Arcane Tales

*Olympe leans over Kari's shoulder*

Olympe: <(What are you, blind? This is the royal palace of Toros. You see, the Kings gather here every year to watch a fighting tournament.)>

King Arthos: <What are you all doing here? I can't believe you are all right!>

Crone: <Neither can I... isn't that wonderful.>

Allina: <We defeated a large dragon at that cave you sent us to but then we ended up here in Toros and apparently, someone kidnapped the Aldanian princess.>

King Arthos: <So I've heard... Well, you said you defeated a dragon but the monster attacks don't seem to have stopped. Crone, go with them and Captain Olympe so they can tell you what they've discovered.>

*Crone bows and nods. Olympe leads everyone but the two Kings and Alto to the library nearby. There are a few round tables, and tons of bookcases. It's pretty hot inside, though not as much as it was outside.*

Olympe: <How do I know you're not responsible for the princess's abduction?>

*She stares at the group.*

Crone: <Now, now, captain. Why would my friends help defeat the Aeldi if they were the kidnappers?>

*Allina widens her eyes and pinches the back of Creed's neck*

=====

*Alto and the Kings remain in the other room, talking*

Aldanian King: <So, what are we going to do?>

King Arthos: <According to our research, the Toran King is responsible for the monster attacks. But kidnapping princess Kelphy...>

Aldanian King: <We must act at once! I will not allow him to hurt my daughter!>

King Arthos: <But if we rush into this, we can cause a war between the kingdoms.>

"I'll handle it" Alto tells them, "Lucien is good at sneaking and sulking around. Plus he's in love with Kelphy. Its easy to see it."

---

Creed winces in pain.

Lucien is deadpan.

*Kari cringes and stares at the floor embarrassed*

"(This... this is my first time outside... outside Sephira.)"

Allina: <(Creed, you jerk, wake up!)>

Olympe: <Fine, but I'll keep on you. On all of you.>

*She walks towards the door, glaring at Crone, and walks out*

Crone: <That's better. So kids, how did you get here?>

*He smiles broadly, paying particular attention to Kari*

=====

King Arthos: <What are you planning to do?>

*Someone knocks on the door and a young man in blue robes, with shoulder-lenght blond hair and round frame glasses walks in, bowing*

General Eldi: <I'm here. Oh, General Crive.>

"I'm awake Allina, jeeze" he rubs his neck.

---

"Lay low an... oh... it's you."

*Kari looks away from Crone 'cause frankly he's kind of rapist looking. Kentaro steps forward, glaring at Crone a hand resting on his gun.*

Kentaro:<That's a very good question.>

Allina: <(Dude. He said we helped fight the Aeldi. We never told anyone we fought Aeldi.)>

Crone: <Easy there, fella. What's bothering you?>

*He turns around and walks to the nearest bookcase, taking a random book and opening it*

Crone: <I must say, you've proven to be quite less insignificant than I thought you were.>

=====

King Arthos: <General Crive was about to share his plan with us.>

Aldanian King: <You know what my plan is? I'm going to go out there and tell the Toran King it's my daughter or war.>

King Arthos: <No, we musn't be aggressive!>

Creed's hand reaches back for his zweihander while Lucien's go for his wakizashi.

---

"There's also the problem with that Crone guy King Arthos. He's not someone to be trusted. Lucien and Creed are the the others so they'll be fine but... I have a feeling Crone is involved in this. That being said, I'm all for battering down the Torosian king's door but not until we know sure. Once we do I'll be the first one to lead the charge and shed some blood, count on it."

Kentaro:<You are. You are bothering me.>

Crone: <Smart girl... Or are you? I'm pretty sure the soldiers have reported that your enemies were Aeldi already. Why wouldn't I know?>

*He speaks without taking his eyes off the book's pages, turning to Creed and Lucien*

Allina: [He heard me!?]

Crone: <I thought Aldanians were known for being calm people. Your attitudes say otherwise, as do your King's.>

*He grins, slowly walking over to Kari without stopping his reading*

Crone: <(You look so tense.)>

=====

King Arthos: <Crone? Crone has been helping me--us, for months! Why--it doesn't make sense that you'd accuse him. I was there when he came back from that cave in Alda without you. "There was nothing I could do", he said. He almost cried. He is a good man, I'm sure of it.>

Aldanian King: <Crone, the mage?>

*Kari steps back away from Crone, Kentaro pushing him away and drawing his gun.*

Kentaro:<Stay away from her.>

"He's not who he seems. Ever since we all met the Aeldi of the moon, Luna, I've been able to get a fairly get read on people. Crone doesn't have the right kind of aura..." Alto says.

---

"I'm an elf, we're known for being paranoid" Lucien says his blades sliding out further.

Creed's grip tightens.

*Crone chuckles*

Crone: <I can't wait for that old fool to realize his nephew is missing as well.>

Allina: <Derek disappeared when the cloaked guy took Kelphy!>

Crone: <I take that back. You're not smart all. That's for sure.>

Allina: <I'm going to tell the King about this, right now! You're dead, 'tard.>

Crone: <Hahaha, are you serious? Your word against mine? Please. You will all be dead by dawn tomorrow.>

*As he turns around, Olympe runs in and slashes at him. A wall of light rises in front of him, blocking the attack*

Olympe: <You!>

=====

*The Kings look at him like he's lost his mind*

King Arthos: <...General, what exactly happened after you arrived at the cave? Obviously, the dragon you defeated wasn't the source of the energy.>

"Crone vanished when the monsters showed up. He didn't lift a single finger to aid any of us. It wasn't hard to figure out that he had set us up. I recognized my own tactics at work. The reason I became a general in the first place was my success in ending the boarder skirmishes between the northern brigands and Aldanian border guard. I did so by entering the brigands myself and working my way up. Leading them into a trap and... well... you get the picture. Crone was so easy to read though I suspect he knew I was on to him."

---

Creed and Lucien attack as one, blades and shadow hands coming to bare on Crone.

*Kentaro fires at Crone.*

King Arthos: <Still, I-->

*They hear gun shots and yelling voices coming from the library. General Eldi draws his rapier and rushes outside, followed by the Kings.*

General Eldi: <What is going on!?>

=====

*Crone holds his hand out towards the group causing flashes of blinding light to surround him like fireworks. He disappears among them. The temperature in the room rises drastically and they all start sweating like goddamn pigs. Soon, it's so hot their sweat evaporates and they feel their mouths and throats become very dry. Every single book catches on fire at the same time, as do the window shades*

"Fucking bastard!" Lucien surrounds the group with the shadow hands dropping the temperature around them temporarily until help can arrive.

Alto follows them though he's the first to arrive on the scene.

*Kari clutches her throat, coughing. Kentaro drops his gun, coughing.*

Kentaro:<...Bastard.>

[I'll kill him.]

King Arthos: <Crone..?!>

Crone: <...I am truly sorry, Your Majesty, but I couldn't refuse to follow my King's orders.>

Aldanian King: <Crive was right!>

*Crone grins, floats over the group and runs out the door, General Eldi and Captain Olympe running after him*

Allina: <That *cough* retard!>

*Some Aldanian and Sephiran soldiers run in and go straight for the windows, breaking them with their spears and swords. The temperature slowly starts lowering*

Lucien unwraps his shadow arms and hands from around the group and falls to his knees from magic over use and heat exhaustion.

Creed passes out.

Alto looks pissed.

*Kentaro continues coughing and takes the jacket off of Kari, tossing it to the floor.*

Kentaro:<Don't give up...>

*The temperature keeps lowering till its only hot because of the burning bookcases. Allina points her staff at Lucien, Creed and Hitomi, healing them somewhat.*

Allina: <Okay... we can't let Crone escape!>

*Lots of people come in carrying buckets of water, some of which throw it on the group*

Creed is still out cold.

"Creed's not good with heat" Alto points out.

Lucien wobbles to his feet.

*Kari coughs and smiles weakly at Kentaro then puts her arms in front of her face as water comes splashing at her.*

Kentaro:<What are we waiting for? Let's get him.>

*Kentaro picks up his gun, Kari picks up his jacket and holds it out to him.*

Kentaro:<Keep it. It looks better on you.>

*She blushes and puts the jacket on when outside the library.*

Allina: <I'll stay with Creed, go and get Crone!>

-----

*Crone is fighting General Eldi and Captain Olympe just outside the palace. The kingdom looks pretty much like a giant oasis full of houses, fountains and waterfalls every other corner and unusually tall palm trees. The palace is very Taj Mahal-ish, as are all of the other houses*

Olympe: <Your crimes end here! As does your life!>

Eldi: <I am curious Crone, how exactly did you cause monsters throughout the three kingdoms to suddendly become so aggressive?>

*Olympe dashes forward and slashes at him. He flies upward, grinning*

Crone: <You still need to ask? Creatures in Verte originate in the magic world, and return there upon dying. All I had to do was go there... And--I would really like to wait for everyone to get here before revealing the master plan. Isn't that how it is supposed to go?>

*He chuckles and just stares at the sky, smiling peacefully*