RP:The Siege

From HollowWiki

Part of the The Rise of Pandorum Arc


Chaos Realm

Verse laughs a tiny laugh to herself sitting high above the world below. Oh, this strange land of Material – How... solid... everything is. Nothing ethereal, nothing changing – Bland and boring, the girl thinks, eying the rooftops of houses placed so far below. Then again, the banshee chuckles, if this world weren't so solid, I couldn't be sitting up here now... It was true, if the world of Material was not of such order, there would be no way for the child to be sitting on a ledge suspended in the midair – “Now wait one second!” one might say, “Her being suspended in mid-air is of no sense of the order of the Material Realm! In fact, the order in the Material Realm allows no such thing!” And this would all be true, yes, if the girl wasn't sitting between the two realms, on a ledge of dimensions you could say, and with the Material World being so solid and the Dream world being so... Unreal... Well, one can certainly get the picture... Swinging her legs in the air, the girl allows sapphire eyes to sweep once more over the village. Just about time, shethinks, just about time to let the snow fall. At the thought of snow, Verse grins – Yes! She's made this sand to look exactly like snow, so white and wonderful! Most definitely, without a doubt, the best discovery made so far in the strange land of shapes and solids. The child lets out a pleased sigh, thinking, thinking, thinking. She sits suspended for some time, lost in her thoughts, in that mad mind encased inside the little lass' cranium. Snapping her fingers and snapping to, the girl raises her chin and lets out a giggle, “Seems as though I got lost again. Tsk, tsk, shame, shame...” she mutters to herself while pressing down on her pointer finger with her middle and the thumb. A tiny crack lets out and the girl's eyes dart down below, “What was that?” She looks around, white hair breezing from side to side, “Ah, never mind it...” The girl turns her attention somewhere else... Somewhere unexplainable – The world of dream is that which is where! The girl's small fingers close around a large sack sitting aside her, and pulls the heavy bag closer. Allowing her pale fingers to sift through the even paler sand, the girl smiles. Yes, yes, yes, just about time to begin, just about time to begin indeed... The girl scratches her chin with her free hand, her brow creasing in ponderance, “I wonder why those Nemisis fellows were so set on me being away... Did he tell me? Shoot, I certainly can't remember...” The girl scratches her chin and strokes her nonexistent beard. Yes, that would certainly remain a mystery for now... Darn it all to heck. Once again losing herself in her thoughts, Verse remains still for a good while more, her facial expression changing slightly each time her thought's direction steers and veers. With her tongue slightly poked from between her little lips and her forehead bunched and smashed, the girl once again snaps her fingers. At once her express changes and her attention turns back to the work at hand. “Kids these days... Can't focus on a damn thing, I's tells ya.” Fingers closed inside the case, the girl pulls out a hand full of sand. With a smile, the girl drops the first bit, it falls fluttering, miles and miles, down upon the village. A fantastic descent, the flakes toppling one over the other. The girl tosses another handful, and another. Her motions quicken pace and more and more of the powder passes down among the eddies. “Oh, Eddy, what a lovely sight!” the girl exclaims. Her smile grows wider as the frequency of the falling grows, now the girl holds the bag in both hands, dumping it in bulk down upon the land... A winter wonder land... Down below the sleepers sleep, the dreamers dream and all is very peaceful. Those asleep fall deeper and deeper, the abyss widens, gaining depth, losing existence all around. The guards posted lull their heads, so tired they find themselves a'sudden. A few smile at the falling snow, their lids falling much the same. Yes, all is peaceful in this little place, all is restful and quiet. There are very few that stir, very few that could if they wished. Those worse affected fall deeper and deeper, the darkness rowing all around. It grows, so terrible it becomes, terrible and magnificent, all there is around. It is so dark that figures seem to drift within it, so dark that darkness is no longer real... So dark... Darker... Those sleeping, dreaming of the dark, begin to slowly fade, sinking into their beds like ethereal spirits. Soon they sink within their beds entirely and disappear from sight. Good night. Good night. There is no night where they have gone, but night it will be for them forever... Those that fade join the never enders, the eternal dreamers. Those who always sleep, dreaming of the Dream... A grin shows on the child's face – Oh, the most wicked of grins. With tiny teeth showing, the girl begins to wiggle her fingers, small patterns traced in the night sky. Screams are heard from far below – Those that managed to stay awake through the sand now scamper into the open streets, their faces marred with terror – They scream and scream! The beasts following them are terrible, worse than anything one could imagine, something truly of nightmares – Something like a dog but much, much larger, tears through the loose gravel that makes up the small road. Spikes, black, like onyx, are pierced through the creature and jut out from its body making it all the more dangerous and terrible to look at. Blood seeps from between flesh and steel where the spikes are buried, it stains the ground as the creature runs. All around, more of the beasts emerge, chasing men from doorways, following bawling women as they scurry for their lives. There is no hope, yes, yes, abandon it all ye who enter here! Though, they are not entering, no, no, instead exiting, fleeing from the borders of the buildings, for clearly the town has been cursed... What horror has befallen the lot this eve! Oh, what god did we not appease?! The girl cackles, her laughter swept away before it reaches the ground far below – Oh what god? Oh what little girl! Her eyes light up with glee, laughing, laughing, laughing at her most hilarious of thoughts, at her wonderful actions. The girl rocks back and forth on her ledge, still suspended high above the ground. What silly, silly children... All afraid of some phantoms, some hallucinations... Like little girls and little boys afraid of the darkness... The girl clicks her little tongue inside her little mouth and shakes her head, taking blue eyes side to side. With a final glance the girl places a hand on the night sky. Turning, she pulls the doorway closed, once again sealing the blackness, encasing the scene below.


Nemisis stood at the portal of the chaos realm before turning to his battalion and builders, looking to the sky before laying his ruby red eyes upon them and saying, “It is time to start the siege….” This was Honor’s plan and hence he was at the helm of at the moment, but he would fade away for a split second, in mid sentence to switch with Intelligence. He needed to make sure the gas mask was constructed properly. A normal gas mask would most likely break upon Madness’ release, hence after analyzing the structure of one, a copy, with a few tweaks were made out of pure chaotic energy. While still talking, he placed his hand in front of his face, “Remember your gas masks or else you shall not ever return to the world of the awake.” A bright red light emitted from his palm before taking shape of a gel like bubble, crystallizing in some parts and reaching around his head and ears, locking in place properly. Soft veins traced along the transparent gel as they began to inflate in deflate in sync with the draconian’s breathing. Only such depth, detail, and intricate tunnels could be made by the meticulous and precise Intelligence. Once completed, the personas switched once more. By force of habit and quirk, Honor went to place a cigarette in his mouth only to pause and realize he could do no such thing with the gas mask. Inside his head he muttered, “Well….I won’t be doing of most the work anyway…” as he turned to look at Madness whose face never looked so happy in months. Madness chuckled devilishly saying, “Yes, I will be having all the fun.” This was the deal that the two made a while back when Madness was denied some free time. All that built up anger and bloodlust itching for a taste of satisfaction for months. Standing there in his shackles, he looks down at Joy who was sleeping at his feet. With a rough nudge of his foot he shouted, “Oi! Wake up! It’s almost time for you to work!” The pulsating snot bubble that rooted from the child like persona’s nose popped before he sat up mumbling and rubbing his eye, “Hmmm? What is it Maddy?” A simple grumble would come from the persona before Honor laughed and said, “Wake up Joy….It’s almost time to unlock Madness’ chains….” Sitting up and shoving his arms skyward with a long drawn out yawn, he says, “Ooookaaaayyy.” Back on the outside, Nemisis shoved his hands in his pockets and walked into the portal. Upon walking in he would see the most of the land covered in white. The man would scoff before saying, “The hell is this…..? This is not Frostmaw….” Inside his head Intelligence turned that bolt in his head and said, “Hmmm…..well Verse does like snow… Tis’ not too surprising.” In all honesty, the man was still getting used to the strange ways of Verse, especially Honor, but who was he talk? He has at least six different people inside his head. The draconian’s dislike of the snow stemmed from the cold temperature, but Honor would come to realize the temperature did not change. Aside from the volatile weather of the realm, the place actually looked peaceful and serene. A twist of the face would make the persona rethink his opinion and say, “Now that I think about….without the coldness….It’s actually pretty nice….” Madness who was standing anxiously waiting to be released said, “Hey! Can we please get back to the matter at hand!?” Everyone looked at the persona with wide eyes, claiming that awkward silence. Looking around Madness would say, “What!? What I can’t have my excited moments!? And I know Honor and Intelligence aren’t giving me that look with all their moments!” A small smirk would crack upon everyone’s faces while Mischief would comment, “Wow Madness, don’t get your panties in a bunch.” Madness would only turn around to view the outside and say, “Hmph! Whatever!” This would result in a big laughter from the rest while Joy hopped on Madness’s neck with a hug, “its okay Maddy! I still love you!” The anxious persona would grumble in response to this. Honor would finally return to the outside and get things on the way. Picking up the grain of white sand that would crumble into white dust in his grip, he said to the others, “Remember the flare…..Those who are on standby, should any of you experience strange and deadly feelings…..Move closer towards the exit of the realm….Now disperse….!” Walking through the darkness ahead of him, sounds of screams and panic would steadily come louder until he came in the clear, out of the dark mist to a gathering of crummy buildings with people running around in havoc. Standing there, analyzing the situation, those red eyes of his would catch sight of a group of gruesome bleeding dogs chasing many of those running about. Inside his head Honor would comment, “Verse’s illusions are quite effective it seems…” Intelligence turned that bolt saying “Indeed.” Madness began to shake with excitement saying, “Look at all my victims!” Victims they were indeed. Those who were left were those who did not heed the warnings of Verse and Nemisis. Those who refused to pledge loyalty to the new regime and sought to remain in the realm and wait for Aldred’s return. The demi was there to deal with them and clear the land for the new city Pandorum. It would not be long before a swarm of mutant illusionist dogs formed a line and draw the panicking people toward him. The man’s hands sparked with chaotic energy before he shot them outward to each of his sides, drawing energy from the atmosphere itself and causing a crystallized wall, devouring some people in the process. This caused most the crowd to halt in confusion as they screamed and stared at him. By this time, a good set of the soldiers managed to arm themselves and defend the back of the remaining citizens. As they attacked the beasts, they came to realize the truth, that they were mere illusions. One soldier shouted, “Hey! These beasts are not real! What the hell!? Who is responsible for this!?” It wasn’t long before all attention was upon Nemisis. Sifting through the crowd, the soldiers made it to the front and approached the demi. The leader of the battalion and who seemed to be the loudest one pointed a finger at the draconian and said, “You! Are you the cause of this!?” Standing there Honor glared at the soldier before saying, “You all did not heed our warning….Now it’s time to pay….We don’t even want your loyalty anymore…..We are Nemisis…..your end….” A loud bellow of laughter would be emitted from the loud one before saying, “Ha! So you are the infamous Nemisis who claimed to be the new ruler of this land!” At this point, Nemisis had began to ignore the soldier and began to count to down from thirty, “30…..29…..28….27……26…..25…..” The soldier on the other hand, continued however, “I am Molktak! The person in charge until our great leader Aldred gets back! You do not even look like you can compare to him!” A loud cheer would ensue from the crowded and laughter continued. Honor on the other hand kept counting, “19…..18…..17…..16…..15…..” Chaotic energy began to glow before it trickled down and concentrated to one finger. Molktak continued to laugh and say to the Halfling, “What are you going to do!? You! One person! Take on all of us!?” The time drew closer and closer as Honor kept going, “5…..4……3…..2….1…” Lifting a finger towards the sky, a chaotic spark flew into the air and spread across the sky, bright light the sun, able to be seen miles away. The flare has been fired off. The rest of the PK members have run out of time to make it to their posts and ran the risk of being caught in Madness’ oncoming power. Molktak and the rest briefly became quiet as the flare was shot off only to laugh when nothing happened, “Oh? Was that supposed to scare us!? You know what!? I’ve had enough of you!” Pulling the axe from off his back, he swings at the man’s head. However inside the demi’s head, the plan was beginning to unfold. Honor turned and looked at Joy and said, “Alright, unleash him.” With laughter and giggles, the little boy hopped onto the Madness’ shoulders with glowing pure white hands. While saying, “Boop, boop, boop!” The boy drummed onto Madness’ head before rolling off. The shackles around his body began to glow the same exact pure white color as Joy’s power, so bright that they became blinding. It was not long before the chains broke down and turned into feathers only to flow towards Honor’s draw sword. The blade absorbed each feather, twisting and turning until the feather protruded out the hilt and inscriptions carved themselves into the rest of the blade. Automatically Madness assumed power and control over Nemisis. The oncoming axe would snap upon a deep tremor that emitted from the man’s body as he stared at Molktak with eyes that burned with endless pits of chaos. In mere seconds, Madness’ quirk came into effect. It would span across three miles in every direction, heralded in by the screams of those whom fall prey to this incarnation of their nightmare. Most of the crowd and soldiers began to grip themselves, shaking with wide eyes and sweat. Molktak took a step back before turning around to see most of the crowd’s new state. Confused as ever, he looks back and forth between his people and Nemisis before asking, “What did you do!?” Madness on the other hand did not even pay attention to him. Taking a deep breath in, he savored the moment of freedom, “Ahhhh this air smell so fresh! There’s so much energy in the air as well! It’s so tasty I can almost –“He would cut his word short only let out a deafening roar that could only be described as bipolar. It can be identified at first as an actual roar, but as it lingered down, one can hear a howl of some sort. The earth trembled beneath this outburst as swirls of dust and the chaotic aura rotate around the demi, sparking viciously until a full blown stream of energy burst into the sky like a giant geyser, splitting the ground and the walls at his two sides. The clouds started to be swallowed by this geyser of energy as Madness transformed into his desired body. Those two giant poisonous fangs that are usually hidden within his mouth elongated until they stuck out a little farther than his chin. The blades on his tail opened themselves up and his wings slid out of his back before stretching out their full length. His claws began to reveal themselves in both his hands and feet. And lastly two sharp blades protruded out of his elbows. Finally the man fell silent, however the screams never stopped. There were at most ten soldiers left who was not affected by Madness’ quirk. The rest were mostly whispering or shouting “No, stop!” Others were pleading. To no avail, the bewildered soldiers including Molktak were trying to convince them that it was an illusion. This was true, but it was not just a mere illusion, it was a mixture of mental and magical energy….something fierce. Eventually they all turned to Madness and shouted, “You monster! Stop this!” Nemisis would just shrug his shoulders and say, “I can’t help it. It seems some of you are a bit mentally trained and stronger than the rest. You all should’ve helped them out. In actuality it’s you’ll fault that they are in pain! Besides…why would I want to stop it, when this is your execution!?” A maniacal laughter rang through the sky only to be interrupted by Molktak yet again, “Whatever! We’ll just have to sl-“Time seemed slow down to stop as the draconian began to move. In an instant, he was in front of the loud mouth leader who still had no clue he was on the move. A clawed hand moves to tap the side of the man’s jaw. There is only silence before time sped back up. Off go Molktak’s jaw, splattering blood, teeth, and cartilage everywhere and in pieces. The demi’s expression was one of annoyance as he said, “You talk too much….” All the other soldiers watched in horror as blood flowed onto his shoulder before he shoved his hand into the helpless soldier’s chest and grab the spinal cord. The bone ended up splitting in two within his grasp, so with the other hand, he pulled out what was left of the upper skeleton, effectively ripping Molktak’s skull out of his body. While Nemisis licked the blood off of his free hand and the other soldiers still in shock, those fallen under the hallucination began to move. One woman happened to look at another and shout, “You killed him!” Picking up a rock, she swung to smash in the face of another’s, effectively knocking her out. However the hallucinating attacker did not stop there, she kept smashing and smashing with all her strength, flatting the head until brain matter and bone flowed out the other’s nose and ears. Laughing somewhat while crying, she started to stab at the body next with no signs of stopping. This made the demi look up. Unfortunately for another victim, she looked into his eyes. Looking into Madness’ eyes can increase his quirk’s effect tenfold. Falling under the pressure of his killer intent, she pictured the man impaling her stomach with his hand. Instead it was actually her who shoved her own hand into her stomach. Another victim looked at a soldier and screamed, “No! Stay away! Monster!” Lunging at the man, she proceeded to bite and gorge his eyes out, scratching at his face and armor and until her nails came off. The soldier screamed in agony, caught off guard by the attack, and with no choice, began to swing wildly cutting her in any random place he could reach. However at the same time, the swinging axe accidentally sinks into the side of another victim’s next, leaving her head barely attached to the body, squirting blood everywhere. The attacker, with her flesh hanging off, screams, head butting the armor until she literally kills herself, refusing to let go of the supposed monster in attempt to defend herself until the end. The now blind soldier could only writhe in pain after killing his attacker and holding eyes. The quirk caused more chaos to rise as everyone began to kill each other or themselves under their own nightmares. The remaining soldiers wasted no time attacking the man. Madness only laughed as the chaotic aura around his body flared and seemed to take a life of its own. Tendrils reach out decapitate the lucky ones. Some were impaled by remaining chaos shards, being crystallized from the inside out as he made them grow until they burst into nothingness. However this one unlucky man, Madness took his time with. Wrapping the aura around his arms and legs, he lifted him up into the air. With a finger, he shot various beams in through his body. By the time he stopped, the man was dead, but even then, he wasn’t finished. Pulling off his arms and legs, the body fell to the floor. Keeping holding of one limb, he cranked it back like a bat, swatted the head off with a rattling crunch. Another victim came rushing towards him only for the demi to grab his face, halting his steps. In an instant, he crushed his head and then blasted him away to ash. Madness just laughed, “So much blood! This is so much fun!” Inside his head Honor said, “This place needs to be cleared completely….” Madness smiled and said, “Yea! Yea! Yea! Let me have my fun!” The chaotic aura then began to break apart into bubbles that solidified into gel like spheres, changing into sharp shapes and weapons, hurling themselves at people. Some are torn asunder, others cut up from the inside out, organs missing from others, complete body sections gone from some. Most felt a torturous death. Only a few received a quick one, with an incineration by giant blasts of energy, constantly being fired as Nemisis moved throughout the village. Wisps of red would pass through homes, slicing them apart and causing them to fall. As he got deeper into the village, he came across more soldiers. With his irresponsible attitude, the draconian would find a sword or an arrow pierce his body every now and then. Under the supervision of the rest of the personas, Madness did not sustain any fatal wounds. Most met a quick end. However there was a giant amongst the villagers. A swing of his mighty sword was not fast enough to catch him. A simple dodge to the left and a leap into the air sent the demi right at him. Cupping two hands together, a deep spark of compressed chaotic energy is fired into the giant’s stomach, knocking him to the floor. Raising his hand into the air, the various forms of his energy that were wreaking havoc upon the town gathered into three separate spheres that all formed edgy triangles than pointed downward toward the giant. With his armor and piece of his stomach revealed, he was helpless as the solid shapes jumped up and down his body over and over until he was pieces. Blood covered the white sand that Verse placed upon the land. Those who slept were the lucky ones. They avoided the real nightmare. With most of if not all the remaining inhabitants dead, the demi proceeded to end everything off with a final bang. Rising high into the air, he formed eight spheres that dragged in chaotic energy from everywhere. They did not increase in size however, constantly compressing the mass it collected, only turning a deeper crimson as it increased in power. Madness continued to laugh as they rotated around him and sparked viciously, begging to be let go so it can complete its purpose. The demi would not make them wait long before he hurled them into the ground, leveling the area into a giant explosion that destroyed everything in its wake. Honor quickly said, “Madness the mask!” Madness responded, “Oh yea!” The persona did not feel pain and was partially suicidal, so he had no problem with being caught in the blast; however he had to wear the mask in order not fall under the effects of Verse’s sand. Using his wings, he covered his front and prevented its destruction. Lowering himself to the floor, he made one last trip through the makeshift village that was now a mixture of dust, ash, blood, and white sand. There were no survivors. With a deep sigh Madness said, “Well….looks like my fun is over…It was good while it lasted….” Honor nodded before driving the sword into Madness’ back. The inscriptions traveled onto the persona and the feathers turned pure white once again and swirled around him, rebuilding and forming those chains that sealed him and his power up once again. With Honor back in control, he twitched before reverting Nemisis back to his usual form. With the destruction complete, it was time for the next phase of the plan. With another spark, he shot the flare into the air and simply waited.


Korike was standing at the entrance to the Chaos Realm. "This gas mask is so irritating." he mutters to himself. The gnome had been waiting for a certain elf, so they could get started.


Kirien's arrival would be heralded by the metallic 'click' of his modified boots on the shifting ground, the fox moving in tandem with the tune he hummed. Dressed in his regular attire, the only relatively new object upon his form was the respiratory mask covering the lower half of his face; he'd actually owned it for a good while now and it often hung around his neck when not in use, though its original purpose was to allow Kirien to breathe beneath the sand when riding Nameless. He'd raise a hand in greeting to Korike upon reaching the same spot as him, speaking thereafter in a somewhat cheery tone reminiscent of his more mischievous self. "'Sup, fellow trickster~." Tail swishing absently behind him, he'd come to a stop beside the gnome, peering at their surroundings with an air of bored interest. "...So. We go, yes?"


Korike smiles and nods to the elf. "Good day. Yes, let's go. It's this way." he says, pointing to their location. While leading Kirien to the re-animation site, he glances at a few of the sleeping citizens. "Was this really necessary?" he mutters. "I highly doubt any of these people are loyal to Aldred, after what he did."


A glance or two was spared to the slumbering people they passed on the way to the pre-determined location, but otherwise Kirien paid more attention to the ground beneath his feet than to Korike or the strange world around him. He remembered his last, and first, visit to this land quite clearly, and the figure he came into contact with nearby here. It wasn't the most pleasant of memories, though there were redeeming factors to it that kept the memory close to the forefront of the fox's mind. Shrugging to himself, and kicking at the ground, he'd watch the sparks resulting from the scraping contact of his boot against the odd earth dance across the flickering pathway. "Not questioning it. Nemi said it was necessary, I'm listening to him. I don't know what that Aldred guy did but there's always the possibility of stupid people still believing in him, no matter what he did. There always are disgusting people like that."


Korike nods. "Forgive me, you're right." The gnome remained silent until they reached the valley. He then inhales, enjoying the smell of the rotting flesh coming the piles of corpses. "Time to go to work." he says with a grin. Korike then places one hand on the ground, and concentrates. For the amount of magic he was going to use, he would have to draw from the realm to help him out.


For once, Kirien also stayed quite quiet; something that was almost unnerving considering the fox was so fond of talking and being a general irritant. He appeared to have calmed down a lot since first journeying to Lithrydel. Unlike Korike, however, he'd wrinkle his nose and attempt to still his breathing at the stench of decaying flesh, uttering a murmur of distaste while turning to once more survey the area. "Ew. Dead bodies are only fun when they're relatively fresh - this is kind of horrible. They're all smelly and maggoty, ugh. I don't like bugs." And really, there was a very good reason for this particular phobia of Kirien's.


Korike nods. "The centipede, huh?" The gnome then holds his free hand out towards the piles of corpses. "Get ready!" he calls to Kirien. "This much chaos magic being used at once is bound to draw attention!"


Kirien flinched despite himself at that comment. His ears flattened against his head some, a light glower of displeasure cast in Korike's direction. "Yes. The centipede." The word was practically ground out, and the fox snorted in distaste before turning attentions to the surrounding terra. It really was a bleak sort of place, and strange, too, and Kirien wasn't sure he liked it all that much. It was irritating not being able to see properly with his feet. "Attention from /what/? I thought everything was asleep or something?" Still, he'd assume a relaxed position nearby to Korike; one of readiness to dispatch whatever may be attracted to the gnome's dark magic.


Korike shook his head, as small waves of chaos energy seem to form nearby on the ground, only to be vacuumed up by the gnome’s hand still placed firmly on the dirt. “Verse’s spell affected only the town. There are still wild beasts out here.” he says, as roar is heard, coming from the north. “Ah, it sounds like one is coming now.” The chaos beast then makes it’s appearance…a lion. The creature appears disfigured. It’s paws are bigger than they should be, it’s nose has sunken in, it’s tail is missing, and a lot of it’s hair is missing. The lion’s eyes seem to be looking in two directions at once. Upon spotting the fox and Shadow Gnome, and attracted to the chaos magic… the beast charges. “I’m going to need some cover!” Korike shouts, as the dirt in front of him begins to stir, and undead start crawling from the ground.


"I heard there were armies, too. We passed some, though they didn’t notice us - thank god. Did you see them? They were--” huge. But Kirien didn’t finish that sentence, for he belatedly came to the realisation that he was likely disrupting the gnome’s concentration by talking. The sooner he left him alone to do his work, the sooner he could head to the next waypoint, and the sooner the fox would be out of this strange world and back on properly solid ground - ground he could see on, at that. “What is /that/,” he said in the wake of the chaos beast’s roar, quirking a disapproving brow in the direction of the disfigured creature. Sure, it was large enough, would have dominated the lions found in the other world, but it wasn’t exactly what Kirien had been expecting. He seemed displeased by this for some reason. “A’ight, I got it,” was grumbled to Korike, the fox’s tail swishing behind him as he stepped into the path of the now-charging beast. There were few people he allowed to order him around, and Korike was most definitely not one of them, but for the sake of finishing this ordeal up quickly he’d listen; after all, it would be difficult to build the required army of undead when the only one possessing the power to raise them had been mauled to death. Elethial was drawn in a fluid motion, the weapon singing softly in response to its amber blade being revealed to the not-quite-natural light of the chaos world. It appeared as unsettled as its master by this place but its chimes were ignored by Kirien in favour of raising the sword some. “Never used this on a lion before - bloody big one, you are.” It’d be the only form of warning the beast would receive -- a warning likely discarded if even understood -- before Kirien uttered a sharp, shrill cry and, in the same moment, drew his blade in a swift downward arc. The initial echo itself would be utterly drowned out by Elethial’s scream of song as its power was activated, and a veritable wall of sound erupted from the tip of its sword. Streaking its way toward the rushing chaos beast, the force of physical noise ruptured the earth beneath and around it, deep fissures bursting open in the wake of the attack. The lion, of course, would meet the invisible wall head-on - a big mistake, its already mutilated face being forced further in on itself at the contact. Its movements seemed to halt entirely for a moment, before with an agonised roar the creature was flung back and, carried by Elethial’s sound blast, shot a good distance away before hitting the ground again. Hard. “…It’s more fun to use that on people,” Kirien said, pouting slightly in the direction of the motionless thing while lowering his amber blade.


Korike was concentrating on creating un-dead as quickly as he could. The Shadow Gnome could feel chaos energy entering though his hand on the ground, mix with his own magic, and eject through his other hand, facing the site of re-animation. His pointed ear twitches as he hears the beast approach…but wait…a new sound? Indeed, what he had heard was Kirien’s weapon being swung, as well as the ground being split, followed by the beast’s death cry. Then, the gnome’s job finished, he stands up, panting slightly. Korike then turns around, to see the result of the fight, himself. Upon seeing the cracks in the ground, the dead lion, and not a scratch on Kirien, his eyes widen slightly for a moment. “Wow!...Nice job!” He really didn’t know what to say. The gnome then turns to look at his Two-hundred undead. “Yes, this should do.” He thought to himself. “Thank you for your help, Kirien. I have to take these back to the entrance of the chaos realm, now. See you later!” he says, with a grin, as he and his undead, appear to sink into their own shadows, and vanish from sight.


Kirien grinned a bit. With the gnome having already slunk away into shadow and moved on to his next rendezvous point, the fox did the same, meandering off through the broken wilderness in search of Nemisis.


Nemisis began to walk over to nearby broken building to sit and wait quietly for Kirien to find him. As he traveled through the rubble, his tattoo began glow bright red causing the man to stop and look at it. Inside his head Honor said, “Hmm…..? Equinox wishes to come out…?” Intelligence turns the bolt in his head saying, “Perhaps it was all the blood.” Madness chuckled saying, “I would want to come out too for all that fun!” Honor shrugged saying, “We’ll find out now….” On the outside, the draconian pulled back his sleeve to reveal the glyph-like tattoo. Concentrating and bracing himself, the glyph began to shift and emit a violent chaotic energy. His arm gave off a sinister wave as it turned a heated hue and sparks began to dance about the limb. Driving the arm into the ground, a reddish white light emerged as he tore into the dimension in which the weapon laid. As he retracted his arm, an eerie sheath can be seen within his grasp. This was no normal sheath; it was alive, riddled with veins that pumped with a heartbeat. Turning the weapon horizontal, he began to unsheathe the blade. As soon as the first part of the blade was seen, a small shockwave escaped dragging a ring of dust and small audible whispers. The blade was obviously alive as well, coated in a black metal while traced with a pure white outline and edge. It resembled a katana at the moment, with seven indented symbols that ran down the middle and were the color of blood upon close inspection. Holding the Equinox in one hand and the living sheath in another, he flicked blade out and allowed it to taste the air. Instantly it sung, pulsating with a red aura that seemed to grow impatiently with each second. Honor finally said, “Ah….it wants the souls of the dead….” Intelligence turned the bolt with one click and said, “Told ya it was hungry.” Not responding to his persona, the demi raised the blade into the air and watched. The red aura turned pure white and thinned out, causing a white vacuum. Suddenly, hundreds of white orbs started to become visible, racing towards the blade’s call, being swallowed up without a hint of resistance. A whole minute would pass before the blade flashed and the vacuum ceased. Placing it by his side, Nemisis said out loud, “Happy now?” Only a small hum is heard as well as a brief feeling. The white aura flexed once before vanishing completed. The action would lead one to believe the blade actually burped. With Equinox pleased, Nemisis went back to looking for a proper perch, the living sheath turning into sparks and merging with the blade. The blade itself slowly evaporated into black gas and vanished within its owner. The tattoo however did not revert to its regular form, however the man did roll his sleeve back down to hide it once more.


Kirien watched. Skies shifted above him, alien in their movements as well as their appearance though it unnerved him significantly less than what it connected to at the blurry horizon; the ground was strange here, and difficult to see with, and that gave cause for worry. What lay just beneath his feet? Usually he'd be able to tell whether there was naught but solid ground, or a predator lying in wait, or a drop into the great below. Did this world have such places? Any extensive cavern networks below the Chaotic domain were surely hellish if they existed considering how utterly twisted this world was above ground. Booted foot tapped at the earth as if seeking something and he didn't appear to find it until all movement paused abruptly - head tilted toward the ground and the fox swiftly dropped to his knees, hands placed flat against its surface, feeling. Ears perked up and a curious frown crept onto fine features. Had that been a…shock wave? His head rose sharply and Kirien was quickly on his feet again, silently slipping forward to halt at the corner of a dilapidated building. It couldn't be an enemy, could it? He was sure Nemisis had said something about dealing with them and he'd seen the flare, so he's confused for a moment, especially at the sound of that powerful and unfamiliar heartbeat. It's hard to feel anything with this strange ground but he could pick up on that relatively easily at such close range - would have trouble tracking it for miles unless above ground but whatever it is doesn't appear to be moving. And then there're wisps of swirling white light -- souls -- travelling toward whatever beastly creature may be around that corner. Kirien observed the orbs vanish around the wall, had half a mind to follow them but he found himself mostly rooted to the spot right now. What if this thing stole his soul when he stepped out from behind the building? How large was it, what shape? Was it alive or dead and did it have magical shields? He sneezed, managed to stifle it in a sleeve; at least that answered one question, sort of. The others, however, would be left unanswered until he steeled himself, worked up the courage to peek around the wall - he couldn't feel it properly and all he could sense was magic and chaos so taking a proper look was the only other option. What one-eyed gaze laid upon, the sight caught through the silvery, waning trails of souls, surprised him. "Nemi?" Almost cautiously he wound his way around the edge of the building and stepped toward the demi, attentions affixed intently on the sword in the man's grasp. The pulse, he found, emitted from that sheathed weapon. It dissipated as it faded from view but somehow Kirien felt it was still present, lurking somewhere nearby - its heartbeat was there, somewhere, somehow, still. "What was that thing?"


Nemisis stopped moving as he felt Kirien walk into his range of senses. He also felt Equinox shift in response to Kirien's prsence, cautious yet curious. Oddly enough, though the weapon was connected to him, it held no place within his mind. It was more connected to his soul, a symbiosis of unknown origin except to the draconian. Turning to look at Kirien, he was not surprised, yet he simply responded, "Its name is Equinox." Opening his hand, the blade reemerges through a piercing ray of light that stemmed from his hand, solidifying all the way to its hilt. Turning the blade to the side to give the fox a better view, he said, "Its alive, much like your own sword, however we are bonded......" The man would continue the introduction of his blade, however priority came first, "Did everything go as planned....?"


Kirien :: It was Elethial's shrill song that interrupted further questioning from Kirien; he found his hand being drawn to the elven weapon's hilt without much thought and the blade was unsheathed in the same moment Equinox materialised in Nemisis' grasp once more. Amber blade glittered and sparkled as if in some attempt to awe the other sword, while its owner simply stared at it in brief confusion and then raised his head to look to the demi. "It says we're bonded too. I guess that'd make sense since it friggin' follows me everywhere." After failing a couple of times to sheath Elethial the fox gave up, allowed it to rest idly in his hand, whispering song words to Equinox as his attentions strayed from Nemisis to his odd weapon, and back. "It looks weird. Feels weird too. Hate to think what it feels like in the regular world." The question had him pausing for a second before answer was given. "If you mean the dead people then yeah, the gnome managed to dredge up a whole load of 'em. He's probably off having a party somewhere by this point, I don't even know. Disappeared on me."


Nemisis watched as Elethial was drawn forth and began to ring. After Kirien's translation he responded with, "True, however we don't think Elethial will try to kill you if it was not fed properly......Equinox eats souls and retains them within its form......What you witness was me feeding it......" He watched quietly at how hard the fox stared at it and describe it. It was currently in the form of a katana, prompting the man to say, "This is just one of its forms. It has a few more.......We haven't mastered it yet...." As the young elf finally reverted back to business he responded," That is good.....Are you injured...? Did you run into any trouble...?"


Kirien was never one to let his guard down for too long. When in Nemisis' presence he tended to relax a large amount but in this strange world he was on constant alert even while close by the demi. Despite the relative silence of this place there were faint sounds and sensitive ears picked up on them - he turned, peered into the shifting blackness, and saw and felt nothing. Perhaps he was hearing things, paranoia prompting the fox's mind to fool itself into witnessing noises and creatures that didn't exist. "Don't let it eat me," he said to Nemisis with another glance toward Equinox, "I ain't good sword food anyways. Can I touch it though? Will it eat me if I touch it?" His free hand extended slightly, childlike curiosity evident on Kirien's face as he stared at the strange weapon. "It feels odd from here so I want to see what it's like up close." The question of trouble was ignored for the moment as he was sufficiently distracted with Equinox instead. Elethial gave a soft chime.


Nemisis grinned saying, “It won’t eat you….It wouldn’t do that to us….” What Kirien was actually hearing is Equinox and the voices trapped within. The demi actually laughed at the fox’s comment about being food. In all actuality, he was perfect food for the blade; conflicted. Before the man could answer the boy’s question, he was already reaching out to touch the blade. Looking down at the blade, he was reluctant to say yes. Equinox was silently snickering. It being connected to his soul, it knew how he truly felt about the boy how he was thinking about the various amount of things can happen with the boy touching the sword. Though he didn’t react physically, it was equivalent to his eye narrowing at the blade. The chaotic sword could scare the living daylights out of fox if it chose to do so, especially in that form. He didn’t want Kirien feeling anything upon touching it. However there was a trust between the two blades and they reacted off of each other. After a brief moment he said, “Go ahead…..just don’t touch the edge….”


Kirien 'd a habit of proclaiming how much he disliked Death and ran from it - Nemisis knew of his fear of his End by now, he was sure. Still, even with the knowledge in mind {or the assumption} that the blade held in the demi's hand could wreak terrible damage upon him, possibly even kill him if it got carried away, fingers ached to touch it only briefly. It'd be obvious sometimes just how much of a contradiction Kirien was. Curiosity killed the cat, they said, and perhaps that was true for foxes as well. Fingers of his left hand ghosted across the blade, straying away from the edge, and then pressed more surely against it; there was a visible shudder which ran the length of his spine and caused white-tipped tail to shiver some at the eerie sensation. "Feels like heartbeats," he murmured, eye closing, "lots of them. But at the same time it's only one? It's kinda like…it took all those heartbeats and used them to create its own melody."


Nemisis watched as Kirien approached Equinox like a public pool. At first he touched it with the tip of his fingers, testing it, and then continued further to full blown inspection. As he listened to the fox's words he realized what he was describing. It was a combination of the trapped souls and the sheath. There was a reason why he kept the blade in another dimension, far from battle. This blade was for really serious fights and for those whom he wished to bring the greatest hell to. As he continued to inspect the blade, the demi looked up at the fox and said, "You're afraid....." The simple touch allowed the draconian to peer into Kirien's soul as long as he touched it. However, this did not work both ways. Equinox remained rather calm throughout the process, however he knew the blade was enjoying the boy's touch. If Nemisis gave the green light, it would most definitely eat him.


Kirien :: "A chaos beast found us," said Kirien, as if abruptly changing the topic even as he continued to scrutinise Equinox with both hand and eye, "but I blew it away. Well, Elethial did." He glanced up, met the demi's gaze for a moment and then stared back down at the blade, feeling its powerful pulse beneath his fingers. It was a belated answer to his earlier question of troubles and judging by the way he seemed to move with ease and had yet to bring up any mention of an injury it would be presumed Kirien'd escaped the fight unwounded - if that battle could even be considered a proper one. Elethial gave a soft chime at Nemisis' words and Kirien glanced at it, before meeting the man's eye once again; head fell to a tilt and he'd blink at him, silent for a second or two. Then, he tapped Equinox with one finger. "I'm only scared of becoming part of its song." He was, of course, referring to the blade stealing his soul away and adding it to its heartbeat. "Then I'd be lost. I wouldn't stand out amongst all that other noise and you'd forget me." The same finger that'd tapped the sword now ran a couple of centimetres along its length and the fox eyed his own movement almost curiously. "I don't think I want to be forgotten," he said.


Nemisis shook his head at Kirien saying, "No...Not that...You're afraid of this world...." As the elf reverted to the original question, he answers, "It seems you came out unscathed.....good...." Those ruby red eyes, still burning with chaos, stares at Kirien's one eye. As he explained his fear of being devoured, he said, "That won't happen....and there are souls within this blade that I have never forgotten as well..." The man observed exactly how intently he kept in contact with the blade; as if he could not stop touching it.


Kirien found a frown descending on his features, directed it first to Equinox and then upward to Nemisis. "It's strange. I'm not used to it. And the ground's hard to see with. It's like it's constantly moving and changing under my feet and I can't get a proper grasp on anything. That I can't see with it unnerves me, yeah. I'd rather it didn't eat me though, even if you wouldn't forget me." The last comment, tacked on to his explanation and likely seeming somewhat out-of-place, was spoken more softly as, eventually, he withdrew his hand from the strange blade. It was eyed for a moment as if he expected it to leap forward and draw him back in again. He vaguely recalled a time when he'd lain on the apparent roof of a building and stared up at a sky of false stars and nodded toward Equinox. "This is the one in your tattoo, right?"


Nemisis nodded towards Kirien, "Yes it is.....And this land is riddle with chaotic energy....That may be the reason why you can't 'see' anything.... And we said before, we won't allow it to eat you...." After the elf finally removed his hand from the blade, it within itself back into its wielder once more, fading into a black gas. The tattoo was still hidden under his sleeve out of view.


Kirien huffed a little. One boot tapped at the ground in question and there was a brief instance where he glanced downward at it, almost glared. "It's sneaky. I don't like having to rely on my eye. You better not let it eat me though…I'd rather my End didn't come from having my soul sucked out by a sword." Only when Equinox vanished once more did Elethial allow itself to be returned to its own sheath - something Kirien did almost immediately, not entirely fond of standing around holding a big sword in plain view. Perhaps it was habit for the rogue, as he was used to wielding far more easily-concealed weapons to keep up the appearance of a harmless civilian. "…What do we do now, though?" the fox asked after a pause, an ear flicking in Nemisis' direction as amber gaze returned to his face.


Nemisis took a deep breath and said, “For the last time….It will not eat you…..And it would rather take chunks out, piece by piece, rather than suck it right out of you…..” He felt the blade chuckle slightly at Kirien’s fear of it. Once the weapons were put away and a report was given that everything was going to plan, the demi placed his hands in his pockets and began to walk back towards the entrance to the realm. Oh how Honor wanted satiate fixation at the moment, however the gas mask was getting in the way of that. As Kirien asked the next step of the plan he replied, “We go escort the rest of the workers here so we can start building the town…..” The man took a brief second to look at his body realizing he covered in injuries somewhat. He knew Coral was going to have a field day with him and he slowly prepared himself for it.


Kirien :: That wasn't the best consolation and Nemisis was offered a short glower in response to it, followed by Kirien folding his arms across his chest and attempting to appear displeased. In the end however he likely only looked comical and seemed to realise this, for he quickly assumed a more natural posture after only a couple of moments. Obediently he paced after the demi when he began to walk, matching his stride and then falling into step to his left. "Wow, people honestly want to come into this place and build? Are they madmen?" he asked, blinking. "It's kinda creepy here. I'd try to help build though…but my magic sucks. And there's no real…earth around here to manipulate properly anyway. What do I do with this stuff?" A boot kicked at the shifting ground beneath him as they walked. "It's entirely unfamiliar."


Nemisis could not see most of Kirien's antics due to constant movement but he knew it was there. He then said, "The builders of the Phantasmal Knights trust me and know how to handle almost any situation.....There is still much of this land to be discovered so you may find a place you like...." In particular, the man was thinking about that tower which held scratches against it. It resembled a prison and he knew something was hidden there, but what? Another place that came to mind was the vortex. Particularlly Intelligence, he wanted to know what caused it and why it acted so strange. Kirien's words were briefly drowned out by thought. However he came back to and said, "There is earth beneath this ground....Just not what you're used to....." The demi could feel the energy that riddled this place. The earth with mixed with the chaotic properties of the realm, "This place will require an advanced amount of magical skill for you we assume.....Maybe you can train your magical skills here.....But in terms of helping build the place....no need..." The man dreaded the thought of the fox trying to help and accidentally causing a mass earthquake by accidentally mixing his terramancy with the chaotic energy.


Kirien paused in his footsteps before running to catch up with Nemisis again; head tilted toward him, a curious expression evident on fine vulpine features. "Maybe? Maybe there're lots of different types of places. It'd be fun to find a big place by an ocean or something. I wonder what the ocean in this world looks like." A finger lifted to place against the spot where his lips resided beneath his respiratory mask. "But Nameless hasn't been here yet, so I wonder how he'd react to it…" Eye became clouded briefly with worry at the thought of the wyvern feeling pain at simply being in this twisted world, or some such, and he quickly shook the image out of his mind - unconsciously he stepped closer to the demi in the process. "It'd be fun to try training my magic here though, I guess. How far under this…uh, chaos d'you think the ground is? I can't feel past the chaos."


Nemisis raised a brow at the mention of Nameless, "This world is not -that- different......Nameless would just have to be careful flying in the skies where the storm resides.......It would require practice and protection....We will show you the ocean in this realm one day as well.....Let's get you used to land first...." As they continued their walk and was asked about the ground, he responded, "The ground is mixed with the chaos.....Entertwined if you will....Though there may be places where there is pure earth....Perhaps when you get stronger with your magic, you'll be able to feel it....." All these questions gave the man an idea to bring the Kirien along for adventures and explorations....well some of them.


Kirien snorted, amused. "Storms! We'd have no trouble with storms, even chaotic ones." He glanced upward all the same, searching the skies for a glimpse of this apparently terrific tempest. Shrugged shoulders eventually rolled back and the fox made to stretch as they walked, arms raising above his head for a few long moments. "Maybe he'd get used to it easier than me though. Might not be so freaked out by it," was said. It was an idle musing, as while Kirien was fond of silence he preferred to break it with conversation more often than not. "I'ma find a big spot of ground where there's little chaos then, and build something there. Maybe. Or make the builders build it…um, oh, what's…what's going to live in the town when it's built? Chaos monsters? Or whoever wants to live there?"


Nemisis shook his head in disapproval, “Please don’t…..You have a high tendency to cause or attract destruction….It would be most unfortunate if you caused unnecessary earthquakes or destructions during the building process….And do not underestimate this realm…..There are still a lot of mysteries hidden within it….” The demi came to a realization he was getting used to Kirien’s ten thousand questions and stubbornness. However, he was not sure if this was a good or bad thing as of yet. The draconian then spoke up again after a brief period of thinking and said, “The regular citizens of the realm and anyone else who wishes to live here…..We just killed off all who refused to pledge loyalty to us or heed our warning and leave town….Verse relayed a message about this cleansing beforehand….And eventually some of these monsters will become part of the army….They shall be tamed one way or another….”


Kirien briefly entertained the idea of purposely causing earthquakes in this realm, thinking of them as less of a disaster {as Nemisis apparently viewed them} and more a show of power, of increasing ability; only exceptionally talented terramancers could shake the earth in such a way, he was sure! The fox grinned behind his mask and while that grin itself wasn't visible it'd be reflected in his eyes - mischief, clear and bright as any spring day. That was usually a dangerous look. But he'd be distracted from thoughts by Nemisis' words and cast him a sidelong glance as arms came back down from his stretch. "I want to find the mysteries. And, uh, if you want I could help with some of the monsters. But only the flying ones. I'm good with those types. Up there?" He made a motion toward the sky - apparently Kirien assumed the world he actually dwelled in to be above the Chaos realm for some reason. "Up there I got Nameless, but I also have this pterosaur sort of thing that I caught in Venturil. It stays there a lot because it likes the dry areas but they're really fun to train."


Nemisis is at this point prepared to deal with Kirien's disasterous antics. The boy has been pushing the subject far too much for him to just let it go completely, that the demi knew for sure. How he exactly will go able dealing with the problem that will most likely arise from his feat, he's not sure yet. Maybe he could get the boy to hold off the terramancy until the adventures? That may be a long shot, "So do we.....And fine as long as dragons are including in this offer...." The demi took the notion of pointing up at the sky as plainly the sky. Honor was not one to analyze relentlessly and overthink, that was Intelligence's job. "It seems you favor the air.....We may have a special job for you should things go as planned.....And we are not telling you what it is until after it comes to fruition...." That was the answer to the question he knew was coming.


Kirien :: Dragons! Kirien bit his lip to refrain from crying out with joy; the captive protested with a sharp sting of pain which went mostly ignored. The earlier idea of earthquakes was subsequently cast aside in favour of discussing this topic instead. "Dragons! Yes, I like those, I can work with them. They're sort of like wyverns which I prefer more than dragons -- no offence -- so after being around Nameless for so long I'm pretty good with them. Anything that flies, though, I can work with." Despite having strong ties to the earth and being one who enjoyed being on the ground, the fox possessed a certain ardent love for flying and being in the air; he felt free up there, entirely so, and he'd attempt to get there by either his own wings or by the use of others'. Though considering no feathered appendages sprouted from his back and no membranous wyvern wing skin grew whenever he stretched his arms out, he'd have to resort to borrowing from others forever. "A special job?" He asked despite already having been given an answer, as if hoping he'd be told some secrets if he pestered the man enough.


Nemisis simply said to Kirien, "Good.....The job will probably be perfect after a few tests.....We'll see during later explorations..." The man knew the boy well and he could sense his excitement at the mention of dragons. However he will not give into giving the job's description. Right now he needed to get one task finished before starting another. Pandorum was a priority above all.


Kirien gave a tilt of the head, now both excited and intrigued. At the mention of exploration the bright light in his eye grew even stronger and he grinned widely - again this wouldn't be caught but would be made quite obvious in his gaze, which was now affixed intently on Nemisis as they walked. "Explorations? Are we going exploring? I'd like to see what it's like underground! We could discover an entire cave network and-- ah! I want to find it now!" As much as he loved the skies Kirien was inherently connected to nature and earth and the mere thought of exploring the cavernous underbelly of the Chaos realm was one that alighted glee in his eye.


Nemisis says while pushing the boy towards patience, "In due time...Priorities come first.....Once the town is built, then we can do all these explorations.....We have an obligation to fulfill as ruler of this realm.....It needs to be fortified first..." The realm had no army and at this particular point, no city as well. However, once the city was built, everything.


Coral stood at the portal to the chaos realm her flute held tightly in her pale hands. The instrument would do her no good with her gasmask on but she enjoyed feeling the thing in her hands it was a sense of normalcy and something to tie her to herself. She quickly checks several pouches around her waist containing multiple powders, pastes and potions. Satisfied with her check of her supplies she gives the ribbon holding the hair back from her face one last tug to tighten it and secure her long ebon locks from her face and keep any errant strands from obscuring her gem like eyes. She takes a few small steps forward feeling the darkness of this realm strikingly against the light of the energy she normally drew on. She sighs taking a few more cautious steps murmuring to herself “Sola shine upon me and Luna lend me your strength,” as she then stations herself not far from the gate but not close to the town either as she watches the sky for the flashes her leader spoke of to know when to stay away and when to move in. Her sapphire eyes sparkle in the light of the first flash as it illuminates the sky and her hopeless fingering of her flute begins in an attempt to keep her nerves in check. Her eyes continuosly scan the sky for the second flash. Finally the light from the second flash illuminates the sky she sighs and runs along the path to where Nemisis and the others would be gathering.


Korike, meanwhile, had been traveling through the shadows with the two century of undead he had re-animated with Kirien’s help. The Gnome’s shadow seems to appear on the ground, behind Coral. Korike then slowly rises out of it, a wide grin on his face. “Boo!” he yells, right behind the Half-Elf.


Coral watches the builders running ahead of her pounding on a few enchanted drums she had thought to bring along. She stayed a little ways back she jumps and shrieks as the shadow gnome appears behind her.


Korike giggles a bit at the reaction he received from the half-elf. “Hello there.” The gnome says in a friendly tone. “Nemisis told me that we were going to be needing more builders.” He says, as he glances behind Coral at the workers that she had already gathered. Looking back to Coral, Korike spots her drums. “What are those for?” he asks, his head tilted slightly to the side.


Coral sighs realizing it was Korike "You scared me half to death," she chides looking up to her crew with the drums "Currently more morale than anything else but they also hold up a shield that keeps them safe from danger.


Korike gives a small nervous grin. “Sorry, I didn’t think I would scare you that badly.” He then nods as she explains the function of her drums. “I suppose I should add my own builders to the mix now.” He says, as he places the palm of his hand upon the ground, and closes his eyes. The gnome then mutters a silent chant, as several nearby shadows gather on the ground behind him, to form a large black circle. Suddenly, all of the undead the gnome had raised from the valley slowly rise up from the shadow. The undead appear to be at various stages of decay. The gnome then stands up and turns around to face his undead horde. He then snaps his fingers and points to the rest of the builders, telling the undead to join them. As they shamble off, the gnome smiles to Coral. “So, how was “your” day?” he asks.


Coral shrugs "Looks like mine was a bit better than yours, I at least got to deal with the living." She grins a bit. "How was your day friend?"


Korike chuckles. “Well, I suppose if it weren’t for Kirien, I wouldn’t be standing here now. We were attacked by a Chaos Lion.” The gnome then looks around. “So…do you know what are we supposed to do now?” he asks.


Coral nods and looks forward "We follow the path until we reach Nemisis, from there we get our next set of orders."


Korike nods. “Alright then. Lead the way.”


Coral smiles and nods, jogging a bit to catch up to the crew and start taking the lead to get them safely to their leader.


Daiyu stood at the portal fixing her gas mask to her face, her stormy eyes cast around the new realm suspiciously as she planned her best route into the woods. She looked at her leader one last time before taking off at a full run towards the woods to study the plants as she was instructed to do she grinned a bit as her natural madness seemed to seep to the forefront. The wind from her run whipped her black curls back from her face as she laughed behind her mask from her own madness fed by the natural chaos of the realm, her boots came to a stop after about two miles of run and she threw her head back laughing for no apparent reason. She shook her head and checked her pack before taking off at a sprint again letting her long ebon curls remain loose in the wind occasionally flying into her stormy eyes. She threw her head back and laughed again as she ran finally coming to a stop about four miles away from the gateway far enough away from Nemisis to not be affected by his attack. She sat on the ground and grinned noticing a few different plant species within reach lightly covered in the faux snow that Verse had used. Dai grinned gleefully muttering to herself “I always did like the snow,” she breaks off in a peel of semi-insane laugher before pulling out a microscope and a box of shiny new slides. She sighs taking several samples from a nearby, what appeared to be, fern slicing a few thin pieces and mounting them onto slides with several different solutions, she then takes out several test tubes adding varying colors and amounts of liquids dropping a small sample into each. She giggled as she started her studies taking notes in her lacy script, quietly hoping Nemisis would keep a few people alive for her to experiment on to check the lethality of any new plant based poisons she could come up with. She sat back and continued her work noting reactions and laughing manically every so often as a reaction went differently from what she expected, she periodically checked the sky watching for the second flash. She next grabbed a thistle like plant and started studying it and making notes furiously as her eyes kept darting up towards the sky to look for the signal. She grins as she finishes her notes on the two prevalant plants of the small space and the second flash illuminates the sky, she packs away her research gear, tightens the pack to her back and pulls a black ribbon from her pocket tying her hair out of her face to make the run to the meeting place easy. She laughs again insanely before taking off in a run down the path towards the rest of her clan.


Nemisis quietly walked with Kirien by his side for awhile, rather he eventually zoned out, going over the plans constantly. Honor said to the rest, “Looks like everything is going as planned….The last thing that remains is the actual building of the city…..However, that does mean things can’t go wrong still…” On the outside the demi’s eyes briefly turned to look at Kirien before falling back into his head. Intelligence was turning the bolt full speed as he thought, “You are correct. There is still a chance things can go wrong whether you consider Kirien’s natural danger rate or an unknown factor. Best stay on guard.” Honor grinned responding, “You don’t have to tell me that one….How long do you think it will take for the city to be built….?” Click click click, is all that would be heard from Intelligence for a moment as he considers all known factors, “Considering the builders skills, their exhaustion rate, the undead army and their needed supervision, also the complexity of some of the building…….About two months.” Honor sighed out of anxiety, “I guess that reasonable….” Intelligence smiled, “Quite actually…..speaking of which, we should merge. It’ll make mapping and supervision much easier.” Honor nodded before extending a hand out to Intelligence. Both bodies burned the individual color of their eyes as their minds became one. On the outside, those with a heighten sense for energy could realize and significant increase in the draconian’s power and constantly rises. Nemisis was naturally absorbing the chaotic energy within the atmosphere around him. A scratch to the head would be given before his hand slipped back in his pockets as they walked towards the rendezvous point. It would not be long before the man’s ears would pick up the sound of drums, the pace Coral had set in place. In even less time everyone started to come into view. A small frown popped on his face as the man realized his body condition. With Honor and Intelligence merged, they would become known as Hunter. As Hunter looked at Madness he said, both voices of the two personas apparent, “You really are a reckless one. Coral is gonna freak out at our condition.” Madness laughed before shrugging in his chains, “It’s just a few scratches, she’ll get over it.” A few scratches were hardly a proper description. Madness hardly avoided any attacks that came his way as he ripped through those who remained. The amount of slashes and arrows that hit him eventually added up and left many open wounds, temporarily being closed up by a sheet of chaotic crystal thanks to Intelligence’s meticulous abilities. With a simple sigh, Hunter shrugged off the situation and continued to walk. Towards Kirien whom he assumed already knew they were close he said, “There they are.” Even outside, his voice altered a bit.


Kirien looked up when Nemisis announced that the others were in sight. Focusing his eye he could see them their image go from hazy to more defined as both side closed in on distance. His ears twitched, picking up the drumming that Coral played in order to maintain a pace. He was still mainly focused on the special job Nemisis said he had for him and the adventures for later. However, the sound of the demi’s voice changed and caused him to focus his attention back on the draconian. There was something different about him but he didn’t know what exactly. Oddly enough he did not ask but decided to try and figure it out for himself. During his observation Kirien noticed red hardened yet flexible marks all around Hunter’s form. There was fluid behind it, blood maybe? It didn’t take long for the fox to realize those were cuts, sealed shut by crystal. A giggle escaped his mouth wondering exactly how the man will react to Coral freaking out. He will wait and see since the shoe is on the other foot now. Maybe Hunter will be the one to deal with Melody this time. He’ll make sure of it.


Coral sprinted ahead of her work force her eyes scanning for Nemisis or any other member of the clan. As she reached the clearing she spots Nemisis and Kirien a small relieved sigh escaping her lips. As she gets closer she spots her leader covered in wounds and her caretaker mode kicked in. "Nemi I swear, I'm putting you in a glass bubble!" She gets closer to her leader and studies the crystalized wounds "I see you've sealed them off with chaos energy," she sighs droping her pack on the ground and rumages through it pulling out a small stoppered vial. "Take this if you'd like it will help speed the healing process, if not keep hold of it for another time." She turns to see her workers catching up as their leader hands her back one of her drums with a curt nod before turning back to his men.


As Coral races on ahead, Korike decides to walk along with the work force. The shadow gnome didn't experiment much with undead in the chaos realm, and wasn't sure if the link between him and the undead...would be broken if he moved to far away. So, he decided to play it safe. Korike was lost in thought as they continued walking. It seemed like something was eating at him, but decided that he would keep it to himself for the time being. After kicking along a pebble, for a little while, the gnome catches up with his allies. "Hey guys." he says to Nemisis, and Kirien. Turning to Coral, he says "Thanks for leaving me to look after the workforce." jokingly, with a grin on his face.


It was not soon after the others met up did appear with a quick blur of a shadow. She was still chuckling wildly as her ebon locks dangled and danced in the little breeze there was. With one smooth motion, he removed the backpack and placed it in front of Nemisis and said, “Here are the samples you asked for. Everything went smooth on my end.” Dai then took a brief moment to look around; observing the rubble and what little was left of those who decided to challenge the new order. Another giggle was given before she asked, “Did keep some alive for test subjects?”


Nemisis grinned in approval as each member came back in one piece. As expected, Coral started to nitpick at his injuries and sought to tend to them. However, he was honestly surprised at how well she took the extensive damage, he was expected a stronger reaction. None the less it worked out in his favor and to keep it in such; he took the vial and downed it quickly. Hunter then said to Coral, “Thank you. We see everyone’s mission went relatively as planned, good.” Looking towards Daiyu he said to her, “Our apologies. We got out of hand and had a bit too much fun.” Inside his Madness laughed, shrugged, and commented “I don’t get out much.” Back on the outside the leader continues and said, “Thank you for your help everyone. You all are dismissed. Daiyu we want you to take the samples back to the lab and Coral watch over the headquarters with Kattanos. Check up on him. He can be quite a curious one. Kirien we want you to do us a favor. There is a giant hell hound deep in the basement of the headquarters, bring her to the realm and let her loose. Be careful, she isn’t an easy one to tame. Afterwards, your mission will be complete.” Looking towards Korike, a normal glance was given before he asked, “Something wrong Korike?” With the combined precision of Honor and the meticulous observation skills of Intelligence, Hunter became sharp, able to extract the finer and studious details much faster than it took Intelligence.


Daiyu frowned somewhat saying, “Pity……Oh well……time to go find some!” With that she picked up the backpack once more and headed towards the exit of the realm laughing under the euphoria of Madness.


Korike chuckles and shakes his head at Nemisis's question. "Nah. Nothing's wrong." The gnome then shakes his head again quickly, as though he was trying to wake himself up. "I think I need to go rest. That's the first time that I've had to expend so much magic at once...See you all later!" the gnome says with a wave and a grin, as he sinks into his shadow and vanishes from sight.


Kirien’s eyes widened at the request of a hell hound. He has been inside the headquarters and wandered around a bit but never once did he encounter the hound. Maybe it was in one of the room Nem told him to keep out of. For good reason it seems. This gave him an excuse to go wandered about, causing a big grin to come across his face. Taming the hound would be a good challenge as well, causing the fox to say, “This should be fun.” Kirien thought of the request as a preliminary round before he would start handling dragons or whatever his brother had in store for him. With that said, he was off to finish this task.


Nemisis smiles approvingly with all his plans going well. The clan perfectly executed their tasks and each member returned safely. Verse cleared off half of the resistance with his powers and he rid the rest. Now all that was left was to build the actual city. With an army of undead and the living Phantasmal Knight carpenters who were used to him and Kirien’s destructive ways, the building of the city would be done within two years. He would be there guarding the building process along with some others over the long period. It will only be a matter of time before Pandorum stands tall and on its feet.