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The raging pain in her head woke the Sabertooth guildmaster almost instantly, as quickly as the hurting had begun, the pain almost unbearable. Simultaneously the golden guildmark on her forearm had started shining brightly, now slowly showing signs of crimson veins running through it, like the cracks on a broken surface. Although she painstakingly tried to gather what exactly was happening at that moment, no solace came for the poor woman. To the point that she'd been wandering the silent halls of the now slumbering guild aimlessly, in search for something that could calm the pain and haphazard sensations taking over. Yet the deeper she ventured, away from civilization and towards Yggdrasil's inner sanctums, that she realised. Yggdrasil itself was trying to get her attention in a most unbecoming way of the ancient world tree… something was off, if not to say wrong. Something was definitely wrong. Although the demoness was aware of the fact that the world tree and Sabertooth' guild members shared a connection between them, one that eas established as soon as they were accepted and permitted entry within it, she had no idea that it could also be used like this. What other meanings did this connection have… it was all she could wonder as the pain worsened. A sharp throbbing sensation ran through her guild mark, making her clasp her forearm in the process and gazed upon the golden sigil; broken in two by a thick red, crackled line.
"Show me what's wrong,Yggdrasil." she muttered, gazing up at the tree. Her vision blurred and the long hall disappeared, making way for a multitude of still images flashing before her eyes. Of a stranger running through the halls; a close-up of a lustrous orb shining brightly; and then, the images started to move. The individual seemed to know its way a bit too well from the short fragments she was seeing, but when he halted before a specific ornamental door, Kenna was snapped back into reality. "The core!" She ran as fast as her legs could carry her. This couldn't be. Not the core. Fear latched around her heart as she was met with the sight of a wide-open door leading towards the core; the core itself ruined. It's otherwise smooth, even surface was now dented and cracked, with a large piece missing from its main body. The lustrous light had grown dim, but still managed to shine faintly despite the damage done to it. Running her fingers along the cracks she cursed as the deeper meaning of its current state came to be, and tried flowing her magic through it. But even that didn't seem to be effective; it healed the superficial cracks for a single moment before the surface broke again.
"Abraxor." she spoke clearly, summoning her right hand man and guardian to her side by uttering his true name. Avide appeared in a surge of magic, bowing to his queen and protegé. "My lady." The 9 foot tall demon greeted her before rising again, looking around the room and taking in the current situation. [color#ff0000]"How can I be of service?"[/color] he asked, gazing down upon her. "Gather everything you can find about the core within Yggdrasil's Archives, locations, historical pieces, scientific essays and studies, maps… and bring me the old resident charts too. All of them." The demon nodded, and disappeared again, leaving a small breeze to rustle through the free space as only proof of his presence. The guildmaster knew that she could count on Avide to gather those documents in as little time as possible, allowing for her to start putting things into motion. Yet what she had to do first was a rather extreme measure she'd hoped never having needed to take. But she had no choice in the matter. It had to be done.
Extending both her arms, Kenna allowed her magic to venture through and out of her body in its purest form, a mixture of red, blue, white and gold that now surged through the air and started coiling around the broken core. The core; an ancient magical orb similar yet more resistant than a lacrima, was one of the artifacts that kept the many gates within Yggdrasil stablised, allowing for the realms Yggdrasil granted access to to be opened and closed at behest of the ones residing within its walls. It being broken meant that the gates could not be closed, and thus were permanently opened… on both sides. And not all inhabitants of the connected realms were happy about Yggdrasil's inhabitants, their 'guardians'. They could venture through and try to overtake the World Tree, harm Sabertooth's members residing wihin it. Something Kenna couldn't allow to happen, no matter what. So she had to resort to this… to forcibly closing the gates with a seal. Nobody would be able to enter through the gates of Yggdrasil nor use its sigil to travel across the realms, just like nobody would be able to return from them either. It was an ability bestowed upon Sabertooth's guild masters by Yggdrasil in order to help manage the realms in case of emergencies; Kite had had it. Ryo had. And now she in turn too. But she would be the first to use it.
The magic had grown dense around the orb, visible in a mist-like form that floated around, while the golden particles looked like a solid stream that slowly started connecting. The connections turned blurry, then grew sharp again in the form of runes, strange symbols and letters, using the mist as its canvas to write the intricate signs of a peculiar seal. Kenna started reciting the words her magic wrote, loud and clear while keeping complete focus over her magic. When she finished, she lifted the gathered magic and moved it towards part of Yggdrasil's trunk that protruded in the room, allowing the entirety to be absorbed by the ancient tree. The surging magic could be felt throughout the entire guild as each and every gate was closed and hermetically sealed one by one. The demoness sighed deeply and touched the trunk. "I'm sorry everyone, just bear with if for a little while longer." she whispered softly, turning around and heading back to her office.
By the time she'd arrived her desk had been packed by towers of books, while ledgers and maps of all kinds riddled the floor of her office, each ordened according to theme, relevance and necessity. Yet they still weren't all of the information she needed, so Avide kept on dropping off stack after stack of books as she started browsing through the ledgers. First off was information about the orb, which she rapidly browsed through the necessary books. Quick-picking which were relevant she discarded the others and wrote down the important matters surrounding its myth, the location of its physical container and the means to obtain and shape it, certain classified information regarding its activation were memorized instead. A gigantic map was rolled out and Kenna immediately marked the possible locations to obtain new physical cores in case this one could not be fixed, but knew it would take too long to make that their top priority at this point. Their first and foremost job was to find out who infiltrated the guild without triggering any of the alarms. Because an unauthorised would've been halted by Yggdrasil itself… and she doubted anyone within Sabertooth would've gone as far as to resort to such measures. Plus, she would've noticed if they had. So, its previous inhabitants. That was her next clue.
As she began browsing through the logs of the previous guardians that lived within Yggdrasil Kenna had sent out three messengers to gather her aces to her side. Well, two in fact. Itori had already been on her way and had crossed the messenger assigned to her halfway through, so he had returned and was dismissed until she had need of him again. The other two went on their ways; one further into the guild, while another one was sent to Ace of Spades to get Gaia. In the meantime she went about bringing Itori up to date on everything she knew so far and asked for the kitsune to help her out until Imai arrived. With the pair of extra hands they managed to thin the suspects to a few ledgers; those of members that were exiled, missing in action or had been forcefully relieved off their duties based on anything non-injury-related. Anything that could go against those protecting the realms, or Yggdrasil itself. A few names came up, and after narrowing it down with the images she'd seen a few locations remained; after having given Imai the reason behind having been called at this hour, she sent both of her aces out towards two key points between the realms she thought could contain two of their top suspects. Since the guild tattoo's ability to traverse the realms had been negated too, Kenna forced her way through it to open two portals for them instead; at this point only she had the jurisdiction to bypass the locked features, be they temporarily. Even the aces couldn't bypass a seal originating from a guildmaster's tattoo, whereas they could if they had made one themselves. Once they'd left she closed the portals anew, she'd reopen them once they contacted her with small lacrima-tech allowing inter-spacial communication. Now all she had to do was wait for Gaia to show, so until then, she'd keep searching and narrowing down suspects.
The man ran as fast as he could, enhancing his every step with wind magic to speed up his pace, clenching a small stone within the palm of his hand. He had been given a mission and had seen the urgency of it in his guild master's eyes, how serious she had been when she urged him to make haste in bringing Gaia back. Even though he hadn't been given any information at all, nor any insight in the situation to even vaguely sketch an explanation if Gaia were to ask one of him. Just a message, the small lacrima in his hand and the pressing advice to get back as soon as possible. It was of the utmost importance. And thus he ran, until he reached a peculiar house in Tudor style, looking as rustic as it possibly could. The man halted to take a proper look and to assess whether this in fact was the right house before walking up the stone pathway leading to the front door, flanked by all kinds of greenery. His hand lingered before solidly slamming onto the door's surface. He'd continue on doing this, pausing at specific intervals as to allow Gaia -or anyone for that matter- time to come down and open the door for him. He'd start by showing his guild mark, then request for Gaia in case she wasn't the one to open the door at this time of night, mentioning he came bearing urgent news. He would only enclose the message given to him once Gaia was with him. "Forgive my intrusion at this inhumane hour, Miss Sabin, but the guild master requires your presence immediately and asks you to return to Yggdrasil post-haste. I wasn't told any details, but it seemed rather urgent by Miss Terrynhain's behavior… she told me to relay your presence is of utmost importance. 'Don't dawdle. She said." The man said stately. "Once you're ready I was told to give you this- just stating you're ready will activate a portal to the guild, since our guild marks can't make any portals for some reason…." he seemed rather disturbed by it as he spoke, simultaneously handing Gaia a sparkling sapphire-colored gem; a one-use only prototype teleporting stone allowing for a single person to be transported to a set destination. "Please hurry, Miss Sabin. They're waiting for you."
@Gaia
[1996 | ????]
"Show me what's wrong,Yggdrasil." she muttered, gazing up at the tree. Her vision blurred and the long hall disappeared, making way for a multitude of still images flashing before her eyes. Of a stranger running through the halls; a close-up of a lustrous orb shining brightly; and then, the images started to move. The individual seemed to know its way a bit too well from the short fragments she was seeing, but when he halted before a specific ornamental door, Kenna was snapped back into reality. "The core!" She ran as fast as her legs could carry her. This couldn't be. Not the core. Fear latched around her heart as she was met with the sight of a wide-open door leading towards the core; the core itself ruined. It's otherwise smooth, even surface was now dented and cracked, with a large piece missing from its main body. The lustrous light had grown dim, but still managed to shine faintly despite the damage done to it. Running her fingers along the cracks she cursed as the deeper meaning of its current state came to be, and tried flowing her magic through it. But even that didn't seem to be effective; it healed the superficial cracks for a single moment before the surface broke again.
"Abraxor." she spoke clearly, summoning her right hand man and guardian to her side by uttering his true name. Avide appeared in a surge of magic, bowing to his queen and protegé. "My lady." The 9 foot tall demon greeted her before rising again, looking around the room and taking in the current situation. [color#ff0000]"How can I be of service?"[/color] he asked, gazing down upon her. "Gather everything you can find about the core within Yggdrasil's Archives, locations, historical pieces, scientific essays and studies, maps… and bring me the old resident charts too. All of them." The demon nodded, and disappeared again, leaving a small breeze to rustle through the free space as only proof of his presence. The guildmaster knew that she could count on Avide to gather those documents in as little time as possible, allowing for her to start putting things into motion. Yet what she had to do first was a rather extreme measure she'd hoped never having needed to take. But she had no choice in the matter. It had to be done.
Extending both her arms, Kenna allowed her magic to venture through and out of her body in its purest form, a mixture of red, blue, white and gold that now surged through the air and started coiling around the broken core. The core; an ancient magical orb similar yet more resistant than a lacrima, was one of the artifacts that kept the many gates within Yggdrasil stablised, allowing for the realms Yggdrasil granted access to to be opened and closed at behest of the ones residing within its walls. It being broken meant that the gates could not be closed, and thus were permanently opened… on both sides. And not all inhabitants of the connected realms were happy about Yggdrasil's inhabitants, their 'guardians'. They could venture through and try to overtake the World Tree, harm Sabertooth's members residing wihin it. Something Kenna couldn't allow to happen, no matter what. So she had to resort to this… to forcibly closing the gates with a seal. Nobody would be able to enter through the gates of Yggdrasil nor use its sigil to travel across the realms, just like nobody would be able to return from them either. It was an ability bestowed upon Sabertooth's guild masters by Yggdrasil in order to help manage the realms in case of emergencies; Kite had had it. Ryo had. And now she in turn too. But she would be the first to use it.
The magic had grown dense around the orb, visible in a mist-like form that floated around, while the golden particles looked like a solid stream that slowly started connecting. The connections turned blurry, then grew sharp again in the form of runes, strange symbols and letters, using the mist as its canvas to write the intricate signs of a peculiar seal. Kenna started reciting the words her magic wrote, loud and clear while keeping complete focus over her magic. When she finished, she lifted the gathered magic and moved it towards part of Yggdrasil's trunk that protruded in the room, allowing the entirety to be absorbed by the ancient tree. The surging magic could be felt throughout the entire guild as each and every gate was closed and hermetically sealed one by one. The demoness sighed deeply and touched the trunk. "I'm sorry everyone, just bear with if for a little while longer." she whispered softly, turning around and heading back to her office.
~ ◇ ~ ◇ ~ ◇ ~
By the time she'd arrived her desk had been packed by towers of books, while ledgers and maps of all kinds riddled the floor of her office, each ordened according to theme, relevance and necessity. Yet they still weren't all of the information she needed, so Avide kept on dropping off stack after stack of books as she started browsing through the ledgers. First off was information about the orb, which she rapidly browsed through the necessary books. Quick-picking which were relevant she discarded the others and wrote down the important matters surrounding its myth, the location of its physical container and the means to obtain and shape it, certain classified information regarding its activation were memorized instead. A gigantic map was rolled out and Kenna immediately marked the possible locations to obtain new physical cores in case this one could not be fixed, but knew it would take too long to make that their top priority at this point. Their first and foremost job was to find out who infiltrated the guild without triggering any of the alarms. Because an unauthorised would've been halted by Yggdrasil itself… and she doubted anyone within Sabertooth would've gone as far as to resort to such measures. Plus, she would've noticed if they had. So, its previous inhabitants. That was her next clue.
As she began browsing through the logs of the previous guardians that lived within Yggdrasil Kenna had sent out three messengers to gather her aces to her side. Well, two in fact. Itori had already been on her way and had crossed the messenger assigned to her halfway through, so he had returned and was dismissed until she had need of him again. The other two went on their ways; one further into the guild, while another one was sent to Ace of Spades to get Gaia. In the meantime she went about bringing Itori up to date on everything she knew so far and asked for the kitsune to help her out until Imai arrived. With the pair of extra hands they managed to thin the suspects to a few ledgers; those of members that were exiled, missing in action or had been forcefully relieved off their duties based on anything non-injury-related. Anything that could go against those protecting the realms, or Yggdrasil itself. A few names came up, and after narrowing it down with the images she'd seen a few locations remained; after having given Imai the reason behind having been called at this hour, she sent both of her aces out towards two key points between the realms she thought could contain two of their top suspects. Since the guild tattoo's ability to traverse the realms had been negated too, Kenna forced her way through it to open two portals for them instead; at this point only she had the jurisdiction to bypass the locked features, be they temporarily. Even the aces couldn't bypass a seal originating from a guildmaster's tattoo, whereas they could if they had made one themselves. Once they'd left she closed the portals anew, she'd reopen them once they contacted her with small lacrima-tech allowing inter-spacial communication. Now all she had to do was wait for Gaia to show, so until then, she'd keep searching and narrowing down suspects.
~ ◇ ~ ◇ ~ ◇ ~
Ace of Spades - Outskirts
Ace of Spades - Outskirts
The man ran as fast as he could, enhancing his every step with wind magic to speed up his pace, clenching a small stone within the palm of his hand. He had been given a mission and had seen the urgency of it in his guild master's eyes, how serious she had been when she urged him to make haste in bringing Gaia back. Even though he hadn't been given any information at all, nor any insight in the situation to even vaguely sketch an explanation if Gaia were to ask one of him. Just a message, the small lacrima in his hand and the pressing advice to get back as soon as possible. It was of the utmost importance. And thus he ran, until he reached a peculiar house in Tudor style, looking as rustic as it possibly could. The man halted to take a proper look and to assess whether this in fact was the right house before walking up the stone pathway leading to the front door, flanked by all kinds of greenery. His hand lingered before solidly slamming onto the door's surface. He'd continue on doing this, pausing at specific intervals as to allow Gaia -or anyone for that matter- time to come down and open the door for him. He'd start by showing his guild mark, then request for Gaia in case she wasn't the one to open the door at this time of night, mentioning he came bearing urgent news. He would only enclose the message given to him once Gaia was with him. "Forgive my intrusion at this inhumane hour, Miss Sabin, but the guild master requires your presence immediately and asks you to return to Yggdrasil post-haste. I wasn't told any details, but it seemed rather urgent by Miss Terrynhain's behavior… she told me to relay your presence is of utmost importance. 'Don't dawdle. She said." The man said stately. "Once you're ready I was told to give you this- just stating you're ready will activate a portal to the guild, since our guild marks can't make any portals for some reason…." he seemed rather disturbed by it as he spoke, simultaneously handing Gaia a sparkling sapphire-colored gem; a one-use only prototype teleporting stone allowing for a single person to be transported to a set destination. "Please hurry, Miss Sabin. They're waiting for you."
@Gaia
[1996 | ????]
