Times of Darkness

Ryzell meanwhile returns to his personal chambers. Its a room lit by ominous black candles that burn with an iridescent green flame. The walls are made of a dark colored stone and are adorned with lavish emerald tapestries with gold fringe. There's a human sized cage dangling from the ceiling in one corner of the large room. In another is a mahogany desk and dresser. A large king sized circular bed with posts shaped like pillars of skulls that hold thick black curtains serves as the room's center piece. There's a black chest off in the corner tucked away.

"Ah home sweet home"

---

They don't even reach him, sliced before the eye can even track the movements of his sword. "You talk too much."

*Lumyr heads to the Crossroads and walks up to the gatekeeper, giving him the orb. He gets it back and Lumyr immediately leaves and heads through the portal to Vinia.*

*Balmung sighs for a second and starts walking away when he suddenly stops, tensing up a bit*

Ryzell walks to his desk and sits down placing his hand on the underside. A magic circle appears on the top of the desk a the surface changes revealing a hidden compartment. He opens it. A glint of silver can be seen inside. Nostalgia fills him as he remembers a vague and fuzzy memory

~Flashback Time~

"...its a guiding star"

"But why is it broken in two ----?"

"One half for you ------ and one half for me. Don't ever lose it or I'll be mad."

"Ok. Someday I'll come back and give the half back to you ----."

End Flashback Time~

Ryzell grabs his head, "The same memory... every time I look at this thing the same memory. Who is that girl? How does she know me?" He takes whatever it is that's in the desk out and places it in his pocket before removing his hand from the desk's underside breaking the circuit. The desk's surface returns to normal.

Ryzell puts his dark, nearly black, green longcoat on and grabs his whip sword before heading out towards the void and the gatekeeper.

Why can't I remember... this memory?

For a split second, Cecenia had a desire to casually walk over and straighten the sword, which was leaning slightly to the side, but she shook of her OCD desires and rolled to the right. From behind, Cecenia threw more small knives at the man, this time aiming for his palms.

Inside

~Ryzell~

Gatekeeper: <So I see all of the Generals have been assigned missions today.>

*He holds his hand out to Ryzell.*

---

Outside

~Ranmaru & Cecenia~

*She dashes out of the woods and shoots a few arrows at the ground, creating a large smoke screen, and then throws a barrage of shuriken at Ranmaru. The guy leaps bhind the sword to dodge the knives and then kicks it forward so he's able to reach the hilt and swing it at Cecenia again. This is when they're surrounded by the girl's smoke screen.*

=====
~Balmung & Winston~

*A middle aged woman runs out of a house crying and throws herself on her knees at Winston's feet, wrapping her arms around his legs and sobbing loudly.*

Woman: <...My husband... please...!>

=====
~Lumyr~

*Lumyr's teleported to the kingdom of Vinia in a flash of light. He appears standing atop a green hill. Beyond is a large forest and beyond the forest he sees a giant green mountain covered in houses and buildings of stone and whose peak has been sculpted to become a palace of rock.*

=====
~Crone~

*Crone's teleported to the bottom of a deep canyon in the kingdom of Caleonis. Stuck in the two walls of brown rock are different sorts of weapons, namely swords, spears, axes, etc, most of which are covered in rust and falling apart. Looking up he can see the blue sky and the sun shining between the edges of the gorge.*

"Indeed we have. These co-ordinates that Aera gave me are a bit off. I wish to make a slight modification. There's a village right where they mark. As amusing as teleporting in the middle of town is and laying waste I'd rather do this subtly."

---

"You are a 100 years too early to beat me using such a cheap trick" Ranmaru dodges the shuriken easily. And vanishes into the smoke.

Lumyr: <(I guess I should start by heading that way...)>

*Lumyr starts to make his way down the hill he's on.*

====

Winston: <Don't bother me with such silly banter. Just die, pig.>

*Winston quickly reloads his gun and kicks her off him, then starts shooting at her.*

Cecenia used her left arm to cover her face, then waved through the smoke with her right, but was still unable to see anything. Slowly, she pulled a larger sword out of a sheath on her back and held it out carefully, ready to defend from any attacks the sword guy may try.

Balmung: <(Sickening...)>

Inside

~Ryzell~

Gatekeeper: <Aera didn't mark them, I did. I chose the closest location to the Nymphe royal palace we had available, as she told me to.>

*He takes the orb and it disappears in his hand for a few seconds before appearing again. Then, it glows and turns black. He hands it back to Ryzell.*

Gatekeeper: <Outside the village. Good luck.>

---

Outside

~Ranmaru & Cecenia~

Crossbow Chick: <I've defeated several of your guys. If you think this is all I can do, you're meeting your end right here.>

*A large arrow of red energy comes flying towards him at great speed, leaving behind a powerful gust that clears the smoke. As the smoke clears, the sword guy comes running towards Cecenia, holding the sword above his head, and brings it down upon her.*

Sword Dude: <Maybe just one date?!>

=====
~Balmung & Winston~

*The woman's dead and no one else is around, probably because they're all hiding and shitting their pants. That's all there is to it at the moment, really.*

=====
~Lumyr~

*As he's heading through the forest, he feels as though he's being watched. Suddenly, several kunai and daggers come shooting down from the trees towards him.*

=====
~Crone~

*Crone starts leaping from rock to rock towards the top of the precipice.*

[These coordinates are always extremely interesting. Sometimes I get the feeling the Gatekeeper does it on purpose.]

*Lumyr quickly uses his sheathed sword to block the incoming projectiles.*

====

*Winston starts shooting his pistol in the air for a little bit and laughing like an evil fucking maniac and then reloads.*

Winston: <Come on out, future test subjects. I want to see what makes the lot of you tick so good! Heheheh.>

"My apologies" Ryzell said as he entered the gate.

---

"Oh shit" Ranmaru dodge rolls barely avoiding getting shot. "Well then."

Cecenia saw the attack coming just in time, and managed to duck and slide across the ground, knocking the sword guy's feet out from under him.

*Balmung starts kicking doors in, searching the houses for the rest of the villagers*

Outside

~Ranmaru & Cecenia~

*Because he's busy dodging the energy arrow he doesn't realize three shuriken are flying right into his back. The sword dude falls flat on his face, groaning, and lets go of the sword, which slides a couple yards away.*

=====
~Balmung & Winston~

*He finds many sobbing families, kids and elderly included. They all just freeze up and stare at him with begging abandoned puppy eyes.*

=====
~Lumyr~

*Vines erupt from the ground and wrap around his feet as young woman jumps down from the trees, landing in front of him. She has long blond hair tied in a high ponytail, green eyes, and she's wearing a purple tube top, black knee-lenght puffy shorts, brown leather gloves and short black boots. She dashes at him and stabs at his chest with a bronze rapier.*

=====
~Crone~

*Upon arriving at the top, he's met with a lovely welcoming committee that consists of a couple dozen knights in silver armor pointing spears at him. A couple miles behind them is the capital city of Caleonis, one of large buildings in orange, yellow and red.*

Knight: <See, I told you that light was a Helzol guy teleporting in!>

Knight2: <Okay, okay. You were right. Can we kill him now?>

Crone: <Have you fools ever thought maybe we announce our arrival on purpose?>

Knight3: <It's a trap!>

*Crone smirks and holds his right hand out towards them.*

=====
~Ryzell~

*He appears standing outside a small village of wooden houses in the middle of a snowy forest. A sign by the village's entrance pointing beyond it reads "Capital".*

*Lumyr's feet are surrounded by a faint purple glow for a second and the vines break, the glow disappearing soon after. He quickly raises his sheathed sword and uses it to parry the attack, then jumps back a bit until he's a fair distance away.*

Lumyr: <Who are you?>

*Lumyr tosses the umbrella into the air and puts the mask that was on the side of his head on so that it covers his face.*

====

*Winston walks into the room where Balmung is with the scared people in it. He raises his pistol.*

Winston: <Honestly, this is a pathetic display. I'd much rather just kill them all here. And I do think I will!>

*Winston starts shooting at the scared families.*

"How quaint" Ryzell chuckles and decides to take a detour. He takes a hat out from under his jacket and places it on his head hiding his antenna and walks into the village.

---

Ranmaru manages to avoid two of the three but the third sticks into his shoulder. He doesn't even flinch as he plucks it out and flings it at the downed sword guy, "You. Woman. Change places with me."

*Balmung punches Winston in the face before he can start shooting*

Balmung: <Your actions are getting us nowhere.>

*Balmung turns to the peoples*

Balmung: <Now tell me. Where are the warriors?>

Cecenia frowned in disgust, looking from the sword guy to Ranmaru. I wanted to finish him off, she thought, but switched with Ranmaru even still.

Outside

~Ranmaru & Cecenia~

*The guy rapidly gets back on his feet and removes the shuriken from his back while grabbing his sword. The crossbow girl is still no where to be seen.*

Sword Guy: <What, you're dumping me already?>

=====
~Balmung & Winston~

*A little girl shrieks and her mother covers her mouth and hugs her tightly, crying.*

Woman: <They le-left the village thi-this morning. T-They went North..! Now please, le-leave us alone!>

=====
~Lumyr~

Blonde Thiefess: <Not important!>

*She fills her lungs with air and then shoots a jet of purple goo at Lumyr out of her mouth.*

=====
~Crone~

*Crone shoots an incoming knight down with a flurry of light blades and then sidesteps a jab of spear from the second one, blasting him with light energy that throws him down the precipice. Some more knights charge at him. He holds his hands out and energy's released out of thin air among them, causing a large explosion.*

=====
~Ryzell~

*As he's walking through the village, a little boy carrying a vegetable basket bumps into him, dropping the basket and scattering the vegetables.*

*Lumyr sidesteps and jumps into the air, landing behind the girl with his sword, still sheathed, pressed up against her back.*

Lumyr: <It's important to me who you are. Now, out with it.>

====

Winston: <Dammit, why did you have to do that?!! I could have had prime test subjects here! And you know, the best ones are the ones that haven't... fully developed. Heheheh.>

*Winston glares evilly at a few of the children.*

"Oops, sorry there was lost in thought" Ryzell feigns sincerity. "You must be in a hurry."

---

"Your mouth. It irritates me. You should stop opening it" Ranmaru says dryly before touching Cecenia on the shoulder as if they were tagging in and out. Ranmaru wasted little time bringing both swords to bare against the fellow swordsman. They moved with blinding speed. The wind howling as they tore through it.

"How the hell am I supposed to fight someone I can't even see?" Cecenia muttered, drawing two daggers from her sleeve.

Balmung: <I have a job to do. I'm not letting you drag me down.>

*Balmung drags Winston out the house and heads North*