Nisahime

Taking her exit as Freya would struggle to find the strength to stand, simply releasing the scythe sees it turn to a vapor. The maiden takes stock of her surroudings and is met with a league of tired looking faces, and she locks eyes with Eruda. It was just as playful as before, was this what the girl was hoping for? A front row seat into the demons of her companions? "Now the twins have seen the truth." speaking to the story as if a participant or a member of the audience. 

Eventually, her sights set on the last within this field, the very same that had brought the others. “Fractured and in pieces, a man and an instrument or tool. A machine. Functional and yet unable to fill the design. Before your ‘heart’ wasn’t in it now isn’t that true.” A jest, both figurative and literal. “Knowledge, to seek the truth. I am interested in the machine, but it was worthless without a pilot. My dear prophet, are you finally ready?”

A sudden echo casts the world into the smallest and most finite point, as if it is sucked down a tube, or he was catapulted out into the darkness that surrounds it. “A ravenous pursuit of possibility, of potential. A mind ever in motion, but without primary purpose. Hungry but for nothing, you have always heard the whispers in the dark, heard them chant sweet nothing's in your ear. But now you have a reason to listen.”

As Eruda, Sam, Freya, and Gaius would look on, Freyd would continue to shift rapidly through multiple different people, as if his body was struggling to find an identity. Morrighan lifts her arm, and clutches something solid. A handle forms in the space, and she slowly draws Samiel’s Pride out of thin air, with a metallic sound as if pulled from a sheath from some pocket. Notably, however, the weapon was pure white but the shape undeniable. The pounding voice in the Whisper's head confirms it. Like a migraine gone horribly wrong. “Seeker of Truths, Guide and Observer, Masks of Many. We will take but a single shape, yet become all. Nothing shall be beyond our grasp, no stone unturned, no mystery unsolved. I am thou, thou art I. We are Individual, and yet We are Legion.” Morrighan turns the blade in her hand and shoves it through Takeshi’s chest, and turns it like a key. It was as if the shapes he was taking start to peel out of him, like people stepping out of a chamber. One by glorious one, they exit and turn to vapor. But they were not, instead a million facsimile were pouring out of the floodgates into Aincrad. A machine, made multiple. Within his own mind, where once but a single book would be read or written, they all found themselves open and in motion. “Those whispers, once heard, are now yours to pilot. Takeshi” A chuckle, with the knowledge that the contract flowed both ways.

A flick of her wrist and that Yomi disappears, added to a pile of freshly plucked apples in subspace. "I could tell you that I am exhausted, or that this wasn't delightful. That would be lie." It was clear she was pleased, after all this was a regular feast and her strength was growing nigh exponentially in tune with the newly formed contracts. Trailing away with that same almost unfeeling walk, as Sam collapses under the weight of being shoved a new power she'd never imagined. One that she held and yet never had seen. Slinking behind Freya, a pair of arms sliding around her neck and down her chest. Whispering in the girl's ear, appearing as though she'd bite her earlobe. "Are you finally ready to wake up? This was quite the dream wasn't it, I've watched you for so long. You were the first, but you failed. Takeshi brought you back to me, and imagine my surprise. The one that got away. Whose fate was free for so long. What a mess you found yourself in, eh?"

The other players would see Morrighan's eyes twist into a yellow hue. The very same sickly color that the girl sported time and time again. "I can smell it, you are finally ready." Tightening her grip, it almost looked as though that the maiden in black was looking to choke her out. The sudden buzzing in her ear that grows louder, a vile concoction of Nisa's and Tuatha's voice. "Ripping down the opposition without concern, a dark rend of life to conserve one's own. Drowned in sorrow so miserably, that it was easy to sniff you out. But the heart starts to fancy change. Accepting that sorrow and using it as a weapon." Freya falls forward as her head pounds like someone rattling on a drum. Still in Morrighan's hands was this shape, like smoke, and held Freya's shape. As if she cut the two in twain. "Embrace the darkness, that is cast by the flames of regret. That shadow is created from light, and this one is yours. We are the Angel of Sorrow, the Wings of Regret. I am thou, thou art I. Take flight, and Heads will roll from our grand entrance."

Appearing to rip her arms tighter, that smoke shatters like glass. Morrighan lifts her arms and as if she sucked the pieces up, they form into a grim looking scythe. That still steaming blackness, sputtering with emerald green flames. 

The slightly audible crunch of grass underfoot, that occasionally gives view to a pair of pristine feet. Although it felt as though time carried on, not a single change in the environment. As if everything was halted, and in one's stomach a warmth mixed with almost the feeling of being weightless and unhindered. "My My Eruda, for whatever purpose would you need to invade anothers dreams?" There was a coy twist to her tone, as if silently judging the girl. "It is not something done lightly, after all free will is one of the strongest contenders despite how solid ones destiny is. Where a path leads can be altered, shifted, but that has severe ramifications. You'll find that no matter how hard you try, there is no way to change the heart of man through changing their fate. To change the heart of Milletian, one must allow them to change. Nothing more and nothing less." Finally, setting her sights on Sam, an intensity in a gaze that made one feel small. Insignificant and yet not.

"Are you ready, Raven of Sin?" Peering over her shoulder, that long black strands cascading off in clumps. "For you see Eruda, I could not change her heart. It was only she who could, choosing to have faith, choosing this. Free will and a choice." A silverish star grows in her eyes, as she fixates on that girl. Lanky, slender and still dripping. "I do believe you are ready." A sudden blurring in the girl's eyes as a voice far too loud threatening to pierce her eardrums. "It seems as though the chains that constrained you have loosened, becoming unhinged from clamping around your wrists. The sin you've carried for so long has been finally laid to rest. With its burial, you can finally witness the truth. The True Self."

Sam would look to be in agony, as tears met with the moisture still stuck to her skin. Morrighan reaches for the girl's neck, and presses her forehead against Sam's. That pounding voice in the black haired girl's head "You can finally see, and now you can see through my eyes. A deal can be made, and I can show you what you've missed. I am thou, thou art I. Allow no falsehoods to cover thine eye, open them and see all. There will be nothing that can hide from us, revealing everything as The Oracle." Sam's eyes become wide, and burn in a vibrant purple hue without control. They looked as though they were threatening to roll back into her skull.

Releasing the girl, Morrighan looks pleased. The smallest smile at the corner of her lips. Eyes glow in purple in the same color as if borrowed. Fate lifts her hand, and rips clean a bow from the ether. "I can't wait to see when you figure out how this works." The very obvious pun.

Walking through the long, winding halls of a labyrinth, the white hair parades past her shoulders. The woman drags an outstretched hand against the stone pillars that surround her. Dust collecting on her palms, the click of her heels against the cobble. "What an intriguing turn of events. It would appear that even beyond those trapped by fate. That those around them can alter it. Control over one's destiny, and defying it for another. Normally, that would lead to the forfeit of something. And yet, they shared the debt, as if cheating the cost. What a pleasant, unforeseen exchange." Peering up toward an altar, with a stoic stare. A twist on her heel, and finding herself on another floor entirely. One with water that consumed most of its birth.

Wind dances through and carries her hair aloft. In the distance, she spies away at a structure in the distance. "Fighting against the odds, altering destiny with every step they take." As if she was expecting that building to do something, and yet was dark and empty. Another twist, and the woman was somewhere else. Looking through a window, watching a woman nurse tarot cards without any idea that Morrighan was inspecting her. A touch to the glass, causes the woman to stir, peer out with the feeling she was being watched.

Into a chamber overlooking a girl in tears, unnoticed, and yet she leans down and whispers something in that girl's ear. Eyes widen, as if she's heard, but even still she remains outside of being acknowledged. The seed planted. "Hopes and dreams, time itself holding its breath for a moment. A change." Morrighan murmurs in the World That Never Was. "Through Pride, Sorrow, Wisdom or Temptation. Through Anger and Hope. My forces grow, and with a single contract that becomes many, I shall uproot Tir Na Nog. Man made creature, you have made a grave mistake. I shall see bloodied armor again. I will see you humbled and begging." Eyes flare in a vibrant silver that punches past impossibly long black hair. "I am a vengeful and spiteful thing, you have spat in my face and I cannot rest until your fallacy ceases to be. Fate, after all, is mine to control."

Elsewhere, the citizens of the Town of Beginnings could swear they heard crying. On another plane, a silhouette offers a gloved hand over three, hunched on one knee. It gestures with a twist, and those three vanish.

Thread Complete:

11212/30=373*5=1865

Eruda:
1865*9=16785 EXP
Freyd:
1865*14=26110 EXP
26110*.15=3916 Col
Raidou:
1865*13=24245 EXP
Nisahime:
1865*4=7460 EXP

Simmone (Guild Treasurer):
16785*.15=2517 Col
24245*.15=3636 Col
7460*.15=1119 Col
400 Col (Thread Closure)

Finding a place in that grass to take a seat of her own, the white dress draping and billowed out in a spray. Slender white legs take to a fold, as her back pressed against that large tree. With intensity, a simple yet almost commanding stare into Eruda as she offers, thanks. It was as if she would not accept it, for it wasn't her doing that had brought this about. After all, they were beside fate and not a part of it. "I am always watching. Always listening." That face gains a smile in an almost playful flavor. She'd shut her eyes, as if she was going to rest. To see, one needed to dream.

Laughter played within The World That Never Was, one no truer than the day it was written. Whisking through the space, assailing her eardrums as her eyes finally squeezed closed. Words and whispers, in a cacophony of voices. Like a legion, it formed a white noise that the woman began to parade through. Wishes on the wind, ones that pleaded and hoped. Dreamed of a better place. Of a new world. Of love. Elsewhere, a small red string breaks, finding a small wood board fall from a tree.

Clattering to the sidewalk, a passing NPC picking it up, almost curious as pink petals fall down around him like snow. Upon that simple piece of wood, were words and through them a line had been drawn. Beneath it the burned letters, almost like a stamp.

~Fulfilled~

On that guy's flank, another clattering startles him. And another. It was as if the threads that held them up were breaking one by one, turning them from hopes into reality.

Rounding the base of that tree, dragging a slender hand across the bark. A woman with white hair, with a composed stare as she stared into the face of the boy in her domain. On the messenger's call, she'd look at this child almost with curiosity and interest. After all, for so long she spoke, and he could not hear her.

"This might be easier at first, belief comes to those that can see. I would ask what you see, child?" That same snapping of brush, gently bending as she moved more into plain view. Basking in the glow and although the colors would seem off from memory, the face was undeniable. "I could offer you a lie, attempt to give you some false sense of security. But you have always known the truth deep down, you knew what to expect. It has been eating away at you for quite some time."

A single strand of moisture bleeds down her right cheek, and it was the oddest sensation. Lifting a hand and tapping into the tear, the fallen was grieving, and yet it wasn't sadness. "It would appear that Kirin has something to say to you, boy."

***************************************************************************************************************

A few steps forward and one would see the look she was giving the boy soften, but her appearance doesn't change. This was the look that those in Aincrad were used to seeing her when she appeared, and yet it meant nothing to them. The white haired woman, always the enigma and was unanimous with 'Nisahime'. The untouched princess, and yet. To Raidou, it meant so much more.

Taking to one knee in the grass, staring at him plainly with this stoic deadpan. "My little lightning bolt, look how much you've grown." Immediately, the visage drops, and is braced with tears and a smile. As if some switch had been flipped, and she seemed like an entirely different person. "I cannot believe how much of a man you've become. The world you've built with your own two hands." and she looks past Raidou's shoulder, would reveal a pair of vibrant blue eyes to Eruda and Freyd. "You have found friends that will stand by you and live with you in it. Lead you and stick by you through it all." Leaning in and drinking in his appearance, a mix of sadness and pride for her son.

The almost torn twinned version, and yet it remained happy, a choke in her voice. "I have faith in them, do you?"

Turning on his heel, and staring back at them. "I do, I believe in them. I always have."

"Good, that's my Raidou. I have to go now, but you keep them safe. Continue to believe in them, and let them have faith in you." Without warning, he reaches forward. "Mom, I never got to say it, but thank you for showing me a different way. For teaching me that there is always more to learn. That nothing is impossible." Kirin smiles, and rakes her hand through his hair with a scruff. In the blink of an eye, that woman was gone, and replacing her was that same black haired woman. Morrighan, silver eyes ablaze.

"The journey isn't over, wanderer, and it won't be for some time to come. Fate isn't as absolute as you believe it to be, and yet you do not believe in fate. Both are untrue, let me show you the way. You could not hear me, nor could you defy fate. But, as it would seem, my messengers." Her vision twists past the boy at the base of this giant tree. "Have changed your fate for you." Raising her arms, the boy rushes into them. They round that tree, and a question of where the hell they could be going becomes an issue.

But once they pass just out of sight, after a single circle. A man, not a boy emerges.

A glance back over her shoulder toward the truth staring back at her, finding the pair of rich blue eyes of Takeshi tried. "Then we can begin, only by releasing such hopes of a burden of proof can you truly experience freedom. A simple peer through a mirror was all it took for him to seek me out. I heard a murmur in the dark, something begging for a way to become realized. A heart wishing to become birthed again. Yet it is still divided, curious indeed." The very notion of broken destiny that took two separate paths. What would uniting them bring, and would the heart and mind survive such a melding. To most, a contract would liberate the chains around one's heart. But for an unorthodox few, it would sew the pieces back together.

The soft clipping of grass, as that white dress continued to rake against it. Folding it flat under the slow weaving, and as she gazed down, that long black hair would permeate into Sam's view. "The boy is here because he needs to be heard. Unfortunately, his loss had damaged the stings of fate, causing a twist and sway in a grand design. In that pinnacle moment, he gave up his most valuable gift to alter that web. A long life, that was his. And a short one that was yours. He gave his to you, and destroyed another in the process." He'd tempted fate, and was now beside it. No more fitting a punishment, or reward depending on outlook. "But you lost sight of the gift he bestowed upon you. Raven of Sin, whose sin do you carry? Is it yours, or his? If it is yours, then perhaps you mistake his wishes. If it is his, then he has already paid for them." Leaning down and placing a hand upon the girl's head, her eyes becoming silver like stars.

To others, Sam would look as if there was nobody home. To the girl, she'd have an audience with her savior. The one that had condemned her to a life of a recluse.

In that brief exchange, that only lasts for but an instant. Those legs begin to move again, and she looks up at this boastful male. The smell of nervousness, watching as he'd wince, expecting some rebuttal. "I've watched you grow. Change as quickly as the winds change directions. That storm causing you to be deaf, and trying to hear them? Worried it would carry you away, or push you back. Yet they heard you, truth is I did indeed save your beloved. But only through circumstance, the first of a million stars. You wish to protect her as I have, even under the pretense that I would do them harm. Afraid of what I might do, and yet you choose to die to protect them." A coy smile, as she reaches out and touches his chest.

His eyes flash in green, and he begins to buckle under the weight of something. "As fate would have it, you have accepted me long ago. Son of Garuda, and it would appear that you had freed the chains around your heart on your own." As she'd slide her hand, one could see some object being drawn out of his sternum. "Who knew you were the host of the sword of light, Brionac. One willing to fight for all they believe in, despite any regrets or concerns." Ripping it off to the side, a whole spear takes shape in her clutches. A black and gold thing, as a gentle breeze graces this tiny field. "That explains how you've changed Freya, and how that light shines so bright."

That sharp gaze still fixated focused down on fighters, still battling it out with tenacity. "Fun, or testing their mettle? Testing their strengths and their reliance. They aspire hope in one another, understand one another far better than any conversation could ever convey." As she lifted that empty cup with an index and thumb, she'd move it to her lips again, as if pretending something was there.

"What of you?" The woman looked over as if expectant of some answer, a bit of almost a mischievousness to her tone. "Could you stand with them? Fight in that mixture of blood and sweat." A glint of silver scatters across a sapphire eye, as her attention moves back to the matches as they unfold. "My name is not yet important, as it has yet to be heard by some." Scooping another cookie out of the girl's bag, snapping it in two and finding one more partial to the other.

Behind her, it's set, and the woman leans uncomfortably close. "Not yet, but perhaps soon. Or perhaps not." A pure white light casts her vision, as if it could see through all. Some skill presumably. "Time will tell, Fate continues ever forward." If Blueberry moved for her half of the cookie, instead she'd find but a single petal of a cherry blossom tree. A trade?

A rather elegant raise, black hair cascading down in fine strands as she starts to move. "Thank you for leading them here, my messengers." Soft patters, as grass bends under foot. Bare feet on turf as that white dress pours and tussles it in her wake. As she'd walk, you'd find her image shift and change, as if an answer to a question. One of blonde hair, short and within a mere instant it was back to the woman. It suspended belief, as it happened between a blink of an eye. As if it never happened at all.

"They always are." Her head pivoting down and bringing about an intense lock of her eyes to Freya. Lifting a hand and catching one of those falling petals, gingerly finding it's way stopped in her palm. "And why would that matter, what good would it serve? I am what I am, no more and no less. It is up to you to decide what that might be." As her gaze drifts from Freyja to Sam. Slinking further and passing by Takeshi, the truth and sliding a hand across his shoulder.

She'd look on to the group of four, that had yet to visit this place. Some peered into it, scratched it, if only for a brief moment. "Proof is not something I can provide, after all I am no longer in control of what you believe me to be. I am unknown, for that is the very definition. Elda you know better, and I do believe that some of you have your suspicions. For me to walk you into your own demise, I would need to be capable of moving your feet." A rather coy smile, one that mirrored one bore by others. Something was muddied in her, as if a sea of lingering personas were boiling and who knew what would escape. "Belief is what you hear, is what you see? As is life and a soul, they cannot be quantified or seen. Only felt."

Raising her arm, that petal takes to a bright light. A star in her grasp, and once that light clears, it is a weapon. A near shapeless thing, yet it held solidarity. As if its very existence was fleeting and destined to vanish. A yomi, the very same used to save the raven's mistress. "The question always is, do you believe what you see?"

Flower petals scatter down like gently drifting rain, disappearing into grass as if finding its way into water. The faint scent of them, sweet to the tongue. All skills seem to fade, and with it suits of armor are simply not present. Gone, as if they were fake, imaginary. As was the whole of Aincrad. The players respective plight had seemed to fade away with them. A waning bit of time from before, seemed reset. A morning sun hung there in the blue sky above, not a single cloud. Maps on player's HUD's were distorted and fogged, looking like static on a TV screen. The crunch of footsteps as they moved through the grass, feeling like outsiders and yet welcome. As they would turn to look at one another, their appearances would reflect not the selves they held within Aincrad. No, but the ones that they bore before being trapped within the realms of Tir Na Nog.

A single sourceless sentence. "I was wondering when you would heed my call, but I must admit, Raven of Sin. It was amusing watching you run around in circles looking for a door you could not open." The players within would recognize it immediately as one that had graced their dreams. What was this place? Who was she really? That was the question. Sat carelessly as those pink petals rush down past her shoulders, a woman that only two: The messenger's had ever seen. A long gown of white, and a long tapestry of black hair that flowed for far too long.

"Welcome to the World that Never was. Do you enjoy my dream?"

Such a simple cognition, a simple perception. "A battle of wills, a true reflection of who they are." A bit of silver dancing through sapphire colored eyes, if only for a brief instant. "Lies fall away, aspirations, hopes and dreams boil to the surface. The reward is a trivial thing. In this contest of wills, testing and tempering each other's resolves. Look closer." Another sip as she twists her hair, feeling a stir in her stomach as if gravity was exerting its presence. Motions carried on in the background, beneath the exchange of weighty blows.

The universe was shifting, the stars aligning for one reason or another. The maiden in white could feel this shift deep within.

"Is that true, that fruit is what people desire? Or is it that taste is something that varies from person to person? Names are truth, and only one is the truth? So which is it?" Coyly, the woman takes the cookie and breaks it into two pieces. A scattering of crumbs that seem to disappear in the surrounding space. Placing a piece to her tongue and staring at the girl intently as if waiting for some answer, as if she'd made her selection of the two halves. "Help yourself." The woman remarks, passing Blueberry a glass, but it was empty.

Nursing a white ceramic tea cup, pressed into her palm. Leg's folded beneath her, as if she was performing a ceremony. Eyes focused intensely at the matches between fighters, the droning of conversation on the edges. A sudden inclusion of another casts a shadow at her side, albeit a short one. "Quite the excitable sort, or are we? Unusual, and obtuse. What do you see?" Another sip of that drink, a rather small little container. Notably, near her was no food, and no vessel to contain more.

That fixation seemed adamantly pressed forward, overlooking the exchange of sweat. Locked to each player carefully, inspecting qualities they were putting on display. "A name for a name, who are we really but a name?" A tilt of her head and hair begins to cascade down over her left shoulder, a coy smile as she peers into that glass. The maiden looks up to the child, scanning her carefully, just as she had the fighters. "Are you a fruit?"

Aimless, and yet unwavered. Traveling but without a destination. Seeking, but without knowledge as to what. A small slip of paper adorning a board, an inquiry into strength. Curiosity and intrigue, removed and revealed. "I hadn't had much luck as of late." The woman remarks to no one in particular. Slinking off and finding her way upward, passage sought and found without an issue. Bright and gleaming, a burning ball coining a sunrise. It was early, and those fit had already been provided passage.

Takumi looks to her, and hesitates for a moment. "Fighter?" The woman lifts her hand and snaps her fingers, catching sight of the structure in the distance. Attire shifts in a blinding flash of silver. "Observer, if you don't mind." The maiden steps into the boy's vessel, leaning down and allowing her hair to pour into the lake. Staring back at her, a reflection with black hair. "I am looking for something in particular, perhaps your host will have it or perhaps not. After all, it is in short supply." Eyes fixate on the farrier, making him uncomfortable with sapphire blue eyes before they move from him, allowing him a sigh. "What are you trying to find?" The boy asks, interested in the vague response. "Me? I am not entirely sure myself." Morrighan quips, drinking in the stars beneath an illuminated blue sky.

"I'll know it when I see it, what is your name?" Folding her head atop rested arms, face dangling off the side. "T-Takumi." something about her felt as though she was tugging on his heart strings, was this love? Or something else entirely. "Perhaps you have what I seek, Takumi?" a gulp as he swallows hard. "I kid you, relax my dear. I don't bite...often." A tinge of the blonde finding solace in her, worming its way to the top every so often. Stirring her finger in the surface, feeling the warmth of the waves and catching sounds that continue to pour through her ears.

Eventually, the boat grinds to a halt. "W-we're here. The e-entrance is up that way." The turn of phrase fired out of a gun, it was so fast. "Keep up the good work, Takumi, I'll be watching." Sliding off the vessel and leaving Takumi to sort his shit out. Walking up as if she owned the place, into the upper rafters and finding a place to call her own. Quiet and yet a stare that could cut through concrete. The Observeration had begun, and what pray tell would she see? Only Fate would know.

Through the thoroughfare she'd been a few times before, and this time no different. The realm between had led her here, and whatever reason still lingered at the back of stirring thoughts. Her vision sensitive as she sought out the culprit. To Oni, she casts off the same lingering clutter and is paid in turn. But those fragments of cyan were no longer desired, no, and as she collects a few varied little trinkets that spoke to her in a garbled and distorted mess. "That will suffice as always, enjoy your seeds Kuni." The woman smiles, which she hadn't before. There was a sudden shift in her presentation, her aura. It was as if she was an entirely different player, and yet the voice matched, as did the appearance. A few graceful steps from the NPC as she stores those objects somewhere, and for but a single brief instant her hair isn't white but black. As if either truth or a lie was unraveling around her.

For Item ID's:  ID:202718 | Battle:4, Craft:3, Loot:19

Seeds: 67 [Breaking (27)/Misunderstanding (12)/Fate (14)/One (26)/Family (20)/Murmur (58)] Purchases [-90]

Candy Corn (x3) [-60] [202718a] [202718b] [202718c]

Tags: 5 [Misunderstanding (1)/One (2)/Murmur (2)]

1 -> Halloween Candy (x3) [202718d] [202718e] [202718f]
3 -> Reroll Tickets (x3) [202718g] [202718h] [202718i]
5 -> Candy Corn (x1) [202718j]

Watching this smattering of players, the fate touched, begin to take up spaces. All to their own devices, all with their own ambitions. Such were the ways of the heart. Lifting that little red marble up, sees it vanish. Finding its way away into a place where she and she alone could retrieve it. "Rest well, heart of the sea." The sky takes to a vibrant spectrum of color, mixed and yet defined. Where multiple hues could meld together and yet were still themselves.

Eyes flare in white, matching a myriad of stars that began to find their way through that blackness. Her hands slide back to support her as she leans, long white hair pooling past her shoulders, as it dances overtop of them. Tilting her head straight up, as if she was sunbathing. That story was almost as old as time itself, one that none of them had ever heard. It was a lesson, one that had stood the test of time. A proof that all wars could be won. That even when all hope is lost, there was always a way to turn that tide. "I wonder just how far you'll go." Her vision moving back as every one of them had left her be. They were beside fate itself, and she could no longer foresee the path they would take. "Reach for the stars, heralds. Survive this, and follow me to another lifetime." Morrighan's view twisting back into those tiny sparks of silver flickering. "Become eternal."

It rolls as the maiden raises it toward the dwindling sun, glowing in that bright orange as it crests the lake. "There was a time, long before now. Where I traveled via the sea." Looking down to Shiina, who was listening earnestly. Waving a hand near that marble sees a small shape project out of its top. "On the horizon, just like that sun. Lingered a dark force, something that threatened all the world as we knew it. It was my job to set things right, but I could not do it alone. I offered a vision to those that I required, as well as my own daughter to guide them." The image produced shifts to a single woman sporting a rapier in her hand. "The touched, the guardian, The one who could feel the pulse of the world: The beacon." Shiina seemed entrapped and enthralled with the recount.

"A man with a sword that could cut through all, and one who believed through it all." With each recollection, like a movie screen, that little gemstone shifts through silhouettes that were hard to distinguish. But they looked like people. "The guardian, was convinced that he could become strong by giving up his family. But he was wrong, for it was his family that made him strong." Her hand waves over the top of that little sphere, and it twists into a green, a dark green shade. "Eventually he discovered this, and became so great that he could hold up the sky." Another wave of her hand, and it twists into a silverish purple. "The devoted found the touched, and he was riddled with nightmares that made his skin burn. He thought that he was alone in this world and had nowhere to belong. But he was also wrong, for it took only a single light to guide him home."

That gem starts to distort, and the color begins to fade back to red. "They had the entire world to save, as it was dying. An evil witch wished to steal it away. They felt so defeated, like they couldn't win. Reading everything they could, running across the land searching for people with hearts just like yours. People with the courage to stand with them when everything was going wrong." Shiina smiles as Morrighan touches her with a single silver poke of the nose. "One by one they found what they needed and made each other stronger, trying to stop this fate they had been dealt. But they never could have won, because destiny said that they wouldn't" Morrighan looks at Eruda, who was captured the same. "As the sky turned a sickly green, and all life hung in the balance. Those warriors, and people just like you, defied fate and called its name. The ground shook, and it broke. Time itself unraveled, but at the end of that war. Those with pure hearts, those heralds that willfully defied the cards they had been given. They sealed that witch away for good."

*psh* the soft clap of boots in that water, and strangely enough it is almost like she isn't wet. Shiina however, was dripping, insistently. The maiden offers but a single coy grin. "Such an extravagant display, little Shiina. Always the excitable one, Even now." Her eyes scan the others, those dull blue eyes without much in the way of a pupil. Walking up next to Shiina as she bounces up and down, before she claims a space on that sand in her own right. There was some semblance of space between her and the others, Shiina of course was stuck on her like glue. Brushing a long pair of black clad arms through her hair, she leans on a raised left knee. Peering out at a slowly dying sun, as if reading it carefully. She had been guided here, and pardon her surprise when she found this set was here to greet her. Lifting her hand up, and glancing at that single plucked object that her and Shiina both had found. The woman adds it to her hand, showing it to the songstress. "What do you think, does it fit?"

A small sphere, like a marble. This one in a deep red color, like a pearl tainted with blood. "Pretty." Shiina exerts. "Hold it up to the light, tell me what you see." Placing it in the smaller girl's hands, who presses it between her index and thumb, raising it to the burning ball in the sky. "Oh weird, it shows like a skull and cross bones. Like a pirate."

Watching them all fight with a surprising amount of effort, despite stamina reaching critical levels for some of them. "Quite efficient as a group, aren't we." The words came across slightly goading, with a dash of honest epiphany. Her head tilts a bit to the right, peeling an outstretched pair of fingers through those silver colored strands stuck to her head. A coy smile as she dismisses a single wayward string with a flick of those digits just like a real person? Eyes advance to Shiina as she starts to channel the motive she was given, and with it, bolstering the entire group in a flash. Starting to sing, Morrighan starts to hum. That ring quickly detonates, and twists and flickers as if a TV with a distorted signal. Shiina yelps, startled by the sudden influx of power. "That's better, keep practicing." she murmurs beneath her breath, playing the part of conductor as she studied them all.

Takes No action

Players:
Shiina | HP: 800/800 | EN: 64/92 | DMG: 1(-4) | MIT: 186 | FL. AURA: 16 | FR. AURA: 16 | HLY BLS: 32 | MENDING: 2 | REC: 8 | THRNS: 72
Morrighan | HP: 380/380 | EN: 56/56 | DMG: 1(+3)
(H: 1) Kasumi | HP: 720/720 | EN: 26/90 | DMG: 29(+4) | MIT: 20 | EVA: 6 | ACC: 6 | LD: 1 | KEEN: 1 | P.V.O | PHASE | STK: 40
(H: 1) Freyd | HP: 1173/1173 | EN: 69/136 | DMG: 34(+4) | MIT: 78 | ACC: 7 | EVA: 2 (-1, battle) | BH: 64 | LD: 8 | PROSP 3 | FLN: 16 | HLY: 16 | TXV 32/3 | TROLL BLD | PARA IMMUNE | REC: 8 | DOTE: 3/3
(H: 1) Celeste | HP: 620/620 | EN: 18/80 | DMG: 29(+4) | MIT: 63 | EVA: 3 | ACC: 6 | BH: 18 | BRN: 56 | HLY: 16 | PHASE
(H: 2) Griswold | HP: 874/874 | EN: 62/88 | DMG: 24(+4) | MIT: 207 | ACC: 4 | AA | FL. THRN: 16 | TAUNT | THRNS: 112

Boss:
Ugzeke | HP: 1713/3100 | DMG: 300 | MIT: 140 | EVA: -1 | ACC: 2 [Shatter 1/2] Stun Immunity [0/3]
Oblivious | Every turn, unless <<Ugzeke>> rolls CD 5+, he will remain oblivious to the enemy party and refuse to attack. This skill is disabled once <<Ugzeke>> becomes <<In Pain>>.
In Pain | Once <<Ugzeke’s>> health reaches 1200, he will become enraged as his skin turns red, and he notices the party fully. His ACC is reduced to 1, but his EVA is increased to 2.
Smash | On an MD 9-10, his attack will hit the entire party for 225 DMG, lowering everyone’s ACC by 1 for two turns.
Hard Hitter | <<Ugzeke’s>> attacks cannot be parried.

Clicking heels on rough stone, that riddled the walls with reverberation. Every step seemed to carry her leagues beyond where normal legs could carry her. Likewise, it seems the others were more than capable of following on in her strides, curious that Tir Na Nog would allow such influence. "Curious and interesting." She remarks as she slides off to the side, folding her arms and pressing the upper half of her back into a raised stalagmite. "How long can you all keep this up?" Morrighan goads, watching a few begin to pant and fight with troubled breath. It was clear what they sought, and it was her, wasn't it? But would they be able to follow her through the path of fate for long? This was exactly how she ended up all those random places, because the fabric of space was malleable, and every step wasn't quite a normal one. Welcome to her realm where one would never know where they would end up next.

Takes no Action

Players:
Shiina | HP: 800/800 | EN: 70/92 | DMG: 1 | MIT: 186 | FL. AURA: 16 | FR. AURA: 16 | HLY BLS: 32 | MENDING: 2 | REC: 8 | THRNS: 72
Morrighan | HP: 380/380 | EN: 56/56 | DMG: 1
Kasumi | HP: 720/720 | EN: 32/90 | DMG: 29 | MIT: 20 | EVA: 6 | ACC: 6 | LD: 1 | KEEN: 1 | P.V.O | PHASE | STK: 40
Freyd | HP: 1173/1173 | EN: 82/136 | DMG: 34 | MIT: 78 | ACC: 7 | EVA: 2 | BH: 64 | LD: 8 | PROSP 3 | FLN: 16 | HLY: 16 | TXV 32/3 | TROLL BLD | PARA IMMUNE | REC: 8 | DOTE: 3/3
Celeste | HP: 620/620 | EN: 27/80 | DMG: 29 | MIT: 63 | EVA: 3 | ACC: 6 | BH: 18 | BRN: 56 | HLY: 16 | PHASE
Griswold | HP: 874/874 | EN: 76/88 | DMG: 24 | MIT: 207 | ACC: 4 | AA | FL. THRN: 16 | TAUNT | THRNS: 112

Boss:
Ugzeke | HP: 3100/3100 | DMG: 300 | MIT: 160 | EVA: -1 | ACC: 2
Oblivious | Every turn, unless <<Ugzeke>> rolls CD 5+, he will remain oblivious to the enemy party and refuse to attack. This skill is disabled once <<Ugzeke>> becomes <<In Pain>>.
In Pain | Once <<Ugzeke’s>> health reaches 1200, he will become enraged as his skin turns red, and he notices the party fully. His ACC is reduced to 1, but his EVA is increased to 2.
Smash | On an MD 9-10, his attack will hit the entire party for 225 DMG, lowering everyone’s ACC by 1 for two turns.
Hard Hitter | <<Ugzeke’s>> attacks cannot be parried.

Slowly strolling at the flanks of the rest of this smattering of players, unconvinced and without concern to the events transpiring. Just enjoying the moment, as she watches each of them square up and square off. "Very good." Finding her way to an older log of drift wood, dried white from repeated poundings from the sun. Dropping onto her butt, she digs in a bit before crossing her legs and leaning onto her knees. This must have been the reason she found them when she did, what else was there? It was a pleasant feeling seeing the fruit of her labor, watching the lot of them evolve and change with such a simple brush of the hand she had paid them. Dynamically, they all had grown nearly overnight from just a simple conversation. Those eyes of hers still seemed so analyzing, so fixated as she scanned them in that silver white hot light.

Takes No Action

Players:
Shiina | HP: 800/800 | EN: 82/92 | DMG: 1 | MIT: 186 | FL. AURA: 16 | FR. AURA: 16 | HLY BLS: 32 | MENDING: 2 | REC: 8 | THRNS: 72
(H: 1) Freyd | HP: 1173/1173 | EN: 93/136 | DMG: 34 | MIT: 78 | ACC: 7 | EVA: 2 | BH: 64 | LD: 8 | PROSP 3 | FLN: 16 | HLY: 16 | TXV 32/3 | TROLL BLD | PARA IMMUNE | REC: 8 | DOTE: 3/3
(H: 1) Kasumi | HP: 720/720 | EN: 38/90 | DMG: 29 | MIT: 20 | EVA: 6 | ACC: 6 | LD: 1 | KEEN: 1 | P.V.O | PHASE | STK: 40
(H: 1) Celeste | HP: 620/620 | EN: 41/80 | DMG: 29 | MIT: 63 | EVA: 3 | ACC: 6 | BH: 18 | BRN: 56 | HLY: 16 | PHASE
Morrighan | HP: 380/380 | EN: 56/56 | DMG: 1
Griswold | HP: 874/874 | EN: 82/88 | DMG: 24 | MIT: 207 | ACC: 4 | AA | FL. THRN: 16 | TAUNT | THRNS: 112

Boss:
Sand’s Claw | HP: 2153/4000 | DMG: 220 | MIT: 125 | ACC: 3 | EVA: -1
Tough Shell: This monster’s MIT and ACC cannot be reduced, and it remains unaffected by Incarcerate, Paralysis and Freeze effects.
Too Large: Familiars’ Grappling Skill cannot be used to stun the boss. Only normal stuns will work on it as a result of SAs or skills being used, and they will have a 4 turn cooldown.
Pincer Attack: Sand’s Claw will attack two times during its turn, targeting the player with the highest hate, and then the player with the second-highest hate. Perform one attack roll for each attack.
Sand Cloud: Upon rolling CD 9+ and LD 10+ during one of its attacks, the boss will instead raise a cloud of sand from the beach, lowering each player’s ACC by -1 for their next two turns. This effect does not stack, and any further activations will refresh its duration.
King’s Grip: On an MD 10, Sand’s Claw will lower the target’s MIT by 15 for the next two turns. This effect stacks up to two times, and any further activations will refresh its duration.
Bubble Spray: On an MD 10 and CD 6+, Sand’s Claw will instead hit the entire party for 125 unmitigatable DMG, lowering every player’s EVA by 1 for two turns. This effect does not stack, and any further activations will refresh its duration.
Gobble Up: If the boss’ health reaches 2000, on its next turn it will skip its attack and start eating rocks. It must be hit with 3 or more Delay SAs until its next turn, otherwise it will expend it on healing 1000 HP. This can only occur once per battle.
Soft Skin: Once afflicted with Bleed, the effect will not wear off for the remainder of the battle.
Unguarded Sides: Area of Effect attacks consume twice the base energy, but deal 50% (rounded up) more damage.

"What a pleasant showing." Morrighan quips as she stands, drinking deep on the data pooling out from this fake monstrosity. Those that watch carefully can see it somewhat dissipate around and take a wide birth near the woman as if there was some sort of bubble. "Now, what's next." Speech seemed different, she was learning. Adapting. Boots in the sand, one after another as she leans down and plucks some simple looking object from the ground. The ground trembles for a moment, a single flash of white light, and they were somewhere else entirely. Some may know the floor, others this would be jarring. "I suppose this will do." Her words felt playful, slightly sarcastic and prodding. Something was wrong, something had changed. But what was it? The ground shutters as a large creature felt trespassers in its domain. "Oh, looks as though it's him. I suppose you can ask your questions after. I believe in you all."

Takes no Action

Players:
Shiina | HP: 800/800 | EN: 87/92 | DMG: 1 | MIT: 164 | FL. AURA: 12 | FR. AURA: 12 | HLY BLS: 32 | MENDING: 2 | REC: 6 | THRNS: 54
(H: 1) Freyd | HP: 1173/1173 | EN: 118/136 | DMG: 31 | MIT: 66 | ACC: 7 | EVA: 2 (-1, battle) | BH: 64 | LD: 8 | PROSP 3 | FLN: 12 | HLY: 12 | TXV 24/3 | TROLL BLD | PARA IMMUNE | REC: 6 | DOTE: 3/3
(H: 3) Kasumi | HP: 720/720 | EN: 58/90 | DMG: 26 | MIT: 20 | EVA: 6 | ACC: 6 | LD: 1 | KEEN: 1 | P.V.O | PHASE | STK: 30
(H: 2) Celeste | HP: 620/620 | EN: 53/80 | DMG: 26 | MIT: 51 | EVA: 3 | ACC: 6 | BH: 18 | BRN: 42 | HLY: 12 | PHASE
Morrighan | HP: 380/380 | EN: 56/56 | DMG: 1
(H: 2) Griswold | HP: 874/874 | EN: 78/88 | DMG: 21 | MIT: 174 | ACC: 4 | AA | FL. THRN: 12 | TAUNT | THRNS: 84

Another visit to the small pink haired child, the very same that she had met before. "More for you." The maiden doesn't seem even the slightest bit attached to them, despite how much Kuni was. Eagerly, the both of those children lap them up, a magnificent showing. Later they'd grace an oven and then a bowl. Ushered into her grasp, more of those same shavings that were all but useless. But even still Morrighan couldn't dismiss them, a strange attachment to them purely out of happenstance. They disperse the moment they are palmed, fleeting and yet real. It was coincidence she had made her way here again, and it was coincidence again as she left. Not one to mill about, not one to enjoy the pleasantries. Heels clatter as she exits, as quick as she came without a word. After all, the silver haired woman had her own affairs to which to attend, and if she found any more of these seeds then she'd bring them by. Simply to remember and gain something, albeit small in return.

60 Seeds:
27 from Here
12 from Here
14 from Here
58 from Here
Total: 111
-30 From Here
-60 from Below
Remaining Balance: 21 Seeds

Bottled Vigor (x2) +6000 EXP
Untradable; applied upon purchase.
(A Tier 3 player would gain +(500 * 3 * (5 - 3 = 2)) EXP for a total of 3,000 EXP).

As the other half would grace the light, revealing itself, as Morrighan allowed them to walk around her like wolves. "Chains as real as any, you are battling yourself." The reflection came immediately, as she'd only managed but a short ceasefire between the two. A coy smile with vibrant white eyes, as she shifted between the two, addressing them each. Reason and emotion, Skepticism and Confidence. They were segmented, compartmentalized. Divided.

"Yes, at one time I was your mother, my little lightning bolt. But not anymore. Now you are trapped here, fighting to decide what is right. Your heart says one..." Looking to the black amalgamation with a pause. "And your thoughts say another." A shift into those silver mirrors that block eyes from view. She'd have to appeal to both, and that was quite the affair. "A fissure divided you in twain, fate has toyed you with in a way nearly unmatched. And yet my voice has reached you, which means that one I have touched has reached you. Even still you fight yourself, unsure which is the correct course. Do you remain on the path you've walked and stick to those volitions? Or do you try and make amends? However..." The woman stops.

Brushing a hand through her hair, and revealing a glimmering star as that hand extends. "The goal remains the same, and whichever path you chose to take. Each suit me, but a decision must be reached, Son of the Storm. You are still my bolt of lightning, and I wish your success. I told you once, that the world was yours to change. Now change it, with the strength I provide. Find me, prodigal child of thunder, and I will help you reach your choice."

The stink of copper washed into the dirt turned mud from the amount, flames danced in sections and provided just the smallest amount of light. The sounds of attack after attack, grinding and thumping as it is dragged against other metal. To some it may have been haunting, but to Morrighan it was almost liberating. Each step felt sticky beneath her feet, as the ground was slightly moist.

Her eyes catch it, the fluttering of a red robe squaring off against a titan mountainous by comparison. The slight gloss of crimson with every blow casting off light, earth-shattering and yet wasn't. Halted dead. She'd found a warrior, where even in his dreams he was fighting. "What an interesting realm." The woman remarked, a prod to see if she could be heard. But it seemed as though her words found no purchase, as attack after attack continued to play out in a show. Her eyes begin to wash white, an attempt at piercing the veil and reaching the ears of that boy. Again, she talks: "Can you hear me, soldier? How deep does this conflict trouble your perceptions?" Flames grow brighter, and on the air, faint trails of red begin to ooze out of pores in the floor. The woman doesn't seem to be appalled, troubled, in the slightest. On the contrary, she mixes her fingertips through some of that lingering red sheer. This was what she sought, and this boy was it. Pure, unbridled resistance to fate's design, plain and simple. This man was her Cuchulain.

The storm brewed just that much thicker, that much more violent. A single star forms from her hand to the glass, as her eyes maintain that candle like glow that mirrored the backdrop. "Is that true? Then why do others consider you a friend? If my voice can reach you child, then let me aid you." Sliver of white as Morrighan struggles to remain standing, keeping that arm placed against the construct. Hairline fractures begin to form, splitting and darting up that ice. "You want to let them in, but you were afraid of what will be left behind if you do." she speaks, as this network of vines begin to climb toward the highest point.

"The failure was not yours, it was one of fate. It was destined to happen, that robbery and your existence within these binds. A product of fate being outside your control. Yet now your fate is your own to claim, and somewhere in this ice you know that." Her hand begins to slip into the ice as it begins to lose solidity, the cracks becoming large enough to break. "Embrace them, allow them to view and mend that broken heart. You are afraid the pieces will melt completely. I know it stings, but I need that determination of yours. I require that oath of purpose, and I need you to stand and fight. Set them free, make it your mission to rewrite history. Spit in the space of the face of the fate you've been given and I will see it done. Find me, Maiden of destruction, Frigid End, Daughter of creeping death and I will thaw you and make sure the pieces remain."