A Message from the Stars (Private: Zenshin)

The tall, broad figure and the focused expression of Sabertooth's only current Paragon at this point in time would be more than enough to cause anyone who walked past him throughout the guild's corridors to immediately step aside. Gone was the man who would give every member a friendly smile, a handshake, a pat on the shoulder or the back. Instead he was replaced with someone who, for the first time since perhaps the events over a year ago, showed nothing but seriousness in his demeanour. No-one dared to attempt to stop the Solitaire, and many magi stepped aside as soon as they saw him, rather than risk him walking into them. A flurry of emotions was shooting through Marick's mind and body right now. Anger, frustration, worry and - the strongest amongst them - guilt. The last time he saw Kyll she'd been engulfed in those shadows. Who knew what that figure would do? Marick shook his head, attempting to remove the image from his mind to no avail.

If anything happens to her, I swear I will never forgive myself...and no doubt Zeno and Zenshin won't ever forgive me either...

It wasn't often that Marick lost his cool. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he was like this. He was so out of his comfort zone that he seemed almost crazed as he burst into Zenshin's office without knocking or even speaking first. "We have a problem Zenshin." His voice held little emotion besides urgency as he took the note Kyll had given him from his pocket and handed it to his guildmaster. "Kyll Vie of Eclipse Soul told me to give you that. Some figure attacked us while we were in the Rose Garden getting our passports..." Marick put his hands against the desk, looking down at it for a moment as if expecting it to talk to him. "...he was powerful Zen...insanely so. I could feel it...his power...I'd say it would most likely be a fair match against even yours..."

Needless to say that Marick had been unnerved. Seeing a scene like that was one thing. Being a man with pride and commitment like the card mage was, this was like mental torture. He wished he hadn't left, yet if he hadn't then he wouldn't have been able to get help. But what if anything happened? He'd not done much to try to protect Kyll, yet she'd told him to leave and call for help. For the first time in his life he'd felt somewhat...helpless.

Made a mistake...thanks Zen. Appreciated. the Solitaire thought to himself with a sigh, before following behind his guildmaster. He wasn't exactly feeling great about the way things had turned out as it was, and that certainly hadn't helped. He knew that Zenshin hadn't intended it that way of course, so he decided to simply brush it off. There were more important issues than his damaged pride to take care of.

"By the sounds of things you have some kind of an idea of where Kyll or that figure may have headed to..." He asked aloud. While he was talking his mind was somewhere else. They were likely headed to Eclipse Soul to inform Master Zeno of what was now occurring. With the assistance of Zeno and the magi of his guild, the odds were already looking considerably better. But how long would Kyll hold out with whatever that figure was doing? What did Zenshin mean by 'that thing'? Whatever the case, Marick intended to be there and do what was necessary to get Kyll back and to give that shadow what was coming to him.