter gently taps the chisel-shaped felt point upon the whiteboard over the last part of a word, ponders to himself in thought, and squints into the classroom of students. "There's one more major trait for whelps that ties all these together..."

He spots a young woman with an unamused expression hanging upon her face. She idly twirls her red hair and props her dispassionately raised hand on top of her desk as her green eyes read messages off her aetherphone. Blaureiter points to her and maintains a fix upon her with the marker, waiting for her to realize his attention. The room quietens and eyes of her fellow peers shift to watch the young woman continue playing with her phone, unaware of the amassing group focus. She finally notices the odd sudden silence and lifts her head up to see Blaureiter pointing the marker at her with a sly grin on his face. A flush of bright red reveals itself even through her dark tan complexion and she shocks with embarrassment. "Oh! Uh! I-"

The grin settles to a reassuring smile upon Blaureiter's lips and he guides her back to the current topic. "You had your hand up. Do you happen to know of a trait that helps ties all these others for whelps together, that defines them as the creatures we know today?"

The young woman bites her lip nervously as she places her hand down with phone and flips through her mind with her eyes. "Um... I don't know of anything like that. I was just going to say they are... Mischievous?"

An eye brow lifts up on Blaureiter's face and genuine interest concentrates on the woman's term. "Now why do you say they are mischievous? You are not wrong at all. But, what do you think the main reason is behind that?"

The young woman's confidence drains as she continues to ponder Blaureiter's question. Eventually, she sighs and voices her mind with great uncertainty. "Well... Back home they often got into everything. They would open doors, break window locks, and... just play with anything they couldn't eat. Raccoons don't give us half the troubles they do. It's like they are too smart for their own good."

A proud grin returns to Blaureiter expression and he starts writing upon the board again. "Too smart for their own good. That sums it up. They are extremely clever creatures and that intelligence gives them quite the advantage for surviving out in the world, but makes them troublesome to deal with."

He stand back from the board, examines the very clean and calligraphic handwriting, flips the marker to the other end in his hand, and taps out a summation. "Tiny, proportional, prolific, and clever. With these traits you have a terrible pest to unleash upon your enemies when they steal your genetically engineered creature's eggs and try to raise them as their own. Current research points to this conclusion for many reasons. Historically, we have found records of diplomats writing detailed reports of seeing whelps resembling their dragons when visiting rival nations, and other documents noting the growing troubles that whelps were causing. And, we don't have to look too far for examples today with wild whelps."

While Blaureiter writes a down a few more prominent discussion points upon the board, a silvery, round eye peeks out from behind slits of the heavy metal cage door. The pupil darts around the immediate area, inspects its surroundings carefully, and then focuses fully upon the door itself. The eye shifts up to angle its aim down and disappears from view with another similar eye replacing it. The head of small creature presses close to the cage door and alternates which silvery eye of the pair peers through the various slits in the metal cage door. A simple looking key lock shut upon the door release attracts the most attention from the critter. From lower slits in the cage door, a pair of tiny clawed hands reach through, and feel out the lock with sharply developing zeal.

Professor Blaureiter finishes a few remaining words on the board under the Whelp section, side steps over to stand in front of the Pseudo-Dragon category, and spins around with marker felt hunting for another student. "Let's shift over to pseudo-dragons. Please, raise you hands if you have something add."

A few seconds pass with Blaureiter scanning the audience, waiting for the first batch of hands rise up. He primes the student participation with some commentary. "Similar to how whelps are the interesting result of anti-theft measures and genetic protections, pseudo-dragons are the result of such mechanisms directed towards a different end. What characteristics are common to pseudo-dragons?"

His eyes jump between the different hands rising up and he quickly and precisely levels the chiseled felt of the marker in hand to a fvalian woman. Once she points to herself to confirm her selection by Blaureiter, she places her hand back down on the desk top and her claw tips contact the laminate wood surface with light clicks. Her cyan blue eyes blink, her long, fluffy ringed tail wags upon the floor underneath her seat, and her long, furry ears perk. She straightens up her posture to address Blaureiter as she works out an awkward smile upon her tan speckled face. "Well, I don't want to sound too mean... But, they all so seem deformed. Well, at least in comparison to an actual dragon. Some really look like cute, cartoon versions of what a dragon should be."

A light chuckle sounds out from Blaureiter as he nods his head, pivoting in place rest the marker upon the board and moving it to form words upon the white, plastic surface. "Yes, they do. Their physiques vary greatly. There are many that are completely unlike a dragon and much closer to dinosaurs or creatures from monster movies. But, there are few that are almost close to looking like dragon and just lack one thing. With modern dragon lineages, it's actually not uncommon to get a pseudo-dragon despite all the proper care measures taken."

With a few last delicate strokes to complete the last part of a letter, Blaureiter returns to face the class and searches for another target. He chooses an attentive grath woman who meets his gaze the moment he pans his head over towards that seating section. Blaureiter directs his hand to the grath woman and awaits her response. A smile graces her lips and she nods her head momentarily, shifting a few of her brown to black braids across her dark tan face. "Pseudo-dragons are not... very... intelligent creatures."

A slow rocking up and down of the head precedes a jocular eyeroll from Blaureiter and he shakes his head with an amused sigh. "That's an understatement. They can learn to do simple tasks and be trained well enough... with great effort. But, they don't have the capacity of understanding that dragons or even whelps have. I will never forget the time I visited a pseudo-dragon rescue with my partner."

He shifts over from the board and gestures out the location of another person in the story. "We were waiting for the owner to come back with some paperwork and we heard this odd crushing noise."

His head shifts down and his hands pantomime attention towards the floor with his eyes wide. "We both look down and see this young pseudo-dragon eating... Gravel. Regular road gravel. He looks up to us."

Professor Blaureiter slowly turns his head towards the audience, his eyes blinking to exaggerate the astonishment of the moment. "As happy as can be, he smiled... Gazed upon us with that goofy demeanor...  Then...  He went back to eating rocks, tail wagging like nothing was wrong."

Classroom lights up with laughter, snickers, and gasps of astonishment. He shrugs with both his arms out and relaxes them back to his sides with faux confusion intermixing amusement. "So, there are some that are much smarter than that, but it's really not that high of a bar to get over."

Carefully sneaking below the sharp jump of room noise, a small pair of clawed paws tug and jerk the lock of the cage vigorously, each attempt rattling metallic into the background drone. Blaureiter waits a few seconds and resumes seeking another comment. A young man in a suit of old, worn out polymer armor catches Blaureiter's focus and he quizzically examines the student. The man's green eyes notice Blaureiter's studying him and his eyes lead his head of wild brown hair to either side before he replies. "Um... Back home we actually have a few of the large pseudo-dragons on the farm. If anything, they are never mean. I really don't think they can get mad. At least none of the ones we've ever had."

Professor Blaureiter gives a confirming wag of his marker before he turns and scribes a few phrases upon the whiteboard. "They can get irritable, but it's quite rare. Some studies have shown that there are signs of genetic protections in place that trigger a drastic change in their brain biochemistry. It effectively renders them completely docile and completely incapable of being aggressive."

While writing, he maintains a point of his other finger at the young man, who contorts his light complexioned face with a sting of nervous energy between the few small stick-on bandages. Blaureiter finishes and returns his gaze upon the young man. "Quick question. Your armor-"

The young man averts his eyes away embarrassment and rubs the back of his neck. "Oh! Um, sorry. I have my martial defense course in the rec center after this course. I though I could save time wearing it to this course, since I live in Lysander hall."

Blaureiter waves away that response with calming smile and perks his brow. "Perfectly understandable and I'm completely fine with that. I'm actually curious as to where you got it."

The young man glances down at his armor and looks back to Blaureiter with a simple, nonchalant shrug. "Ah... It was my grandfather's. He used it when he was part the Perimeter Weird Zone Rangers."

Alternating between a number of key spots on the armor, Blaureiter analyzes and searches for unique markings upon the suit. Moments later, his inspections find oddly nothing but highlight many missing key identification marks that he expects to be on the old polymer armor suit. He releases his squint upon the young man, dons a smirk, and asks one last question. "What's your name?"

After a blinking idly as his mind catches back up to current point of the conversation, the young man stiffens his posture slightly and respectfully speaks. "Rhavae Riasremua."

Blaureiter darts his eyes around in his mind, searches for some kind of familiarity or recognition, but eventually finds nothing immediately accessible. He grins to Rhavae and nods. "That's good armor. I actually know someone who would probably help you fix it up. Stop by during my office hours."

Rhavae smiles with great interest and drops his head slightly in agreement. Blaureiter ponders the information on the board and then glances back to the class with a sly smile. "There's one more thing, but it's not all that common of knowledge. But, you've all been really good so far... I'll give you all chance to guess it."

He watches hands lower, rise halfheartedly, and then lower back down. A few hands remain up after the collective deliberation and he gestures towards a woman with bright pink, long hair flowing out from underneath her hoodie. She lowers her mocha toned hand down and quirks an eye brow with a twist to her mouth. "They're herbivores?"

Blaureiter sways his head side to side with a gradual shake. "No. As much as people think they are, they have the same digestive system as whelps and dragons. Most just usually feeds them leftover vegetation because it's cheap and the pseudo-dragons really aren't picky."

The interest of a number of audience members piques and a few put writing utensils down on writing material to record notes. He points out to another student with his hand up. The dark gray skinned evuukian puzzles briefly in a last moment fit of doubt, darts his dark purple eyes away to reconsider this thought, then shrugs his shoulders to shift his silvery hair in resignation. "I always heard they can't flow magical energy."

Blaureiter shakes the marker in his hand gradually and lifts a gray brow with a grin of amusement stretching across his face. "Actually... They can."

Another portion of the seated students snap their focuses to Blaureiter and eagerly await further explanation. Professor Blaureiter shifts his grin to a contended smile as he notices the eyes upon him and projects his statement out to the attentive group. "Recent studies and field tests have confirmed pseudo-dragons can willingly flow their magic energies. The trouble is... They usually don't figure it out on their own. But, when placed in the same areas with dragons and even whelps, they can eventually learn to work their magical flows. They still can't manage much with it, but it does show they can will magic like any other living creature."

He pans a scan across the entirety of the classroom, halts, and slowly reverses back to a previous student. The petite, orange haired, and orange eyed woman rests her raised arm on the desk and props her head upon the other arm with an unamused expression firmly over her face. Blaureiter motions to her and curiously quirks an eyebrow. The petite woman sighs and grumbles. "Pseudo-dragons become sterile after one or two generations."

Blaureiter firmly blinks hard, flits his eyes wide open, and stares at the petite woman. He remains silent for a few seconds before slowly nodding his head and expressing his complete agreement. "Yes. Yes, exactly. Pseudo-dragons fertility is fleeting at best and usually there is only one viable generation."

He squints his eyes as recognition itches the back of his consciousness. "Very impressive answer. I get the feeling you have some firsthand knowledge of pseudo-dragons."

The woman contorts her lips and frowns as she crosses her arms with disappointment in her tone. "My family breeds Dragoon lineages, but I always had to take care of the pseudo-dragons."

Blaureiter cocks his head to the side and eyes the petite woman with his mind now actively trying to find where she resides in his memory. "Any particular reason why?"

The woman rolls her eyes away with a squirm in her posture and grumbles out. "Because they are always spooked by me."

With a flit of his eyes, Blaureiter grins with a chuckle and shakes his head. "Of all the people. It's been a long time since I last saw you, Lina. Studying magic, I guess?"

Lina beams with wide smile and happily nods to Blaureiter. He turns towards the board, places the marker down upon the plastic surface, and writes out Lina's answer exactly. "If you could, stick around after class, I'd like to hear how everyone is doing."

He returns his gaze to the class, flips the marker around deftly in his hand, and taps the end to board. "But, back to the subject. You are exactly right. As part of the protective and anti-theft measures, it seems that pseudo-dragons quickly lose their ability to breed. Which is usually something most people don't notice since there are fair number of pseudo-dragons around. Typically, many small dragon breeders will also breed pseudo-dragons from their stocks and sell them for domestic purposes."

A solid clack of plastic marker end against board sounds out when Blaureiter iterates through the bullet points of terms upon the surface. "So deformed, dumb, docile, and infertility. As I mentioned, it's a different tactic to discourage theft and misappropriation. Instead of a small, frustrating pest that infests your country, you have something of very limited military use."

He shifts himself over to the column reserved for Dragons and grin proudly. "I'll take it over from here. I'm very impressed with the answers you have all given. No need to quiz you all with trivia."

While Blaureiter readies the dry erase marker for another sprint of writing, frustration lowly grumbles out from inside the cage and claw tips on each dexterous paw fumble with the key lock on the front door. A number of observant students direct their gazes upon the hands of the creature trying to get the lock open. Blaureiter coughs for attention, quickly with immaculate hand writing spells out "Fake lock" in a side margin of the board, and waves his finger side to side to underline the two words. "Don't say this out loud. He's learned what these two words mean and he'll try something else if he thinks that's what it is."

Continuing his lecture momentum, he scribes out the first terms for dragons. "There are many types and breeds of dragon, but common categorization uses two dimensions. Adult wingspan and Limb count."

His eyes search for landmarks in the room. He points to pairs of front row desks with a rough distance apart representative of the category and expands to another pairing for the next range until he points to both side walls of the room. "While there's debate on whether other metrics should be used, these are easily identified by observation and genetic testing. When it comes wingspan, anything under five meters falls under Small... Five to ten meters is within Medium... Ten to twenty meter is Large... And well, anything above twenty is just plain Gigantic."

Professor Blaureiter steps back up to the board to a blank section and speed sketches three caricatures with labels neatly out to the side. "When it comes to Limb count, only three types have ever been known to exist into modern day. Tetrapods, which usually have a pair of wings and a pair of legs. Hexapods, that have pair of wings with two pairs of legs. And finally, the extremely rare Octopods, that have two pairs of wings and two pairs of legs."

He glances around to the class, lifts a brow to a rising hand from Tellerran, and gestures towards him. "Yes?"

Tellerran tilts his head slightly to a side and blinks his red on black eyes once. "The Night Terror, um, Nachta was categorized as a gigantic octopod, correct?"

Blaureiter smiles and simply nods. "Very much so. She was well in the gigantic category and took pride in it."

He continues writing on the board and fills in a few more sentences of information under the dragon category. "While there is a good degree of variance, dragons are typically very intelligent creatures. While the specialized breeds can easily learn commands, communicate simply, and coordinate with each other... Dragons of certain lineages are considered sentient and sapient. Shared languages between long-term groups have been observed and there are some that can fully understand our languages. While the biology doesn't lend to easy vocalization of our spoken language, many have shown the ability to will magic energies to bridge the gap."

He lowers the marker down to some empty space below and starts on another few phrases. "While this intelligence gives a few quite difficult personalities to deal with and presents a challenge when interacting with them, it allows the dragon to will their magical flows in a direct manner. In fact, the typical dragon fire breath is fully magical in nature."

As Blaureiter finishes his statement and closes off his comment upon the board, a pair of clawed paws harshly slam the lock upon the metal slotted door of the cage and fast, sharp clangs ring out into the room. Students snap their gazes onto the cage and wait expectantly with their full attention. Blaureiter glances over with a smirking eye roll and laughs to himself. "Sounds like he's getting a bit angry. Just a few more points I'd like to cover before I let him out-"

The paws slip quickly back inside the confines of the cage and movement sounds out with the soft pat against the very back, opposite to the door. A dim glow illuminates the dark interior and a few beams of weak green light beam out from the many small openings of the cage. A few magically inclined people in the audience perk up and watch with intrigue tempering their developing astonishment. Blaureiter's eyes flit wide open, his jaw hangs down slightly, and tilts his head back in confusion. "There's no way you are old enough to do anything like that..."

An audible hoarse hum peaks from the background as Blaureiter rushes over towards the cage, but silences immediately before he reaches it. A cloud of green magical miasma vents out of the cage with the accompaniment of high pitched coughs, snorts, and whines of disappointment. Blaureiter slows down, places a free hand upon his chest, and exhales great relief with a shake of his head. "Whew. You had me going there little one. Looks like you have earned yourself a magically protected cage next time."

Laughter, amusement, and vocal sympathy rise from the class as all eyes now pay full attention to the creature hidden in the cage. Blautreiter scans the classroom, shrugs his shoulders with nonchalant grin, caps the marker, and places it upon a tray below the whiteboard. He kneels down next to the cage, puts one hand on the fake lock, and another on a camouflaged lock bolt on top of the cage. "Okay. I think it's time for you to come out. I don't think anyone is going to pay me much attention after a demonstration like that."

With a few false motions upon the fake lock and twist and pull of the real mechanism, he opens the cage door and waits. "Come here."

He rests his cybernetic arm down in front of the cage for a few seconds, and eventually the same pair of clawed hands reach out with a silvery gray draconic head following behind. The creature swiftly walks out onto Blaureiter's arm, each paw securely clasping his arm. Blaureiter smiles and hoists the beast up high. The creature unfurls his silver scaled wings to over a meter wingspan and proudly poses upon the high roost Blaureiter provides. Professor Blaureiter shakes his head with a playfully dismissive eye roll and addresses the class. "Our guest today is Argent. High Alton University runs a program to help educate people about modern dragons and assist the little ones in getting socialized with people. So, I was able to steal him away for a class or two."

As he lowers his arm back down to just below his shoulder, he lifts his eyebrow towards the class with a tight, humored grin up his face. "As you can see some, like Argent, excel in accepting the attention of people more than others. Especially Argent."

Argent gradually shifts his posture upon Blaureiter's arm purposefully flashing the reflections of the overhead light off his scales. He lifts his head high with his nose aiming upwards and peeks out of the lower corners of his silvery eyes to gaze expectantly to the classroom crowd. Blaureiter jokingly rocks his arm up and down to shake Argent out of his radiating aura of arrogance. "Gods, only a few months old and you have gotten this full of yourself."

Argent ducks down to stabilize himself on Blaureiter's arm until the shaking stops. He cranes his over to Blaureiter with narrowing eyes and manages to squirm up the courage the spout a quick, weak hiss. Blaureiter laughs at the meek display of defiance and scratches underneath the chin of Argent with amusement filling his face. "Aww... Already trying to keep up appearances."

He looks out into the classroom with a smile. "Well, we'll take a break from the serious information for today. We'll start back up with all the little details about whelps next class period. For now, I want to give Argent a chance to stretch his wings and socialize with all of you. Feel free to come up, pet him, and he may even perch on a few arms and shoulders if he feels like it. We'll see."

In a rough order, people wander out of the their seats and congregate around Blaureiter and Argent. In a sea of attention, Argent swims effortlessly through the admiration as he receives scratches under the chin, strokes down his back, and light touches upon his reflective wings. Lina eventually navigates through the small gathering and gets to the front with Rhavae granting her his previous spot. She excitedly reaches out to scratch underneath Argent's chin. As her hand comes close, Argent's eyes lock on her hand and immediately trace the arm to petite Lina. His head shifts away from Lina's hand and his eyes open wide to her presence. She twists her mouth in confusion mixed frustration and extends her short arm out further towards Argent, who retreats in pace to her approach onto Blaureiter's shoulder and behind his head. She snarls her lip and crosses her arms in thought. "That's weird... No whelp has ever done that with me."

A sly grin cracks upon Blaureiter's mouth, while Argent hisses at the term whelp. "Well... That is still true, Lina."

Lina blinks her orange eyes, tugs at the corner of her mouth to an eventual smirk, and sighs with the acceptance of defeat. "Well, figures. He's still pretty one even if he won't let me near him."

Argent returns back to his perch upon Blaureiter's arm as Lina steps away to give Tellerran her spot. As the minutes pass, Blaureiter discusses today's lecture, answers various questions, and assists people in handling Argent.

The shuffle and commotion of college students moving in the hall to their next classes echoes into the mostly empty room. Lina happily laughs as she passes through the doorway and leans a wave of her hand to Blaureiter right before the leaves the room. Argent peeks out from behind Professor Blaureiter's gray haired head and inspects the area cautiously before crawling back up to roost on Blaureiter's shoulder. Tellerran approaches Blaureiter and addresses him. "Um, Professor Blaureiter?"

Blaureiter glances over to Tellerran and nods with curious quirk to his brow. "Yes, Tellerran?"

The fvalian man taps upon a tablet and swipes through a number of images on a continuous rotation. As his short tail idly twitches in sync to his eyes scanning through the pictures, he lifts his head up to face Blaureiter. "My friend and I are part of an aethernet dragon fandom forum... Well, I know how geeky that sound, but... So, um..."

A snort escapes Blaureiter and he lightly chuckles with a smile and a shake of his head. "Sounds fine to me. I often, well, lurk around many of those forums, so don't feel bad."

Tellerran's expression brightens and he musters up some new courage in the tone of his voice. "Well, we're currently working on creating a master family tree for all the famous and notable dragons. But, there's one dragon that we can't figure out."

He bites his lip, showing his prominent canines, and sighs as he ponders the situation out loud. "We've ALL got theories but we haven't found any way to verify them. So, I wanted to show you a picture and see if you had any idea."

Blaureiter reaches a hand up, scratches underneath Argent's chin, and pulls his mouth side to side in a mix of amusement and genuine interest. "Sure, I'll take a look and see if I remember anything. There were quite a few off the record dragons during many past conflicts."

Tellerran lifts a brow, double taps a single image, turns his tablet around, and lifts the screen into view for Blaureiter. "Well, it's actually a recent dragon. In fact, my friend went to a fan convention a few months ago and got a few pictures."

As his eyes study the display, a warm smile grows on his face and he reaches a free hand out to slide his finger through the catalog of pictures, each showcasing, Lagi, the large octopod dragon with blue-black scales, white-armor boney plates, and a goofy personality. Tellerran continues voicing his thought processes, unaware of Blaureiter attention on the tablet screen. "The only official record we've found is an old guild form that just lists the dragon's name, Lagi, and his caretakers. We can't find anything about Lagi's parents. And there's so MANY theories about who could possibly be his parents! The armor plates are of an old design that we've only found in ancient books..."

Blaureiter quirks an amused brow at Tellerran and allows him to continue narrating his internal debate. Tellerran turns his tablet back around and flips through a number of menus with his claw tips clacking upon the screen. "And, strangely a lot of Lagi's features seem directly derivative of your dragon, Nachta. But, that's impossible since her eggs were given away to settle that peace treaty. It's just strange all around and no one can find anything concrete."

While Tellerran rambles on, Argent rolls his head one way, then rolls it the other, eyes Blaureiter, and then stares heavy with puzzlement at Tellerran. After a minute of a back and forth one man discussion, Blaureiter shakes head and coughs loudly, startling Tellerran out of his dialog and returning his focus to Blaureiter. "Towards the end of the semester... I think I might be able to arrange a... Special guest appearance."

A sly, tooth revealing grin emerges upon his lip as he gazes with an aura of confidence. Tellerran blinks a few times as his mind rejoins the current conversation and astonishment quickly overtakes his expression. The full extent of Blaureiter's proposal explodes a maelstrom of potential within Tellerran's brain.

Beckerin Deals

At the back of the spacious cab, a pile of blankets upon a bunk stirs and rolls away from the morning light creeping through truck window blinds. A muffled whistling leaks in from the outside and rings clearly when the driver's side door opens. The round form of Beckerin hoists himself up into the worn, padded seat, compressing the spring suspension tightly and rocking the cab. A weakly defiant groan grumbles out from the mound of covers and the mass shifts. Beckerin turns his head towards the back of the cab, aims his half ear to the noises, and perks a sly brow. He rests a large paper bag on the middle console, opens it up, and reveal a bounty of wrapped fast food breakfast. He fans the fresh aroma into the cab. A minute later, the blankets retreat back and the Valavera's golden locks emerge from the fabric cocoon. Her eyes flutter and she sniffs the air. A happy grin appears on Beckerin's face. "Good morning. Late morning. But, still morning."

Valavera gradually lifts herself up and seats herself up on the bed, still wrapped in covers. "Morning, Uncle Becker."

Beckerin reaches in the fast food bag and tosses a paper wrapped biscuit into Valavera's awaiting hands. "You put that old tablet to use last night."

Embarrassment flashes upon Valavera's face and she averts her gaze to the unwrapping fast food. "Uh... Yes... But, I was just reading up on the news and-"

Beckerin laughs with a smile and rolls his eyes. "Playing games all night and chatting with all your friends that you missed."

Valavera blinks and bites her lip in with a nod. Beckerin shrugs his shoulders within his trench coat and plunks out a few choice bundles of breakfast food. "Just because your uncle has half an ear, does NOT mean he has half his hearing. You were quiet last night. But, not that quiet."

He points around the large cab of the truck and smiles. "Despite this being a big cab for a truck. It's still a small room for everything else."

With a quick glance and wink, he cracks a grin and chuckles. "So, how are all your friends doing?"

Valavera quickly swallows a bite of the biscuit and smiles. "Oh, the usual drama. Which mean most of them are doing just fine. Though, I still haven't heard anything from Faelatelia... I'm starting to worry about her."

Beckerin pauses from unfolding the fast food out in his lap, twists his mouth in thought, and nods his concern. "If we don't hear from her, we do know some good people to go find her. But, I am sure she will turn up soon enough."

The frown upon Valavera's face fades and she smirks in agreement. After a few bites of the sausage biscuit, she contorts her face, and releases contemplative, long sigh. "I hope so. But... Now, I need to figure out what I'm going to do now."

With a curious quirk of the brow, Beckerin gazes over to Valavera and patiently waits. Valavera brushes back her golden hair over her long ears, gradually tilts her head to one side, and settles into an introspective, distant stare. She uneasily twists the corner of her mouth. "I don't know, Uncle Becker. I really thought I had things figured out. I hate to admit it now, but I really felt like I was doing something... A part of something... Now I don't really know what I'm suppose to do..."

As Valavera averts her green eyes down to her hands around her breakfast, Beckerin shakes his head with a calm, comforting smile. "Ah. It is okay. No one knows what they are suppose to do. When you are young, you think you are suppose to do something. So when you do something, you think you are suppose to do it."

He rolls his eyes at himself, draws a long breath in, and chuckles. "And, you start to like that thinking. Even more so than you like what you are doing. So, you tell yourself you are part of a great thing. And you start to like that feeling, more so than you like what you are doing. That way you like two things ABOUT what you are doing, even if you don't like what you ARE doing."

Valavera blinks, lifts her head up, and sways her head to either shoulder as she ponders. "That... Strangely... describes it. Everything felt okay at the beginning, but... Gods... I really was trying to come up with all kinds of excuses to keep the whole thing going."

Nodding understandingly, Beckerin swallows down a bite of breakfast, and clears his throat with a chuckle. "It is okay. We ALL have done it. Many just don't admit to it or don't know they should be admitting. Your Uncle Becker..."

He grumbles at himself and sighs. "Well, I have had to learn the hard way. And well, relearn the hard way, too. Many times."

An appreciative smile emerges upon Valavera's face and she gazes at Beckerin. "So... Any advice you can share about what I should do? Well, after I go to school."

Beckerin shrugs nonchalantly and grins. "Try. Just try things out. They may not work out. And, that is okay. There's no map to life. So, you are going to go down wrong paths. All you can do is figure out they are wrong and try another path."

Valavera nods as the Beckerin's words sink into her mind and she picks up a worn, old tablet from a nearby mesh pocket hanging off the back of the passenger's seat. She disconnects the charging cable and taps the screen to life. After a few idle moments, she lifts her head back up and smiles brightly to Beckerin. "Thank you, Uncle Becker."

Beckerin nods back, glances over to the clock in the truck's dash, and mumbles in a dialect of Evuukian before reverting back. "Oh! We need to get moving soon. I have a special task for the both of us today. You are going to get to see a little more of what I do."

A spark of excitement lights up Valavera's eyes and she dons an anticipating smirk. "What would that be?"

Beckerin winks and grins. "Getting information about the location of a special find. I sent you the address. Use your tablet and work up a route there. You get to be the navigator again."

Valavera rolls her eyes playfully and waits for the older tablet to process her request. "I'll try, but this thing is a bit old. And, what did you do to scratch it up this badly?"

A bit of embarrassment flits into Beckerin's expression and averts his eyes ahead into the windshield. He mumbles a few phrases in Evuukian and grumbles to himself. Valavera snickers and rolls her eyes as she weaves a reassuring sentence in the same Evuukian dialect. A few seconds later, she blinks through a dawning realization, cocks her head curiously to the side, and relays a query. Beckerin pauses a moment, glances over puzzled, and shrugs out a response in Evuukian. Valavera thinks a moment and dismisses the quandary with a similar shrug as her focus returns to the mapping program on her tablet.

Sitting in a roadside diner booth, Beckerin smiles and suggests the waitress to leave behind the carafe of coffee in front of the man across from him. "My friend here will need most of this to wake up."

The waitress nods in agreement after a quick glance at the wild, brown haired man in worn adventuring clothes and fills his mug a little more. "Sure thing. I'll be back in a bit."

Valavera eyes her uncle next to her and trains a curious, analyzing stare at the tired looking human across the table. Beckerin snorts and slowly shakes his head. "See, Mavian. This is why you should have a good sleep schedule. Noon would not be so bad."

Mavian grumbles to himself as he barely opens his eyes to scrutinize the diner menu in front of him. "I know. But, you know I work best at night. There's a lot less trouble in my line of work at night."

Beckerin sighs and shrugs his shoulders. "I know. But, I just think a talented man like yourself could put your skills to use in a much nicer line of work."

A sly grin creeps across Beckerin's mouth and he focuses a mischievous stare at Mavian. "And I believe a certain lady..."

Mavian's eyes open wider and he locks his uneasy attention upon Beckerin's words. Valavera notices the shift in demeanor and watches closely. The stoic, gloomy aura around Mavian falters and he attempts to hide his mix of embarrassment, shyness, and nervousness. He loosens the nicely knitted, green scarf around his neck that contrasts to the rest of his clothing, and works out the obvious nervous grimace on his face. Beckerin picks up his coffee mug, smiles with playfully wicked intent, and perks his brow. "...would be absolutely delighted to help you transition to a nicer lifestyle."

After blankly blinking his green eyes, a hint of red flushes upon Mavian's face and he vainly tries to recompose his previous attitude. "Uh- Um- I'm doing fine. What I do pays well and I get by."

Beckerin chuckles lightly and narrows an inquisitive stare upon Mavian. "Yes. I am sure it does get you by. But, wouldn't it be nice to live in a nice house. Have nice meals. Have nice clothes made lovingly..."

Mavian narrows his glare at Beckerin and snarls his upper lip. Valavera witnesses the change in expression, but also notices a faint, constant glow in Mavian's eyes. With a grumbling tone, Mavian directs a whisper to Beckerin as his initially harsh stare fades to an awkward gaze. "Gods dammit, Beckerin. Did Rhian put you up to this?!"

Beckerin simply smiles smugly and rolls his eyes with a shrug of his shoulders. "That is an answer I think you know."

Mavian remains silent and crosses his arms with a hint of a pout. Beckerin lifts up an eyebrow and smirks. "Should I tell Lady Rhian you'll be visiting?"

Valavera interest piques and she attentively watches the exchange with a gossip consuming grin. Mavian halfheartedly puts up some kind of resistance during his contemplation. "Uh... Sure..."

He averts his attention away from Beckerin and focuses upon the eager gaze from Valavera. "Yes?"

Valavera smiles wide and points to the green scarf around Mavian's neck. "Did she make that scarf for you?"

Mavian tough exterior wavers and he shyly admits. "Um... Yes..."

Squirming with a bit of teenager glee, she tilts her head curiously. "It matches your eyes... Which are slightly glowing?"

Glancing away from the attention, Mavian picks up his mug of coffee, takes a long sip, and nonchalantly states. "I was born and raised in the Perimeter Weird Zone. The Zone Glow is a common magically reactive biological trait out there."

Valavera unconsciously leans a little across the table and analyzes the faint glow coming from Mavian's eyes. After a few seconds, Mavian musters the nerve to continue his explanation. "It allows me to see magical energies and spirits. It's similar to Mage Sight, but allows me to see spirits, too."

Valavera blinks in thought and then grins excitedly. "That's SO COOL! I have to cast a spell to see spirits, but you just do it! That would save me so much time and effort in school if I had that ability."

A bit of pride swells on Mavian and he sits up straighter in his seat with a confident smile. "It helps in my line of work. Speaking of which..."

He narrows his gaze upon Beckerin and twists his mouth. "It turns out that your target is in a hot bed of spirit activity. I scouted around the area and found it. The map wasn't the best, but I updated it for you. Didn't see anything bad around. But, for as old as the thing is... It's in really good shape."

Beckerin levels a questioning stare at Mavian. "How good of shape?"

Mavian retrieves a bundle of white bordered, thick film pictures from a nearby satchel and hands them over to Beckerin. "Pretty photogenic if I say so."

Grasping onto the images, Beckerin holds them in between himself and Valavera, and slowly sorts through them. Valavera's eyes widen in amazement as she studies the photos. An extremely satisfied grin graces Beckerin's mouth and he nods to Mavian contentedly. "Fine photographs. Worth every bit I pay you."

The waitress arrives and surveys the party of three at the table. "Have you all decided what you want?"

The large cargo truck halts right before the underbrush border of a narrow clearing. A reddish orange to blue gradient paints the dusk sky as the sun disappears below the horizon. As ambient light darkens, specks of illumination sparkle brighter within the surrounding forest. Flits of activity flicker out between the pillars of trees and colorful phenomena drift aimlessly before fading out of sight. The driver's side door opens and Beckerin climbs down onto the tall grass. He scouts around the vicinity, lifts a folded paper map up, and orientates himself. "From what Mavian has written, our target is half a kilometer..."

He lifts an arm and points towards the dense woods. "That way."

The passenger's door opens. Valavera jumps down and excitedly gawks out into the forest. Her eyes open wide and seek details of the surrounding activity. "Mavian was right! There is A LOT of spirit activity in the area! You can actually see a few WITHOUT magical help."

As Beckerin shifts his attention to his niece, Valavera blinks back her composure, calms her self with a careful exhale, and closes her eyes in thought. With purpose and precision, she slowly speaks an incantation and gestures with her hands. Flows of energy wrap around her arms and condense between her hands. After a few moments, she quickly spreads her hands apart and releases a faint pulse of magic into the area. As the bubble expands, it coats previously invisible beings in a shimmering skin of visible light. Tiny, wandering points travel across the surfaces of trees. Small entities float, drift, and meander around in the air. Larger, articulate manifestations briefly pay attention to Valavera and Beckerin, then quickly resume their individual tasks. As the dome of energy fades, a huge mass shimmers before shaking off the illumination and ambling away. Valavera opens her eyes and beholds in sheer wonderment. "Look at all of them."

Beckerin walks to Valavera's side while awkwardly folding the map up, stares astonished at the sight, and nods with a proud smile. "I see them. They are wonderful."

Valavera glances over amused and suspicious smirks to her uncle. "Did you bring me along BECAUSE there were possibly spirits?"

Blinking a few times, Beckerin meets Valavera's gaze and presents genuine puzzlement with a shrug of his shoulders. "No. Not at all. I had no idea until Mavian told me. This far out you expect some spirits. But... This is beyond what I thought it would be."

A plotting, entrepreneurial grins parts Valavera's lips and she rests her hands upon her hips with a confident stance. "Well, if I help out... Do you think I could get paid a contractor's commission?"

Beckerin narrows a scrutinizing stare at Valavera and hides an amused smirk in the corner of his mouth. "Of course. But, I am afraid there will not be much left. I do have to deduct the expense of transporting you, lodging costs, food, equipment..."

He focuses his calculating attention fully upon Valavera. "AND... There is the matter of certain unique skills I have in providing... Political and legal obfuscation services for your recent activities?"

Valavera's bold exterior wilts under the strong counterargument, and she sheepishly crosses her arms. After a long, accepting sigh, she bows her head down and apologetically sounds out a gentle phrase in a dialect of Evuukian. Beckerin softly pats Valavera's back and musses up her long, golden hair with a proud grin. "Ah. Do not be that way! It never hurts to try."

He smiles and searches the top of his mind for resolution. "But... Opportunity has presented itself to you. I am not great with spirits. And, you are here. So, I will give you a cut of my finder's fee-"

A hopeful grin creeps onto Valavera's face. Beckerin perk an eyebrow and levels a professionally stoic stare at Valavera while extending his hand out to shake. "IF... You do good work for me. Deal?"

Valavera dramatically waits in thoughtful silence, eventually grips onto Beckerin's hand, and shakes in acceptance. "Deal."

Pride swells from Beckerin and he gaze up in the dark, night sky. "Good! I am happy. You are happy. It's good end to the day. Let us get ready for the night. Our target will be there tomorrow and we will have guests, too!"

Valavera follows behind, combs her hair back behind her long ears, and curiously gazes at Beckerin. "Really? Are they going to help us?"

Beckerin nods as he walks along the side of the truck towards the back. "Of course. Nice people. Very knowledgeable."

He pauses a moment and glances back to Valavera. "Oh, before I forget. It's-"

An extremely similar, but minutely different phrase of the same dialect of Evuukian elegantly flows from Beckerin's tongue. Valavera briefly cringes and grumbles in mild frustration at herself. "That inflection is always so weird to me."

Beckerin smiles tightly in commiseration and shakes his head. "The Old Form is like that. Your parents still have taught you well. You still need practice. Which I will help you as much as you help me with keeping my Americ decent."

Valavera nods in agreement and lifts a curious brow to her uncle. "Was their Americ really that bad in Sian?"

Rolling his eyes with a sigh, Beckerin shakes his head and grimaces. "Yes. Very nice people. Most smart and very crafty. But... I think their ancestors lacked the teeth to keep teach it right."

Unconsciously moving her tongue in her mouth to inspect each tooth, Valavera twists her lips and nods slowly. "Next time we are near a town, can we stop so I can get a new tooth brush?"

Beckerin nods. "I need a new one, too."

Beckerin stops his hike through the dense forest at the crest of a hill. He glances up from the map in his hands, blinks into a delighted stare down ahead of him, and signals a wiry man behind him. "Oh... Just exactly where Mavian marked it would be. Come on up, Jasper."

Jasper narrows his pale blue eyes at Beckerin, snarls the upper lip on his tan face, and combs out some debris out of his short, white hair with a hand. As he trudges up to the top of the hill, he rolls his eyes dismissively and grumbles. "Okay, Beckerin. Let's see this random heap of forgotten tech trash that you've conned me into trying to fix today. Mr. Bosch was wondering why I was asking about the large cargo trailers."

He steps up next to Beckerin, angles his gaze downwards, and his expression blanks to astonishment. While the two men stand and stare in silence, a fvalian woman proudly shows pictures on her aetherphone to Valavera. She stands with a toothy, triumphant grin, tosses her auburn hair back, and perks a brow. "You have to see my latest acquisition."

Valavera's interest piques and she focuses upon the picture of a large robotic head. "Where did you get that?!"

Rolling her yellow eyes with a bit of embarrassment, the woman bites her lip and adjusts the bandanna over two small bumps on top of her head. "Well, I got this at a convention I was at. A very nice fan gave me a good price on it, after I signed a bit of Tinkering Tina collectibles."

Her long, short haired tail wags excitedly and she taps her large, black claw tips on her aetherphone to the next picture, showing the first stages of dissection. "There's some really neat and old parts in it! It's absolutely fascinating seeing the designs they used all those years ago."

Jasper shakes his head, recovers some situational awareness, and directs his voice behind him. "Hey, Ardere? You'll probably want to come up to see this."

Ardere blinks to attention, glances over to Valavera with an eager smile, and quickly scales the incline, her claws clamping onto tree trunks along the way for support. Valavera cautiously steps up hill, and follows the footprints left by Beckerin. Ardere hops up next to Jasper, follows his stare, and her gaze widens with her grin. Valavera reaches the top of the hill and gawks down in bewilderment. Columns of sunlight beam through the overhead forest canopy and cast bright spots upon a humongous figure. As the clouds briefly occlude the sun light, metallic reflections shine through the overgrowth of vines and ivy. A red bird lights upon the motionless robotic hand of a gigantic humanoid mech and flies off with the gust of wind. The leaves obscuring the machine flutter back in the wave of air and reveal the armored two legged, two armed frame beneath. Jasper squints his eyes, mutters a count underneath breath, and angles his head to Ardere. "I'm guessing around nine meters tall."

Ardere's eyes quickly scan and shift between the major sections of the mech and she slowly nods. "Close to it. It's in... Outstanding condition."

She taps her claw tips together on both hands as anticipation bubbles up onto her face. "Oh! I think remember reading up about this model, but I need to get closer to confirm..."

Valavera cocks her head to the side and blinks stunned. "Why would a military mech be... Here of all places?"

Searching up in her mind, Ardere relates a theory with excitement in her tone. "There were a few battles around this area by a bunch of old countries that no longer exist. This probably belonged to one of the armies. It is strange that's it's specifically here, though."

Jasper scratches the back of his head and crosses his arms in thought. "Must have been abandoned in a retreat and forgotten about. They may have been hopeful enough to think they could recover it later, since it's not a pile of melted parts."

Ardere's furry ears perk and flick as she contemplates. "I wonder if it's functional enough for it to move on its own?"

Lifting a curious brow towards Beckerin, Jasper smirks dryly and lets a single laugh escape. "Well, I hope it does for Beckerin's sake. Because if we have to chop trees and drag this thing out, I'm charging by the hour."

Beckerin maintains a nonchalant smile and chuckles with a shrug of the shoulders. "That is the cost of doing this business. I am sure you and the lovely Ardere will get it moving. Mavian said it looked very intact."

Jasper groans and rolls his eyes with a dismissive snort. "Listen. Mavian is good at at scouting, but I don't trust his technical prowess. You ever seen him fumble with a tablet?"

A long sigh leaves Beckerin and he grits his teeth with a nod while glancing down at the paper map. "Yes, unfortunately with my old tablet. He did finally get a decent aetherphone."

Ardere grins slyly and snickers. "You can thank Rhian for that. She forced him to get a new one last time she hired him for a job as a requirement to get paid."

Beckerin nods satisfied. "Good. She took my advice."

He gazes down at the mech, places his hands on his sides, and quirks his brow. "We can talk more. But, let us go down. Then, we can talk and work."

The four approach the mass of military machinery slowly but eagerly.

Ardere sits on a log, adjusts the pad of drawing paper on her lap, and sketches out a rough caricature of the old mech. Valavera lifts her gaze from her worn, battered tablet, and watches the artistically graceful strokes upon the medium and the specific style that Ardere expresses. "I bet jobs like these give you plenty of inspiration for your comic books."

A smile appears on Ardere's face and she glances over to Valavera at her side. "Oh yes! I mean I did a lot of book research about all this old, ancient tech and all the history behind it all... But, until I actually got my claws on it..."

She pauses from her drawing and gazes with an exhilarated grin at Valavera. "It was a whole new experience! It's hard to put into words. Just holding something that's over a hundred years old that was part of something significant is such a unique feeling."

The radiating excitement infiltrates Valavera's expression and her curiosity drives her. "So, how did you start going out to all these jobs?"

Ardere smirks in amusement and points over to Jasper climbing out of the head cockpit of the mech. "Jasper. I helped him out of a bind, saw what he did for a living, and as repayment... I wanted to tag along. Ended up really loving it."

A bit of embarrassment trickles into her face and she briefly grits her teeth. "Also, I used A LOT of the experience in the first big arc of Tinkering Tina. Which happened to be the first popular arc that got my series noticed."

Valavera watches Jasper walk around the chassis of the massive robot and cocks her head to the side in thought. "So, what do you two do when you go out on these recovery jobs?"

Ardere grins brightly and rests her head on her hand. "Jasper handles a lot of the technical work, but he's teaching me a lot in that regard. I help him on the historical and information gathering side of things."

Lifting an intrigued brow, Valavera gazes to Ardere. "Such as?"

Counting off the major points with her fingers, Ardere sorts through the mental list verbally. "Identification of the target. Getting exact specifications. Finding oddball parts for bigger projects. Translating manuals in ancient old languages. And, occasionally finding buyers."

A sly smile graces Ardere's lips. "Coincidentally, creating fiction that appeals to a number of fandoms gives you really amazing connections to handle all kinds of strange tasks. Fans of my own work have been ridiculously helpful. Jasper is very talented and educated in getting ancient tech to work. He knows the sciences behind the technology and theories of the applications."

She winks to Valavera and sits up proudly with a smirk. "But, getting all the hard to find info makes it a lot easier."

Valavera cracks a grin with a giggle. "And I bet it all makes its way into your stories."

Ardere rolls her eyes at herself and shrugs her shoulders. "Well, of course! I spent that much effort learning about it. I might as well use it."

Jasper's heavy boots softly sound out upon the dense metal surface of the mech and he jumps off the ankle of the mechanical monster onto a cleared path in the overgrowth. Beckerin glances over from a rough camp of test equipment and tools, and gestures out an inquiry. Jasper contorts his face briefly, sighs, and shrugs his with hands out to his sides. He scratches the back of his neck as he approaches Ardere. When he arrives, he stands in puzzling thought and gazes down to Ardere. "Okay. So this thing was supposedly overhauled close to two hundred years ago by some war lord... From a stock of ancient Pre-Cataclysm mechs?"

Ardere nods slowly and tilts her head to side. "Yes. That's what everything I found says and a few historians I know all agreed from what they know."

Unease trickles out on Jasper's face. He twists his mouth and warily glances back at the military machine behind him. "And, when you two were opening up all the access panels... Did you notice any bad spots of rust, corrosion, decay, dirt, staining... Well... Anything?"

Ardere and Valavera exchange glances and both ponder on the idea. Valavera looks up to Jasper and blinks as she recalls. "No, actually. It smelled a bit musty and stale."

Ardere's yellow eyes search her mind and she bites her lip. "Nothing I could find. All the cabling and piping seemed in really good shape. But, I figured that'd make some sense since all the access panel seals where still good."

Jasper nods as he processes the information, draws in a long breath, and tries to exhale out his unease. "Well... The startup batteries are charged."

Silence hangs overhead. Ardere focuses her scrutinizing gaze upon Jasper. "That's not too unusual-"

Jasper simply interrupts. "Fully charged."

Surprise grips Ardere and she stares bewildered at Jasper. "Okay, that is REALLY odd."

With a long uncertain sigh, Jasper crosses his arms and slowly shakes his head. "The onboard computers booted up, it passed internal integrity checks, and a full sensor inspection of the mech... Passed. The reactor core passed pre-ignition checks and has enough fuel to start."

An eager smile cracks from the corner of Ardere mouth and her yellow eyes light up with excitement. "Are you telling me that it might walk out of here on its own power?"

Jasper blinks and grimaces reservedly. "Uh... One thing at a time. I mean... Right now, I can't find an obvious reason to not attempt a remote startup of the reactor. And, I don't know how to feel about that at the moment."

Ardere closes up her sketch pad, sets it aside, and hops up with a toothy grin towards Jasper. "Well, if you want a second opinion, I say you SHOULD!"

Jasper darts his eyes around, bites lip, and grumbles. "I think I'm going to get a third opinion-"

Valavera springs up with an anticipating smile. "Let's try it!"

Glancing over to the approaching Beckerin, Jasper side steps away from the excited duo and dons an awkward smirk. "And... a fourth opinion..."

Jasper taps onscreen buttons upon a rugged laptop and peers over the crest of the hill at the military mech. Moments later, he glances to Ardere, Beckerin, and Valavera taking cover nearby and hovers his finger over the initialization prompt. "Okay. If that thing starts to make any weird noises or alarms go off... RUN."

He presses down on the display. Lines of terminal output stream through menu windows, status graphics change on screen, and a prompt pops up. "Remote Reactor Initialization Starting!"

Low, deep pulse vibrates the area and a background hum rises up. Ardere's ears flick forward and focus along with her excited stare at the robotic creation. The din builds up quickly, floods the vicinity with activity, and then... promptly drops into whining silence. Anticipation gives way to puzzled confusion as eyes turn to Jasper. Typing through a number of debug commands, Jasper cocks his head to the side and scratches his head. "Okay... The fuck is going on with this thing?"

Ardere sits up and leans over to peek at the output on the laptop. "Did some safety engage or did something break?"

Jasper swipes his finger on the display and squints at the scrolling system log. "Uh. No. It actually didn't log any error. It just stopped. Cold. I'm trying to run some diagnostics and-"

He cocks his head to the side and puzzles incredulously with his hands gesturing out. "What the fuck?! I just got disconnected?"

Ardere visually traces the reinforced cable attached to the computer, down the other side of the hill, and running into the head cockpit of the mech. "I don't think the cable has moved at all."

Crossing his arms, Jasper glares at the strange output on live data monitoring feeds and grumbles. "It's a shield, armored, screw-locked fiber optic cable. So, how the hell am I getting interference just now after perfect signal for the last hour?"

Beckerin shrugs his shoulders and sighs. "Figures. The moment it needs to work, it breaks. Murphy has visited us today."

As Ardere, Beckerin, and Jasper examine the strange debugging information on the laptop, Valavera scans the area and ponders. When her gaze wanders towards the forest surrounding the mech, she notices the familiar flits of distant spirit phenomena. Her eyes widen and her suspicions gain traction in her mind. "Spirits."

Ardere, Beckerin, and Jasper halt their debate and glance over to Valavera. Beckerin pauses in thought and nods in agreement. "They are very active here."

While Ardere's intrigue drives a growing, excited grin, a wave of unease overtakes Jasper and he squirms uncomfortably. "Oh. Well. That could explain things. Many things... Also, why that thing is going to stay there."

Beckerin lifts an inquisitive brow to Jasper. "Going to stay there?"

Jasper narrows an unamused glare at Beckerin. "You damn well know what I mean. I. DON'T. DO. SPIRITS. I stay away from them and give them no reasons to bother me. So, if something has infested that mech, it's best if we leave it alone! Period!"

Beckerin shakes his head and rolls his eyes disappointingly. Valavera focuses a stare at Jasper and tilts her head inquiringly with a resolute smirk. "So, if there's no spirit infesting it, you'll still work on it."

Searching for a response, Jasper slowly, awkwardly nods in tentative agreement. "Sure? I guess?"

A grins cracks from the corner of Valavera's mouth and she winks to her uncle Beckerin. "Time to earn my keep."

Beckerin proudly smiles and stands up with Valavera. "Of course. Tell your uncle what he can help you with."

Valavera nods and cautiously walks down the hill to the large military machine. She carefully gestures out an incantation, flows threads of magical energy into her hands, and closes her eyes in concentration. With a quick throw of her hands to sides, she releases an expanding bubble of transparent energy out into the area. At encircling perimeter meters away from the mech, spirits flicker into opacity and maintain their distance from the machinery. Valavera puzzles at the behavior, but notices a single strange magical manifestation at the center of the humanoid robot. A flurry of rigid shapes, angular overlays up on the body of the machine, discrete disembodied lights, and a mechanical form floats up into view. The magical creature focuses its attention fully upon Valavera and emits a synthetic series of sharp tones. Initially cringing from the jarring shrill noises, Valavera eyes glow brightly and astonishment explodes on her face. "By the gods... It's not a spirit. It's an anima!"

Ardere gawks in a sheer delight. Beckerin watches in wonder. Jasper visibly pales, grasps hold of the top of his laptop, carefully closes the lid, and slowly disconnects the cable link. As he starts to slide away down the hill, Ardere's hand reaches over, and tightly grips onto his shoulder. She firmly presses her large, black claws down into Jasper's jacket, and halts his escape. Valavera circles around the entrenched anima and studies it carefully. While it focuses upon Valavera, it occasionally snaps its form back towards spirits near the perimeter and hunkers down into the body of the mech. A large entity deeper in the woods flits in view before it disappears. The anima sinks deeper into the robotic military machine and expands it's angular roots along the frame of the mech. Valavera searches her mind and glances over to Beckerin. "Uncle Becker? Could you get the tablet you gave me? I have an idea."

Beckerin nods, moves his round form up the hill, and takes the device offered by Ardere. He rushes on down next to Valavera, hands the old tablet over, and gazes concerned at her. "What is this idea of yours?"

Valavera points over to the anima and directs out towards the surrounding forest. "It's acting defensive. I think this is its home, or the best shelter it has. Maybe, if we offered it a better home, it would leave the mech?"

Twisting his mouth, Beckerin mulls the idea over and eventually shrugs with his hands out. "I don't know. You know more than me. It could work. A decent tablet and getting out of the neighborhood sounds like a good deal. But... Does would it understand that?"

Valavera smirks and motions her head towards the anima's extended form curiously angling itself for a view of the tablet. Beckerin glances over to it and nods to Valavera. "Might be an easy sale. Be careful."

With relaxed body language and a slow approach, Valavera steps closer to the anima and presents the tablet. "Do you understand me?"

The anima's form shifts, a series of light patterns flicker inside of it, and a synthetic voices shapes tones. "Yes."

Valavera maintains her composure and musters up a calm, purposeful tone. "Why are you here?"

The modulated sounds fashion out a response. "Familiar shelter. No alternative."

Tempered concern colors Valavera's query. "Did you stop the reactor start up?"

The anima flickers and sinks into the mech's chassis. "Yes."

Valavera calmly and nicely inquires. "Why?"

The anima's synthetic tone resonates a worried tinge. "Prevent shelter removal."

Nodding understandingly, Valavera lifts a curious brow and holds out the tablet towards the magical manifestation. "I agree. But, what if I could provide a new shelter?"

An unconvinced voice emanates from the anima's form. "Small for here."

A sly smile graces Valavera's lips and she dons a pleasant cadence. "Yes, but you get to leave with me and I'll see about getting you a better home in the future."

She clicks a button on the side of the tablet and the display lights up to a menu. The anima's form extends out closer towards the device and its attention affixes upon the screens activity as Valavera demonstrates the different programs. Minutes later, the magical creature stops its fascination, twists to glance back at the mech, and gazes at Valavera. "Accepted."

As angular threads of energy swirl into the tablet, the anima condenses its malleable form into the confines of the device and transfers itself completely into the new shelter in swirling flurry of magical flow. The last traces of magical light fades on the surface of the tablet and Valavera blinks in awe as she stares in sheer wonder upon her handheld computer. Beckerin rests a hand on her shoulder and grins proudly. "While your uncle has never sold a home to an anima... I think you did a good job?"

A low pulse vibrates the area and a background hum rises up. The din floods the area with sound, rumbles to a peak, and gracefully levels off to a muted, dull noise. Jasper blinks out his fearful daze and shakes his head back to awareness. He quickly reconnects the cable to his laptop, opens the lid, and types in a few commands. On screen graphics report nominal levels, green indicators illuminate normal function, and proper status messages describe typical operating conditions. Jasper sighs out some relief and rubs his eyes. "Okay..."

He directs his voice and calls out to Beckerin and Valavera. "I guess we can attempt to get this thing upright. It might take awhile with all the vines still tying it up."

A smug grin appears on Valavera's face and she cocks her head confidently. "THAT I can take care of."

At the wide, well-defended entrance gate, two armed guards stare in unison down the empty paved road leading to the entry. Within the armored gatehouse, a large grath guard glances over from his chair and sighs out his boredom. "Past noon. Nothing. Another slow day."

The human, uniformed guard shrugs, picks up a nearby magazine, and flips through a few pages. "Fine with me."

The grath ponders a moment and taps upon a computer display. "One large trailer rental. Early this morning. Scheduled to arrive in the afternoon."

Leaning over to peer at the screen, the human guard shrugs and rolls his eyes. "That guy looked like one of those wasteland junkers. Probably all excited about some scrap metal he found and trying haul as much away before someone catches him."

A series of alerts pop up on overhead screens and the two guards snap their focus above. The grath guard stares out down the road, picks up some finely made binoculars, and scans the horizon. "Vehicles. Large trucks. One with a trailer..."

He remains in stunned silence. The human guard notices the blatant, shocked expression. "You okay, man? What's going on?"

The grath guard hands over his binoculars over, picks up a phone handset, and dials a number. "Look."

Squinting through the binoculars, the human locks onto a distant, gigantic, robotic humanoid figure sitting upon a large cargo trailer. The powerful whine of the large truck's engine rises out of the background din through an open window in the guard house. The man's jaw drops in awe and tinges of confusion trickle into his expression as he observes an excited fvalian woman wave out the window of the truck.

Grath man speaks up with calm, collected voice into the phone microphone. "Mr. Bosch. You have a delivery."

Sitting upon modest but comfortable chairs around a nicely made, large oval coffee table, Jasper, Beckerin, Valavera, and Ardere sit and wait. Valavera plays with her tablet while Ardere watches eagerly curious. Jasper and Beckerin discuss talking points and quietly write out large numbers on a piece of paper. Eventually, the two agree upon a sum. The door to the moderately decorated room opens, and a heavy set, older man walks in with a happy smile and greets everyone openly. "Well, this is certainly an occasion and interesting group of people to have here!"

He quickly eyes over to Beckerin and Jasper, and flashes an amused smirk to them before glancing over to Ardere and Valavera. "Especially these two men. You are certainly brave women to be going where these two wander."

Beckerin rolls his eyes and shakes his head with a laugh. "I go nowhere near the places you have already gone well before me, William."

Jasper quirks his brow and grants a reserved smile. "I hope you've registered my return of the trailer in all the excitement, Mr. Bosch. I don't want get charged an extra day."

William Bosch snorts and sighs. "Yes. Again, sorry for that one time."

He sits down next to Beckerin in the chairs circling the coffee table. He bows to Ardere and presents a gentle smile to her. "It's nice to see you again, Ardere. My employees, family, and I enjoyed the latest issues of Tinkering Tina."

Ardere's furry ears perk up and a bright grin graces her face. "Thank you so much It's always so good to hear that."

Bosch nods to Valavera and dons a genuine tone. "Pardon my rudeness. I'm William Bosch, one owner of Mercenary Equipment Rental Company. Or MERC for short. You must be Valavera. I've heard much about your from your uncle. I do hope he's actually teaching more good things than bad habits. He admittedly has plenty of both."

Valavera bows respectfully and smiles. "Yes, he is. It's been really educational and fun. It's the first time I've been part of something like this. So, I'm trying to help out where I can. But, it's a bit overwhelming seeing what everyone does."

Bosch laughs with an agreeing nods and sighs. "I remember when I first started out. Many adventures. And, many strange and interesting situations. I unfortunately don't have any good recent stories of my own, but I love hearing them from others. Running MERC is more than enough excitement for me these days."

Intrigue guides Valavera and she lifts an inquisitive brow at Bosch. "I'm sorry to say, but I've never actually heard of MERC itself. I've heard of MercMart?"

Bosch shrugs his shoulders and nonchalantly dismisses. "MERC has no real ties to MercMart. Different markets and business model. We buy supplies from them when it goes on sale."

A sly grin travels across his face and he chuckles confidently. "As for MERC, we're actually intentionally unknown to most of the public. Any mercenary or adventuring groups of a large enough eventually gets referred to us or we reach out to them when hear they are doing the types of quests we can assist them with."

Valavera nods understanding and tilts her head to the side. "So, that's why there was no big company sign near the gates."

Bosch smirks with amusement. "Somewhat. It also helps hides us from those who want our wide selection of powerful equipment on a more... unauthorized, permanent basis. We can defend ourselves just fine, but it just gets costly. And for some customers, they are really picky about paying the rental fees if there's battle damage."

Beckerin rolls his eyes and glances over to Bosch. "That I never understood. I keep explaining, if it came back with only a dent-"

Bosch choruses the line with Beckerin. "It is money well spent."

Two older men snort into laughter. Beckerin settles back down and elbows Bosch. "So, how is that son of yours doing on that reality show."

A bit of unease briefly stiffens Bosch with an awkward grit of his teeth, but eventually sighs to some relief. He smiles with a bit of pride. "He's doing good. I personally could never really stand being the center of attention in such a public way. I'm certain that's his grandfather's influence showing through now."

As his mouth twists, he mulls over some thoughts in his mind and grins slyly. "But, I'll do what I can to help him. I had the techs fix up one of the sports utility vehicles that had been out of the rental pool and I drove it over to him."

A happy, fatherly smile appears on his face. "He was really happy to have it."

He quickly rolls his eyes and groans. "And beats the van that they were having to use."

After a few reflective moments, Bosch pats his hands on his knees and scans over the group with an analytical stare. "Before we lose ourselves with talking about all the latest things, there's a matter of a mech I MIGHT want to buy?"

Beckerin dons a calculating grin, and starts off with a basic series of informational dialog. He carefully elaborates on key points of the humanoid robot, and subtly embellishes the more intriguing aspects. Bosch lifts a well trained, cautious brow, nods in reserved agreement with Beckerin, and glances over to Ardere. He prompts Ardere with a question. Ardere responds with on the point description of the military mechanical giant's lineage, flips through her sketchbook to uniquely identifying marks, and enthusiastically explains the historical aspects. Bosch hums in thought and takes a moment to process the information. Valavera remains quiet and watches the exchange keenly. Bosch focuses his attention upon Jasper and cocks his he to the side. "And I'm certain you can verify all this?"

Jasper smirks confidently and crosses his arms. "The only marks you see on it are from the trees I had to clip to get it to walk out to the main road. You won't find any drag marks or scarring from chains. It starts up like a dream and is fully functional. Admittedly, no weapons. But those we're probably stripped when it was abandoned."

Bosch settles back in his chair, maintains a stoic, business demeanor, and visibly thinks about what is before him. "Okay. I'm certainly interested. What's the price you want for it?"

Beckerin presents a piece of paper with a large number written on it and stares at Bosch with a confident smile. "Don't be afraid of the price, that's all it will cost you. It was pulled from clean territory... No pesky government scavenging fees to worry about."

Narrowing his eyes at the piece of paper, Bosch hums and presents obvious reservation. After a minute, he eyes Beckerin and holds up a finger. "This IS close. BUT. I will need to have my technicians verify all this before we go any further-"

A calm, confident woman's voice calls out. "Oh, that's already been done."

Carrying a tray of glasses with a pitcher of cold tea, an older, elegant woman steps through into the room and places the tray upon the coffee table. She rests her hands on her wide hips, and smiles to everyone. "I apologize for the delay. I do like entertaining guests, but..."

She glances down at Bosch and grumbles tinges of annoyance. "I had to get the broom out and teach our technicians some manners... And, remind them how the acquisition process goes."

Shifting her gaze to Beckerin, she lifts her head up and concentrates her attention. "Whatever you dragged in this time, it's certainly created a buzz in the yard."

Beckerin grins proudly and shrugs with a charismatic flair. "I always try, Eva."

Eva sighs, notices the number on the paper, and pauses in thought. She and Bosch exchange a series of expressions, gestures, and quiet signals in a conversation unique between the two. The two finally nod in acceptance. Bosch pulls out a pen from his pocket, writes a new, slightly lower number on the paper, and presents it Beckerin and Jasper. "That's what we think."

Beckerin contorts his mouth as his mind processes the amount. Jasper meets Beckerin's glance and nods. With a happy smile, Beckerin reaches out and shakes Bosch's awaiting hand. "Ha! By the gods, you always can sniff out that right price."

Eva sits down next to Valavera. "The name is Eva. And if my husband as told me right, you are Valavera."

Valavera nods her head respectfully. "Yes, ma'am."

A warm chuckle leaves Eva and she pats Valavera's shoulder. "Call me Eva, please. I get enough pleasantries due to being married to William and being the other owner of MERC."

She pans a gaze out to the rest of the group, and points to the glasses and pitcher. "Help yourselves. Business is done. Let's enjoy each other's company. I'd love to catch up and hear all about something other than keeping technicians and pilots in line."

Beckerin and Valavera wave to Jasper and Ardere in the cab of a large truck. Ardere leans her head out the window, waves energetically, and points to tablet in Valavera's arms. "Goodbye, you two! And keep me updated on whatever happens the anima."

Jasper briefly grimaces, sighs, and nods to the Beckerin and Valavera as the large vehicle accelerates out the main gates by itself. Beckerin and Valavera walk towards Beckerin's cargo truck. Valavera smiles happily and glances over to her uncle. "Wow, it's been a crazy few days. Is it like this all the time for you?"

Beckerin chuckles and shakes his head. "Gods no. I am happy for that. A little excitement is good... Especially, when it is quite profitable."

A sly grin creeps across Valavera's face and she focuses her gaze upon Beckerin. "So... What will MY percentage be from this job?"

A calculating stare focuses upon Valavera from Beckerin, and he methodically ponders the figures. "A good question. Let's see... First I need to deduct our expenses throughout the job. The payment to Mavian for locating the mech. Paying Jasper and Ardere for their help in further identification, diagnostics, and moving the mech onto the trailer. And, I need to account for rental of the trailer and Jasper's expenses for hauling that big thing. There's also some local government taxes for the sale to keep them happy enough."

Valavera's eagerness wanes as the litany describing the entire process continues. Beckerin retrieves his aetherphone, quickly taps number into to a calculator app, and continues his explanation. "Now, while the price we negotiated with William was good. It wasn't as good as it could be. If the machine still had even one weapon, it would be worth MUCH more. But, it was in wonderful condition. We probably got what we were ever going to get out of William. He's been doing this longer than I have..."

He draws in a long breath and sighs out tinges of defeat. "And your uncle must admit, he knows his business far better. We know he has a unique position in negotiation."

Valavera frowns slightly and her long ears minutely droop with a sigh. Beckerin smiles, pats Valavera on the back, and shows her a number on his phone. "Since you are my niece and I want to motivate you, I gave you a little of my cut as a bonus."

Valavera glances over, recognizes the figure on the screen, blanks her expression, and opens her eyes wide in shocked glee. "T-t-that much?! Are you sure?!"

A proud smile grows on Beckerin's face and he nods. "Of course! You did good work that we needed. You should be rewarded. I keep my promises to you."

He pulls the phone away slowly and leads Valavera's gaze to meet his stern stare. "Now. I think most of THAT should go for your schooling. You need to go to a good college. Learn more about the world and yourself in a safer environment."

Valavera twists her mouth and grumbles in begrudging agreement. "I know, Uncle Becker. I should save it for the coming semester."

A sly smirk creeps out from the corner of Beckerin's mouth and he playfully rolls his eyes. "Yes. But. You should always pay yourself first, and enjoy a little of it. It keeps you from going too far when you save up a lot of money. For example, a new tablet for yourself... since something is using in that one now."

Glancing down at her tablet, Valavera thinks a moment and shakes her head. "I don't think that will be needed. It seems to be working really good now. The anima is... happy? I think it likes the new home."

Beckerin quirks a curious brow at the device, puzzles at the screen, and points out a section. "I thought there were more scratches on that screen. I remember a big one right there. It's smoother now?"

Valavera squints and brings the tablet closer to her eyes. Intrigue ignites her gaze as she studies the condition changes in absolute fascination.

Guild Registered Group #8080: Quick Physical Identification Guide

Chad Matthias Bosch, 24 year old male Human, 191cm, muscular

Tan skin. Short light brown, coiffed hair. Brown eyes.

Leader of group. Often in prominent armor with Flames of the Phoenix logo. (Registered Logo #8080-02)

Tassilda Marina Evernia, 23 year old female Emin, 183cm, Hourglass

Gray, patterned skin. Long, straight black hair. Light blue on black eyes.

Swirling horns that point back starting above temples toward front of head. Short pointy ears. Naturally long, thick black nails.

Trakenthin Stakken Olig Brecomin, 24 year old male Grath, 202cm, Large, muscular

Dark bronze skin. Short, styled dirty blonde hair. Hazel eyes.

Prominent small discoloring, scars along arms and legs.

Modoran Anatolin Lotherin, 25 year old male Evuukian, 184cm, Athletic thin

Dusky bluish gray skin. Short, white to light gray hair. Dark blue eyes.

Very long pointy ears that extend behind the head.

Deedri Preetta, 25 year old female Fvalian, 157cm, Hourglass

Fair skin with various markings and variations with a thin hair covering that grows thick in some areas. Long, multi-color hair often tied back or braided: Red, blonde, white, and tan. Auburn eyes.

Long furry, tuft tipped ears that articulate and rest angled from the head. Claws on fingers and toes. Sharp pronounced canines. Long tail with medium length fur, tapers with long hairs.