Looking in horror at the scene unfolding. The silence amongst Ayrgyn, the Mistress, and Lark speaking volumes to the realisation that Lark underwent, suddenly realising who her friend Misty actually was. Lark slowly put a leather strapped hold bag onto the floor before turning around. She walked a few paces, and suddenly broke into a sprint.
'Lark! Wait!' The Mistress called, but yielded no result. She focused on the spot that her friend had stood. The Mistress felt a pang of guilt over Lark seeing who she had to be. Ayrgyn, seeing the chance to recover from his knock-back, climbed back to his feet.
'Well, This is awkward, but hey, if it makes things any better, have a balloon!' Ayrgyn rolled his arms in front of him and revealed a fully inflated balloon on a string. The Mistress turned to look at him with slight confusion, before grabbing the balloon's string. 'Trust me, in a pinch, these things go up with a real bang' He added. The Mistress widened her eyes realising why Ayrgyn mentioned the balloon going up with a bang, and tried to get away from the balloon. Her attempt proved fruitless, however, and she ended up being caught by the balloon as it popped, exploding with enough force to throw the Mistress backwards onto the floor. She gripped the staff like a vice, but the knockback forced the crystal from its hold and it bounced onto the floor. Her satchel also came loose, spilling all of her unused crystals onto the ground around the once mounted crystal from her staff. Reeling from the explosion, she saw her staff without a crystal and quickly grabbed a purple stone to equip. She then looked over to Ayrgyn to find he had disappeared; matched with a large, colourful bird of prey flying quickly into the sky away from her. She stared, perplexed.
A loud whistle screeched past her ear and followed the bird. a long trail of red following behind the cause of the noise. It collided with the bird and caused it to fall to the ground. Looking behind her, the Mistress saw both the Empress, standing stoic and regal; and Ravess beside her, bow drawn. Once the bird crashed into the floor, it burst out a bright light, and in its place, a once more floored Ayrgyn. Seeing Ayrgyn grounded once more, the Empress started to walk towards the shot down guardian. Crossing over near the Mistress, the Empress gripped the Mistress' staff, and snatched it with brutal efficiency, smacking the bottom of the staff into the side of the Mistress' core as she removed it from her. The impact making the Mistress grunt in a pain that was quick to fade.
Once the Empress reached the place the bird crashed, she pointed the staff at Ayrgyn, who slowly rolled onto his back, quiet and winced in pain. The staff once more began to light up. Ayrgyn looked behind the Empress for a second, seeing the Mistress running over in panic, and stopping next to the Empress' side. Ayrgyn smiled, and quietly said to the Empress 'Your trust in your apprentice's ability is misplaced, she will lead Cyclonia to ruin, and this time, it will never rise again'
'The Mistress has power you cannot comprehend. Not like you'll have the chance to see it' The Empress responded, her staff reaching full charge. She set her aim for Ayrgyn's core, making him jam his eyes shut in a gutteral fear. The Empress gnashed her teeth before discharging her staff, where she unclenched her teeth and pulled a prideful smile.
The smile disappeared quickly, however, as the staff vanished from her grip, and warped onto her feet. Seeing another moment arise, Ayrgyn slid backwards a slight amount, grabbing his own cane, and smacking the crystal on its handle onto the floor. The force on the crystal causing his body to fly upwards into the air. He gave a wave before dissappearing behind a flock of crows flying overhead. The oddly convenient getaway left the Cyclonians staring gormless and confused, with exception to the Empress, who removed the stone from the staff to reveal a purple spiral on the crystal. The oblivion crystal had been swapped for a warp crystal.
The Empress darted towards the Mistress with frightening speed. The Mistress froze in fear as her grandmother, tall in stature, and intimidationg in silhouette, rapidly approached. The Mistress' freeze in fear was quickly met with a blindingly sharp pain on her left cheek. The Mistress' fear turned to shock from the Empress swinging the back of her hand, and smacking the young girl on the side of her face without mercy. The pain grew sharper, and caused her eyes to water.
Unbridled wrath filled the Empress' eyes as she towered over the reeling Mistress. 'You are a mockery to the Cyclonian name! A personal embarrassment against both myself and my subjects! I have made myself a fool teaching an unworthy leader day after day. You had been given as single task, and you proved to me your incapabailities instead' Each addage of personal attack compounded on top of the Mistress, the fear over her grandmother forcing her to step back with each subsequent scolding. Yet her grandmother kept stepping forward to keep the intimidation growing. The Empress sought this moment to truly humiliate and embarass the Mistress. She found this an opportunity to keep the Mistress under control for good.
'One more step out of line...' The Empress started her threat, before silently placing the crystal holder on her staff against the Mistress' throat. The staff slowly closed its many arms around the Mistress' neck, gently tugging at her throat. '... that is my promise to you' the Empress whispered at her as she pulled the staff away. All the small fingers that would hold a crystal effortlessly gave way and detached. The Empress turned and briskly walked back towards the fleet's flagship. The Mistress held her throat with dread as she followed.
The Empress turned to check if the Mistress was following her, when she noticed the Mistress swiftly pick up Lark's leather strapped hold bag. 'What is that, child?'
The Mistress paused for a second, before responding. 'Crystals...' She responded in a wimpering manner.
'Shield crystals. Correct?' The Empress interrogated.
'Yes, Grandmother'
'Where were they found?' The Empress continued to ask.
'When I show you, w-will you let me onto the Terra for a brief moment?' The Mistress attempted to negotiate.
The Empress stopped in her stride. Her contempt at the Mistress' gaul mixed with the courage at the attempt to barter an agreement in equal measure. 'You may. Under our supervision'
'Thank you, Grandmother' The Mistress gratefully replied.
Once inside the flagship for the Cyclonian fleet, the Empress entered the bridge, with the Mistress following behind her, followed by Ravess and a couple of otherwise unknown crewmen. The two crewmen gathered around the controls of the ship. Ravess, stood at full attention, address the Empress 'The Osprey is ready for departure and to rejoin the fleet, your majesty. Where shall the fleet set course?'
The Empress afixed her gaze to the young Mistress. 'Where to, child?'
'...Terra Tundress' the Mistress confirmed.