Clues to Home (Job w/cirven & Yona)

When Cirven had told Ada that he wouldn't allow them to use Zinny to travel to the ancient ruins in Fiore, the slayer's face quickly changed to a frown. His smile confused her till he spoke. "What?" She questions him as she slowly stands up and glances to Tammy before she quickly hauls ass after him. "Cirven?!" She cries out as she wanted information, but he refused to answer her. She groans to herself as she rubs her temple a little, accepting after a bit that he wasn't going to answer her yet.

When she was outside with Cirven, and he instructs Tammy to get on Ada's shoulders, the exceed looked up to Ada for a moment before she shrugs and flies to get up on her companions shoulders. "What kind of ride?" The purple cat asked. Ada nods as she was curious as well. Though, their answer was quickly given when Cirv touched Ada's shoulder and they were suddenly morphed into the sky as purple lightning? Clearly the girls weren't expecting this though as they went through clouds and were suddenly in the area of the ancient ruins. Ada glances towards the left over electricity before she looked over at Cirven with her mouth opened in awe. "Can we do that again?!" Tamaria practically shrieks on Ada's shoulders. Adalinda finally let up a laugh as she nods her head. "That was actually fun." She confessed. She stopped laughing though as she started to let her eyes wander around the area. Tammy grows quiet for once, and lets her dragon slayer take in the sights for a moment. "Smell anything?" She questions quietly.

The black haired girl nods a little, sniffing a bit before she glanced to Cirven. "I kinda smell something... familiar?" She mutters as she wasn't sure what she was smelling, but she knew she smelt it at the guild before. She then shakes her head and looks around. "I don't smell Metalicana or anything else though..." Her eyes look over at a ruined building at the outskirts of the rest of the ruins and started to make her way towards it. Two of the walls, the back wall and the wall perpendicular to it, were the only two that were still there. Tammy had to hold onto Ada to keep from falling as the dragon slayer picked up speed to get to the ruined building. She made it and put her hand to the wall as she slightly walked around the remains of the building. "What's it, Ada?" Tammy questions, but she felt she knew what the building could of been already though. She stopped just before the end of the wall, where she'd have to turn to look around to see what remained of the inside of the crumbled thing, if at all. She seemed to freeze though. Her fears for once being portrayed on her face. Was she going to find something she wanted to in there? Or was there going to be nothing to give up her hopes already. Tamaria looks over towards Cirven, wondering if he had followed her, or if he knew anything to say to Ada as she didn't seem like she was going to move without a push right now.

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"On the way back we will probably have to use that unless you want to take the long way back for some reason so yeah, we can do it again." He grinned at the the woman and her exceed. He knew he would get a good reaction from them both seeing as he had been training Adalinda for awhile now though his new seven year old form would change that a bit. "It might lose its fun a bit with how the surprise factor is gone." The floating CEO grinned as he continued talking. He found it annoying the he was only three feet tall from his reverting to his younger age so he decided to float in the air to feel he taller and could talk to others at eye level. He disliked feeling as if he were below anyone in any way, especially in any embarrassing ways like he was in.

He looked around the area seeing the ruins that were around them. He was slightly surprised to see that there were little others around them investigating the area. It was a popular area for archaeologists to be and searching for any sort of magical items lost to history somehow. He himself had been here a few times for different jobs in search of certain items for clients. It was a tedious thing for him to do with the traps being placed inside of the ruins but he took it as a sort of a challenge for him to overcome, aiming to become stronger from it in some way. The scents around them that he picked up on were not all that familiar to him but he hoped that something would get his mentee's attention which it looked like something had caught her attention by her body language. "Anything that reminds you of someone or something, Ada?" He asked her after Tamaria questioned her. The dragon slayer said it was familiar but not her foster father. Cirven was confused by her explanation but followed her as she moved towards a building away from the other ruins a bit. It had seen much better days from how plants and other growths had formed all over it. He drifted through the air following her while being cautious of what was around them. He didn't know what she picked up the scent of but did not want to be caught off guard by anything. Before she went around one of the ruined walls of the building she looked back towards him and Tamaria with a face of fear; a face that he was familiar with from his past experiences. He moved through the air closer to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. He felt weird about it as his hand was not big enough to cover her shoulder like he wanted and it reminded him of how small he was but he push those thoughts to the back of his mind. "We are here with you so whatever happens you have us here and you also have a family back in Tolgalen. Remember that." His child voice spoke to her which he hoped did not make her think less of what he said. "Just think too, if we have to fight a dragon or something it would be pretty fun...!" His eyes had a sort of fire to them as he said this which probably showed her he had some sort of ulterior motive. His look changed back to regular. "We have your back so no worries." He removed his hand from her shoulder and nodded to her as a signal for her to keep moving forward.

WC:

This was the most inane thing Sol had asked her to do yet. Between begging to do more field work and go outdoors for experience and complaining about always talking about the poisons and venoms of animals and not plants, Sol had finally conceded. He had taken her out, dropped her off near these ruins without explaining at all how she should get back to the guild, and given her a nigh impossible task. Yona was supposed to locate the rarest and most reclusive of beetles, the Red Diam Beetle. It exuded a deadly poison only known for its use by an older civilizations, hence the ruins. She had to locate this deadly beetle and bring one back in a tiny jar for inspection by Sol.

And so here she was, on her hands and knees. Without knowing what hormone combinations might draw out this specific species, she hadn't dared trying her usual swarm tricks. The last thing she wanted was an unnecessary swarm of beetles as she deigned to locate a specifically poisonous species. No magic involved, just her own hands digging into the earth here and there. Yona climbed up four different species of trees, examining the top and undersides of leaves. She picked at the bark to check beneath it and peered into tiny dark holes in the revealed roots. So far, nothing, not a damn beetle or ant or wasp she already knew of could be found. "Stupid beetles, stupid Sol," Yona grumbled. "I wanted him to use the poison on something so I could see it. If I wanted to crawl around an old ruins by myself for hours on end I would have--" She paused mid-rant and looked at the ruins. She had ignored the old crumbling rocks completely. What if.. what if the beetles were closer to the ruins than she had thought. Without an old civilization to keep their population at bay, why it made a lot of sense. "Cool, dark, protected," Yona whispered feeling hope light up inside of her. She hurried towards the base of the ruins, finding a layer of yellow-green moss clinging to the rocks. Yona peeled at it a bit with her fingers.

"If this doesn't work I am going to just scream," Yona said out loud. She bit her lip, and wiped her dirty hands on her dark slate pants. She wore comfortable pants of course, dark brown ankle boots, and a belt over her waist for holding up a couple of swinging satchels at her hip. Where else would she keep gardening tools and a couple of jars? Above that she had her usual big white coat, though that was tossed on the ground somewhere, after the first few hours she had been here; Yona had discarded the hot, heavy thing. She wore her wraps over her chest and a loose black halter top, cropped over her waist. For the short haired female, this was not ideal attire for her job out in these ruins, but then Sol hadn't really been forthcoming with what today's lesson was really going to be: keeping quiet and letting him teach the way he wanted to or dealing with the consequences of demanding field work when he wasn't sure she was ready for the next level of deadly toxins. She learned the lesson of course by now, but that didn't put her in anything other than a sour mood.

Yona opened up one of her satchels and pulled out a small rake looking tool with three prongs. She scraped it along the rock and let the moss fall off the corner of the stone. No beetles yet, but her green gaze was intense and focused, demanding the rock to give up its beetles, as if the rock somehow was hiding the Red Diam from her. A sudden hiss made Yona leap backwards and cry out in surprise. A large green snaked pulled itself out of a hole beneath the stone where she had been working, looked up at her and began to coil. When Yona retreated, the snake hesitated and then slithered back into its hole. Yona shouted and pointed at the rock, "I'm not afraid of you! Damn, snake! I don't even want your stupid hole! I just want some damn beetles!" It was pointless to yell at a snake, but it relieved Yona somewhat of her frustrations.

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Ada and Tamaria smile to their mentor as he said they'd take that rather fast trip to these ancient ruins back to Togalen with him. "Doubt the wow factor will be gone still." She grins back to him while she walked on with him. When they got to the ruined building, and Adalinda looked back at Cirven, she listened to him as he comforted a bit. A small smile on her lips as she nods to him slightly. "I think this might of been the building Metallicana had me living in to keep me safe from the weather and when he went to go get me food when I was really little before he taught me to hunt..." She admits as she looks up to the broken wall where a roof had used to be. Clearly it had seen better days. She then takes a deep breath and marches herself around the wall of the building till she froze while looking at the wall that was complete. Near the bottom, half covered by weeds, was her name carved into the stone. "Fuck..." She mutters to herself. She was half hoping that she was wrong that this had been her place of temporary residence, but now it wasn't. She walked up to the wall and fell onto her knees as she put her hand on the words. "Part one found..." She let her hand on the wall turn into a fist as she glances around the area for anything that might of been hers.

As she was looking around, she heard a voice and wiggled her ears a little as she tilted her head up. That was... Yona? What was she yelling about? A snake? She got up and started to walk around the building to go and confront her, realizing that the scent she smelled a moment ago was her. "Hey! What are..." As she walked along the wall, a half moss covered image caught the corner of her eye, making her stop in her tracks for a second before could walk past it. The image was just barely out of view from where Yona was. Adalinda was about to look at it, but quickly shakes her head as she had an ominous feeling about what she did see of it. She walked around the remaining wall of the building, and saw Yona by another one a short distance from her. "Hey!" She shouts again. Tamaria had followed after Ada and had fluttered up to wipe away the moss with her claws to uncover a rather faded red dragon-like painting directly on the wall. She tilts her head to it, wondering why such a strange symbol would be here of all places. Tammy didn't notice that Adalinda had gone over to Yona to see the snake in the whole. "Sure you're not afraid of a snake? Seems like you are with how you're yelling." She gives the other a rather toothy grin before she shakes her head. "What are you looking for? Beetles? Jeez... I don't remember beetles being around here... Then again... It's been a long while..." She taps her cheeks with a finger before she shrugs her shoulders as she glanced back to the building she was just at. She gasped as her face lit up. "Hey! Help Cirven and I search for anything to lead us to my father, Metallicana!" She says as she grabs the plant mages arm. Of course she didn't entirely like her magic, but it could help. "You can see about something with the plants around here to remove it or something!" She then drags the other over to the building she was at, pausing by the part of the wall that had been hidden from view.

The image that Tammy had uncovered made all the color drain from Ada's face as her eyes grew rather wide and she let go of Yona. "Ada...?" Tammy hadn't moved from the wall, and was instantly seeing her slayer shaking at just the sight of that symbol made her worry. "Ada... what's going on?" Tammy quickly flew up, in view of the dragon head thing, letting her purple eyes bore down on her. Ada put a hand to her head, letting her eyes look down at the ground. "I don't... Fuck... I don't remember that symbol... I do... But... I don't..." She moves around Tammy to look at it again. She scowled at it as she was trying to remember it, but she continued to shake. What was up with this symbol that seemed to have all her fear flags raise up and telling her to get away and cry? "Wait..." Ada took a step back as she put her hand to her head again, trying to hold back the now pounding headache she was getting from trying to figure it out. "It's a cult..." She mutters. She quickly lifts her head up and twitches her lips, trying to remember anything. "I think... they worshiped dragons, like they were gods... I'm not... I'm not sure... how I even know this... or if it's right..." She mutters as she rubbed her head. It hurt more now. Now she just wanted to punch something, and that symbol seemed like something she would gladly damage.

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The small Cirven was ready to leap out and deal with whatever was on the other side of the wall. Adalinda was his mentee and as such he had taken a sort of big brother position for her when it came to things so he did not want to leave her to deal with situations without him. The trio found themselves looking around the old ruins that Adalinda had lead them to which lead Cirven to look around them for any sign of something that caught his eye. To him it looked like a regular area that had not seen much activity from anyone for many years. The moldy smells it caused his nose to pick up on told him that it had not had anyone here for much longer than his eyes could discern. His mentee then spoke out about this place being somewhere her foster parent had her stay while he was taking care of her. Cirven understood why pretty much. A dragon would not understand building a house of something similar or want to even try doing such most likely. They were the types to find or make a cave of some sort for them to dwell in. They would also commonly be known for staying in open forest areas that were usually deep inside of such forest. "Sounds like he really knew how to treat a lady." Cirven joked just before Adalinda gasped out a word upon finding something. He floated to her and saw that her name was etched into the wall of the ruins they were looking in. "That answers that question of you living here or at least being her. Your hand writing looks pretty bad, by the way." He continued to joke with her even though he knew the situation might have not called for it. It was probably even more funny for Tamaria and Adalinda as the devil's hand writing was not all that great either. Alisha had compared his handwriting to if a feral animal had found a writing utensil and flung it around a room while somehow hitting a piece of paper ever so often.

His ears twitched as a the sound of a voice came into them. The voice was not from too far away it seemed. They had been saying that she was not afraid of a snake but it sounded more like she was telling herself that for some sort of self encouragement more than anything. Cirven knew the voice and knew it a bit too well for how much trouble she had caused in the past for him but she had grown into a much better person with her time being around him and the others. "Yona, you have fought against much worse than a petty snake and lived so please don't be afraid of it. Do I have to tell Johann to add some sort of snake training for you?" He spoke out as he moved out of the ruins they were in to spoke the woman not too far way from them. Adalinda called out to the other woman also but stopped mid-sentence for some reason provoking Cirven to look back to his mentee somewhat confused as he saw her shaking her head. She then continued speaking to the other woman and invited her to help them with their current personally assigned quest. "It would be a good thing to have you with us for your magic with plants and controlling them. It is something neither of us can really do. We are more of the brute force types at times. What are you doing here anyways? Some random job?" He welcomed her to join them while also questioning her.

Cirven then saw Adalinda notice the symbol that Tamaria had uncovered and it was as if she had seen some sort of ghost from her past. It was a look that Cirven knew fairly well with his time of dealing with people who had darkness shrouding their pasts. "Ada? You okay? Whats wrong?" The devil could visibly see his mentee shaking from seeing the symbol like there was something dark taking over her mind. Cirven was about to act and help her when he saw her eyes stare down in front of her and her hand go to her head. It reminded him of when he had remembered things in his past too quickly. Things that were painful and better left to rot in the back of his own mind. "Ada..." Was all he could really say as she explained herself. She suddenly had a spark of a memory come to her it sounded like and she told them that the symbol was of some sort of cult that worshiped dragons like they were gods which the devil knew for a fact were two separate things. "I'm guessing you had some sort of run in with these guys as a kid then? If you can't remember it don't force yourself to. Some things are better left forgotten. I'd know that a bit too well." He placed his hand on Adalinda's back and patted it a few times lightly. "Do they have any sort of relation to Metallicana? I'm kind of hoping they don't so if we end up coming into contact with these guys we can get some sort of action going on. I need to get my muscles warmed up or else I might lose them." He teased her a bit again in hopes of getting her in a better mood. He knew the entire situation was not going to be easy for her as she was trying to find her family. Something that the devil could relate to as he did the exact same thing in the past. He only hoped that her attempt at finding them would go well as well as what came after that. "Like I said earlier, We are here to help you. Don't feel like you are alone in any of this, Ada."

He removed his hand from her back and examined the symbol more himself. It didn't seem as though it was as old as the rest of the ruins around them. It was still old but much more recently added probably as some sort of worshiping area from what Cirven could put together. "I'm thinking they came here to worship their 'Gods'. It is weird though because it doesn't look as old as everything else around her. Can you remember anything else about them, Ada? Information is a huge thing for possible enemies that we should exploit as best we can. Rather not get caught off guard by them summoning some sort of dragon god on us or something." He spoke as he moved his face closer to the symbol and then backed it away from it over and over as if trying to see something different in it from being away from it or closer.

WC:

Yona blew some of her short green hair out of her eyes. She pursed her lips and exhaled, huffing and slumping her shoulders as she stared at the rock wall. Finding this Red Diam beetle was utterly hopeless but going back and proving Sol right, having to sit there for hours reading or listening to him lecture was just not an option she wanted to take. Yona jumped when Ada appeared, teasing and asking if she was afraid of the snake. She turned her head, confused and closed her eyes tight. Then she opened them and saw Ada still standing there. "What are you doing out here? Of all the people to bump into in the middle of who knows where..." She heard Ada's comment about beetles not being around in the area and thought her head might explode with the sudden ferocity of her anger. Yona had been practicing control of her emotions and instead she swallowed it down. I swear, she thought to herself, if Sol sent me out here for a fictional beetle, I will kill him and not even Cirven will stop me.

Drawing her out of her thoughts, Adalinda pulled her by the arm and dragged her towards the wall, going on about helping her and Cirven find her father, Metallicana. Yona blinked as she saw Cirven come into view, thinking, well speak of the devil. Metallicana sounded like a dragon name, or else a really poor choice for the guy. "You're missing your father?" She managed to ask softly, looking over to Ada and then up at Cirven. At Cirven's comments she tensed a bit, still feeling the frustrations of why she was stuck out here in the trees looking for a dumb bug. "I am not afraid of snakes! Don't you dare tell him I need snake training! Fricking Sol dumped me out here to find some beetle." It was loud, forceful, but her tone wasn't really angry, she was doing a decent job of controlling her annoyances. Especially since her guild leader added that she would be an asset to their group hunt for this father of Ada's. Compliments did well to soothe her, putting her mind off the beetles and off of Sol and onto the situation at hand. "Well I guess I could try to help," Agreed Yona.

When Adalinda's eyes widened, the green haired young woman got quiet. She looked pretty badly shaken and she stepped to the side to allow Cirven to approach her. She talked of a cult worshiping dragons and Cirven talked as if it was normal conversation and Yona took a tentative step backwards, wondering just what she had agreed to. Adalinda hadn't ever looked as shaken up as this. Maybe finding her father wasn't such a good idea. She allowed Cirven to speak at length about Metallicana, asking about a relation between the cult and her father. Yona made the connection and assumed that yes, indeed her father was a dragon. He asked if she could recall anything else and Yona looked down at the three pronged garden rake still in her hand. She could see her coat resting on a rocky ruin nearby and gave it a nod, making a note to not forget it out here. The plant mage put her little rake away in her hip satchel and then looked up as Cirven seemed to stop talking. "I have no idea what's going on. Ada, you haven't looked this bad since SwollenMan. Where is your father? Why are you looking for him? What is this place?" Yona had a slightly exasperated expression on her face. There were a lot of questions and she was not so sure that Ada and Cirven would answer them.

She had known he was her mentor and felt almost like she was intruding, though it was Ada who had literally dragged her over to the wall. Yona looked at the wall, observing the red dragon painting and then it hit her- the red color was not red like the color of iron or clay, a natural pigment from the ground. It was red like the berries which grew exclusively near sources of water. Some variant of a cranberry which thrived less in acidic soil and more in water rich soil, the berry she had in mind's name was slipping her mind. She mumbled to herself, "Cheberry, Chuberry, Ch- Ch- Cho berry..?" Yona frowned, then brightened as it hit her. "Charberries!" Yona spoke up and gave a slight gesture towards the wall, "I don't know if it helps guys, but I think I recognize that shade of red. Whoever painted it here got the color from these berries that only flourish near water. We find some source of water, maybe we find them?" It was unlikely, a long shot, not too mention that it was possible that the source of water might have been used up, or that whomever lived near them might not have lived in that place anymore. Were caves common out here? Rivers, waterfalls, ponds? Yona turned her head in a half circle to gaze around and shrugged, "I could be wrong," she admitted.

WC: 860+726= 1586

Everything seemed to be leading the group of WFTC members towards some sort of goal that the devil could not exactly see was leading. He disliked when he could not predict things somehow and it forced him into situations where things could go out of his control and leave him losing more than he ever wanted. It was all peculiar to him too because the symbol they had found of the cult reminded him of a similar symbol that a certain old enemy of his had. His mind drifted off into thought over it...


A blue haired Cirven sat on the back of Zinnath as she flew through the air. The way he dressed and carried himself were different from the way he was in the future. He wore a blue jacket with a white shirt under it with matching pants and shoes. Around his neck was a blue scarf that too. Scarfs were a big thing for him back then and he enjoyed wearing them as much as he could just for the look it gave him. He could only think now about how childish it was though he still did enjoy to wear one as a sort of way to reminisce over his past and what he had done. On his side and hanging from a belt that was around his waist was a katana. A sword of great power that he used time and time again back then as it was linked to his magic and was passed down to him by his father before the man had passed. It was a treasured item that he would use to protect himself and those around him.

Sitting in front of him was one person that if he could have traded places with and keep in this world he would have; his sister, Aayla. She had blue hair put up into two pig tails that was a sort of signature look for her. She was wearing one of her many stylish looks that was made for physical activities. Cirven never really understood why she had to look so stylish when they went on jobs but she did. It probably didn't matter what she wore while they were on jobs because they were known for completing each job put in front of them and because of that their team known as Holy Tempest had become a big name in their area and even more so in their guild, Sabertooth. Cirven would never really say it but he was proud of his sister and what they had accomplished. It wasn't so much that he didn't want to say it but he didn't know how he would say it to her. He always felt like a failure of an older brother because he was not there after she was taken during the time of the attack on the village they lived in together. He had gained a bit more confidence in their relationship as brother and sister but he went years thinking she was dead along with the rest of his village, leaving him without a second chance to be a brother. So naturally he did not know exactly how to be a brother to her after years of being separated and giving up on it.

"Big brother, we are almost to the village that put up the job app. Are you dazing off again?" Aayla spoke out without turning her head to him. He stuttered in his reply. "I-errm-Yeah. Sorry, I just keep thinking of things. Don't worry about it. I will be able to focus on this job." She let out a sigh before speaking more. "Do you even remember what the job has us doing?" Cirven's eyes widened as he tried to remember the information put down on the job app. "Uhh.. It has us fighting some gang of guys who want to steal money from a the client, right?" Aayla shook her head. "That was the last job that you forgot.. I'm surprised you remember it now but not when we had to do it.. It is sort of amazing that your mind processes are that bad sometimes." She teased him while chuckling a bit. "Hey! I have a lot on my mind at times!" Aayla stopped chuckling and explained their job. "We are going to look into a disturbance in the area. The client is concerned about their village because other villages and towns nearby have been destroyed by some mysterious threat. So we are to meet up with the client, get some more info on the situation and then be detectives about the whole thing." Cirven nodded to her explanation. "Okay. I remember reading that now." Aayla gave a silent nod to her brother who sat behind her. "We are almost there so be ready." He nodded again and went back to looking at the scenery that was below them as they flew. Aayla periodically would pet Zinnath and make sure she was okay and talk to her as they flew through the sky. The two were more like friends than owner and pet which was something that Cirven made sure to make a thing between Zinnath and himself later.

the trio landed in a fairly small town-like village that seemed to be built in in the desert area of Fiore. It looked to be a bit left in the past on some technology of the current age but that was expected with the smaller establishments in Fiore. Aayla pet Zinnath and had her fly off to a nearby area where she would wait for them. It was never a good idea to have the large serpent with them as they did jobs because people were intimidated by dragons and even though she was shy to others that did not prevent them from being fear filled with her around. Zinnath was always reluctant to leave but she would do so and knew that if she was needed that they would call her. The siblings waved Zinnath off as she flew away and then found themselves moving through the town looking for their client. They were to meet him at a local restaurant and lodge for travelers through the desert. The two would never get to meet their client though.

A red haired woman would make her way into the town with a hood over her head and most of her face. A grin would come over her face as she pulled out a black key from under her hooded cloak and hold it in front of her. "This town will be another stepping stone in testing out power..." The black key would glow with a dark magical energy and expand more and more until it covered the woman's body. "Come out dark king of dragons! Show your form to those below you! Make them fear and respect you! ZARGAN!" The woman called out and held the black key up above herself causing a tremor of magical power to envelop the area of the town.

On the other side of the town, Cirven and Aayla felt the tremors of power and went to find out what was causing it where they were brought face to face with a dark dragon that was pulling itself from out of a large dimensional pocket and into their world. "What the hell...?!" Cirven spoke out as he felt the massive magical presence the dragon held. "Aayla.. That is a dragon!" Aayla looked at the towering creature in front of her. "It might know Hydrianna. It might know where my mother is." She spoke as she looked at the dragon but Cirven put his fingers to his lips and blew which called Zinnath to them. "Aayla we need to stop it! We will need Zinnath for this!" She nodded to him reluctantly and Zinnath came to them after a few minutes. The duo jumped onto their dragon companion and flew into the air to attack the dark dragon. On top of the black dragon was the red haired woman who's hood had fallen off showing the face of a woman with a scar down her face. Cirven would find out her name was Nakiya later and that she was a part of the Cor Torva group known as 'Family' that he was a part of and was charged with leading when he was younger. Their memories were removed from them at this point so they did not remember each other.

The two sides battled back and forth but the much larger dark dragon was not a foe that the siblings with their serpent dragon could deal with. They could only postpone the inevitable. This was quickly shown to them when Zargan started to charge a blast of dark energy in his mouth which was directed at the town. They attempted to stop it but were blown away into the desert sending them away from the town and each other. Cirven woke up in the sand of the desert where his sister had suddenly landed with a wound across her chest from being hit by Zargan. Cirven's body was barely responding to what he wanted to do but he managed to get up and get to his sister where he held her and cursed Nakiya who was in the distance, planning to kill the siblings and Zinnath but could not as summoning Zargan took too much out of her.

The siblings and Zinnath would survive the encounter but this would lead Cirven down the path of becoming stronger while also pulling the siblings apart for a short time after Cirven found out more about himself but one thing stayed in his mind; revenge against the dark dragon for what it had done.


Cirven's mind came back to reality as Adalinda spoke about hearing water. He had somehow followed them through the ruins while his mind was stuck on the past. Something that surprised him but he decided to not say anything about it to the others yet. The symbol might not even be something that was related to Zargan so much but a part of his mind seemed to want to latch onto that idea for some reason. "Lead the way, Ada." He spoke out after some time of being silent as he was trapped in his own mind and thought. He hoped they did not catch it but figured they would and would question him at some point about it.

WC:

Yona listened to the details in Adalinda's story. She didn't know much about the woman's history and Ada and she had never really shared in personal details before. Metallicana was a dragon and her father, and when Adalinda was only ten years old. Yona's green eyes took in the area around them, gazing at the ruins and the trees and then back to the symbol on the wall. This was her childhood home, or close to it. Yona might not have chosen to live in a place like this, but she understood the value of family. Sato and her father meant everything to her. She tried to imagine her strong father, who had taught her everything that she knew, who had raised her in the greenhouse with little Sato always by his side. His children were never a bother and he could hardly bare having them any farther away. For Ada's sake, Yona felt a bit of anger and sadness that the woman had not experienced what Yona had always thought of as so precious to her. How could a father leave his child? She focused her energy on the color of the symbol, announcing where she thought it might have come from, and Ada surprised her by grabbing her shoulders.

Yona was shaking a little in Ada's excitement and Yona shot Tamaria a look that read something between 'help me' and 'did I do something miraculous?'. Yona glanced up at Cirven who looked far away and lost in his thoughts and frowned, he would not be any help either. "If there is a waterfall or a creek nearby, that should be easy to find." Yona tried comforting Adalinda, "If you can't recall or are worried about heading in that direction, remember this is my domain. I can help." Adalinda began walking away and Yona followed. She slid her large white coat on, tucking her arms into the sleeves and then jerking the coat upwards with a little hop. Cirven was still quiet and dazed in the eyes, though he followed robotically behind Adalinda as well. Yona elbowed him in the side a couple of times and said, "Pay attention, would you? You have to keep your head in the present, this place could be dangerous. And I don't know anything about dragons." When the plant mage lifted her head, releasing Cirven from her annoying little nudges, she smiled widely. A beautiful stream of water flowed over the rocks. It was fast moving, but very shallow, and Yona could see straight through to the small rounded rocks at the bottom.

It was actually quite pretty. Yona bent down and ran her hands through the water, letting it comb through her fingers and rinse away the dirt accrued from her time out here searching for those beetles. Yona made a face thinking again as the chilly water slipped past her hands. If it was a strong waterfall, she expected to see more rocks, larger ones, more misshapen like those near her mountain village. This stream indicated that if there were a nearby falls it was greatly smaller than from time past. These rocks seemed to show that the water used to be higher here, this stream was once a river. Something had slowed the river down or diverted some of the water away upstream. She was sure of that much, though not sure enough to bet her life on it. Either that or the falls could be used for power, maybe the water diverted was at the falls themselves. It was strange considering all the applications when she could not hear any rushing water. Yona looked up at Ada and said, "Do you hear anything? A falls somewhere?" Yona sifted her right hand through the stream and pulled out a small golden ring with an engraved symbol upon it. It looked similar to the one on the wall that they had seen before, but certainly not identical. The water had worn away too much at the soft metal for the design to be clear at all.

"You know what I think? Up to that steep hill there, through the trees, you can see that's where the water is coming from. If the falls are still there, something is changing the flow pattern in the water. Either it is diverted from its path, or it's being harnessed for energy, or something else. It reminds me of some of the things I saw as a child myself in the mountains. It's not really that common outside of rural communities." The green haired mage stood up and shook her hands off, then wiped her damp hands on her pants to dry them. She slipped the little golden ring on her right pinky finger and held it up to the light peeking in between the trees above, discreetly examining it and hoping her two companions hadn't noticed. Cirven finally spoke after some time, and it caught Yona off guard. She stared at him as he suggested for Ada to lead the way. Yona supposed Ada was quite good at using her nose and ears, much better than she was, but was it such a safe idea to stride off looking without a plan? Then again, Yona thought, that was exactly what Adalinda and Cirven had come here to do. They had come seeking Metallicana out, not to play it safe and wait until her father somehow appeared to them. The ring blinked in the light and Yona shrugged at the find. Maybe the golden ring meant something, or maybe it didn't.

"I'll follow you wherever you want to go guys, but I thought I should show you--" Yona chickened out. Why worry Ada even more over something that was probably nothing. She swallowed and hastily said, "I should show you just that the stream was coming out up there." It was true they could all see this easily, but Yona wasn't sure what else to say on such short notice. Yona stuffed her hands into her coat pockets and would follow if Ada began going up the hill.

WC: 1586+1013=2599

He put on a smile and looked towards his mentee and Yona. "Don't either of you stress about me. I have been through a lot of different things so I might zone out a bit as my mind compares it to those times. It is my way of checking if things relate to my past at all. I'm hoping this one does not relate to anything from back then but we will handle it when and if it happens." He spoke as he floated in the air and trailed behind the women. He did not want to explain that he was thinking that this situation related to a certain king of dark dragons. It would overly complicate the situation, especially if the dragon was not involved at all. "Lead the way, Ada. I'll keep you updated if anything rings any bells for me." He continued to smile at her as he spoke. He figured she would not see through his words well enough or want to question him with everything going on which seemed to be the case as she swiftly made her way up a tree and scouted out an area. Tamaria followed her up by flying and questioned why she didn't ask for help. Adalinda seemed like she was being more independent with what she was doing. He didn't know if this was a bad or good thing yet but he hoped it was the former over the latter.

"Sorry, Yona. I will be right back though." He flew up towards where his mentee was with her companion but before he could get up to them Adalinda jumped down back to the ground. "In a bit of a rush?" He spoke to her as she was caught by Tamaria and brought to the ground. "Ada..." He spoke out as she spoke about how she was going with or without them before jogging off. His eyebrow twitched in anger as she ran off without them. She reminded him of himself when he used to throw all of the luggage on his on back and did not ask for help, much less take it. It looked like she was going down a similar path to him is his past and the thought of it irked him. "ADA!" He called out as his body morphed into black electricity and he zipped through the air made completely of the energy for her to watch move around her and then in front of her in near the water of the river bank. "You have friends here so remember that we are here to help. Don't be too pride filled and an idiot to realize that." He spoke as his body materialized back into his child-like body facing her. His eyes and face showing how stern he was with his words. "With that said, keep up." He grinned and turned around from her before quickly moving through the air towards their destination. He knew it probably wasn't the smartest move to have a race of sorts to where they were going but his childish attitude kicked in and he felt like doing it.

He zipped through the air moving side to side from over the land and over the water of the river. He felt a bit more alive than he did earlier where he felt pretty bored of just looking around at things. A feeling told him that it was his childish tendencies but he again did not care. He had to have fun where he could after all because this was like his second chance at having a childhood in this life. A chance that he did not want to let go through his hands. He turned around when they were not too far away from their destination as he flew through the air and looked towards the women behind him as he continued to move towards their destination. He was surprised that they had found a way to keep up with him but still chuckled at them. "You guys are a bit too slow for me, huh? I think you both need more training!" He yelled out. As he was looking back at them something moved in the river below him and as he was laughing at his friend it jumped from out of the water with its mouth wide open towards him. The creature was a sort of aquatic lizard-like shark with scales that had a mouth big enough to swallow the child-like CEO whole. Cirven did not have enough time to react to the attack and was swallowed whole. From out of the water came out multiple aquatic humanoid creatures that looked similar to the creature in the water but were smaller. They bared their sharp teeth and clawed hands towards the women and prepared to attack them.

WC:

The nineteen-year-old commented on the golden ring but Yona kept her hands shoved deep in her pockets, pretending not even to hear Adalinda. It wasn't every day that Yona found a little treasure on her adventures and the ring was going to be her little reward for helping Ada and Cirven out. It was her little souvenir for having come out to the jungle as well, something to show to Sol to prove that although the Red Diam beetle had proven too much of a challenge to locate, she had actively tried. Maybe that would lessen the amount of work he gave her as punishment for not completing the task. Or maybe she would be even luckier and he would simply praise her for being flexible and helping out the guild when she was needed. She began to follow Ada up the hill when Ada asked her about locating the charberries. Yona rose both of her eyebrows and said, "Are you kidding? In the jungle? You want me to locate one plant!?" She shook her green haired head back and forth, "Unbelievable. Let me guess you want me to transform all these trees into gold too?" The unreasonable and impossible request was scoffed away with Yona's attitude. She had been polite and helpful thus far but Adalinda had been moody, going from happy, excited, sad and then determined and sarcastic. Yona wasn't about to ride the rollercoaster of emotions that the woman was clearly on with her.

Luckily, Adalinda had turned to Cirven the same way Yona had, noticing his quirks and asking for answers. Cirven was fairly dismissive about it and if he wasn't concerned, Yona saw no reason for her to be either. Next, Adalinda began climbing up a tree, jumping up the branches like some simian creature. Yona shook her head in disbelief, readying to speak with Cirven. She even opened her mouth to say something about how crazy Adalinda was acting when Cirven apologized and made to follow Adalinda. "You two are nuts," the plant mage murmured, just as Tamaria caught the falling woman as she had jumped out of the tree. "Hey maybe if you ask for my help and for me to join you, you could at least try to keep me in the loop." Adalinda raced through her words like an eager child and Yona crossed her arms impatiently. At the mention of the red berries and a waterfall ahead in the jungle, Yona said, "You know there are a ton of red flowers, red leaves, and red berries in a jungle, right?" She just didn't want the female to get her hopes up for nothing. What Yona wouldn't do to dump a whole glass of that river water on Adalinda's head, if for no reason other than to see her stop and breath for a second.

And like crazed maniacs both Adalinda and Cirven were off again, jogging or flying out of sight into the trees and greenery. Yona groaned and shook her head. How were they supposed to find tracks, or any other clues if the two were moving so quickly? This was pure ridiculous insanity. Yona looked behind her towards the beautiful clear stream and then down the hill towards the ruins. She could always go back to scraping the moss off the rocks and allowing snakes to scare her every five minutes. The plant mage studied her dirty nails and then she cast a spell, stepping lively into a tree and teleporting herself through the herbage until she had caught up to Cirven and Adalinda both. She arrived just in time to hear Cirven's taunting and watch him get eaten. Yona didn't even gasp in surprise; the idiot deserved it for his reckless race through the dangerous ruins and jungle terrain. Plus, there was no way he could not get out of that situation on his own. "Looks like you're the one who needs training," Yona shouted, despite that Cirven was already gone.

Lizard-like shark monsters with sharp teeth and clawed phalanges rose up from the river before them, having settled in for an ambush attack. Yona stomped her foot upon the ground and three bamboo shoots thrust from beneath the water, stabbing through one of the smaller monsters and skewering him like one who had gone spearfishing before. Not that she ever had. The monster squirmed and oozed radiant blood, which clouded up the river below it.

WC: 2599+741= 3340