The Department of Illusion
The lady stood there with an amused look on her face. Their questions were all reasonable but none were to the point. Taking a breath she looked each and every one of them over for a minute before shaking her head, ”Well come on in.” she bade them to step out of the circle, ”No crazy, green dressed ladies are going to bite your heads off here.” she joked slightly giggling to herself as she turned her back to the group, ”Common. Follow me and I’ll explain some things.” she lead the way through the crowd of coated men and women all busy at work.”Let’s find a place a little more private to talk. Can’t really hear you over the buzz and bustle of the department, now can I?”
She led the way to a wall, and if one were to blink they would have missed it, but a door appeared there. Nothing really fancy, just enough to get the job done, and opening it they would come into a rather nicely lit room. Though where the light was coming from is questionable, it seemed to fill the room nicely without hindering anyone’s ability to see properly, which included those who’s eyes were adapt to darkness. To each individual the light would appear just right for their comfort. Heh, a real trick of the light there, but sadly no mirrors or smoke.
The rooms furnishings were as extravagant as ever. Purple curtains hung and draped around the walls, fine red rugs covered the bare deep brown, wooden floor, and in the center of the room was a table. Circular fashioned; one of many designs, made of the finest quality of wood, it seemed to hold a polish rather nice, and even shine a little in the light. Around it would be eight chairs, and although the table stood a certain height once one would sit down the table, or could it be the chairs, or maybe it was the room itself, adjusted so one was not sitting any higher or any lower than anyone else, which included the pycon, if she so chose to take her own seat. Strange how it will feel being eye to eye with a pycon, a creature of such miniscule height. Though that is how it was.
Taking a seat Alluvia let out a sigh, ”It feels great being out of that room.” her words would pierce the air in such a way that it demanded everyone’s attention, ”Now, where to start? There seems to be so much to tell.” It seemed she was talking to herself out loud, ”Oh yeah!” she exclaimed, and with a quick snap of her fingers she offered, ”Tea and biscuits?” in an attempt to lighten the mood. Without waiting for a response each individual would find a cup of tea, piping hot, in front of them. The steam rising up and playfully swirling in their face, the cups themselves seemed to be made of fine plaster, perhaps even delicate glassware, set on a plate with a purple flower to be seen if one were to lift up their purple tea cup. A plate of biscuits would be in the center of the table, the pastries easily within reach of everyone; the sweets stacked neatly in a pyramid formation there seemed to be plenty and then some for whoever wanted them. On the right side of the plate, seconding the pyramid, would be the purple tea pot, set on a small iron stand. On both sides of the pot would be an Azure Triangle, the symbol of the Ionu, and the name of the organization of which Alluvia called herself to be a part of.
Reaching out and grabbing a biscuit she took a bite of it before setting it on a plate, that appeared right by her tea cup and saucer, taking a sip of tea she seemed to relax a little, ”Always nice to have a moment to yourself, no?” she looked at them, studying their faces and reaction, ”You all may have a seat.” she said if anyone was still standing, and if someone refused to follow her they would soon find themselves sitting at the table. She liked to do things the easy way, her way.
”Now, you all must be worried about the state of Alvadas. I mean with the golems, the explosions, and everything that has occurred it is quite perturbing. But fear not,” she shook her head and said with confidence, ”Alvadas is safe. Alvadas is safe because the government still stands, and as long as we stand we can combat any threat presented to us.” She took another sip of her tea, loving the taste of it, ”Who I am, what this place is, and where you are should not be your first concern. You, young lady, asked the best question, ‘what is happening?’” she would clap once, as if congratulating her for her astute mind in asking the right question, ”What is happening though should also be obvious. Alvadas is under attack.” her tone would get serious now as if she were laying judgment on all present. It would hold a certain power that told them that she was used to having the upper hand and she was used to passing such judgment and would not hesitate to do so, ”It is under attack from the very illusions it is made of. Yes, you heard me right. Illusions are attacking Alvadas.” she paused, ”Ironic isn’t it? she opened her mouth to continue but was cut off by a rapping on the door, ”You may enter.” a hint of annoyance permeated her tone and radiated off her very being as she was cut off, but the door opened.
Temple of Ionu
Shale seeing the creatures mouth open, his eyes widened, was this the end for the ringmaster? Of course not! Placing an arm in front of him he started to open the void, though he knew he couldn’t do too much more he could at least save himself from burning to death. The feeling of magic in the air, the rock, dust, and some debris hovered his way, up, up, up, and formed itself into a spike of earth. Letting go of his concentration, the pinprick of nothing which started to form in front of him dropped as he realized he wasn’t going to have enough time, for the flames were already traveling his way. Moving with haste the kelvic dived for the stone, and stayed as close to the ground as possible. Curling up making himself as small as possible, as the fire torrent licked the edges and engulfed the area.
The volley of arrows and Antars attempt broke the shielding magic which protected the golem. Small spikes of earth bounced off or crumbled upon contact, but few actually pierced the metal monsters armor skin. The arrow, however, pieced the giant.
Seeing the shield was down Shale jumped from behind the makeshift barrier, slightly blackened and burned, readying his whip once more he drew it back behind him and slung it forward once again. The weapon making a fearsome swooshing sound as it cut through the air, parting it, and the runes glowed with power, but this time not just a portion of it lit, the whole item glowed with an ominous foretelling, ”May this be the final blow you infernal contraption.” As the item made contact with the golem, who moved an arm in defense of its face, it let off a great explosion, and seemed to fill the room with fire, burning up all the air in the place, before more air came rushing in only to fuel the power of the explosion. The force was enough to knock Shale off his feet, and his hat fly off his head, eventually catching fire and burning to nothing. At the end of it, the whole room seemed charged with a rather ‘off’ feeling, the area having been violated by all the magics contained in the whip at once seemed to be a little much.
Even after the smoke settled and the ringing in the ears stopped, and loose pebbles, and hunks of rock stopped flying because of the force, it could be seen that the golem lost an arm, the entire metal limb melted in a puddle, and the things face was greatly damaged as well. Such damage revealing that inside the golem’s mouth laid even more runes than could be counted, the source of the fire that the creature can spit. However, now that it was damaged, half of the jaw melted off, it would have a lot less control over where the fire spells would loose granted time. Less control was good… right?
Getting to his feet the man laughed, ”That is what you get for messing with show business.” and there was more where that came from. The whip the ringmaster now had held no more magical properties, but instead was reduced to just being a normal weapon.
The golem having no second arm to support itself fell to the ground below, and the body being big enough, right onto the trap that the rogue set and out spewed the lava. The heat and intensity of it cutting right though the metal the golem was made of and forming a in the air before it rained down covering the golem in the molten hot liquid. In its final moments the golem would let loose all the runes stored in its mouth, before they too were melted away. Looking at Antar, the fire spewed both his way, and the opposite direction through the pillars of stone and hitting the wall on the other side in a blazing inferno.
The fire was like the golems last cry before it was too melted to do anything, and its final endeavor to destroy the human who had caused it such a fate. If Antar was unprepared or not quick enough he would be roasted by the fire that spat out at him, like a giant wave of death.
Then nothing. Not movement, no more fire, no anything. The golem was sufficiently melted, and everything was ok? The room would seem bigger than it actually is with a melting golem at the base of one wall, and a charred and melted golem in the center. What could be up with that thing? If someone would go to investigate it upon the scorched metal one would find a bunch of cracks, and they would run into each other upon the golems body, and even snake into the melted and darkly burnt parts of the machine. All the cracks ran together, but why? Why was this golem in the middle of the room? Why was it the most melted, minus the giant one bathed in lava, one here? There would even be a slight ting of magic to it, residue of Djed that was once there. What secrets could it hold? What conclusions could be drawn?
The golem would then crumble, or start to crumble, as an arrow pierced though its head. It seemed the golems were not done yet, and there was but one more challenge in their way to find answers. Shale turned to see two golems, at least ten feet high, with repeating crossbows built into each limb’s that are for arms, and mechanisms to automatically reload them when they ran out of bolts. ”Take cover!” Shale yelled darting behind the reimancy-created rock that Antar had made for him. Bolts shot at the ringmaster and plunged themselves into the rock, obviously not being ordinary bolts, as one would observe how far into the rock they sank. They just about came out the other side when shot in the middle of the spike, others shot at the upper part of it went straight through. One could hear a little grunt, as if Shale had been hit, and he had. Having not ducked down far enough he got a bolt to the back.
More bolts were fired at the ringmasters hiding place. The pillar quickly crumbling as more and more bolts were shot into it. The way the golems were firing at him, he had no time to make a mistake, and if he did move from cover it was assured that he would have many more bolts in him than just the one in his back. Cursing under his breathe he stuck to the ground and got as low as possible. What were the others going to do? Draw the golems fire so the ringmaster would have a chance to escape at the risk of getting shot themselves by attacking the golem? Or would they watch and leave the kelvic to his fate?
The Acumen Asylum
Eridanus would again be greeted with silence. The seeress being so distressed about the situation that her breathing was heavy and as she tried to answer the man no words would come out, only a jumbled mess of nonsense. It was then the headmaster would intervene and tell Okana that it was quite enough; that she should just take some time to collect herself. Though, how could one when they knew the fate of Alvadas? The destruction that would come and what has happened was only the beginning, yes only but the beginning. How could one keep silent about that? Though despite it all she would only nod as one of the staff went out of the room and a few moments later return with water in a glass to offer to the Konti. She obviously needed it most.
Then the man continued to ask more and more and more questions. Feeling slightly agitated by all this Karash took a minute to collect himself, before hearing the ethaefal apologize for his questions. He laughed at that, ”A true scholar you are.” he crossed his arms, all of them, as he prepared to answer the questions. Taking a breath, ”The Kasai-Dala mirror… Also called the Hope Changing Mirror. Its origins are unknown. All legend and myth and stories I have read and heard about it point to Drysalla finding the mirror one day after receiving a mysterious note. The mirror, as legends state, has the power to grant any wish.” he smiled, ”Any wish, for any price. The price of the mirror is unnamed and might be immediate, or happen sometime far into the future. I cannot be sure how the mirror operates, but I do believe it is of divine origin. A creation of Ionu.” he laughed at this, finding his own words funny, ”The mind of that Deity is twisted. What was it thinking letting such an object out on the mortal realm? Any hints Ethaefal? You were discarded just like the mirror, in fact, your kinds falling and ending up in random places seems to be just the luck Drysalla had when she stumbled upon the mirror.” He made a connection, more racist than a scholarly remark. A smart move with two ethaefal in the room? Maybe not, but he wasn’t one to care much about what others think as long as he got his point across.
He took a breath, ”If it truly is capable of granting wishes,” he continued, ”Then its limitations would be that of only the users imagination, I would think.” he smiled, ”Though I have not read or heard anything to the contrary so it is best not to underestimate its abilities and assume the worst, no?” he asked, ”It is much smarter to overestimate than to underestimate, my friends.”
How do you fight a wish granted by the mirror?” he asked letting the room grow silent and the question hang in the persons mind before he suggested an answer, ”Perhaps with another wish? Wish that the wish it last made was invalid?” he suggested, ”Oh how fun. Batting magic with magic.” he seemed to enjoy rolling the idea around in his head.
”Where do we go now? I agree with the Ethaefal here. We need more intelligence.” he clapped his hands and clasped them tightly together. ”I…” he was cut off by the Headmaster.
”We do not need to act in haste. Where we go from here should be a calculated move. If we are fighting something wished up, we need to think outside the box.” he paused before looking at Eridanus, ”I value your loyalty, but where you go from here is up to you. We,” he looked at the staff, ”will gather what we can here, and look into the mystery a little more. We will also try to get Lady Okanas wits back to her. A lot of work, I am sure, but what are you going to do? The stars are only aligned for so long before they are moved again. Our paths have crossed at the most opportune time, but soon enough its not going to be safe even in this school.” The Headmaster shook his head, ”Miss Rihea, Professor Tins, take care of things here. I’m going to attempt to summon and negotiate a suitable defense for this school.” with that he walked out of the room and even deeper into the Asylum, his steps seemed troubled and labored as if he had been up all night.
”If I may suggest something…” Karash smiled at Eridanus, ”There might be another way to fight these wished up monsters. Drysallas bones.” he said boldly, ”If Drysalla was brought back from the power of the mirror she would be but an illusion, a very powerful illusion, but one nonetheless. You see, Drysalla had a very special connection to the city.” he grinned, just now mentioning this part, ”it was as if she could bend the cities illusions without a mark from Ionu. The city seemed to bow to her, and perhaps that is why and how she really found the mirror?” he suggested the possibility, ”If she really did have that power, it should be in her bones in wait for someone to take.” he smiled, ”If you can get me her bones, then I could fashion a weapon able to cut off the power she had in life, and make it illusions bane, but that is just a theory… and there are no bones here at the moment.” he sounded like he was disappointed about that, ”Would you get me her bones?” he asked, ”So I can try to save this city.” that would sound more noble in his head.
”Oh, and before you ask me where they are, I don’t have a clue where her body was taken when she died.” he shrugged, ”Not even poor Menna knows.” he shook his head, ”A shame, but if you are going to gather intelligence, perhaps keep one ear open?”
Drysalla’s Realm: The World Named Nonexistent
The castle was old, and indeed it was surrounded by a moat of lava, and inside rested the Illusions, accompanied by Almech and Kale who were escorted by Verlyna. There would be a slight giggle and spring in her step as she lead the two men further into their base. This was Drysallas own little space, their last and most secure hideout. It was no secret to them that she had power over anything that existed in this place, and could change it how she would like. It was, as some could say, the other Alvadas. A space existing between Illusions, a space all her own created because she willed it to be. This was a world that never existed, but does in her mind, and therefore spills forth in its own little pocket of created space thanks to her powers. This was her heaven and she was god.
The collection of people who included Drysalla herself, Andres Towers, and Verlyna sat around the fireplace warming themselves as they sat in luxurious seats meant for Lords and Ladies, and for those with power and influence. Even Kale and Almech were offered such hospitality, for how dangerous can they be if they were hypnotized by Verlyna herself?
”It is time for Alvadas to have a change in leadership.” Drysalla said, ”It is time to show Alvadas that the past never dies. It is time to show Alvadas, their government, and yes, even Ionu themselves, what power we have. We will be respected once more. We are real, and it is time for them to wake up. Wake up from the dream that Alvadas is a safe city.” she laughed at the very suggestion, ”Illusions are very dangerous, but what makes Alvadas unsafe?” she asked, ”It is the people in it. I say, we start over.” she said, ”We start anew and build the new Alvadas from the ruins of the old one, and from the ashes of the demolished government will rise a new order, a better order, a fairer order. What kind of city is this if one can die by another’s hand? Yes, my fellow people, memories of that tragic time still flood me, haunt me.” She stopped spotting Ryce, and pointed at him, ”Who do we have here?” she asked.
As she pointed to the kelvic the space around him would seem to warp and shift and suddenly he would find himself in the middle of the assembly, ”Did you let just one more in Verlyna?” Drysalla questioned her.
The girl made a horrified look, briefly, before composing herself and smiling, ”Is that not alright Drysalla?” she spoke, ”He looks harmless, I mean, just look at him. He is kind of cute.” she said already making her moves on him as she held out her hand to him. ”Come, you are welcome.” she reassured him.
Department of Illusion
Entering the room was none other than the Head of the Department of Illusions Cornelius Flint. Waltzing in the room he quickly went to Alluvias side and whispered something into her ear and handed her a bunch of papers he was carrying. Alluvia would then glance at him as if she didn’t believe him take the papers and walk out of the door leaving the group with him.
Taking Alluvais seat, as a testament to how highly he thinks of himself, he looked at the group there, ”My, it seems Alluvia has,” he paused for a moment, ”brought us some help.” he smiled, his voice soft spoken, but filled with confidence, a whisper that barely reaches the ears and forces them to actually listen to hear what he is saying. ”Alvadas is in chaos, but she is more bent on saving people than going to the source and stopping it.” he shook his head, ” You seem rather haggard I see... but that is not unusual for your type I suppose...” he sneered, speaking with conviction, every last word rang true to his character, ”and she wants to share the departments secrets with you. I will not have it. Tell me, we saved you, how are you going to help us? Let us hope you will prove useful in the events to come, otherwise there will simply be another mess to clean.” He asked raising a hand to check his nails as if the conversation was already below him and his nails were more important. They were. These people were but worms in the soil, as he was Head of the Department that ‘doesn’t exist’.
He was about to go on, but Alluvia came back in. Swiping the biscuit from her plate he took a bite of it and placed it back before getting up, ”I trust you have that taken care of?” he told her as he went to exit the room, but Alluvia held up a hand, Cornelius, wait. Join us.” she said offering him one of the empty seats, reclaiming her own. The Head of the Department of Illusion nodded, ”Of course, Alluvia, whatever the Triad wishes.” He took the seat directly to the right of Alluvia.
Towers Idol Slanderer
The golems were not giving up without a good fight. Although they were easily taken down their sheer numbers provided the upper hand as they marched emotionlessly towards the people they were ordered to kill, maim, slaughter, and otherwise defeat. Though as the people were running, screaming, and fighting for their lives an announcement filled the air. Words that had no source seemed to ring throughout Alvadas saying:
"The goverment of Alvadas hereby issues a threat warning to all citizens. We have confirmed that the explosions at the Colosseum and the Temple have been created by a special type of golem. We have captured one, and dissected it, in order to provide you with the details of this warning.- they are short, and squat, spiderlike in appearance and can climb walls.
with their eight segmented legs, move slowly compared to a human being, and are the size of a medium sized dog or animal. From what we've deduced their ability to attack is limited only to their prime function , causing explosions, and two blades for teeth. Their carapace like are described as 'heavily' enscrawled' but we have determined a weak point. A sharp blow at the base of their front module, like a spiders head, via arrow, or any blunt object that can damage them renders their meticulous internal workings useless to complete its magical self- annihilation. We warn all citizens, if you see such a thing: immediately attempt this to dismantle them quickly. For if they are allowed to continue unabated, you, your families and the person next to you may become a victim of their next ignition.
Furthermore, we , of the government departments are currently assessing key weaknesses in several golems we have captured to the enemy and have found several types with varying weaknesses. Single walking crossbowmen are vulnerable to a short range attack with a gap in the back of their armor. Single walking swordsmen golems, have been found that the clockwork joints of their knees are prone to breaking and tearing, even from a stout kick. If you are in danger of assault from these creatures; please aim to disable them long enough to destroy their legs in order to help your escape. Though, we have reports they may crawl after, doggedly hunting down targets that damaged them in this manner. Keep moving, and find the nearest guard, they will attempt to permanently disable these mechanical menaces.
At this time, we are issuing an evacuation order for the areas around the Colosseum and Towers Idol Slanderer, please make your way to a guard station located at the Sanity Center and Ionus Mercy for further instructions. We, the governmental structure of Alvadas, stand beside you in this time of trouble and pray for your safety as our agents and guards respond. If you are not traveling about the city, we ask you stay in your homes. More reports to follow to keep you apprised. "
Three loud discordant chimes echoed through the city, as mysteriously as they had first sounded, warning the citizenry of the threats they knew of as well as attempting to instill a sense of order to subvert panic and the message replayed itself. It would do this three times more, reaching every part of the city, it's very presence trying to reassure the populace, that the organs of mysterious government were on the move.
With that the Silencers and other adapt agents lead by the Traid themselves were on the loose protecting Alvadas from any threats, near or far. The enemies of Alvadas hit close to home this time and it was a shame that it took the government this long to respond.
|
|
