The Coming Darkness

Maria began to make her way back but instead found the others talking about the team, it's name and things related to that. She hid behind the corner and listening slightly, instantly feeling left out and alone.
" Your silly ... you could have been part of that and made friends but instead you shut yourself off like that ... why? ". Rika said fiercely, not giving any sympathy to Maria at all.
" I know this ... but it'd be best if I kept away from people... it's for the best... " she said softly looking at Rika blankly and her tone changing to one of someone that surpassed her years. She mealy sat there in silence as if she was part of the building.

Einso was walking back down some steps from down the hall and noticed a group of people all talking, and Volitaire standing with them. Einso assumed they made a team already. "Man, I'm bad at rallying people. I didn't get anyone yet and Voli already has a little team." Einso walks down the hall and taps his brother. "So, got a team all rallied up huh?" Volitaire turned and saw Einso sporting a friendly smile. "Enzo did. I didn't." Einso smile turned into a strait face. "Oh. Well good job, Enzo!" Einso patted Enzo on the back looking at the people in the group.

Enzo gazed upon his newly made team. He smiled in approval, and was glad there were enough people to be involved so that Enzo himself didn't have to do much. "The headmaster is counting on us to get this done!" He said in a tone to get everyone motivated. Headmaster... Enzo hadn't even grasped what the reward would be for this mission until now, and he grinned even wider at the thought. "I've gotten some lists of our teams abilities from the school. We'll use this to balance out our team if we ever need to split up." Kenji explained. He held a miniature piece of paper in his hand, silently reading the list to himself.

Enzo figured that everyone was ready. The mission was simple. Investigate the strange magic presence in the village of Nor. The thought flooded Enzo's mind as he started to make his way out of the school. It had seemed as if the school were empty, since most of the students had returned to their regular classrooms, while Enzo's team, Valor, headed out. Red still held the box of earpieces, seeing as though nobody other then Maya and Enzo had gotten one.

Nor was on a island just a few miles away from Whiterun, the town of Sorcerers.
Near Nor was an abandoned castle, which the odd group of people raided. The area was still radiating powerful traces of magic energy, and Enzo's group alone, with everyone in a large group, also let off a powerful presence.

Sarus walked down through the courtyard of the school,holding his water bottle as he walked in thought. He didn't care what the staff thought at the moment, he didn't feel like being cooped up in the classroom right now, he felt restless and he couldn't even begin to figure out all the reasons why.

As he is usually a good student he shouldn't get into to much trouble for leaving like this for the first time ever, they probably thought he was doing something productive anyway, he's made sure to stay out of most trouble since he's been here since he promised his grandmother, but he didn't know how long his lucky streak was going to last.

He was close to the entrance of the school when he saw a small group of people.
'I wonder what their up to?'He thought to himself as he walked lifting up his water bottle he tried to open the lid but it didn't want to budge. 'stupid metal water bottle!' he thought angry as he tried to open it, he twisted his hand in a weird way end ended up flinging the bottle to the ground.

The silence of the school made the echo of the metal bottle seem worse then it would be if there was the normal chatter of students to cover it. The bottle echoed obnoxiously and he felt slightly embarrassed. "damn" he said to himself as he averted his gaze from the direction of water and the group that the bottle rolled toward. He felt like he just intruded on something, and he definitely didn't like it.
Normally he would have just picked up the bottle and kept going but as he slowly looked to the group of people, he just knew this situation seemed a bit different, more important. 'It's just a group of students ditching class, why does this feel so awkward to me?' he thought to himself irritatedly.

Enzo noticed the bottle rolling towards him. It had seemed as if the student infront of him dropped it. He crouched down and picked it up, Intent on giving it back to him. "Is that.." Kenji's eyes narrowed as he saw Sarus standing infront of the group. "Hmph, that's the only person I can respect here." Red said. Huh? Someone Red actually respects? Enzo wondered. He's got to be crazy strong... Enzo walked over to Sarus with the bottle in his hand. "This is yours.." Enzo said, hesitant to ask him to join the team, since he's probably a minion of Red.

Maya nodded to herself. "This 'mission' shouldn't be too dangerous. If it were, the headmaster wouldn't have sent measely students. In any case, I think we should all stay in close proximity to each other unless separation is necessary." She took a cursory glance at her new teammates. Shouldn't be dangerous at all. She was mostly only worried about her precious egg that she clinged tightly to. Maya nudged her way behind Kenji and read the list he held over his shoulder. It took her a few seconds to notice the new person. She noticed the reactions of the others and wondered if he was someone important.

Einso noticed Red for the first time and thought, "Voli fought this guy did he not..?" Einso shook the thought off and looked toward the blue haired young man coming towards them. He kept silent because he wasn't sure if he was joining. Volitaire did the same. He kept silent and fixated at his hair. "I want some fresh air" Volitaire said suddenly. He sat at the steps in front the school. Einso looked towards the others. "Excuse my brother. He's out of sorts." Einso stood by and awaited for a reaction from the newer addition. Still wondering his significance to Red. "Should we take our leave, everyone?"

Sarus didn't let it show that he was embarrassed besides his arm raising to give a little scratch of his neck. "Thanks man" He said giving a small smirk. He didn't know any of these people personally, but he does remember seeing them around. Especially Red.

"So...Sorry for interrupting your..whatever it is that your doing" he said slightly awkward. 'What the fuck am I supposed to say in this kind of situation?' he thought exasperatedly.

He watched the boy in front of him, he looked to be wanting to ask him something but he was stopping himself. "Did you want something?" he asks with what seemed like irritation but he was only curious, he didn't really mean to sound rude about it and when he realized he did he just mentally shrugged it off. 'To late to say it differently now I guess..' he thought lazily. The laziness giving him a look of a glare as his eyes drooped down a bit.

"We're going on a mission, and we need more people to join our team for the time being." Kenji said. Enzo didn't seem as if he had the strength to ask him, so Kenji did. How am I even supposed to lead all these people... Enzo thought. He handed over the bottle to Sarus, not even needing to ask anymore.

'Well it beats taking classes.' he thought to himself with a smirk.
"So what is this mission?" he asked interestedly. He grabbed the bottle that was handed to him and clipped it to a strap oh his pants, all thoughts of being thirsty vanished at the interesting proposition.

"Also...What are all of your names? I don't think I actually have met any of you...Accept..Red? was it? but I only met him face to face once..although I was half asleep so I don't remember much of the introduction I'm afraid." he said with a mischievous grin.

He felt it was something big but he couldn't remember, he's often sleepy from training his powers so much by himself that he usually walks around on auto pilot.

Enzo grinned, happy that he had gained another strong mission. The reward he imagined got closer. He stepped to the side, allowing Sarus to his team. "Right, i'm Enzo, my partner is Kenji." He looked back to the group and pointed at them as he called out their names. "We have Silver, Maya, Ling, Volitaire, and Einso."

[[If you haven't told out your name to Enzo yet, that's my bad, but by now they'd know each others names..]]

He watched as Enzo pointed to each person and named them off. His blue eyes made sure to ingrain the names into his head for later use. It might have looked a bit creepy to them though, not many people like the site of his red pupils staring at them so intently.

"Cool, call me Soren.." He sated with finality, Crossing his arms he leaned more on one of his legs than the other. He might have looked a bit intimidating at that moment but truth was he was just getting tired of standing there. He knew a few of them might now him, but that doesn't mean they get to be on a first name basis with him.

"So..Again, what should I know about this mission? must be something big if you need to have so many people." He said with a calculative look, he was making sure nothing was to sketchy, or he might refuse to go.

Enzo turned back to Soren, his facial expression changed to a more serious look. "Something odd is happening in Nor, and it's worrying the headmaster. So much, that he pulled me out of class just to send me and the team out there." He looked toward the sea, which was in sight. "It's on an island. All we have to do is check it out, but things like this are rare." He explained. His gaze fixed on the horizon.

"We should hurry." Kenji said, poking Enzo's head. Enzo nodded slowly and looked back to Soren. "If you're down for skipping school, you should come with us."

He thought for a moment. 'It didn't sound to bad, but it could become something dangerous even so.' He decided to go along with it. You obviously don't get many chances to do things like this so who was he to decline. He smirked, please with his decision. "I'll join you, we heading out right now?" He started walking past Enzo and Kenji so he can get to the gates.

He was confidant that he can help enough and take what ever comes at them, and if it's nothing...'At least I don't have to be on the campus, this is perfect actually..' he thought as he remembered feeling so restless.
Maybe this was why, something was telling him to come out here, but he'd been ignoring the feeling up to the point he felt like punching a wall out of boredom.

His calculating cold stare went over to Red. 'Where was it I met you' he thought to himself. How did he know him? it was bugging him that he couldn't really remembered, though he didn't let it show at all.
He could tell that he was strong, same with Enzo though at first glance wouldn't really seem like it, the other people in this group though. His eyes darted around quickly taking in each of their features, he may not see it now, but they have to be something special if they are going on this mission.

If something did go wrong it wouldn't be to smart on the headmasters part to send weaklings.

Enzo nodded to Soren. "Yeah, let's make up lost time." He said as the team headed out towards Whiterun's docks. A ship for transportation shouldn't be hard to get, since they were sent by Sorcerers. It was reaching mid-day, as they continued walking down the streets of Whiterun until they reached the docks. The docks were pretty quiet, which was odd. There were a few old traditional ships docked there.

Once they were at the gates to the dock, the guard in charge of the gates walked up to them. "Do you have buisness here? Shipments?" The gaurd asked. "We-" Enzo was cut off by Kenji. "We're magicians from Sorcerers. We always have buisness in town." Kenji's tone was serious. The guard's eyes widened when he realized it was them. He nodded and opened the gate for them. "Your ship should be right there." The guard pointed to the nearest boat. It was large, and looked like a pirate ship, but it had no weapons, and barely any cargo. "Thanks." Enzo uttered to the guard as they passed by, into the docks.

Slowly but surely, Team Valor made their way onto the boat. The floors were slippery from a wash the deck received earlier. Enzo tripped on his own feet and fell onto his face. Kenji hopped off of Enzo, like he knew he was going to fall at that moment. "You're a sore sight, Enzo." Kenji sighed. Enzo stood up, rubbing his face. "Though the floors are a bit hard to walk on." Kenji said, looking at the shining wood floors.


Meanwhile, at Castle Aurora...Again.
One of the 4 members of the cult had spent his last few hours meditating in one of the quiet library rooms within the castle. He sat crosslegged, floating a few feet above the ground. His eyes opened suddenly when he felt a new threat coming. "They sent backup?" The levitating man said to himself. He landed on the ground, and started to walk out of the library into the corridors. He passed by Kuro, who was eating what seemed to be a large beef steak. "Oioi..!" Kuro mumbled under his chewing. "What's with the face, Grim?" He asked the meditated man. "There is a magician coming here by boat." Grim replied. "Mmm, we should set up a trap for him!" Kuro suggested, nearly choking on the meat. "No, i'll go intercept them now." Grim clenched his fist. He walked out of the castle, and used his levitation ability to fly off the island, heading towards the ship.

"I thought you were supposed to be the chosen one, Enzo?" Maya laughed as he got up. Curiosity struck her again and she turned towards the boy to her right. "Soren," Maya said, taking off her backpack and slipping the egg into it, "what is your full name? I don't believe I've heard of you before." She paused and asked, "Are you suddenly getting a feeling as bad about this as I am?"

He watched as Enzo fell, it was his problem he fell why should he catch him? Though he wouldn't admit it he felt bad he didn't catch him. 'Chosen huh?' he thought disinterestedly. He hasn't heard anything about that, but you think a chosen anything should be a bit more graceful.

Sarus looked at the girl. "It's not important, just call me Soren and we're good." he said stiffly.
He walked onto the bout with a little trepidation, then heard the girl speak again. 'So it's not just me. ' he thought alert, trying to sense anything out of the ordinary. He felt on edge already. "Hey I feel like we are going to get some trouble before we even set off..." he told them.

He looked around his surroundings discreetly as he leaned on the edge of the deck, he was ready for anything at the moment. At least he thought so, and if he wasn't, well....he could give a good fight for a little bit at least.

Einso sat down next to Volitaire. "From the look on your face you think it's them?" Volitaire sighed with discomfort. "I can't forget that surge. It's far too distinct. His is the most noticeable of them all. It's them same surge as 'that night'." Einso frowned. "I wouldn't want you too assume that and get too worked up. Maybe it's someone with simi-" "NO! IT'S NOT EINSO!" Volitaire's shout cut into the conversation going on behind them. He covered his mouth and blushed in embarrassment. "See?" Einso said coldly. "I warned you about getting worked up. Now you caused a scene." Volitaire hid his face under his hair. "Yeah, yeah.." Volitaire walked off.

The ship didn't take long to set sail, as Enzo realized that the docks is quite far behind them. This brought Enzo to remember his own ability to fight. I've got to remove my seal. He thought to himself. Kenji nodded in approval. Kenji went around the ship, looking for some onboard food to eat. Enzo closed his eyes, and started to expand his magical presence. It grew inside the seal, straining it. He continued to expand it until the seal broke, releasing a new presence to add to the collection. "T..There." He muttered as he swayed as much as the boat. He felt dizzy and caught himself on the wall.

Red noticed his behavior, and questioned it. "Sick, welp?" Kenji had returned with a lemonade and a straw. "He just unsealed his magic. It makes him dizzy sometimes. The flames of emotion will do that." He sipped on the straw a little. "What kind of magic is that? Where did this welp learn it?" Red questioned him. "He was born with it, Idiot." Kenji went over to Enzo and held up the lemonade glass to him. Enzo slowly shook his head in denial. "Suit yourself." Kenji hopped onto one of the tables on the deck. "Explain to me what his ability is."
Kenji shrugged and responded "Everyone has a limit. Weither it be physical, mentally, or emotionally. Enzo's limit is different." A large board appears beside Kenji, and without questioning it, Kenji draws a graph on it.

http://i45.tinypic.com/2v1nrid.jpg

"Enzo's limit is lower because he's a wuss most of the time. Once he cracks his limit, a different side of him will take over."

Unknown to everyone else aboard the ship, Maria and her little spirit Rika had crept aboard and been hiding since they set sail. She just couldn't miss out on all the fun and excitement of an adventure to another place. ' this is going to be so exiting~ ' she thought happily and sat away just out of sight. ' I'll just get a little closer... ' She thought and crept forward suddenly feeling the floor give way under her feet and sending her face first into the deck. There was a loud " Bang! " and she lay there tangled in ropes and netting. " Owww.... " She said softly attempting to get up but being so dangled it was no use trying.

Without realizing it, he was all caught up in everyone's pace. Ling at one point tried to get himself out of this situation but Enzo took control of everything and now Ling was stuck on board. He let out a deep sigh as he roamed around the ship leaving Enzo to lead the group and debriefings. He made out a deep frown, feeling non-contempt about his situation."I'm stuck doing something troublesome and Joanne is nowhere to be found. This is pretty strange for her standard. Am I being kept out of a blue or something?" After aimlessly wandering towards the back. Ling immediately noticed a tangled up body on the deck of the ship. Aiyaa, this girl is here too. Now this is becoming way more problematic. He had quickly lighten up and made a much more surprised look. "Ah, aren't you Maria from my class? I thought you ran away form participating with this mission." He could not help but let out a carcastic laugh. "Looks like you got tangled up in your own problems."

Sage slammed her fist into her pillow. Damn her overprotective parents! They up and decide to send her to a new school and then won't allow her to miss a class just because she "just enrolled"? Everyone else she knew seemed to be going- even Enzo! Hitting her pillow again, Sage let out a cry of frustration.

The watch she wore chimed, signalling that she only had another 10 minutes to get to her next class... This sucked- big time.

Sighing, Sage stood up and neatened her tunic. If she was stuck staying at the school, she might as well look good...

Kenji stared at Maria in shock. "How did you get on the ship?" He asked. Enzo was too fatigued to respond to it. He was sprawled out across the deck. "Pick yourself up, welp. You look pathetic down there." Red sneered.

Overhead, Grim, a member of the cult, was hoovering overhead the boat, observing the people on it. He decided it was time to let loose for a while. The water around the boat started to rise and form a sphere around the ship. The ship itself floated in the sphere itself. "What's going on with the water?" Red looked around, trying to hide his rising panic. Grim appeared on the deck, and greeted them with a smile. "I'd never would have thought they'd sent an entire group." Kenji puts down his lemonade and looks towards Grim. "Who are you?" He demanded. "I'm Grim, of Endine." He replies. Red looked down. "I've heard of Endine.. Some kind of corrupted school?" "Hah! A school? Endine is a group of personal contractors."
Grim crosses his arms, clearly unimpressed by the group he thought of as the enemy.

"Why are you here?" Red asks. Grim's gaze shifted towards Red. "I'm here to make your ride a little bit rough." Grim stated. Red's sword raised from the wood next to him. It was surged with red electricity. He grabbed the hilt and pointed the sword at Grim. "Like hell you will." Red sneered.

Volitaire and Einso looked up to see a man on deck, and the water in a abnormal sphere around the ship. "I fuckin' hate water.." Volitaire coldly scoffed and walked out on deck, Einso followed silently. Volitaire stood next to Enzo and Red. "I don't appreciate that you're making this difficult before it needs to be. Now fight, cultist." Volitaire pulled his blade from a small portal from his side and pointed it forward. Einso seemed more concerned that Volitaire is deciding to fight, he charged raw energy into his hands and awaited the first move.
[Music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1phIdf2DOoM&list=FL2aBloM0R4huDriGZNxBkig& index=3&feature=plpp_video]

Grim tilted his head, bearing a cocky smirk. "That magical power.. you're both no ordinary fools, but fools nonetheless." Grim waved his hand, and a dark aura flowed around the four of them, Grim, Volitaire, Red, and Enzo. Everyone outside of the aura would get pushed back by gravitational force. Kenji was too close to the aura, and was pushed back to the other end of the deck. Fortunately, he landed safely on his four legs. If this is just one of them.. How many are there like him on the island? Kenji thought.

Red quickly looked down to Enzo, who was still on the floor."Are you going to be of any use at all?!" He barked at him. Enzo heard this, and slowly stood up and faced Grim alongside Volitaire and Red. His gaze was fixed on the floor infront of Grim. "We can't let him harm anyone here..." Enzo uttered. Suddenly, A flame appeared on his head. His rings had shifted and expanded into armored gloves, and his eyes had turned orange. "Which is why..." His voice had grown to be more mature, soundling like a different person entirely.

http://i49.tinypic.com/24ocz1g.jpg

"..We'll be your opponents."

Grim vs Team Valor!

Volitaire looked through the field and saw his brother behind it. He frowned and looked back to Grim. "Gravitational magic hmm?" Volitaire jabbed his sword into his shadow and pulled it up. A complete clone of Volitaire stood beside him and copied his stance. "I see that I won't have much avenue to move about during this battle. So I'll him fight for me." The clone stood in front of the original Volitaire. The original stepped back and transferred his will through telepathy, the clone gained some kind of straitened composure and gained focus on his target. "Good luck using this magic on a shadow, Grim." The clone warped the real body outside the field next to Einso."Lets begin."

Enzo leaned forward and disappeared, leaving behind only a small trace of his flames behind. "Idiot, don't just charge in!" Red yelled out. Grim held out his hand and caught Enzo's fist like a baseball. It stopped Enzo in his tracks. "Don't raise another limb to me, boy." Grim said. "How did he stop Enzo's fist like that..?" Kenji said to himself. Grim used gravity to slam Enzo into the ground infront of him. The floorboards snapped and whined through the pressure of the slam. Red came running towards Grim. He took his sword and slashed it at the ground, breaking up the floorboards, and forcing Grim to jump into the air to avoid it. The force field went down as he exited it's area of effect. Both Enzo and Red had fallen through to the interior of the old ship, both of them landing on their feet. "You're an idiot, Enzo. Why would you charge straight forward like that?" Red continued to bark insulting words at Enzo as he stood up. "Shut your mouth." Enzo finally said. Red stopped his barrage of insults to only get more frustrated at him. He pointed his red, electric pulsed sword at Enzo. "Don't lose your head of who you're talking to, welp." Red said. Enzo walked up to the tip of the blade, and grabbed it. Flames started to emit from his hands, and he began to melt his blade completely. "You think I care about who you are?" Enzo's empty eyes glared at Red. He could only stand and watch in shock over his blade being completely melted. "If you're going to stand there and talk, don't get in my way." Enzo sneered. He turned around and used both of the flames emitting from his hands to fly upward toward the deck.

Volitaire flash stepped and reappeared behind Grim. He kicked his side to launch him back down to the ground and crashed through the floorboard in front of Red and Enzo. Volitaire jumped into the wreckage and and pointed his hands to his sides and two pentagrams turned and activated on the walls. Red chains flew from the pentagrams and coiled Grim. Grim was coiled tight and tried to pull at the chains, with some struggle they snapped. To Volitaire shock he jumped back and summoned smaller pentagrams from his hand. Single chains fells from his hands and he threw them, coiling items and tossing them in Grims direction. "Clever. But tossing things at me won't do you any good." He used his gravity to drop the tossed items to the ground. The broke from the pressure. Volitaire grunted, slowly getting annoyed by the cheap magic. He sprouted wings and flew back to the surface and awaited Grim from above.

Maria got up as she was told before the horrifying scene took place. Seeing Red and Enzo being thrown through the floor boards and the gloomy looking aura around them she began to feel helpless. " Everyone... everyone is trying so hard to protect each other... why can't I do anything to help... " she thought the frustration of feeling helpless getting to her and making her shake. She walked slowly as if something sinister had awoken inside her as she approached the outside of the aura, Looking towards Eniso. " Oi! Blondie, What can I do to help? " She said in a slightly rude tone her face looking almost insane as she looked up.
[Picture reference of what her face is like: http://www.gophoto.it/view.php?i=http://static.zerochan.net/Gasai.Yuno.full.809920.jpg]

"Aiyaa, this is cerainly troublesome alright." Ling was observing the battle behind a corner. Everyone was too focus in fighting that they had not notice Ling taking part. "But really, so this is what's it about though. Tsk tsk, looks like I may particularly get involve in some ways." Ling did not move away from his hiding spot. "You can do it Enzo! Just keep showing off your fighting spirit. I'll be right here cheering you on."