Expedition to Further the Studies of Dark Magic [Job ; Elvira Arcade & Vincent Gauss]

job info:

Today was the day. It was the day that Vincent had been waiting for since he first collected his materials from the bone yard. Quite a few things had happened since then, but most of them were in service of this moment. The Magic Council, due to his part in protecting the Hunting Village from the hundreds of summoned goblins, agreed to fund his proposal to their research and development division just this once. Not only that, but they had also given him special permission to use the throne room of the Holy Castle for his ritual. The Heads of Religion were vehemently opposed to a guild mage using their most sacred of chambers for a ritual which called upon dark magic - the most vile of the elements according to them. They argued that the Magic Council didn't have the authority to approve such a decision due to an previously agreed upon separation between their organization and the Magic Council. The research and development branch of the Magic Council, on the other hand, believed that the Magic Council had the supreme authority over anything that happened within the borders of Fiore, thus they had the necessary authority to approve any individual to perform any act within the country.

Vincent didn't care much for religion, nor did he care much for the Magic Council. All he cared about was his understanding of magic and, if the Magic Council would assist him in furthering his understanding, he would align himself with them. Likewise, if the Heads of Religion would position themselves between him and his goals, he would similarly oppose them. Unfortunately, the Holy Castle as an organization wasn't going to let the Magic Council simply override their supposed authority, and thus told the various reporting organizations about the Magic Council "abusing" their authority by allowing a "guild mage to perform dark rituals in the Holy Castle's inner sanctum." As such, Vincent expected some resistance when he actually arrived. He hoped it wouldn't be too strong, for he wanted to conserve all of his energy for the expedition. The Magic Council assured him that if there was physical resistance that there would be Rune Knights to escort him and made it clear that he and anyone he took with him was not to retaliate against the protestors.

I wish they weren't so vocal of their disdain for a one-time decision. I hate crowds, especially when they are actively hindering me. Vincent thought with a sigh as he knocked on the door of his fellow guild member: Rin Mayou. The wizard looked up. Three in the afternoon. Elvira should be up by now. Should Rin answer the door, he would simply ask to speak with Elvira, but should Elvira answer the door, Vincent would tell her this: "Seventy-five thousand jewels enough to get you to come with me to the Holy Castle today? The Magic Council was more than happy to approve my request for funding." The question was partly rhetorical, as seventy-five thousand jewels was almost double their total highest payout from a job. Her decision, he believed, depended mostly upon what she thought of he Heads of Religion and the Magic Council, assuming of course that she was familiar of the controversy of the week.

WC: 546/7500

Upon hearing the amount of jewels that they would be receiving for their work, Elvira wasted no time in laughing a bit and falling back. Vincent looked over her downed body and asked if she was okay. Eventually she got back up and walked to somewhere inside the house. I wonder if I should come in? We're all guild mates after all and it is a bit hot out. On the other hand, it could be perceived as rude to just enter someone else's house without their blessing. Hmm. I think I'll just wait out here he thought, turning his back to the open door and sitting down on the front porch. After a rather surprising amount of time, Elvira returned to the front door sporting a long dark cloak with a backpack in one hand and... a Mato the pumpkin head in the other. Vincent looked long at the pumpkin and and then back up to his partner who simply shrugged in response to his confused look.

"Personally I don't give a **** if we're performing 'evil' magic in the Holy Castle, but I have a modeling career to protect; can't alienate half my fans with all this controversy you're stirring up. I mean honestly, can't we just enter the 'upside down' or whatever you call it from anywhere? ~kabo"

"You're a model!?" Vincent said as shocked as could be. His surprise about this startling revelation didn't come from a belief that Elvira was too repulsive too be a model, but rather that she didn't strike him as the type to look for that kind of work when being a career mage paid potentially more without the burden that comes with game. "Goodness, I thought the only shocking things I'd be learning today would be in, what did you call it again, the 'upside-down' world? But in all seriousness, I figured I'd name the new little realm we'll find ourselves in after whatever strikes me in the moment upon entering. As for your question about entering the realm, unfortunately not. I don't like this spat with the Heads of Religion as much as you, but the only location that has the specific and sufficiently powerful connection to dark magic is the Holy Castle's throne room. It makes one wonder what has happened in that throne room, but unfortunately that wonder is beyond the scope of our little expedition." With that last statement, he left and beckoned Elvira to follow him.

A while later, the Crystal Swan ship dropped them off some distance away from the Holy Castle so that the guild wouldn't be tied to him nor his companion dressed as a mascot. From his black drawstring back on his hip Vincent pulled out a plain white mask with no mouth and two eye slots that would appear from the outside as two black holes. After a short incantation, his hair turned black. "There. Now Crystal Swan can't be connected to us and we can't be connected to each other." he said, in part disguising himself to further protect Elvira from any connection to him and in part because he didn't want his face plastered on every Fioren newspaper. If one wanted to find out who orchestrated such an expedition, he or she would have to try a little harder than simply standing outside and protesting today.

"Rune Knights will be waiting to serve as our protection detail. The Magic Council does not want us to engage with anyone in any way." he said before beginning to walk towards the Holy Castle in the distance. Once they arrived, Vincent scanned the entrance and noticed the mass of people who were waiting for him and Elvira. They were spotted and the crowd didn't take long to realize that the ones in disguises were probably the ones that were performing what, in their eyes, was a crime. Jeers were thrown their way in the vein of being cowards and sacrilegious, but these didn't bother him much. The handful of Rune Knights approached them and the head of the security detail asked him for the letter. Vincent pulled out the small white envelope and handed it to the man. He opened the envelope and after reading the letter, put it back in and returned it. While Vincent put the letter back in his bag, the Rune Knights got into a formation around the two mages and began to lead them into the Holy Castle and eventually the throne room.

Once the two magi were where they needed to be, the Rune Knights broke formation and stood in the only door into the throne room facing away from them. "Alright, we're almost there." he said, pulling out a few small glass jars from his bag and putting them on the ground. Inside one of the jars was bone dust that he had collected from a past job with Elvira, inside another was the ring finger bone of a powerful mage, inside another was a single phoenix feather from the Shadow Phoenix. With black chalk, Vincent draw three concentric circles and, in the space between the inner two and outer two, he drew an assortment of runes. Once he finished drawing the last rune, the jars opened and the objects in the jars floated out on their own and gravitated towards they needed to be: the bone dust formed a fourth and outermost circle for the ones Vincent drew while the feather and bone floated to the northern most and southernmost points of the inner circle respectively. As Vincent closed and collected his empty jars, a blackness began to form out from the center of the circle and spread out until it stopped at the ring of bone dust. The circles and runes had disappeared and all that remained was a black hole in the center of the throne room which seemingly consumed all of the light inside. "There it is. Our way in and out of whatever realm we're going to end up in." he said, standing on the edge and looking inside. Nothing.

Vincent shrugged and jumped inside. As he was transported, he could have sworn that there were creatures trying to drag him in different directions, but he dismissed that. After about a minute, Vincent found himself standing on the edge of an identical black portal with a ring of bone dust keeping it contained. The world around him was stunning. He looked up at the midnight blue sky which contained a black sun which gave off enough light to see, but nowhere near as much as the sun he was used to. It was as if the entire world was trapped under a thick layer of clouds. Grey sand could be found in all directions. Additionally, there was a small and peculiar plant which was light shade of white which could be seen growing on quite a few patches of the grey sand. They glowed dimly, illuminating the surrounding areas a bit more than the light from this land's sun. Instead of a desert with no plant life like the ones he had been accustomed to seeing, this one seemingly had more patches of sand with plant life than patches without. He would wait patiently for Elvira to come on through and, once she did, he'd ask her to start leading in the direction they should go. He was excited to explore this world and see what it had to offer him, though not before feeling like his vitality was beginning to be stolen from him. That's not good at all.

WC: 1807/7500

HP: 395
MP: 400

HP: 395/400
MP: 400/400

Vincent's hair returned to its natural color as he took off his simple mask and put it back in his bag. Elvira eventually made it through the portal leading him to believe that he had gotten everything right in creating it. Of course, there was never any real doubt in his mind that his ritual was performed perfectly, but there was always a lingering fear that he may have forgotten something important whenever he did things like this. "Would you care to pick a direction to proceed?" he asked his guild mate, still in costume, figuring that he should at least let her choose which way to go after having dragged her to who knows where. "Shall we try thi..hrghr.." she began from behind the pumpkin head before Vincent heard what sounded like a wet cough. He raised his eyebrow, but simply shrugged after she had tried again and successfully picked a direction. "Sure, let me just make sure that we can find our way back. I suspect that we might end up traveling far away from our only way back and without a map, it'll be good to have a beacon we can see for miles" he said before pulling out a patch of the fluorescent flora rooted in the sand and said: "Light of the world help us find our way."

After a moment, a small but bright beam of light shot up into the black sky. Vincent smiled and crouched down to place the plants back on the sand before walking in the direction that Elvira suggested. "That only works with items containing some amount of light magic within them. I suspect that this magic is strong enough to make the plants immune to whatever is slowly killing us. Well, maybe 'slowly killing us' is a bit hyperbolic, but I can feel myself getting a little weaker as time goes on. We'd do best to complete our expedition as quickly as possible" he said, feeling his body start to ache just a bit more as the two walked along the glowing path of flowers. Eventually, the two would come across two points of interest. The first entrance to a jungle whose trees were leafless and had an off-white color to their bark which emanated a dim light. The second of the two points of interest was a massive hole in the ground a small walk away from the path of the magi.

Vincent pointed at the second of the two points. "Would you look at that, there are animals here" he said, looking at a jaguar which had presumably wandered out of the jungle. Before he had the chance to wander closer to get a better look at the animal, it let out a cry before flailing in vain to escape from a presently unseen force. While it was the king of jungle, it had wandered too far from its kingdom and was paying the price. A black tendril wrapped around the jaguar's leg rose from the sea of white flora and raised the creature into the air over the large hole before dropping it in. "Let's explore the jungle." he said, hoping that he and Elvira were either being ignored by the thing that lived inside the hole or that it was too far away to grab them.

WC: 2359/7500

HP: 390
MP: 400

HP: 330
MP: 380

The Sword Princess: 6 Rounds Left
The Cloud Shepard: 3 Rounds Left

Metal Snake (Strong A Rank) - HP: 130/200

The jungle was a navigational nightmare. Tall, thorny grass littered the area and scratched Vincent up as he traveled close to his guild mate. Aside from rustling in the underbrush around the two, not a sound could be heard. They were not welcome here and he knew it. Still, if the two were going to find any hidden artifacts anywhere in this dark land, then Vincent felt they had good chances searching a jungle. Vincent spotted a predator lurking close before it darted behind a tree and, apparently, Elvira had also seen it due to her shift to a more defensive stance. Unfortunately, this shift preceded a nasty fall down an unseen slope. The wizard could hear the sound of branches crunching and becoming violently displaced as Elvira rolled downwards and eventually reached the bottom. Before Vincent could call out to her or figure out how he was going to make it down, the faceless predator from earlier took the opportunity to leap out at him while he looked down the steep hill face.

Vincent heard the rustling of the bushes underneath it, but couldn't respond nearly quick enough to stop its assault. As its talons pierced his collar bone, Vincent requipped his Magician's Robes and his Whirlpool Staff. A jolt of pain shocked through his body as he got a good look at what was hunting them. It was a kind of humanoid with a glowing white body, two similarly colored feathery wings, and sharp talons where nails should have been. The wizard let out a mixed scream of pain and shock as his staff turned into a rapier and thrust the weapon forward wildly. The part bird part human monster flapped its wings and skillfully avoided Vincent's inept attempt at a counter attack by flying straight up. It came down upon him which is when the wizard saw that it had the hard feet of a bird, complete with another set of talons.

He only barely managed to bring up his sword in time for an overhead block, holding back a powerful landing made by the aberration. It was fast and it was powerful - Vincent hoped that it was not also hardy. The bird monster pushed off of Vincent's sword with its legs, pushing him back and allowing for it to safely land about five feet in front of him. With another strong flap of its wings it dashed forward, causing Vincent to lower his stance and thrust more skillfully at his target. Once again, the monster dodged by ducking down and tilting its upper body so that Vincent's strike would fly over its left shoulder. This time, though Vincent was prepared for the dodge and had prepared a magical bolt to be cast from the tip of his rapier into the back of the beast. His thrust merely served as a distraction, a distraction which worked before the bird man could reach him with its sharp talons.

The water bolt exploded upon making contact with the beast's back, causing it to stagger forward and pause long enough for Vincent to pull his sword back, taking a large step back, and then step forward again with a thrust which penetrated the chest of the beast where its heart would be if it had the same anatomy as a human. It let out a loud bird's cry before falling limp. Vincent let out a sigh of relief as blood ran down from his neck and stained his clothing. Then, he heard a scream. Elvira! he thought as his eyes widened. He had completely forgotten about her during the struggle, but now she was at the forefront of his thoughts. Vincent pulled water from the area around him to heal his wounds and carefully slid down the hill where he saw his partner fall earlier. He saw pieces of her clothes and mask on some of the sharper rocks at the base of the hill.

There was red blood on the glowing white grass which allowed Vincent to follow the trail of vital fluids to their source. Eventually, the wizard met with an expertly crafted statue which seemed to guard a massive floor of marble. The open space provided an arena in which his partner fought a massive metal snake whose internal machinery was exposed to varying degrees all along its body. The metal monstrosity had its teeth embedded in Elvira, causing Vincent to run towards its back. It had seen him, but didn't seem to consider him a threat. Well, it didn't until his rapier changed into a long sword and came down upon the tip of its tail. The snake felt no pain, of course, but was created to minimize the damage it would take and thus let go of his partner and turned to face him. Before it had the chance to bite him in the same way, he pointed the tip of his weapon at its head and fired off a cone of ice from an icy blue magical circle. This cone of ice stretched far out on either side of the construction enveloped its head and body, causing a thin layer of ice to freeze its exterior and interior. "I just bought us some time Elvira, but it's not going to stay frozen for long. Are you mortally wounded?" he asked, hoping for a negative answer.

WC: 3252/7500

HP: 395
MP: 495

Metal Snake (Strong A Rank) - HP: 90/200 | Speed cut by 25% | Frozen

Skillful as always... Vincent thought, watching as Elvira recovered from being dropped by the mechanical creature and promptly proceeded to decapitate it. The machinery in its head slowly came to a stop and the body simply remained in its upright position, frozen. "I think it's safe to say we aren't the only intelligent life wandering around in here, although I guess you might've assumed that." she said, properly relaxing after that little scuffle. Yeah. Something had to have created that monster. I wonder where they keep their blueprints. he thought, sitting down and getting a proper look at the statues around them. "I've never seen anything quite like that monster. I'm no stranger to simple little contraptions made out of metal, don't get me wrong, but that beast is way too advanced. There's only one place in Earthland that this thing could have been made, and I really doubt that anything from there ended up here." he said, in awe that there was some kind of life capable of creating something so far beyond what he was used to.

Before he could continue, the floor of the far end of the massive floor upon which he and Elvira both sat began to shift downward, forming a set of stairs that would lead to a long set of stairs going down which would open up into a massive foyer whose walls and floor were similarly carved out of the same kind of marble. Vincent looked at, from his perspective, was a rectangular hole in the marble. "I suppose that it was guarding that entrance, but it's not going anywhere. There are some pretty awful monsters that are lurking in the woods around us - that's what kept me by the way. Some kind of faceless crossbreed between a man and a bird, it kind of looked like the statues around us, but not quite." Vincent stood and walked close to one of the statues and examined it closely. A feeling of impending doom suddenly overtook him. Demonic, faceless, marble, and doom... no wings, no talons. Now what came first, the faceless monsters in the woods... or these statues. he thought, turning back towards Elvira and walking back to where he was sitting before.

"Truthfully, I'm stumped. These statues and the two monsters we encountered just aren't enough to deduce anything meaningful. All we can safely assume is that these statues and that contraption were created by someone or their group. I suspect that the people might have worshiped those faceless demon creatures by some capacity given the extremely fine craftsmanship used to carve them out. Maybe those faceless demons were based off of the monsters, maybe they were real and granted them technological knowledge far beyond what we have in Earthland excluding Bosco, or maybe the monsters were created by the people to honor their gods. All of these possibilities seem equally likely, but without further information these are just guesses. Our best bet is to proceed further into what I assume is an underground temple. What do you think about them, though, Elvira? Maybe you noticed something that I overlooked."

WC: 3772/7500

HP: 390
MP: 500

The inside of the temple was grim. Vincent was no stranger to death, but there was an unreasonable amount of bodies littering the staircase leading deeper into the temple as well as the large room to which the stairs led. "Were they trapped?" "Most likely..." Vincent replied, stopping on one of the steps so that he could pick up a relatively intact skull. With some effort, he removed it from its body and continued moving down the steps to catch up with Elvira who was already at the bottom. "Seems temple-esque...Should we have a look around or keep moving?" "Let's have a look around. But before that, let's get a glimpse of what happened to these poor people." he said, raising the skull in his right hand and reaching out to Elvira's shoulder with his left. So long as they remained in contact, they would both see through the eyes of the skull's owner five minutes before his death.

~~~~~

The antechamber was full of both bright light and people. The light seemingly came from a magical source since no mechanical lights could be seen. "What do you think the ritual is going to be like?" the skull's owner said to what Vincent presumed was an acquaintance. "No idea, but I'm excited to see where the ritual takes us!" replied the boy. He couldn't have been older than twenty. "Oh? It's starting." Richard turned his head to see a man with an old voice told everyone that they would be transported to a paradise for their participation in this most sacred of rituals. Then, large stone doors began to slowly close over every passage leading out, separating the old man standing the center-most passage from the chamber in which the many people were gathered. When the door shut completely, the lights went out and the candles blazed to life.

Richard began to look left and right nervously, as he felt like something was wrong. Vincent and Elvira would be able to feel his powerful anxiety. A thick black fog filled the room quickly and Richard began to back up to the stairs. He could no longer see a few feet in front of him, but he stood his ground. This false courage dissolved when he heard a piercing scream from across the room, and then another next to the first. Richard could feel himself getting weaker, but he still managed to turn around and climb up the long staircase. He could see the moonlight pierce through the black fog, but every step he climbed was harder than the last. When he was about ten steps from the exit Richard collapsed and reached out to the exit which was slowly closing. The screams faded into the background and he lost consciousness, never to wake again.

~~~~~

"Unpleasant. I never liked prying into the memories of the deceased, but sometimes the information is worth it." Vincent said with his eyes closed, shuddering as the empathetic link was broken. "At least we now know how this chamber turned into a tomb. Some kind of sacrifice to what I presume was a powerful magical entity with a dark affinity that the red robed figure viewed as a god. That's my working theory. The question now is why they didn't clean up the bodies. I doubt that this was the first mass sacrifice the red robed man performed, and I don't remember seeing skeletons in the memories, so something must have gone wrong in the ritual we saw. Maybe the entity that presumably demanded sacrifices wanted more..." Vincent saw as he walked to one of the walls and set Richard's skull down.

He took out a journal and carefully sketched out every single letter from the alien alphabet as well as the carvings on the wall which depicted some mass of beasts inside a deep hole being contained by four red robed mages while many eyes in the sky watched over them. Once he was done, he closed his journal and put it back in his drawstring bag. "In any case, translating this language here would take too long, so we should continue. Something tells me that the center-most passage would probably be best."

WC: 4471/7500

HP: 385
MP: 505

Vincent watched as Elvira returned from the memories they experienced. He knew that there were no long term consequences to his little spell. Even still, her violent reaction reminded him of the first time he jumped into the memory of a dead man. "Sorry about that, I forgot that the first trip into someone's last moments were particularly unpleasant. Our location probably makes it even worse, too." he said to his partner struggled to stand back up. Once she did, she nodded and they proceeded down the central passage and into a better lit room. Vincent looked around and noticed the skeletons behind the glass. Deformed as they were, he wanted to get up close and personal with them and thus didn't hesitate when Elvira motioned for him to examine them. Of course, certain precautions needed to be taken before he could interact with them.

The wizard took out a piece of white chalk and a small black scroll from his bag and noticed that Elvira was about to touch the glass. Before he could protest or stop her, she stopped herself, causing him to let out an audible sigh of relief. "I wouldn't be surprised if the glass was trapped in some way. The way these corpses have been put to rest seems quite deliberate - I doubt the ones who interred them would simply leave their resting place without protection." With that, he drew an owl on his scroll before saying "Oh wise owl, reveal to us what secrets or dangers may be shrouded." After he finished, the owl he drew emerged from the scroll facing him. It flew into the air, faced the glass and flapped its wings before scattering into tiny orbs of light after Vincent thanked it.

The entirety of both glass walls seemed to most absorb the light that hit them. Two small white streaks, however, could be seen on the edges of the glass that left the walls, curved down into the ground, and then into a corner of the room which glowed brightly. "Good thing you didn't touch that glass. I don't know what it would have done, but when the owl indicates that an object is black it's never good." he said, walking over to the corner and noticing that there was a square whose edges were very thinly carved out so as to hide the switch. He stepped on the pressure plate and the glass walls raised. "That owl is probably the closest thing to celestial summoning I'll get. I've never been too keen on that type of magic, but I'm not so arrogant to say that it's useless." He could finally inspect the corpses up close after attempting to lighten the oppressive atmosphere. Vincent slowly reached his hand out to touch the skull of the beast.

He felt the forehead and down to the eyes before touching the jaws. His eyes widened and he returned to his partner. "They look humanoid because they were human. Well, I doubt that's a stunning revelation, but they had to live through these horrifically painful transformations. There's some healing on the jaw bones most noticeably which indicates that it had to fracture and expand. The trapped glass walls were just as much to keep them in as us out, I assume. A coherent story is beginning to form. The sacrifices, the transformation of men and women into monsters, the statues, and the image of the monster itself. I believe that this civilization may have been trying to create a being similar in form to their god, perhaps to transcend their human limitations or perhaps to honor their deity. But it's no coincidence that these people look similar to the statues, and I suspect that the statues came first."

The two continued into the next room - dark and circular. At Elvira's behest, Vincent held his hand up and sent up a bright magical orb to the ceiling to illuminate their room. The sight inside was about as morbid as the one two rooms ago. Dry blood and red robed corpses filled the room. "These are the same robes from Richard's memory...no doubt about that. Everyone here died violently though. Your intuition about the sacrifice not being satisfying was probably right." Or maybe the gods were angry with their followers attempts to transcend to their plane? Hm... Elvira tossed him a small pendant, but before he could scold her for being careless with fragile objects, he realized that this pendant was strange. It had a powerful magical signature, but also a very particular one. The jeweled pendant stored a great deal of dark magic within it. The wizard's eyes closed as he tightly gripped the pendant to get a feel for what sort of being produced the vast amount of magic.

It was as though he fell into a bottomless hole and, within it, he caught a glimpse of the creature which produced this pendant and the power within it. He began to sweat and as he fell, it got closer to him. Even without eyes, he could feel it staring at him and could have sword it smiled just a bit before he was allowed to leave. His eyes opened and he very carefully pulled out a small jar with a white wood cork. He placed the pendant inside and corked the jar. "Assuming we get out of here, you just ensured our future employment. What you found is beyond my current understanding. I got a glimpse at what these robed individuals worshiped and let's say I'm beginning to understand why they tried to become like them." he said, recovering from what he'd seen. "I've never regretted gaining more insight into anything before, but... well let's just continue. I'm sure the blood will lead somewhere promising" he said to his partner, taking the lead and leading the ball of light to follow closely behind them.


As they walked forward, Vincent would occasionally look over his shoulder and see shining white teeth in the darkness behind them for only a moment before they disappeared from his sight. He was beginning to get more paranoid. Have we been being followed this whole time? Am I imagining it? he thought, continuing to move at a steady pace. "You don't hear anything other than us, right Elvira? I feel like the temple might be getting to me a bit." he said with a false joviality. At last, the two reached the inner sanctum of the temple. It was small and rectangular, but contained shelves carved into the walls with books on dark magic, rituals, and beasts. Most of them were damaged beyond repair, but the ones that were salvageable had some of the most complex and advanced rituals that Vincent had ever seen. In the center of the room lay a red robed man face down seemingly clutching something between his arms. Slowly, the wizard turned over the robed man to see a dusty old book. "Hm? Is this what the elders of this little civilization were treasuring? Doesn't seem too significant, though it must be. It's time to make sure that picking it up is safe...."

Before he could call upon his owl once more, a the old book disappeared and a dark hole opened up under him, the skeleton, and Elvira, causing them to fall into a deep hole which swallowed all the light that entered. Before he could even register what was happening, they were somehow at the bottom of this shadowy prison. All he could see was Elvira, the skeleton, and himself. Everything else was completely black. With no physical frame of reference, Vincent found himself a bit disoriented. "This is where I met their 'god,' Elvira. I suspect that we are about to meet the monster that was sent to slaughter the elders." Sure enough, a giant faceless beast emerged from the ground and 'stared' at its prey. In the distance, Vincent could feel the unmistakable presence of what had revealed itself to him earlier. It was watching them intently. Are we being tested?

WC: 5813/7500

HP: 380
MP: 510

Faceless Beast (S-Rank) - HP: ???

"Good day. My name is Necropolis; I am the harvester of souls, formed of the dead. What humanity is but learning I have long forgotten. You have trespassed where you ought not. Why have you come?" Vincent was awestruck. He was expecting to get kicked around and preferably end up victorious over a monster. Instead, he was presented with an intelligent being which was more well mannered than most of his own kind. Is it merely affecting a well mannered attitude to lower our guard? It's a possibility if it's the monster responsible for what happened in the temple. Assuming that's true, I still didn't expect such cunning. The wizard was so engrossed in thinking about the creature before him that he didn't notice his partner looking to him for some kind of assistance in responding.

"We are researchers, from Earthland...we have come to further the understanding of magical theory." Elvira's response snapped Vincent out of his own thinking. Magical theory? he thought. He knew what she meant, though it sounded awkward when put like that. The beast, if Vincent could even call it that, didn't buy Elvira's motivations and very calmly invited her to take odd coins from a pile it summoned. Elvira's survival instincts showed themselves once more when she declined the questionably generous offer made by Necropolis. The same being continued speaking in riddles about reality and there being no escape. It ended on a question - a question that Vincent stepped forward to answer. He was within reach of Necropolis, now, as a show of good faith.

"Before I answer your questions, let's get a few things out of the way. I am Vincent and this is Elvira. Would you mind answering a couple of my questions before?" A combination of fear and intrigue were flooding Vincent's mind, but currently the intrigue was just a bit stronger, allowing him to relatively confidently approach the nightmarish being. Necropolis hesitated, as if he was surprised that someone so eagerly and earnestly would want to know something and it knew. Shortly after this brief hesitation, it responded "Certainly not. Inquire to your heart's content." Vincent pointed in the direction of the presence that he still felt and asked, "Who, or what, is that?"

"Interesting. Such a keen sense, human. That is my master and the creator of the realm in which we three presently reside."

"Were you the one that exterminated the life in the temple above us?"

"Indeed. Most of this so-called 'extermination' was at the behest of humans who believed that my master desired such bloodshed. I humored them for a few of these sacrifices, but one day grew tired of and extinguished their fires as well."

"Why is this realm inundated in darkness?"

"Oh, you're clever enough to know that answer."

That last response confirmed Vincent's growing suspicions. The reason his ritual brought him here was the same reason that droves were sacrificed. It was coming from the being that Necropolis referred to as master. Vincent paused and pondered before asking his next question.

"What created your master?"

"My master is merely a manifestation of an aspect of nature. It embodies darkness and is not the only manifestation of this element."

"Does your master have a name?"

"No, but if you must refer to it, you may call it Tenebrae."

"You've been a great help Necropolis. I have just one last question. What is the significance of the book in the arms of what I presume you called a 'red idol worshiper'?"

"Ah... now that is a good question. I won't bore you with the details, but in summary the original owner of the book thought he could break the link with my master by abandoning it. He wasn't completely wrong, as the connection weakened and continues as such every day that passes. Ever since, my master has been trying to find an individual capable of returning the book to its original owner."

"Hm... perhaps we could work out a deal, then? We'll agree to return the book if your master allows us to leave this realm. Seems fair to me."

"Should you not consult that one? Necropolis said, pointing to Elvira. "Returning the book will be no easy task - its previous owner is what you mages would refer to as a Saint, and I highly doubt that he would simply take it back without a fight. Your odds of survival are higher here, ironically enough. And, before you do, I ask once again - do you seek the darkness?"

He remembered...

Vincent shook his head.

"No, I sought only the source of the darkness."

WC: 6583/7500

Vincent awoke first and looked around. He had a throbbing headache and felt as tense as his muscle could get. His stress and fear was matched only by his intrigue and excitement. Before he could act on that excitement, though, he needed to figure out where he was and where his partner had been sent. The latter question was quickly answered when he looked around and saw Elvira lying on her back nearby. I'm glad Necropolis was kind enough to transport us together... now where are we? Upon further investigation, Vincent found that they were transported to some kind of graveyard. Tombstones littered the glowing ground with epitaphs that have long since faded beyond legibility. He wondered where this graveyard was located relative to their position underground, but this wonder was soon replaced by another thought: where is that book?

He found the decrepit book leaning against one of the tombstones a short walk from where he awoke. As soon as he made contact with the leather bound exterior, he remembered the deal he made for his and Elvira's freedom. Shaking his head, he thought about the kind of torment that he would be complicit in inflicting upon the mage that had gotten rid of the book in the first place. Good to know that my morality takes such a supporting role to my self preservation instincts... he thought, a bit surprised with how quickly he was willing to severely harm another to save himself and another. With the book in his possession, he walked over to Elvira and thought as he did well, I made a deal so now I have to carry it out.

Vincent shook his unconscious partner in an attempt to wake her up. Once she was up, regardless of his success, he would begin to speak about what had just transpired. "That went reasonably well, all things considered. We've made some extraordinary finds on this little trip of ours." He would sit down on the dimly luminescent grass next to where she had been lying. "That said, it was very clear that we were grossly outclassed by a mere underling in what I presume was a pocket dimension. You're already a bit complicit in whatever harm is going to come to the original owner of this book since you were part of the bargain, but I would completely understand if you were to refuse to involve yourself further. You said it yourself - we're going to be hurting an innocent person: not a beast nor a criminal, but rather one who would have, in the past, given their lives to protect Fiore. I felt like that was worth explicitly stating, even though it was very clear what we'd be doing from the moment Necropolis told us about the book."

He sighed and his intrigue and excitement were spoiled by a feeling of shame that washed over him after he finished speaking. What would Elizabeth think of me now? The answer wasn't clear and Vincent hated that. Usually he was completely sure that he nothing was better left unknown and that he could bear the burden of knowledge, no matter how great, but now he wasn't so sure. He never expected that the cost of knowing would ever be as steep as bringing a great mage to harm. Such a cost, if he was warned beforehand, would make him think twice about his core motivations.

WC: 7152/7500

Elvira was, understandably, upset at his willingness to bargain for their lives at the cost of the well being of another wizard. She felt as though they could simply abandon their quest and forget about their bargain, but Vincent wasn't as optimistic. After she finished her scolding, he responded.

"Yeah - complicit. I bargained for both of our lives, not just mine. Given enough time, information, and resources I probably could have found some way out, but can you feel yourself getting weaker by the second? Every moment we spend in this realm the more of our vitality gets sapped. I wasn't so sure about it at first, but now I feel noticeably weaker than when we first arrived. It's beginning to hurt just to move around. I didn't have any of those three things, so when I saw that we could be useful, I didn't hesitate. Are you so opposed to fulfilling our end of the bargain that you honestly believe that the very same entity that so easily ensnared us and exterminated an entire temple wouldn't have some way of just as easily capturing us again if we tried cheating it? I do plan on trying to figure out a way around this bargain, but we still need to find Zenshin. The information written in here will only get me so far, assuming it's useful or legible at all, and who better to ask about the precise nature of this dusty old book and the entity it's associated with than the one who got away from it?

If worst came to worst and he had no way of circumventing this deal he had made, then finding Zenshin would give him the opportunity to simple "return" the tome, whatever that entailed. He doubted that the wizard would simply take back the tome and that the tome itself wouldn't somehow merge to the mage that had gotten away so that he couldn't just get rid of it again. Still, the original owner of the book certainly had to have valuable insight that Vincent would value greatly. Vincent had no doubt in his mind that they were being watched or were in some way cursed. He himself knew that there were many indirect ways of cursing individuals - in fact there were probably more than the simpler direct methods. That said, he was concerned with how much leniency Necropolis' curse would allow them in their mission, though he hoped it was a lot. Simply finding Zenshin based on name and reputation alone was going to be a mission in and of itself, but going through old documents was what Vincent was best at.

"Uh, Vincent...maybe we should table this until we...get home. I have a feeling we are really lost." Vincent nodded before looking around for the beam of light that he set to shoot out from the portal. He couldn't see it which indicated that they were quite far away from where they had originally entered. "You're right. I didn't expect us to stray this far from the portal due to the foreign and dangerous nature of this place." The wizard requipped a wand which carried with it a wind element. He noticed that his magic felt a bit weaker and realized that he was back in his normal clothes. Even he couldn't sustain his magician's robes indefinitely. A breeze rushed past the both of them and Vincent commanded it to raise him as high as it safely could so that he could get a  better view of the surrounding area. At the very edge of his vision to the south Vincent saw a faint glisten. The wind lowered him down to the ground and he informed Elvira that they had a ways to travel south before they could get out of this place.

WC: 7786

HP: 365

"I don't think anyone in our guild can help us in the curse department, assuming that we are of course, though I don't think that's a very big assumption given that we're surrounded by dark magic which originated from the place we just came from. If we were to look for any outside help, it would be from Silver Wolf. It's a guild of magic researchers, but-" Maybe it his hubris or his desire not to involve any more outsiders in his little deal, but Vincent continued "I think this is simply beyond the scope of their expertise. And you're right, it's true that the temple probably wasn't full of fighters. Even so, raising your blade against anything that threatens you is a poor way to solve problems. Rarely does it work when you're faced with anything more intelligent than a monster." Elvira, after hearing the direction they would go, spat and began to jog. He had the wind pick him up and flew at a close distance behind her so that he wouldn't have to expend any more stamina than necessary.

Once they entered a large clearing, Elvira fell to one knee and expressed her waning vitality. They pressed on regardless and found themselves on the other wrong side of a valley with his glowing beacon on the other side. We're almost there but... he looked down into the valley before them. It was dark and appeared as though it didn't contain any of the glowing white grass that littered most of the realm. "I'll take the lead. If we run into any danger then I'd rather be the first line of defense. It's clear that you're in worse shape than I am" he said, the wind carrying him around and in front of his partner. He floated forward and then began to descend into the vast, dark valley. Vincent carefully selected a path that could be scaled by someone on foot with ease so as to not put an unreasonable burden on Elvira.

Once they were halfway down to the valley, a loud caw would echo through the hills surrounding them. Wait a second... I know that cry. There's no possible way that a phoenix has made a home here. They were three quarters of the way when they heard the caw again, this time more powerful. Once they reached the bottom, the two would hear the cry of a phoenix one last time. What could have it letting out such cries? Once they proceeded forward through the valley, Vincent would discover the corpses of many animals both familiar and alien. Additionally, he would also discover massive eggs. It didn't take a genius to put these two pieces of information together with the cries of a phoenix. "Elvira. I think this valley is a nest." Just as he finished his observation, a brilliantly glowing and elegant phoenix slowly walked into their view. It looked down and waited patiently for the two to respond in some way. Vincent nearly died fighting one at full strength not too long ago, so he knew that fighting it now would probably be a death sentence. Hopefully Elvira thought the same.

WC: 8314

HP: 360

Vincent watched closely as Elvira handled the situation. She managed to, quite quickly, talk their way out of any danger and into assisting the majestic fire bird in leaving this terrible place. "Very well done Elvira. Shame on me for thinking that you'd produce your blade at any sign of resistance to your objectives" he said as they made their way up the next hill of the valley and to the portal that had brought them here. While they made this journey by foot, the phoenix was flying between the portal and its nest taking all of its huge eggs one by one until the seven of them rested around the portal in an arc. "We're almost ready to go. I need to expand this portal so that the phoenix and its eggs can fit." With that, he commanded a breeze to come down and push the bone dust border further out which, in turn, caused the inky black portal to expand to its new border. Vincent very carefully continued to expand the portal in this way, making sure not to break the bone dust circle surrounding the portal lest it become unstable and dissipate before they or their new avian companion had the opportunity to escape.

Once the portal was sufficiently big, he gestured to the phoenix and her eggs so that it would be the first to go through the portal. One by one it began to drop its eggs from a short height above the portal until only it and the two Crystal Swan mages remained. It flapped its wings to launch itself high into the air. The gust would have broken the circle around the portal, but thankfully Vincent had the presence of mind to use his current control over wind magic to redirect the gust away from their only exit. With a sigh, he watched the fire bird dive down into the portal and disappear. All that was left was for Vincent and Elvira to step through. "There are still angry people waiting for us on the other side of that portal, you know. Take this" he said, pulling out a plain white mask whose only holes were for the eyes. "It'll change your hair color and cover your face. It's should be sufficient to hide your identity." He had originally brought the mask he handed over for her, though she had already come up with her own disguise by the time they set off.

Vincent pulled out an identical mask, the one he wore on the way inside, and put it on. He would wait until Elvira stepped through the portal before doing so himself since he was the one of the two of them with the means to get out should something happen in the time between both of them exiting the dark realm. Thankfully, nothing of the sort would happen and the two would be able to leave without any real hitches. The trip through the portal was as nightmarish and unpleasant as always, but compared to what they had seen in the temple it was underwhelming. They would both end up standing around the portal with moonlight flooding the throne room, specifically focused on the portal. He looked up to see a massive hole where once was a beautifully painted fresco. No eggs could be seen and the guard detail was staring wide eyed at the two mages.

"Was... was that a phoenix? A real honest to goodness phoenix?" the leader asked, awestruck at what she had witnessed. Vincent nodded. The creature in Earthland was as rare as a dragon, perhaps even more so as phoenixes tended to nest in faraway lands. He felt his vitality slowly returning to him. It's good to be back... He gestured towards the door and the leader of their guard detail knew that it was time to go. How long could we possibly have been in their? Time must move differently in that shadow realm if we were only in there for a few hours. Then again, Necropolis did put us to sleep for an indeterminate amount of time. There was also the time we spent in Necropolis' home. Hm... The two magi would be taken to the Magic Council to talk about their job and their findings before they could go back to their respective homes.

WC: 9037

"Let me see the book. We've been looking for Zenshin ever since he disappeared after his brief re-registration with Sabertooth."

Vincent nodded and took out the dusty old tome and showed it to the interviewer.

"Here it is. I've only briefly looked into it. It seems to be a mix of a journal and spell book if its magical energy is anything to base assumptions off of. It's in a language that I'm going to have to decipher, but it seems as though the journal entries were written by the Saint given the fact that they are legible."

When the interviewer tried to grab the book out of Vincent's hand, the wizard pulled it away and shook his head.

"You asked to see the book. You saw it."

"That's Magic Council property you're keeping me from examining. You're really pushing the envelope, Vincent. Let me see the book."

"Is that right? Magic Council property? It belongs to Zenshin and I've been entrusted to return it to him. I'm not going to risk you losing or damaging it."

"You're really going to find him to give him back that cursed book? Yeah, your partner told us everything about your little adventure to some dark realm where you 'found' that book."

Dammit Elvira.... I have to think of something quick. I doubt the interviewer knows just how powerful the entities are that gave us the book.

"I don't expect you to be familiar with the magic you use on a day to day basis and take for granted, but those of us that actually know a thing or two about the subject are quite proficient in removing curses from items. The curse on this book is elementary and won't take longer than an hour to remove, so yes, I'll be returning this book to Zenshin - curse free."

The interview room fell silent.

"Fine. Go on and try finding Zenshin. I have no doubt that the Magic Council will throw their support behind you, but we've been trying to find him for a long time. I doubt you and your partner will manage to find something key that we missed."

The interview was over now and Vincent was led to a comfortable room where he would stay for a week while the Magic Council convened to talk among themselves about Vincent's expedition. They were quite satisfied with the small necklace relic that provided them a direct link to the shadowy dimension that he and Elvira were trapped within as well as a very important clue in the disappearance of a Saint. A phoenix being let loose in Fiore was also something of a mixed blessing, though it was ultimately more of a boon for the nation rather than a detriment. The Council was more than willing to appoint Vincent as the head of the team tasked with finding the lost Saint. With the Magic Council's resources as his disposal, Vincent felt as though it wouldn't be long before he found the Saint - the only worry he had was what he was going to do about the curse on him and his partner.

WC: 9559