Clockwork: Invasion w/Advent

Wearing her usual attire of blue shirt and khaki cargo pants and carrying her usual equipment of Argent Gloves and Nightshade Machete, Leona once again braved the heavily forested Lycan Woods, moving at a brisk walk. Today her job was to meet up with a mage named Matray Yaho'ganay Zeros of the Legal Guild Sabertooth and put a stop to an invasion of strange mechanical constructs. Reports of their activity had deluged the Magic Council and that governing body deemed the activity a threat, so they called upon any Legal Guilds willing and able to help. Zeros of Sabertooth and Leona of Silver Wolf had answered the call and were tasked with following the invasion to its source and shutting it down. Aside from expanding her list of contacts and possibly planting the seeds of an alliance with Sabertooth, Leona had a special reason to go on this mission.

Just a day or two ago she had received a letter from the Magic Council stating that due to her various good deeds across Earthland, she was officially proclaimed a Rising Star. That title meant that she was officially recognized by the Magic Council for bringing hope to the people of Earthland through brave deeds such as stopping slavers from plying their detestable trade, stopping Mutura of the Sands before his plans for world conquest could even get started, and saving the village of Wolfsmane from destruction by werewolves. The blonde would do her best to prove that she deserved the honor. Whether her tenure as Rising Star was long or short, she was determined to make it count. A mission of this magnitude was a good way to begin work towards that goal.

When she reached her destination, she spotted a large circular gateway of some kind. It looked like someone had cut off the bottom part of a hula hoop and stuck the result end-first into the ground; within its thin borders was a substance that was colored like water and rippled like it whenever a mechanical construct clomped through the gateway. The constructs paid her no attention as they tromped to their destination... wherever it was that they were going. Leona was halfway tempted to go on through, but that would be folly. She would wait for Zeros to show up before making her next move.

Leona looked around the area for both her partner and any werewolves out on the hunt. She hoped that defeating the Sound Magic-using alpha male and his bodyguards from a few weeks ago would spell the end of large packs, but the surviving werewolves could have simply banded together under a new alpha and be biding their time until the opportunity for a renewed attack on the Cursed Lands presented itself. So far she had not detected any signs of werewolves; no howling, no rustling bushes, no packs of normal wolves jumping out to distract her while the werewolves attacked from a different angle. Maybe local hunters had thinned out the lycanthrope population after her defeat of the alpha male. Or maybe the wolves simply had business elsewhere.

While waiting for the Sabertooth mage, Leona checked her supplies one last time because once they crossed over, they would have to live off of whatever they had brought with them. She had food, water, a spare t-shirt, her desert cloak, spare socks, and a basic first aid kit complete with gauze, bandages, and antibiotic ointment. She had her knife and her Nightshade Machete. She had her boots on her feet and Argent Gloves on her hands. Leona had everything she needed for the job ahead, everything except for her partner.

[Word Count: 607] [Total Word Count: 607/9,000]

It had been a few weeks since Advent had joined Sabertooth and were there where several huge gaps in his memory and so many questions that still needed answers, he didn't want to have this stop him from doing things like other people. He decided that even without magic since he was a member of a mage's guild he would have to earn his keep one way or another, he found out that it wasn't unheard of for mages to help one another and it peeked his interest. Given he had the inability to read and write due to being blind he had one of the other guild members write up a letter, it was then sent out to other guilds as well as pinned in his own letting them know he was looking for someone to help someone grow in strength. He didn't really think anyone would be interested in his help, but suggested that they get in touch with him as soon as they could if they would like such a thing to happen perhaps even with a task they would like to go on. It was a few weeks and the black haired youth had totally forgotten about the letter he sent until he was told he had received two letters that bore the Silver Wolf guild mark on them. This confused him at first until the guild member in question reminded him of the initial letter and so read the letters that had come back to him.

This made him happy that two people that had agreed to learn from him, he had to find out a little information on the guild as he didn't know of it; though to be honest at current he didn't know much so perhaps they could help him with that.He blinked under his red blindfold when his fellow guild mate seemed star struck at those who had replied. He found out that one of the people were one of the current rising stars and the guild master of Silver Wolf and her second in command, it was unfortunate that only one of them had been able to do a job at this time but he decided perhaps that may have been for the best since he wasn't exactly the most normal of sorts apparently. He personally had no idea what a rising star was or why his guild made was acting such a way but perhaps this was something else he could ask when he met up with Leona. The guild member who was currently aiding him spoke of a job that Leona had chosen and showed concern for him given it was inside the Lycan Woods and to investigate an anomaly. He was thankful for her help and concern but all he heard was there was a bunch of crazed tinker toys that had to be taught how to behave themselves.

With that he set off to get to the location that they had agreed to meet, getting transport wasn't to hard until he mentioned where he was going. Then it became a little bit more troublesome as no one wanted to go to the cursed lands for any reason, he couldn't blame them he heard some terrible stories but he was a member of a legal mage guild and that meant going to places other people would avoid like plagues. He luckily after a few hours of searching found a coach that was going to a village nearby and had even paid double what was asked for passage if they took him just to the edge of the forest. After many long and boring hours he finally made it to his destination, he hated the whole time he was in the carriage but had no idea as to why. Had he had a bad experience with being in a carriage before? He wished he could remember and hoped that would happen soon but all he heard and seen was the darkness when he tried to look back at his potential memories. He smiled as he exited and felt the dirt under his feet, it made him feel at ease once more regardless of just how dangerous a place he was going. With a deep breath he entered the forest walking perfectly as if he could see, he had no idea how he managed to do that but was glad he could or it may have got embarrassing. Soon enough he would encounter the one he was there to meet or so he hoped, he was dressed in a white and red male kimono and hakama, his eyes covered with red fabric. Standing still he coughed as not to startle the person "Umm... excuse me, are you Leona? If your not mind directing me to where I might be able to find her and telling me why people act silly about rising stars?" he asked in a polite and confused tone to the other

Word count: 825
@Leona Jarnefeldt

Leona was watching the mechanical constructs march into the portal in lockstep. Where were they going and for what purpose? That was the job of the mages to find out, but she could not get going without her job partner. Speaking of which, she believed that she heard him walking up now. She turned around to find a male wearing a white and red kimono with a hakama and red cloth over his eyes.

"Hi there! You must be the mage from Sabertooth!" Leona greeted the newly arrived mage. His white and red outfit was a lot fancier than her own and looked to be traditional. She wondered if he was from Shirotsume or another region like that. She recalled Mister Burke's trusted female servant Kumiko wearing a kimono, but hers was pink and featured a floral design. In contrast the Sabertooth mage's attire was plain. She then remembered his question asking for the whereabouts of Leona Jarnefeldt.

"You're speaking to her. I'm Leona Jarnefeldt, Guild Master of Silver Wolf and a Rising Star." Leona replied to him, walking over and carefully extending her right hand for a handshake after removing the Argent Glove. Next came the question about why Rising Stars were such a big deal. Since she had actually done a bit of research on the topic, that was an easy question to answer.

"People act silly about Rising Stars because it's a title bestowed upon mages by the Magic Council. Only certain mages can get it, namely those who do a lot of good deeds around Earthland. Recipients of the title earn it by doing good deeds like fighting serial killers, saving towns from cults, volunteering at blood drives, investigating mysterious activity in forests, and a lot more." Leona explained to the newcomer. The cloth over his eyes indicated that he was most likely blind, but his magical signature was stronger than her own. The blonde was surprised by his blindness but still welcomed his help. She needed to learn some tips of the mage trade from someone more experienced than her, and the Sabertooth mage was the first to offer the opportunity. One day Leona might get the opportunity to serve as a mentor to some other mage who needed a helping hand.

"I'm sorry, Mister. I'm afraid I didn't get your name." Leona admitted sheepishly. She was deeply embarrassed by the omission of her partner's name. It might have been Zeros, but she was not sure and did not want to call him by the wrong name. What a great way to start her first job as a Rising Star.

[Word Count: 435] [Total Word Count: 1,042/9,000]