Arcane Rivalry [J] [Pw]

[MzLuluZombi]

I observe my surroundings, the room is a crisp white colour, with many wooden desks in a faded white colour, there are boxes piled high, presumably with artefacts in.
"Can you tell us what we're getting yet? Or at least where we are going?" I ask, hoping I might actually get somewhere this time.

I walk over to a pile of boxes, and take the second box down, I open it up and pull out a map of the storage area, I hand this to Siofra.

"Helpful, no?"

I take the map and look carefully at it.  It shows all floors of the museum, with each exhibit marked clearly.  There is no mention of any exhibit called, 'Arcane Discoveries', so it is safe to assume that it is one of the unmarked areas on the map.

// I can feel something strange about this map.  Of course! //

"They must put some kind of charm on the maps here.  That's how any magical visitors know where to go."  I look up at Nikolai and turn the map so he can see it.  "I'm not sure if it would work, but is there any chance you can use divination to activate the charm?  I doubt that fire, rocks, or plants will do anything."

[SirBlaziken]

My eyes are glazed over in terror, yet I cannot scream. Good thing that I'm not needed, or particularly wanted here, or even liked.    

Each scene replays through in more horrifying detail each time. Then, the shocker, the scene with my parents. ((To come in next post unless I'm needed.))

[quack98]

"I'll do my best" I say.

I reach out and touch the map, I chant "Askrino Xyelou" twice, under my breath. ((just a note, Nikolai only does this when performing difficult magic to focus his skills))

A projection of light comes out the map, it's a blinding white light at that. As I shield my eyes, it dims down, but all that's happened is some rooms on the map are now glowing red. I take the first letter of each room, and try saying it. Nothing happens.

"I doubt that reacted for nothing, but it hasn't revealed anything useful..." I say, perplexed

[SirBlaziken]

It was dark.

Our family was about to go to bed when we heard a knock on the door. It was a cloaked figure with the hood over its head. I heard it say "The boy, give him to me." The figure saw me. My parents disagreed. Then, there was a flash. My mother slumped down, dead. "A necromancer, huh. Luckily, I'm one as well." said my dad. "Then why did you marry that day scum?" the figure rasped. "Shut your mouth." my dad replied. My father moved first, firing a bolt of black energy, the figure didn't even flinch. The figure held out its hand and turned the bolt around. It pierced my dad through the heart, dead in a nanosecond. The figure came to me, lifted a hand, and brought it down hard on my head. I slumped over, not dead, but unconscious. The hooded figure lifted me, threw me into a cart, and rode off....

I takes every bit of my willpower not to scream or break out in a bout of crying. My mortal body remains frozen.

((Also updated my character profile))

[Wolstenholme]

My eyes are full of sleep, I rub them wearily and while doing so I realize that I am not in the same place as I was when I fell to sleep. I am not longer curled up underneath the bench outside the museum but somewhere completely different. And warm. I sleepwalked.
Panic kicks in, I have only sleepwalked once before, the night I left. Left. Left what? Suddenly I feel lonely, the empty kind of lonely when you know you are missing something but you don't know what. All I know is that the fact that I have sleepwalked means something is bad. That bad thing is probably staring me in the face.
The burning building from last night. I am stood before it's gates, the heat on my face, the ruins still alight from the previous evening.
It is morning and the sun is about to begin rising, the smell of smoke in the air. I guess that it is maybe three am - as it is the height of summer - and that I slept for under three hours, however what time it was when the others entered the library, I don't know.
The others. They won't know where I am. I don't know how to get back to them. Will they worry about me?

[SirBlaziken]

I remain paralyzed. I keep trying to regain control of my body, but it's like I'm frozen, there until I somehow break it. This seemed to happen a lot since the kidnapping, but, why?

[MzLuluZombi]

"I'll do my best" I say.

I reach out and touch the map, I chant "Askrino Xyelou" twice, under my breath. ((just a note, Nikolai only does this when performing difficult magic to focus his skills))

A projection of light comes out the map, it's a blinding white light at that. As I shield my eyes, it dims down, but all that's happened is some rooms on the map are now glowing red. I take the first letter of each room, and try saying it. Nothing happens.

"I doubt that reacted for nothing, but it hasn't revealed anything useful..." I say, perplexed

"Hmm."  I look carefully at the changes on the map. 

// The rooms in red must be the magic-related exhibits.  Are the letters the names of the exhibits? //

"Well, unless we ask nicely, I think we'll just have to take a guess.  The exhibit we're looking at first is - " I say, but I stop.  Edan seems to have frozen up on the spot, his expression less than casual.  I nudge Nikolai and nod to indicate Edan.  "Something's wrong."

[SirBlaziken]

//I'm like a prisoner in my own body. What do I do?//

Suddenly, the light rushes to my eyes. The black fades, leaving the scene I saw before.

//It was that again. Argh. I'll have to research this.//

I look around, making sure I'm still in the right place. Thankfully, I'm still in the white room.

[NTN]

     A silver-haired, fresh, intelligent-looking man who wore glasses and a fancy dark suit was leaning against the wall of the Arcane Academy, closing his eyes and letting his head lean forward slightly as he smoked a cigarette. He liked to play with his cigarette a little and stir the rising smoke in the air with a touch of Pyromancy. The smoke gathered into a thick, skull-shaped cloud. The man converted the smoke into flames. A change of arcane state. He created a flaming skull, whose core consisted not of an actual skull but of the strongest flames in the fire that were constantly swallowing each other. It was as if the flames of the core were tied in a knot. When one flame within the core dives into and swallows another, it grows stronger by combining itself with the fire it ate, helping it grow strong enough to maintain a solid state for a second before the next flame comes around and continues the cycle. Ah, I didn't know you were a skilled Pyromancer as well...

     The man plucked the cigarette from his mouth and pushed it into the flaming skull to burn it completely. He opened his eyes and raised his head. "Do I interest you?" he asked from across the blood-stained street. He clicked his glasses with his two fingers.

     "You indeed do interest me. It's an honor for you to catch my interest, when I know nothing about you. I don't know how you live. I don't know how you eat. I don't know how you sleep. I don't know how you bleed. I don't know how you die. But I do know how you wield the arcane. Damien Manceter," I answer.

     "And what of it? Who are you exactly? How can you know my name?" the silver-haired man asked.

     "I have been watching you for quite some time. I have been a frequent visitor in Equinox over the years... killing and consuming most of the dead, keeping their remains for something important. I am Comet. But most who had nearly died at my hands remember me as the Cursed Necromancer. Power-hungry Necromancers around me bow down and call me the Chosen Necromancer. Now, what of the magic you wield? You are skilled in Divination and Pyromancy. Tell me, how do you rank?"

     "I am the instructor of Divination at the Arcane Academy. I rank 8 out of 10. As for my Pyromancy, I rank 5 out of 10. Do you think I would be of use to you? You appear to be the sort of bloodthirsty monster who would decide something like that."

     "Your Pyromancy only ranks 5 out of 10? Then answer me, how were you able to master the flaming skull technique? I understand that you are a Pyromancer, and so you don't need a skull to create it. I have mastered the technique but I need a skull to hold flames together if I want to perform it, since I do not have any Pyromancy of my own to stabilize the fire. How were you able to do it?" I asked Damien Manceter, having to fully understand the origin of his abilities before making him my pawn.

     "The seventh floor of the Arcane Academy is for developing new arcane techniques. The 'flaming skull' technique, as you call it, is something I picked up while training there. You've come here for my abilities, am I correct?"

     "Yes. I am planning to collect one other Necromancer, who is with me now, Pyromancer, whom I've captured from the Equinox jail, Telekimancer, who has secretly locked himself in the 6th Tower outside of Equinox, and a Divinator, you. I will leave Equinox and take it over one day. I will leave for the cursed town Aprisen."

[SirBlaziken]

I turn back to Nikolai and Siofra and see their expressions. "I'll explain later, you two and continue what you were doing, and I'll await instructions." I said.

//I'm going to have to see a doctor about this....//

[Wolstenholme]

My mind is at a huge round about, going around in circles with many different exits but with no idea which to take.  I can:

• Stay here, do nothing and wait for the others to find me


• Attempt to return to the bench I remember sitting at


• Douse the flames and investigate the burning building - a prison, devoid of life


• Take matters into my own hands and forget about the group, the prison and leave here.

I keep thinking and thinking and reach the same conclusion constantly, I wish to stay in the city - with the others but no matter what I do can't be sure that I will ever find them.
Then again, between them they seem to have a knack for finding trouble. - Look for trouble and you will find them. They are bound to come and inspect the wreckage here at some point.

I go off in search of a bucket and a water spout. - I find both of these things, just around the corner and return with two buckets of water a few moments later.
Before long I have gathered 3 dozen buckets of water and thrown each onto the flames but the flames do not show any sign dying out, at all.
Magical flames I conclude. I give up on dousing the fire and instead decide the best course of action would be to fire proof my skin. The process takes me a couple of minutes and causes me brief pain as I get used to the strange sensation. Then, fully fireproofed I walk into the flames.

[SirBlaziken]

Now, I've got some thinking to do.

//Alright, the field. I guess I duel my old necromancer master. However, why is this? Also, the weird prophecy. Argh.... I hate not knowing this. Question is, how does this relate to the mission at hand. Well, I've got a full plate. 1. Siofra is hiding something. 2. These memory relapses. 3. The prophecy.//

[NTN]

     "Did you say... take over Equinox?" Damien said, looking over his glasses and into my eyes.

     "I did say I would take over Equinox, didn't I? You seem surprised. I was sure that a Divinator would see that coming."

     "...I see. Take over Equinox. I have wanted to destroy it."

     "Ah, destroy it. As an Academy instructor, you must have been training here to prepare for that. What is your story, Divinator?"

     "This city, this accursed city, had taken the lives of my mother and father more than 2 years ago. Following the tragedy that had befallen the Academy, when no culprit could be identified in the mysterious murder of a student on the building's sixth floor, the obsessive Equinox law decided that it 'could not take any chances, as the murderer could still be among us.' It ordered the execution of every powerful Necromancer-Telekimancer in the building, as well as 'anybody who is close enough to be aiding the suspect.' I was one of these suspects, and that meant I had to be executed. But when the Equinox law appeared at our door, where my parents and I lived, we fought back with all the strength we had. My parents and I could only hold them off for 3 hours, until enemy reinforcements came. Quickly I witnessed both my parents being stabbed in the chest with sharp rocks. I will tell you... the guards were closing in on me and all I could do was shiver. I was inexperienced at that time. My Divination was only a level 5 back then, my Necromancy a level 4 and my Telekinesis a level 3. But they had come for me not because of the numbers I was given but because of my intelligence and how I used it in sync with what little abilities I had. I was sure that was why I was their suspect and why they had come to kill me. So I just lay there like a coward. Until something drove me to throw myself forward and fight if it meant losing my life.
     What I did then... I threw my hand onto the forehead of an Equinox guard and activated my Divination. You would know Divination as having the ability to see or to a further extent alter the future. But what I did with my Divination was a miracle. Normally I would have been able to see the future that we all share in one place, at that one time - that is how Divination works. At that moment, instead... I concentrated my powers on the guard and tapped into the future he, himself, desired. What I was able to sense was a branch of the actual future - a scenario - not what we Divinators all sensed and knew was going to happen. That guard's desired future at that moment was to kill me... so I altered it in a way that it would become true inside his head... and he would wake up believing that he had actually killed me.
     I flew from guard to guard, confident with my newfound power, when, finally, I had left each of them on the ground, so when they would wake up, they would report to their superiors that I was dead and they had succeeded. And that helped me escape Equinox to train what I new was my talent, Divination. All so I could return 2 years later and destroy Equinox for killing my family, if all I could do that day was run away. Comet... I am not alone in this. Though we may have different reasons for destroying this city, there are many people here that despise the Equinox law. I am the instructor of Divination at the Academy right now... but I have my own plans to sacrifice that position."

     "Is that so? The 'newfound power' you have described is classed as a level 7/10 Divination technique. It is impressive that such a skill would awaken when all you were given then was rank 5. Listen to me... despite how corrupt the Equinox law may be, my plan states that Equinox will be taken over. Have at it and destroy Equinox if you wish, when you join me and see my plans through to the end. Damien Manceter, you will serve as one of the four generals of my military," I explained.

     "Pardon? Military? It appears you haven't actually answered my question of who you are."

     "You will find out soon enough," I said darkly. "I wonder... how exactly is Cierro doing back at the jail?" I didn't care.

     "Cierro? And who might that be?" Damien asked.

     "A simpleton," I answered.

[SirBlaziken]

//Hm.... Matt has been silent for a while. I'd love to go through his thoughts, but I did Siofra already. I wonder what Chloe is up to.//

I walk around the room, looking for cameras. Nothing. I go back into my place, letting my thoughts absorb me.

[Moon Chaser]

((Sorry, my internet has been cut off for the past week or so.))

Matt takes the coin out his pocket again, flips it and catches it several times. Each time he uses his telekinesis to hold it in the air for a few seconds as it spins and makes sure it lands on heads every time. "Are we going to get going? It's pretty boring standing around in here and I don't want to be here if a guard decides to walk by."