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The Chosen [IC / Not Accepting / PG-16]

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"but thank you. For the barrier." 

For a moment Madelyn's face turned pink, and she crossed her arms and turned away from Ryia. "You don't have to thank me for that. It was absolutely nothing, just...warn me if you're going to try and use my magic to get yourself killed next time."

The battle was over at last. The crab had been dis-clawed and, ultimately, skewered and killed. The Chosen felt a brief surge of energy, as though this encounter had strengthened them somehow, but it didn't free them of being worn down by the hectic fight.

Damien, not having felt such a surge, and despite not many outward injuries, decided to sit down right where he was standing and didn't seem to want to move for long. He was examining his sword with a frown, going over it closely and with a serious intent.

"Anyone hungry?"

"How crass." Madelyn muttered, eyeing the giant crab with disgust.

Keres on the other hand didn't think much of it. She had eaten plenty of strange things back home in the swamp and she imagined this would be much the same. She wondered if perhaps the meat might have some magical aftereffects but she wouldn't know until it was cooking anyway. The girl started towards Reinaan, and more specifically the crab, and said "I can...help prepare."

Madelyn grabbed onto the girl before she could get any further. "Oh no you don't, you've drained yourself quite well already. Go sit with the musclehead and rest." The girl looked around. "Before anything else, anyone with any injuries come here right this instant. I will not be seen with such a beat up and uncouth entourage."

Despite saying this it was clear she, too, was worn down from the crab's attacks on her barriers.

Keres opened her mouth to point it out and then, as she thought about her school days, seemed to become suddenly unable to speak and she just nodded and went over towards where Damien sat. It was rather embarrassing that she still struggled to speak up. Just because of memories that felt so long ago now. Yet in the face of Madelyn's unchanged confidence Keres couldn't help but feel like that awkward schoolgirl once again.

As she sat as well she thought over the battle. She had panicked hadn't she? Her magic not working as it should had made her hesitate far too much. It could have led to all of their deaths had the others not adapted so well. She had always thought herself good at figuring out plans on the fly and yet she could only flail about and hope for the best.

And after all that she lacked even enough energy to help with the cooking. Perhaps her mostly sedentary life was catching up to her. Perhaps her observation and quick thinking skills were only good when not in the heat of action. Perhaps she had been too reliant on her magic. What should she do to make sure this didn't happen again? She wasn't sure it was such an easy problem to solve. But solve it she must.

Spoiler

Some down time now, and people can figure out what next, also y'all get 1 bonus point to spend after the encounter.

 

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"You still alive after that one?" Lindow grunted in annoyance as the boy teased him on the way up to the crack in the crab's armor. "No. Hurry up and avenge me..." The Thunder Chosen groaned, releasing his grip on the crab and tumbling to the ground. Victory was at hand, he wasn't needed anymore. The man watched as Reinaan finished the job, letting out a victorious snarl in a manner that Lindow had begun to get used to. Oddly enough, he felt tinge of pride gazing up at the boy perched triumphantly above their kill. As someone who valued fighting prowess above all else, Lindow's trust and respect for the young draken grew with every new battle the pair took on shoulder to shoulder. 

Disinterest in the pile of trinkets left by the crab, Lindow basked in the brief surge of energy he felt before letting out a huge sigh of exhaustion. He wasn't the only one feeling fatigued after the battle however. Reinaan's plan for lunch seemed more ideal with each glance around the faces of the party. Though he didn't bother responding to the boy, or Madelyn's call for the wounded report. His attention had settled on Damien, who was inspecting his precious sword with a perturbed look about him.

 “What’s with that look? Don’t tell me you chipped the blade…” Lindow walked over and took a seat near the other man. 

"That's what I'm checking for, didn't think I'd be swinging it at something like this." Damien responded still eyeing his blade carefully. 

"Hmm," Lindow smiled, quickly coming to a solution that he thought would benefit them both. "wanna borrow one of mine? If it won’t conflict with the enchantment, a second blade would definitely help take some stress off that one.” He had chosen is words carefully, hopping that perhaps this might his chance to learn more about the workings of the mysteries curved sword. "We've a got a pile on the cart. I think I can spare one."

"What enchantment would that be?" Damien asked, looking up at Lindow blankly.

Lindow responded right away, meeting Damien's blank expression with his own. "Blade elongation, and the ability to cut through magic for starters. Also, you seem to brush off would be injuries rather easily... it protects you too, right?" 

"Oh, I don't know about all that." Damien said with a shrug. "But about your question, I'm fine using just this sword anything else wouldn't...feel right. Unlike you I'm a one-sword kind of guy." He laughed, forcing Lindow to resist rolling his eye. It was clear the other man was still intent on playing dumb.

“Heh, if you say so.” Lindow shrugged before shifting his full attention the others. "How about we all pitch in on the grub this time?" He looked around to gauge the group's response before leaning backwards into a lounging position. "You guys start, I'll be right there..." He said with a smirk before closing his eye and taking in a little sun. 

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Madelyn's protest at the idea aside, Reinaan took to getting ready to eat some of their kill. For now he put the shard of the sword away in one of his bags on Kloqah's back to let the others investigate later. Madelyn was demanding to heal the injured but Reinaan as ever would want to be near last in line for any special ministrations. Especially considering the beating Ryia had taken that seeemed a lot more immediately important. So the hunter's focus was on how to get the crab cooked. Firewood was easy, and he had fire covered. Hacking one of the large claws they had severed from the crab was a bit more exertion he could have done without. But eventually he had plenty of meat to roast. Now he just needed a way to start a fire without burning the place down. But then he had been born with claws hadn't he? It was a simple enough matter to dig out a shallow but wide enough sized pit to house the fire he needed. Before long he had dozens of crab skewers roasting over a flame started by his own breath.

Once it looked and smelled done enough Reinaan shouted for the group to gather for the meal and offered slabs of cooked crab to all who were hungry and able. Madelyn of course declined but that only seemed like her loss. That turned the draken's attention to Keres who had been told specifically to not help prepare the food. She must have been a lot more worn out from that last magical attack than she looked. And no wonder given the damage it had done to the thing. Keres when offered accepted the meal right away. Reinaan sat near her with a skewer of his own thinking of how to say what he wanted to say between bites. Before too long though he spoke.

"You okay after all that? Know magic's been weird here, but you'd know more exactly how than me." He asked the mage unsure how the lake had been affecting her. Maybe it had been stealing all of their magic but hardly knowing any he just hadn't felt it much.

"I...am probably more healthy than the rest of you." she said without looking his way. Reinaan laughed though softly to not scare her as he was aware he wasn't quite on the buddy buddy level with her that he was with Lindow.

"Yeah well, glad it wasn't you getting mowed over. The rest of us are a bit better built for taking those kinds of hits. Though Ryia might have overdone it." He responded. Keres nodded.

"Yes, that seems to be true..." She began to focus more on the food. It turned out it was difficult to keep a conversation rolling when the other side had no immediate questions or things to bring up. So Reinaan let her continue eating as that was what she seemed intent on doing. The boy for his part wolfed down a rather large piece of crab meat in record time before thinking of the metal piece from the crab. Keres would know something about it. If it was magical anyway. But between Keres, Madelyn, Lindow and Damien someone was going to know something about this weird sword piece. So he went and retreived it.

"Hey so no problem if you're too tired to look at it right now but I found this weird thing off the crab. Something feels off about it but no idea what. Figured you might have a better idea before I go give the sword boys a shot at it." Reinaan said while extending the piece of metal toward Keres for her to inspect. She stared at it for a while, not seeming to really be doing much of anything.

"It...was broken by magic." she said. Reinaan was shocked not only at her choice of words but how she had figured anything out about it. 

"Woah really! How can you tell?" He asked, clearly looking for some magical secret he could employ in the future himself. Keres looked up at Reinaan for a moment, then back at the shard.

"I can feel it. The lingering curse that broke this sword." she said like that wasn't one of the coolest things ever. Reinaan was getting more excited the more she said about it.

"A curse? Can you tell what kind? And what was it doing in the crab?" the draken's questions piled up. Keres seemed uncomfortable the more excited Reinaan got. She slowly shifted farther away.

"I'm not sure...Something strong, if I can still feel it." She glanced down at the crab meat and shrugged. Rather than ask a hundred more questions about curses Reinaan took note of the girl's obvious distress and realized he hadn't yet overcome what it was that made her feel like this around him. He took a step back himself to give her the space she was looking for and looked downcast for a moment.

"Sorry this is all just new ground to me. Must seem silly getting worked up over it with all the stuff you know. But I knew asking you was a good idea Keres." he said a smile now on his face. Keres only looked over for a moment before busying herself with the almost finished food. Picking at it slowly.

"It's, erm, fine." she said but Reinaan knew it probably wasnt. Rather than trouble her further he went back to tending the fire as it cooked endlessly more crab meat. But he continually held, examine and reexamined the piece of metal, wondering what sort of curse had broken the sword and how it had ended up in a crab. Startling him, Ziiyol appeared at Reinaan's side, delighted with the large cooking fire after a battle pretty low on overall burning and scorching. The two soon took to bickering as was their norm.

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Ryia let out a nervous laugh as Madelyn had chided her again. "Right - right. I'll do my best." As the light mage walked away, Ryia looked to the others as they all went about their business and then to the lake in front of her. With her body now partially healed, the girl rolled her shoulder and stretched out her arm, wincing a bit in pain as she could feel the lingering bruises and soreness in it. It was certainly better than before but exerting herself still left her with some degree of pain. The girl sighed, resting her arm back on the ground, wondering about the fight and what she could have done differently. On the one hand, she felt as though she should've been happy that her plan had actually worked and helped bring about the defeat of the crab. On the other hand, it had been rather rash of her, basically incapacitated her and made the others worry about her. Add to that, she didn't feel like she contributed much of anything aside from that during the fight. 

She wasn't quite sure where it was she could work to make up for what she was lacking. Be it magic, skill, strength, speed or versatility she found herself lacking when compared to every other member of her group. The only thing she thought she could do better than anyone else was take a hit, a function more of her gear then her own talent or training, and even then she had only really been hit once in this fight before having to sit out. She knew there was a lot to work on, and that unlike everyone else martial skill was about all she had to offer to the party. So she had to get better to keep pulling her weight. 

Letting out a sigh, the girl figured there was naught to do about it this moment and that she would simply have to do better next time. Though, hoping that things would work out better wouldn't be worth much when the time came. She needed to be better to begin with. She needed to get more skilled, smarter, learn more about how to fight in order to actually properly fight. She didn't want to spoil everyone's respite with talk of combat though, so she simply kept her thoughts to herself for the time being and enjoyed the meal that was prepared. 

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Keres didn't know how she was supposed to react. Reinaan was much like a child in some ways and was far too familiar with her for her comfort. Though, was it too familiar? Shouldn't it be natural that they were given the time they have been traveling and how much they had fought together?

Even still she couldn't find herself able to stop being defensive when he spoke with her. As if expecting him to turn at any moment. The line of thought made her consider her other companion as well, Lindow. While Reinaan's appearance made her on edge that man's everything made her worry he was about to put her to the stake.

Overall it was a very stressful group she had found herself in. But, was that because of them or herself?

She had to eventually figure out what it was she should do.

"We should figure out what to do." Madelyn's sudden statement, unknowingly echoing Keres's thoughts, caused the girl to give a start and look around to see if she had been thinking out loud.

As it seemed that she hadn't she simply relaxed and listened in on what Madelyn was saying. "Resting up is important but if you want to find this person we can't take too long. From what we all saw so far it seems they were here yet moved on. We could be following their trail in circles for days at this rate and I for one would like to be able to stay in a city. Even if it is an elven one."

"Suppose we should think about why they didn't stay here. That crab probably didn't have anything to do with it best I can tell it hadn't come outta there in some time. So what made them decide to up and go?" Damien seemed to be done checking his sword and had decided to add to what Madelyn was saying. Something which caused the light mage to nod approvingly.

Keres had been thinking about that as well, in the back of her mind, and, not looking up from the food, began to speak some of her thoughts. "Even if...people don't often come here, it's still very...open. If someone found them then there wouldn't...be anywhere to go." she hesitated then added, "If you're keeping away from people that might follow you...it has to be a place with natural protection or you can easily escape..or both."

She thought about her own home in the swamp. It was difficult to reach and even if someone had found her she had several paths to make her escape without them noticing. It had been bothering her this whole time, but she only voiced it now. "If someone were found here they would be easy to catch."

Madelyn sighed. "It does seem obvious in retrospect, a lake isn't a fortress. I only hope we don't go to the next place and find it just recently abandoned too."

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With their respite having finished it the group had moved back onto their pressing matters. It was true that they couldn't sit still for long, as the longer they waited the more time it gave the thief and kidnapper more time to accomplish whatever it was they were trying to achieve. Ryia sat thinking about what they had learned here. At the very least they had made a pitstop here but that alone didn't seem to offer them any clues as to the location of their culprit. So, she instead thought about their two other places they could go explore to see which would be the better option. 

Some place that was easily defensible but still able to have some freedom of movement. As she thought of the two remaining locations the shrine sounded like the more easily defensible and "fortress" like, being an actual building. Then there was the graveyard, which likely had more freedom of areas to run to, not unlike the lake, were things to take a turn for the worse. Though, the more she thought about the worse the dinosaur graveyard seemed to be a place to hide. After all it would have shared similar problems to the lake, save that they could use the corpses as cover, but such enormous bodies would also likely prove to hinder the escapee in question, especially if they were hauling an artifact and person. Of course she had no idea what the shrine actually looked like so she couldn't accurately judge how proper of a place to both hole up in and run away from was, but deciding that it seemed like probably the more preferable of the two choices she merely voiced her thoughts so. "Then um, I guess we should try the uh, building - er, shrine next?" 

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While Ryia hadn't actually given any reasoning why she thought they should go to the shrine, after some discussion, the rest eventually decided that it would be the best choice.

Keres thought it was perhaps the best option but, as they set out, she couldn't help but think that perhaps they should have tried to check both at once. However she couldn't bring herself to voice this and so she stayed silent as they made their way to the location they had chosen.

Led by Damien, who got less and less talkative as they went on, they eventually found the place. It was hard to notice at first, being between several large trees, and had Damien not been leading them they may have not even noticed it.

The building itself was wooden and was somewhat narrow. Positioned between one of the gaps in trees it only stretched out about a dozen feet wide. It wasn't particularly tall either, being a singular floor building, but it did stretch out length-wise for a long ways. At some point the building almost seemed to merge with the trees so it was hard to tell how far exactly it went nor could they see if there was any entrances besides the open archway in the front.

Vines and moss covered the building and they couldn't see much in the way of windows.

Before they got inside Damien stopped and stepped to the side. "I, uh, you'll have to go in there on your own. I don't particularly feel like entering."

"Oh? Surely you can't be worried about disturbing this place. It was abandoned for years from what you've said." Madelyn questioned. To which Damien only shrugged.

The group would have to enter without him.

Despite the lack of windows the interior was fairly well lit. And even more surprising was how much life seemed to be within. The floor was covered in grass and flowers. Vines, many with fruit on them, stretched across the walls.

Near the middle of the room there was a small pond. With an even smaller island in the middle out of which a small sapling grew. Light shone down onto the sapling though the source of said light seemed to not be readily visible.

Across the way there was yet another archway though despite this room being lit they couldn't see beyond it.

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Having decided on a course of action, the group had made their way over to the shrine. The girl looked over to Damien as he had elected to not go in with them, some concern on her face. The more and more they traveled together the more it was clear that there was something up with him and that he was hiding something from them. She wasn't one to pry, however, and she didn't feel like now was the best time to do so, yet if his repeated leaving had been anything to go by there was some kind of history between him and the elves. So much so that he didn't feel comfortable entering what was likely a long since abandoned building. The girl simply said, "um well, uh, stay safe." Before entering the building herself. 

The inside of the building definitely seemed like what one would expect from something long abandoned to nature. With how much vegetation that was spreading around and how serene it was, it was clear that the inside hadn't been tended to in a while. And yet there seemed something almost unnatural about how natural it was in here. That and, as she looked at the covered windows, realized how bizarrely bright it was in here. The girl had no idea what to make of it, though given the swirl of colors in the lake they had just visited she figured "magic" was a good thing to chock up anything unnatural to, and left it at that. 

The thing that had interested Ryia the most was the pond in the center of the room, and so she opted to make her way towards it. Cautiously she stepped, wary that some kind of shelled clawed creature would burst out of it again, but found that the water remarkably clear. Glistening from the light that was reflecting off of it and giving a crisp scent, the pond seemed to only further enhance the serene ambiance of the room. It also seemed to be free of any monsters, and even had it been filled with them, it seemed to only be some three feet deep so she wouldn't have much problem if she fell in it. Curious, the girl looked to the island in the center of the room and looked more intently at the sprout that was growing there. Curiously, it looked freshly sprouted and very green. While she was intrigued about it, it would require her to cross the water to get to it and while she could easily wade through the water Ryia was not in the mood to get her armor completely soaked. And so, she moved further ahead into the room. 

Going to the archway at the end, the girl looked to see that there was nothing to see. It certainly seemed to extend past what where they were but it was just black as far as she could observe, like some kind of pitch dark tunnel. The girl didn't feel confident exploring that any further without the rest of the group so she stayed still. "It's uh, well, dark..." She mused aloud so that everyone could hear. Then, an idea came to her. "Oh. Um, Madelyn could you uh, help me see what's in here?" Remembering what happened earlier at the lake she added, "oh uh, please."

"Very well, let's see what we've got here," she said and walked over. She used her magic to try and illuminate the other room. However all that happened is the room they're in suddenly got too bright to see anything for a moment. Though Ryia would see a shimmering at the entryway for a moment as if the darkness was reflecting the light.

Blinking, trying to readjust her vision after the room had flared with light she simply said, "uh, well...hmmm..." The girl was now only more curious, and wary, about the darkness that was ahead of her though didn't know what much else to make of it. Her only explanation she could think of was again, simply, "magic." 

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Grunting after shielding his eyes far too late, Lindow took a moment to let his vision return after the sudden flash of light magic. "Let's not try that again, yea?" He called over to Ryia and Madelyn before moving over to the small pond in the center of the room. The young evergreen had also caught his eye. Though the Thunder Chosen was fortunate enough be able to cross the water without taking a dip. "The time has come!" He cooed down to his feet. This was the first time the man had found use for the enchantment placed on his boots, and needless say he was thrilled despite how mundane the situation was. Inhaling quietly, Lindow quickly took a step onto the clear water, marveling how firm the surface felt beneath his feat. He wore the grin of a child as he quickly scampered over the water and onto the small island that harbored the sampling. 

"Wanna fight?" He half joked to the juvenile evergreen as he squatted down to exam it. Unfortunately, it seemed the his would be opponent was not some kind of creature in disguise. On the contrary, it seemed to be exuding some kind of magic that left the man feeling relaxed and sedated... 

How boring. Learning from his experience with he floating mushrooms, Lindow refrained from calling the magic tree any names. Instead opting to simply leave its island and join the girls in studying the blackness between them and the threshold. "Can't say I'm a fan of the decor..." He said plainly whilst pulling the dagger from his belt and turning its point towards the darkness. 

Bloop.

Lindow was met with slight resistance, as if he had just dipped his blade into some kind of liquid. Slowly pulling back, he caught a faint glimpse of lingering shadow caught on the edge before vanishing and leaving the blade just as it was before. Was only magic ejected at the threshold then? Glancing up and down between his dagger and the shadow with thoughtful expression the Thunder Chosen shrugged before testing his hypothesis for himself by suddenly walking straight into the darkness. 

Bloop. 

Passing through the threshold felt viscous and sticky, but when he got to the other side he found himself in a long room. The walls and ceiling were wood but the floor was clearly dirt. There was vegetation here but vines crisscross the ceiling with small, glowing, berries attached. Along the left and right walls there were six pieces of wood on each side that looked like long strips of bark stuck in the ground at several feet intervals. He could see something written on them, but it was indistinguishable at this distance. Though in front of each of them were beautiful flowers of various colors. 

 

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Keres had closed her eyes just before the light covered the room. She had, moments prior, just thought that such a reaction might happen. She didn't think that the other side of the room was empty and so it must have been keeping out light somehow. Still it was fascinating to see how natural the magic of this place seemed. There weren't many obvious traces yet it was clearly here.

Even the sapling in the middle of the room. She suspected that it had been a sapling for a long time. After all this place had been abandoned for quite a while.

She barely glanced over as Lindow disappeared into the other room. She saw as whatever was in the archway had pushed forward and sprung back into place, almost rubbery, as he passed through and observed that he was now out of sight, but she didn't make a move to check for herself.

"Oooooh, he just vanished! I wonder if he's okay!" Flux's sudden appearance didn't disturb her. She had realized lately that she could tell when it was about to appear.

"Most likely." Keres said. "It doesn't seem dangerous. It might just be a way to separate the rooms." She couldn't say that she was bothered by him going. It made it easier for Keres to look around the room.

Though she didn't find anything in particular she was simply interested in the place as a whole. "This is a...shrine, right?" She said, looking over at the others as she asked the question. "It's...peaceful. I could see why...someone would want to stay here."

Madelyn sighed and Keres glanced her way. "Yes, but it's also a tomb of sorts. I expected to find something more...well, in any case I believe I will go make sure that brute doesn't break anything."

With another sigh and a toss of her hair Madelyn followed Lindow in crossing the barrier. Similarly vanishing the moment she was on the other side.

She looked around with a frown. "Not much here, either." she said. Then she motioned for Lindow to move out of the way. "Shoo shoo, let me through." she said and passed by. Her eyes went to the bark an she frowned. "Those are names. So would this be a memorial? I would've thought it more grand..." she looked at the flowers. "Gladiolus, hm." she muttered. "Perhaps then...soldiers? In that case..." her eyes went to the other end. "Could it be there's something more impressive that way..."

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Ryia looked a bit shocked as Lindow made his way over to the wall of blackness saying, "don't you think we should uh - " but stopped there as the man walked through the darkness. Of course the dagger he used seemed to have been entirely unharmed in its journey and they also needed to proceed forward, yet she couldn't help but feel apprehensive about walking into a strange wall of inky blackness. Keres, seeming to think it was fine, put her nerves at rest a little though, and she followed after Madelyn quickly thereafter. 

The room they had found themselves in afterwards was certainly no less natural feeling, with the unnatural amount of lighting in it as well. Looking at the markers and flowers as Madelyn had seemed to have an idea of what they represented Ryia thought about it for a moment. She didn't know much about burials, or even shrines and tombs for that matter, but she could tell that the soldiers being here had some kind of significance. Soldiers were often used to fight, though in the context of a leader they could also be some kind of guard. Which, by Madelyn's own statement, seemed to make sense. The girl then thought back to what had happened the other night, and then was reminded of just how magical and bizarre this shrine they were in was. Muttering, "please no ghosts," the girl then took a deep breath before looking ahead. The girl was about to step forward towards the next darkness, before looking around and noticing that they were still missing some of their members. Looking to Madelyn and Lindow the girl said, "I'm uh, gonna go and check on them. And tell them that we're uh, we're all fine. Still." The girl passed through the darkness that she had come from. 

The strange sticky sensation washed over her as she passed through, now coating her in something of a sweet smell as well. The girl shook her head trying to get the weirdness of the feeling off of her, before looking back and seeing the darkness was as impenetrably dark as it was before. Still not what sure to make of the magic involved in that, she looked back to her group. "Um, it's safe to uh," the girl paused, still feeling a bit off from the feeling of passing through the wall added, "well, it seems safe. There's just a uh, a bunch of flowers and plaques for, soldiers...or something. And another wall, but uh yeah, I just thought that I'd...yeah."

Keres had been staring at the wall and examining it when Ryia came in. "Oh. You can come through. That's good."

"Oh...yeah. I didn't think about..." The girl had a concerned look on her face as she looked back at the wall of darkness. "But uh, yeah. I'll go check what's further ahead...well, further further past the other black wall."

"Um." Keres was silent for a moment. "If...there's anyone on the other side...they might...know we're here. Maybe we should...all go?"

"Oh, that's true. I didn't really uh, think about what to do if someone was there." After a pause the girl said, "but well, um, I just wanted to make sure you were with us...anyway. So..." The two stood in awkward silence for a moment, before Keres started making her way forward and Ryia walked back through the darkness. Now with everyone back together, the girl said "well, um, if there's anything or anyone down there...we should uh, find out. As a group. So I'll uh, go ahead. But not too ahead." Awkwardly, realizing how weird that must've sounded to the other two, she started to shuffle forward. 

Then, as she made her way forward, she stopped as she heard a noise - a faint whisper on a breeze. She looked around, seeing that there was no place such a breeze could've come from, yet she still felt it and the berries around her seemed to rustle in the same breeze. Then form the flowers emerged...something. At first, it was simply a faint, transparent figure. Then after a few moments more, their form became more elven, wearing regal looking armored and carrying leaf-bladed spears. The girl stood, frozen for a bit as she said, "oh no..." and started to back up as the phantom elves brandished their weapons. 

Edited by Skaia

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Lindow eyed the legion of phantoms with a frown. "More ghosts, huh?!" He spat in annoyance as he watched the shades begin to move on all sides. "Ah." The man sighed loudly at the realization that the group had an enchanted weapon for this very occasion. Though it wouldn't be doing them much good gathering dust on the back of the mule...

Perhaps he could retrieve it?

Backing up towards the entrance of the room, Lindow ignored Keres's gaze as he quickly reached backwards through he vail of darkness to be sure that leaving was still an option. Finding that nothing had changed since they had entered the first time, he began to take another step backwards only to hesitate upon seeing the lion's share of the phantoms begin closing in on Ryia. "..." Time seemed slow as he weighed the chances of the girls being overran in the time it would take him to run all the way to the cart outside the tomb. Ordinarily he'd be confident that Ryia would handle herself, but would that shield of hers be any use against a legion of spectral spears? Sighing again, Lindow scratched the back of his head in annoyance before leaning back so that his upper body passed through to previous room. 

"Look alive, lad!" The Thunder Chosen called out the one member of the group that had yet to enter the now battlefield. "We've got spooks. A whole lot of 'em! Be a doll and grab the funny looking dagger we looted the other day, ya?" He quickly chirped at Reinaan. "We'll hold out till you get back." He added in a more serious tone before vanishing through the black membrane once more. 

The fight was on the moment Lindow's vision returned. Quickly tossing a throwing knife towards the nearest enemy, he watched as it sailed through its target and clattered against wall behind the apparition. "Whelp," He had been expecting as much. Smirking at the prospect of a new kind of challenge Lindow dash towards his target at full speed. With a grunt he skillfully weaved to the right to avoid a thrust from the ghost's spear before dashing straight through it's body whilst cloaked a Discharge. Though it seemed the thunder magic did nothing to stop the elf from attacking once again in rapid succession, forcing Lindow to duck down dash forward to avoid being skewered by the oddly precise moments of the phantom. 

With none of his abilities having any effect, Lindow hastily pivoted on his heel. Setting his sights on the flowers and the grave markers the ghosts had originally appeared from, the man used to his speed to close in and slash at the nearest marker, trampling the flowers in the process. 

Edited by Hollow

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Keres had thought Lindow was about to run away and leave Ryia behind. When he turned back she realized that many of them were already upon Ryia. Keres half stumbled her way forward in her haste. Without even a plan in mind. She noticed some of them branch off towards Lindow but there were still far too many around the Earth Chosen. Eight in total to be specific.

Keres sent a wave of water towards the four on the right side yet her magic seemed to have no effect on them at all and the water just passed through harmlessly. The eight phantoms bore down on Ryia. Each ready to piece her through with their strangely physical weapons.

The water mage glanced over towards the other side. The doorway hadn't changed at all. She wondered if there was anything at the other end that could help. But it was much too far for her to reach it before the attack. Just as she saw them begin their thrusts a thought came to Keres's mind. She had watched what happened with Lindow early and an idea sprang up from it. As they attacked she tried her magic once more. Bringing water down on one on each left and right side. This time the water seemed to have some effect. Not as strong as she might hope but it did seem to weigh them down essentially and their attacks stopped suddenly.

Though that still left six more attacking the girl. Keres called out "They're....somewhat physical, when they attack!"

As Lindow trampled on the flower he would feel a cold chill through his body and a brief noise. Almost like a shriek but from far, far, away. And as he slashed at the bark one of the phantoms suddenly vanished.

However before he could celebrate the seeming victory he felt something grab his leg. The phantom that had vanished appearing right under his feet and grabbing onto his legs with two hands. As this occurred the other three swooped down at him rapidly and thrust their weapons.

A glowing barrier appeared at Lindow's side and two of the spears bounce off them. However the third struck true and Lindow felt himself impaled from behind. A cold chill spread through his body as the spear pierced entirely through his back. The attack somehow managed to avoid any organs but it was still quite the injury. And when the phantom pulled the spear back the wound only grew more chilled and numb feeling than before.

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Ryia had been dreading exactly what had happened with Lindow as soon as she was aware her opponent was ghosts. Though having something of a meek personality, Ryia had never been particularly shy when it came to combat. After all, when it came to conversation there was so little she knew. She was clumsy, she wasn't good at articulating her thoughts and she had had little confidence in her general intelligence, and so she always was afraid that she'd embarrass herself or say something wrong. Combat, however, was a different matter altogether. She knew she was strong and she knew that, generally, if you hit something enough it would eventually die. Ghosts, however, were the exception to this rule. If her weapon couldn't pierce through the specter then there was no way she could defeat it. And if she couldn't defeat it like so then there was no way she could protect herself or the others from their attacks. This was made only worse by the sheer quantity of them that were still around, slowly encroaching on her and who were already on top of Lindow. 

With the ghosts forming a horse shoe formation around her, the only thing Ryia could think to do was make a quick retreat. Running backward through the only opening that was there, she saw that there were two ghosts closing in on her sides, spears at the ready. The Earth Chosen had heard from Keres, and saw to an effect, that they were physical when they attacked, which made her wonder if that meant their spears needed to pass through her armor first when they attacked. And so, with two of them on either side of her, the girl changed from running straight to a diagonal towards one of the ghosts, who raised its spear to thrust at her. Bringing her shield up, a look of great relief passed over her face as the polearm bounced off her shield like any other weapon would. With some form of confidence growing at the prospect of being able to actually affect these ghosts, Ryia turned back to face the one she just parried. Gulping as she saw the wave of specters making their way towards her en masse the girl called out, "uh, K-Keres, cover my sides. Please." And readied her shield. 

With the ghost in front of her stabbing, Ryia once again parried the attack away with her shield and swung her sword into its ghostly form. The blade was met with some resistance as she swung it and the ghost was pushed back from the attack. Though her brief moment of triumph was replaced with fear as it seemed to be entirely no worse for the wear and resumed its forward advance. As one on her side made for a stab it was met with water striking it, causing its attention to be directed towards the mage. Looking back, half of the ghosts that were originally after her also seemed to be moving closer towards both Madelyn and Lindow as well. "Um, Madelyn, Keres! They're uh, coming towards you!" The girl gave something of an obvious warning to the two as she tried to hurriedly figure out what to do about this. 

There was no way that she could stop all eight of them at once, to say nothing of the four that were still on Lindow. And so doing all that she could, she tried to focus on the three that were still near her. In an attempt to keep their attention on her the girl swung her sword into the ghost, harmlessly passing through the phantom but causing it to turn towards her. With spear raised, the ghost struck at Ryia only for her to parry it once again. Turning to face the others still coming at her, the girl made a rather pathetic attempt at taunting, "uh, c-come at me you...ghosts..." 

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Lindow let out a bloody gasp as a supernatural cold began to creep over his body from the hole left in him from the phantom's spear. His mind was racing, frantically scanning for any indication that the ghost had struck vitals organs. His efforts would prove futile, however. The numbness that the cold brought was far too intense tell... 

The man growled reaching to his belt and grabbing the hilt of his dagger. He could still move, which meant that the battle wasn't over by a long shot. If he was going die here, Lindow was intent on having his last moments spent hacking into the opposition. Prioritizing the ghost whose grave he had desecrated, Lindow took a hasty swipe at the creature's hand, forcing it to release its grip around his ankles. Though there was still the matter of the other three specters surrounding him. Watching trio of moved in unison to skewer him once more, Lindow waited for the last possible moment before suddenly falling into his shadow and leaving the ghosts to look on with empty expressions. 

A streak of darkness could be seen racing across the ground towards Madelyn before expanding into what looked to a pitch black hole. Just as one of the specters moved to strike at the light mage it was intercepted by a crackling blade of thunder from somewhere within the shadowy opening. Lindow was close behind, watching in annoyance as the ghost was forced back by the take but still seemed to completely undamaged after being struck by his strongest attack. 

"You got any bright ideas? We won't last long like this." Lindow's call to Madelyn was grim as he stepped fully out of the shadows. As he spoke the man clutched his chest and begun channelling the Light Spirits magic into the wound in hopes of prolonging his life. All while, two more pairs of specters begun to approaching both him and Keres respectively. 

"Well, not do what you did before, for one." She said, before putting up barriers as the ghosts descended on everyone

“So you’ve got nothing then.” The Thunder Chosen let out a sigh before pivoting around the barrier meant to intercept his two attackers. Swinging the Third Blade down into phantom spears in attempt to disarm them by destroying the shafts of their weapons whilst they were tangible. 

"Sorry I'm a bit busy trying to keep everyone from dying." Madelyn snapped back at him. His attack had succeeded in knocking two aggressors away from the barrier, but from what he could tell the weapons remained in perfect ghostly condition. Cursing loudly, Lindow took a step backwards towards Madelyn as he raised what was left of the Third Blade up in a defensive stance whilst the light spirits healing magic begun to flicker. The legion of ghosts had begun circling them like wolves whilst he was focusing on dealing with the two in front of him, and to make matters worse the four who had ganged up on the man earlier were approaching to give running him through another whirl.    

"Huh. A for effort I suppose..."  He gave the girl a painful shrug as he watched his would be executioners closing in. At his feet, Lindow's shadow anxiously twitched and wiggled as its master begun thinking up a form that would be of some kind of use in countering the coming assault.  

Edited by Hollow

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Keres and, despite her previous words, Madelyn both tried to come up with a plan for how to get out of this mess. There had possibly been an opening to escape but it would have left Ryia behind. And now the spirits were too close and moving too fast. Were they to try and exit, provided the door would let them, they would merely be speared from behind for their efforts.

It was all they could do to simply stave off the attacks. None of Keres's counterattacks did much more than push the ghosts away for a time. It truly felt as though they would just keep going until they delivered a fatal blow to each of them.

Their numbers, their precision, and their silent coordination, were dangerous enough on their own without adding the ghostly properties but as it was neither mage could see a way out.

It was just as Keres decided that they would have to tell everyone to try and retreat before the spirits surrounded them completely when a voice called out from the other side of the room.

"S-stop! Stop!" They said. Keres had taken her eyes off of the doorway across from them and presumably in that time someone had come out. "I....Order you....to...stand down." they said. And, miraculously, the ghosts ceased their assault immediately. They snapped to attention and drifted back towards their graves to stand as still as statues. All but one, who hovered aimlessly around the spot that Lindow had damaged.

In the middle of the room, hands on his knees, was an elven male with reddish brown hair. Despite that he couldn't have been running for long he seemed out of breath. Bent double and attempting to regain his breath.

After a few moments he looked up at the group and asked, "Who...are you people? How did you....no, first, why did you come here?"

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Ryia could do nothing but continue to step back and try to fend off the ghosts. The situation was utterly hopeless. Her attacks did nothing to stop them. Even when they were physical the weapon still passed through them and all that seemed to happen was that they were pushed back. But it was all Ryia could do to defend against two of them at once, let alone attack them to push them back. And to that end there were simply too many of them that even retreat wasn't looking like an option. As the girl backed up, trying to keep her wits about her and everyone else's position in check, her nerves grew more and more and more until finally...they stopped? 

The tension in the girl's body suddenly dropped as both relief and confusion at what was happening suddenly washed over her. An elven boy had come in, telling the ghosts to stop and...they did. The boy then started to ask questions about the group, but taken aback by everything that had just happened Ryia wasn't able to properly think through or articulate a response. "Uh, we - uh, we're...what just- er, um...who are you?"

"Uhh, my name...wait, no that doesn't seem right. Why are a bunch of humans here? How'd you even get here?"

Feeling still flustered by the whole ordeal she said, "oh, um right. We're uh, we're looking for someone, or something? We just, well, we just walked here? Through the forest and yeah." Looking back at the black door she then looked back to the boy, clearing her throat before saying, "um, sorry if we're...intruding?"

"Well...this is sort of a shrine, but I guess it doesn't matter since its not being used. But, er, what about the barrier?"

"Hm? Barrier?" The girl cocked her head in confusion. "We just...walked in here?"

The boy looked distracted, suddenly ignoring Ryia. "So maybe it only works one way...But why would he do that? It doesn't make any sense..." He then looked up again but not at Ryia. Instead at the spirit who was still floating aimlessly. "What happened to him?" He began to walk towards the spirit without any sort of fear.

Confused still, the girl said, "I uh, don't know. We were fighting the um, ghosts and it's not like we could really hurt them or, well, anything." After a moment of looking around, the girl then remembered what happened seconds ago saying, "but uh, I think he shrieked when the flower there was um, well, cut."

"Of course you couldn't hurt them...they're ghosts." He looked at the flower and frowned. "Well that's rude." He sighed. "I suppose I'll have to plant a new one, what a pain..."

A bit caught off guard by his nonchalance combined with slight annoyance at having to deal with the ghosts, the girl stammered out an, "um...sorry?" Clearly unsure what to say next to the boy.  

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Lindow let his sword arm fall limply to his side as the stranger appeared and ended the battle. Without a word he watched as the man casually questioned Ryia about the group's excursion into the shrine. Though Lindow had his own questions running through his head. Like why did this man's commands halt the the advance of the ghosts? He eyed the new arrival's garments carefully, though the pain from his wound didn't lend itself to his detective work.

His clothes didn't seem to particularly regal, but if the spirits of this royal tomb heeded his words... did that mean they had found their prince? Lindow played with the thought for a moment before stumbling back towards Madelyn. Playing into his actual pain and fatigue, the Thunder Chosen winced before tipping over and draping himself around the girl's shoulder as if he would fall without her support. "Could this be our guy?" Lindow whispered sneakily into the light mage's ear before groaning loudly. "Well, I think the hole they put in me was rather rude too. So I'd say we're even."  He addressed the elf with curious expression. "You mentioned a barrier just now. You wouldn't happen to be trapped in here would you?"

Edited by Hollow

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Keres tried to pay attention to what was going on in front of her. The boy seemed to be important in some way especially given the way those spirits had heeded his word without question. But it was bothering her how long it had been since they last saw Reinaan.

She backed away slowly and looked behind through the doorway.

There she could see Reinaan. Laying at the base of the sapling. From what she could see it seemed that the Draken was asleep. She knew that there had been some sort of effect that the sapling had on those near but she hadn't expected it to put someone to sleep. Perhaps he had stayed by it too long, or it affected him different, but it would explain why they hadn't come running in at any point.

"Could this be our guy?"

Lindow felt Madelyn stiffen up and glare at him, outraged, as he leaned up against her. Even after he asked her the question the glare didn't go away. "He's not what I would expect but who knows perhaps elves have more shabby leaders than I thought. And get off me, you savage, I don't care if you're bleeding out if you don't unhand me I won't help patch up your shoddy healing job."

"You mentioned a barrier just now. You wouldn't happen to be trapped in here would you?"

The elf didn't seem to notice, or he didn't care about, Lindow's sarcastic statement earlier. When Lindow asked the question however he looked towards him with a frown. "Well, yes. We all are." He said it as though it should be obvious. "If not then why would I still be here with all those people from the city after...me...Hm, I wasn't supposed to say that was I?"

Even in his sleep Reinaan would notice something. Some sort of noise from outside. If he would wake from the slumber due to it or not was hard to tell however.

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As the others of her group spoke about him, Ryia started to figure that it made sense that the person here was the one they were after. Given where they were, if nothing else the elven boy in front of them was at least someone of high standing. Either that or they knew just how to talk to ghosts to calm them down, which Ryia couldn't help but think would be an equally invaluable find. So, speaking up just to make sure they were on the right track the girl said, “so uh, just to uh be sure…you’re the um, elf Lords son right?”

"I, uh, I don't know what you're talking about. Lord's what now?" he said unconvincingly.

“Uh, okay then…” Ryia was unconvinced. However, she given that he seemed to be intent on keeping his identity a secret, the girl didn't really know how to get him to confirm it. Not that it really mattered much either, since they were there to ensure they got him back and now that they knew where he was that made their job easier, in addition to giving her some degree of peace of mind. What did not, however, was the idea that there was some kind of barrier that trapped all of them in here. Going to confirm yet another thing the girl asked, “so uh, are we also all um, trapped. In this shrine?”

"What? Why would you be trapped here?"

“Because of the uh, barrier, thing?”

"What would a barrier around the forest have to do with this place?"

“Oh uh, my mistake. I just, well, um…” the girl's train of thought stopped, realizing that she had mistook his meaning earlier. Thinking back, it wasn't as if anything was different from what she said earlier, they had just walked into the forest. But did this mean that they were also just trapped in the forest now? Perhaps they needed permission to leave, which made it all the better, she supposed, that they were helping likely the people that put it up. Though, something about this whole thing seemed off. If there were people looking for this boy and he wasn't actually trapped in the building itself, why was he still here? And for that matter, what did he need to get outside of the forest for if he were being kidnapped? The whole thing seemed to be suspicious to the girl, but given how he had denied confirming his identity earlier and Ryia's lack of social pressuring skills, she had decided to let that sleeping dog lie as well. Besides, there was a second part to their job as well. “Um, well, we still have something to find here. So is there uh, anything else like the ghosts we should be afraid of?”

Suddenly he grew suspicious. "Wait, you never did say who you are or what you're doing here....are you some sort of...grave robbers?"

“Eh?" The girl stopped in her tracks, realizing how suspicious she must've sounded. This was a shrine and tomb after all. "Oh uh, no. No nothing like that we’re just uh…” the girl fumbled around for a bit trying to find some kind of excuse and failing to think of any. Perhaps it was a pointless endeavor as well, as this was as official as official business got in this forest, she figured, and it wasn't like he'd think they were lying to him anymore then if she told him an actual lie. Recollecting herself she said. “well we we’re just here on a mission from the elves to find something stolen. We’re uh, the Chosen.”

He looked at Ryia, blankly, frowning. "That sounds like it's something I should know. Chosen, Chosen...." he seemed to grow distracted as he tried to remember and begun to pace.

“Uh,” the girl seemed taken aback by this. After all, she figured that most people knew what the "chosen" were, whether they believed she was one or not. The other elves as well already seemed to know, so being the Lord's son she figured that it'd be equally as common knowledge to him. Though since he was confused, the girl attempted to explain as concisely as she could. “We uh, have spirits and um, are supposed to destroy the demon gates.” The boy did not seem to notice her speak, clearly lost in his own thoughts. "Uhhh..." Unsure how to approach the situation now, the girl looked to the others once again. 

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Madelyn seemed to be growing annoyed at the young man's antics. "Are you just playing with us? Acting like you're not even paying any attention? Or are you just that arrogant that you..."

Keres glanced over, surprised, as Madelyn suddenly stopped talking. She had expected that she was about to rant for quite some time. However the reason soon became clear to the Water mage. Madelyn, and now Keres, could feel something approaching. Something magical was making its way to them.

Even the elf paused to look in the direction that the magical energy was coming from.

And then someone burst into the room. Another elf, this one a pink haired girl, came charging through the doorway that led to the outside.

She was wreathed in flames as she barreled through them, the two mage girls having to stumble back to avoid being knocked over, and stopped right in front of the elf they had been talking to.

She turned towards the group and, her arms and legs still covered in a flickering fire, pulled out a blade. Oddly unlike the other elves this one seemed to be straight-edged. She held it out in front of her and pointed at the group. "Fiends and vagabonds! I won't let you have your way! Prepare to face the fiery steely wrath of my....wrath!"

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Lindow turned on his heel to greet the new arrival as she came barreling into he room. Though he couldn’t sense the magical power outright, the sudden surge of heat was enough to make him aware of their approach. It was a straight sword. The first new one he’d seen since coming to this island actually. 

“Fiends and vagabonds! I won't let you have your way! Prepare to face the fiery steely wrath of my....wrath!" The sword’s wielder called out after placing herself between them and their target, clearly misreading the situation and coming to his defense. 

“I see.” Lindow looked back forth between two elves. “I suppose you could be around that age… it’s hard to tell with you elves.” He settled on the suspected prince and addressed him with a wagging finger. “Tisk tisk, your highness. Privacy is important but I would hardly call this crypt a good place for a romantic getaway.” 

The male elf slowly looked over towards Lindow, not seeming to understand, "Huh? I never called it that."

Lindow simply pressed on. “What exactly are you doing here then? Your people must be pretty worried if they’re willing have us outsider come looking for you…”

The prince  gave an expression as though he had just eaten something sour. "So that's what this is about...." His gaze drifted off to the side and before snapping forward as realization hit him. "Oh, I mean. I don't know what you're talking about no one is looking for me I'm nobody special."

The girl shook her weapon, "Hey! I don't know what you think you're doing but you better not be ignoring me!"

“No thanks.” Lindow glanced over and gave her a pleasant smile as if she were someone peddling her wears at the market. He certainly had his fill of fighting after being impaled by the phantoms only moments prior. "Come now, there’s no need to look all sour." He addressed the prince again in a similarly friendly manner. "Why don’t tell us what you’re up to down here? We’ll lend you hand and give you a ride back home. Then you can go ahead and run away all over again once we’re gone.

His smile melted as he watched the prince take a step back, "I'm not going back anywhere. I'm leaving...once we find a way past the barrier." His words prompted the girl take a up a defensive position a few steps in front to his left. 

The Thunder Chosen's shoulders sagged as he let out a sigh over towards the two mages of the group. “What's he on about ? We got in here just fine.” 

Madelyn is the first to answer. "There WAS something strange about the edge of the forest, I didn't think anything about it then but its possible some sort of magic was set up." Keres followed it up, sounding almost like she was talking to herself, "Maybe it doesn't stop people from coming in...or only stops certain people..." As she said this the boy put his hand under his chin and began to pace back and forth, muttering to himself. This time the elf girl hurriedly began to move to follow him back and forth, watching the group the whole time.

"So you're stuck in this forest, huh? I would say that's a bit excessive, but here you are trying to fly the coop." Lindow let his hand rest on the hilt of his short sword before taking a step towards the prince and his protector. "Sounds rough." He felt a little sympathy for the prince, but that wouldn't stop him from doing what he needed to be done. "But unless you can help us find Demon Gate yourself, I'm afraid our only option is to bring you back..." The best he could do was give the guy a chance to make letting him go worth the trouble. It wasn't like the Chosen had any actual reason to be loyal to the other elves, all they needed was information. 

 

Edited by Hollow

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Ryia watched the conversation flow between the two elves and Lindow. It was becoming ever more abundantly clear that the elf was the person they were searching for - that and that he wasn't the best of liars - and that both he and the woman had no intention of going back to the other elves. The mention of the barrier had come up again and, once more, it seemed that there was nothing that was preventing them from entering the forest. Given the hostile reception they had been given by the elves she found it odd that they would set something up to keep people in rather than out, more so if it was geared towards only their own kind. Of course, Ryia had no idea the specifics of how these kinds of magic worked, or how limiting or restrictive they could be so she didn't really question it that much more. Though she did look to Madelyn, thinking if there were anyone to know about such a thing it would be her, but quickly looked back to the elven duo as Lindow had brought up the Demon Gate. 

Ryia looked nervously at Lindow as he approached the elves saying, "um I don't know if-" then cutting herself off and looking to the elves. "Well um, yeah we were sent to, uh, well, look for you in exchange for information. About the uh, Demon Gate. Because we're trying to stop it." She repeated herself from earlier before saying, "So do you - would you two know anything about that?"

The girl replied, "Wait so you want to turn us in? Nuh uh, no way, that can't happen. That would be, uh, really bad."

"Uh, it would? I'm sorry, you can probably tell but we're not really uh, from here. We don't really know what's going on at all, well at least with uh your whole situation and only have what the elves from the uh, city. Had to tell us. Like I said we were uh, just given a job. Sort of. But, uh, what's wrong with going back?"

"Um....why do you think they want us back, exactly?"

"Um, we were told that there was a uh, traitor of some kind who kidnapped," she pointed to the boy, "him. And that they also had an artifact that could uh, destroy the forest?"

"I said I'm no one important." The boy said unconvincingly, to which the girl sighed and shook her head.

Then she said, "Artifact huh, guess that's one way of putting it. And there's a lot that could destroy the forest...ya know, if someone wanted to. But yeah, okay, I took something when I left so I can't just go back there after that."

The exchange only left the girl with more questions then answers, giving a confused expression on her face. "I uh, I see?" Mulling it over for a bit she said, "but well, you both don't really seem like uh, bad people. I don't think. At the very least you're uh, not here against your will. Well, with her against your will, at least." The girl thought about it for a moment before asking, "so uh, what did you take then?"

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Reinaan had been caught in a dream for what felt like an eternity and yet also a fleeting moment. The images were incoherent and usually featured trees. He'd been around a lot of trees lately so that much made sense. But little else escaped to his conscious mind with him when a sound awoke him. Something like wind rushing past yet also distinct footsteps. A person. Yet as the sleep-addled Draken came to his senses and gathered his surroundings he found very little in the immediate room with him beyond the sapling by which he'd rested. No sign of the other Chosen or their companions. Not even the mounts. But then they'd left them outside hadn't they and this was inside their destination. Cautiously, Reinaan first exited the building altogether where Kloqah and the mule were stationed. They seemed nervous or on edge but of what the boy couldn't be sure. There was no sign of the others out so they must have gone further in.

So in the fire chosen returned, careful to steer clear of the sapling this time. He didn't have time to understand if it was what had caused his sudden dreariness or not but now was not the time for a repeat performance. As Reinaan continued deeper inside he heard voices echoing, some familiar and others not. The unfamiliar naturally set him on edge yet as he approached Ryia's voice was what he heard most of. Before long the boy emerged into the room the other chosen and the two elves were having their meeting in. Reinaan had arrived just in time to hear the elven woman reply to Ryia's last question of what they had stolen.

"Uh, that's a bit more complicated." the strange woman said, clearly a bit nervous about giving the answer. Reinaan had entered onto the side of the room his allies had been standing, with the two new elves deeper in. His eyes danced quickly from caution to a more relaxed state, keeping him from raising his weapon. The others hadn't seen fit to fight yet and they knew a bit more of what had been going on so he would follow. The elven girl took note of the draken's entrance but wasn't concerned enough to acknowledge him, choosing rather to stick closer to the boy. Said elven boy seemed not to be as immediately present in the conversation as the others but a look of curiosity took over him as he saw Reinaan. He moved to approach but the girl stopped him which elicited a small snort of a chuckle from the draken.

"Think I heard enough on the way in to get what's going on but..." Reinaan started, making his presence known if anyone hadn't caught on yet. "What's complicated about stealing something? Either you have it or you know where you put it." He stated as a matter of fact while looking over the group. Still no Damien but everyone else seemed accounted for and mostly in one piece. He looked a bit embarrassed to have fallen asleep as he did and wasn't going to draw attention to his lagging behind himself nor address it if it wasn't brought up. Best to act like he knew what was going on. His only saving grace was Ziiyol hadn't yet chosen to manifest by his side to tease him for it.

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There was a lot happening suddenly. Keres felt herself overwhelmed as such a large, to her, group suddenly began to interact in such close proximity. She found herself trying to ignore most of it and instead set her mind to what they had learned.

The son, who this must be despite his protest, left on his own for reasons unknown. Neither of them could leave because of a barrier. She didn't think that such a thing would be created simply to keep them here. Especially if the woman carried something that could harm the forest she would imagine they wouldn't want to trap her.

So it must have been something already set. But why? And what did it actually do?

It might be quicker to just ask however, alas, Keres didn't even consider this a possibility.

"What's complicated about stealing something? Either you have it or you know where you put it.

"And if the problem is that you took something surely if you bring it back you won't suffer too severe of a punishment." Madelyn seemed to be having enough of this.

"I'm not going back." The boy said once again. "That place is...not a home anymore. I must bring down the barrier, it's the only way." This declaration seemed more serious than anything the boy had said before, however soon after he said it he seemed to get lost in thought once again. This time looking at Reinaan again in curiosity.

The girl let out a loud, way too long, sigh. "Even if we did want to go back, which we absolutely don't, it's not as easy as bringing it with. They didn't even tell you what it was that I took did they? It's not like it was just some magical thingy. It was an...egg. And, well." She put a couple fingers too her mouth and, glancing at the boy as if for confirmation, she whistled. A few moments passed and then the girl said, "it already hatched."

From the opposite side of the group something emerged from the doorway that Reinaan had come from. It was red, and winged, and quite small. About the size of an average bird. Yet it was clearly no bird. It was much more reptilian than that.

"That." The girl said as the creature flapped its wings and looked towards the group in a seemingly nervous manner. "Is the 'artifact' they want back."

The creature that answered the girl's whistle was a living, breathing, baby dragon.

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