Arcane Tales

~Fire Shrine~

*Undine nods and rams her trident into its head. Unable to move, the minotaur fails to avoid the attack and half of its head falls apart. She then floats backward and holds her hands out, preparing a sphere of water. The statue roars loudly and the ground shakes. On the other side, Kelphy shrieks in panic. With a brusque movement, it breaks free from the shadow hands and streches its upper body out towards Undine, punching her into a wall. It then proceeds to turn to Lucien and spit lava at him.*

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Kelphy: <...U-Undine!>

*The ground shakes and they hear a very loud roar. The ground starts cracking up and splits right beneath their feet, causing them to fall. Kelphy grabs the edge of the fissure with her right hand, shrieking as she looks down at the scorching lava far below.*

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~Ice Shrine~

*The replica shatters, causing the statue to lose one of its two remaining arms. A new ice replica emerges from the ground and its arms shape into spikes. It stabs with two at Kentaro's belly and the other two at Creed's, at high speed.*

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~Wind Shrine~

*Allina takes the chance to dash forward as both of the girls' light wings wear off. She slashes at one of the monster's wings which, along with the shots, causes it to fall apart. The angel screeches and and its stone claymore starts glowing green. It darts through the air towards Kari, holding the sword out to stab her.*

Allina: <Kari, watch out!>

*Derek falls down a bit farther than Kelphy, but manages to stab his sword into the rock and hang suspended above the lava.*

Derek: <This sucks!>

Lucien catches the lava glob in a mess of shadow hands. This whole time standing unflinching.

When the ground shakes Lucien's shadow hands slam into the wall and bust it apart before wrapping around Kelphy and Derek pulling them up to safety.

"Those are my friends you're trying to kill you piece of shit" he moves forward and finishes the statue off with a brutal rending slash.

---

the spikes slam into Creed's shoulders and he grunts.

*Kari holds on to the rabbit and throws herself out of the Angel's path.*

=====================================================

*Kentaro runs back firing at the replica.*

~Fire Shrine~

*The hands just barely manage to pull Derek and Kelphy up before lightning bolts start flying out of the holes, one of them jarring right into Lucien, causing his entire body to painfully convulse. After being nearly finished by him, the minotaur is pretty weak and it only takes a blow from Undine to finish it off. The wall and its statue fall apart. There are some metal parts among the rubble, some of them still firing off small bolts.*

Kelphy: <...I wasn't lying when I said the wall couldn't be broken easily... it's a machine.>

*Kelphy gets up and runs over to him, making sure not to touch him just yet.*

Kelphy: <T-Thank you. And thank you, Undine.>

*She nods with a smile and disappears in a sphere of water.*

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~Ice Shrine~

*With the last replica shattering, so does the statue's last arm. Its eyes start glowing again and it partially detaches its upper body from the wall, blowing a freezing gust at them.*

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~Wind Shrine~

*A powerful wind stops the angel in her tracks before she stabs into the wall. She turns back towards the girls and slashes the air, causing the air around their throats to start compressing in. Being such a small animal, the rabbit falls to the ground unconscious. Allina grabs her neck with her left hand and gasps for air. She runs towards the angel and leaps forward, slicing her last wing off with a light blade.*

Creed moves his arms gingerly as pain shoots through them. "Must have dug into a muscle. Should probably have Allina heal it when we get back" he conjures an ice orb and fires it at the statue.

---

Lucien convulses and yells but smiles when Kelphy goes over to see him. "Hey."

*Kari holds on to the rabbit. Coughing and gasping for air, she fires at the Angel.*

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*Shivering, Kentaro fires some armor piercing shots at the monster.*

*Derek brushes himself off and takes a deep breath.*

Derek: <Thank you, sir.>

~Fire Shrine~

*Kelphy helps sit up against the wall, but he is still feeling very much numb, with the occasional convulsion. This makes talking pretty tiring as well.*

Kelphy: <You will probably need someone to help you recover properly. What are you doing here all by yourself?>

*Two columns of flames emerge from the ground nearby and converge in an arc, forming the outline of a door.*

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~Ice Shrine~

*The attacks destroy the statue now that it has no arms to defend itself. The wall and statue fall apart, firing off bolts of lightning every which way. The rubble ends up falling backward into the pit of death and an ice bridge appears for them to cross over.*

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~Wind Shrine~

*The angel leaps through the air to punch Kari but, just as she brings her fist down towards her face, it is destroyed by the shots, and her whole arm falls apart. She creates small wind blades across her remaining arm and slashes at Kari at a very high speed. Allina runs towards her from behind and stabs a light sword into her back, causing some of its upper body to shatter.*

Allina: <Almost down!>

Derek: <I think we should focus on getting out of here, and to the others.>

*Kari rolls away from the Angel and sits up to shoot at it.*

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*Kentaro holsters his gun and wraps his arms around himself still shivering. Stepping towards the bridge he taps his foot on it a few times before lightly crossing it.*

"Its... a long story" he closes his eyes.

---

Creed nods to Kentaro and begins to walk forward across the bridge.

---

Alto wakes slowly and groans, "Where... am I?"

~Fire Shrine~

Kelphy: <You could start by explaining how you got here... And I'm quite sure that's a passage to Efreet's chamber.>

*She points at the fire arc.*

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~Ice Shrine~

*A couple minutes beyond the bridge area is a wider section of the cave, a dead end full of beautiful crystals where snowflakes seem to be falling out of nowhere. A flash of light blinds them momentarily as a large ice crystal appears floating in front of them. It shatters, revealing a cute Aeldi chick. She lands and stares at them, widening her eyes.*

Celsius: <Hiyaa.>

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~Wind Shrine~

*Allina cuts her head off and the shots obliterate her body. Lightning bolts fly out of the rubble as the statue falls apart. A flash of light blinds them momentarily and a strong gust crosses the room as the three Sylph appear to them once again, this time darkness-free.*

Sword Sylph: <You... You two helped free us from Crone.>

Allina: <We're here so I can form a pact with you and bring down your part of the barrier around his island.>

Shield Sylph: <Ah yes. Y-Yurion.>

Allina: <Yurion?>

Bow Sylph: <The island.>

*Derek sighs and shakes his head.*

Derek: <Let's just keep moving forward. The less time we spend here, the better.>

*Kari nudges the rabbit.*

"Please wake up."

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OOC: Someone has an odd definition of cute.

"Hello?"

OOC: You should see a bigger pic. She's hot.

Lucien opens his eyes again and begins to explain everything slow to Kelphy and Derek.

---

Creed steps forward. "Hello" Creed waves with the hand that he's wearing the pact ring on.

~Fire Shrine~

OOC: And since you didn't actually explain...

*Lucien explains them that after Crone took Kelphy and (accidentally) Derek, he and Derek's friends followed a clue that took them to Crone's former tutor, who told them they should find the four Aeldi guardians of the island Crone had taken them to in order to bring down the barrier around it and fly there.*

Kelphy: <... W-Who are Master Derek's friends? Well, it's not important. I never thought we'd be going back to that island this early...>

*She looks from the ruby pact ring on Lucien's hand (which he obviously mentioned as well) to the fire arc and then Derek.*

Kelphy: <Since you can't move... W-Why not let Master Derek do it?>

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~Ice Shrine~

Celsius: <Been a while since anyone got here! Well..I get since you got past the guardian, it's time we make a pact.>

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~Wind Shrine~

Allina: <So you can do it?>

Sword Sylph: <Sure!>

Shield Sylph: <...C-Call us whenever you need us.>

Bow Sylph: <We're ready.>

*Allina holds her ring hand out and they disappear in a flash of light. Three streams of green light fly into the emerald. The Jade Rabbit slowly opens his eyes and starts coughing.*

Jade Rabbit: <Wha--Wha-What happeeeeened?>

~Allina can now summon: Sylphs~

"Yeah... go ahead Derek, the Aeldi of Fire is your's."

---

Creed walks over to her and bows, "I would be honored if you would lend me you strength.

*Kari hugs the rabbit.*

"It doesn't matter anymore."

*Derek takes the ring and inhales deeply.*

Derek: <I can do this...>

*He runs straight for the fire arc.*

~Fire Shrine~

Kelphy: <Lucien.. thank you for saving me and Master Derek. I have so much to tell you.>

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*Through the arc is a small empty greek temple-like room. A red horned spirit thing shows up in a flash of red light, enveloped in a column of flames at the center of the room, in front of Derek.*

Efreet: <Greetings, you who have overcome the trials of my shrine. Have you come to form a pact with me?>

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~Ice Shrine~

Celsius: <Coolio. Here we go! Call me when you need me, blah blah blah, bang!>

*She disappears in a flash of light as a stream of blue light flies into the ring's Sapphire.*

~Creed can now summon: Celsius~

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~Wind Shrine~

Allina: <Is he okay now?>

*She turns around and points at the rabbit, who nods lightly.*

Allina: <Oh, that's good. You know Kari, I might've underestimated the shrines a little bit.>

Derek: <Yes, I did.>

*He holds out the pact ring.*

Alto groans again and sits up and looks around, "Damnit... I over did it didn't I master Fahren?"

---

Lucien smiles, "I have time, go ahead and tell me everything."

---

Creed smiles and looks at the ring. "Alright Kentaro. Lets head back out."

"Maybe just a little."

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*Kentaro turns and leaves.*

~Fire Shrine~

Kelphy: <I-It's awfully hot in here. And we'll probably have to tell Derek's friends everything again, so I might as well do it when we're all gathered, if that's okay with you..>

*She sits next to him, staring at the fire arc.*

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Efreet: <You seem troubled. Why?>

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~Ice Shrine~

*Arriving outside, the airship still hasn't arrived. While they were inside, the weather seems to have gotten much stormier and colder. A strong blizzard is blowing and the sun is beginning to set.*

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~Wind Shrine~

Allina: <So, let's go wait for the airship outside, okay? We're the last ones to be picked up, let's make use of what little time we have to talk about you and Kenta and hearts and wedding dresses.>

*Allina casts the wing spell on them again as the barrier blocking the tunnel of the angel statues leading to the second floor disappears and she flies down, giggling.*

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~Fahren's Tower~

*Fahren is sitting by a table at the other side of the room. He gets up and walks to the bed Alto is sitting on, widening his eyes.*

Fahren: <Oh, I'm sorry my boy, I was distracted. You did indeed push your body and magic too far, and you could have died. Next time, I would suggest you try and find a less drastical solution.>