Broken Fairies

by EnergyMageFrea

Light Magic has won over Dark in the battle to decide the Balance of the world, but shadow has never settled so thickly over the Fairy Tail Guild as it has now, and that darkness does not seem to want to leave. Is it possible, after all the evil and the pain suffered, lived through and triumphed over by the Guild- that Fairy Tail has finally broken? {Fourth Story in Series!}

24. Chapter 24- Drums

Chapter 24

Drums

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's, Energy Magic, and Ideas

.:+:.

"Ah, I see you found them." Therigist hummed lightly, turning slightly at the sight of the Thunder Legion being lead back into the center atrium of Banore by the Exceed, and apparent member of the Twin Cougars Guild. His eyes found Shae as the Exceed nodded to him, Freed, Bixlow and Evergreen trailing behind her slowly and looking around the atrium with wide, shocked eyes when they entered and found it filled with hundreds of people- a double that more tables and crates and all other things that had not been there an hour ago when they left.

It looked like an entirely different place, there were people lined up around tables and filling in papers, or sifting through boxes. Every surface had something sitting atop it and there was a continual move in and out of more crates and more people without end, Barren and Lower Caste and Keistae in all with a few Middle dotted here and there. And it wasn't just the tables and the crates and the people that had suddenly appeared, whole sections of the whole atrium had been turned into make-shift alcoves where people were stacking Tools and Weapons, and had even set up little workshops where they were using and or creating said Tools and Weapons- and a few of them seemed to be setting up infirmaries, creating potions and organizing medical supplies... The Thunder Legion faltered slightly in their walking without meaning to, looking out around the bustle and the grim-faced and serious looking people as their stomachs knotted, and in that instant it settled in even deeper what was going on. The reality of the situation and the very real fact that Adgnei and this city was on the brink of a full on war. And now this same place of temples and gardens that had been so peaceful before, it looked like a place ready to see a war, and there was enough for a whole army in just this little part. They had to wonder if the rest of Banore suddenly looked like an encampment- things were moving fast, and much faster than they had expected.

Therigist himself was as grim-faced as the rest of everyone else right up until the moment they all walked in, and now instead he smiled slightly at the sight of the Fairy Tailers returned, and in one piece. His eyes flashed a little upon noticing the Collars snapped around their necks however, and he let out a small breath.

"Just in time too, they had a bit of a run-in with Lord Nirav." Shae told the older man, the name earning looks and grimaces from the other people around and in earshot to what she said. She walked straight toward the Thieves Guild Master with the Thunder Legion following her a bit more slowly. "Lord Nirav and the Kullui seem to have some way of disrupting the Chatterbox's signal, so last thing Lady Celene heard was they were being chased down. And they also got Collared, so we'll need a few Skeleton Keys." Shae told him, and Therigist nodded.

"I'll be sure to let her know that her Guild Mates are alright." Therigist murmured, his hand waving a little as a piece of paper appeared in air before him and words scrawled across it quickly, before disappearing again. Shae stopped beside the table that the older man was standing beside, her paws falling on her hips and smiling a bit sheepishly for a moment as she dipped her head to him almost apologetically.

"Ah, I might have also mucked up the Gateway in the south passage... I had to shut it so that Lord Nirav didn't follow us through, and the quickest way of that was to mess with the Magic..." She admitted, and Therigist sighed wearily.

"... I'll have someone take a look at it." He murmured, his attention turning to behind him as he gestured for someone and quickly asked they go and look over the 'Gateway' that Shae and the Thunder Legion had left behind. The tall man also paused a moment to take the small pouch suddenly handed off to him from one of the Barren,

"I see you've already gotten quite a few things set into motion..." Freed murmured as Therigist turned back in their direction,

"Yeah, look at all these people." Bixlow hummed,

"... you certainly look ready to contend with a civil war, but do you really need all these people just to find a way into Okeal?" Evergreen asked lowly, Therigist sighed again as he set the pouch he'd been handed on the table in front of him and fished out three Skeleton Keys from the inside of it.

"You were out and about, you saw the Kullui beginning to move, yes?" Therigist murmured, the Thunder Legion stiffened slightly. "They are surrounding the whole of the Lower Warrens now, and entry to and from by normal means has been cut off. Whatever they are intending to do with your Energess is coming, and likely soon. It's best to be prepared, I doubt what the God-King plans will be limited to the Palace... this is all too similar to trapping everyone in." they grimaced at the words, and Therigist handed one of the Skeleton Keys off to Shae while he gestured for Freed to come closer to him, and the Exceed sprouted wings and floated closer to Evergreen. Freed came closer as he was asked, and Therigist and Shae alike set to work using the Keys to unlock the Collars.

"... we need be ready to defend ourselves as it is... but upon reviewing things, directing the Kullui's attention via some sort of commotion or resistance here in the Lower Warrens will benefit sending a small party into Okeal." Therigist explained as he worked, and Freed blinked. "If we are able to keep the bulk of their attention on us, rather than you Fairy Tailers, then your chances of bypassing the Barriers is much better. But in order to do that, we do need to be capable of holding our own against the mass of Kullui forces already here, and whatever reinforcements may arrive." Freed nodded slightly, though only just, so he didn't move too much while Therigist worked to use the Skeleton Key to get the Collar off of his neck.

"... Shae mentioned that Mr. Balthan was working alongside you for all of this." Freed pointed out, and Therigist blinked at the name but little more. "And that he had in fact been making preparations since before we even arrived in Adgnei..."

"Indeed, though he didn't correspond with me until later on." Therigist explained, smiling slightly. "I only became aware of his involvement once the Twin Cougars' Masters contacted me about sending Miss Shae and her companions to my employment. Since then we have been working to collect the sum of people, warriors, weapons and supplies you see here- as well as begin work on Tool-Crafting and other things we will inevitably need. Especially once you get into Okeal."

"I take it that you have come up with a plan on how we are to do that?" Evergreen asked lowly, her arms crossed over her chest and hip cocked as she watched Shae work away with the Skeleton Key in front of her.

"I have given my input and my resources, but the creation of the plan, I cannot take credit for." Therigist hummed, and they all blinked curiously at it. Shae on the other hand smirked to herself, though she said nothing, but Evergreen noticed the look and narrowed her eyes at the Exceed. "There is a plan, but it would do better to discuss it with its creators- and preferably once Lady Celene and her Ilean return."

There was a soft click and the Collar around Freed's neck loosened, Magic jumping up from it and sparking around the key that Therigist held, but doing little more. It didn't have the same 'Bite' that had earned Aisha a bruised and bleeding finger earlier... Or at least, this time the Skeleton Key negated the Bite, if it was there. Therigist hummed, pulling back from Freed and the green-haired man nodded at him.

"Thank you." Freed murmured, Therigist simply nodded in reply and gestured for Bixlow to come forward instead.

"... Hopefully they will return soon, I've been advised we likely have little time before things are set into motion." Therigist murmured, "Whatever we intend to do, we need be ready to move by sundown at the very least..." his eyes flashed as he fell quiet for a few minutes, invested in his twisting and turning of the Skeleton Key for a long while as his expression turned grim again. "... tonight will be a bad night, I can feel it in my bones..." He mumbled softly, Bixlow in front of him winced internally at the comment.

Bad, yeah... but the same caliber of bad that Carla had seen in her Vision?

The Thunder Legion exchanged quick, uneasy glances with one another, beads of sweat falling down their cheeks as they swallowed.

... hopefully not...

---

Aisha growled under her breath, fuming and agitated to no end since Jynx had popped up, spoke her riddles and her vague nonsense, and then popped back out of the picture again. Infuriatingly, she left and she gave no answers for anything they had asked or any explanation for her odd behavior and mumblings- but of course, maybe that was par for the course from the ghost girl... it was just fucking annoying, damn it!

The two of them had used a Magic Bean to transport themselves into Monatre Grove back in Banore, and upon stepping out of the confines of the Bean's Magic, they found the once peaceful and quiet figure of Banore bustling. The Grove itself still seemed devoid of most people, but as they walked further in, there were hundreds more people than there had been before, more boxes and crates and supplies being moved around and weapons seen- all hands on deck, it seemed.

Chase had had little answer to why Jynx seemed so hellbent on keeping things to herself, but Aisha had been able to see that something about the whole exchange had struck a different chord with him than it did her. Something was wrong, and he knew something she didn't, and he seemed stuck in his own head brooding about it all the way through arriving in Banore and now heading to meet up with everyone else... and she left him to it, though she wanted nothing more than to ask.

They had other things to worry about right now though

She stalked right into the bustling and crowded center atrium with little a care nor a glance around the people and the activity going on inside. Her purple gaze swept over the space in search of the familiar figures of Therigist and the Thunder Legion, and she walked inside briskly with Chase just behind her. When she spotted Therigist only among the many, she hissed under her breath.

"Therigist." Aisha muttered lowly as she stalked in the older man's direction, he jumped slightly at the sound of her voice and slowly turned her way. He dipped his head to her and smiled, though it was not at all cheerful nor at ease.

"Ah, Lady Celene." He murmured as she stopped in front of him, hands on her hips and scowling. "I see you and your Ilean have returned safely, that's a relief. I assume you received my letter that your Guild-mates were returned safely?" He hummed, she huffed.

"Yes." She muttered, and she had- though his letter had done her little good since Jynx had already told both her and Chase that things with the Thunder Legion had been dealt with.

"Very good, then I'll quickly fill you in on what we've been doing since you've been away." Therigist murmured, his hand moving as he gestured faintly toward the commotion all around. "As you can already see, preparations for a battle have started underway. The Kullui have securely placed themselves in a perimeter around the whole of the Lower Warrens, and all access between the districts has been cut off. We anticipate they are working to close the Lower Caste in entirely, and trap them- for what we aren't sure, but it is surely unpleasant." The man murmured lowly, his hand retracting as he dropped his hands into his coat pockets. "Currently I'm pulling most of my resources in all areas and professional disciplines, and I've sent word to the allied families in the Middle Caste of what we are doing here. Many of the militias and weapon's smiths from the outlying cities outside of Corrisette have been transported inside Banore, and many of the healers and doctors have been as well. And we've already set up many smiths quarters and infirmaries... with the help of the Keistae, of course." Aisha nodded stiffly to the information, "... Mr. Balthan has also donated a considerable portion of his own resources, and most of which arrived before I had finished sending for mine. He's also pledged his service in whatever conflict is to come, as have your comrades from the Twin Cougars Guild." He added, and Aisha nodded again, her eyes flashing though she did not look surprised, which surprised Therigist. He did not ask, however.

"... Mr. Balthan has also warned that conflict is likely to arrive by nightfall at the very least, and perhaps sooner." Therigist went on, and again Aisha did not look surprised at the news. And why should she? Jynx had already warned that herself, even if she hadn't been willing to get into knowing why... Jynx had also been in contact with the illusive Wizard Saint with so much interest in Frea too, so it was no surprise they both were in agreement on when the trouble would be coming. "Seeing as how we are all fairly sure that some sort of battle and war will be breaking out, we've made preparations for it- and begun structuring a plan with that in mind too."

This time Aisha perked, and Therigist tilted his head away from them and toward the opposite end of the hall where several makeshift encampments, workshops and whatnot were dotted along the walls and in newly created rows.

"One of the Members of the Twin Cougars has been hard at work creating a feasible plan for infiltrating Okeal." Therigist explained, "He's a smart lad, and he has plenty of invaluable resources at his hands, so your best option would be to collaborate with him on what you Fairy Tailers intend to do. The rest of us will of course follow your lead and direction, Lady Celene." Aisha nodded slowly, immediately taking the hint of his head tilt as sign she should head that way.

"... fine." she muttered,

"Has your friend back in Fiore woken up yet from Lord Tuvral's Pestilence?" Therigist asked, "Moon, was it?"

"... yeah. She's awake, and she's looking at that Tome right now. Your altered Cure-All managed to bring her fever down enough to let her wake up." Aisha muttered, Therigist nodded in understanding.

"Good. We've received about five crates of the Altered Cure-All, already- though I only expect we have one or two more. Hopefully we will not need to exhaust our entire stock." The older man murmured, before he paused for a moment as if a thought occurred to him. "Ah, I also have one of those strange Black Salmellion you mentioned. One of the Barren managed to get his hands on it, and your Seith Mage was giving it a lookover last I checked, though he may have handed it off to the Cougars' Toolmaker by now." Therigist added, Chase perked up at this information in the same instant Aisha did. "Perhaps they've found something of interest, you'll have to inquire."

"Right." Aisha nodded, her head tilting toward where Therigist had before motioned, her eyes catching Chase's. "Come on, let's find them." She mumbled, and the Energy Mage nodded.

"Alright."

"Find me if you need anything, Therigist. Otherwise, I'm sure we'll discuss things more once I'm done talking with Bixlow and these Twin Cougars' Mages." Aisha told the older man, and he dipped his head in understanding.

"Very well, do hurry though Lady Celene." He replied, Aisha only huffed and headed passed him with Chase in tow. They wove in and out of the constant stream of people, steadily making their way through the rows of tables and workstations, and even passed corners housing weapon making tools and machinery. They paid it little mind as they moved further and further toward the far wall and inward toward the small alcoves carved into the outside walls, their eyes scanning the crowds in silence as Chase and Aisha walked shoulder to shoulder in search of the rest of their party... and the apparent Members of the Twin Cougars Guild.

"Yo, whatcha doin' there kiddo~?" Bixlow's familiar voice fell on their ears from behind a small wall of cabinets and large worktables filled with iron tools and other bits and baubles of Magical Smithing things. Chase and Aisha stopped in tandem with each other, their heads turning right toward his voice and catching immediate sight of Freed and Evergreen standing at the edge of the makeshift smith area- there was even a small forge set up in the back of the alcove and simmering lowly with a strange blue glow.

"I'm making Shae another Guard, since she blew the last one up." Came the soft, only slightly annoyed voice from what they both assumed was a younger boy, and Aisha's eyes narrowed a little. They couldn't see the owner of said voice behind Bixlow, who seemed to be leaning over the boy's shoulder from behind- but she paid it little mind and turned her attention on Freed and Evergreen instead.

"So I see you three aren't dead." The MoonLight Mage muttered lowly, they jumped at the sound of her steely and not at all amused tone, their heads snapping around in her and Chase's direction.

"A-Aisha..." They mumbled quickly, she huffed, her arms crossing over her chest and rounding the tables and cabinets to stop in front of them. Chase gave them both a weary smile,

"It's good to see you guys got away alright." The Energy Mage told them softly, they nodded a bit.

"Yes... though clearly we underestimated the Kullui and their Collars." Freed sighed, Evergreen huffed a little as her arms fell on her hips indignantly. "Rest assured, we will be more cautious in the future. It was fortunate that Shae was quick enough to intervene without anything truly awful happening." Aisha quirked a brow at the name, and Chase blinked.

"Shae?" The MoonLight Mage deadpanned, Freed nodded.

"I assume Therigist already told you that Iki and Uno sent over some of their Guild Members to help us?" Freed murmured, Aisha grit her teeth and looked away as Chase wilted a little. Freed and Evergreen both noticed the seething look that crept over Aisha's expression, and they exchanged quick glances between themselves and then with Chase, who shook his head slightly.

"... Jynx told us, actually." The Energy Mage murmured softly, they blinked in surprise.

"You found her?" Evergreen asked, Chase grimaced a little.

"No, more she found us... but the conversation really didn't go very well." Chase explained softly, their heads tilted in question, but he gave them an apologetic look. "We can get into it later, for right now it's probably better we start getting ready with everything and whatever plan Therigist mentioned was being made...?"

Evergreen and Freed paused a moment, almost unsure if they should let it go or not, but a glance at the utterly annoyed look on Aisha's face convinced them.

"... I'm probably gonna need to make about a dozen of them, knowing her she'll blow through them all in an hour..." The young boy's voice went on from in front of Bixlow, who thus far remained unaware of Chase and Aisha at all. There was an exasperated sigh and Bixlow chuckled, his Tiki Dolls circling the area and chanting incoherent things.

"You look like ya know what you're doing there, huh~?" Bixlow chuckled, his hands on his hips and back still turned to them. Aisha's purple eyes moved from Freed and toward the Seith Mage in silence, "For such a young kid you're actin' pretty adult~!"

"O-of course I know what I'm doing..! A-and I'm not that young damn it!" The boy snapped hotly, pushing Bixlow back from looming over his shoulder so much and stepping out of the larger man's shadow. Aisha's eyes narrowed, watching carefully as she caught sight of the young man dressed in a sleeveless shirt and plain pants, with belts and pouches hung around his waist and strapped to his leg, with knee-high leather boots to go with it. Her head turned slightly though, her eyes narrowing at the icy blue Twin Cougars' Guild Mark on the younger boy's shoulder-blade, and the russet-orange hue of his short, scruffy hair.

"Now quit lording over me like a stalker and let me finish what I was doing!" The boy snapped hotly, rounding on Bixlow slightly and his hands full with a pair of tongs to which a melting pot on the end was held. She could not see his eyes for the pair of goggles he had on, but she did see the bandage on his cheek and around his wrists- and even more noticeably the pale blue Dyann wrapped over his shoulder and around his torso.

Aisha stiffened, perking up instantly as she turned more in the direction of Bixlow and the boy, her eye twitching.

"... Alright." Freed hummed, his attention moving from Aisha and Chase as he glanced around, looking for someone. Neither he nor Evergreen really noticed that Aisha wasn't paying them any mind anymore and had instead turned away entirely, though Chase cast the MoonLight Mage a curious glance when he felt agitation spark from her like an electrical storm out of nowhere. "I think they'll be back soon, though I'm not sure where they went off to..." Freed murmured, his eyes still searching as Evergreen sighed.

"Have either of you heard anything about Frea or Moon?" Evergreen asked Chase, he blinked.

"Well, Moon's awake and looking at the Tome we sent over, and as far as I know Teach is still just waiting in Okeal..." Chase murmured in reply, his eyes diverting again as Aisha walked away and toward Bixlow and the boy with no warning whatsoever. "Ah... Aisha...?" He mumbled, but he was either unheard or ignored.

The young boy let out a sigh and turned toward the forge, his foot kicking lightly against a rune etched into the bottom of the stone confines. The fire that had been simmering in the bottom suddenly flared to newfound life, heat wafting up around it in blistering waves as the boy took no time at all thrusting the tongs and bucket into the base of the flame and holding it there, what metal that had been in the bucket beginning to soften, but never boil nor melt, as what was usual. He left it in the fire for no more than a minute, before kicking the rune again to quell the fire, and then promptly tipping the bucket to let the lukewarm metal fall on top of a nearby table with a heavy thud. It was more the consistency of rigid, metallic rubber- and it didn't seem at all useful, not that the boy seemed to care.

He cast away the tongs and the bucket and started cutting away small sections of the metal into misshapen spheres, about a dozen in all before setting the extra away. Bixlow backed off a little but rounded the table to the other side of the boy to keep watching him work, and said boy seemed to huff at the Seith Mage but little else.

The kid linked his fingers together and stretched his arms out, cracking his knuckles rather nonchalantly before letting his hands come apart again. They hovered on either side of him, fingers twitching this way and that as Magical Pressure began to spark from the boy and the air itself began to waver around the 12 or so chunks of metal he'd pulled apart, before they all lift up slightly from the table and seemed to hover all of their own accord- whatever Magic the kid was using was invisible to the eye.

"Oooh~!" Bixlow hummed, leaning in a bit over the table in intrigue. The boy sighed in exasperation, shaking his head a bit as he twirled his index finger in air a bit, and the metal chunks spun in accordance with the motion.

"Don't look so surprised." The boy muttered, "I do this for a living ya know." Bixlow only grinned, his cheeks falling in his hands as he propped his elbows up on the table.

"So what's your job's name then, huh?" Bixlow asked brightly, "Expert Weapons Maker? Blacksmith? Enchanter-?"

"Artificer." The boy muttered, almost impatiently as he cut Bixlow and his guessing off. His twirling finger halted as he lift both hands and paused, the pressure coming up from him increasing as the wavering air around the metal got faster, more wild- and soon enough there came a low whistling sound getting louder.

Bixlow jumped and as did Chase, Evergreen and Freed all as the whistling was coupled with high-pitched bursts, following along in accordance with invisible, powerful bursts of pure force and power. Pure kinetic energy was suddenly pounding in on all sides of the metal chunks, bending them and shaping them in little time and with apparent ease- all the way up until they began to resemble lumpy shapes less and more fluid, smooth, carefully molded and thinly pressed metal bands. All identical, all smooth and nearly gleaming pale silver as if they'd been weathered for ages and not simply the small number of minutes the boy was pounding them with the invisible force of his Magic.

Once they were beaten into the shape they needed be, the noise died down and the boy twirled his index fingers in air, drawing across the air before him in a series of carefully lined Runes- all of which were cut into the sides of the newly molded bands, etching into the metal with another series of invisible force and power, but much less noisy this time.

After the rune-writing portion was over, he flicked his hand several times over as the etched bands moved in a simple line in front of him as he surveyed the runes themselves to make sure they were right, and then went on to the next until he had examined them all. He smiled slightly to himself, tracing one large rune in air before him as the multitude of symbols along the bands glowed pale blue, the light of which bounced from his goggles. With a snap of his fingers, the metal bands bunched up close together and both his palms raised, a see through, spinning sphere of air and force all together enclosing the items- and then he clapped his hands, and all that force bore inward on top of the bands, the edges shinning even more smoothly and the light of the runes reaching a climax as he pushed his palms together as hard as he could for a long few moments.

"...mmmmmm... aaaaaand... done!" He announced, his pressed together hands separating as the sphere of force around the bands dissipated, and they dropped into a bag he pulled up from the pouch hanging at his waist and held it underneath them. He let out a breath, one hand running through his hair and pushing his goggles up from his eyes to rest on his head as a bead of sweat fell down his cheek. He set the bag down on the table and his hands fell on his hips, rolling his shoulders a bit. "A dozen new Guards~! Strike that one off the list, and now I just have... about a million other things to craft..." He murmured, his voice trailing away as he smiled wearily, and his head fell a bit in defeat.

"... I am working serious overtime here... I'm gonna be beat by the end of this..." He muttered, Bixlow chuckled a little at the younger boy's exasperation, before the Seith Mage's eyes found the figure of Aisha who had drawn up right behind the kid, her arms crossed over her chest and expression nothing but stony cold... annoyance?

Bixlow smirked slightly, his head tilting in his hands. "Ah, good to see ya Boss~! We gonna go over the plan~?" He asked with ease, Aisha didn't pay him any mind, and the boy jumped when he finally realized someone was standing behind him.

"... boss...?" He echoed slowly, Aisha's lips curled at the edges.

"Gods help me." The MoonLight Mage growled lowly, her tone icy and cutting and the boy went rigid in front of her, his face falling. He shivered, trembling as he slowly started to turn her way, and shrinking back when his icy blue eyes met her dark violet gaze. "Of all the people in the world, how in the hell did I end up with you again, ya damn Brat?" Aisha hissed lowly, the boy flinched at the name, shaking from head to foot and sweating up a storm as he looked her up and down and went white as a ghost.

"Oh... oh... u..uhm... you... you're...!" The boy stammered, looking her over and then his eyes locked with the purple Dyann she was wearing, and he let out a terrified, strangled little yelp. "Holy c-crap, Moony...?!" He squealed, backing up from her and slamming into the table behind him, before turning bright red and looking mortified. His hands clapped over his mouth, his body bending quickly as he bowed to her once, twice, and several times over. "I-I am so sorry, that was so bad of me My Lady! P-please forgive me, I know I'm not meant to address you like that..!" Aisha did nothing but stare, her eyes piercing as the copper-haired boy continued to freak out. "P-please forgive me, I am so sorry about that..! A-and everything else I did before, I-i know I apologized for that already but... but really, I am so sorry My Lady!"

Chase and the Thunder Legion with him all blinked in surprise at the sudden exchange, looking lost for a minute as they glanced quickly between Aisha and the bumbling boy.

"... Ah, Aisha...?" Chase murmured slowly,

"Do you two know one another...?" Freed asked slowly,

"... huh, ya know, now that I'm thinkin' about it, this kid does look a bit familiar~" Bixlow commented, smiling and completely at ease with the exchange. Chase blinked at the comment, his head tilting in wonder as he paused, before perking up.

"Oh right." Chase mumbled, smiling slightly as a look or realization passed over his face. He walked up to be at Aisha's shoulder, casting the unnerved boy a reassuring smile, the Energy Mage not at all daunted by the looming Aisha beside him. "You were with the Legion during that whole Infinity Clock stuff, yeah? You fought against both Aisha and Teach?" He asked easily, and the boy swallowed at the thought.

Freed and Evergreen moved closer to their group at the table, peering around Aisha and Chase as recognition dawned on their faces too.

"Ah, that is right." Freed murmured,

"I can't believe we didn't realize beforehand." Evergreen muttered,

"Heh, totally~! Ya made quite the impression, not everybody can take on both Aisha and Frea~!" Bixlow chuckled,

"Nope~! Nope~!" His Tiki Dolls chanted, the boy went red in the face in embarrassment.

"... I am so sorry about all of that..." The boy mumbled again, Aisha huffed.

"Corbynn, right?" Aisha asked lowly, the boy nodded stiffly.

"Y-yes, My Lady..." He stammered softly,

"Well, I see that is one introduction we needn't do~!"

Everyone blinked, glancing up and around at the new voice from behind them- and one that Aisha and Chase did not recognize. All their eyes turned on two figures walking toward them, and both about two feet high. One a brown Exceed with orange eyes, and the other pale blue with a book at his side.

The Fairy Tailers blinked, surprise washing over their expressions as the latter of the two moved a paw up, sighing as he pushed his glasses up his nose, and looked toward the Fairy Tailers calmly. He nodded to his companions earlier call, before saying something himself.

"It seems our fates were to tie with the likes of Fairy Tail once more, hmm?" the blue Exceed murmured flatly, they blinked.

"... you...?" They mumbled in wonder, before they stiffened.

"Samuel...?!"

The tomcat nodded slightly as he placed his hands on his hips, smiling just faintly. He was dressed in something utterly different than the last they had seen him, a red vest with the Zentopia sigil on the front, and a belt to which hung a book. Around his shoulders was tied a blue Dyann striped in darker navy, and around his head was a bandana of the same red hue as the vest. Even more surprising was the white tattoos in zigzag fashion on his tail.

"It is a pleasure to see you again of course, barring all the unpleasantness from past events." Samuel told them calmly, his paw falling from adjusting his glasses. "This time however we will be on the same side, and working toward the same goal."

"Yeah, unlike last time in all that Infinity Clock stuff, huh~?" The she-cat at Samuel's shoulder smirked, her paws on her hips as she chuckled. Both Samuel and Corbynn wilted a bit at the comment, though Shae did not seem to notice.

"... Quite... Hopefully things will go well, and avoid any unwanted mishaps... Though I hypothesize there is around a 80% chance that our plans will have to unexpectedly change." He added, the she-cat beside him smiled wearily. Samuel let out a small breath as he shook his head, almost at himself. "... I also hypothesize there is a 97% chance that the Energess will come to some sort of harm with what it is the God-King plans... And a 93% hypothesis His plans will be enacted in the next four hours." Samuel added lowly, his tone dropping and seriousness settling in in an instant. The Fairy Tailers stiffened slightly at the words and everyone else looked wary- and rightly so, Samuel was rarely ever wrong in his hypotheses.

His tail flicked behind him just once, light bouncing off his glasses for a moment as he crossed his arms about his chest.

"That in mind, I suggest we begin solidifying our plan of attack- and do so quickly."

---

"... this is... odd..." Moon mumbled under her breath, ears pressed back against her head and blue eyes scanning the faded and worn page of the Tome that had been sent over from Adgnei. Around her were littered papers and notes and things she was slowly filling out as she struggled to filter through the badly faded, and incredibly cryptic runes printed across the page.

Following the sudden and entirely unexpected interruption on the part of Iki and Uno, and their out of the blue announcement of sending three of their members to Adgnei in order to help (of which those three members, two were not unfamiliar names!), Moon had settled in to trying to work through what mystery this script was. And of course, it was slow to nonexistent progress... what little of it she understood were token few words that made little sense without supplementary information.

At the moment however, she was stuck on one rune in particular, and it was one she'd been staring at for a long while. Why?

"What do you mean?" Lily asked softly from her shoulder, he'd been sitting with her the whole time in silence, watching her work and giving little bits of input or asking when he needed to. Moon's ears flicked toward him in a sign she heard him ask the question, but she didn't look up.

"... mmm... it's just this one rune, it looks similar to three different runes I know, but they all mean different things..." Moon grumbled lowly, Levy leaned in a little from having been watching her work too. "... and even then, it could mean something completely different from any of those..." She hissed, Lily blinked when he saw Moon's eyes drop closed against the slightly blurring page.

"Would you like to take a break?" He asked softly, Moon grumbled under her breath. "You have been at it for some time." She grimaced, musing for a moment.

"... mmm... no, I'm alright, I can keep trying." She mumbled, "... Aisha and everyone are in the middle of coming up with a plan with Samuel, right? As long as they keep working, I can too." She murmured, Lily sighed silently, but his paw fell on her shoulder softly anyway.

"Alright." He relented, she smiled at him slightly. She knew he was worried she was pushing it too hard, but he was also willing to let her do what she wanted and needed.

"Hmm, maybe I can help?" Levy interrupted softly, smiling at the both of Lily and Moon. "What three runes do you think they look like? Maybe we can determine which is more likely based on what other words you've already translated?"

"... I suppose that's as good an idea as any." Moon told her, her paws working as she gathered up three different pieces of paper with a rune on them that looked faintly familiar to eachother. "I think it's similar to these three, they mean 'Stone', 'Quick' and 'Box', respectively." Moon explained, gesturing toward each Rune in turn. Levy took the papers from her and nodded in understanding, though she smiled in slight exasperation.

"I see... all of these words could make their own kind of sense when placed with any of these other words." Levy murmured, Moon nodded slightly.

"Thus the problem translating it." Moon mumbled, Levy started looking over the other translated words regardless of the less than likely chance of piecing it together based on all of those.

"... well, I'll give it a go anyway.." Levy smiled, Moon nodded to her.

"Thank you, Levy."

---

"... are you... alright...?"

Frea blinked, cursing herself in her head for letting the panic and confusion suddenly running rampant through her be noticeable enough for Talarr to see it- and the fact that her eyes had been searching for something that wasn't there.

Shit

She swallowed, nodding stiffly as she moved her eyes off the nervous man altogether and forcing herself a silent, calming breath as she stepped away from the hole that served as window.

"... I'm fine." She grumbled softly, and he didn't look like he believed her, nor did Seyre. She could feel their eyes on her even as she turned away and headed back through the maze of mess in his workshop, her hands clenched at her sides.

Who in the hell was that? What was all of that...?

Her fangs grit, shaking her head at herself and casting those questions away. It didn't matter right now, she had to focus on the present and on what was coming. Because clearly from Talarr's mumble, whatever the God-King and Corielain planned for her, it was probably starting right now or at least soon, and she was running out of time to try and work Talarr around to telling her what it was.

Her walking faltered though, her breath catching in her throat as the red haze appeared around her form and the jolts like crimson electricity ignited all throughout her body. Agony seared through every inch of her, hot and throbbing and she lost track of her footing and her attention to staying upright- her hand fumbled for whatever support was needed and she hissed as she held tightly to a bookshelf filled with much more than books.

F...fuck... I almost forgot about... this fucking... Collar...!

Her knees were shaking so much it was something of a miracle they didn't give out on her right there and then. She leaned into the bookshelf, her knuckles white from holding to the shelf so hard and turning so her forehead met the edge of it, panting.

She felt her Magic spinning in her core, surging and fighting up toward the surface all of it's own accord- only to be punished for moving at all... and shit!

Stop it... stop... moving... get... under control, damn it...!

Her hand moved from holding to the edge of the shelf and clenched into a fist as she hit it down on the top of it partly in pain, partly in agitation.

... this is all bullshit...

She shook her head, her bangs mussing up as they rubbed against the shelf, and she stared down at her feet, her silver eyes glittering.

... and I'm starting to think... I'm in serious trouble here... even if I don't know what's going on... I have a bad feeling...

She bit the inside of her cheek, sparing a small, fleeting glance back to where she had been, and where she had left Talarr, Seyre, and... that stranger, behind.

... a really bad feeling...

She took in a deep breath and held it, her eyes closing again she just stood there and willed her mind, body and Magic to settle again enough to be bearable. She tapped her fist against the shelf a few times and grumbled a bit to herself, before pushing back and straightening up with a small sigh.

She felt like she was sitting on her hands here waiting for the storm to break... and maybe she was. It wasn't like she had a lot of options right now, or any real way of getting herself out of this mess- at least not without help. And if she had to wait on Aisha and everyone else doing things on the outside, she didn't want to sit up in this damned palace doing nothing... which meant the one thing she could, and needed to do?

Get Tallar to tell me what the hell is going on

Her head twitched, her eyes shifting in the direction of Talarr as the man slowly stepped around the corner. He stopped, looking nervous and fidgeted where he stood- wavering between coming closer and saying something, and the fear that doing so would set her off.

She knew she probably needed to be gentle when talking to him... But damn it.

I don't have time... I can feel it running out

She turned to him, her hands leaving the shelf and crossing over her chest as she settled him with a steady silver stare. He stiffened under the look, a bead of sweat falling down his jaw as he saw a certain sort of steadiness appear in the Energess despite how pale and sick she looked.

"Listen to me, Talarr." Frea murmured lowly, and he swallowed. "I understand loyalty, and I can guess you have a good reason to be loyal to your King and everything else... I know you have your reasons, and I know you don't want to betray anyone... I get it. You're not a bad person, I can feel that. I know you're loyal, and have kindness in you, and good... I feel it." She started softly, and he blinked at how gentle her voice sounded right then. "I don't know why you're so set on doing what Drennios asks of you, especially when you know and feel it's wrong... Especially when you feel so scared and unsure about all of this. I feel it coming off of you in waves. I feel your doubt and your fear and I know you don't like any of this. Not that you were told to make this Collar, or that I was captured and brought here, or whatever it is that is planned... All of it sets you on edge, and makes you question why it's being done at all... Or even if it should." he swallowed again, his hands wringing together in front of him as his eyes dropped from her entirely.

"I'm not telling you to turn traitor." she murmured lowly and his eyes snapped back up to her in sheer surprise. "You're the one who has to decide where your loyalty lies, and to what end. You have to be the one to make up your mind about whether any of this is worth it to let go on or not. You have to choose whether you sit back and let this happen, or if you try and change something. You have to choose if you trust Drennios and everything he told you more than what you feel in your own heart."

In... In his own heart?

Could she really... Feel all that about him? About kindness and good?

Energy Mages were supposed to be able to feel other people's emotions- he knew that... But it didn't really hit him till then. Because what she said about doubt and fear and uncertainty, it was all so spot on. So spot on, he found himself reeling for a moment, but the Energess kept talking despite his awe and surprise.

"You have to choose what you feel, believe, and act on. That is up to you based on what you know, and what you think might happen... And I'm not asking you to tell me, I know you were told to keep quiet, so fine." Frea grumbled, and he looked even more shocked at that.

She wasn't going to ask him to tell her the truth? Why... Why wouldn't she?

She had every right to know and to ask and demand for answers- he expected that of her, and she had demanded to be told earlier on, but now? What was with the sudden... Change...?

Her eyes flashed as her expression hardened ever so slightly, and his eyes widened at what seriousness dawned in her.

"But hear me when I say this, Talarr." The Energess murmured lowly, he swallowed. "Whatever you know, or were told- none of this is going to be good. None of it." she muttered lowly, her voice so firm and so utterly steady and cold he almost shivered. "If you were told this plan or whatever is supposed to help Adgnei, or Drennios, or make things better for the people here- that will not happen. Whatever is going to happen today, it will be bad, dangerous even- and no one will benefit from it. I promise you that, even without knowing anything about what is going on." she murmured lowly, and he swallowed again, a little harder this time, and his stomach started to knot.

She was just so certain of that- but how..?

She kept her silver gaze steady on him, unflinching, straight-backed as she stood there before him. For half a second all that pain and weakness and sickness that could be seen in her was just gone, and the woman that stood before him?

She was so tall and so steady and... So... She looked so powerful- so deadly serious and so grim, and the way she said it, it was like she really knew.

And that maybe almost having her say it out loud- that made what danger and bad she spoke of, assured.

Talarr did shiver, a cold chill running down his spine as a heavy weight of fear and dread fell into the pits of his stomach.

And Frea just kept her eyes steady on him, her voice low and serious and she just looked at him. She felt the fear and unease sparkling like a storm from Talarr, and she felt it from Seyre too, where the Keistae was standing off to the side. Whatever doubts either of them had before, to have the Energess promising things would turn down some dark path? That no good would come of any of it?

Silly as it seemed, for a moment both Seyre and Talarr swore they were hearing words of... Of prophecy being spoken to them from that powerful, stony, and almost legend Energess.

"All of this will end in pain, and fear, and death... I promise that. There is a dark cloud hanging over the whole of Adgnei, full of dread and darkness and evil... I can feel it."

He paled, his breath halting in his chest altogether at one word- that one word.

Death

Frea let out a small breath, her eyes narrowing at him. "Things are going to end terribly, Talarr." She murmured quietly, "But you have to be the one to choose to tell me what you know... Choose to explain things to me, and maybe we can try to avoid all of it."

I hope

He grimaced, his eyes falling from her and to the floor as his fists clenched at his sides. She could practically see him fighting with himself, the worry pulling him toward being truthful, and the loyalty holding him back for the king he saw as a God... But doubt and fear had a way of gnawing at people, she knew that.

She just hoped it would gnaw enough he would explain it all to her... And soon.

Frea deflated a little as he started to shake his head, just a little, and uncertainly so... this was painful, both to watch and to feel- just the amount of turmoil swirling around inside of him.

Usually, in another situation maybe, she would have been less direct and a little less grim- but this needed to be said, and he had to get it.

I hope... What I said was enough... Please let it be enough

---

"... Aisha, in the next letter you send to Seyre, I need you to tell her to ask Teach something."

Aisha blinked, her eyes narrowing at him as they paused, Chase having suddenly pulled her to the side a bit. They had been otherwise deeply invested in hearing what plan had been put together on the part of a former Zentopia resident, his fellow (former) Legionnaire and their new Guild-Mate inside of the Twin Cougars Guild.

It was a well thought out plan, as to be expected from the brains behind the Legion's operation- Samuel. And the more hours they spent hashing out the details, the things they would need, and what everyone's roles would be- the threat of conflict and danger and even mass destruction was getting worse, and with it the sense of urgency got worse too. They all knew they were standing at the edge of a war, and it was a brewing storm that was about to break over the whole of Adgnei, and not just it's capital city.

Twin Cougars' Samuel was here as tactical support, Shae was to be in the forward party into Okeal- and in a sense, an ace up their sleeves because of a rare, and extremely effective Magic she was a Master with. It was called 'Interference'- and though they hadn't allotted much time to hashing out the finer details of this new Magic- the essence of it was that she produced some sort of Energy/Electrical Charge that Adgnei's Tools just didn't like.

Unlikely Cougar Corbynn was the means to make any tool and weapon they required, and was in fact responsible for a large portion of all tools and machines that their makeshift army now possessed. Both Middle, Lower, Barren and people of the Thieves Guild, Black Market, and all places in between were gathered and spreading around the city- waiting.

And the mysterious Wizard Saint Saige Balthan had not graced any of those in Banore with an appearance, though Therigist and the Twin Cougars alike promised that he was still an ally in all of this, and when needed- he would be there, without a doubt.

Aisha wasted little time on pleasantries and trying to understand how it was that Samuel and Corbynn had found themselves in the service of the Twin Cougars, and she spent even less time wondering or asking on Saige Balthan. She immediately steered every section of their discussions toward their plans and their preparations, and what was happening in that brewing storm slowly creeping over their heads. She asked what was needed, but kept away from tangents and cut into anyone else who did so- and they let her do so with little qualms. They felt that same urgency to get moving as she did, they all knew they had to hurry and they knew they needed start moving quickly.

The Lower Warrens were blocked in, the Lower Caste cut off from the outside world and already fidgeting under their binds. The Kullui were being ruthless, small scuffles were already widespread all over the streets, and that just made the preparations on behalf of the Fairy Tail Guild, the Black Market, and the Theives Guild all the quicker, and needed.

Aisha's constant back and forth with her contacts, and her single friend inside of Okeal and beside Frea never ceased even as things were being put together. She kept Seyre, and consequently Frea, up to date on what they were doing, what was going on, and what they planned- and as Aisha had requested, Frea had been trying to get the God-King's Ilean to tell her what was planned... with no luck. And now they hadn't time to keep waiting and vying for Talarr to break, so Aisha abandoned that venture.

Those Black Salmellion that had appeared from nowhere, and with no clue as to their purpose, were clustered around old ruins all over the city- not just in the Lower Warrens. Examination of the one that Therigist had had swiped found nothing inherently Magical about it, but the bad feeling and the darkness that both Bixlow and Chase could feel from it remained... whatever they were for, it certainly wasn't good, but none of this was.

It didn't matter what little they knew, or what they didn't- or even what they had seen in Carla's Vision. It had been clear from the beginning that whatever was going to happen was not going to be good, and time had just solidified that fact. Even if they avoided the worst, and everything went according to plan, there was no way around the very real fact that people were going to die today. It was grim, but it was a harsh reality and they all knew it... there as no way out of this without at least one life lost, and it was surely going to be more than one.

This was it

... a hauntingly familiar thought to that dreadful day in which Mordren had appeared, but this... this felt the same, and that terrified them.

Because they did know they had to do this, and they had to do it right- or risk losing everything in the process. Not just for Frea, or for themselves, but for the whole of Adgnei too... unlikely allies they found themselves to a country that most in Fairy Tail had little clue nor notion of before this day. And the people of Adgnei were likely to find unlikely allies in the Fairies... of course, they would have to. Despite what country they belonged or their beliefs or anything else, the simple fact of all of this was they would be fighting together, on the same side, and soon.

Aisha had been right, they were a part of what caused a war here... and it was a war they would be jumping into willingly, no matter what. She knew as soon as she contacted the rest of the Guild still stuck back in Fiore and awaiting her word, it didn't matter what the plan was or the stakes or how dangerous it would be- as soon as she told them to come here and what to do, and it involved fighting, they would not hesitate. They had been brooding in their own anger and apprehension the whole day, and now night was falling and the last sign in the coming storm came- the Nobility and those Middle Caste families not on their side were moving, and they were headed to Okeal.

Time was up and they had to move, now.

So when Chase pulled her aside just as she had been moving to contact the Guild, and then Seyre inside of Okeal, she knew something else was wrong. She could see it in his eyes, and her own narrowed at him.

"... what?" Aisha asked lowly, and for the first time in a long time his eyes moved up from the ground and found hers, and the faint fear she saw in his eyes made her stiffen. He'd been mostly quiet through everything, attentive and paying attention of course, but quiet- still brooding over something as she had noted earlier. His blue eyes flashed as he seemed to force himself a small breath, trying to get rid of whatever expression on his face that had caused her to tense up almost immediately... because of course he noticed her reaction, he always did.

"I don't expect an answer, and I'm not sure if I'm even understanding any of what Jynx was talking about... but maybe Teach will get it. I've been thinking about what Jynx said when we saw her, and what she could have meant... and I can't get it out of my head, that thing she said about Teach not 'taking her last breaths today'..." He murmured softly, her brow quirked slightly. He paused, seemingly biting the inside of his cheek for a minute before shook his head at himself. "... it's just... the way she said it..." He mumbled, sighing.

"... I know we're in a hurry, and it might not make a difference now... and I can't spend time telling you all the details now either, but... when Teach was fighting Mordren, and she started to... to Fall..." Chase mumbled, his voice dropping to something so tense and just shy of a whisper, Aisha's eyes widened slightly. "... she lied to the Guild, the thing that drove her to that, it's a Darkness in her and it's still there... and it's eating at her, all the time, and she has to resist it or risk Falling again... but it's there and it came from Mordren, and I think... maybe that's what Jynx was talking about earlier." His blue eyes glittered as Aisha stood there in rigid silence, swallowing slightly at the sudden information- and the very grim and serious information at that. Information he probably wasn't supposed to be telling her at all, least of all lightly, and yet he was, and out of nowhere, and he... he was scared, she could see it, and the sudden realization made a flash of fear run through her too.

As much as she disliked Frea, and wanted to be indifferent to what she did and everything having to do with her- the idea of that same Frea, the S-Class Mage and the Wizard Saint, ever Falling into Darkness...? Becoming evil?

That was probably as unpleasant a thought as there ever could be, even to Aisha- and according to Chase, it was a very real possibility that Frea had been living with every day now since Mordren...? And she never said anything? And lied to Master Makarov and everyone else?

"She could have said 'Frea will not die today' but she said something else entirely... she said she wouldn't stop breathing, not that Frea wouldn't die." Chase murmured lowly, "... she was scared, and the way she was acting... we know what Mordren did, he destroyed the Energy Mages and the Old Adgnei with it, but what drove him to that...? Teach told me he wasn't always like that... whatever Darkness that was in him, it made him Fall, and now that same Darkness is in Teach... but where the hell did it come from in the first place?" He asked lowly, and she grimaced as her heart skipped a beat, her whirling and reeling mind quickly managing a way to follow his train of thought.

"Aisha, I know this is a lot to dump on you at once, especially on something so serious, and I might be going in the wrong direction... but all of this... I can't shake it." Chase told her quickly, his hands finding her arms as he held her gently, his voice low so no one could hear them, but urgent none the less. She grimaced at the words and the way he seemed to be trying to stay calm, and yet really couldn't- and she wasn't sure how she managed to stay calm just then either.

"Tell Seyre to ask Teach what made Mordren Fall in the first place."

---

Icy cold wind pushed up against her back, rushing through the room without warning and sending shivers up her spine. She felt a heavy weight fall into the pits of her stomach, dread falling even heavier over her senses and making her breath catch in her throat.

There... there were voices

In the sudden wind swam body-less voices and rushed whispers, murmurs and humms... The voices couldn't be made out, the words they said were impossible to determine- but it was everywhere, soft and quiet and quick, frantic and almost reverberating. They were so close and yet so far away in her ears, and she stood rigid and paralyzed as they wove around her, brushing past her skin almost enough to be tangible, like there were people moving past her on all sides, like she was suddenly amidst a mass and crowd of persons she couldn't see and only barely hear.

She was suddenly in the middle of a tide of bodies pressing in on all sides, poking, prodding, nudging, whispering- their breath washing against her skin and the back of her neck and making her shiver all the more. Energy and light and color suddenly breaking into her world and overlaying it. She was surrounded, and yet she stood there in the middle of that room all alone.

Had she fallen back into another vision? A bit of Mordren's past and all the memories of the Old Adgnei overlapping her reality as it had been doing since coming here? Was it just her head struggling to make sense of past and present?

No... this is... different

Frea swallowed, hard, trying to bite back at the lump in her throat and gain control of the sudden flood of unease that ran through her on an all time high. Her head throbbed, worse now as she tried to come to terms with what this was and what she was feeling... why it was so vibrant and...

... this feels... familiar... like...

Her eyes flashed, widening as she felt her heart skip a beat.

Frea jumped, the whispering and the wind and the sensation dying out in the matter of a single instant as someone's hand came lightly down on her shoulder, tapping her gently. She stepped sideways quickly, immediately on the defensive and her eyes narrowing to slits as she snapped her head around toward whoever it was to touch her.

Seyre blinked, her hand still outstretched and looking a little taken aback by the reaction from the Energess, and not entirely sure why she seemed to uneasy all of a sudden. The Keistae had taken note of how quickly the Energess had stopped in her previous movement back and forth across the threshold of the room, and the rigidness of her posture made her wary- because she hadn't a clue what set Frea off so suddenly, but something clearly had. But even then, nothing had changed, there was no noise, no new arrival, nothing. Everything was utterly quiet in Talarr's workshop, and Corrisette outside was dark and quiet as the night sky settled in deeper overhead.

Frea had been pacing back and forth across the room for some time, having returned to Talarr's workshop after saying her piece about what would transpire here. Talarr was quiet, having tucked himself away in a corner as far away from the Energess as he could, while also being still able to keep an eye on her. And he was, his eyes were flicking constantly from one thing to another- but always back to Frea eventually.

Frea could feel his emotions in constant flux, worry and fear and uncertainty and guilt all running rampant through him and prickling against her mind and her Senses without end. She wanted to say his conviction on staying silent was waning, and it probably was- she just wasn't sure if it was fast enough.

She'd been doing her best to ignore him, give him space and let him decide and work through it all in his head. As per Aisha's orders, she was supposed to sit tight and convince Talarr- and seeing as how both of those were now chocked up to simply waiting, she had been. Seyre had kept her in the loop with what Aisha was doing, and the beginnings of the plan being set into motion... But shit, she was getting fidgety, and she hated it. Thus the pacing... the pacing that had continued for well over an hour until the sudden burst of wind, and voices-

Seyre pulled her hand back, her head tilting at the Energess as Frea realized who it was, and quickly forced herself a breath that was meant to be calming- and of course it did little good.

The Cue Card floated forward at a flick of Seyre's hand, words appearing across it;

'Are you alright, Energess?'

Frea nodded stiffly, cursing herself in her head for reacting the way she had and quickly doing her best to just... shake it off.

But that dread-

"... I'm fine." Frea mumbled quickly, Seyre seemed to bite the inside of her cheek, looking none too convinced with the reply. Clearly Seyre hadn't felt anything off, so it must have just been in her head.... She hoped

'Are you sure?' Seyre's Cue Card prompted further, and Frea nodded stiffly, and the Keistae's green eyes glittered, uncertainty sparking from her, before she nodded in return and relented. Frea let out a small breath and looked away from Seyre, her eyes scanning the edges of the room and eventually trailing upward toward the windows high overhead, the sky outside dark and nearly black... she couldn't even see any stars.

Frea swallowed, another shiver running up her spine, the sheer black outside immediately reminding her of what Carla had seen in her vision.

Is this it then? Is it starting...? Is that why those voices...?

She bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to draw blood, and she hoped the prick of pain would be enough to keep her heart from beginning to race a million miles an hour. Because even though she asked those questions in her head, and she sounded unsure... she was sure, she could feel it in her core- she had felt it the entire time.

Something bad was coming, and now it was looming over her head heavier than ever- they were right on the precipice of whatever it was, and she could almost taste it on the air.

Evil

Frea stiffened, her body growing rigid again as something in her center seemed to suddenly beat. A single beat of a drum that didn't exist, and right on cue with it, the Darkness in her soul stirred- violently.

She cringed, her jaw snapping shut so hard she threatened to crack teeth, and she hunched in on herself, silver gaze glittering madly in the sudden, terrible pain that raced through every inch of her. Spiraling out from her center and rushing through her veins like fire, the agony coming in perfect tandem with a sudden wrench of her Magic moving all it's own, and much too powerfully for her to even think about biting back at even if she weren't struggling against the chilly pain.

And the instant her Magic surged of it's own accord, the instant the Collar reacted, and her body was wrapped up in a red haze in a single second. Bits of blood red electricity rand through her body with as much further as the rest of the pain, doubling it, and then tripling it as she failed to keep herself quiet and yelped. Her knees gave out, still hunched in on herself as she tilted forward and nearly smashed into the floor- save Seyre quickly moving to try and catch her before she hit it all the way, and barely managing to get her hands underneath Frea's shoulder. But the little bit of the impact was enough, and she yelled out at it, her breath snatched away and folding in on herself, shaking and hissing as she willed it to just stop.

There was another beat of a drum in the back of her head, and she groaned when her Magic pushed forward a little more in tune with it, her eyes shutting tight against it and her breath stalling.

W-what... the fuck...?!

Why is this... what's going... I can't... s... stop it...! My Magic... s... shit...!

Seyre's hands fell on Frea's shoulder and hip, the Energess curled up slightly on the floor in front of her and looking no small amount of panicked at how quickly the Energy Dragon Slayer had collapsed, and how violently the Collar was acting just then. Even Seyre could feel a prick of pain dancing across her hands where they were in contact with the Energess' body, and the heat coming up off the haze was no small thing.

Talarr had moved from his hiding place in an instant, eyes wide and fear running rampant through him the minute Frea hit the floor. He needn't have had Seyre yell at him like she did, the Keistae's voice deafening on his thoughts. The meter tracking the Energess' pain in his eyeline was high and jagged, flashing continually and reaching levels that were beyond what he had ever seen in anyone. She had every right to be yelling under that much pain, but she hardly made a noise outside of hisses and groans and he could hardly fathom it- or how it could get that bad. Hell, the Collar wasn't supposed to get this bad!

His hand waved as a menu popped up from the Collar, though he wasn't sure what he was going to accomplish with it. He'd dulled the sensitivity down as far as it could go already, and without the key that Drennios had- shit!

S-she's in so much pain, and her Magic isn't stilling... the Collar just keeps hurting her, and getting worse... He never wanted to do this, make something so.. so awful. O-or to hurt someone like this, with something I created... t... this...

Talarr hissed, his eyes flashing as he felt his core wrench painfully, his eyes snapping from the menu on the Collar and to the eye-line of his glasses, and then toward the Energess rigid and shaking on the floor before him... the Energess, the woman he was never supposed to- Gods damn it..!

He wavered

His shoulders hunched, his hands landing on her shoulder and hip, shaking and his eyes glittering like mad as the menu for the Collar disappeared, and he swallowed. He just looked at her, at the pain in her face and her body, and the red haze coming from that... that terrible, terrible thing he had made with his own hands... his hands he dared to let touch her now, when he felt there was no right to.

"I-I... I'm sorry, Energess.. I can't... I can't do anything... p..please... you need to get control of your Magic, t-that's the only way..." He said quickly, his voice shaking just as much as his hands were, and as much as Frea was shaking herself. He was pleading, pleading for the Energess to do something where he couldn't- he was helpless and he knew it.

Frea hardly heard a damn thing he said though, her mind was teetering too far between the sheer pain and an endless pit of unconsciousness that threatened to swallow her whole. She was grasping at straws, fighting with her herself and with her Magic just trying to get it to quit. It had a mind of it's own all the sudden, and with more fervor than ever before- it was trying to take over. And no amount of fighting with it was making much headway, and the longer it could do what it wanted, the longer the pain rained, and the worse it got.

S-stop it... please... i... it's never been... this... bad...!

And why? Why now, all of a sudden?!

This wasn't just the Darkness chewing off another piece of her, this was it moving, grasping, biting- controlling... or at least trying...

... it... it's trying to... make me...

She hunched further in on herself, her arms wrapped around her body and hissing harshly.

... why... why now...?

She sucked in a sharp breath of air and held it, her fingers digging into her sides and earning a sharp prick of pain- but it was drowned out by everything else.

It didn't matter, she couldn't let it do what it wanted!

She reached inward, her focus settling on every scrap of pulsing, writhing Magic inside of her and forcing a hold over it, even when it resisted. Trying to pin it down and make it settle was agony in itself, but she didn't dare let up, she couldn't let it keep on as it was and she could not let her Magic have it's way- she couldn't let that Darkness have its way.

Never... no matter how much-

She gasped, her body trembling like a leaf and heaving, the throats painful in her lungs and her body covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Eventually the jagged bits of electricity produced by the collar faded, but the haze never went away, it just faded slightly, still hot and uncomfortable.

Her focus snapped down on her Magic and forced it still in one last, gut-wrenching wash of pain- but it stopped, and the effort of doing so was nothing less than colossal. And the pain didn't go away, it stayed, throbbing and rushing through every bit of her... but it was fading, if slowly, though she hardly cared, she was barely staying awake anymore.

... t...that... was... t... too... hard...

She coughed, sputtering and gasping for air as she fought to catch any of it... she felt so utterly spent, just wrestling with her own Magic and control. But more than anything there was that cold lump in her heart, that lurking, biting fear.

... but what would happen next time? What if it got worse than that? Bad enough she couldn't-?

"... E... Energess...?"

Talarr's soft and shaky voice broke through the pounding of her own heart in her head and her ears, reality slowly trickling back in from having been snatched away so quickly. Frea opened her eyes slowly, and only halfway since the world was blurry all around her and swimming almost sickeningly. She swallowed, panting still as she turned her head just enough to see Talarr and Seyre hovering over her, and some bit of their fear and worry managed to break through the haze over her head... and the very small bit of relief that hit them when she caught their gazes, but only just, and for hardly a moment. Because that red haze produced from the Collar was still there, it hadn't gone away when her Magic stilled, and it should have.

She heard the drum beat again in the back of her head, and stiffened against it and the onslaught of pain she thought it would bring... but the pain didn't come this time, only a deeper sense of dread sharpening to a fine point. And instinctively, she knew, and she didn't know how... but she knew.

Time's up... whatever is coming... it's happening

But what?

Frea hissed, her hands finding shaky traction on the floor as she started to struggle and push herself up from the ground, her arms trembling along with her body, and her stomach flipping in a sudden bout of sheer dizziness and nausea so bad she almost gagged. Seyre and Talarr alike looked frantic she was suddenly trying to push herself up after all of that, because she clearly wasn't in any state too, she looked ready to pass out.

Frea's arms gave out on her and threatened to send her smashing into the floor again, but Talarr was quicker than Seyre, and he caught the Energess in his arms, her body falling into him and steadying her. His arm curled behind her back, the other holding gently to her arm as she brought her knees in a little, hating how he was the only thing keeping her relatively sitting up anymore. She cursed herself and her body and how weak she was after all of that- with her Magic and the Collar and Edryd's fucking sword combined.

"H-hold on, you can't push yourself so quickly...!" Talarr warned immediately, Frea shook her head with a growl.

"... listen, there's no time left." Frea muttered lowly, and Talarr's heart skipped a beat. Those silver eyes of hers locked on to him and he froze, even despite the pain in her eyes and the exhaustion, she was so utterly focused on him it was like she was looking straight through him. "... I know I said you had to choose, Talarr... but there's no more time... whatever the plan is with me, I know it's going to start soon... I can feel it." He gulped, because he knew that- he knew what time it was and he knew time was close to running out- a part of knowing that had been why he was becoming increasingly fidgety over the last hour... but how could she know...?!

"Talarr, you need to tell me why I am here." Frea murmured lowly, her silver eyes flashing. "I need to know. I need to know what I'm dealing with, because it is going to be bad- whatever it is." She winced harshly after those words and he flinched at it. "... tch... damn it." She muttered, her body shaking more as she forced herself to sit up straighter and to not rely on his hold to keep her up. She drew her legs in, folding them under her slightly and her hands falling on the floor to steady her as Talarr hesitantly drew his hands back, his eyes still fixed to her even as she momentarily looked away when she adjusted. She was panting still, trembling and clearly still in pain when she looked up at him again, her silver gaze piercing.

"Can't you feel it?" She hissed, and he shivered. "I can't be the only one, this isn't just limited to what an Energy Mage can pick up on. There is something wrong here, Talarr, there is something wrong with this place, and with Adgnei and with this whole plan... none of this is right and you know it!" She muttered sharply, and he flinched again. "I can feel it from you, you are scared, and you don't want to do this anymore. And I get it, I understand you don't want to betray anyone- but you need to trust me."

Talarr looked away quickly, and he felt himself waver, again. Frea felt it too, she kept her eyes locked on him and she hoped with everything she had that it was enough- it had to be enough!

"... I... I... I'm sorry... E.. Energess..." He started, his voice barely above a whisper and Frea's hands balled into fists against the floor. Her mouth opened, ready to snap at him, demand him- anything she could to just get him to talk, but she never got that far.

Both Frea, Seyre and Talarr alike looked up and around, immediately catching sound of claws scraping against the floor and the huffing of some creature. A wolf rounded the corner of the doorway into the room, running full speed and fur on end as it came straight in and crossed the threshold toward the three of them sitting there. Seyre shifted, immediately on high alert as the wolf got closer, in it's jaws held tightly a small, rolled up slip of paper.

Seyre's hand reached out for the creature, ready to take the note immediately and wary of what sheer fast-pace the creature was moving in. It was not like her wolves to go running through the halls so blatantly unless something was truly amiss, or time was of the essence. And with that thought in mind, the Energess' warning that time was up rang all the more severe.

But the wolf didn't even give Seyre a second glance, it bypassed the Keistae entirely and skidded to a halt right in front of Frea. It's ears shoved forward and it pushed it's nose into her arm, nudging her roughly and urgently in a sign she take the paper it held to so tightly. Frea blinked, a little stunned with it for half a second, before her expression hardened and she quickly snatched the note from the creature's teeth, and unrolled it.

There was little on the note but a few words scrawled along the center of the parchment, rushed and angled and almost frantic. Frea read the words in an instant, and her heart stopped.

There was another drumbeat in the back of her mind. Quick, sudden, heavy.

N-no...!

She sucked in a shaky, terrified breath of air, her mind and her focus rushing out away from the room and up- up as far as she could go and searching frantically for something, anything. She reached her Senses up all the way, searching for that thing she had a few hours ago... but it was dead up there. Again it was empty, no Energy, no feeling, no life- like there was nothing.

Nothing

She rounded on Talarr, her silver eyes glittering like mad and the sudden unease in the Energess oh so very clear to both Seyre and the man. They had no clue what the note said, but it clearly ignited something in her, and it looked like-

"Did you put a Cloak on the top of Okeal?!" Frea asked instantly, and Talarr jumped, his eyes widening and completely caught off guard by the question. His lack of an immediate answer caused her to lean forward, cutting the small distance between the two of them and her hands grabbing tight hold of his jacket. "Did you build something that would hide all the Energy from the top of the tower from the rest of Okeal?!" He blanched a little, his ears ringing on that- tower.

She felt the shock and the fear from him and she felt her blood run cold.

"You did...?!" Frea hissed, pulling him just a little closer, her hold on his jacket a little firmer. "Don't tell me it's still up there... don't tell me the Door is still there!" She hissed and he shivered, his mind reeling.

"... H... how do you...?" He stammered, he couldn't fathom it. None of it... she was asking about the tower, about the Door- like she knew what was there, but she couldn't have... how could she..?! No one was supposed to know...!

Talarr's heart dropped when he saw it flash across Frea's expression this time- fear.

Seyre herself blanched a little at the sight of it, chills running down her spine at what neither she nor Talarr had imagined they would see in the Energess.

Frea's jaw clenched, her gaze flashing and her arms shaking as she held on to him- and it felt like all her world was crashing down. All of it, all with a single note and a single realization- a realization of something she should have considered before now, but she'd been too quick to just want it to not be true.

How could it be?! After all of this time...!?

---

"... it's gettin' late..." Natsu grumbled with a cross glance out the window and toward twilight outside.

"Yeah, shouldn't have Aisha and everyone else called us by now?" Gray muttered,

"I'm sure they'll call us soon." Erza told them, and both boys huffed, along with many others in the Guild.

Moon scarcely heard them from her spot on the bar, still leaned over her notes and the Tome, ears pressed flat against her head and eyes narrowed at the Runes. Her paws pulled at her ears in frustration, growling under her breath as she shot the paper in front of her a nasty glare and suppressed the urge to throw it across the room. She was glaring at the depiction of the valley head and the peak at the top where there seemed to be some circular top sitting there- and which did not match up with how the Palace of Okeal looked like nowadays, as according to the illustrations in the books that Aisha had left behind.

Several hours now of staring at runes and straining to make sense of them. Several hours now of having a headache of a caliber she had never before had and feeling ready to either pass out, or lose what little food was in her stomach. Several hours now of making little to no progress on this infernal Tome, with a Guild so tense it was like a lightning storm in the Hall and little word from Aisha- which made everyone all the more on edge.

And several hours now she couldn't shake a sense of importance and dread as she stared at this one, single, fucking Rune!

She'd managed to make out many of the others, and they said something vaguely along the lines of some 'ancient tradition involving the upkeep and protection of one of Adgnei's most important something'. But what was that? Okeal was the Palace, and of course it was important just in that regard. Drennios, their God-King, lived there and He was important too... Not to mention all manner of likely special and important people and items and things that were probably in Okeal and always had been and needed safekeeping... Damn it!

But this Rune. This one single Rune, and the illustration, and Carla's Vision still running rampant through her mind... She couldn't give it up, and it was driving her insane!

Because what if the information was really important? And it could help explain why Frea had been taken to Adgnei in the first place? It might not be important at all, she knew that...and still.

She just couldn't shake it. It was like it was stuck in her head- and she couldn't figure out why.

Moon grumbled under her breath, her ears drooping slightly as her face fell into her paw, pinching the bridge of her nose and swallowing back at the headache pounding away at her head- that only got all the worse the longer she kept reading and trying to decipher things.

"... Are you alright?" Lily murmured, his paw falling on her shoulder softly. Moon glanced up from her hands slowly, glancing sideways toward him and nodding once, before letting out a heavy sigh.

"... though not really... I'm stuck, and it's bugging me, and it's infuriating." Moon grumbled lowly, Lily blinked, looking a little sympathetic for a moment. Moon huffed a little, her paws crossing over her chest as her tail-tip twitched irritably. Her ears flicked in the direction of the paper in front of her, to which her eyes landed on that single last rune in the line she had been doing her best to unravel, and Lily's head tilted. "I have a basic idea of what this sentence says, but the last Rune I can't put together... and it's nagging me, I just have a feeling... like maybe it's important."

"What does the rest of it say?" He asked,

"Something along the lines of an 'ancient tradition involving the upkeep and protection of one of Adgnei's most important something'." Moon repeated with ease, and Lily blinked. "And of course 'something' can meet literally anything... and this Rune is just... I haven't seen anything like it. It could be a blend of too many other Runes, and none of those mixes really make any sense to me." Her eyes dropped closed as her shoulders hunched a little, "... honestly I'm just... really tense... we don't know what's going on, and my heart tells me it isn't good... and that it's gonna happen soon. I hate not knowing."

Moon bit the inside of her cheek, shaking her head and herself out as her fur started prickling, a sensation of her skin crawling as the thought occurred to her- what this waiting really felt like.

"... this feels like..." She mumbled softly, before quickly cutting herself off, bristling. Lily's eyes narrowed at her and the reaction,

"What?" He asked instantly, but Moon was already shifting, moving as she started quickly sifting through piles of papers and books littered around them. Lily shifted a little closer, his ears twitching as Moon pulled the piles apart, her blue eyes narrowed at the pages and her fur sticking on end. She didn't answer him when he asked, and he didn't press it either, he figured he would let her look for whatever it was she was searching for- and when she found it, he would ask again.

Levy and Lucy looked up curiously to Moon's sudden searching, Master and Mirajane looked over too- all of them growing a little more tense at how quickly the Exceed was moving so suddenly, and how unsettled she seemed.

"Uh, Moon...?" Levy started uncertainly, but Moon didn't give the bluenette even the smallest twitch of her ears.

Moon pulled out one page of notes, then another, and a third, and then a fourth, setting them aside before quickly pushing the (now utterly haphazard) piles of papers as far away as she could, and turned to the three she had separated. Lily circled her slightly, crouching down in front of her and peering at her carefully.

"... what is it?" Lily asked slowly, Moon shook her head a little.

"I just... why can't I ignore this one? Of all these Runes, why can't I shake this one?" Moon grumbled lowly, her finger trailing down the paper of notes as she read them quickly. She found what she was looking for and picked up one of the lightpens lying nearby. She drew the pen in air before her and the light appeared, hovering as she quickly traced out the specific Rune she had found among the many, and then replaced that paper with one of the other ones. "It's not just that it's putting me on edge, it's not that I think it might be important... its like I know it's important, and that maybe... maybe I've seen it before..." She trailed off again as she looked through the last three pages, and from each picked out a single Rune and wrote them in air with the lightpen as she had the first.

"Seen it before?" Lily murmured softly, Moon nodded.

"I must have, but I didn't register it because I don't know what it means." Moon mumbled, her eyes trailing over each of the Runes in air before her. "... or at least, I saw something similar... something with bits of these shapes and lines... and something that... I felt like this about... when we..." She frowned, her blue eyes glittering as she tapped the lightpen Runes and moved them, breaking them apart here and there and stacking them, making new shapes, new Runes- and unstacking them as she worked to recreate what faint sensation of something was lurking at the edge of her aching mind. Lily, Levy, Lucy and a few others moved up toward the bar behind Moon, watching the she-cat work in silence, their eyes following the glowing bits as Moon continually rearranged them.

"... this dread... it feels like that day..." Moon mumbled under her breath, her eyes narrowing as her hands stalled in her work. Her ears swiveled back, alert, intent, focused... if she looked for it, could she..?

One ear twitched, her heart skipping a beat when she swore she heard it, far off and faint... wispy, unintelligible, fleeting... but familiar. Hauntingly familiar.

She wasn't sure she did hear it, she could have imagined it, but it didn't matter. That spark of fear running through her core was enough, and she swept her paws out, her Magic and what little of it she had, flaring. Two Magic Circles appeared before either hand, golden in color and Moon's eyes dropped closed, ignoring the looks of surprise and worry she earned from everyone around her for the fact she was using Magic at all. The Guild jumped, those not previously paying Moon any mind whipping around in shock as the Guild Hall quickly faded from their view, the floorboards replaced in grass, the walls turned to knotted, twisting trees. The air dropped a few degrees, suddenly musty, thick, close... almost hard to breathe and not lacking a faint scent of death and decay all around.

They stood at the edge of a path through the trees, the pathway itself lined with stone pillars and ancient gates of red, both with bells hanging from them and covered in runes that must have been placed there centuries ago. A mountain rose up steeply to form a cliff before them, sitting at the head of a clearing still covered by the dark of the trees above them, blotting out the sky. There were stone pillars and two statues just before them on either side of the end of the path, depicting some huge creature, cold and unmoving and almost leering.

Erza, Gray, Lily, Wendy, Lucy, Juvia, Natsu and Gajeel all stiffened, cold weights falling into their stomach's as they looked around at the scene and recognized it immediately. Laxus even grimaced, though he had never seen the specific area, the suffocating and dark feeling of the trees and the silence on all sides was enough for him to know where this was.

"What the hell...?"

"... this is... creepy..." Jet and Droy mumbled in tandem with one another,

"This is..." Lucy breathed, her brown eyes glittering as she looked around quickly.

"... no way..." Natsu hissed under his breath,

The cliff-face of sheer stone had black Runes across it, etched into the stone by Magic, and glowing an eerie black. But unlike that day, it was lacking anyone there, it was empty and silent, Moon didn't need to build up the whole memory, she only needed a part of it. Moon walked forward along the now invisible bar, making her look like she was walking in thin air as she headed toward the cliff-face and waved her paw, making the bits of lightpen Runes follow her as she went. Lily followed her slowly, eyes narrowed and uneasy as he stepped carefully along the thing he could no longer see- but he figured following Moon's steps would keep him from falling.

She walked straight up to that wall and stopped before it, her blue eyes quickly tracing across the Runes that the rest of them could not read- but Moon could, and even more she had already read them once. And what they said was nothing but a chilly memory in so many of their heads, and the dread hanging over their hearts got all the heavier.

Moon's paw traced lightly over the Runes as she muttered their meaning under her breath in quick succession, ignoring the looks and murmurs of question from the Guild behind her.

"... Here lies the record of history's darkest days, a tomb of those who brought light into a dark and evil world... A record of all who perished and fought, a book of time and space. Here is the Gate to a place where humans ought not tread... A prison for a power that shall remain hidden and lost.'" Her eyes narrowed more as she read further down the line, "... An ancient power belonging to a-" She cut herself off abruptly, her recital ending with the next Rune and she felt her heart skip a beat. She waved her paw to usher the lightpen Runes forward, and lined them up next to that Rune she had stopped at, the one she didn't know.

She rearranged her Runes again, throwing away bits and pieces entirely this time, and bristling further when she ended with a Rune that looked exactly the one she had paused on. 'And ancient power belonging to a something'- belonging to whatever this Rune meant... or more accurately what bits of the Runes she had made it out of meant.

"... it's a perfect match." Lily intoned softly, his eyes glittering. Moon nodded stiffly,

"And it's almost an exact match to the one in that Tome." She intoned lowly, "... it's a combination of this Rune, and another one."

"What Runes did you use to make that one, Moon?" Levy asked, Moon swallowed.

"Immortal, High and... Force and Creation." Moon murmured slowly, and everyone's eyes widened. They tensed, their hearts suddenly pounding in their chests and on high alert as shiver's ran up their spines, the words echoing in their heads and thoughts whirling. And all their thoughts fell on the same thing in near an instant,

"W-wait, you don't mean like...?!"

"N-no way...!"

"That thing in that book Aisha sent over, it's...?"

"W-wait, you said that the Rune in the Tome is a combination of this one, and another one." Levy intoned quickly, the Script Mage quickly moving forward to stand at Moon and Lily's shoulder, in her hands the Tome that had been sent from Adgnei, and her eyes on the Rune that Moon had been brooding over. "What other Rune? That might make it mean something completely different..." She murmured, but Moon stiffened even more, her ears pressing flat against her head. The she-cat waved a paw and one of the other Runes etched into the cliff-face detached itself from the memory, and lay over the one she had created.

With that single, fifth Rune, the one Moon had drawn now and the one in the Tome in Levy's hands matched, perfectly. Moon had already pieced together what the missing portion was, and her blood ran cold the minute she confirmed it.

"Immortal, High, Force, Creation..." Moon hissed lowly, her eyes trailing toward Levy, glittering and terrified.

"... Tomb."

---

"Tsk, Tsk... best curb your tongue, Ilean. Lest you say something you aren't meant to."

Frea jumped, her mind and her nerves on sudden high alert at the sudden voice- immediately focusing on the Energy Signature behind them and hating herself for getting so worked up she hadn't felt him, or the others getting closer.

Frea let go of Talarr, her body spinning around as she suddenly forced herself up and on to her feet, her body breaking into a defensive stance as her silver eyes locked with the yellow ones of Edryd. Backing the man were about two dozen of the Kullui, in al their emotionless silence and quiet obedience. Frea's fists clenched at her sides, the note she was holding on to crumpling in her hand. Seyre's wolf growled lowly to her right, and both Seyre and Talarr slowly got to their feet behind where Frea was standing, looking wary and slightly terrified in Talarr's case.

"L-Lord Tuvral..." Talarr started uncertainly, but Edryd shook his head, casting the man a stern glare that instantly shut him up. Talarr's eyes fell and Edryd looked to Frea next, and she returned his stare with a glare of her own,

"It seems you are in some way aware of what we have tried so hard to keep secret." Edryd told her lowly, and Frea's jaw clenched. "I doubt Lady Celene knows the full extent of what is in that tower, so you must know of it some other way... and it clearly concerns you, Energess." He murmured, and Frea stiffened. "I take it that you know the immensity of the Power that sleeps there, then."

That was it- that was the confirmation, and she felt the fear getting worse in her core.

The drum beat again

"Tch... you want me to 'open the way'?!" Frea snapped hotly, reiterating those words he had said to her back outside Fairy Hills- and those that suddenly made all the sense in the world. "All of this has been to get that fucking Gate open?! You're talking about it like you know what it is and what it can do- but you don't have a fucking clue, I can promise you that!" Edryd frowned slightly, though he didn't react any other way to her anger. " 'Immense Power' doesn't even cover it! And yes it concerns me- there is nothing you could ever want that would warrant opening that Gate!"

Talarr and Seyre blinked, their wide eyes landing on Frea and looking stricken at her sudden ferocity- and how quickly she seemed to put the whole situation together.

"... not even ensuring Adgnei's safety?" He countered coolly, and Frea bristled, her fangs baring at him.

"Opening the damn thing won't do that!" She snapped back instantly, "I don't know what you were told or what your ferde King told you- nothing good comes from opening it! Nothing! There is not a person on this earth that can contain that Magic if it gets let out- and what it will do to everyone here and the whole of Adgnei and even farther beyond will end in nothing but chaos and ruin!" She stepped forward, her eyes blazing and her anger rising further with every second- every second her heart was pounding faster and she felt the urgency getting worse, and the panic. "People are going to die if that thing opens! Everyone even!"

"... e.. everyone...?" Talarr whispered under his breath, looking a little pale.

"The decision is not up to you, Energess. This is Drennios' will, and He rules here- not you." Edryd replied lowly, and Frea growled. "Not even an Energess can refuse the God-King. You will do this, wish it or not."

"The hell I will!" Frea hissed back instantly, but her words and her anger got cut off in an instant and the Kullui moved without even a single word or spoken command.

The drum beat again, and all thoughts on retaliation or movement or anything got cut off as agony seared through her body and her core anew. She cringed, stumbling a little and any chance of avoiding the Kullui utterly shattered. Chains rushed forward and clapped around her arms and wrapped around her torso, the Kullui thrusting their arms backward and jerking her forward violently, leaving Seyre and Talarr where they stood in stunned and somewhat horrified silence.

Her body slammed into the floor, sending the pain skyrocketing and her Magic surging anew as the Darkness rose again, vying, pulling, tearing... utterly relentless and so very, very hungry for more control. Frea yelled, the pain blinding her for a moment and growing worse as the Collar started back up again, sparking and flickering off her form- but she didn't stop. She immediately started to push herself, pull back at the chains and away from the Kullui who had pulled her in.

I can't-!

She got slammed back against the floor, her arms pulled behind her far enough her bones ached, and she coughed- her mind whirling and her thoughts and emotions too, and all of it getting drowned in nothing but searing pain and absolute terror.

She couldn't do it, she wouldn't do it- she didn't want to! Nothing would change her mind on the fact, but even then... shit!

My Magic is already getting out of control, that Darkness is pulling at me, stronger than ever... it knows where we are, that's why it's been so bad.

We're back where it all started- back where it came from... b-back where-

The Kullui were on top of her now, lifting her up roughly from the floor, their hands digging into her skin and the chains pulling tighter- and still she tried to resist it, pulling and kicking and throwing her weight around even when every movement was torture and her Magic seethed, and the fury of the Collar and it's 'punishment' did too.

Another drum sounded

They were pulling her forward, forcing her out of the room and after Edryd as he lead them out. The Kullui didn't budge, they kept hold of her, oblivious and unfeeling of the sheer heat that was rising with every moment from the Collar, or the ferocity of the pain it was inflicting. Talarr followed quickly, his steps faltering out of the room and all the way down the hall as the Kullui and Edryd kept forward, forcing Frea along with them. Seyre and her wolf stopped at the doorway of Talarr's workshop, tense and on edge as two Kullui stayed back and barred the Keistae and her Familiar from following. Seyre frowned at them, watching the Energess and the rest move down the hallway, before she and her wolf quickly turned and headed in the opposite direction, and out of sight.

"S... Stop...!" Frea hissed, her voice cracking, still trying to get free. "... I'm not... I will never open that fucking Gate for you...!"

"You won't have a choice, Energess." Edryd replied lowly, "Even if we must force you, the Door will open... even if it kills you."

Kill me...!? N-not that's... not...

She couldn't- no, no!

If they bring me there, the closer we get- I'm not gonna..!

Frea shuddered, biting back at the pain and still pulling and wriggling around in the Kullui's terrible grip. Her head turned as far as she could, her silver eyes wide and searching, and locking to Talarr as he trailed along behind them, stricken at what he was seeing happen ahead of him. She pulled against the Kullui so hard she felt her bones crack a little, her muscles straining, but she didn't care.

"Listen to me, you can't open that Gate!" Frea snapped, "You can't force me into it... y... you cannot take me there, you don't understand what'll happen!" Talarr blinked and Frea's jaw clenched, her complexion paling a little more as the pain etched into her face grew a bit worse... and the...

Another drum, closer, heavier

"I can't!" She yelled, her voice ringing off the empty, winding halls of Okeal.

"Stop!"

---

An icy chill fell over the whole of the Guild, colder than the presence of the forest and it's memory around them. Dread and fear heavier than they had felt in a long time, and easily rivaling the terror they felt the day Mordren had taken hold. There was a rush of movement, everyone shifting and growing rigid as their eyes lit up in fear and urgency and shock.

"You're saying that there's one of those places in Adgnei...?!"

"A tomb for a Force of Creation?!"

"S-Shit, didn't that Edryd guy say something about opening something...?!"

"They ain't trying to make Frea open up one of those things, are they?!"

"C-Crap!"

"We can't sit here, we gotta get there now!"

"Who knows what the hell will happen if that thing gets opened!"

The image of Nvindorr faded and the Guild Hall came back into view, everyone on their feet now and with a sudden energy all around. They had been fidgety before, but this was urgency- this was real.

If there was any chance in hell there was a place like Nvindorr or Hilshine in Adgnei, and it was connected with Frea, they couldn't just sit there any longer. She'd nearly gotten killed by the one in Nvindorr, and the ones in Hilshine and her Mountain had been important enough Mordren wanted that Power for himself- the idea of whoever the hell in Adgnei wanted something like that, and getting their hands on it?! Worse, getting their hands on it by forcing Frea to open it up?! She'd never do it willingly, and Adgnei had already shown it was fairly willing to do whatever it needed to get what it wanted.

They had to go, now.

Eyes all around the Guild Hall turned on Cana, ready to rush forward and demand she hand over those Magic Beans needed to get to Adgnei- screw whatever plan Aisha and everyone else were playing at!

"Hmm."

Moon's fur stood on end, as did Lily's beside her, and both of them jumped, suddenly aware there was something behind them that hadn't been before, as a small sigh reached their ears with no warning.

"You've confirmed what I feared then." A stranger's voice said softly, Lily and Moon whipped around toward it, eyes wide and defensive. Many in the Guild looked around quickly at the new voice too, their eyes finding a stranger suddenly standing at the bar as if he appeared from thin air. Their wary and distrustful eyes found the strange man, including Master Makarov- who's jaw dropped when he lay eyes on the utterly unexpected arrival.

"Y-you...?!" Master stammered quickly, before cutting off, his eyes locking with orange ones, and his jaw clenching against the grim expression on the other man's face. Master felt his heart skip a beat.

"The Energess will have no choice. She'll open the Gate for that Tomb whether she wants to or not... time is up."

---

Her Magic was raging, all of it own, reacting, thirsting- absolutely loving the sheer terror running rampant through her, and she couldn't stop it. Her lungs were on fire, her body and inferno, stabbed with invisible blades and punctured over and over and over by the effects of the Collar running on an even larger high than her emotions.

She struggled, pulling against the chains and the hands no matter how much it hurt- she let her Magic flare, forcing it higher and hoping for something, anything- anything to get away, to stop the continual march upward.

The drumbeats were getting louder, and coming faster. They reverberated in her head and in her ears, almost as deafening as the pounding of her heart, and the continually growing more shrill and panicked tone of her voice.

"I can't! I can't go there! I won't! I-if I go, I-!"

...

She was hardly standing, the light in her eyes fading fast as Mordren stood in front of her, eyes dull and face expressionless as Reyan reached out for him, her hand trembling and shaking, blood dripping past her lips as her trembling fingers brushed against his cheek and under his jaw, leaving smears of red of her own blood painted on his skin. Her tears fell from her eyes, splashing against the ground as she smiled, oh so painfully, her entire existence filled with nothing but sadness and heartbreak.

A woman so powerful suddenly bloodied and defeated, a woman who could move mountains and destroy armies with a wave of her hand, brought to her knees and weeping as she struggled to touch him, hold him.

"... i... it's alright, love..." Reyan gasped, "... The dark that's... seeped inside... you can't fight it... I know... I know... this is... not you..." Her lips twitched, smiling as he simply stared at her. "... I only... e...ever wanted... to keep you safe... Selfish of m... me... maybe... All I wanted... was y-you..." Her hand fell, her thumb tracing over his lips lightly. "... y... you are right... I a...alwa...ys knew... I never... told you... because I didn't... want to lo...se ... y.. you..." Her hand fell entirely, Reyan swayed as she struggled for air.

...

Frea shook her head furiously, her voice getting hoarser and hoarser, her struggling more vain, the pain tripling with every movement forward. She fought harder, even with her strength waning, even with her Magic growing more wild, even with the Collar shocking her every second with a pain growing comparable to the rest of it... To the pain from that dark spot on her soul, festering.

She felt it, slowly cutting into her, straining her muscles and her bones, leaving small, shallow marks here and there... It was too much, it was tearing her apart again.

The Darkness yearned for it. To make the pain worse, bad enough she wouldn't want anything but-

She shoved back against the Kullui's hold hard enough to make them stumble, the Collar sparking around her body with a new fervor as the air wavered- her Magic rising enough to cause it, enough to earn the taste of blood in her mouth- but not enough to break free.

The drums kept getting louder, faster... She felt them thumping through every inch of her.

"... Please...!" Frea yelled, her voice pained and so utterly terrified... Pleading.

If I can't get away... If they take me to it... N... N-no...!

Frea pulled back again, the hallway ending, a door ahead of them, the top of the tower... And open room settled into the mountainside and surrounded by pillars of white stone. She knew what it was, she'd seen it before, saw it stand and saw it crumble. Saw it as a quiet place, and then a battle ground... Felt the ringing and the thrumming of a power so ancient and so deep and so dark... So unfathomable.

Consuming

Her legs weren't hardly working anymore, the pain was too much, her body was being pushed too far. They were dragging her, trembling and shaking and still her voice kept on- her yelling and her pain and her begging. Her voice cracked in agony, and in panic and unending fear.

"I can't! I can't be here... I... I can't! I won't... I won't be able to stop myself!"

Her teeth grit, the doors swung open, and the instant they crossed the threshold- she could scarcely think. The sheer unrelenting force that washed through, bombarding her senses where it had been hidden, the pain soared higher than ever, and her Magic went right along with it.

It knew she was here, she could feel it reaching out, and invisible force pulling her in, beckoning her toward that cliff face, and that massive, looming, stone archway carved into the mountainside. It called out to that piece of itself living on inside of her... that Darkness that had come from this place and taken hold of him, oh so long ago.

There were people lined up on either side, men and women, all wearing Dyann's of purple hues, all forming a path up to the archway, all of them rigid and quiet in their spots... Spectators. At the head of their path stood someone small, and wrapped in dark cloaks, standing right there in front of that door, amidst a Magic circle carved into the floor just before the Gate. Right where he had stood when he opened it... Where it all started, and where it all went wrong.

They pulled her forward, but she couldn't walk, she could hardly breathe. The pain was unlike anything, her mind was being shredded she couldn't think straight- but the terror stayed, and the sinking feeling in her heart that was as sharp as any knife or sword.

The note she had been clutching in her hand the whole way fell, crumpled up into a tight ball and abandoned- neither the Kullui nor Edryd noticed it, they just kept forward.

The air was thumping, the sound of the drums a constant on the air- the air was shaking and shifting from the instant she crossed into the space. Everything was trembling, the whole mountain seemed to, they could all feel it. The minute she came into that chamber, the Gate was reacting- and violently so. Just as violently as the Energess' pain seemed to grow, and just as violent as the Collar continued to become.

Talarr faltered in his walking, his eyes having been darting frantically between the Energess and everywhere else. He looked around the room now, at the colition of the Noble Caste standing in witness, around the circular spire sitting atop this tower and overlooking the city in the valley far below, the lights of the capital glittering through the tall, multicolored and intricate glass windows wrapping all around them, and pressed against the moutainside and that massive archway set there. The Door and the Gate to which all of this had been planned for... for going to Fiore, and taking prisoner somene they should never have dared go against.

He knew the Door was closed. That archway carved into the sheer stone of the mouantainside would not budge for anything he had ever done, or he had ever tried with it. It would not open for him, and he had spent months trying to do so. Whatever lock was on that door was not something he could remove nor contend with, and he hadn't been sure there was someone who could.

Talarr had been here many times, Drennios' had asked him to look into it, asked for a plan and a way to open it... research and all manner of things on something so massive and so utterly beyond him. He knew so much about it, but he must have known so little- the Energess knew more than he had, because he had never considered it evil until she said something, but he knew she was right.

It was power, it was an almost endless chasm of Magic... but of what kind he had never been sure, and he still wasn't. He knew it could do impossible things, and yet he couldn't fathom what those things could be. He knew it was some power that was deeply rooted into this mountain and probably into the city itself, and he knew in some way it had reached out and started affecting everything here in Corrisette... the Door was closed, the Power it kept at bay dormant and mostly docile, asleep even.

The Door was closed, it had always been closed, the Power behind it had always slept. Nothing about this place ever changed, no matter what he did here or what he tested. But now?

The minute they stepped into this place everything was shaking, the floor trembling, the air with it. What constant, calming pulses of power could always be felt behind that Door were now rocking everything, growing faster and stronger and more choking... reacting, and to what? In all the hundreds of things he had ever tried and nothing ever made the slightest difference, what now was that colossal, immeasurable, incomprehensible Power reacting to?

The red haze produced by the Collar around the Energess' neck was growing a deeper scarlet with every second, the electricity and pain it was inflicting constant and quick. The Energess' Magic was swirling faster and faster, and the Collar was acting just as quickly- and she was hardly standing anymore. He heard her and her pain, the yells and the hisses and the wincing on a constant, terrible loop- the roughness of her breathing and the pale color of her skin growing all the paler. The Pain Meter produced by his glasses was in the red, spiking every second and getting worse and worse, with every step, and every foot moved closer to that Door.

That Door that was thrumming, deeper and more powerful, it's pressure running through his core and setting his teeth on edge, and almost making it harder to breathe. There was Magic dancing through here, swirling and pushing and it wasn't supposed to- this place wasn't supposed to shift like this, that Power wasn't supposed to be this tangible.

"S... Stop...!" The Energess' voice was pained and jagged, and dripping in what he could only place as sheer terror and agony.

This place wasn't supposed to react like this. The Gate shouldn't be giving off this much power and pressure- it was supposed to be closed... this... this isn't right.

Talarr's eyes snapped from the archway and toward the Energess when she heard her yelling cut off suddenly, and get replaced with harsh coughing. His blood ran cold and shivers ran up his spine as he saw her hunch in on herself, the Kullui the only thing holding her up now, and his attention found the few sticky scarlet drops that splattered against the marble floor underneath her.

The Collar, her Magic... all of this... It's... Killing her...

Edryd paused slightly when he heard the Energess coughing behind him, his previous wary scanning of the room and the sudden rise in Magical Pressure being interrupted. His yellow eyes flashed, his lips pulling into a tight line as he found the drops of blood on the floor in the midst of her coughing and her heaving. He'd not turned to look back at her the entire time they made their way up here, not even with how much she was yelling at him or cursing or whatever else. For the first time he let his eyes break away from his intended path, and look back at her, and he frowned slightly.

The room around them shook, a large tremor erupting from where the Gate stood and shaking the stone foundations at their roots. The Energess yelled, her body lurching in tune with the tremor itself and the Collar kicking in higher, the bits of electricity sparking in and out of of her body with more fervor, the floor around her cracking a little.

The edges of the archway in the mountain suddenly lit up, deep crimson and purple and black racing across the stone surface, illuminating Runes that had previously been entirely invisible- there was a murmur that spread among the silent and rigid figures of the Noble Cast on all sides.

"Incredible..."

"It's already working..."

Frea yelled, her voice shrill and bouncing off the walls as she sank further, all will to keep herself up gone. She felt her body and soul wrenched forward and toward the door, felt the Magic seeping out, reaching for her, beckoning out to what bit of itself was trapped inside of her... and it wanted to go, get out, consume her and join it's larger whole. And it didn't care what it did to earn it, all that Darkness wanted was out... it wanted her to let it.

She was in so much pain, she couldn't hardly think straight, she could hardly keep her conviction up. Fear was running rampant through every inch of her and she was still struggling to pull back, to resist, to keep control- she couldn't do it, being here, the Darkness was stronger, harsher, more wild. It washed everything out, caused her Magic to flare, started creeping faster and consuming what little bit of her was left to take, and still she couldn't.

If it had been hard to resist this on her own, all the way back in Fiore, and all those hundreds of thousands of miles away from this place- from the source- how could she resist it, here? Right in the very heart of it? Where it was pushing and pulling and tearing her apart, breaking her down and consuming her in all this sheer, blinding, unimaginable pain...?

She felt her mind wavering, her will to resist fading fast, the want to let the pain stop growing more important. Just... just let the pain stop...

... n... no... I can't... I can't give into it... I... I don't want to... I can't turn into...!

...

"... it's alright... L...ove." Reyan smiled, sadly, her tears still falling. "... It was worth it... To know you... I j-j..ust...regret... I could not... k..keep you f-from... falling."

Mordren had lift a hand, formed in the shape of a gun as he pressed his finger against her chest, his eyes still so dull and devoid of any feeling.

Scarlet sprayed out behind that woman like a fountain, the stone stained and slick with it as she fell back, her pale blue hair a bloody mess and her body no better.

...

She gasped, her face twisting and her head hanging as the Kullui dragged her forward and then finally stopped. They let her go and she hit the floor, her body bouncing painfully against the marble and curling in on herself, gasping and shaking and her forehead pressed against the ground. She didn't look up, she couldn't even think of doing so, or trying to move and get away- she could hardly breathe, and her body felt like it was being torn apart... but worse than even the pain, or the sheer heat engulfing every inch of her, or the chilly bite of that utter evil inside of her, one thing was worse than anything else, and she gasped again, her breath hitching.

".. p... please..." She hissed, her voice cracking, hardly above a whisper.

Talarr gulped, rooted in his spot and staring as he watched the Energess hit the floor in the center of that Magic Circle just before the Door. His eyes broke away from Frea and toward the cloaked figure standing before her, his hands clasped tightly around one another and shaking though he tried to keep himself composed. That cloaked figure turned, hooded and slow and everyone in the room shifted, every Noble and Kullui, Edryd, and Talarr himself- they all stood at attention, their heads bowing and their bodies following suit, their eyes fixed to the floor and not daring to look up.

Talarr blinked, his eyes landing on the floor and the small, crumpled piece of paper lying a few feet in front of him.

The cloaked figure before Frea stooped slightly, oblivious or uncaring of the bowed heads and bodies of the rest of those in the room. They looked over the Energess' lying and shaking on the floor in front of them, a thin, pale hand moving from the cloak and curling under her chin, jerking her head up off the floor a little roughly.

Frea hissed, her eyes narrowed and glittering, her vision swimming and too much to make out anything in the shadow of the hood that figure wore. She didn't try to though, she'd seen enough upon coming in to know who they were- the only one, at the head of everyone else, and now so utterly in control. In her heart and her head she knew immediately without any doubt on it,

Drennios... God-King

She growled, her jaw clenching and her breath ragged as she glared up at the face she couldn't see, anger and pain and fear in her eyes, and tears falling down her cheeks in a continual stream.

That one thing, worse than anything else? Than even the pain?

"Hello, Energess." The figure murmured quietly, their fingernails digging into her jaw and her chin as they held her face tightly. "I can see you're in terrible pain, this place is reacting to you much more fervently than I even hoped. You know what I want of you, so why not cease the resistance and simply give in? Open the Gate willingly, let go... you will hurt no longer, and you will not need to die."

Frea's jaw clenched, her fangs baring and her body lurching forward a bit toward him, silver eyes blazing even despite the pain, or the tears.

"Fuck you." she growled, and she felt their fingers dig into her jaw a little more, anger flashing from them. Her voice shook though, and she knew it... she knew how scared she sounded, and she hated that. She knew she was crying, but she couldn't stop it.

The worst thing- that one thing, that not even dying could be worse.

"I'm gonna die before I let this place turn me into him." She hissed lowly, her voice shaking so terribly and sounding so unsure of herself, but she said it anyway.. and she wanted to mean it.

Drennios let out a small sigh, their fingers digging into her skin for a few seconds, before tossing her away.

"So be it."

The chains still snapped tightly around her body jerked upward, bringing her up off the floor and forcing her to her feet, only just- she was being held in air more than she was touching the ground, and her body blazed bright in pain at the action. She couldn't move, she was pinned there, and Drennios backed up out of the Magic Circle she was stuck in- black light burning bright as it activated underneath her.

"Even unwillingly, we will siphon your Magic from you and into the Gate." Drennios murmured lowly, "Your Magic is the only one that can open it, and it will open... and what is locked away will be mine. And I will use it as I was meant to."

The light from the Magic Circle stretched forward, headed straight up to either end of the Gate and burned cold silver- her Magic. Frea yelled, her body wrenched again as she felt her Magic being pulled away from her at insane speed- willed along by the Siphon, and the Darkness all at once- and she resisted it all she could, and the pain got worse and worse. The Collar flared with new life, reacting to her Magic being stripped and uncaring if she willed it or not. She felt her throat, already rough from yelling, suddenly burn and sear from where it was in contact with her skin.

"Every life here in my country, all of them... will be bent to my will. Those who are loyal will remain, everyone else- I will consume."

---

C.. Consume...?

Everything was shaking, the whole mountain and the whole room. Tremors ran through the earth with more fervor than ever before, the stone was cracking underneath it all. Bits of stone fell in pieces from the roof, dust raining over the corridor and the air so heavy it was like tar to breathe. It was suffocating, shadows creeping in on all sides and seemingly seeping from that wall and that Gate that was slowly creaking open from it's middle.

Everything was shaking so violently the tower seemed apt to collapse under their feet, and yet they couldn't move- their eyes remained fixed and riveted even as everything became so very dark, they could barely see.

The drums were everywhere, pounding against their eardrums, shaking them to their cores- and yet her screams of utter agony reigned above them all.

Magic was flaring around her, spinning and sparking off her body in a bloody red haze. Black Magic seeped from the Door and stretched out toward her, curling around her arms and her legs, merging with the red and pulling away at her no matter how much she struggled and writhed around, pinned by the chains and the Magic both... and still she was trying so hard.

She was fighting, with every bit of herself and her Magic and her will- trying to pull away, to keep away, to stop herself from... from Falling, or giving in.

And oh she wanted to- she just wanted it all to stop

The Magic spinning around her worsened, her screams getting louder as it tore up the floor, a wash of air and pressure pushing the rest of them back, and knocking many of them down. The Lacrima embedded in the Collar around the Energess' neck cracked, Magic spilling from the stone faster and engulfing her more, racing through her veins and through her body, and leaving burns. Wild, uncontrolled- breaking.

There was blood dripping from the edges of her mouth in a constant stream, her body shaking and bruising underneath it all, and still she tried to pull back, and it just hurt worse.

She was crying still, her mind teetering toward an empty black abyss that was so inviting- pushed toward it faster as she felt her strength and her life drain away in tandem with her Magic being siphoned off against her will. And still she knew she was losing.

I... I'm going to... n.. no...

... the abyss was so much more inviting than she knew... but she couldn't... I can't

"... S.. stop...! I... agh..!"

The tears fell faster, her head shaking furiously and the tears hitting the floor. She wrenched her arms back hard enough the chains felt like they fractured her wrists, and she didn't care.

I can't... !

... the note was small, wrinkled, and the ink slightly smeared now... but the words, they were as heavy as a hundred tons. It weighed heavier than that in his hand as he watched, shaking from head to foot and eyes wide, the Pain Meter topped out and staying there, the Scan flashing dozens of warnings and messages and making his heart drop further and further into his feet.

The room was getting darker, the shaking more violent, the cracks in the floor lengthening until they opened up- fissures wearing into the floor as the Gate opened further, sheer, unending black spilling from the inside and moving fast across the space. The pressure increased tenfold, his lungs fighting for air and struggling to stay on his feet, the Magic readings skyrocketing, too high to even begin to rate or count.

The silver of her Magic being fed into the Door was changing color, the bright silver hue staining a deadly black.

This... this is... wrong

The Nobles were running now, the walls started to crumble around them and the ceiling over their heads fall in larger pieces. The Kullui were motionless, fixed in their spot and not hearing of any commands given to them by Edryd or anyone else. The small bit of a procession and spectacle they had come to watch had turned much too violent for them, and they all knew it now.

This was wrong, utterly wrong... everything was falling apart.

She yelled again, thrashing harder, losing strength, the Collar torture, her tears falling faster. That Energess, that powerful, radiant legend... reduced to this, writhing in agony, screaming...

She's...

His fists clenched, the note in his hand crumpling further than it already had been. The words scrawled on the page running through his mind on a repeat, terrible and terrifying;

'Why did Mordren Fall?'

"STOOOOOP!"

---

Hello everyone!

I am not dead, as you can see- I do aplogize for how long it has taken me to get this updated though QwQ

(And I do apologize for another cliffhanger, but things are picking up exponentially now, and the true fight in Adgnei is about to break loose! There is going to be a lot of stuff that goes down, and some character development stuff!)

Just as an aside, the stuff happening with Frea and the rest of the Guild are a bit offset time-wise. The stuff with Frea is generally later than the stuff going on with everyone else...

I promise to have the next update come much faster this time, it'll be easier now that we've hit a sort of apex in this arc.

Please, Vote and Comment if ya can! And thank you so much for reading, and sticking with me!