Long Gone Returnee (Juliet, Leonard)

Alana had been running for days now. She wasn't sure what had happened to her homeland; it had all occurred so quickly, almost all at once. Sighing, she slumped against the tree trunk that she had chosen to rest by for just a minute. For now, it seemed like the strange creatures had lost her trail. There looked to be no way out of this place, so she resigned herself to remaining under the cover of the forest for now. Just as the girl was debating climbing a tree for the night, she heard a crack behind her. Whirling around and pulling away from the trunk tree, even as fast as she moved it wasn't enough. The zombie that had been slowly sulking towards her quickly lunged forward, chomping down on her shoulder before she could pull away. Alana gritted her teeth to prevent herself from screaming and potentially attracting more of them. She wrenched herself away from the being before stumbling backwards and running for her dear life. Luckily, they didn't seem to be too fast; instead, they lumbered around and could only move with short bursts of speed for a couple seconds before slowing down again. The girl panted as she rushed through the forest, finally coming to what looked like a large clearing, with a cabin in the center. Hesitantly, she took a step forward into the clearing. It would be dangerous to go through; anything could spot her running into the open area without cover. However, another noise of footsteps behind her quickly had the girl rushing forwards as she glanced over her shoulder. There were at least four or five of the ghoulish monsters headed towards her. Taking a deep breath, Alan ran into the clearing. She was about to go past the cabin when a voice from inside caught her attention.

"Hey, come in here, quick!" She swiveled her head to see a pair of eyes peeking out from the window, set in a pale face, the body of which was covered in a dark cloak. The girl was abotu to turn away when she noticed at least ten of the undead waiting for her on the other side of the clearing. "They've been waiting for me. They can't break inside, it's enchanted. You can only be let in by a willing person who gives you permission. Quickly!" His voice became higher and higher in volume as the urgency came through. The monsters were nearing closer, and she had no choice, so Alana reluctantly slipped in, squeezing herself through the space in the door that had opened up after the man unlatched it. Afterwards, he slammed it closed, bolting the entrance. Inside, it wasn't necessarily a small place. In fact, it seemed to be a decent home, the kind of vacation cabin where a wealthy individual might vacation for a week to enjoy nature temporarily.  Sighing, the girl collapsed onto a nearby red couch, while the man hovered hesitantly closer to the door. "This is my sister's place," he mumbled finally, before sitting down a few meters away from her, but still on the same long, L shaped couch. "I was living here to practice my magic when sh*t went down. There's not much food left, but I was hoping..." he trailed off. It was clear enough what he'd been hoping for, though. That someone like her would come along, most likely, and be able to get the both of them out of here.

"I live maybe twenty kilometres or so to the west, I've been running for days," the young woman finally answered, her green eyes dull with tiredness. Alana hadn't eaten in at least forty hours, after running out of the dried meat and fruit that she'd kept on her for emergency purposes only. Just then, her stomach grumbled, and she turned away, embarrassed. "Hey, I have plenty of food," the man said, before getting up and heading into another room. In what seemed like only seconds later, he emerged with a plate, on which there was a simple sandwich. "I dunno what you like, but since this is an enchanted place, we'll never run out of things to eat." That was an up side, she guessed, and Alan accepted the food gratefully. She would normally have been suspicious of such generosity, but with the situation outside, there was no time for distrust between them as two survivors. As she was lifting it to her mouth to take a bite, she winced at the pain in her shoulder. "Hh," a small noise of discomfort came out of her mouth, and the man looked at her with concern. "Are you alright?" He asked, and she nodded, moving the sandwich to right hand only so that she could try to rotate her left arm experimentally. "One of those things bit me," she said, and his face suddenly went grave. "Will you... be okay?" He asked, worry coming through. The young woman shrugged. "I got bitten by one of them too," the male stranger suddenly said, holding up his left hand to better show that two of the fingers, the pinkie and ring finger, were bandaged. "I can't tell if it's doing anything, they're not as bad as yours. Maybe I've had a fever, nothing worse."

Alana finally finished eating her food and she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before letting out a faint sigh. "I hope you're right and it's not anything worse. You got any ideas on how to get out of here?" The other looked like he was thinking for a moment, before his eyes lit up. "Yes, yes, I actually know a friend who's pretty strong. If I could find a way to get in touch with him... I'm sure he could clear out this area in no time at all," he said brightly, trying to stay positive even though he'd already mulled over ways to reach the other man, and the options were none. "A contact, huh?" Alana muttered under her breath, before she stood up, brushing her hair away from her face. "Well it just so happens that I'm a summoner. An' I got a guy who can take any package to any place in Earthland, s'long as it's not any bigger than about twenty centimetres on all sides." The girl fumbled around with the belt at her waist for a little bit before finally triumphantly pulling out a ring of keys. She flipped through them, her lips moving under her breath, before she finally seemed to find the right one. "Yeah. Here we go, Dapper, come out," she said, in a normal speaking voice, her fingers rubbing the key at the same time. In a blink, a pale figured with indescribable features and a very formal style of dress appeared in front of them. "Dap take this nice man's letter and send it to whoever he tells ya to," she said, gesturing in the direction of the kind stranger.

The more she thought about it... did she have anyone who might be able to help them? Alana wasn't a very friendly sort of mage, and she had more of a brusque personality than anything. Still, there were a couple of people she'd done jobs with. "And come back over here when you're done," she called out, "Before you leave to deliver that. I got somethin' as well." Juliet Rothschild was an old... friend, of sorts. Maybe she'd be able to help out. Heck, the young woman didn't know whether her former job partner would even want to see her again after what happened the last time they ran a mission together, but the mage knew. That blondie couldn't resist helping someone who was in a tough spot. She might get her to come out of an apparent sense of duty, if nothing else. It was worth a shot. Shrugging to herself, Alana tore a page out of her traveler's note book and uncapped a pen using her teeth. "Dear Old Friend," she began, sarcastically. "I know I kind of ditched you last time and left you to pay for all the damages we'd done, but I need your help now..."

---

Juliet had been have a fairly nice day already. Her financial situation was a constant struggle, especially with her habits of spending impractical amounts on food, particularly sweets. Even so, the mage usually managed to make enough for the basic necessities. It was a kind of tough living, and her utilities went out every once in a while, but the girl didn't care too much. Today, she hadn't had to deal with anything like that. It'd been a sunny morning of waking up with the rays shining in her face and hearing the birds chirping outside. Juliet could get behind rising early in the morning just to hear the bird songs before work. Finally getting up from where she'd been eating breakfast at the kitchen table and reminiscing about the events only an hour ago, the girl began to wash the dishes. In her little apartment, there were no maids, only herself. A smile played across the girl's face as she wondered what to do today. It was so nice, that working inside would be a shame. All of her thoughts of her daily activities were put on pause, though, when a sharp rap tap tap came from the door. Curious as to who might be knocking at this hour of the day, Juliet turned off the faucet and dried her hands before slowly stepping over to the entrance. She peeked through the peep hole just briefly and saw a man with a disingenuous expression, his features plain and unremarkable. If she'd tried to describe him, she wouldn't be able to, aside from his clothes, which were far too fancy to be standing on a concrete door step with. Either way, he didn't look dangerous. So she opened the door, and stood in the opening, looking at him.

He didn't say a thing, but instead reached into his suit pocket. The movement had the girl tensing up, since now his hand wasn't visible. He could have been pulling out anything, like a weapon, and Juliet prepared to shield herself if necessary. However, as it turned out, it was just a folded piece of paper. Wrinkled, and with a few smudges already visible from what she could see. The strange figure held it out to her, and uncertainly, Juliet accepted it. Before she could even open it, though, she glanced back up at the man. But he was already disappearing down the street, his black pin striped suit distinctive as it turned around the corner. Pressing her lips together in slight consternation, the mage shut the door and sat down at her kitchen table before unfolding the strange missive. It turned out to be a letter... as she read the first actual line, her eyebrows furrowed together and her expression turned slightly murderous. It was that girl! The two had worked together in the past and been decent partners to each other, until one time when Alana had flat out ditched the scene after causing a big ruckus. Part of the reason Juliet was still poor now was because she had been stuck using all her savings to pay off the debt she owed for the destruction of the owner's property. Exhaling sharply through her nose, the mage sped through the rest of the letter. Her expression became more grave as she read through it.

So, Alana was genuinely in need of assistance. She seemed even perhaps afraid, but that was probably a stretch given that the female would never be caught dead with fear visible in any way, shape, or form. Sighing, Juliet finally reached the last line, where she read, 'I dunno where I am. This dude's got a fancy shmancy cabin and it's some place in the middle of the Cursed Lands. But I know how to enchant sh*t, and I been to the edge of these woods before, so... this letter's gonna teleport you to just outside of this forest. There might be zombies, I dunno. Have fun, girlie, love ya!' Immediately, Juliet dropped the piece of paper, but it was too late. Her body was already glowing with light, and the world spun around her as she vanished in a swirl of bright magic, pulled to the new location. Only a few seconds later, the girl was dropped on her butt in the Cursed Lands, right at the changing of a desolate field into a dark forest. Clenching her fists, she yelled loud enough for anyone within a kilometre to hear, "ALANA!" Huffing, Juliet ground her boot into the dirt. She was hardly equipped to deal with a bunch of ghouls all by her lonesome.

Well, at least Juliet was accustomed to dealing with such horrors after hours of similar jobs. This time, she decided, the best course of option would first be to locate the spot where Alana was trapped. Alana and that other stranger she had mentioned. Hopefully, he wouldn't have killed her by the time the mage arrived. The blonde knew how abrasive her friend could be at times. Surely, however, she would be mildly grateful to the one who had taken her in and saved her from a gruesome death at the hands of the zombies? Regardless of how a person "should" likely feel, it was Alana whose actions she was musing upon. That girl was largely unpredictable, but she could always be counted on to make a mess of things, for the most part at least. Grumbling to herself under her breath, Juliet briefly channeled her magic, allowing a golden collar to appear around her neck. What with venturing off into a ghoul infested forest by herself, she would need all of the protection she could get. It would be better to get it going now than to wait until after she had already been attacked. At times when there was a surprise assault, concentration required for summoning requips could dip and fluctuate too much to properly bring the weapons, armors, or items into life in this dimension. Furthermore, Juliet grasped her hand around the air, materializing her trusty axe because... surely she would need to do some, uh, killing, essentially, during these next few hours. Or days, because the forest, as far as she could recall, was extraordinarily large and filled with all manner of beasts. Now, with zombified individuals running around inside, the area was sure to have become even more dangerous and frustratingly time consuming to traverse through. Sighing at the amount of bother, Juliet gripped her weapon tightly before taking her first step into the forest. It looked similar to how she could remember, although that had been years ago. Now, though, there was a slightly gloomier atmosphere. Instead of the dark and menacing, tall and strong trees of before, there were less healthy looking branches on the great oaks and maples. In addition, as far as the mage could interpret, rather than being great and commanding the forest seemed to be instead rather corrupted. The Cursed Lands had never been a particularly bright place. However, she knew it was never quite this bad before hand.

Doing her best to breathe lightly, the girl attempted to force her foot steps to match: as silent and tentative as possible. Unfortunately, it seemed luck was not on her side, for as soon as she got more than a few paces into the woods, a piercing scream cut through the air, nearly blowing out Juliet's ear drums. It had emerged from a spot barely thirty centimetres away and gave the girl no time to react properly before a ghoul was sinking its teeth into Juliet's arm. She wrenched away, hissing as she felt the wound begin to throb painfully. Muttering a healing spell, she felt her magic flare around the wound temporarily before alleviating all of the pain. Her body suddenly felt lighter: a side effect of the magic that was very welcome, now that she was confronted with the ghastly zombie. Taking a short breath, the girl charged forwards, swiping her axe along a sharp path that sliced through the creature's torso at a diagonal. Even though normally the keen magic should have simply disemboweled an ordinary opponent, this one was a member of the undead. For that reason, even when it began to fall apart, the bones and rotted flesh began to knit themselves back together in an unsightly manner. Scowling, Juliet held her axe up and pointed it towards the monster. A bright pulse of energy flew out towards it, thrumming with energy as it shot through the air for the short distance before contacting the ghoul's skull, exploding it into an uncountable amount of little fragments. She repeated the process with its torso, and legs, and every other distinguishable part she could see, until it was nothing but smithereens of bone and mangled, corrupted tissue. Resisting the urge to huff out a breath of air, she held her breath and stepped away. There were blood and guts splattered across her body now, and she had wanted to avoid breathing in the cursed magic that she could feel lingering in the air at that scene, left behind thanks to the destruction of the zombie. Once she had safely made it a half of a kilometre away, the mage scanned the area to ensure no enemies were in sight. She did see a small, zombified squirrel, perched in a tree. However, it did not really seem to be a threat- so she would leave it alone. Nodding to herself, the girl touched at her upper arm where the ghoul had bitten her. It seemed to be fine on the outside, but she thought she could detect small amounts of dark, twisted energy swirling inside. Juliet pushed lightly on her arm, infusing it with as much holy and spiritual essence as she could manage. The site began to glow even more intensely, and finally, she felt the corrupt energy burn away, dissipating into the atmosphere.

Letting her head drop slightly in relief, the blonde was already ready to be done with all of this nonsense. However, she still had yet to even find her friend, not to mention trying to rescue her. Grinding the heel of her boot into the earth, the girl's mouth thinned into a line. Alana really was nothing but trouble. Still, she was committed to this liberation mission, now. And Juliet knew herself; she wouldn't have abandoned the other young woman, even if it was an enormous bother and generally a waste of her time. However, if she showed up and her friend had already made an escape, leaving behind a note that said something like, "Thanks for coming! I made it out on my own, toodles!" the blonde was going to blow a gasket. There was little point in thinking about those situations now, though. She would do better to focus on the task at hand: orienting herself so that she might be able to find where the two were trapped. Shrugging off the tension that had accumulated in her back and shoulders, Juliet tried to steady her breathing before starting to move once more. It was slow work, making her way through the forest. Luckily, the mage only encountered a few more corrupted animals, that didn't seem to take too much notice to her. They were busy eating certain... corpses, whose former living shapes were too changed to interpret in their ghastly dead form. Juliet winced, though, when she saw a zombified bear tearing into what had undoubtedly been a human at one point. She quickly left the area and continued to push on further, venturing deeper into the woods. Eventually, she thought she could detect a faint magical signature. Flaring her innate senses and enhancing them to allow her greater detection of the nearby area, the girl's face lit up when she saw a rather large cottage in her mind's eye. It was still several hundred kilometres away, but as the girl's enhanced intake of space faded away, leaving her with natural senses, she felt rejuvenated by the sight she had witnessed. Finally, there was proper progress! However, as she began to head in that direction where the image of the structure had emerged from, Juliet swiftly began to understand the issue. There was just the small problem of nearly a hundred or so different living signatures in the area, of which all except a couple were undoubtedly belonging to the undead. Making her way through the horde would be tough going. What was the best way to proceed...?

Juliet decided to just attempt to make her way through. She did have a rather loud voice so long as she deliberately tried to project it, so she could attempt to allow Alana to know she was here. However, going with that route would also attract the attention of all the other entities within hearing range. Therefore, she silently attacked the nearest zombie, cleanly exploding its head before moving on to the next. The girl had discovered that luckily, their heads seemed to be their weak point. Perhaps even a cursed body needed a brain to control the functions of the limbs and organs. That was only one ghoul out of... maybe over a hundred. Sighing, the girl was about to get to work when she thought she heard the sound of a weapon against flesh, albeit rotten skin and muscle but still. She perked up her ears before moving closer, shoving her way past the zombies and ignoring them as they tore at her, trying to grab hold. Juliet had a shield conjured around her form that would protect enough so long as she kept moving, at least with the current situation looking how it was. Finally, she burst into the clearing. Now, she would have to fight her way out. But seeing as, from what she could see, there was another man here- an actual human, not some kind of darkly distorted individual, affected by the curse. "Hey!" The blonde's voice rang out not too loudly, but with enough weight to carry across to the other. "Who are you?" Now was not exactly the time for pleasantries, but Juliet could not help but feel suspicious despite her relief at seeing him. It was entirely possible that he was some kind of necromancer or a dark researcher come to study the curse and caught up in the cross fire, himself. Just then, she noticed a hand reaching towards her out of her peripheral vision. Rolling her eyes, the girl slammed her axe down across the arm, cutting it off at the elbow. Then she shoved the axe up to the ghoul's face and sent a pulse of energy directly through its skull. These things were a bother- and they just kept coming, and coming.

At first, Juliet was taken aback by his low tone and completely lack of an actual introduction or answer to her question. In favor of further action, apparently. Well, it seemed this man was all business, though, which she appreciated despite the mistrust lingering in her gut. Perhaps it was just a simple feeling, combined with the blonde's habit of cynicism. For now, she was willing to play along. Simply judging by his actions, he was a powerful mage and had no love for the zombies or their existence. Had he been the one to summon these creatures or set off the attacks, purportedly he would not have been so quick to vanquish them back into pure dark magic. However, being a skeptic, the mage couldn't help but acknowledge other scenarios. Such as, he had actually pulled the life essence from the corrupted with such ease due to his mastery over them.

Her eyes darkened when he finally gave more information about himself, and it only amounted to, I don't trust you, but listen to the orders I give. To this, Juliet couldn't help but be displeased. Nonetheless, she was nothing if not practical, and the blonde would follow along, for now. Gathering herself up and slipping behind the stranger into the cabin, the mage met the eyes of her... comrade. "Alana, where were you bitten?" Skipping the greeting in favor of a brusque question, she waited for a response. It came swiftly enough; the two understood each other, even if it had been a while since they had met face to face and it had not been on good terms that they had parted. Ghosting the tips of her fingers over the wound, Juliet sent a pulse of purifying magic into the other girl's flesh until the corruption melted out in wisps through the air. She would be happy to leave immediately; if the man wanted to reckon with the ghouls on his own, the mage would not be the one to stop him. After all, she had to get her friend to safety. Shaking her head at the casual use of the word friend to refer to Alana, Juliet cleared her throat. "I can take your comrade too, if you would like. He may be safer in the city than staying here." Even if this man was confident in his ability to protect the other, she wanted to offer just in case.

After dropping her old acquaintance back at the nearest safe location, Juliet intended to return and help out this stranger if she could. That was a secret for now, though.

Nodding silently, Juliet stepped over to the injured stranger and raised her hand slowly, making certain that he appeared to be permitting in her actions. Then, she murmured, "I am going to teleport all three of us. Let me know if you do not consent. In three, two, one..." upon hearing no protest, the blonde disappeared their little trio in a flash of violet light.

Channeling magic through the crest painted across her back, the mage wrapped the group in just enough power to get them safely out of the lands themselves and into the nearest town. Although it was entirely possible for the zombified monsters to have already made it into the town, Juliet found that she was lucky in this instance. The only people out and about were perfectly human to the eye, and there was no sign of corruption around. Thankfully, this isolated incident was totally remediable. The mage had every intention of returning to help out the older stranger. Her moral code simply would not allow for abandoning him.

Therefore, as soon as she had secured a spot in an inn for the two potentially injured civilians (at least, in this case, Juliet supposed she would consider them civilians) the blonde was ready to teleport back. Alana's wound was quite fine, much to her relief. The corruption had posed a threat, but her condition was stable. Satisfied with the last sweep of a check she had made back in the town, Juliet pulled her crest around her in a bright burst of pale purple light.

She found herself back at the cabin. It appeared to be utterly abandoned; there was no sign of life, either corrupted or human. Even the animals seemed to have vanished, their existence not obvious to a viewer. All traces were gone. Perhaps they had been swallowed up by the corruption or, more likely (and more hopefully) they had fled. The young woman knew that she needed to track the stranger quickly, although actually doing so might prove to be a nuisance. The best place to start, of course, was with the entrances. Swiftly, Juliet stepped over to the nearest door, which showed no signs of any type of exit. She paused momentarily, eyes scanning the other entrance from afar. That, too, had no obvious evidence that would claim the experienced stranger had left one way or another. No decision was random, however, and the mage felt confident that she could track him as long as she utilized all of her available resources.

Closing her eyes, Juliet tapped into her magical sensory potential. The girl rarely used this aspect of her powers, because she preferred the sturdiness of weapons and the quick bursts of mobility she used magic for. Otherwise, collecting intelligence usually ended up with her relying on her ordinary human senses. Particularly, sight, hearing, and touch. Magical sensing was often too easily fooled, although Juliet supposed she could say the same for ordinary vision. There was too many illusionary tactics able to be utilized by everyone and their friends, foes, and family. Thankfully, the stranger did have a magical presence, and she found herself able to sense the vague direction he had gone in. Nodding firmly, she trailed afterwards, heading through the silent forest. It was eerie in its deathly quietness. She almost hoped to encounter some type of undead soon. It would at least put a stop to the unnerving silence surrounding her.


Eventually, she found that the corruption had completely vanished without a trace. It was truly as though nothing had ever been seen in the first place. Juliet understood that she had no more business here, and so she left. Her blonde hair was tossed over one shoulder as she secured her axe behind her back. It would be far easier to simply requip it back into her pocket dimension, but at this moment, Juliet felt like she enjoyed this. It was fun, even, to wield her weapon. There was a certain thrilling aspect to going out and monster hunting. Saving Alana. Meeting the battle worn warrior who had been so mysterious about his identity. They had evidently been called to the same place for similar reasons, but their paths had diverged in quite the interesting fashion. Juliet concentrated all of her magical sensory power into her surroundings once more, just to double check that there was nothing in the vicinity.

According to her knowledge, nobody was around within a few hundred meters. Furthermore, although it was possible for mages and other magical creatures to conceal their presence, they would have to be of a very great power to do so. If that was the case, Juliet felt like she wouldn't be able to do much against them anyhow. It would still be nice to be aware of their existence in the area, though. That way, she could possibly call in for backup. Or allow that man from earlier to handle it. However, she would have to be content with the current situation, since it didn't seem like she would get any inkling of any magical activity around here if it did exist. Nodding to herself, Juliet continued to walk forwards, away from the forest and the cabin. While she could teleport, something told the girl to stick around for just a bit longer. There was nothing more on her agenda for the day, since all of her plans had already been disrupted by Alana's call for help. Therefore she felt like a bit more security that could come from slowly leaving rather than right away would do no harm.