Arcane Tales

Alto reacts quickly, two light swords are hurled at the sand lynxes aiming to impale them right through and with the same motion he brings his blade up against the sky raptor halting its movements.

"We have guests apparently..."

---

"Alright then... lets get ready" Lucien says.

*They're teleported out through the sphere to the doorstep of a very large light yellow castle-style house with even a couple towers still standing. A large part of it is covered in ivy and its grey roofs are barely still grey with all the moss on them. They can see what remains of other towers and sections of the house that have fallen apart over the years around the house, now being covered by the growing grass. The entrance door is a tall white door with silver knobs that appears to be in great condition. Olympe looks around one last time before opening it to a large entrance hall in shades of pink and red with a wide yet short staircase leading to the floor above and a door to each side. Olympe looks at Kelphy, who advances to the front of the group.*

Kelphy: <(I was being kept in a bedroom up the staircase. I know that door to the right leads to the dungeons, but we didn't go anywhere else.)>

Allina: <(Maybe we could split up and yell if we find him or something.)>

Olympe: <(I don't think we can risk doin--)>

*She is interrupted by a weak and gentle voice echoing around loudly.*

<It seems as though I have visitors! What a pleasure to see you all again.>

=====

*The Sky Raptor and one of the Sand Lynx are defeated and Return midair. The other Sand Lynx manages to dodge the attack by darting forward and bites at the King's arm. He groans and punches it into a wall, drawing his rapier and stabbing it through. It dies and Returns.*

King Arthos: <So it would seem. Follow me, General!>

*Guards break into the room running just in time to stop an incoming army of Shadow Trodents climbing into the room from chasing after the King, who briskly walks through a door by the throne.*

*Kentaro's hand goes to his gun.*

Kentaro:<Where is he?>

"As you command" Alto follows him at a brisk pace as well.

---

"He sounds like he hasn't got much time left..." Creed speculates.

<Find me, rascal.>

Olympe: <Show yourself!>

*A large circular area of the floor beneath their feet starts flashing for a few seconds and disappears, causing them to fall down a deep hole.*

<<<Ahhhhh!!!!>>>

=====

*Down a hall they find several doors and stairs. The King initially heads towards a set of stairs, but glances at Alto and decides to open one of the doors, through which is a weapon storage.*

King Arthos: <Take your pick, but please hurry.>

Alto nods and goes inside. He rests his old sword against one of the walls and closes his eyes, feeling out for a sword he likes before settling on one. He then follows the king.

---

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK"

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT"

*Allina and Lucien wake up in a very dark and damp cell in a row of similar cells, with the only available light coming from very far down the hall in between the two rows of cells facing each other. There's a human skeleton by the bars, a rat hole on the left wall that connects it to another cell and water dripping from the ceiling on Lucien's face. Their weapons are gone.*

=====

*Olympe, Kentaro and Creed wake up in a similar cell. There're shitloads of rat skeletons lying around and a bloody broadsword stuck in the right wall, right above a human skeleton. The Jade Rabbit is shivering, peeking out of Kentaro's right pocket. Their weapons are gone, and they hear slow hissing nearby.*

=====

*Kelphy and Derek wake up with their legs tied and their hands tied as well, behind their back, sitting inside a very small circular room of stone walls and floor. It has no ceiling besides two sets of crossed prison bars a couple yards above their head. Through them they see the blue sky and the sun straight above, which would indicate it is now around noon. Derek's sword is gone.*

=====

*Kari wakes up in a small brightly lit bedroom in shades of blue, lying on a luxurious king-sized bed. She sees Crone standing by a large closed window, staring at the ocean, with his back turned on her. Her gun and the rabbit are gone.*

=====

*They go out and up the stairway, which takes them to a large white balcony that oversees the entire capital. Monsters of all kinds are wreaking havoc all around the city, several smoke lines are rising across it, and they hear screaming and explosions coming from all over the place. A young knight in turquoise armor with blond hair and blue eyes familiar to Alto runs in and salutes them.*

Ari: <Your Majesty! General!>

King Arthos: <Where are the generals?>

Ari: <We're struggling to keep the monsters out of the palace. I'm here to pass your orders on to them.>

King Arthos: <What happened?>

Ari: <The monsters just appeared out of nowhere!>

King Arthos: <Any signs of Crone?>

Ari: <Not any so far, Your Majesty.>

King Arthos: <Mobilize all available men to help secure the city and help the citizens.>

Ari: <What about your safety? If this is Crone's-->

King Arthos: <Do as I say! I'm sure General Crive won't mind staying around for a while longer, I'll be fine.>

Ari: <Y-Yes, Your Majesty. Should I request assistance from Alda and Toros?>

King Arthos: <I guess you might as well.>

"I don't mind at all. I place my faith in my friends that they can fight without me" he salutes the king.

---

Lucien projects a shadow hand upward to stop the water and grunts, "Shit... fucking Crone..."

---

"Goddamnit Crone...." Creed swears at the same time.

[I don't know how you managed to fit in there.]

*Kentaro takes the rabbit out of his pocket, lightly petting it.*

"It's all right, little guy."

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

*Kari's eyes dart around the room and she slips off the bed, creeping towards the door.*

*Allina rubs her eyes and sits up, looking around.*

Allina: <Oh yeah, this is awesome. Retard.>

*She holds her right opened hand out and a small orb of light appears on it, illuminating the cell. She stares at Lucien.*

Allina: <Hey.>

=====

*A Glacier Cobra snakes down the hall, passing their cell, hissing. It glances at them briefly. Olympe stands up and walks to the bars, trying to look down the hall both ways. She sees another Glacier Cobra curled up to the right, attempting to chew on Kentaro's gun. One of Olympe's swords' hilt is sticking out under its large body.*

Olympe: <...I think I found our weapons.>

=====

*She feels his hand on her right shoulder.*

Crone: <Leaving so soon? I was hoping we could talk... (You see, I'm a little worried about your friends' current condition.)>

=====

*Ari bows and salutes them before running out.*

King Arthos: <Thank you, General. Let us go to a safer location.>

*He walks back down the stairs and through a different door. As he opens it to a long hall of stained glass windows, a Brute Canupus jumps in through one of them, shattering it. It roars loudly and dashes towards the King on all fours.*

Alto doesn't even turn when it does, as it runs Alto waits till its just about to pass him before spinning and slashing it with his new sword. However he wraps light magic around it so the blade extends seven other blades of light off it in a trail making it so when he slashes he slashes seven times all in one movement.

---

"Hey" Lucien stands, "Give me some more light, I need more shadows..."

---

"Nice..." Creed groans.

*Kentaro attempts to pull the sword out of the wall which isn't easy one-handed.*

"Think either of you could use this and get us out?"

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

"Get away from me!"

*Kari pulls away from him.*

Allina: <Okay!>

*She holds both hands out an the orb doubles in size, glowing intensely.*

=====

*The sword is surprisingly easy to remove from the wall.*

Olympe: <If we had more light I could probably extend my shadow and teleport to the other side of the bars. ...Maybe we can freeze them?>

=====

*He walks in front of the door, smiling.*

Crone: <Easy, I'm not going to hurt you. Not just yet. See, there's something I need to do soon. I meant to leave you to die like I did to the others but it'd be such a waste of good company for my little trip.>

=====

*The Brute Canupus endures the attack with its arms crossed in front of its head and then punches the King into the wall on the right and Alto towards one of the stained glass windows on the left, roaring.*

A chain of light extends from Alto's left hand and attempts to wrap around the Brute Canupus's neck while Alto is airborne.

---

Lucien extends his shadow hands outward towards the bares, dozens of them and be makes an attempt to break them.

---

Creed nods and hurls an orb of frost at the bars.

*Kentaro looks at the rabbit.*

"Is there anything you can do?"

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

*Kari backs away from Crone.*

"Stay away from me."

*As he tears the bars apart, the ceiling starts shaking and the wall with the rat hole falls apart, revealing the other cell to have a large hole on the ground at its center. Parts of the ceiling start falling as a cloud of dust forms around them. Allina shrieks and runs to the edge of the hole, looking down. It's big enough for almost three people to fit through at the same time, and she can't see the bottom. At this point the ceiling starts completely collapsing.*

=====

*The orb freezes up most of the bars. The wandering Glacier Cobra notices this and slithers back near their cell, hissing at them from the other side of the frozen bars.*

Jade Rabbit: <I could try and break the bars now that they're frozen, but I'm pretty sure you're all physically stronger than me. I also don't want the snakes to eat me.>

=====

Crone: <It's almost time. But I think I'm going to have some fun around here first. Ah, they're doing faster than I thought they would.>

*He ducks and lays his right hand on the floor. A circular wave spreads from his hand like its water, and the floor becomes transparent. Through it they see the events in Kentaro, Olympe and Creed's cell from above in real time.*

=====

*The monster grabs the chain, attempting to rip it off its neck, while stumbling around into the wall and windows, breaking them.*

Alto snaps the chain which has the effect of jerking the beast's head back violently in an effort to snap the beast's neck. It also keeps him from flying through the window.

---

Lucien looks at Allina before jumping.

---

Creed death glares the Cobra, "This could be a problem."

"I figured as a talking and incredibly rare rabbit you might be able to breathe fire or something."

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

*Kari looks down at the three.*

[Please hurry.]

*Allina jumps after him as that section of the dungeon and the tower above it collapse. It's a pretty irregular, pretty deep hole and they bounce off its walls for quite a while before landing on the ground of a fairy well-lighted cave. Allina groans, her body covered in scratches and bruises, as is Lucien's.*

=====

Jade Rabbit: <Well... I can reflect magic spells.>

*The ground starts shaking. Olympe takes the sword from Kentaro and rams it into the frozen bars repeatedly, shattering them. The Glacier Cobra, snakes into the cell and abruptly wraps its large body around Kentaro, snaping its jaws at Creed's head.*

=====

*The ground shakes a bit.*

Crone: <In retrospective, maybe I should have left a dozen or so more serpents down there.>

*He chuckles, staring at her.*

=====

*The Bruthe Canupus howls in pain and slashes him across the torso as he falls to the ground to then Return. The King drags himself into the room, panting.*

King Arthos: <Thank you. Let's keep going...>

Alto barely avoids taking a deep wound from the slash though it still rakes him. He lands and nods, "Yes, lets" and follows.

---

Lucien groans, "That... was a dumb idea..."

---

Creed hurls a spike of ice down the cobra's throat.

*Kentaro grunts and squirms biting the cobra.*

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

*Kari backs away from him some more.*

*She makes an effort to stand up and dusts herself off before trying to help Lucien up.*

Allina: <Well, it was this or dying.>

=====

*The Glacier Cobra closes its mouth as the shard flies into it, crushing it. It whips its head at Creed. Olympe stabs its body with the broadsword attempting to free Kentaro. They hear a loud hiss and the other Glacier Cobra snakes into their cell as well. It bites down at Olympe's head but she steps aside, getting only her shoulder badly injured. With barely any space to move in the cell at this point, she runs out towards the pile of weapons, hurling the broadsword at the wall by Creed. The Glacier Cobra attempts to turn and chase her in what little space it has.*

=====

*Crone walks to a sky blue cabinet and opens a drawer, taking out Kari's gun.*

Crone: <Do you want to kill them yourself?>

=====

*They arrive at a small living room on one of the top floors of the palace. It has a couple sofas, cabinets, a fireplace and three large windows, one of which has a small balcony. The King runs the shades and lights a fire.*

King Arthos: <...It's a matter of time until the Toran and Aldanian reinforcements arrive and I have to join them in the battle. Could this really be Crone's doing? We knew he was behind the monster attacks, but one of this magnitude... What is going to happen?>

*Kentaro continues to squirm and bite the cobra.*

[Damn it, let go!]

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

"...I want to save them."

"Agreed... I'm not exactly sure this is entirely Crone's doing..." Alto says.

---

Lucien stands with Allina's help, "Thank you."

---

Creed is knocked into the wall but catches the broadsword and makes his attack against one of the cobras slashing it.

Allina: <Okay, so we kicked ourselves out of the dungeon. Let's get out of here and find Crone, yeah?>

*The exit is just ahead, and through it they see the blue sky, the sun and the sandy shoreline.*

=====

*The Glacier Cobra shrieks and releases Kentaro, turning to bite his head off. The other one spits an ice shard at Creed. Olympe comes running and throws Kentaro's gun and Creed's sword to their respective owners before slashing at the monster attacking Creed with her twin blades.*

=====

*Crone widens his eyes and groans loudly. He drops to his knees, grunting in pain. The image within the floor shifts to a strange laboratory. A couple of men in lab coats are grabbing a crying little boy while two other pull a relatively young woman away from him. The boy is about 7, and has silver hair tied in a ponytail and blue eyes. He is wearing blue pajamas and is barefoot. The woman is in her 20's, has long brown hair tied in a ponytail, hazel eyes, oval frame glasses and is also wearing a lab coat. They both struggle to reach the othe.*

Young Crone: <Sephira! Sephira, don't go!>

Sephira: <Let me go, this isn't right! I need to save him, I want to save him! Please!>

*The floor returns to normal as he slowly staggers to his feet, his eyes watering. He hurls the gun at Kari and walks back to the window, turning his back on her.*

=====

*Several Obscure Grasps spring from the ground and wrap themselves up their bodies, stabbing their claws into them. The King groans loudly and manages to draw his rapier. It acquires a golden glow as he rams it into the ones around his body, killing them one by one.*