The Coming Darkness

Ling put on a serious looking face just so that he looked like he was in a helping mood. "I can do that much." Ling put on his gloves and made a karate stance. He started to through punches into the air and every one of his throws blew a flurry of wind which cleared out the fire. "I wonder how this started anyways." Ling just kept on putting out the flame, but each time one gets put out, another ignites. Ling also made orders to the nearby spectator to clear the area. "Aiyaa, too many troubling students."

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Joanne was serving Aleister another cup of tea as he stood by the window watching at the distant. "Should I assist him in putting out the fire?" Aleister took a quick glance and just let a small chuckle. "No need, if Enzo concentrate hard enough, he'll be able to use some of my teaching to aid in this matter. He is a smart lad, he is being taught by me after all." Joanne just nodded. "As you wish master."

“Right- just ignore me. I’ll just stand right bloody here with my fingers up my ass.” JD rolled his eyes. “I ask to help and I get ignored. This is what I get for being a team-player. No recognition- no nothing. Doesn’t matter I help save you guys in the Gaze, and I’m mostly resistant to fire. But do go ahead. Good luck team. I’m not wearing a bloody cheerleader outfit for you guys though.” He grumbled. “Makes my ass look big.”

"Do nothing to irritate it. Yeah, I'll do that..." "Thanks.." He said while sighing. "Well, Silver. Am I free to go now? I have to go right about now.." He looked up at the sun, which was closing in on high-noon.

Silver stared at Voltaire. "Go where?" There was no way she was letting him go anywhere alone when he was injured. That would make her a bad friend. "You should listen to the guy and rest. Whatever it is can wait." In truth, she didn't want him to go back to wherever he went and end up getting himself killed. But she wasn't sure how to tell him that.

She smirked, "Sure thing, who d'ya think I am, Enzo?" Sasha said, grinning as the water suddenly rushed down towards her feet and snaked in the direction of the magma, cooling it instantly. She continued to do so, repeatedly condensing and freezing the water. Wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead, Sasha pressed onwards, the water spreading across the magma at a fast pace.
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Seeing as though no one was willing to help her, nor stop for the poor confused girl, Charl headed back outside, looking around for a spark of life, somewhere, anywhere. To her surprise, she was greeted by the smell of smoke. Instantly, panic filled her mind as the smoke from the magma filled her nostrils. Charl began to cough, as her plant like lungs screamed for air; pure air. The girl began to run, not caring where she went, as long as she could breathe. She ran through branches and leaves, some hitting her in the face, some missing by a long run. Charl could feel herself growing faint.

Damn this plant like body...

Her body functioned somewhat that of a plant, needing an adequate amount of light, water, and of course air each day. Sadly, this meant that Charl was ridiculously weak to things that would take those necessities away.

Huffing and puffing, she managed to tear herself into another part of the forest, barely managing to set her blue eyes on a group of people, a few feet away, a red head, a raven haired male that was walking away, and another female with jet black hair. Charl barely managed to utter the words, "Help," before falling onto her hands and knees.

Don't be ridiculous, Charl, there's no way that they can give you..more...more air.

He let out a long and displeased grunt. "Fine, sure whatever...I'll go back to my bunker and rest there." He put his hands in his pockets and turned back into the forest. He walked in the direction of the falls and was already hidden within what trees were still alive. After walking for a bit a rift opened and Montesque walked through it. Before he could start talking he noticed his clothes were tattered and burned and that he also had a burn on himself. "What happened to you..?" "Our friend sent some sentinels after me. My own parents, I had to fight them off with Silvers help to trap and and get rid of their captors control. This is just a battle scar." "With a burn that bad, I wouldn't tell you to do anything for a while..." "And that's what he said..." "Hmm?" Volitarie shook his head. "Nothing..."

Enzo quickly looked back at JD. "I'm sorry, JD.. You can help Ling with the fire." Then, he set his eyes on the magma that had just cooled and hardened. Enzo ignited his flames, his black armored gloves forming. He ran off towards the heated stone, charging up his flames in one hand, ready to perform his new move, the X-Buster. When he got close enough, he punched down on the rock, releasing his flames at the same time. A small, controlled explosion erupted from the rock, sending the base and it's pebbles everywhere. The magma was hardened to the core, so getting rid of it was no problem.

Enzo looked up to the trees above him. The blasted air had extinguished the expanding fires that were spreading quickly. Once the problem was dealt with, Enzo changed back to his normal being, taking a sigh of relief before walking back over to Sasha and Ling. "Thanks for your help, guys." He said, scratching his head. "I guess now the problem would be figuring out who did this." At this thought, Enzo remembered. Where's Enki?

Artur rolled his eyes and pulled away from the duo. Obviously he was no longer apart of this conversation. He turned away to continue his search when yet another person came flying through the trees.

The blond locks and unnatural blue eyes immediately pieced together a name on his lips.

"CHARLOTTE?!!"

Silver nodded as he agreed. She was happy he wasn't resisting, at least not too much. But then he just walked off, and she wasn't sure that she trusted him to go straight to his bunker. She took off after Voltaire, deciding it would be best to follow him and make sure he did end up resting. It was then he stumbled upon Montesque and Voltaire speaking, and she was hoping he wasn't trying to convince Voltaire to go back and fight more. She sighed, realizing Montesque would know she was there anyways, so she didn't even try to hide.

"It looks as if we have company, Volitaire." "Hi, Silver. Seeing if I was actually going to rest, hmm? Well, Montesque was telling me to anyway. So you don't have to worry. I won't be going off on any grand adventure.." "Well, good of you to not be so stubborn. An injury like that will land you in some serious pain, Volitaire...but I suppose I should take my leave. I feel a little unwelcome all of the sudden." "No, no. You may as well stick in the bunker with me and Artizle. It didn't look like you two were finish with that conversation you were having." Montesque snapped his fingers. "Aah, yes...that. I suppose that would make sense."

She nodded, "No problem."

Sasha thought about that last questions....whoever had done this must have had a good reason...Her arms crossed and uncrossed as the girl attempted to think out an answer. ....Could it be that redhead that attacked them earlier? Sasha frowned; if that were the case, then... A low growl escaped her lips.

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Charls vision was focusing and blurring as she attempted to right herself. The voice that had called out her name seemed familiar...Almost as though she'd heard it before...Looking up, Charl was surprised to see that the orange haired male that she'd seen was in fact Artur, who was raised by Nani in the village. Her eyes went wide in surprise. Charl felt dizzy again after smelling the smoke, stumbling a bit, but it was mostly cleared away by now, and she managed to prop herself up to a standing position against a tree.

Silver eyed the two of them, glancing back and forth as they spoke. She looked to Montesque. Perhaps he wasn't as bad as she first thought he was. She frowned. Maybe he would be willing to tell her a bit about her parents before he left again. Sure, she was curious. Maybe they didn't even want to leave her. Maybe it was just her disgusting grandfather, he was the cause anyways. She found herself staring at Montesque with a puzzled look, and looked away. Voltaire already knew she wasn't going to leave, so there was no reason to speak up about it.

The two began walking to the bunker again, still a bit of the way to go. Montesque leaned down to Volitaire's ear. "She's awfully quiet. I suppose she wants to know what's going on?" Volitaire nodded. "Most likely so. That's why I'm not telling her to leave. This does involve her too, she has a right to know. Whether she follows or not is up to her. But, I'll signal her that she's welcome to tag along. Hopefully she's not gone too long from school and her new boyfriend." Montesque stepped back. "Boyfriend!?" His parental nature kicked in and he nearly yelled out. He turned to Silver real fast then back to Volitaire. "She's in a relationship already?" "She's how old? Seventeen? I don't see why not. This looks to be her first, anyway." Montesque looked down, a little shocked. "She's nearly grown up...how long have I been away from her?" "You should be having this conversation with her. Not me, Montesque." Volitaire waved his hand for Silver to come over to them. He started walking, but Montesque kept behind, hoping Silver could catch up with him.

Artur rushes to Charl's side and pulls her from the tree so she rests on his side. He watches Volitaire and Silver run off. His blood boils with his ignorant misunderstandings.

"USELESS GITS, THE LOT OF YOU!"

Breathing rapidly Artur struggles to keep up with the problem at hand.

"Charlotte?? What's wrong? Are you ill?! Is it the smoke?!" He pulls his sleeve down and covers her nose and mouth to block out the fading smoke. "I don't have anything on me right now. I'm sorry Charlotte." Artur glances around anxiously to see if anything can help.

She felt herself being pulled by Artur, and happily complied, looking back up at the male, and somehow finding it in her to speak, "Yeah...it's the smoke..." Her voice was oddly soft, not energetic like the usual Charl was. The second that her mouth was covered, Charl felt slightly relieved, shaking her head, "You don't need to be sorry, Artur..."

Charl could only remember his name because when with Nani, all the lady would talk about was her grandson. Charl had only to nod along, and the sweet woman would become satisfied.

Silver heard Montesque shout out boyfriend and wondered what on earth Voltaire could have been telling him. Voltaire then waved her over, and she huffed. "I'm comin', I'm comin'." She continued walking until she got to Montesque, where she paused to look at him for a moment before slowly continuing forward. She wasn't sure what to say to him, which made it kind of awkward.

Artur bit his lip. "Uhh ... Alright I'll take you back to the school ..
'If it's still there. Bloody forest burning down. What next?! GIANT CANNIBAL PRIEST EATERS?!'

And we'll see if we can find something to clear your sinuses and have some cold water?" He smiled nervously. Always keep a calm image!

The healer awkwardly pulled Charl along. He was extremely conscious of where his hands were.

Volitaire saw Silver catch up. "Good, I guess I can explain things to you now...unfortunately, I couldn't get info on your parents from Venciersio, but Montesque should know more. So...hit it off...I'll be up here." Volitaire walked up a little more. Giving her and Montesque some room, while leading the way. "Silver..so, how have you been..?"

Silver stared after Voltaire as he went on ahead, leaving her with Montesque. I should have stayed behind... "Oh, just fine and dandy," she said in a slightly sarcastic tone with an innocent smile on her face. She crossed her arms and looked the other way.

Montesque frowned, knowing she wasn't exactly comfortable and probably upset with him. "I'm sorry about...not really being there, Silver. After Venciersio made your mother cast you aside, I couldn't find you since...I should tell you that she didn't want to do it...Venciersio forced her. Better to have said that back when we were in Gaze, hmm..." Montesque put his hands behind his back and looked at Silver with guilt.

Charl gave a small nod towards Artur's suggestion, "Water would be nice right now..." Seeing as she could not support herself at all, Charl clung on to Artur, as so not to fall over or collapse. That would be terrible.

Still she wondered why she was here. Charl had been told that this was a school to train your si- I mean, magic, not a place filled with smoke and the loud cries of students In the distance.

She didn't want to do it?..
"Is she still alive?"
And who's my father? Silver looked at him and noticed how guilty he looked. She felt kind of bad, not having given him a chance before. But what reason had he given her?

Montesque shook his head. "She was in the battle that took place with the Lucaths. She fell to one of them. Venciersio was so uptight about your father he threatened to kill you unless she had abandoned you...getting into your father is something we rather shouldn't, I'm sorry Silver. I'm growing quite fond with calling you that now...it's like a little pet name." He giggled, trying to ease the tension.

She frowned. "That's because it's my name." What was so special about her father? Why did he not want to get into it? Threatened to kill her? It probably would have been better off that way anyways.. She sighed, looking up to Voltaire to see if he was going to come back and start talking to Montesque. Or maybe more hoping. She was still feeling a bit uncomfortable with him, and still didn't know what to think of the whole family situation.

Time flew by with their talk and Volitaire arrived at the bunker and opened the hatch. "Come along my little posse." He jokingly commanded and climbed down the hatch. He jumped off the last two bars and walked down the hall. The lights were still on, so that meant Artizle was awake. Montesque followed after Volitaire, and kept to the wall as if he was waiting for something.

Silver frowned, mostly for the fact that they were climbing down and she was wearing a skirt. She decided to sort of slide down to get it over with quickly and landed nicely. She looked around the place, seeing a stranger not too far away. She stared at him, and looked back to Voltaire.

Artizle heard them come down the hatch. He saw Volitaire and Montesque, but wasn't familiar with Silver. He walked over and greeted the two. "So who's the new addition in the uniform?" "A friend of mine. Her name is Silver." "Well! Good to see you're making friends! But why bring her down here? And you haven't left yet? And what happened to your clothes!? And your chest!? Did I miss something?" Artizle was all over the place. Seeing Volitaire's wound, the new face, and that Volitarie hasn't departed with Montesque yet. He was quite lost.

Silver remained quiet, seeing as Voltaire already introduced her. She could have introduced herself, but whatever. "He needs to rest. I'm not going to let him go anywhere until he does." She didn't trust this new guy just as much as she didn't trust Montesque. Though, she was warming up to him. She looked to Voltaire, wondering if she should just leave and let him be with his little friends. After all, she did need to polish her swords. Speaking of her swords, she quickly pulled them out to make sure the last fight she was in didn't scuff them up too much. She smiled a bit when she realized they weren't that bad.

Artizle's face lit up when he saw Silver's swords. "My, my. Those are pretty nice. You fancy a blade as well?" Artizle pulled out his single cutlass. "I take you use combat magic, right?"

"Let's go find the others and see if they're okay." Enzo said, not wanting to spend anymore time on an idle investigation. He wanted to check on Voli first, knowing that the place he stays is in the forest. He walked past the burnt portion of the forest, unknowingly nearing the secret entrance used by him.

http://i47.tinypic.com/2najt79.jpg

"This should be it..." Enzo said as he neared the bottom of the waterfall, where it turned into a river heading deeper into the woods, and away from Whiterun.

Silver stared at Artizle's sword as he pulled it out, her face lighting up. She nodded at his question and stared at him with those mischievous eyes of hers that she got whenever an idea popped into her head. "Yes, are you skilled with that blade of yours? Perhaps we could practice a bit together? I've been separated from these beauties for too long, and I'm a bit rusty, you see."

Volitaire pinched the bridge of his nose. "Oh boy, here we go.." He said under his breath. "As a matter of fact, I am. I've been down here doing practice everyday now. I'd be more than happy to help another swordsman. I wish Voli-boy was one but he wasn't to use emo magic." "What did you sa-" "I have a special room that uses magic to create actual targets for you f your choosing. Unless you wish to spar with me? It's down this way, umm...Silver was it?" He sheathed his cutlass and walked down the hall to his training room. "Have fun, Silver. Artizle can be a handful.." Montesque eventually went to the mess hall for something to eat. Volitaire walked after Artizle, hoping to watch their training.

Silver ignored whatever Voltaire said and followed the stranger, responding. "Yes, Silver is my name. Yours is Artizle? Does Voltaire keep you locked up down here or something?" She giggled, hoping this would be a bit more of a challenge than she expected it to be. She hasn't encountered a person she couldn't eventually beat. Sure, it might have taken her a few times, but she won't give up until she beats someone. "Oh, and I'd love to see just how skilled you are, practicing every day like you say you do. We should spar, don't you think?"

Artizle tapped his chin. "Ah! That would be nice! Here's the room." He opened the slide door and entered a large spacious room with a large seal at the bottom. It was currently dormant so all that was visible was a outline. There were cut marks all over the walls and floors. Some on the ceiling. "It's very big so there's no worry about hitting something. And Voli I think you should go stand over there. I don't want you to get sliced or anything, especially with that wound." He stood in the middle and drew his sword. "Alright, lets get down to it, Silver. Ready when you are."

Silver looked around the room briefly before looking back to Artizle. She grinned widely and held her swords ready, waiting for him to attack. "Ladies first."

"How funny." His face went blank for a second before laughing. "I am but a gentlemen and you are a lady. I don't know what you're waiting for." He leaned on his sword.

Silver huffed. Why do I gotta attack first?... She took a step back before running at him, crossing her arms and swinging them out, slicing horizontally at him with both swords.

He conjured a blue light and quickly made a copy of his first blade. He hopped back and speared it at Silver before charging in for another attack. "You're relentless, my dear!"

Silver casually hopped over him as he attacked, and landed nicely behind him, hardly making a sound. "You haven't seen anything yet. And don't call me 'dear'."
She took her left blade and swung at his neck while preparing her other arm for a block of some sort, if necessary.

"My apologies! Did I offend?" He spun his blade and held the hilt backhanded, blocking her swipe with the raised blade. He turned around and swiped, the air could be heard being cut by the force of his swing.