Lies of the Dragon ("Can you find my Dragon?" mission; Zenshin, TehDMCmaniac, Chaotic Rumble, Shadow865, Hikari, Ene)

Summer, the season of warmth and joy. Its the time when friends and lovers can spend the most time together, when diminishing worries are overcome by the abundant entertainment that follows the season of the social. In truth, Aegis had no clue which season it was, he had stopped keeping track a while ago, but what he did know was that it was the middle of one of the warmer parts of the year. The song of birds he had spent quite a few weeks listening to hinted at that, so why was it that it felt so cold?
"I know I am hundreds of metres above ground, but it still feels like its colder than it should be."
Of course, there was a slightly bigger problem, a more worrying one hidden within the first half of that sentence. Much like how cats hate water, a certain knight happens to not know how to cope with being in a place higher than he is, so you could say that standing about half a kilometre above the clouds is slightly outside, or rather, above his comfort zone.

"Sky Tower, is it?" - muttered the knight as he recalled the reason he was in such a place, the small sheet of parchment containing only two names. His and that of the structure he was climbing a ridiculously high mountain to reach. There really was nothing else on the "letter", though one could say that the more eye-catching trait it held was the material it was made from. Usually, parchment is something you only see in museums around Fiore, not in your mailbox, so that being said, seeing genuine parchment which out dates probably the civilization in that part of the world was fairly rare to say the least. It all just added up to the peculiar atmosphere of the whole ordeal, Aegis couldn't help but feel a certain tinge of... mystery and importance in that message.

"...Tch." - A sign of dissatisfaction, quickly escaping the knight's lips as he was faced with yet another troublesome obstacle.
"What's wrong, Aegis?" - a beautiful voice was heard from somewhere nearby, seemingly originating from the trinket resting on his neck.
"Well, Egia," - he gently grasped his necklace - "If you look ahead, you'll notice that there are no more stairs."
Indeed, standing tall as if to destroy the fleeting resolve of those undetermined there was a nearly vertical stone cliff spanning the last one hundred metres.
"Just don't look down."
"Right." - his rather demotivated answer accompanying a certain "This whole trip better be worth it" kind of thought. With a flick of his wrists, two daggers appeared in his hands; apparently his chosen armaments for the climb, hopefully they'd prove effective against the strong wind protecting the towering location.

"Guhrrr... haaa."
"Well done."
The panting knight couldn't reply. He just dropped to the ground the very moment he managed to pull himself over the edge. It wasn't really him being exhausted physically, but rather mentally, or at least that's what he'd tell you. In truth, his heart was racing because he was as scared as humanly possible.
"I-I... really shouldn't have looked down..."
"Or alternatively, you could have actually looked up from time to time instead of staring at what's below you and chanting "It's too high, it's really high, it's really too high" all the time."
"...Shut up."
With a dissatisfied expression, the knight pushed himself up to a kneel while taking in deep breaths; hoping the freezing air would help his racing heart calm down. Looking ahead, he saw the huge tower, the world's sentry as it diligently overlooked the world below and the world far away.
"I wonder if anyone is even here. It might just end up being a pointless trip if I find nothing or no one."
Indeed, standing at the peak of the world had a rather lonely feel to it, but was he truly going to remain alone in this apparently purposeless adventure?

Zenshin looked up the staircase before him, leading all the way up to the tower of towers, the "Sky Tower". I can definitely see why this place is a tourist attraction. It's beautiful. he thought while taking a step onto the stone. Another, and another, and he kept on until he was finally at the base of the tower, where he had a few options of getting to the top, which was his, and the rest of the group's destination. Nothing was really set in stone, but Aegis said that this was a very important job of sorts, if not THE most important job thus far, sounds pretty neat. Luckily for him, he didn't fear high places, so such a great altitude was just a higher place from his perspective, actually, he preferred being high up in the clouds, it reminded him of birds, one of his favorite animals.

The sheer freedom of the majestic creatures was enough to get him into a rant on how they are one of the greatest living things that nature has produced since primates. That, however, was beside the point, as he had a place to get to and he would not the one to be the last one there. After a great time in walking from the bottom of the mountain to the summit of the highest tower in the world, he was taken aback by the view, it was amazing. It was breathtaking, literally, at such an altitude, the weaker of the members who had taken up this job would be panting for air, since it's much thinner from where he was standing. Slowly walking towards the edge of the tower, Zen made sure not to trip on the old wooden hatch that led to the tower's interior, as tripping up here would be mighty dangerous.

His hands now on the frigid metal bars that lined the perimeter of the rooftop, he leaned forward, looking at the clouds below. Zen had never been this high in his entire life and felt as though he could keep going higher and higher forever, but of course, that was a rather impossible dream. Shaking his head quickly, he came back to his senses and looked around, seems like I'm the first one here, excellent, it'll give me time to relax before this goes underway. Thinking this with a smile, he put his right leg over the metal bar and closed his left, hooking the joint onto it. Doing the same with the leg he brought over, Zenshin found himself upside down over the side of the building, looking at the world from an opposite perspective, and it was a sight that he would never forget for as long as he lived.

Shadow was quickly walking towards the huge mountain, on the peak of which was the current destination of his journey.  At the base of the mountain he saw some stairs and was walking towards them. Some time after he reached them.
 So, this has to be the place. I hope these stairs leed me to the top of the mountain. With those words Shadow started to climb the staircase soon to realize that wasn't the case. The stairs led to the base of a vertical stone cliff. He looked up and saw a man climbing the seemingly flat cliff and doing it quite fast as well. On the side of the cliff he found metal bars firmly attached to the rock and in quite good condition as well.
Well if that guy wants to kill himself I'm not going to save him. and with those words Shadow started climbing the metal bars. Soon he caught up with the lunatic that was climbing the rock face but there was no point in trying to get his attention. The wind was too strong to yell and if he threw a rock at him the man could fall to his death so he just carried on moving up. And at last he reached the top. The mad man had somehow beat him to the top and now he recognized him as Ayeseru the lacrima bearer. "You better have a damn good reason for nearly killing me, Aegis." He said. Before Aegis had the time to reply Shadow said:
Don't blame Aegis for your insolence Ayeseru he is not to blame for your stupidity. Who in the world would try to climb a rock face with bare hands! Even rock climbers use safety harneses. But I agree with you on one point, Aegis explain why are we here?

Hikari stood in front of a ginormous mountain and stared up at the highest tower in Fiore, The Sky Tower. The wind kissed her rosy cheeks gently and billowed out her long, silver hair. A smile spread across her face as she recalled back the time when she first came to Fiore to join Sabertooth. It had been a long time since then. Now, Aegis Bright, her guildmaster had summoned all of the guild members at the Sky Tower for God knows what reason it is.

Astonished as she was, Hikari stared up at the monotonous and endless steps of stairs before her. She stretched her back and did some exercises so as to warm up her body. Hikari groaned in disappoinment and forced her feet on the stairs So, she began. She hopped on the stairs as she reached higher and higher, repeating the same thing until she finally reached the top of the stairs.

"Pwah!" Hikari breathed, panting heavily. Yes! Finally! I did it! She didn't even have the energy to yell but instead she threw up her arms in the air and grinned as if she'd ruled the world. The climbing was tedious but somewhat it was pretty enjoyable. The tower was very high up in the sky, the clouds drifting pass the rooftop of the tower. It is indeed beautiful up here, Hikari thought, staring out into the horizon. She basked under the sun, whilst at the same time was cooled by the gentle breeze that caressed her face. Hikari smiled, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and whistled to her favorite song, for quite a moment. Oh, how I wish this would last forever,

"Now..." Hikari clasped her hands behind her. "...The guildmaster and my guild mates should be here," Hikari said as she wandered around the place and started to search for them.

Alone atop a point beyond height, verily it was a natural thing to occur. Higher than the highest, a location far above sanity, a place where even birds dared not fly to. In its own touch of irony, it was humanity that conquered that hellgate as a result of its strife for enlightenment. Even in that the equilibrium concept manifests itself under the form of that same irony for indeed, in its conquest to break free from ignorance, mankind attained stupidity and that tower stood as a shining beacon of it, a flag perched proudly atop the highest lowness to mark it as the opposite of what it is and yet designate it as a true concept. In that regard, it could perhaps be characterized as yet another stitch in the makeshift bridge that crosses between opposites, the truth about the world also paraphrased as 'absolute balance'.

It was a thought that sprouted a cynical root, perhaps, indeed truly uncharacteristic, or that's what most would dare say. Truth in truth is the truth that there is no truth, so from that perspective it could be safe to assume that cynical thoughts were foreign to him, but unlike truth, false facts can be defined. Whether something is true or false depends on its opposite, so as such one would think that if there is no truth there is also no untruth and that it is all a blurry cloud of doubt, and that would indeed seem valid too, albeit ignorant. Through that philosophical thought, man would reacquire his intelligence, but in exchange will also recover his ignorance and thus ultimately leading to another false truth, for it is not a full one. He would overlook that the human mind doesn't work based on pre set algorithms and for that sole reason we can derive truth from blind assumption, albeit an informed one. But does that not breed another impossibility? A spawned contradiction, it stands to negate its own existence, yet it would be taken as 'truth' because those who bore witness to its birth were first shown that all else was false. That contradiction would stand to contradict the now-contradictory truths and so the common man would come to blindly believe a false fact which is fundamentally overpowered by what is logical. But does that mean that the false fact is incorrect? It was spawned to deny the truthfulness of a contradiction it created itself, ultimately denying the truthfulness of everything. Yet it was a concept born with no base and even so it could overpower the immovable truths that were fundamental to the comprehension of reality. A false truth, correct in its heresy and born only to not be born existed in non-existence to prove the falseness of the correct truth. Ultimately however, it was born from but a thought and a thought was all it took to shatter the mirror of truth that we looked upon, and because of that pure thought there no longer is truth. Thus reality is no more and all will perish in the primordial darkness... but that's not right either.

Such was the fragile balance that one would call 'Destiny', incomprehensible due to its nature of an inborn imperfection conceptualised into the form of an external factor. For that sole reason it could be stated that it was a cynical thought, but a wry smile donned it with a jest. Verily it was a jest for none other than himself, alone atop a point beyond height, yet Fate seemed to hold its favourite pawn in high regard and as always there was more amusing things in store for the azure man.

"You better have a damn good reason for nearly killing me, Aegis." - a voice.

"Don't blame Aegis for your insolence Ayeseru he is not to blame for your stupidity. Who in the world would try to climb a rock face with bare hands! Even rock climbers use safety harneses. But I agree with you on one point, Aegis explain why are we here?" - then another.

"...H-hey, ahaha, sorry I was late, I had tango lessons with a new friend of mine. Wing reporting for duty, sirs and madam...!" - and a third.

"Er..."
Staring at the trio in blank amazement, the azure knight stood up and dusted his clothes. His mind was a chaotic swirl of surprise and questions, but as per usual none of that havoc was shown on his face. Only genuine surprise dotted his face with amusement as it trailed his mind towards wonderment.
"Uh... okay, let's start from the beginning. First of all, I don't remember nearly killing you, Ayeseru. If I was trying to kill you, it would have probably been something more successful than 'almost' doing it. Second, you're in a fervorous mood today, Shadow. Third, I climbed the thing with bare hands. Fourth, er, hey Wing. It's been a really long time since we last saw each other, back during the war. Fifth, why are you asking -me- for the reason you are here, Shadow? And lastly, why ARE you three here anyway? People don't usually come to such suicidal places on a whim, that'd be kind of silly." - the knight asked in a flurry of wanderous wondering as if in strife to compensate for his mostly stoic expression.

"Pwah! ...The guildmaster and my guild mates should be here" a voice said from around him, causing Zenshin to shoot up from the bar he was hanging from and greet the familiar face. "Hey Hikari!" he said as he planted his feet back on the roof of the tower. "Glad I didn't have to wait too long for anyone else to show up." he said, smiling at the girl. Which begs the question... where's the rest of the group he thought before looking off from the tower. No dice. It was above a thick layer of clouds that made it impossible for him to see anything at the lower level of the ground. That's definitely a problem... he thought as he walked closer to Hikari. "Let's go wait for them at the bottom of the stairs. That is, if you don't mind another two more trips on those stairs" he thought before walking towards the carved stone.

Taking the first step down, he soon leapt off the tower and through the thick layer of gas, rushing towards the bottom at immense speeds before spreading his wings and pulling up and scanning the ground for familiar faces. After a few minutes, he was able to spot Aegis walking with three other people. Two of them were mages he'd seen around the guild, but the third, he was a completely foreign person to him, I wonder who that could be. Quickly landing and planting his feet on the ground, he looked to the two guild members first, back and forth a few times. "I wanted to formally than you two for helping me take down that dark guilder that wrecked the hall, I appreciate it" he said before looking to the girl and extending his hand, "Nice to meet you, I'm Zenshin". Finally, looking over to Aegis, he asked "So, what kind of job would require us to get up to the castle in the sky?"

From what he had seen, there weren't too many jobs that required someone to come up here. Actually, he couldn't recall any of the jobs that said that the client was in the Sky Tower specifically, so the fact that they were here only irked him that much more. Not only that, but he brought along a girl whom he had never even seen or heard of until this very point. I'm actually glad that those two didn't help me take down that rock demon slayer, they would've been quite liable and made it that much harder for me to take him out. Though, I'm still a bit perplexed as to how exactly he died... he thought while making a gesture behind him with his cannon arm. "Hikari is waiting for us at the top, or she's coming down. I doubt she would make another trip though" he said, imagining of the girl sighing to herself after he jumped off the tower.

Shadow was angry. No he was pissed. First that over rated dragon slayer punched him. That measly little boy punched him. The punch in it's self wasn't that strong but Shadow was so surprised that he even fell on the ground. Then the guild master scolded him and somewhat stood up for Ayeseru. But what was even worse was that a young beautiful damsel had to witness it all. Yet he didn't say a thing he just got up and followed Aegis who in the meantime had started walking.
However Shadow was having a hard time containing the emotions inside of him. He would of burnt a whole forest down if he didn't think  that would be too easy. After all, his mentor had told him "never let your feelings get the best of you, you must get the best out of them". So he was waiting for the moment when he could use them. And that moment came soon enough when they saw Zenshin "Hikari is waiting for us at the top, or she's coming down. I doubt she would make another trip though" wore his words. Seeing an opportunity for a contest  Ayeseru quickly ran to Aegis side and spoke silently to him "Hey, Aegis, many of our guild mates and that girl are going to take those metal rails to get up to the top." pointing at a few rusty old rails. "So, how about we have a climbing competition, to see who gets to the top of the tower first, by climbing the actual tower itself!" Shadow overhearing those words spoke out loud: 
"So you want a contest a Ayeseru! Ok lets have one!" -and with those words Shadow sprung of running towards the tower. He knew he had an advantage over the younglings having clmbed the tower before, even if it was 10 years ago,he had done it once he could do it twice.

Hikari stopped walking abruptly and turned around swiftly when she heard a familiar voice. It was Zenshin. On the rooftop of the tower. What in the world is he doing up there? Well, anyway, he's already here. But then, where's the rest of the people?, She wondered. "Yo Zen!" Hikari beamed and waved at him.

"Let's go wait for them at the bottom of the stairs. That is, if you don't mind another two more trips on those stairs" Zenshin said as he pounced off the rooftop and disappeared into the clouds. "Meh. I'll just wait here until they come. I don't wanna climb down again," She whispered to herself and waved a hand in front of her face. She sat on a rail at the edge of the tower and swinged her legs, hoping that the rest of the them would arrive quickly. She stared down to the very bottom of the ground. At that very moment, she had a sudden rush of fear as a cold shiver ran down her spine. Hikari had never been afraid of heights but this freaked her out. The tower was inexpressibly high. What if I accidentally fall down from this tower? I would die, of course! Haha.

Hikari plugged her earphones and played a song that suit the setting of the place perfectly. She rocked her body slightly to the beat on the rail and hummed softly along the song as she stared out into the distance. You see, Hikari's a dreamer; she'd always contemplate about something whenever she's not doing anything. She played with a hair and realized that dawn was already breaking.

An eyebrow risen in tact with the nonsense he was being told, Aegis crossed his arms. "You know, you are getting that in a horrible wrong way. If we are to be technical, my hands aren't even bare." remarked the man as he accentuated his point by extending his hands to the side to reveal the metallic shine his gauntlets held. "Not to mention I used makeshift climbing axes. But more importantly..." his voice trailed off after him as the knight paced calmly away from Ayeseru, removing his gauntlets as the coat clad figure approached the one Aegis least expected to see. "I'm quite certain I never told you that, my friend" continued the guild master's voice before coming to a sudden halt, nay, a pause of sorts. With his noticeable figure reaching the desired destination, the knight shifted his glance at whom he was approaching - Wing, and he did so in more ways than one. Much like how the sound of his footsteps echoed in progressively differing tones, from stone to dirt, his unimpressed glance morphed into a reassuring gaze. He reached out with his now unarmed hands and he grasped hers at the wrists, a warm smile accompanying that random action. However, much against the rules of randosity, a purpousful intention molded itself into existence and as soundlessly as the nature of his compassion he closed his eyes. Before long, a wave of mana pulsed with the beating of his heart, it pushed outwards to reach Wing through his hold and with warmth similar to that of a bonfire, it crawled through her. "I apologise for the intrusion" - the words uttered in a low voice as the knight withdrew his hands, and with them the warmth he shared, yet he left a remnant of it and that fragment of remembrance manifested under the visage of the wounds on her skin which hastily closed.

"So, did you really come because of that, or are you just-..."
"Aegis! Look out!" - The sudden voice of a woman interrupted him. Strange noises struck his ears, seemingly originating form behind him, therefore he understood that if he had the time to turn around and see what's going on, he might as well invest it into "looking out". So, led by his instincts, he suddenly pressed his hands against Wing's shoulders and pushed her away. Not a moment later, his instincts proved right.



The command, issued in a deep male voice as it were, was immediately followed by strange sounds, as if pressurised air combined with electrical current was released from multiple locations in quick succession, but in response the knight could only turn around and brace for impact.

A glimpse of light. Orbs, flashing, shone mid-flight. There was no room for reaction.

Out of nowhere, the entire peak of the mountain was showered by a storm of golden energy. Some of the magical projectiles struck the tower, blowing holes into its side while others dotted the ground and all who stood on it.
"Ng-h...gha...!"
One of the spheres struck the knight dead on, exploding as it did so and thus tossing his body into a nearby rock formation with tremendous force, practically shattering half the stone.

Just as suddenly as everything else, from somewhere above a large group of people, probably over 45 dropped down, all of them armed with a variety of different weapons. Yet something else, more obvious and far more worrying decended upon world's peak, and it was the omen of trouble.


As if grinning through the masks they all wore, the attackers drew their weapons and gladly charged towards the ones unlucky enough to be in their sights. They were intent to kill, and their prey lied shocked and scattered. A flawless ambush.

Zenshin tilted his head down slightly, sighing to himself under his breath, it's like they just completely ignored me.... Everyone seemed quite interested in why they were here though, especially with Ayeseru trying to assert his male dominance over the guildmaster in his own way, showing Aegis his bloody palms and all that. Raising his head now, he could only watch as two fellow guild members raced towards the tower for some arbitrary competition instead of hearing what Aegis had to say, wonderful. Without a moment's notice, a single word could be heard above the howling winds that whipped around the high altitude at which they were.


Fire? was his immediate thought before looking towards the general area from which the sound originated, only to be met by blinding orbs of fire. There were so many, too many, causing an explosion to push him back a bit and blow away some of the tower. After the barrage, Zenshin's blurred vision soon turned clear, allowing him to see the wave of what seemed to be the "grunts" of the attack, wielding various weapons. Instinctively going for his weapon, Ikari, he dashed forward commanding Ayeseru, Shadow, and the newcomer "Both of you, defend! Wing! Go get Hikari at the top of the tower before it comes down!" Zenshin flew into their ranks, now hovering above the ground before finally making contact with one of the swordsmen.

The metal clashed and the sparks flew and the other men leaped out of the way while Zenshin's target was pushed back. All of the other "grunts" closed in behind him. Hopefully his guild mates could take some of the crowd's attention, allowing his some more breathing room while his guild master recovered. Zen stopped pushing him back and stood his ground, deciding on the defensive because of the number of enemies to take down. Finally, one of them took the first lunge, only to be met by the patient sword. Deflecting the blade, Zen watched at a large piece of stone was being swung at him from overhead.

He hopped back, bumping into the other soldiers who were simply laughing and pushing him forward towards a man with enormous muscles, and an equally as big weapon. So big, but so slow... he thought before pointing his cannon at the hammer wielder. Almost forgot about you Zen thought happily before charging the weapon on his arm up. Just as he was about to fire, a stone hit his head, causing a small cut to open. Then another, and another, and another. Before he knew it, Zen was being pelted by stones from all sides, interrupting his attack and allowing the hammer user to swing at him again. All he could do was try to block the incoming attack as best he could.

Taking a swing with his left hand, or cannon rather, he made a pinging sound followed by a cracking sound. A moment passed and the large stone at the end of the stick broke in two and fell to the ground, leaving indentations where they fell and the man without a weapon. The men throwing the stones hesitated and Zen took this opportunity by the reigns, point his arm to the left and firing a large ball of light towards that part of the crowd, which had formed sort of circular arena by this point, most likely to give the bigger man some room to take swings. "How are you two doing!" he called out, hopefully getting a response from both Ayeseru and Shadow.

Hika was still humming along the song when all of a sudden, a bright light shone through the sky. What … What the hell is going on here? She bolted straight up from the bar she was sitting on and rushed her way down the stairs back again. There, she caught sight of Shadow, who appeared to be getting ready for something. ”You okay, Shadow?” Needless to say, of course he is! That was a rather stupid question. She flashed a smile at him but she was immediately awestruck by the disaster that had been happening down there.  Her eyes widened; as wide as a night owl and her jaw dropped open. What is this? A war going down here? Well, there was no time to be amazed or whatsoever. It was some Time for Action.

Well, her guildmates are not some weak mages. They are beasts. So, Hika had no doubts that they’d definitely win this thing. Man, it’s a chaos down here. Fire orbs were charging through the sky and everything was such a mess. Suddenly, someone rammed hard into her, making her fall flat on her face. She struggled to get up back to her feet and turned around to face the man who is about as twice taller and maybe, a quadruple bigger than her. Crap. His body size was intimidating; arms protruding from his body as if his muscles were too big to be kept down. The man turned around and smirked down at her, swinging his gigantic axe up to his shoulders.

Hika gave him a deadly glare as the man lurched his axe down on her. She rolled to her side swiftly, just in time the axe got wedged into the ground. She bent a little, putting force on her feet and charged towards the man at the blink of an eye. She caught him off guard and threw a fist into his abs-packed stomach. Turning around rapidly, she stretched out her leg and slammed it against the man’s head. He looked pretty stunned, just only a little, though Hika gave it her all on those attacks. The man flared his nose and heaved towards her and swiped the axe just above her head. Strings of silver hair were cut as she dodged the attack. Her steps lightened as she approached closer and uppercut the man from his lower jaw, forcing him backwards. Hika grabbed his arm, twisted it and zapped his elbow off, leaving him to yell in agony.