Unlimited Power

"Sometimes I wonder what I would do without you," Odhran said with a smile, reclining upon the throne within the halls of Toltec.

"You probably would've already burned this place down," Arnaluuk replied, no enjoyment in her voice.

Odhran shrugged, finally removing himself from the chair within the throne room. "I feel like Tezcatlipoca is pretty good at preventing fires, personally. Him and Quetz should probably be fine to make sure there's not a massive fire. Plus, I don't even have any fire spirits! Silly Arnaluuk, don't you know your own allies?"

Arnaluuk rolled her eyes. She already knew that she had to effectively be the master of this guild with Odhran's... inconsistent competence, to put it lightly. Most likely she figured it would be some sort of "master by committee" between her and a few of the other Celestial Spirits in Odhran's employ.

But that did not matter to Odhran now. This tavern, this entire realm was suitable for him. As he stepped towards the walls of the throne room, they folded out, the wall extending and becoming a long staircase right to the edge of the Obsidian Mirror that led him into the Crossroads. In all honesty, Quetzalcoatl, the mysterious benefactor of this strange realm, had not fully explained to Odhran what everything was here, but it did not matter to the God of the Celestial Spirit Realm. What mattered was that the feathered serpent, this mysterious, deific being of untold strength, had granted Odhran access to the Crossroads and to Toltec. The other residents of the "city" of Toltec were all an interesting bunch as well, from what Odhran had done to meet them.

But now was the moment of importance. As soon as the hall was opened, Odhran knew what he had to do. This was his shot, this was his opportunity to become something the world could fear. The three "managers" of Toltec all had something in common: they wanted power. That was certainly something Odhran could relate to. He wanted power, and he already had some. But it could never hurt to have more, he thought. With Elysium having scattered to the wind following their questionably successful assault on Fairy Tail, Odhran had nothing until now. But with the power of the Obsidian Mirror, with the power of the plumed serpent, Odhran could seek that power. Not just for himself, but for all of those associated with him. As soon as he had found the Obsidian Mirror, he had sent a missive to his former guild master, Janet Cinderfeild, to meet him at the Drunken Monkey Tavern. After that, he had instructed Mammon and his Spirits to search for more people who would be willing to join. In truth, however they managed to hear the information, they would all be accepted and investigated by Maximon. Normal residents of the tavern, people called by this missive, everyone was accepted to join should Maximon determine they had what it took to be worthy of the guild.

Odhran stepped through the Mirror, arriving in the dank, musty cellar of the Drunken Monkey, stretching his arms. That throne was a bit too uncomfortable for his liking. He walked up the steps slowly, yawning. The tavern itself was much less populated than it normally was, which was saying something. Because of this special day for Odhran, Maximon had decided to employ a system of bouncers just for this one day. For people to even enter the tavern, they would need what was determined as a the proper devotion to the guild. After waiting a few more minutes, Odhran would fire a revolver in the air.

"People of the Drunken Monkey Tavern! I am glad that you have arrived! While I am certain that we will have people join in later, I am glad that we have you all here presently! All of you who are not normally patrons of this establishment have been called here because we know that you seek true power. Ultimate power, unlimited power, all of it. Truly, this is the main reason you are all here. You wish to become more powerful, to become kings and queens, gods, goddesses, and godthems of the world, no, the universe!" He snapped his fingers, his attire becoming a nice looking suit. "Of course, no offense to our lovely barkeep Maximon, but it is a little bit difficult to run a guild of this caliber from a place as small as this tavern. So once we have people ready, I will lead you all to the main guild hall!" He clapped his hands, waiting for the people to be ready to follow him towards the realm of the Crossroads.

Odhran blushed a little as his former guildmaster heeded his summons, but after a moment reading the room, he smiled, opening his arms. "Very well, I believe we have enough people for our first tour. Maximon, if any other patrons of interest come by, direct them to the Mirror, I will inform Tez to get some other tour guides prepared." The strangely doll like bartender gave a curt nod as Odhran made his way down, beckoning these people to follow him.

"A place such as this is certainly a meager cover for a guild of our intentions," Odhran explained, heading to the staff only areas of the tavern. Were this a normal tavern, the infrastructure of this place would render it out of business immediately comparative to its patronage. Odhran, alongside his new compatriots, his new guildmates, would walk through a cramped, yet very densely packed kitchen. At a distance, the workers bustling through would, in their haste, appear like normal humans. However, this close, they neither looked nor smelled human. A creature blinked the eyes upon its elbows at the sight of Janet, a tall, lanky one slightly brushed into the only male of any real note within the group, the lanky one's arm dissipating into sand, reforming upon passing the rest of the group. "I've heard Maximon's been trying to make this place a franchise, but apparently finding Mirrors is a difficult thing." Odhran shrugged, reaching a large, thick door of dark brown oak, metal lining its outside. "Upon joining Plumed Serpent, this is one of the most important doors you will ever find, so remember it well."

Odhran applied a little bit of pressure to the oak door, it creaking loudly as all of the kitchenhands' heads turned towards the group of what would essentially appear to be tourists, sightseeing a guided tour by the former Ace of Creation. After a moment of silence and Odhran's nonchalant walking down the steps, all of the heads snapped back to work in a single simultaneous instance, all of them continuing their work as if nothing had happened. "Now, now, all of you follow me!" Odhran beckoned, heading down the loud, creaking steps. The wooden steps gave way to a stone brick floor of the cellar, the smell of various woods swirling into the nostrils of those who could recognize it, followed moments later by various liquors of various types, each keg, each barrel holding a brew of some time. A large, lumbering, toad like creature peered its head over the tall stacks of barrels, gazing at the party of travelers in its lair before carefully pulling out a barrel of finely aged whiskey from the rack, easily carrying it underneath its arm alongside another four barrels of alcohol. Odhran brushed this off, a normal sight for him at this point. The room soon came to an end, this large cellar ending in an imposing, massive door of a strange, glimmering purple. A symbol reminiscent of a snake circling its own tail was plastered upon the door.

Odhran spun on his heel, turning to his group. "This is the real most important door. Before you stands the final gate of Plumed Serpent, the gates that lead you towards your infinite power. But you didn't come for a tour of this wonderful establishment, you want to see how we get this power, don't you?" He looked around, wondering if anyone actually did want to see his tour, because he certainly knew he was capable. He pointed at a man with a thick mustache in the back. "Alright I'll give you the tour of the tavern in a bit. First things first..." he casually knocked on the purple door behind him twice. A second passed. Two. Three. Finally, the symbol of the snake glimmered and shone a bright jade color, clashing horribly against the purple door. The sounds of gears creaked and moan, grating against the ears of all of those in the group. The sound was deafening, too loud to even hear the voice of the person next to you were they not yelling. The toad peered its head around the row of barrels on the far end of the room from the massive door. Odhran waited a few more moments. After a minute of the gears cranking and turning, a click was heard and a silence hushed across the entire room. A few more moments of silence crept over the room. Finally, a loud hiss emerged from the door as it peeled away from reality, some parts merely opening to give way before unceremoniously fading from existence, some warping from reality in the blink of an eye, some burning away, some folding it on itself, and all other manner of things that Odhran did not at this particular instance of opening the door recognize. "Oh, for the record, you don't have to do this every time. Once you're fully admitted into the guild you can just walk through. Like, literally through. The door is incorporeal. Pretty nifty, huh?"

Odhran did not wait for the response as he walked into the room hidden behind the door. All that lay behind it was an empty room, massive in size and perfectly square. The grey stone brick lined the walls and floors, the almost uncanny normalcy of the room drawing attention to the one thing of note. Within the center of the room sat a massive circle of black glass, held by wood, forty feet in diameter. Odhran smiled. "This is the most important door you guys will deal with." he said, walking into the mirror.

Odhran would wait for the entire party to enter the mirror before he began speaking anew. He opened his arms, letting them all see the land around them. At every instance, something new was shifting. The ground beneath them was a cobblestone path, patches of flowery grass poking between the cracks in this road, which ended a mere few feet ahead of Odhran. Deep in the distance behind him, a city of brown and red brick buildings shimmered and gleamed, wavering as if in some sort of wind from this distance. Looking around, there would be other mirrors similar to the one the group had just emerged from, each with a complete road from it, leading straight to this city. Islands in the sky would float by, crashing into each other and completely changing their form, birds would suddenly transform into snake like dragons, and if anyone were to look above them, they would see strange beings walking upside down, upon the air, floating. An ethereal, shapeless orb of light would touch down beside them, flashing brightly into the eye of one of the ones that appeared to be a twin before vanishing. As a human like entity walked seemingly in their direction, the path extending before him as he walked, it would suddenly make a sheer drop down, a perfectly vertical line which the entity stuck to perfectly, walking down.

A rumbling shook the ground beneath their feet, the mirror disappearing in a flush of smoke and dust and mist. In its place stood a massive jaguar, some fifteen feet tall as its length dissipated into the ether. It sniffed around, glaring at everyone. "You are the ones who seek power?" it growled wordlessly, the sound booming loudly within the minds of everyone.

Odhran nodded. "Yep! These are the folks that have accepted the summons for now, Tez!"

The jaguar scanned the crowd, its eyes catching the child. "I... see. Even little ones seek power?" It sauntered forwards, its form seemlessly shifting to reach an eye level with the black haired child. "Power is no toy, child. You will kill. You will maim. You will loot. You will experience pain. All for power." The jaguar waited a moment in case there would be a response before doubling back on itself, seemingly walking through its own body. It grew back to its original size, scanning the area once more. "Indeed, that is true for all of you. You will gain power by all means. That is your reason for coming to the Crossroads. Destroy all those who oppose you. Be they man or woman, adult or child, human or fae-" he knowingly looked at the witch. "-master or servant-" now at a twin. "innocent or guilty, passive or aggresive. All will fall to you should you bid it."

The booming voice subsided, Odhran waiting a moment before piping in. "Well, Tez here ruined my climactic line. Oh, right. That's Tezcatlipoca. I just call him Tez. Don't worry, this is just how he acts when I'm here and how he sounds when I'm here. If you wanna talk to him in your own time, he'll work with you. Anyways, as Tez so rudely interrupted me, welcome to the Crossroads!"

Odhran looked on with a sense of... pride? Shock? He was not sure what he was feeling when he saw the Zodiac Spirit slice off the head of Tezcatlipoca. The summoner called forth that she was ready to kick some ass or something, Odhran was not really paying attention. Of course, he knew that Tez was fine. His three extra days in the Crossroads meant that he knew everything about it.

Sure enough, within a matter of seconds, Tezcatlipoca's head had reformed, shifting and swaying in a sense of illusion. "Hmph. I see that you most certainly are willing to do what it takes for ultimate power." The jaguar bowed his graceful head. "If you have questions, please ask. I will do my best to answer." Once more, Tezcatlipoca walked in on himself, shimmering and fading until he was gone and the group was simply waiting on this small floating isle in the endless expanse of the Crossroads.

"Well, that was certainly fun! Everyone, give it up for Tezcatlipoca!" Odhran clapped once before turning on his heel and walking right off of the island, a cobblestone path forming beneath his feet. "I sent the message of the Plumed Serpent out for one reason and one reason alone. The world, as I see it, is governed by weaklings. Well, the world most of us come from, the one with Earthland and Fiore and all those other unimportant places sure, but all worlds are governed by the weak. As what's her face pointed out-" he lazily motioned to the witch. "-I am a god. Usually I like the term 'God of the Celestial Spirit Realm,' so no doubt you've heard of me, all you Celestial Spirit Summoners. But beyond just my unimaginable grasp, my complete stranglehold on the whims of the Celestial Spirit Realm - please, don't worry about any rumors that the King took Scorpio away, Scorpio is merely on holiday - I am a god of reality. My founding of the Crossroads is proof enough, isn't it? Founding? Finding? Ah, whatever. Arnaluuk tells me there's a big difference but it doesn't really matter what that difference is. But I'm a generous god, and I am more than willing to help others achieve divinity. There's all these so called Gods of Ishgar walking about, acting like they own the place, but they're gods in name only." He turned on a dime, facing towards the group as they seemed to not make any progress towards the castle in the center. "So! First rule of Plumed Serpent! There aren't really any rules! Do whatever you want! Just as long as you're benefitting from it or others are... uh... anti benefitting? from it, it still goes. I've got wonderful assistants to help me out for anything you want. Need help summoning? Gotcha covered. Want to make... what was it that people were saying? Fat stacks? Stonks? Something like that, I dunno, point is if you want to make money we have you just the guy. Or girl. Depends on the day, honestly. Want to completely ruin the natural order of the world with machines? We have a Gary! Gary's great, you're gonna love him. If there's something else, I'm sure I could chat with Q and get them set up. Point is, there's not really anything you're not allowed to do. I still don't really understand how the Crossroads work, but apparently if you mean ill will towards the guild, you get booted out of the Crossroads immediately or something. Though Q was very insistent in saying that it was ill will to the guild, and he kept saying something about not really caring for the individual members? I dunno, something about some really chaotic ladders. It's weird because we don't even need ladders here, you just walk everywhere. Or teleport. Oh yeah, you all are probably tired of walking by now, huh?" He shrugged, and the road beneath their feet seamlessly lurched over to connect with the castle in the center of this strange realm. "Welcome to Toltec! This is our de facto HQ within Plumed Serpent. Make yourselves a home. It's way easier than you think. Wait, no. It's literally just thinking. I think. Look, I don't understand this place but we'll be fine. Anyways, before we head inside, any questions?" He clasped his hands together and looked out towards the sea of new guild members, as if he were a teacher leading a field trip, uncaring about the dangers of the group of people he was to lead.