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- Exam Info:
Somewhere in Earthland:
“Do we have the reports from the Bosco incident?” A woman asked some colleagues that were sitting at computer terminals that had been transferred from Mirai. The level of technology of that planet was far more advanced than even the type contained in the country in question. Not that many days prior there had been an incident within Bosco that required the help of mages to deal with it. Not just any mages, but celestial wizards. A total of three had been sent out in what the organization would later find out to be Leila Vergious, a former Rising Star with enough experience to one day be a Wizard Saint herself. Her name was well known, but actual personal information was unknown. Kaori Leraci, a clan leader of Midi that had made a home for herself in Fiore and had become one of the most recognized mages in Earthland by earning the title of Wizard Saint as well as titles of nobility across the continent. Both women mentioned were holders of Zodiac Keys; more evidence to their level of power.
“Yes, got them in some time ago, but it’s been hell trying to go through all the data. Something really went down in there. The power levels are off the chart!”
It was then images showed up on the screen that had been collected during the incident. While their own people couldn’t get anywhere near the site, the technology could. Although, due to the magic interference, the images were not of the highest quality. It was hard to make out much of anything but some of the celestial enemies that were encountered had their pictures taken, as well as a couple of the cloned Celestial King before he had encountered the three women. “So, that was their plan,” the woman said with a smile. It wasn’t a bad one per say, but it obviously failed. It also paled in comparison to her own plans.
The third celestial mage that had been sent on the mission was one they knew more about than even the girl herself knew. Samira Nassar, a quite normal wizard with absolutely no titles or world recognition, aside from being known as the sidekick to one of the mages mentioned previously. She had ties with a guild that had promoted her to a higher position, but that was about all. No world importance or significance. At least for most. The young woman was actually very important to the plans of that organization as were the spirits she wielded. So much so that they had done their own experiments at cloning those particular spirits in order to rush through with their plans. The girl had been progressing too slowly for their liking, but upon meeting Kaori and her team the levels of power grew and surged quickly. The ninja and her pet servant or whatever he was actually had a use other than being constantly in the way. Although, their usefulness was going to come to an end eventually and prove to be more troublesome than they were worth. There was never a time when both were absent it seemed. The servant was now gone, but they had seen the Wizard Saint return, although in a different form. The power readings were similar from what they gathered the last time she had been near Samira‘s room and guild hall, which was zero. Not many wizards were powerful enough to hide traces of their power completely, so it was with a reasonable conclusion that they considered it to be the same person. The fact Samira had no other people she was close to helped in their theory as well.
Before the current scenario, the roles were reversed where the ninja woman was the one that was absent. It was going to get tricky to make their final moves if either of them were in town. Getting close to Samira would be easy. It was what followed that would have been difficult. It was highly likely that the saint would pursue them afterward. Well, that was a little ways off. There was still enough time to sort through those rather complicated details. According to the reports on Samira’s progress, her power should have been reaching the levels suitable for S mage ranking. Close, but not enough. More of a push was required. How fortunate that they had another facility elsewhere that had managed to complete the cloning process of a very powerful spirit that the other had failed to do. The unfortunate side was that it was not powerful enough to replace the original sealed spirit that remained in the celestial world. Still, it would do wonders as a test and to act as a further obstacle for their favorite summoner.
“Release our little pet project.”
“Ma’am, you can’t be serious?! That thing is-”
“I am completely serious! Now do as I command, or I will ensure you are used as an ingredient in the ritual!”
Before long, the spirit creature was released and free to roam around the world, causing all sorts of chaos and death where it went. It took on the form of a massively sized cobra when it attacked, but after the devastation it would disappear. Some witnesses had said it had changed forms while others claimed it went completely invisible. All in all with the panic, stories were stretched and exaggerated. There was no telling what was true and what wasn’t. The creature’s abilities were often outrageously described as well. Country to country it traveled with no one being able to stop it. Then it decided to hit Fiore. It passed through village to village and town to town until word had reached the Magic Council. They had heard of the madness going on in the other neighboring countries, but did not anticipate it getting so far as to enter their own and be unstoppable. They had informed some of the guilds nearby each time it was spotted, but most either had their strongest members too busy to lend a hand or were unable to compete with its power. The Wizard Saints were also spread throughout all of Fiore, some being completely untraceable and difficult to locate. Still, a notice had been sent to the guild of Lamia Scale in an attempt to make contact with the Wizard Saint that was allied with them.
In Hargeon:
It had been a few weeks since the events in Bosco and everyone went their separate ways. Samira had been concerned over Leila’s well being due to being consumed by the cloned version of the celestial king and having returned in such an odd state, but she was sure the woman would have recovered with time, especially if she had returned to the guild she was allied with. As for Kaori, it was commonplace for her to depart until some other sort of crazy situation came up. At the very least Samira had been satisfied that the newer form of medication was several times better than the previous one. It wasn’t a solution she wanted by any means and it still didn’t bring the ninja back fully, but it was still better than before. Life resumed peacefully with simple monster hunting jobs here and there to help lower ranked members get into the swing of things. However, even though her daily life was uneventful, her nightly one was far from it. Her dream state had been affected nightly for over a week. Each night the dreams got longer and more detailed. She could tell it wasn’t from an unknown outside source like it had been when it concerned that Dream Dragon that had a habit of messing around in there in the past. It was a spirit connection, but one that did not come from her current spirits. Honestly it was rather disturbing. When one spirit tried to start the dream sequence it would get overpowered and consumed by another. The ones that had originally tried to contact her were more pleasant, but the consuming one was the problem. It was a darker spirit and very powerful, and it gave her the feeling she felt when she had been near the red portal back at the research facility that was in the Spooky Forest. She didn’t like it and certainly did not want it in her dreams. That really wasn’t supposed to be a spirit she would later make a contract with, was it?
“Samira, did you hear me?” A black feline with golden accessories over its fur questioned. The cat sat on her desk where dormant and inactive keys were laying on its surface next to her. The spirits that watched over Samira’s mind space had also seen the dreams, and although Ra and the other desert spirits knew more about the consuming spirit they refused to mention anything about it. The rest were likely spirits that were ready to be called upon, or should have been anyway. Thus far, they had refused to answer. Likely due to Samira having very little to no power in order for them to even sense her worthiness. The summoner had gotten very little sleep since the dreams began and it was starting to take its toll. Now she remembered why she hated dreaming whenever it happened. How could normal people do that all the damn time?! Due to the mental logic of her spirits always being in there and requiring a black space, she never dreamed unless some other powerful source forced it to happen.; usually from her spirits when they wished to inform her of something.
“Huh?” Samira snapped back into reality from her zoned out and zombie-like state. Just as the cat began to repeat herself, she watched as the summoner’s eyes somehow turned into nothing more than horizontal lines. She had fallen asleep again already. Her body began to lean to the side of her chair, further and further until she fell right off and met the floor. Not even the landing woke her up as she just continued sleeping where she had fallen. Mau, as she is called while in her mortal form, narrowed her eyes and twitched her pointed ears in annoyance. What they were speaking about was important! Then again, it wasn’t as if they were going to get anywhere with Samira having no proper rest at all.
A loud knock was heard upon the door of her room, causing Samira to wake herself and sit up with a yawn. “Hmmmm?” Nope, she couldn’t do it. The knock must have been something imaginary. She fell asleep where she sat. The knocks came again along with some shouts of Asteria before turning into her name that got actual attention, but not enough to cause her to actually get up. Mau then hopped onto the girl’s lap and swiped a paw at her cheek, minus extended claws so as not to scratch her summoner. “Wake up! You have responsibilities!” A line of “ZzzzZzz”s formed above Samira’s head, making the cat tilt her head in curious manner with a weird questioning look upon her feline face. The third cycle of knocks. “Oh, for celestial’s sake!” The black cat left Samira there and walked over to the door. She stared up at the rather high up door knob before magically forming a pair of golden wings that took her up to. A cat she may have looked like, but she was a magic one! One far better than any Exceed! Her front paws worked together to open the door and pull it in a bit in order to see who was outside. Green cat eyes saw a man that was commonly known to make message deliveries. “What is it? My summoner is extremely busy napping.” One could question the importance of such an activity, but one must never argue with a cat about the matter. Cat naps were a number one priority! Aside from answering an annoying door. Leaving it was just rude.
“Eesh, Aces get to take naps? Not very fair really…”
“Ahem! I can close this door at anytime…”
“Oh, right. This was really for the Ace called Jizo due to her being a Wizard Saint and all, but we’re not really sure of her location these days.”
“She has ships. Did you check the docks?”
“…No…”
“Her room?”
“She has one?”
“Did you ask the Guild Master?”
“Well…no.”
"Check with the employees of her restaurant perhaps?"
"..."
“Why have you come to bother me-I mean Samira when you have not even looked for this Jizo properly?”
“…Because I actually wanted an excuse to ask her about that iLac photo going around. She seems like the nicer one to ask out of the two.”
“I do not know what you mean by iLac photo. You also annoy me. Now give me that letter. I will read its contents and ensure that it is delivered since you apparently seem to be incompetent.”
The letter was placed within Mau’s jaws, and she flew to be in front of the door before turning around and pushing it closed with her back. Over to the bed she went while her paws and claws worked to open the envelope. She read it over and nodded in acknowledgement, however, she also seemed slightly worried at the same time. Her golden wings then took her over to Samira where she then landed right on her head. The extra weight resulted in the green haired woman falling backwards to be laying on the ground once more. “Owww.”
“It would appear a notice that was meant for that friend of yours has arrived for you instead. I suggest delivering it. You won’t be able to do this yourself.”
Even in her half asleep state Samira’s face scrunched up in agitation at those words. Every damn time she was told something similar. She didn’t like it, no matter how true it was. As had been said before, she was a utility unit, not a combat specialist. Taking on something entirely by herself was ill advised. “What does the notice say?” Samira asked as she sat up.
“It involves a massively sized creature that people are calling a monster I suppose. You are a part of a monster hunting guild so I guess it would make sense to contact this guild for such matters. Why they waited so long to do so is anyone’s guess. I left it on your bed.”
Samira forced herself up rather lazily before going over to her bed and grabbing the notice. “…It is a snake.” She said with disappointment and disbelief that more of those creatures were showing up in her life.
“Cobra, actually.”
“It does not say anything about its species,” Samira stated after looking over the sheet of paper once more.
“Call it a hunch.”
Without asking anything more, Samira began to leave the room and see if Kaori was anywhere in town. It was likely not, but one never knew. “Wait!” Mau shouted, causing the summoner to pause at the now open door. “Take those keys. I have a feeling you will need them.” The cat said nothing more as she curled up into a sleeping ball on Samira’s bed. Something similar had been done before quite some time ago. How amusing that back then she had also been dealing with a type of snake. The currently inactive keys were added to her chain before her departure from her room. From there, she made her way to the docks to see if any of Kaori’s ships or crew were present. The ship known as The White Mermaid was spotted in its normal location, unused and seeming to not be taking off anytime soon. Good. She wouldn’t be interrupting anything important. When she got closer to the ship she asked one of the fellows around if they could have Salty get in touch with Kaori from wherever she was. It was possible. Rather than go inside the ship though she remained outside on the docks and waited for the communication to be done with. If Kaori asked while talking to Salty what it was concerning, the only details Samira gave him was that it was a mission for her requested by the Magic Council. The rest Samira would give her herself while also handing over the letter personally.
(Word Count: 2721)
