Life, death, panic and chaos... Something's not right here...

It had been a year since she had been pulled into the World of Eternal Darkness along with everyone else, and while she'd taken note of that occurrence she hadn't been able to find much information on it. This bothered Akeya, since she didn't like not knowing what exactly she was dealing with. The only saving grace was that whatever it truly was it seemed to be working in her favour, so at least it wasn't an immediate threat to her.

The entire world turning different was a mixed blessing. The darkness itself was only good for her, since it meant she could move about freely and she was constantly feeling energized. However it was still caused by that entity who had trapped them last year and forced them all to collect candy, so she couldn't take the blessing at face value without considering the ulterior motive.

And having people of the guild act oddly was just messy and annoying.

Being called up to help resolve the issue didn't leave her much choice. Saying no wasn't exactly in her contract unless she could find a good excuse, and saying 'I like the dark' wasn't going to convince anyone. The dragoness sighed as she rolled up the scroll she had been reading and put it back on the shelf. She'd been reading in utter darkness, having turned off the lights after it became clear that she was the only one in the library. Stretching she frowned, then let herself become part of the darkness as she flowed up the stairs and out of the large complex which served as the headquarters of the guild.

Once outside she felt an immense freedom, as the skies themselves had been consumed by the darkness which allowed her to travel even more freely than her wings usually allowed. When relying on his wings to fly he still had to take into account the winds and gravity. But now... being one with the darkness she could zigzag, stay in place, abruptly change direction without losing momentum. Being a creature of darkness when the world was being consumed by darkness was way too beneficial. She wished there was some way to get rid of the one who caused this darkness without removing the darkness itself, but that was most likely impossible. She'd just have to enjoy it as long as it lasted and comfort herself with the knowledge that removing the darkness also foiled the plans of some entity she wasn't on good terms with.

It didn't take long for her to reach the meeting place, some town where people had first noticed the darkening sun and the void that overtook the skies. She wondered if this place was linked to the World of Eternal Darkness or if it was just a coincidence.

Moving down she spotted a girl sitting on a scythe, wearing the kind of dress worn by people with a more grandiose sense of style than Akeya herself. It wasn't someone Akeya knew personally but she could recognize the description of one of her partners on the mission to eliminate some of the strange monsters that had popped up ever since the dark took over.

Once she was within a couple of yards from the woman Akeya came to a halt, hovering invisibly in the air as just another piece of darkness.

"You're one of the people I'm supposed to ally with for the duration of this mission, correct?" Her voice sounded somewhat ethereal due to her current state, echoing throughout the void without a clear point of origin. "I am one of Cirven's followers. Have you noticed any of the others arriving yet?" Akeya herself hadn't sensed the presence of any other mage nearby but it would be arrogance to assume she couldn't have missed them. In the darkness her senses were as sharp as they ever were but that didn't make her incapable of making mistakes.

Rising up a little she made a wide circle above her companion, scouting their surroundings. She could sense creatures in the distance but it looked like they weren't so aggressive as to move straight through a town. At least that would give the mages time to meet up and prepare before they'd head out into the wilderness to get rid of the nuisances.

WC: 717
TWC: 717

Yona Hisamori had been spending much of her time alone as of late. Her thoughts were reflective and worried. All the stress of the secrets she kept led to her spending more time at home than at the guild. Instead, the woman spent time with her younger brother and time tending to their new garden. Every day, she and Sato would wake up with dawn and spend the morning clearing away any new weeds, digging small fingers in-between thorns and roots to pull only the harmful vegetation away. Then after a while, when the sun was a quarter of the way up in the sky, Sato would remind her that they needed to eat. "Sister, I'm hungry," he would complain. And she would reply as she had always, even before he had died, far before the fire in their home, "Didn't you just eat yesterday?" Her brother would joke with her sometimes or whine non-committing at other times until Yona would get to her feet and take him inside. Together they would wash up, scrubbing their hands and arms free of soil. Yona would make him wash his hands twice and remember to get under his nails. And then a hearty breakfast would follow: eggs scrambled and salted, crisp wheat toast with butter and grape jam, chewy strips of jerky or ham, and always a fresh fruit from their garden. The last morning she had had with him, it was an apple.

The plant mage thought of him fondly and let out a sigh as she dressed for the day. It had been a few days now (if one could call them days when there was no sun) since the darkness had consumed the far reaches of society. The moon sprinkled dark dust and Sato had been confined to the home until the danger had passed. Yona had to go out, however, in order to obtain meals and in order to keep in touch with her guild family. She had tried to clear the moon dust out of Sato and her's garden but had conceded to it being a futile display of control. She hadn't been sleeping well lately either and although she loved the outdoors, Yona was one who enjoyed all aspects of plant life and plants needed the sun. When Cirven had asked her to specifically take up the job and meet with someone called Demi, she had of course accepted. But the darkness was Ketsueki's playground and her secret demon was getting antsy, like a child waiting for presents the night before their birthday. Yona had still not told Cirven, Sol nor Ruvel about what had happened on Shadow Island with Johann. It was becoming more obvious to her that she needed to, but in these times, Yona was equally afraid of her being considered a risk to the other guild members. At first, Yona was unnerved by the lack of sun though she could still hear the glee in Ketsueki's voice in her mind when he sang, "The dark is my favorite time of day... the dark is for the demons to play..."

For the sake of keeping her family, she made the decision to keep her demon a secret for now. The vile being known as Ketsueki had been a folklore style vampire, a demon who fed on the blood of civilians in the cover of night until the Blood Seal group had sealed him away in a tree for two hundred years. It was so lucky for Yona that she was now his new host. her nose crinkled in disdain at the thought of him and she felt Ketsueki stiffen arrogantly inside of her head. "Sure, you think the taste of blood is foul, but you like my power don't you?" "Just shut up," Yona replied moodily, speaking under her breath. She didn't need to speak out loud for him to hear her but it happened on occasion. How she felt about the demon was simply not a priority in the middle of the recent events.

Fully dressed in the white garb of a WFTC employee, the nineteen-year-old had chosen long pants and her typical overcoat for the journey to meet this "Demi". The name rang a bell, something which was on the tip of her tongue but still too far away to give Yona any real meaning. The mage had set out with a small bag on her shoulder of various items she thought she might need, carrying a lantern to help her find the way to the meeting place. Through hills and foliage, Yona had stepped her way up to the place where Cirven had told her to be. She was late, but not that late. She arrived and saw both Akeya, whom she had met once, and a woman with a strange and ethereal quality to her. She gave Akeya a polite and obligatory wave, "Nice to see you again. Been awhile." "For another guild member, you don't see too emotionally attached to her. I could eat her for you. Then we would both be happy." Yona fought the urge to roll her eyes, "Lack of emotional attachment isn't the same as dislike, demon. It just means I don't know her yet. You try to harm a single hair on her and I swear I will slit my own throat. She's family as much as Key and Johann, make no mistake." Yona warned him, thinking inside of her head as she rubbed her temple with one hand. Fortunately, Ketsueki recoiled at the thought of losing his own life through her death and went silent once more.

Then, her eyes shot wide open, the plant mage lifting her green haired head to meet a gaze with the female atop the large scythe. That obnoxious and taunting summon of Ruvel's had mentioned a relative and this woman gave off such a similar aura to him that there was no mistaking the relation with the stranger before her. It put Yona in an even more sour mood to see her knowing that this "Demi" was probably a sister or cousin to the he-who-refused-to-give-his-name, the very same summon she kind of still wanted to strangle for calling her 'Little Girl' so many times. Yona was starting to hope the sun never came back out so she could just go back home and figure out a solution to continuing Sato's garden. The young woman before her was beautiful and just as likely dangerous, so the plant mage smiled before giving her a wave as well. "You must be Demi. I'm Yona, here on Cirven's request. You have a plan for us?"

WC: 1105

Sol felt a chill go up his spine as he sighed and glanced at the sky above him. The darkness was gathering  and it was easy to feel the negative power it had though for someone like the dragon king it was not effective by it at all, he actually felt more powerful in the surrounding darkness since he still had his Shadow Dragon Magic which also made this setting better for him since he could see perfectly in the dark. The slayer took a bite of his croissant that he had grabbed for a snack and he savored the taste of the flaky buttery treat. He had been summoned by Cirven to investigate what was going on with the black skies and the weird pollen falling from the sky, he finished his pastery as he sighed and wondered what on earth was going on with the world.It was then that Sol remembered something from the previous year.

When he was still in Basilisk Fang he had an encounter at a gathering with other mages with some entity that had wanted to put the world into eternal darkness, at the time the dragon had not cared about such thing and had only cared about the reward he would gain if he did as he was told, it made the dragon king shake his head at his own foolishness. He had been such a weak minded fool and was so blindly obedient that it showed when he had finally left he understood just what he had been doing but he now understood just how bad he had been. It had changed the dragons mindset and had put him on a path not in the light but not fully in the dark as well, it was a path that seemed better for Sol then any other. While he could not get the dark tendencys out of his system he could still vent them in the guild he was now it as long as he exercised caution. As he saw people gathered Sol took a breath in as he approached and he felt the pollen in the air making him much more irritated.”What is up with this stuff” he grumbled to himself as he saw both Demi and Yona and a woman who looked rather familiar to him but he could not put his finger on no matter how hard he tried to remember.

As he approached he bowed his head to the Reaper in greeting and in respect as he looked at Demi, despite his calm exterior the aggressive look in his eyes was clear but it seemed he was in control for the moment and he would focus on making sure it stayed that way.”Hello Demi Sorry it took so long this bizzare stuff in the air is messing with me I am afraid but I am up to the task no matter what it is” he said as he focused on making sure he did not upset this woman, despite all of his power The Dragon King held a healthy amount of fear at the Reaper as he suddenly felt his wound on his chest flare up and it grabbed his chest for a moment before he focused on blocking out the pain. He then glanced at Demi with a concerned look on his face before he thought loudly so she would hear him'Demi is Rui ok I know he has trouble with nights such as this I worry for him' he thought to her, so only she would hear him,he had learned enough about void dwellers that he could communicate with them. Sol was one of the ones Privy to what Ruvel needed since he helped make his medicine and on some occasions he had to give him the injections which was never a fun occasion.

Glancing at Yona he blinked before he spoke.” I trust your going to behave Yona” he said as his eyes gained a serious edge to them. He recalled she was headstrong and was often one to push and not recognize signs of danger, the most fitting example as the most recent excursion to the woods of Tolgalen which ended with Yona almost being killed due to taking the dragon kings kiseru. She had not known it was a limiter for the dragon but that still did not mean she could do what she did since it lead to her near death but also Sol clashing with Johann in a fight which caused all of Tolgalen to shake from the sheer force that was used by both fighters. Thankfully Sol had been given his limiter back and he had managed to calm down and had saved Yona before she had slipped thru his fingers.since this was a change of pace instead of his trademark shotguns that Sol used with his mask he had his new weapon on him. It was a sword that was currently sheathed but it was easy to sense that the sword was pure and holy and it was almost as if it was alive.

Turning to the final person Sol glanced at her and he tried to recall who she was, she smelled like a dragon and it made him curious but he tried not to be suspicious since she bore the same mark as them and  he pushed his aggression down the best he could as he took a breath and let his red slitted eyes lock onto the woman. He let the breath out before he spoke his next words.”who are you Miss if I may ask your scent is familiar and your face is familiar to me as well but my memory seems to be  Failing me.” He asked hoping he was not stepping over a line. As the tour of them were gathered Sol simply crossed his arms as he grumbled his irritation becoming rather present  though it would be easy to tell that his behavior was not what it normally was.”How much longer I hate waiting I just want to get this over with and get away from whatever this stuff is that is falling down” he growled as he glanced from person to person and he wondered if they had anyone else appearing to join them as well.


wc 1014/4000

Everyone had shown joined up in the small town. The entire group was told to be there by them but none of them knew of the exact circumstances that the CEO was in. He had made sure to sent a message to each of them without showing himself to them. It was not as if he could not do it but it was that he did not want to see them. He only had told Demi of what was going on and at this point in time he was hiding in her shadow. It took everything he had to tell her of what was happening but he knew that she would quickly figure it all out if he did not say something to her. She was the type to get what she wanted from him with their relationship and he could not just hide away from her like he could others.


The devil CEO stood in one of the smaller airships of the West Fiore Trading Company just before they were to land on the ground. He stared out a nearby window and looked at the darkened area they were traveling in that was now the outside world. His mind was trying to wrap around what could have possibly caused this but nothing came to mind besides some type of massive magic. He could barely believe there was someone who could do such a spell by themselves and thought that it could have possibly been something done by multiple people who came together for its casting. He had put together a small group of WFTC members who would be tasked to look into the events going on in one of the towns that was one of the first to see the change in the world. The group had a few names that were known in the guild/company but for the most part was made up of newer faces on purpose for Cirven to give them some experience with how to handle a situation through a hands on approach. He stood up and spoke to the task force that sat around him. "We are here everyone. Be ready for anything as this place is one of the first area that noticed the happenings going on in the world. We are to investigate here and try to fix what we can. Do not get in over your head and make sure to stick in groups of two so we can support each other like we have discussed already." The members nodded to him and minutes later their airship landed just outside of the town where they came out of it and made their way into the town.

It seemed like a regular town by the looks of it but it somehow felt off. The people were moving around sporadically and acting as though something was different. Cirven and his group spread out which left him with one of the greener members of the WFTC, a man named James. He was a fairly average looking man with pale skin an average body build and brown hair. Cirven could tell he was very new to this type of work but had the want to do it more so than most people. He had a ethernano handgun hanging from his side which told the CEO that he was a holder type mage. James was jittery and was very nervous about the assignment as well as being teamed with Cirven. The devil's hearing allowed him to listen in on James telling some of the other members of the group such earlier while they were on their way. "James, we need to question some of these people and see what it going on. With how they are acting though that might be a hassle so be ready to pull that trigger if we need to." James nervously nodded to his superior and made sure to stick close to him. Cirven made his way to a man who was moving things out of his home and into a ethernano powered vehicle. "Hey sir, can you help us out really quick?" Cirven spoke out to the man and was reponded to by a glare from the man. "You want my help? MY HELP?!" The man yelled out angrily at them causing Cirven to put his hands up to show he meant no harm. "We do not mean any harm to you, sir. We are here to try and help to figure out what is going on here and resolve the issue." Cirven spoke out while holding up his hands. "I WILL NOT HELP YOU! YOU DON'T DESERVE MY HELP! WHAT YOU DO DESERVE FOR BOTHERING ME IS SOMETHING ELSE!" The man kept yelled out and then quickly moved his hand up to face Cirven and released a blast of magical energy. Cirven reached back and grabbed James before jumping out of the way of the attack so that he could take James with him. This allowed them both to dodge the attack that exploded into magical energy which seemed to cause the man to become even more irritated. "YOU DESERVE TO DIE SO JUST ACCEPT IT!" The man yelled out ans readied another attack. "Watch my back." Cirven spoke out and then seemed to vanish from sight before reappearing in front of the man and slapping his hand upwards so that his attack was sent into the sky above them where it exploded like the earlier one. Cirven then quickly chopped his hand on the side of the man's neck in an attempt to knock him out but the chop was not enough and seemed to only anger the man more who grabbed him by his clothes. "YOU....! DIE!!!" Both of the man's hands started to glow with the earlier energy he had shot out as he readied another attack. A ethernano bullet came whizzing by Cirven's head and hit the man in his head making the man let go of Cirven and stop his attack as well as sending him stumbling backward in pain. "ARGH! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!? I'LL KILL YOU!!" The man yelled out and put both of his hands together which quickly released a blast towards James who froze in place seeing the attack heading towards him. Before the attack could hit James, Cirven appeared in front of him and put his hand out in front of him which stopped the attack but caused it to explode out over his body. "SIR!" James broke through his nervousness and yelled out. The explosion suddenly looked like something was sucking it up and it swirled into the center of its explosion. The explosion clearing up showed that it was being absorbed by Cirven. "Nice watching my back but remember I have yours also." Cirven spoke and James nodded back slowly as he was stunned by what he had saw. "NO! NO! NO! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DIE! SO JUST DI-" The man spoke out but before he could finish Cirven was in front of him and quickly grabbed the man's head and brought it down to his now rising knee, cracking it into the man's skull and leaving him unconscious on the ground. "That guy had a really hard head. My knee feels like it just hit some super hard steel or something." Cirven spoke out as he rubbed his kneecap in an attempt to get rid of the pain and was not looking at James.

"Si..Sir..? I feel.. Somethi..Ugh.." James spoke out and fell to the ground grasping at his chest from some sort of pain that built up there. "Are you oka-" Cirven tried to speak but something started to cause a great pain in his chest that caused him to crumble to the ground and go unconscious.


"I..I..I was here no..Not too long ago.." A much more timid voice spoke out from Demi's shadow before her shadow started to change into Cirven who was twiddling his fingers nervously. "I...I...Lead a group here and we.. Did not all come back. On.. Only I made it.. And now.. I am scared and shy of everything... It.. Its just too much.. To even be here.. A...Around you guys..." Cirven's speech was different and his gestures of not being able to look anyone in the eyes or even to keep his eyes from darting around as if he was scared of everything around him showed that he was not the same person somehow. "You.. Are.. All here... To.. Hel.. Help me.. Find.. The rest of the team... An..An....And fix this!" He forced out and had to restrain himself from biting his nails as he spoke which he did immediately after finishing.

WC: