Pioneer of the Void [Job; Vincent Gauss]

job info:

Crystal Swan was no more and, in its place, was the guild Aurora which was formed by the remaining members of Crystal Swan. Vincent didn't know what to make of it quite yet, but he did know what Aurora needed to be regarded as a legitimate guild in the eyes of the people of Fiore: a grand gesture. Vincent, through his connection with the Magic Council, was given a job of the utmost difficulty, a job classified as a hundred year. This job required him to accompany Bosco "scientists" to a planet code named Constantine. As far as Vincent could gather, these "scientists" were the equivalent of the magical scholars of Fiore and Pergrande, though instead of focusing on the magical causes of phenomenon they studied the material causes. Believing himself to be more or less aligned with these so-called scientists, in spirit at least, Vincent felt more than willing to serve as their bodyguard while they performed their duty of investigating this planet. Not only would he get to learn more about a subject with which he was quite unfamiliar, he would also get to see a strange new world and make a great stride in legitimizing his new guild whose emblem was a unicorn. One might think him foolish or arrogant for believing himself fit enough to take on such a mission, but the benefits to successfully performing this assignment were too great to pass up. Now, the white haired wizard found himself upon the Armstrong, what he was told was called a "space ship-" a piece of technology which allowed one to travel through the vast vacuum of space. All of this advanced technology fascinated Vincent in a way that magic could not due to his knowledge of the subject. As such, he wasted no time in introducing himself to the three scientists Bosco was sending to planet Constantine. Gwen, Robert, and George were the three he was tasked to protect. A brief conversation with each of them allowed Vincent to glean that none of them were particularly experienced in combat and that, in Bosco, those who wanted to become scientists spent little to no time engaging in real danger.

This was a curious idea to Vincent given that, in order to study magic, one had to engage with all creatures of all sorts in order to gain any meaningful information about how they utilized magic or how they came about as a result. Still, he could understand and appreciate the differences in their respective objects of study; material causes would allow one to spend more time studying in controlled environments. The three month space ship ride was a bit of an inconvenience, but Vincent brought the proper materials to create a portal back to Fiore once his mission was done. The scientists wouldn't need him to protect them once they were on the way back from the planet. "One would think that I create objects out of thin air, but that isn't exactly accurate to say. You could probably guess at what I'm doing with your knowledge of material causes." Vincent held his hand up and, after a brief exertion of magic, a beautiful glass cup appeared in his hand before filling with wine which streamed from an unseen faucet located right above the glass. "Hmm. I might guess that you're using the gas in the ship and altering it with magic to form it into glass in the shape of a cup. I'd also guess something similar for the wine." The white haired scholar nodded. "It's something like that. My magic allows me very precise control over inorganic matter in space and the ability to alter such things by either adding energy or removing it. Thankfully your spaceship has more than enough oxygen for such a small scale adjustment. The amount of difficulty and energy it takes to alter substances in this way increases exponentially with respect to scale." Gwen nodded and took the glass from Vincent before taking a small sip before quickly spitting it out.

"Yeah, the details of making drinks actually drinkable with respect to taste still elude me. It's the reason I usually go with making water - it's naturally pretty neutral tasting so there are no additional aspects such as taste I need worry about when creating it" he responded, smiling. "I see.... Well, we don't have such precise control over particles that small, but then again we don't need it to create delicious drinks" she said, handing him the glass and leading him to the kitchen of the ship. Inside was a coffee maker... probably. Vincent had seen basic coffee makers in Fiore, but this one, like all Boscan technology, looked a lot more advanced. He poured the glass out in the sink and set it down for washing later. After a short time, a steaming cup of coffee was produced by the machine and given to Vincent. He took a small sip and his eyes widened - it was delicious. The temperature and the taste were both perfect and the fluid was soon completely gone. "Not too bad, right? This little machine is capable of a analysis of whoever the drink is for and will produce according to the precise tastes and preferences of the consumer. Companies have been working on tweaking these kinds of machines for years; over time they've become better and better at detecting the precise way that different people take their coffee. Sugar content, the ratio of milk to coffee, the presence of caffeine, the type of roast, and many many more are all taken into account." The white haired mage was speechless. Such a machine could really analyze the psychological particularities of whoever used it? Could such a thing be possible? Of course it could, he was seeing it in action with his own eyes. Even so, it was quite amazing. "I see that there are very clear differences with what science concerns itself versus with what the study of magic concerns itself. The benefits of the former, though, seem to be quite a bit more numerous than I would have imagined."

WC: 1019/12000

Vincent decided that it would be a good idea to introduce himself to both Robert and George in a similar fashion. As such, he walked into the small lab on the ship which would be where the three scientists would be analyzing and testing the air, water, and soil samples they would acquire from planet Constantine. Robert was a much older man who seemed to be more interested in what he was presently studying rather than any kind of small talk. George, on the other hand, eagerly greeted the mage as he walked through the bay doors and into the lab. "Nice to meet you, I'm Vincent. I'll be the one who protects your group from whatever dangers we may encounter." "Oh? That's a relief. The name's George! My primary concern is the quality of the soil and any flora we might find on the planet. This here is Richard - he keeps to himself mostly, but he's brilliant." The white haired Fioran scholar nodded before raising an eyebrow to a curiously small machine that George produced and pointed at him. The curious machine slowly went from a low frequency drone to a high one when it was pointed directly at the mage which caused George's face to light up in surprise. "Say, Vincent, tell me. Would you happen to be a particularly powerful... wizard? Is that what you call yourselves? Sorry, I'm not really familiar with Fioran culture." The mage held his hand up and shook his head. "It's perfectly okay. Wizard is fine, mage also works. We're not too particular about what we're called, though I would say mage is a bit more frequently said. Wizard has a bit of an older connotation. And in response to your other question, I would say yes. I believe that I would be considered one of the stronger wizards in Fiore. I'm guessing that little machine there tells you more or less how much magic power someone has?"

George nodded his head. "I thought it might be helpful to know just how threatening certain creatures were. If you could believe it, the level of threat of a strange creature is directly tied to how much magical power they contain. As such, I've been trying to whip up a long range magical measuring tool, but so far it only works at about this distance." "Even so, I'm impressed you managed to make such a machine at all. Magic is inherently quite chaotic, so the fact that you've managed to find a way to glean any kind of meaningful measure of it is a feat which speaks to Bosco's sheer understanding of the natural world. When you've built up a powerful control over your magic, you can 'sense' more or less how powerful another magical entity is, so us magi don't need such tools thankfully. If we couldn't gauge magical threats naturally our lifespan would be much shorter." Some time passed and nothing particularly remarkable happened. Vincent made some more conversation with Gwen and George while Richard stuck to his project... whatever that was. One day, the white haired vanguard found himself in the kitchen along with Gwen and George. "But what would you do if we were overwhelmed with enemies? We need to know that you have some kind of trump card up your sleeve and we to know what it is. I don't want to go out on that planet without knowing that you can really deal with whatever threat we find." It was a natural concern, though George still came to his aid. "You saw what my scanner said. This guy's the real deal. I doubt we'll encounter anything on that planet that registers above a five hundred." The woman nodded."Yeah, I'll admit five hundred is pretty insane. There's nothing in Bosco we've tested with such a high DMP. But still. What if he's just a very potent healer? Your scanner doensn't measure attack potency, it just measure raw magical power." George was silent - Gwen was correct. If Vincent was just a powerful healer the group would most likely be doomed.

"Alright Gwen, I'll show you what I'll do if we encounter something particularly powerful. I don't mind showing what a master wizard is capable of." In an instant, the kitchen turned into a giant battlefield with dead knights littering the vast area. Somehow the small space of the kitchen turned into a much larger space that made it look as though they were outside and standing in a grass-less plain. Gwen and George were now standing and in awe of what they were seeing. "You... you didn't say you had control over illusions Vincent." He shook his head. "This is no illusion Gwen. I have some degree of control over space and the objects in it. What that translates to, as far as combat is concerned, is allowing me to create a small zone where I am may easily control everything made of matter." The white haired mage held his arms out with his palms facing away from him and, in the orange skies above the three scholars, one hundred sharp steel blades were formed out of seemingly nothing. He made a nodding gesture with his head so that the two would look up. Gwen and George saw the blades and, as soon as they did, Vincent dropped his arms and caused all of the blades to descend towards the ground at lightning fast speeds. Each of the blades struck the ground around them and, after all of the weapons had punctured the Earth, it was clear that there was a ring around the three. In an instant, the three were back in the kitchen and all of the blades were gone. "That's one of my stronger spells. I would even go as far as to say that it's one of the strongest ones I have. Few enemies can deal with an onslaught of so many powerful weapons. Of course, even I have my limits, but we should be fine. I was pressed once and I think I managed a thousand, though that's my upper limit."

WC: 2038/12000

Today was finally the day that their Armstrong landed Limbo and the three scientists wasted no time in setting up their equipment around various parts of the landing site. Vincent, like the proper vanguard he was, help set up the machines to extract soil, water, and air samples from the environment. They would take time to do their job effectively which resulted in the three scientists staying by their respective machine to keep track of the data. The days on this planet were a bit longer than the ones on Earthland, so it would be a while before the group returned to their ship. It didn't take long before a plant-like creature sprouted out of the ground near Gwen's station. "Hey Vincent, would you mind coming over here. There's something that looks threatening watching me." The call from his client came through what was called a "walkie-talkie," which, as far as he knew, was indistinguishable from some kind of long distance communication lacrima. In an instant Vincent was next to the woman thanks to his relatively precise control of space and saw the object of her concern. Vincent summoned his red blade: Samurai's Shame, and slowly walked towards the monster in his vision. Before he could get within striking distance, the creature spit out a seed that traveled at blinding speeds. He pulled the trigger on the sheath of his sword and the explosive mechanism activated, causing the sword to shoot out from its holster with only Vincent's right hand to guide its path. His sword, in a single horizontal motion, sliced through the seed that was more comparable to a bullet just before it got too close to the wizard. I see that the planet certainly has its own dangers. With swift movement he got closer to the monster while making sure that he was never directly in Gwen's path so as to avoid getting her hit by dodging one of the bullet seeds.

When the white haired mage got close enough, the plant that came up to his chest began to salivate a green substance that burned through the soil. I need to make sure I don't get hit by that. The plant spit out a torrent of acid at the agile mage who, with the help of some manipulation of forces, jumped high into the air before pointing his blade down and stabbing it into the head of what would be classified as the "Constantine Man Trap." Instead of dying, though, it simply began to leak acid from its new wound which caused Vincent to push himself backwards with a created force. With his blade still stuck in the plant and currently being corroded by acid, the scholar needed to come up with a plan quickly. He held his right hand out and controlled his blade so that it pushed deeper down into the plant before pulling his sword up into the air, uprooting the monster and causing it to die from a lack of sustenance. With a snap of his fingers, the red sword was back in his hand. He slashed at the air to remove the acid that was on it before putting it away it in its mechanically advanced sheath. It would probably be a good idea to take this back to the ship and see if the scientists can't do something with it. At the very least it'll give me a good opportunity to study the anatomy of one of the threats on this planet. I'm sure it's not going to be the last time I encounter such a creature. Vincent took note of the fact that, like a plant, the man eater couldn't move which led him to believe it didn't have the capacity for locomotion. This was a very big weakness that he could exploit by simply taking advantage of his ability to make erratic motions of various magnitudes due to his unique ability to manipulate the forces on objects in space.

Thankfully there were no other incidents during the rest of the day and the scientists manage to collect their respective samples in relatively peace. One the sun was beginning to set Vincent heard some sounds coming from the skies above. Vaguely bat shaped creatures were beginning to take to the skies en-masse. They glowed and did not look particularly friendly, so Vincent decided to call an end to the day's resource collection via the walkie-talkie. Gwen and George both agreed on their ends while Robert grunted which was as close to an acknowledgement as he was going to get from the older man. About thirty minutes later the young mage found himself aboard the ship. Everyone was accounted for, thankfully. Gwen and George were talking to themselves about the kind of promising preliminary data they had collected while Robert kept to himself and walked back to his lab to presumably continue his work in private. His business was none of Vincent, so the scholar pardoned himself and returned to his small living quarters. He cleared his table to make room for the plant monster and got to work. Unfortunately he couldn't glean any noteworthy information from the wilted plant due to the extensive internal damage that his sword had caused. I suppose I'll need to be a bit more precise next time I cut down these weeds. The are reminiscent of fly-traps... hm. I think I'll call them man-traps. That seems to be accurate enough. They sprouted up in response to our appearance, after all. Vincent took off his suit and headed for the shower - he was going to be on this planet for a while it seemed. Still, the pay was good and the information from some of Bosco's best and brightest was invaluable. When he exited the shower and redressed himself in his characteristic robes he looked outside and saw that the night sky was covered in a streak of light. Each little part of this giant white band was a ravenous monster bat and Vincent knew that if they were hostile as he assumed, then getting caught outside by them would be certain death. While he was curious why they didn't attack the ship, if they were hostile, he decided to count his blessings before going to sleep.

WC: 3082/12000

MP: 926
HP: 780

The next few days passed by without much trouble. Some more Constantine Man-Eaters attempted to halt the progress of the research but Vincent managed to take them out with relatively little ease due to his ability to move in very strange ways. Opponents made of organic matter which couldn't move, regardless of how powerful their attacks were, didn't stand much chance against an enemy that could not be hit and could strike just as hard as they could. Vincent, currently in his space suit, sat atop the Armstrong and looked around at the different research outposts that each of the three scientists had set up with respect to their specialties. He had made sure to set up a small magical circle next to the ship and given each of the scientists a lacrima that he had linked to the circle. If they were ever in trouble they could apply some pressure to the lacrima to be transported to the circle he had made next to the ship. Normally such localized space magic would require much more preparation and a much greater cost than a small bit of magic from an inherently non-magical person, but thanks to Vincent's innate understanding of spacial magic as well as his familiarity with rituals, he managed to create a practical portal on a small scale. Gwen and George seemed thankful and willing to take the assistance of a mage, but Robert grunted his usual grunt and put it away carelessly in his satchel. A few nights later Vincent did his typical headcount and noticed that Robert wasn't present among the scientists. "Does anybody know where Robert is? It's getting late and being caught outside with those glowing bats would be very, very bad. We need him back soon." Both Gwen and George looked concerned and attempted to contact their elder scientist via radio, though to no avail. "He has the spacial lacrima, so he can't be in any real danger, right? Unless he somehow lost it... or..." while he thought, Gwen began to speak with a worried expression on his face.

"It's probably best to tell you now, Vincent, but not everyone in Bosco has a normal view of mages. Especially not Fioran mages. Many of us in Bosco regard mages as lesser in some way because of the way they tend to recklessly manipulate the power of nature and arrogantly concern themselves with forces far beyond the feasible reach of humanity. Robert might not take your help for that reason.... It doesn't seem like you're one of those kinds of mages, but Robert doesn't know that! He's already made up his mind about all of you. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but I just thought it would be best if there wasn't a tension between our protector and group." Vincent shook his head. To be so prideful to choose death over the help of what you'd consider an enemy. Foolishness... "You two stay here. It's my job to protect you and I need to go grab your friend before it's too late." Both Gwen and George silently accepted what he had said and with that, Vincent was out the airlock. He sprinted as fast as he could towards Robert's last known location which was quite a ways out from their original landing zone of Limbo. It was safer to travel by foot when he didn't know where he was teleporting when the place he needed to be was quite far away. Eventually, Vincent found himself at the giant entrance to a cave that seemed to lead underground. This must be where Robert went. With that thought, Vincent carefully entered the cave and descended down while calling for Robert. No answer. He continued to call for the missing scientist until getting to a point where it was so dark that he needed to perform a small incantation and pour some magical energy into a scroll to summon a small orb of light to hover close to him. At some point during the descent Vincent heard snarling and decided to pick up the pace.

When Vincent was close enough, his orb of light illuminated two monstrous creature made entirely out of bones with skeletons unlike anything he had ever seen before. They had cornered the missing scientist against the wall and he was too paralyzed with fear to do anything. Once his orb's light made contact with the creatures, though, they hissed and retreated towards the warm embrace of the darkness. "There you are Robert. That was a close call. Let's get out of here." He still didn't move. With a sigh, Vincent made his way towards the paralyzed man and pulled out his own spatial lacrima. He grabbed onto the researcher who seemed to be struggling against his grip and, with some pressure applied to the orb, the two were next to the ship. Night had fallen and the bats, as soon as they caught sight of the two a torrent descended which caused Vincent to instinctively teleport them inside the ship. Gwen and George were sitting in wait for the two and were caught off guard to see them, from their perspective, pop into existence. They expressed their gratitude to the white haired wizard and their relief to the older scientist. Vincent didn't have anything to say, so he simply walked back to his quarters and took a shower after the near death experience. Robert is going to need a closer watch if he plans to leave Limbo like that again. I wonder where that cave led, though. I'm sure the other two wouldn't mind planning a formal expedition to explore that cave. Once he has done cleaning himself he lied awake in bed and thought about the skeletal beasts that had cornered his client. Those things felt magically perverse and they retreated from the light. I suppose that explains why we don't see them roaming around in broad daylight while we work. Note to self, investigate the effects of light and holy magic on the skeletal beasts in the cave. With that last thought, Vincent found himself dreaming.

WC: 4099/12000

MP: 926
HP: 780

Vincent found himself alone in a hot desert. Where is it? I know it's around here somewhere. He took a drink from a canteen that was kept perpetually filled by the wizard. The heat of the sun and sand could kill someone if they weren't properly hydrated. Finally, his search came to an end when he noticed a large patch of greenery in the sands. There must be an underground water reserve. But it wasn't an oasis for what the young explorer was searching, but rather the small capstone peeking out from underground. The white haired mage had only recently gotten enough scraps of information regarding the tomb to finally pinpoint its approximate location with some kind of practical precision. It narrowed it down to a fifty mile radius deep within a desert region of Fiore and now it seemed as though he had finally found it. Before he got a chance to get inside the pyramid proper, he woke up. Drat. If only I did have enough information to reasonably approximate that temple's location. Someday soon, I hope. The payday from this job should give me sufficient capital to make the last bit of progress I need for that project. Back in Vincent's cave he had accumulated many scraps of information regarding a particular burial ground of a pharaoh whose name has been long forgotten, though who's legacy has been largely ignored by the historians of Fiore. It is only through private accounts of his actions that have been meticulously copied by small groups of scholars that any surviving information of the pharaoh exists. He shook his head at how oddly difficult it was to get hold of any information regarding what was seemingly a very influential figure before getting out of bed and having his breakfast before the other scientists awoke. It would most likely be another day of limited action, though he thought it would be a good idea to propose his idea of a formal expedition of that cave upon which Robert stumbled.

Vincent decided to leave a bit earlier and just relax on the top of the ship, but encountered Robert instead of an empty grass-less plain. The wizard greeted his client, but Robert shook his head. "You wizards think that there are no consequences to messing with the forces of nature.... You should have just left me in the cave or at least taken me out normally, but instead you took the easy way out! You carelessly manipulated the fabric of space itself just to travel a bit of distance - don't you think about anything! How ignorant do you have to be to think that such reckless use of the most fundamental parts of reality doesn't have negative side effects?" The wizard didn't appreciate the tone that Robert was taken. He was very well versed in the effects of spatial manipulation and the caution with which he needed to exercise his powers. To be accused of acting recklessly was insulting. "You know nothing of what wizards do, Robert. Your fear of what you don't understand is getting concerningly close to governing your actions. You need to calm down." That last sentiment only served to enrage the scientist even more and, by this time, both Gwen and George had exited the Armstrong and stood behind Vincent. "I can't believe you two treat this maniac like a friend. Who knows what untold destruction he's causing in some distant part of the universe every time he decides its more convenient to get somewhere ten minutes earlier. I was tolerant when I had no direct gain from your power, but when you grabbed onto me and teleported us here I knew that I now had blood on my hands! You were better off leaving me to die in that cave!" "It seems your mentor has let his fear and anxiety get the better of him. I think that you two should-" A crack of thunder preceded a force that knocked Vincent into the ship.

From his hurt position on the ground Vincent could hear Gwen and George arguing with Robert who had presumably attacked him. Their space suits were really more like a clear ultra thin film over their bodies that processed the air around them and turned it into oxygen while allowing them their full range of motion. The suit was virtually indestructible with respect to energy attacks, but it didn't provide much resistance either. The tinnitus didn't help Vincent to hear what exactly was being said, but he see the shadow of someone standing over him as well as what appeared to be an advanced gun being pointed at his face. I didn't expect Robert to become violent nor did I expect him to have the means of actually hurting me. The ringing in Vincent's ears faded and the first thing he heard was: "...going to put down the only real threat on this planet." The hurt wizard held his hand up and twisted his wrist counterclockwise. In that instant the energy rifle in Robert's hands rotated violent ninety degrees counterclockwise which broke the scientist's finger about to pull the trigger. He screamed out in pain before backing up and falling to the ground. He accused Vincent of being an rogue agent which attacked him, but both Gwen, George, and the cameras on the exterior of the Armstrong saw everything clearly. Gwen helped Vincent to his feet and back into the ship while George approached the downed Robert and knocked him out with some... odd tool that he had never seen before. Vincent was taken to the small medical bay of the ship and treated by the one who had helped him up for energy burns. "I'm so sorry Vincent. I knew that Robert was on edge around mages, but I never expected that he would become violent.... He shook his head. "You've done nothing but help me Gwen - you had nothing to do with the actions of your fellow scholar. I'll admit, though, I didn't expect your weapons to pack such a punch!"

WC: 5109/12000

MP: 926
HP: 700

Vincent found himself where he left off in his dream. I can finally enter the tomb. Just in time, too, I think a sandstorm is coming. The winds of the desert howled as Vincent rushed into the area under the capstone which was supported by four great pillars. Hieroglyphics were carved into the sandstone, but Vincent couldn't read any of it due to the fact that the sandstorm was upon him. The mage spoke his incantation and, just as usual, an orb of light formed to illuminate his way. The Tomb of Ra's Light, as it was called, was said to contain an artifact unlike any he had studied before. This artifact was said to predate the existence of magic and, in fact, be a part of the reason why magic even existed at all. Such an artifact was worth the painstaking process of tracking down single sentences regarding the events surrounding the pyramid from all across Earthland. Through the connections and resources provided by the Magic Council, Vincent managed to enough pieces to finally find the pyramid and now it was only a matter of time before he found the artifact. Being inside the pyramid filled the wizard with a strange feeling - one that told him he was in danger and that he should run away. Even so, he pressed on. He knew that such feelings were to be ignored in the face of a monumental magical discovery such as the one he was about to make. He was so close to his goal that he felt as though he could reach out his hand and take the artifact - whatever it happened to be. As he descended deeper and deeper into the pyramid he felt his sense of dread and unease grow more and more. It took him longer and longer to find the next staircase down for each floor he meticulously cleared until he got halfway down. Eventually he stumbled across a room which lit up brightly upon his entering. Four red and orange torches lit the entire room from the corners and atop a miniature pyramid he could see a reliquary.

He felt as though the object inside the three pronged holder was the one he was looking for and so he walked slowly into the room and up the stairs. Vincent held his hand out despite all of the fibers in his body telling him to stop. It was far too late to act on those sentiments. Before he could make contact with the small tan sphere, though, he awoke in a sweat. He was in an odd bodysuit which had wires and tubes connected to it. A short, but loud, beep followed his waking up and Gwen soon entered the room "The internal damage you suffered was worse than I expected, but it was far from untreatable. That's one of the benefits to living in a technological paradise - you can save partly melted organs." Vincent's eyes widened. That seemed even beyond the scope of powerful healing magic, and yet he was saved. That was a much closer call than I would have expected. The weapons in Bosco truly are quite fierce. "Would you mind me asking where my robes are?" She nodded and pointed towards a cabinet which was automatically pulling itself of the desk to reveal his clothes which were neatly folded and seemingly cleaner. "You were out for a few days, so I figured I might as well return your clothing a little nicer than they were left after the little... scuffle you had with Robert. You're lucky that Robert wasn't the one of us with medical training. These are some of the most highly specialized machines, even by Bosco standards. Oh, I didn't mean to say that-" Vincent shook his head. "Thank you Gwen, again. It's okay and you're right. I would have died without the medical attention." He gestured for her to leave the room so that he could dress himself and she complied. Vincent struggled to get the medical suit off of himself for an embarrassing amount of time before finally finding the release switch after which it simply fell of of him.

Back in his robes, he exited the medical bay and entered the common room where George and Gwen were waiting. "What did you two do with Robert?" George was the first to respond. "After fixing his finger we decided it would be best to put him into cryogenic storage. We don't exactly have a brig, so it seemed like the best idea. He's a danger to you and maybe even us. After seeing him like that it's better for everyone if he just stays on ice until we're done with our mission. After that we'll take him back to Bosco where he'll face appropriate disciplinary action for what he tried to do to you." George had a look of sadness in his eyes, as did Gwen. They clearly respected the frozen man and hated to see what he had let himself become. Vincent decided it was best that they simply spend the day inside to unwind from all of the events that had happened in the past few days. When it seemed as though the two were more or less back to being conversational, Vincent brought up the prospect of investigating the cave that he had seen earlier in their exploration. He decided to leave out the part about Robert's relation to the cave due to the fresh wounds, but proposed that they start to plan an official expedition to map the cave out and see if there's anything of note underground. The two seemed to be interested by the proposition and decided that they would begin the preparations starting tomorrow morning. If all went well then they would be able to get to work tomorrow evening. "Make sure to bring many powerful sources of light. There are some beasts in there that shy away from the light, but otherwise seem incredibly powerful. I'm not sure if I could beat them, to give you a kind of warning."

WC: 6123/12000

MP: 926
HP: 700

Another dream and another vision of what was to come. Vincent found himself in front of the relic which had been the object of his search for so long and held out his hand. When he touched it, images flooded into his mind - an obsidian slab, a mistake, a grotesque aberration, destruction. He instantly knew the name of the artifact he held in his hand - it was the eye of Ra. The white haired explorer wanted to drop the artifact but it wouldn't let him. Instead, he felt compelled to pick up a ceremonial dagger that rested close to the reliquary an look down at the blade. This artifact wanted a sacrifice for showing Vincent visions of his future. He tried to resist but still found himself raising the tip of the knife to his eye. Thick, warm liquid ran down his eye and screams echoed throughout the pyramid whose internal layout was changing and the wizard was awoken by George who looked gravely concerned. The robed mage rapidly felt for his right eye and it was still there, thankfully. "Are you okay Vincent? You woke us up with your screams. It sounded like you were being tortured or something." He nodded. His body was okay, at least. "I just... had a bad dream, please don't worry about me." George wasn't satisfied by that response, but he decided not to press the issue further, for they were behind schedule. He told Vincent that he had come up with powerful light emitters to attach to their suits which are more than adequate as a light source which Vincent trusted. With that, the three were off towards the cave where he has saved Robert. They soon arrived and past the point where Vincent had last traveled to. Before he knew it, the three of them arrived at a massive area that was carved out by what seemed to be artificial means due to the fact that it was a perfect hemisphere. The three were taken aback by what they had found for what it implied.

"We wanted to see if there was intelligent life here, but this is beyond intelligent life. To carve out an area this big one would need either advanced magic or technology... or maybe something else?" It certainly was a mystery, but Vincent's attention was focused on the large structure at the center of the hemisphere. An image popped into his mind of the very same structure he was looking at. "I want you two to be very careful. This place makes me a little anxious and, if there's one thing you learn as a mage, it's to trust your instincts." George and Gwen nodded. They weren't about to be reckless in the face of a mysterious temple - especially not when they've been followed and surrounded by Night Wraiths. The beasts didn't dare step into the circle of light which surrounded the three researchers, but they would follow at the border of the circle - waiting for the slightest malfunction so that they could strike. "I'll lead the way into the temple. You guys should stick closely behind." His companions heeded his advice and thus the three were off onto the smooth stone platform that led to the staircase up to the mouth of the temple. Strangely enough, the closer they got to the temple the more the Night Wraiths left them be. It was never a good sign when an enemy that has been stalking you relentlessly suddenly decides that it's better off cutting its losses and leaving you alone. Vincent tried to pay this little detail no mind and led the way into the massive structure whose purpose and origin were both unknown. "I think it's best if we find an empty room and just set up all of the equipment. We're most likely going to have to spend the night in here, but we should be safe. There's something about this place that seems to repel the Night Wraiths." It was the first time that the Fioran wizard had called them something, but the name seemed fitting. They skulk in the dark and would only operate during the night. Gwen and George both nodded in acknowledgement and understood what he meant from context.

Vincent led the way and was wary for magical traps, though it didn't seem like there were any which filled him with more terror than if he had to deal with conventional danger. It's like the temple wants us to explore it? No traps, repelling the monsters, being situated inside a strangely perfectly carved out area? I don't like this at all. What kind of temple would be built for people to explore it? Eventually the trio came across an empty room save for a single bookshelf on which a few books could be seen. Of the three books, Vincent could only read the title of one of spine of one of them; the other two books were written in a language that was far too lost for even his own studies to elucidate. Naturally, he grabbed the book which he could read which was, similarly, in a dead language. Thankfully, though, he was taught this one at his academy. He read through a couple of pages and a look of dread creeped along his face. This book was on precisely the topic which he had been investigating for the past couple of months: the history of the forgotten pharaoh scratched from history for his perceived misdeeds and the only remaining piece of evidence of his existence - the Tomb of Ra's Light. Sweat formed on his forehead and slowly trickled down as he read skimmed through the book. What exactly the lost pharaoh did during his reign, how much his kingdom prospered as a result of his actions, the pyramid that was erected to honor the unprecedented insight that the pharaoh seemed to have, and the inevitable invasion and slaughter of his people by surrounding nations that believed his insight to be dangerous. Despite their best efforts to find the treasure of the tomb, the three kingdoms could not enter the temple for reasons unknown to the author.

WC: 7154/12000

MP: 926
HP: 700

"What is it Vincent? You look so pale." Vincent put the book into his bag and also collected the other two. "The contents of that book pertain to what you call a piece of lost history. There was a small kingdom that rose and fell in what is presently a desert region of Fiore. Three surrounding kingdoms invaded the one in question and slaughtered everyone. They went to great lengths to try and erase the existence of this kingdom from existence due to the danger they believed the information posed, but some surviving accounts of the age from what I presume were historians survived. This isn't a translation, though, this is the original text. I can tell because of the language in which it's written. I've only ever been able to find scraps of questionable translations until now... but this? This is the real thing." Both George and Gwen were left speechless. They simply went back to setting up their equipment while Vincent produced three sleeping bags from his pocket dimension. Before going to sleep, he decided it was better to air on the side of caution and thus erected a powerful magical barrier along the perimeter of what was once an unprecedented library. After an hour of incantations, material usage, and complex chalk circles, Vincent finally decided to join his companions in the realm of sleep. He opened his eyes and found himself in a hidden Magic Council research facility deep underground. They had taken something from him and he was here to take it back. Months of preparation were necessary for the assault he was about to undertake, but it was nothing compared to the kind of planning he did to assault the kingdom of knights: Pergrande. The facility had a field around it that prevented any kind of magical abilities from being used by those inside. They weren't willing to take the risk of any kind of magic user finding their base and somehow blasting their way through.

The only way to deactivate the field was to make one's way to the center of the facility through five different and progressively higher levels of security. While Vincent had some of the highest clearance possible, the Magic Council had restricted his access to this particular facility. They didn't completely trust him - a smart decision. Still, they thought it a good idea to take something valuable from him. Their favor is not worth that artifact. He knew that what he had found was far too old for them to destroy. If time couldn't take it, what hope did they have? No. The only thing that the Magic Council could do was hide it, but they underestimated the scholar. He didn't need his magic to penetrate a facility such as this. Before entering the hidden facility via an elevator in the Spooky Forest, Vincent had managed to put an enchantment on himself which caused those who set their eyes upon him to fall asleep. As such, getting past the two invisible guards that watched over the elevator within a hollowed out tree was easy. He wore his fox mask - the same one he wore during his little adventure with Elvira in the haunted house, and took a key card from the downed guard. This key card would allow him to take the elevator up and down, but from now on the security would tighten greatly. Thanks to his pull with some of the Magic Council researchers and the respect that they have for his work, he managed to get a man on the inside to assist him with the first three security gates which were located at relatively hidden spots within the labyrinthine structure. He made it through with little effort, for any guard that happened to see him on the cameras fell asleep. Since the camera room was hidden even within the facility and locked from the inside, Vincent knew that nobody would find out that someone had infiltrated the base.

The blueprints for the facility, which were much easier to acquire than one might expect, allowed him to easily traverse what would otherwise be an impossibly complex maze of corridors made to confuse intruders. When he arrived at the fourth security door he was met by his contact. "I could get into a lot of trouble for this Vincent, I hope you know what you're doing. The Magic Council is incredibly powerful." "Don't worry. I know just what they're capable of. Besides, I guaranteed your protection didn't I? I would never go back on such a thing." "That's noble and all, but how did you plan on getting past the next security door? You need the chief researcher's voice, hand, and eye. And for the last door? I trust you, but I'm just curious is all." He nodded and gestured for his female friend to follow him to the door. Vincent put right his hand on the bio-metric scanner and his right eye to the optical scanner. He then spoke the passphrase in his best impression of the chief researcher. The door opened which left Sasha in awe. "I'll explain later. We need to hurry." Vincent hurried to the giant vault door and pulled out a scroll from his bag. He opened it and spoke the words to the incantation which caused a door shaped hole to open inside the thick metal door. "Getting this kind of spell to work under these conditions was nearly impossible, but I managed to do it, though not without a great cost. I only had enough for one of these and even then, only just." Vincent walked into the vault and immediately walked to the center of the vault. A small glowing lacrima was the cause of this anti-magic field and he decided to grab it and smash it. The field was gone but he had triggered the alarm. Vincent held his arms out and transported him, his companion, and all of the artifacts in all one thousand of the lockers to one of the upper floors of the pyramid. They would check his house.

WC: 8170/12000

MP: 926
HP: 700

Vincent was awoken by Gwen who was in a panic. George was gone and she didn't want to split of their group by going after him alone. "You said nothing could get in! Explain why he's missing!" "Nothing could get in, so that means he must have left while we were asleep. I wouldn't be surprised if this temple had some sort of memetic effect on him. We need to find him, now." Vincent ran through the halls of the temple with Gwen right behind him until they managed to snake their way around the stone walls and finally ended up in the center most chamber which contained a single, obsidian monolith. They were too late. Vincent yelled for George to snap out of it, but by the time he did his skin had already touched the abnormally smooth obsidian slab. Gwen called out to him but his arm was sucked into the monolith. He panicked and yelled for the two to help him. The white haired mage attempted to remotely separate himself from the monolith, but that only slowed it down. Then, believing no other option was present, Vincent unsheathed his weapon and sent it to chop off George's arm. Before it made it, though, a force far greater than what he could produce sucked the poor scientist in and left Gwen and him alone in the dark room. Before long, George's dry husk of a corpse popped out of the black monolith. "Gwen! Get back to the ship and leave! I can make my way home. A horrible, twisted energy the likes of which I've never felt is about to reveal itself." Vincent teleported himself to Gwen and then teleported both of them back to the ship. The Earth beneath him trembled and then a massive, twisted monstrosity erupted from the ground north of Limbo. This was the monolith beast. This was the danger. It soon zeroed in on the ship which was taking off, but Vincent caught its attention with a blast of air.

It came down to ground level and swirled around him such that he was surrounded on all sides by mouths. "You're not like my usual meals, young one." Since its entire body was covered in mouths he didn't know where to look, nor how to really respond. This monster caught him off guard. "Those others you had with you - completely unremarkable. They call themselves scholars, but they study an illusory world to begin with. But you know better, don't you?" The serpent-like beast swirled around him and made chomping noises with the various mouths along its eel-like hide. "What are you talking about?" "So humble! Why else would you take the gifts I left for you? I can sense intention and I know that you have no intention of giving those books to your 'superiors.' At least that's what they believe themselves to be. Mortals like you show up every so often - such potential." This creature knew what he was planning to do. "What do you mean potential?" "Why, to become something greater of course. Most mortals don't have the slightest clue about the Estuary, but you have some idea. Dreams allow one to skirt the realm, though without a practiced mind one can never gain any true insight in the nature of things. Even then, many are too fragile to learn of what truly underpins this world. Mortals who attempt to become greater are oft overcome with dread, mania, and insanity. I wonder which will take you, for I know that your appetite cannot be held at bay." "You're quite terrifying, though I feel I should thank you for giving me the books. Without them I don't think I could take the first step I needed to pursue this 'greater truth.'"

"Don't thank me yet, young one. You're likely to suffer a fate much worse than death, and that's assuming you manage to escape from my jaws!" Vincent requipped his dual blades which were strongest in his disposal and slashed at the body of the beast which had been subtly coiling closer and closer. He cut through its thick, slick hide and he jumped into the air. While Vincent flew away it followed closely and spit black acid at him which he knew that he needed to avoid. This ancient beast was powerful and he wasn't even sure it could be killed, judging from how it referred to him as a mortal. Still, he needed to somehow bring it down. He had to. There was still much work to be done and he wasn't about to let this horrible beast stop him from doing his research. Vincent changed directions and flew towards the beast that was gaining on him and made a slash all along its body as it attempted to expel black acid from all of the mouths which were close to him. They all failed to land and Vincent decided that a ground based battle would be his best bet. He flew to the ground the subsequently needed to stop the monolith beast from dive bombing right on top of him. Using the ability granted to him by his two swords, Vincent transported himself five meters south. After the ground cracked beneath the monster it swirled around and stood tall like a rattle snake. Vincent griped onto his blades, Schwarz und Weiss, tightly as he felt himself strengthened by the Conclusion - the unique ability of his blades. He was faster, stronger, and much more mobile while this ability was active.

WC: 9094/12000

MP: 858
HP: 700

This was a bad situation. The monolith was incredibly powerful, and it suddenly dawned on him that he believed himself to be fit enough to take on a ten-year job alone. Until this point nothing had shown itself to be so strong. This thing… it is a monster! Vincent knew that only one spell in his arsenal was capable of even harming such a thing, and it was the very spell that he had shown off to the three scientists on their trip here. I need to use the Third Projection. The white haired mage held his arms out and expelled a burst of magical energy which caused the battlefield to turn into the kind that he had shown the others – into a field littered with dead knights and a border of swords. ”Oh? It seems as though you are getting serious, young one. Do you believe you can strike me with enough force to keep me down? I would love to see you try!” The scholar summoned fifty giant blades which he controlled such that they all pierced different mouths along the body of the inky serpent. All he heard was laughing from the beast – a bad sign. That took a chunk of his magical energy to perform. He used one his most powerful spells and was now unsure how to proceed. ”I see that you need some time to rethink your plan. Allow me to act on mine.” Vincent jumped backwards to narrowly avoid a glob of black acid which ate through the ground as if it was one of the many mouths on the beast before sending himself high into the air to avoid a tail swipe of hungry mouths. All of the attacks he had landed had simply been regenerated. This was a foe that was seemingly insurmountable. Eventually he was going to run out of magical power or stamina and, at that point, he would be dead. In an instinctive move, he turned created a giant sun directly above both of them in his projection which caused the monster to hiss instinctively. If it had eyes, Vincent was sure they would widen, for it had just given away a crucial piece of information. The white haired wizard made the sun burn as brightly as possible which enraged the monolith beast which had been so kind to him up until this point. It desperately tried to reach him, but Vincent managed to stick out his hand and create a giant, dense ball of matter in the air which attracted the monolith beast with great difficulty. Keeping such a large object from escaping the gravitational pull of his spell required him to pump even more magical power into it until it was actually near the level of a true back hole. ”How long will you be able to sustain such powerful spells, I wonder?” It was right, but he wasn’t about to show weakness. Instead, he pumped even more magical power into his spell and made the sun shine even brighter.

Fifty more swords were created from seemingly nothing and all pointed at the beast which found itself stuck in the gravitational well of the spell that Vincent had cast. They all skewered through the inky monstrosity which caused it to scream out in agony. I see, the light has someone negated its monstrous regeneration and defense. As long as I keep it bright I’ll be able to… Vincent took a knee and coughed up blood. This level of exertion was far beyond anything he has had to do in the past. He looked up to see the creature smile as his gravitational well weakened. It nearly broke free but from his position he pointed his left blade, Schwarz, at the black hole to channel more magical energy into it. He was at his limit and the monster knew it, though he felt as though he was finally able to make progress with the battle. Deciding it was time to begin his final assault, Vincent remotely blew up his black hole, causing all of the energy he had poured into the spell to burst outwards to inflict a great deal of damage onto his enemy. It fell to the ground and soon rose up. ”I’m impressed, young one. I didn’t expect for my weakness to be exploited so thoroughly, but even so. Mortals are only capable of so much.” Before he could respond, another harsh cough overtook him from the strain he was placing on his magical reserves. It wrapped its tail around him in his weakened state and he felt a dread come over his body. Vincent was attacked from four different angles as he felt the razor sharp teeth pierce his shoulders and his calves. It seemed as though the monolith beast was taking the time to savor its meal before finishing him off. ”You shouldn’t have acted on your sadism.” With that short statement the largest wave of blades that he had ever created rained down from the skies at lightning speeds and pierced the monster in as many places as they could before Vincent pulled himself free from the tiny mouths on the end of the thing’s tail. Black acid had gotten into his system and he was nearly out of magic after that last assault, for he had intentionally summoned as many blades as he could without actually killing himself. He fell to his stomach while his shoulders and legs bled profusely and, with the last of his magical power, he teleported himself aboard the ship. It was an educated guess, but he had managed to figure out just how fast it would be going over the three months and, assuming it was a constant speed, he would know where it was after any interval of time. It was just about figuring out what interval of time had occurred from when Gwen started the ship to now. When he popped into the common room, half dead and nearly out of power, Gwen screamed in shock before realizing the situation that was unfolding before her. ”Hey Gwen… I’d like to see what Bosco medical technology is really capable of. Please save me one more time.”

WC: 10129/12000

MP: 10
HP: 10

Vincent didn't dream this time, a happenstance for which he was thankful. He awoke to the sound of machines beeping in the same bodysuit he had been placed in last time.This time oxygen was being pumped into his nose and there were additional cables hooked up to the suit. Gwen sat at his bedside to monitor his condition. "You're incredibly lucky to be alive, you know that? I don't know what that... injected into you, but it was burning through your blood vessels and your vital organs. The fact that you're able to breathe is... I don't know what to call it. What I can say is that I need to thank you. I know it's not your fault that George..." The doctor began to tear up at the thought of her partner. "You know. And you saved my life - I was frozen in fear, but you managed to knock me out of it. I can warn my government not to send anyone to that planet and I'm sure there's something we can do with all of the samples." The room fell silent as the white haired wizard looked up to the ceiling. Her mentor was going to prison for who knows how long and her best friend was dead. Vincent's faith in the power of his humanity to overcome any challenge was shattered and a paranoia for the Magic Council was instilled. Both of them had lost precious things on this trip, but, at least in Vincent's case, he gained something important. He gained the ability to pursue a line of inquiry that would be otherwise hidden by the powers that be. Such an idea sickened him. To break the silence, Vincent recounted the story of what had happened on the planet before he left. The only audience he had listened intently as the story was unlike anything she had ever really heard before due to the stark lack of any kind of combat in Bosco. Once he was done, he returned to sleep.

Vincent awoke after an undetermined period time to find Gwen asleep by his side. By this point he was feeling good enough to sit up. He did so and slowly got up, took his clothes, and headed to the bathroom to change. Once that was done the white haired wizard returned to the medical bay to return the suit and left Gwen undisturbed. He slowly and stealthily walked over to the common room where he would find the most comfortable seat and simply watched the stars while the ship barreled through space. The mage thought about what the monster had said to him and so he took out only book he could read from the ones gifted. Page after page was filled with detailed accounts of this golden age that was, until now, completely unknown to Vincent. He wondered how much more of this kind of history was lost. Paranoid thoughts began to creep into his head about the potential of the Magic Council to suppress any particular parts of history that they wanted. He had heard stories of different teams of mages returning to the Council who would inspect what they had found and confiscated certain items. He feared that they were hoarding the items without letting them properly be studied by their own research teams or even one of the guilds which concerned themselves with such a thing. These kinds of thoughts began to take root in his mind and they persisted even as the spaceship landed at the Wakusei portals. The scholar thanked the doctor one last time for treating his injuries and exited the Armstrong and headed back to Era to be debriefed by the Magic Council for a "job well done." Some time later the Auroran wizard found himself before the now familiar Council who congratulated him on a job well done. Word had already reached them that the scientist who attacked their diplomatic vanguard would be undergoing "reeducation," whatever that meant. He couldn't bring himself to care for the fate of Robert after what he had done.

They asked him questions such as what had happened, how he managed to slip out of the situation, and what he had found. He told them that there was nothing remarkable on Constantine aside from an old temple with a dangerous slab on it which consumed whatever touched it. He didn't mention the books nor the information he had gleaned on the pyramid. The Council was suspicious of him to be sure, but they couldn't act on their suspicions publically without proper cause. Despite their concerns regarding the man who was perhaps a too wily, they still recognized him as a powerful asset - especially after the completion of the ten year job. Many had failed to return from Constantine which is why the difficulty was raised to where it was before Vincent took it. Limbo was one of hundreds of different landing spots chosen for shuttles to take teams of scientists. Due to the sheer amount of casualties, Bosco had kept the details of the trips a secret and decided it would be best to send smaller shuttles with the bare minimum in terms of crew and supplies to as to minimize cost. The techno-council believed that such a dangerous planet had to contain some treasure and, unbeknownst to them, Vincent had taken what was most valuable from that hellscape.

WC: 11030/12000

Vincent kept up with Gwen through various modes of communications, for they could both share in their loss and he confided in her his fears that the Magic Council could be hiding someone great. She didn't feel like disagreeing, for the Fioran government had a particular perception among the people of Bosco. He nodded through their video feed, but he told her that he needed to be sure. He knew of a particular artifact which he knew would be confiscated if he were to present it to them. This was how he was going to test them and, if they failed, he would reassess how important his alignment with the organization truly was. Just like in his dream, Vincent made it to the Tomb of Ra's Light - though this time he was a lot more accurate with respect to its location thanks to the help of the book provided to him by the monolith beast. The layout of the pyramid was different, but he eventually found his way into the chamber which contained the artifact - the Eye of Ra. The wizard expected some terrible misfortune to befall him as it did in his dream when he touched the relic, but nothing of the sort happened. He didn't gouge his eye out with a ceremonial dagger and ultimately the experience was anticlimactic. Even so, he knew that the relic in his hand held insight which would dwarf everything he presently believed. Once again he found himself before the Magic Council and told them that he had succeeded in finding what they had hired him to find and presented the Eye. They were shocked that he had managed to track down such a sought after artifact and quickly took it from him. When they were done with their superficial examination, he asked for it back for study, but they told him that he would need to wait a day for them to process the mission details. "I see I see. Alright - be careful with that thing, it's priceless.

The white haired wizard returned the next day and the clerk at the headquarters apologized for the mix-up. Apparently the artifact that he had given to the Magic Council had been lost overnight. She told him that he would be compensated for this grave error, but Vincent simply nodded. His hypothesis was confirmed at this point - the higher ups had taken his bait. They wouldn't let any green researcher handle such a precious artifact, no, such a relic would be overseen personally by at least one member of the Council through every stage of processing; this "error" was certainly intentional. Either they didn't know about Vincent's plan and they mistakenly let him know that they were confiscating relics and keeping them hidden from the public or they did know about his plan and they were sending him a message that there were some things that even he should stay away from inquiring about. In either case he felt insulted and planned to take back what was his and perhaps something from them as well. Vincent stayed up that night to make a plan to assault the heavily guarded vehicle that would be traveling from Era to the Spooky Forest to make a delivery of his and presumably many other artifacts. Even though he was positive that the higher ups wanted all of these relics to be transferred into maximum security vaults as soon as they were acquired, they couldn't afford to lose track of any single one of them. As a result, they needed to hesitate in sending the relics to their respective vaults so that they could get all of the associated paperwork done. Such bureaucracy would give Vincent enough time to concoct a plan to take back what was his from his employers. I'm going to need some help with this plan. I do not want to go through the hassle of figuring out how to break into a magical vault near my own home. I need to find a place to ambush the convoy that's ideal for me and... Elvira. She seems to be the type to assist in less than official activities.

He, through his small network of powerful contacts, managed to acquire the schedule of the truck as well as the routes it would take along with any alternative routes in case any shred of danger is detected along the primary path. Vincent thought that the best course of action would be to divert the truck onto one of these alternative paths, for they tended to take the vehicle through strategically disadvantageous terrain so that it would be better hidden. This would be the weakness that he could exploit and, with two powerful mages, this could actually work. That night was full of calculations of various probabilities until the morning came and he left his work desk in favor of his kitchen table. The white haired scholar decided to scramble a handful of eggs and pour himself a glass of milk after that long night of work and planning. Going through with this would be quite a leap. Vincent would essentially be burning his bridge with arguably the most powerful institution in Fiore. While he would go to some lengths to ensure that neither he nor Elvira could be identified, this would take the already present suspicion in the mind of the Magic Council to the next level. With a sigh, he strengthened his resolve. As far as he was concerned he had done enough grunt work for them only to be mistreated and insulted in the gravest way possible. Vincent was sick of being lied to and unappreciated by the institution which claimed to have his best interests in mind. In three days his relation to the world at large would change in a dramatic way, all that was left was to get his teammate on board with his insane plan.

WC: 12017/12000