Arcane Tales

James: <Well I guess my work here is done!>

*James walks away with a huge grin on his face, laughing.*

Creed: "We should show caution in moving forward, I doubt thsat was the last one we'll see in this vicinity."

Alto mounts his horse while Creed is talking and shrugs. Creed facepalms again and mounts his as well before they set off.

*Jade plants her feet to stay up as the gusts blow around her. The force of the wind forces her to one knee.*

"Could be worse, I guess."

*Jade catches her breath and gets her self up, using her sword as a crutch. She gives it another shot and charges at the two Lynxs, attacking boh with everything she has.*

Kentaro:<Kari, are you hurt?>

"No, it's okay. I'm all right."

Kentaro:<Okay. If you say so.>

*Suddendly, they hear several uproaring shouts and shrieks coming from the city's center. The woman and the boy set off running, as well as some other people that were hanging around nearby*

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*They arrive at a snowy square. The girl spots a woman running around and rushes into her arms, smiling*

Girl: <Mommy!>

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*One of the Lynx falls to the ground, yelping. The other one rockets towards Jade and bites at her neck. She hears screams coming from the distant village*

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Soldier: <General, why do you think th monsters are acting like this?>

Soldier2: <(Bleh, I could be on my way to Capital Toros right now...)>

Alto: "Could be a lot of things. Which specific monsters are becoming more active?"

*Kentaro helps Kari to her feet before picking up his guns.*

Kentaro:<Do you know what this place is?>

"No. I didn't even know it was here."

*Kentaro walks up to the fountain.*

*James dashes to the Town Center to see what's going on.*

James: <...One thing after another, isn't it?>

[This was not my best decision.]

*Jade hears the screams from the village.*

[Can they see me? Or is something wrong?]

*Jade is heavily weakened from the fight and can't bring herself up. She crawls along the ground towards the village, ready to counter the Lynx should it decide to finish the fight.*

*He arrives at the huge cathedral near the city's center. There's a crowd gathered outside. He hears a man talk as a group of 4 armored soldiers arrives and starts making their way through the crowd*

Man: <...Yeah, and it seems some of the priests and priestesses are still in there.>

Soldier: <Coming through!>

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*It's a regular, empty fountain. There's an old inscription in the crescent moon the lady is sitting on, but it's been partially erased by the years and they cannot read it*

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*She feels her dress being pulled again. Turning around, she finds the little girl staring at her, her mom smiling at them both from afar*

Girl: <Thank you, Miss.>

*She smiles*

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*The village is quite far, and the Lynx dives down and tackles her again. The noises stop.*

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Soldier: <All of them?>

*The city is now a tiny dot in the horizon behind them. The sky is still covered in dark clouds*

Soldier2: <...Seems like there's a chance the snowstorm will come back soon...>

*This time, Jade is ready and rolls over, her sword raised into the air.*

"DIE!"

Creed: "Then perhaps haste is required."

*James pushes through the crowd until he reaches the front*

James: <Hey, what's going on here?!>

*James moves towards the soldiers.*

"Is there anything there?"

Kentaro:<Nope.>

*The two leave the area.*

"Can we stop by my place for a moment?"

Kentaro:<You don't have to ask. Take as long as you need.>

*Kari goes into her house while Kentaro stands outside the door. She leans out the door.*

"You can come inside.

*Kentaro hesitates for a moment before following her inside.*

Soldier: <Some monsters got into the cathedral, but we have men dealing with them already.>

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*Another Shadow Trodent crashes in through a window as they walk in, growling at them*

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*As she is walking by an empty, narrow streeet, her vision starts becoming blurry as a thin layer of white mist fills the street*

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*The Lynx yelps and falls down to the ground, turning into a glowing sphere and disappearing. She is suddendly surrounded by white mist. It floats about slowly, more and more of it forming by the second until she can barely see her feet*

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*The horses stop running and starting looking around and stomping abut, startled. A thin layer of white mist slowly surrounds them*

[Mist, out here? What's going on?]

*Jade pulls herself up, clutching her katana tightly.*

James: <Dealing with it?! Yeah, right! I doubt anyone's still going to be alive in there in a few minutes!>

*James bursts through the guards and busts the cathedral door down, storming inside. He starts looking for any signs of monsters or people.*

Alto: "Not good, be ready"

Creed: "For a second that sounded professional"

*Kari ducks behind the sofa.*

Kentaro:<I uhh, really like what you've done with the place.>

"That's... that's not funny!"

*Kentaro jumps at the monster*

~James~

*He doesn't really bust the door down, since it's a 5'0 tall double door, but it opens and, as he walks in, he finds the girl from earlier standing on the altar at the other end of the building, surrounded by three Blazing Foxes. There's another young priest and a middle aged priestess standing by a small door on the right side*

Priestess: <Allina, run!>

Allina: <To hell with running, if they don't get out of here right now Imma have to show'em what I've got!>

Priestess: <Nothing?>

Allina: <...Excellent point.>

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~Kari&Kentaro~

*The monster rams the couch and jumps onto a cabinet before leaping for Kentaro's face, slashing at it*

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~Soul~

*The mist becomes thicker and thicker until she can no longer see a thing. Looking down, the snowy floor seems to have turned into dirt and she starts feeling warm, realizing the mist is actually hot steam*

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~Jade~

*The mist becomes thicker and thicker until she can no longer see a thing. She feels her legs wet and realizes she has warm water up to knees. The water has a pinkish glow to it and Jade realizes the mist is actually its steam as it becomes warm*

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~Alto&Creed~

*The mist becomes really thick until they can no longer see each other. They hear splashing water and realize the horses have water up to their knees. The water has a pinkish glow to it and they realize the mist is actually its steam as it becomes warm*