Return of the Emblem Chapter Ten: Converging Destinies

[Phoenix]

The Dragon Head

It was anyone's guess why Hypnos had braced himself, but after almost thirty seconds, the phoenix girl had done the same. "It's coming ..." was his only other warning to those curious about what he was doing for the time being. Eventually though, it happened; the ground began to shake once again, and violently at that. Aside from the apparent earthquake, everything else seemed well and good enough until the ground at the center of the arena broke apart. Fissures spread out in all directions and the tremors continued.

"AAAaaaAAAaaaAAA-" the girl yelled as she struggled to keep her balance.

"It's here ..." Hypnos noted.

"I don't see anything," Raquel called back. She expected to see something by now, anything, but there was nothing but that huge fracture in the ground. What she failed to notice was that something in the environment had changed, but only someone looking directly overhead could have possibly noticed it. At the very top of the sky, hundreds of feet above the arena, the dragon's head filled a space roughly the same diameter as the island the arena was sitting on. It would be a good while before Raquel bothered to look up though, since once the shaking stopped, more black ooze began to fill the cracks in the ground and began to seep out similarly to before. "Oh no! No no no no no no no-"

[Eail]

"What's coming....?" Zach questioned just before the quakes started up once more. Ya know, for a dream world, this place really sucked, nothing like the cool dreams. But Phee had pretty much started screaming in what he assumed to be fear, and parental shit is hella strong yo. "I got ya Phee, don't worry." Putting his hands on the girl's shoulders to try to calm her down.

Gazing around Zach could see that there was a fairly large hole that had opened up in the ground, could the quake have really caused that? Considering that almost everything else in this world seemed to be strange Zach took a glance at the sky to see if anything had changed there

"....Oh shit. Guys.... we got a problem."

[scorri]

Marella was more concerned with the black ooze coming out of the ground than whatever Zach was talking about up in the sky. "Yeah, well, we've got a problem down here too Lightning Head. Does *anyone* know how we can get weapons? You, Hypnos or whatever your name is, you seem to have a pretty good idea of what's going on around here. Mind helping us out some?"

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

Nadya felt the tremor and watched the black ooze fill the cracks once she recovered. "Yeah, no thanks, stayin' here," she said stubbornly.

Veronika

Veronika smiled a bit at Gytha's courage, hopping onto Volga. "We should try to evacuate everyone from inside of there!" she said to Katrina. She didn't know what that ooze stuff was, but it didn't look good.

[Parrhesia]

"Th' fuck is that"

[Mercakete]

Though she wasn't sure how exactly to mount up onto a wyvern, Gytha had been paying attention when Veronika did it and was in the process of imitating it when the ground started shaking violently. With a cry of surprise, Gytha more or less fell onto the wyvern and scrambled up to try to get to a more secure position on it. That, and just how hard it would've been to stand if she'd stayed on the ground, was her primary concern so she didn't quite catch what Veronika said to the green-haired gal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Norbert's vision was normal again when the ground started shaking. The trouble was, it wasn't just shivering, it was a full-blown earthquake and he'd been caught off-guard. That meant standing wasn't physically possible and so the natural effect of those circumstances sent the pegasus rider to the ground. He let out a quick, startled cry before his face met the stone around them. He didn't tumble much, luckily, but he didn't dare try to get up again until the quake was over.

Once it did, he got back to his feet and, muttering, began dusting himself off. When Nadya spoke up, he cast her an annoyed glare before looking back to where their destination was to be...only to find some black stuff was filling it up again. "Aw, Merz, not again!" he irritably complained, glaring at the substance and placing his hands on his hips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ground was shaking. This was not something she was used to by any means. So, of course, Rizen hurried out under the sky again and took off. Of course, as she circled in the air, the shaking didn't effect her, which was a relief. Instinct had served her well once again, seeing as, as far as she could tell, she'd avoided catastrophe.

This didn't last very long as she noticed a change in the unfamiliar sky which sent her right back to the ground and taking shelter in the corridor she'd come from. There was something huge and unnatural above and since the shaking was done, it was maybe safe to be on the ground again. That terrible stuff was coming back, though... Was it evil water or something?

[scorri]

With a sigh, Mar finally looked up to see what Rook and Zach were talking about. She bit off a curse and then called to Raquel, "Uhm, that dragon head you were looking for. I think we've found it..."

[Ether]

And the ooze had returned... well, it looked like playtime with Zachy was over, Kit noted, as she saw Raquel go into a hysteric fit at the sight of the ooze. Leaping up onto the merchant's shoulder, Kit gave the woman a light nuzzle against her neck to try and draw attention.

"Hey Raquel, instead of standing there in awe, now might be a good time to use that Emblem again, it got rid of the stuff pretty quick last time, didn't it?" Kit noted to the merchant.

**********

More of that black stuff... just great. Faatina wasn't quite sure what to do, falling to her basic instinct of turning away and covering her eyes, her most vivid recollection of the entire first event being the massive flash of light.

**********

"Fer fuck's sake, you've gotta be bloody kidding me." Arietta swore, as the ground shook, and lo' and behold, more black shit!

[Phoenix]

Dragon Sky

While she was grateful for the added support, she didn't find time to attempt a 'thank you' due to the resurgent ooze. Without much warning she let out an "Eee!" and began spraying down the closest instance of the stuff with her flames. Like before, the flames were warm, hot even, but otherwise harmless to those around her.

Raquel meanwhile was shocked and distracted by the 'fire'works and so missed Marella's question about the weapons. She did catch the bit about the dragon though, and once she looked up, she froze. While Kit tried to snap her out of it, Hypnos answered the question regarding their weapons with, "They don't exist here. She will simply have to forge replacements for you all." Fun times.

Once Kit was on Raquel's shoulder, she made the seemingly obvious suggestion to reuse the emblem. Before Raquel could answer however, Chip emerged from underneath her hair began reaching out to grasp one of the fox's numerous tails. With each miss, he grew a bit more determined. "I nearly blinded everyone the last time though ... and if it just keeps coming back, how are we supposed to ..."

"Force, then ..." came the dragon's voice from on high ... and literally every other direction imaginable. "You meet resistance ... obstacles ... aggression ... ... with FORCE ...? That is your answer?"

"I ... I had no idea what to do in this situation. You just sprang it on us out of nowhere," she argued, feeling pressed for time and completely caught off guard.

"Such is life, no? Don't be afraid of your decision, Discovery ... there is no wrong answer, only yours. And now I have it."

"Hmm." Hypnos seemed to be deep in thought for the moment, not quite tuning out the exchange, but not facing it directly either.

"Shall we ... continue ...?"

Continue? With this ooze stuff? What?!

[Script]

Gar

"Ugh, the black stuff is coming back," Gar said. "What a pain."

[roymbrog]

“Alright, well, Volga’s not going to drop you so there’s no need to worry,” Katrina replied, hoping to allay some of Gytha’s fears. The ground shook and the girl grabbed her wyvern for support. The black goo seeping into the center of the arena did not miss her notice.

Kat hopped up on Volga’s neck to give the other passengers a bit more room. “Evacuate them? To where? Eh, I’ll give you guys a ride down there first and we can decide the particulars then.” Steering the wyvern around, she leapt off the arena rim and with a few scattered wing beats glided towards the archway closest to Raquel and the others. Volga landed just outside before the dragon head started speaking, and Kat looked up to see it before directing the wyvern into the corridor. “Are we still missing people? And... what exactly is going on?” Kat asked those present.

-----

Valter could’ve sworn he'd just explained why they should head down, but it wasn’t as if he had much time to ponder it before the earthquake started and he gripped the arena railing to steady himself. By the end of it fissures had appeared on the ground below with more of the dark substance oozing out from them. “Oh, well that’s perfect. I suppose next we’ll have to…” The horseman trailed off as he chanced a glance skyward. “At least there’s one piece of good news, I found the dragon head.”

That statement seemed unnecessary a moment later when the disembodied head’s voice reverberated through the coliseum. Based on what was said, he was pretty sure Raquel had been the one to get rid of the ooze the first time. They really needed to head downstairs. Bert could be convinced to follow, but if Nadya decided to be difficult Valter was prepared to simply leave her there. “I’m going to meet the others,” he said briskly and headed inside to find the nearest set of stairs.

-----

There were things, and then a small earthquake, and then ooze and floating dragon heads. Synthia wasn’t entirely sure what should be holding her attention right now. The dragon head – Synthia was going to have to come up with a name for it at some point – spoke from on high and the mage fixated on the last thing he said. “Continue? Continue what?” She had no idea if he could only hear Raquel or what, but she didn’t care at the moment. “I wish you’d stop fucking with us and, I dunno, just tell us what we need to do, but nooo. What does anything we’ve done so far have to do with teamwork?!”

[scorri]

"Alright, well, Raquel, are you going to start forging those weapons? Unless we're content using that fire magic and whatever fireworks Lightning Head here can produce without a tome, we're going to need something." As Raquel continued to stand and stammer at the Dragon Head, Marella muttered a curse before yelling out, "Ok, everyone, get as far away from the ooze as you can without leaving this area. We need to stick together here. Raquel, you either need to start making us those weapons or we need to get out of here. We can't fight this black ooze with our bare hands and her fire magic will only be able to keep it at bay for so long. You're the one whose most used to this place. You need to do something. You're the only chance we have of fighting back here."

Edited March 26, 2013 by scorri

[Snowy_One]

"I don't know!" piped up Tia, hearing Synthia's remark. "But I don't think it's going to be good. I just joined myself and have no idea how you people fight. Even if I could somehow help, I wouldn't know how!"

"Can you even fight?" asked Robin, steadying herself from the earth-shaking.

"Kind of. I know magic and I know how to hurt and help people with magic, but I've never actually fought or killed anything besides a bug, and that was with my hand!"

"Okay. I shoot things with my bow. I try to make accurate strikes. Can you help with that?"

"I don't know! For all I know I should be trying to summon a tidal wave or something. Synthy, Zachy, Raqqy, anyone... help? What am I supposed to do?"

[Ether]

"You've gotta stop being so timid, Raquel. Mr. Dragon was the one you were looking for, right? Hiding now won't help you." Kit told Raquel, flicking her tails so as to keep the monkey occupied.

"Take charge and make what you want happen. Sitting back and letting someone else decide how things go down will never get what you want... take it from me." Kit continued, curious as to what exactly Raquel would do.

[Mercakete]

"What?" Norbert looked up at Valter's statement, though it was hardly necessary as immediately after the dragon head started speaking. Of course, the fact that the dragon head's voice(s) coming from all directions was a little beyond surprising, but it coupled with the sheer size of the dragon head in this world even reached into the realms of intimidating.

"What in Truth's name?!" he exclaimed, "I do NOT remember him being that big!" The voices coming from everywhere thing was unsettling, too. Then, the dragon head spoke again and it became obvious that he was talking specifically to Raquel, as he mentioned "Discovery" which Raquel had said in the waking world that that was what he called her. What the dragon head said next was just plain ominous. Continue? What's been going on?

Valter then mentioned he was going to meet the others. It was something Norbert heartily agreed should be their next move, and so, snapped out of staring at the dragon head, quickly followed the horseman. As they passed the other member with them, he added, "Come on, Nadya." He wasn't waiting to see what she'd do, though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the dragon head started speaking, it startled Gytha. She looked up just before they found themselves in the corridor where the majority of the others were. "By Leviathan, Dragon Head's in th' sky!" she exclaimed. She was also very glad the wyvern was on the ground again, though that was more a relief-inducing event rather than the surprising one that demanded a bit more attention. Still, she slid off of the wyvern as soon as she was able, quite glad to be on her feet again. Though it hadn't been as bad as the last couple times she'd been in the air, the sensation of flight still heavily reminded her of those events and so she hadn't exactly enjoyed it. Now, though, she looked around to see who was there. Turned out a lot of people were.

There was also a pegasus there and she was looking every direction as quickly as she could while her ears kept swiveling about. Though she was clearly spooked, she couldn't tell which way to run. Her wings were somewhat unfolded, though she kept refolding them and slightly unfurling them, being unsure if the ground or the air would be safer. In short, she was a very freaked-out and confused pegasus at the moment.

[roymbrog]

“Are you… are you serious?” Synthia asked Tia. Why was she with them if she couldn’t at least defend herself? Who authorized this? Traveling with the group wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. “Look, forget about the dream for a sec. When we reach the next town, you’re out of here, ok? I know I, or anyone else here, do not need another dead child on my conscience. For now just focus on avoiding whatever it is we’re fighting. We'll handle it.”

[Snowy_One]

"I'm here because I'm a skilled and talented mage who can aid you all very well with my amazing knowledge and capabilities."

"Wait. Wait. Synthia. What if Tia simply stayed on the back lines?" interjected Robin, trying her best to resolve the situation before it became an actual fight. "Tia, it is clear you are young and far from physically fit, which means you are at risk if a battle starts. We recently lost several people, including a young girl, and Synthia is worried you might get hurt. So, how about, instead you stay on the back lines? You can still help, but you can stay away from the fighting."

"Wow. You're bad at this Robin." said Tia, frowning slightly. "Obviously, if I do fight, I'm going to stay on the back lines. I need beefcakes like you to absorb blows while I conjure up powerful spells!"

"I am not a beefcake!" exclaimed Robin, clearly insulted. "Just because I have more muscle on my body than your twiggy legs-"

"Oh, get over it." said Tia, rolling her eyes. "Yes, I hurt your feelings, but it also hurts me to have you guys treating me like I'm some sort of infant child to be protected. I'm just as capable as any mage here in a fight and JUST because I'm a bit younger shouldn't mean I get crammed to the side and, you know what, I'd do more to help than some old geezer with a pitchfork! I am not a child!"

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

"I got a bad feelin' about this," Nadya said, sighing as she followed a long distance behind Norbert and Valter.

Veronika

Veronika looked up at the dragon head at Gytha's exclamation. "I think Raquel's supposed to be doing something with the dragon head- I'm definitely at a loss of what to do here," she responded to Katrina, still staying on Volga for the moment. Getting off would just plunge her into more uncertainty...

[roymbrog]

“Staying on the backlines doesn’t guarantee anyone’s safety. Archers can still shoot you, you know. Can’t exactly use your ‘beefcakes’ to protect you from those,” Synthia contested. “And, if you haven’t noticed, you are a child. What are you, thirteen? And you just said you have no combat training or experience whatsoever. I don’t care if it hurts your poor little feelings, I don’t think you should be fighting.”

-----

Well, the other two had decided to follow, and the stairs had been easy enough to find. Valter didn’t have to walk very far before he started hearing voices, and then it was only a matter of following those to find everyone else. As expected, no one had weapons on them either. There were a few new faces though.

-----

“O… k… I guess,” Kat replied. She wasn’t sure what to do either, and no one had answered her about remaining people. A few others had found their way over since then so she was going to assume that was all there was until someone said otherwise.

[Snike]

Once Hypnos stepped into the conversation, Blake likewise stepped away, so as to give other people the opportunity to come and join in. Unfortunately, that was cut short as there was a great tremor, which cracked the ground of the arena. Then, suddenly, the ooze came back, from within the fissures. The Ursian made his way to the edge of the arena so as to keep away from the black muck. And frowned when the dragon head appeared and spoke to Raquel. This was great, it appeared that they were about to start, and yet there were no weapons available. How long would it be in the fight until they got them?

***

So then the earth cracked and spewed dark liquid, while the skies were suddenly filled with a giant dragon's head, whose voice echoed throughout the coliseum. Yeah, why did he sign up for this? The duelist kept to the wall of the arena, and began to plan an escape method from this deathtrap.

[Phoenix]

Arena Grounds

"Hah! Hah! Hah! Rah!" 'Phee' as Zachary called her had gone once again from blasting the ooze with a steady stream of flames to chucking fireballs, which was more effective overall if only due to how well the resulting explosions scattered the stuff. "HAAAAAA-" But after a time she grew tired and began to hunch over panting. She'd thrown about forty fireballs before fatigue finally stopped her, but the ooze wasn't going anywhere it seemed, and like before she began to choke up. None of this was helping her get over this feeling of being useless she had.

Since the dragon was focused solely on Raquel from the looks of things, Hypnos addressed Synthia's question. "What happened before was a simple question, asked to Discovery, to determine the next phase of this training session. The dragon wanted to know how she would address various kinds of opposition. She may not have understood what was going on, but her reaction was 'natural' and that's all that's required for an answer. Her response was force, and so the next phase of the training will involve ... force."

"Even in a training session for the rest of us, Raquel's center stage?" Reign inquired curiously. He found that somewhat amusing but also a bit concerning.

"She's your leader, so it was up to her to negotiate the terms. More importantly, it is up to her to arm her allies, just as it's up to the dragon to arm his."

Well thanks for being so clear on these matters, I guess. Wait a second ... this sounds way too familiar. It's like our training back in the academy. We had team captains who were in charge of pretty much everything, even assigning tomes and other gear we used based on what was needed. They would also 'negotiate' with the opposing captains to set the rules of engagement ... and once they had sorted everything out, the two teams went head to head. It's the same sort of system here, isn't it? Reign mused. Uuuuunnnnnfortunately, Raquel's never been a team captain before ... ever.

Close by, Raquel was juggling all sorts of things and cracking under the pressure. As much as she wanted to just materialize everyone's weapons, she didn't see how it was even feasible, even with the emblem. Blowing away the ooze with a single powerful blast? Difficult at first, but it was just one task. Regardless of how phenomenal it appeared, it was just one task. Making copies of everyone's individual weapons from memory would be nigh impossible with so many different things to consider, or at least that was what she feared was the case. "How am I supposed to recall every single weapon from memory? I haven't even gotten a good look at half of them," she complained to Hypnos.

"You probably can't. You'll have to rely on their memories," Hypnos quickly answered. To prevent the otherwise inevitable next question he added, "You all know the attributes of your weapons. Keep those memories close to you for as long as you can. Discovery ... you'll only have to give them those memories. Give them a physical form. Bring them to life. Break this entire process down to a single thought. In this way, you can forge your entire arsenal at once. There won't be a need to focus on individual weapons if their wielders do it for you."

"And that will ... actually work ...?"

"So long as what they attempt to manifest is truly theirs and their thoughts aren't clouded. The most recent memories will work the best, I believe."

So much for making Gemini appear, Gabbie figured.

"You could have said that earlier and saved me this stress! Why are you only specific right when it's time for me to do something?!"

"Please ... it can wait a bit longer. Right now it would only confuse you and hurt your chances of coming out victorious. Focus on the forge."

As much as she wanted to press the issue ... "Discoveryyyy~" came the dragon's voice, prompting Raquel to look up. The dragon head had descended quite a bit and was now just a few hundred feet above them, its face filling most of the sky. "We're waitiiing~"

Around the same time, new tremors began, but they were significantly weaker than all of the previous ones, and instead of originating from the ring, they came from the walls within the coliseum itself. Those down on the ground floor could feel them, but they were no threat to their footing.

[scorri]

Marella took a deep breath. She slowly closed her eyes and exhaled. "Ok, Rook, Zach, Tia, Robin, everyone else, just concentrate on your weapon. Focus on that and only that. Forget the ooze, forget the dragon, just your weapon." Clearing her mind, she focused on her sword, the one she'd had for ages. Everything about it, down to the worn leather grip, the gift it gave her when facing magical attacks, the hours she had spent taking care of it. All of it boiled down into one image. Her sword. She held tight to that image of her sword and waited.

[Ether]

"S'about damn time." Arietta noted, before fondly thinking of her maul... at the very least if no enemies actually showed up these walls would be good stress relief.

*********

So to get their arms back... they just had to recall them? Faatina wished she had known that earlier... though it likely required Raquel anyway. Well, either way, with lance and shield, as well as protective plate in mind, Faatina waited. Not like there was anything they could really do if this didn't work...

[Eail]

Zachary had been amazed by the fire magic that 'Phee' was putting out. It was unlike anything he had ever seen, even Kerrigan couldn't have done anything near this level. From the flamethrower to the fireballs the girl just kept conjuring, for a moment he almost thought she might not even be able to tire but then she had hunched over and seemed to have trouble breathing "Come on Phee, don't give up. We're gonna get through this!" He tried to encourage the girl. The feeling of being useless again was tearing away at the sage. He needed to be helping her, not standing on the sidelines like a useless idiot!

It seemed as though the answer to his desires had arrived though. All he needed to do was concentrate on his tome and it should appear? Easy enough,

'Concentrate.... concentrate!'

Luka was thinking about his staves or something

[Snowy_One]

Robin closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind of stray thoughts as she focused. No Zack, no Marella, no Tia, no Rook, no Shadrak, Raquel, or anyone. Just simple, calm, serene peace. The cool air of the mountains as she stood atop one of the crested hills, the signs of a wounded deer clear as day before her. The trail of blood, crushed branches, and braying of the wounded animal. She could see the beast before her as she raised that weapon, that extension of her body, in as cool and natural a motion as any one being could as she drew the next arrow, the tip made of stone and sharper than any object made without magic, as she took aim and, with the simple draw and release of breath, claimed her kill. Her bow. Her arrow. Something as close to being a part of her as she expected any one object could possibly be.

Meanwhile, Tia's eyes closed as she did the opposite. So many tomes she could remember, so many she had trained with! Tomes of fire, tomes of wind, tomes of ice, so many she had used, so many she had succeeded with, so many she had failed with! So many tomes, which was actually hers? Could any ONE tome actually represent her combat prowess? She cycled through all of them, imagining the effects, until she finally settled on two tomes. Then, with a calm breath and a sharp mind, she imagined the tomes in their fullness, every detail of the spell, every word she could remember, everything. These were HER tomes and she knew them well!