@Seles
The stream nearly hit the shadow and the entity dissipated into the air, the stream splashing on the ground previously occupied by the evil. The darkness still seemed to have a limited ability to manifest itself in this world without possession of a physical body.
*Seles gained experience*
It was still early in the day, the port was destroyed along with all the ships. On the other side of the continent, Port Brenan suffered the same loss. Hundreds of people were now jobless. For some reason it seemed as if the Darkness wasn't wanting anyone to leave the continent.
Meanwhile... one ship continued to sail south, in the seas east of Port Brenan.
Seles had to act. The mysterious Darkness had come to her town and ruined her family's way of life. The songstress was becoming more confident in her powers, however, if she traveled inland, water would be scarcer, which might prove to be an obstacle, although easily overcome if the mind was willing to adapt to the circumstances.
@Vael
"Vael!"
Quickly, Vael turned around to see Zenith behind him. "Yes?" Vael responded, still unsure of Zenith's true intentions.
Zenith seemed slightly upset. "I've been searching the minds of this world. It seems that Port Brenan has suffered a catastrophe. Some evil came to the town and destroyed the ships there, along with the docks. This wouldn't be upsetting, and could possibly be dismissed as some beast from the mountains, but I searched more minds and found another incident occured, not even an hour later. In the port town of Fendmoore, another evil, or perhaps the same one, destroyed that towns ships and docks. I fear Shishra might be targeted soon. If we don't act fast, this city's lifeline might be destroyed."
Zenith passed back and forth. "Vael... recently the world was tainted with an ancient evil. I can feel it. This is why I've begun my build up of Freeseekers... to combat the ancient evil. Unfortunately the dimwitted Princes don't sense the disturbance like I do, they're too busy fighting like children. The world will HAVE to unite together, however, if we plan on defeating this darkness that has descended upon us." Searching for words, Zenith momentarily paused. He had withheld information from the young firemaster, and was debating whether or not to finally disclose it with Vael.
"My powers of mind-bending have their perks... I can search people's minds, and essentially their souls. Vael, the Color that resides in you is Red. If you were familiar with the history of our planet, you would know that the stars in our night sky were created by the Reds... and if you noticed, no stars have shone in 4 nights. The evil that has come to this world robbed the stars of their color... of your color. If you are ever going to fully control this power of yours, and unlock your past... you have to let me help you, so that this darkness can be defeated."
"I hesitate to ask what I am about to..." Zenith pondered how he could spin this to make it easy for Vael. "I think the evil is about to strike Shishra's port soon. It appears to only be able to manifest itself for a limited amount of time, and I think if you and I work together, we might be able to repel it long enough to prevent it from destroying this town's livelihood. You are too weak to combat something of this magnitude... and I'm afraid my powers revolve around humans and manipulation of their minds. I will not force this on you, although I could... instead I ask your permission... Come with me tomorrow morning, when the evil is likely to strike, and let me control your powers for you. I'm afraid we have few, if any other options to combat this evil currently..." Zenith's words trailed off. He waited patiently for Vael's response. This was a lot of information to process and Vael might have questions needing to be answered.
@Kiba and Pyrrhus
Pyrrhus was about to run off again, like he had a tendency to do. Always looking for action, the lieutenant was eager to see some real action. As Pyrrhus was walking off he was stopped by a woman accompanied by a Phoenix spirit companion. As she began to speak, the Phoenix vanished, as she could clearly tell Pyrrhus was unsure of it. "You are Lieutenant Pyrrhus, are you not?"
The lieutenant nodded his head.
"I am Mary Stormbrew. I was assigned to this mission for what we're about to do. Your paladins are out retrieving a book on the legendary Phoenixes. What's important is not the information on the phoenixes in the book. I happen to be an expert on the creatures. I am here to help you and Kiba track down a Phoenix and collect its ashes. The ashes will be used to create a potion, the exact ingredients and methods of creating the potion are located in the book the paladins are picking up now. This potion will grant Prince Capsol's army with immortality potions, and will allow the army to successfully attack Unificus. Now however, I need you to begin planning how you and the young paladin will dispose of the phoenix, once I track it and trap it. The bird is not to be trifled with. It's capable of emitting huge amounts of heat, capable of burning or even killing. The hard part is immobilizing it so it won't run away at the sight of us." Mary was cut short when Kiba saw her and Pyrrhus.
The eager paladin approached her, she formally introduced herself and told him of the plan. He seemed less interested about the plan to kill a phoenix and collect its dust as he immediately inquired about the physical abilities of spirit companions.
Mary responded to his question, "Spirit companions are capable of interaction with the physical realm, although the summoner must remain in a constant state of concentration, as the spirit companion moves further and further away. I would be able to show you how to summon a pigeon, I think you could handle it. If you maintained your concentration, you would be able to successfully fly the pigeon with letter attached to wherever you needed it to go."
"Before that, however, tonight we head out into Spire, the three of us only. A phoenix could never be found if an entire army stormed the forest. These woods are dangerous, though, so prepare yourself as needed."
*Kiba learned how to summon a pigeon.*
"I'd suggest if you are going to send a letter off today, you send it quick. It will take some time for the spirit companion to fly to its destination." With that Mary walked off to make her preparations for the adventure.
Pyrrhus and Kiba were left alone, with the book, The Birth of a Phoenix.
@Bysir
After an hour of walking deeper into the forest Bysir was confronted by some noise in the distance. Sounds of laughter could be heard and in taking a moment to reexamine his surroundings, he noticed a fragrant smell. He slowly crept forward as to not alarm anyone or anything of his presence. The dark paladin came to a small cliff and went slowly to its edge, looking down at the source of the noise. Elkfolk! Bysir had found some. They were a good sized creature. It's body was that of a large, healthy steed, with the torso of a man. It's head was human-like, except for the overwhelmingly blue eyes, and the antlers coming from their forehead. The elkfolk had created a fire and were brewing some sort of soup. It smelled sweet like the berries and plants it must have been created from. Bysir knew of the elkfolk and was aware that once an elkfolk saw you, it would immediately come to you and shower you with hospitality. Their minds were quick with languages and would nearly instantaneously speak in their high pitched voices in response to whatever you spoke. Although initially they remained silent, waiting to hear what you had to say. The creatures had an aura of benevolence and happiness. To Bysir it was sickening... especially because it actually made him feel better just being on a cliff nearby them. Bysir let out a reflexive, blehhh in response to the feeling. The elkfolk stood upright, and turned their heads towards Bysir. Immediately they ran around the cliff, up a hill, and were in front of Bysir staring and gawking, waiting for Bysir to speak. There were three elkfolk total. 6 curious deep blue eyes staring curiously and happily at the stranger. Bysir smiled. What the hell?! He thought as he noticed his smile. Why the HELL am I smiling? Gah... these creatures are awful...ly delightful. Bysir didn't know what to do. He'd initially come here to kill the creatures, but now was admittedly wondering how he could kill while he was in such a good mood. Bysir spoke......
@Aseras and Chris
Aseras woke up from his dream that he was hiking in the mountains and instantaneously remembered where he was. Unificus... to kill Scott Hemming, the master-thief. Grasping Stinger by its hilt, the assassin made his way into the city in search of Scott. Traversing across the rooftops he finally spotted the old man. He was accompanied by a young girl. Shouldn't be a problem. All I have to do is stab him, the poison will do the killing. Aseras was ready to carry out his task... this was his opportunity.