The Overnight Cleaning

Kyll had been brought back to the guild. Once again, Kyll was bed ridden for a good amount of time. After she had gained more power than ever, acquired a guild spell, and a name for herself in the guild. She was no longer known as the "cook" anymore, but she was truly now placed on the pedestal of ace. However, Kyll didn't get the glory of being called out in the guild about it, nor would she ever get that opportunity. Also, she wouldn't even want that too. Kyll was just, Kyll Vie. The girl who lived two months with an uncontrollable magic.

Kyll's body lay in her bed for a week straight. She had cast a guild spell not knowing that she would have to pour so much of her being straight into it. She would have a couple visitors here and there. However, every so often, someone could hear her chaotic screams of nightmares. Kyll's regret of not being able to save her father in law could be heard all through the hall of the dorm area she lived. Sometimes there was a crashing noise and guild members would check on her, only to find that Kyll had punched a hole in her wall. Kyll would scream out for things to get away from her, but as soon as people would come into check on her they would only find that she was having a small nightmare of some sort. Kyll on the other hand was dreaming of things. She knew she had to face these things head on, but words kept crawling through her brain.

It's in your father's journal. My freedom... your freedom... the world's freedom...

Kyll shuddered as she stood there looking out in front of her. What? She only heard and echo of her voice. Who's there? What do you want from me?

It's in your father's journal. My freedom... your freedom... the world's freedom...

Kyll's eyes opened up and she sat up. Kyll looked down to find her wall in shambles. Apparently Kyll had some repairing to do. Kyll put a hand on her head and leaned forward. She had the hugest headache and migraine. She pushed the star and moon sheets aside to find that her journal was placed on her desk. Kyll didn't even remember the end of the fight. She was rather spooked by something else. Kyll grabbed the journal and flipped through the pages. She saw that her glasses were placed on the table too. She put them on and a magic circle appeared on them. She began to flip through the pages as fast as she could keep up with what she was speed reading. She then looked out her window and placed the book down. Kyll put a hand on her head and cried. "You stupid fool..." Kyll said. She laid her hand down and slammed a fist on the desk. However, the desk crumbled beneath her fist. She sat up and took her glasses of... gently. She opened the door... softly. Then snuck out of her room and down the stairs. Kyll made her way down the halls and then shoved the tavern door open, only to take it completely off of the hinges. Kyll stood there and looks at the door in her hands. She smacked her forehead, then set it on the wall. Great... something else to clean up. She walked into the kitchen taking THAT door off the hinges as well. Kyll bowed her head in aggravation. What... is going on?

She walked up to the sink to see that there were dirty dishes in the sink. So she sighed and grabbed a rag then gently started the faucet. She placed some soap in the sink then stopped the water once it was full enough. Kyll looked at her hand. She was so busy to not notice that Alye must've placed her in her pajamas again. The scar was in clear sight, so Zeno must've noticed it when he was checking on her. Kyll blushed. She had not really said much about her past to Zeno. Only that she was Einrich's student and the disasters that happened. Nothing about how she was found. Kyll sighed and picked up a porcelain dish and placed it in her hands. She began to clean the plate. Crack! The plate snapped into two in her hands. Kyll tried again. Snap! And again... And again... That same result. Kyll just stood in the kitchen wondering what was going on. "Of course he wouldn't be awake..." Kyll said with a sort of giggle. She put her hand in the water, then winced as the soap touched her arm. Kyll pulled her shirt sleeve back to find that the sores she had gotten from her magic rejecting her before were coming back. "I'm not supposed to fall apart..." She said holding herself.

"You know, doors are meant to be opened... not torn down."

Zeno stood in the doorway to the kitchen, quietly watching Kyll. His eyes tired, his skin a bit more pale than usual. The magic he used in the battle against Warden had left him with some side-effects. Whatever he looked like, he felt worse, but that was something nobody would ever be able to tell. The former guildmaster carried on as if nothing was wrong.

Still, it was a miracle that the alarms managed to wake him up. Unlike Kyll, he had been sleeping deeply for days because his body needed to recover. When Kyll broke the doors, an alarm was triggered in his bedroom. The lacrima orb in his room revealed Kyll's spiking magical signature in the lower sections.

Kyll jumped as she turned around to find Zeno. H-How long..." Kyll shook her head. She didn't want to question it. She also didn't want to question Zeno's condition. After all, if she was in his position, she would do the same thing. Concerned for her fellow mages. Kyll sighed and looked at Zeno. "It's not just Harland... There's a lot that I have learned... and it's not good." Kyll shook her head and sighed. "NONE of it is good." She didn't know what to do other than go back. To when she met Zenshin. "First I find out that Zenshin is alive and in Sabertooth. No one BOTHERED to tell me about that. Second I received a letter from my mentor telling me NOT to find him other wise I would set in motion something that would destroy me. Also mentioning that my magic, Heavenly Body, was never mine to begin with. Which explains why I wear my suit all the time. Then I find myself in a dream state with Einrich giving me the sealing spell again and telling me not to become the second Queen. Then I wake up in the arms of a mage named Alexander. I was in the spooky woods and I have no understanding of why I was there in the first place." Kyll held her hand out and moved the sleeve up revealing the mark on her hand. It was just a single skeletal wing meaning that it hadn't completely broken the seal. "This is what the result of THAT was. Then I go to Era and low and behold the mage who had 'saved' me in the woods was actually Alexander Faust of Savage Skull... Harland dies. He was the only father figure I had. Then I find out that my... that Harrigan Crawford, his son and my arranged husband, is still alive." Kyll sighed. "I don't know how long I have been out for after the events in Era, but I wake up stronger. Perhaps too much to understand. The entire time it was an assortment of nightmares. Wish Faeries, a boy named Archer demanding his magic come out of my body, Einrich visiting every now and then, Harland, and a voice that keeps telling me to 'change' the world." Kyll put a hand on her head. "It's confusing. So many feelings in one sitting. I don't know what to do other than not sleep. I've never really SLEPT since I have been here to begin with." Kyll sighed and put her hand behind her head. "Master Zeno... You always have the answers... What happened? Why do I have to be the one with a foolish family of nobles who did unethical things just to get to their money?"

Zeno sat down as Kyll commenced to vent her emotions and problems. An abundant overload of those and they were all intertwined, generating uncontrollable emotions and impulses upon itself.

Kyll's soul was travelling through a maze.


The guildmaster took another deep breath, rubbed his eyes, then cleared his throat with a brief cough.


Zeno clenched his jaws, closed his eyes for a moment. Rubbed his face with his hands and then looked at Kyll with an expression that indicated she would have no choice in the matter of whatever it was that he was about to ask.


He paused for a brief moment, allowing her to already guess the end of his sentence.

((Best to play Kyll's past song))

Kyll looked at Zeno and listened intently to every word he had to say to her. "But I..." She was interrupted by Zeno telling her what she needed to do. To become self aware to make it through this and to see that she was after all... A hero of Fiore. Kyll sighed as she had no clue what she should do. Should she follow in her mother's footsteps? Should she find out if she can just move forward only to use up Alye's healing magic? Kyll was at a loss of words.

Kyll nodded to what Zeno had said. She HAD been in this guild for a very long time. She couldn't explain to Zeno how she came into the guild hall with the marking on the back of her neck other than she had a letter from Einrich stating that she was far too much for him to work with. Then Zeno stopped talking. Kyll was clueless as to what he was about to say to her, but when he asked her to be honest. Kyll was tempted to just lie about it. However, the urge was suppressed as she finally forced the words out of her mouth. "After all this time, you finally will get your wish," she finally opened her eyes completely to reveal to Zeno that everything she said was true. Zeno would see a ghost from the past standing right before him. "My name has gone through two name changes since birth. My maiden name was Greaters. A family of noble lineage because they teamed with the Magic Council research and development department. My mother came from Midi. She carried the blood of magic meant for healing. The magic I was supposed to have. My father, William Greaters made a discovery. In the journal Harland gave me, he discovered a creature that could grant wishes. He was meeting a deadline when he finally succumbed to the greatest sin of all. He placed the creature into my mother, Kalister Greaters. Upon these events, I was then placed in my arranged marriage to Harrigan Crawford. Harland's son." She grabbed a napkin off of the table and placed it on her nose. "He was the only one... I ever..." The napkin turned into a crimson color and tears began to stream from her eyes. She took her mind off of the thought and gathered herself back together. "According to my father's journal. For a year she refused to speak, eat, or even help with research. She mumbled how much she hated my father for ruining my life, even though I was happy. This wasn't the route she wanted me to go. Even though I..." She took a deep breath and sighed. "Then one night she surrendered to the creature. Making the key wish that would activate the creature. Which in turn caused it to bond with her magic reproducing these 'faeries' all over the world. That wish was something that could 'grant' the impossible. For my ability to understand what Einrich writes about to be taken away. So that I may leave Harrigan."

Kyll stopped and looked at Zeno for a reaction. "My mother then made a second wish that caused her to completely lose her 'being.' From what the journal stated. For me to have a magic as powerful as a 'certain Rune Knight.'" Kyll sighed. "I would only guess this certain 'Rune Knight' would be Einrich. Mainly because it was Heavenly Body Magic I received. Something that I would learn later on from him... That my magic isn't mine." Kyll sighed and walked away from Zeno only to find the tea kettle. She carefully put water into the kettle, then she put it on the stove top turning it on. "My father tried to find ways to cure my mother. Healers from around the world came to her, only to contract the creature because of greed. His last entry was about his final attempt. He was going to extract the creature. He put down all the possibilities, but in the end his journal ended with blood spattered all over the page. My mother's last wish was for me to kill her, but as we know... That never was meant to be. Instead, I spent months in the forests outside of Savage Skull. Where a cloaked man came to me every day, promising to help me if I simply wished for it." The kettle went off and Kyll took it off of the burner and set it aside. She opened the cabinets and pulled out a couple mugs. She began to shake as she thought back to what she had done. Her hand squeezed through the mug as she tried to think of what to say next. "I'm sorry..." Kyll said and pulled out another mug this time much more carefully than she did last time. She pulled out another mug for herself. She was too scared that she would break her lotus cup. She poured the water into each mug and got into the cabinet, pulling out her wooden box of teas. "I was in this state. With sores all over my body. Surrounded by ghosts, but I stayed strong... Until one day where I couldn't take anymore. My resolve dissipated and I asked for help, at a high price. I don't know why, but I was sent a good ways away from where I resided for weeks. That's where I met my mentor. Who took me in with the full intention of teaching me the balance of light and dark along with The Universe. He stamped me with HIS personal mark to show everyone I was his student. Or so I thought." Kyll placed the jasmine tea bags into the mugs, then walked up to Zeno handing him one and placing hers on the table. She walked back to the counter and pulled out a pen and paper then came back. There she sat and lightly drew the Eclipse Soul marking. She then drew an arched fox over the tattoo. "I guess you could say Einrich really trusted you as a friend." She smiled. Kyll sighed and looked into the cup as the pictures of her past that haunted her came into her mind. "I've had to repeat the sealing spell three times now. One time when I was discovered. The second time when Harrigan found me. The third time when I was found in the woods recently."

She looked up at Zeno. "One fateful day, Einrich found Harrigan. Bringing him to the guild. Of course... I would've died of blood loss around him, but instead SOMETHING happened. It's rather fuzzy, but I had to say the sealing spell. All I know is that it caused such an explosion on my Heavenly Body magic, that it left a rather large crater there. Einrich changed my name right then and there to Kyll Vie. Many mages died that day and we buried them all. That was when the fox over my tattoo had disappeared and I had been excommunicated from his guild. He gave me directions to you. To seek out redemption. He also told me that I had the choice to run away from this and hide it forever from myself only to learn in the long run I would have to face it head on... or... I would face it head on right then and there." Kyll sighed as she took a sip of tea and looked at Zeno. "That's when I journeyed to find you. I believed that maybe... just maybe everything would disappear..." Kyll smiled as tears began to drip on to the table. "That if I continued to risk my life for the sake of others, it would all just fade away.... but... It all caught up to me. A member of Savage Skull knows of 'The Queen.' As Alexander revealed that he had possession of my diary. It's only a matter of time before something grave happens." Kyll immediately put the cup down on the table and gripped her fists so that she wouldn't destroy ANOTHER mug. Plus burning sensations on her burns didn't help. She tightened her jaw and she knew what she had done. "And this... Recent news... Is all my fault. I was sloppy. I was slow to remember my diary from the ruins. And the thought of causing you trouble, Zeno." Kyll said as she bowed her head down hiding her glowing green eyes. "I don't want to cause you guys any at all. I'd rather face my own demons of my past on my own than hurt any of you all any further than I have already done." She continued to hold her head in a humble manner. "Master, I already know deep down that you've been wanting to hear this. I completely understand... If you don't want to take me in anymore." Kyll sighed. "It's just that I got caught in my own web of lies as I had tried to find something... A clue... As to where to go next."

The story Kyll told was heartbreaking. It rendered Zeno silent for quite a few seconds after she was done. Though it reminded him of himself in more than a few ways. Concern for his apprentice filtered through the fatique on his face.

For Kyll to find redemption, she would have to go through the same process Zeno had so many years ago.

Einrich... You brilliant pain in the ass...

From beginning to end Kyll had been tossed around and manipulated by the ones she cared about. It was time to put an end to that.

Zeno gratefully took a sip of tea.

"Thank you, Kyll. This means a great deal to me. Now, allow me to help you take control of your life. You need to do what I did in order to break with the past and be reborn..." Zeno said as he looked down at the hand holding the mug. There used to be a big scar on that hand, but the Arcane Lords had taken all of his physical scars away during his time with them.

His eyes went dead. Gazing back at his past seemingly indifferently.

"During my time with Einrich in the monastery, after I had undergone most of my spiritual transformation, we started a quest together. We'd sneak out at night to... track down all former members of the disbanded Shadow Saviour guild. We took care of them, one by one, until the only person left that could still serve as a walking memory of those dark days was me," the Shadow Saviour said, his voice dark and sorrowful.

He looked up at his Ace of Rebirth. His red eyes wondering.

"We need to track down Harrigan and Alexander."

Kyll looked at Zeno as he spoke and nodded. She took notice of the sound of tragedy in his voice. Kyll wanted to reach out to him and hold onto his hand, but she knew that he was referring to how the two had one thing in common. "I have a feeling, Alexander will be needing some help. For there is subtle hint that he is being manipulated more so than being lost in the dark." She sipped her tea and placed the mug down on the table. "He's not a lost cause like most of the dark mages." She was quiet for a minute.

Her eyes slowly closed and a knot grew in her throat when she thought back to the woods. Honesty Kyll.... She took in a deep breath and looked back at Zeno. "Einrich said that I needed to well... Befriend him. He would be a key player in helping me come back to my healing bloodlines." She gripped her fists and looked at the table again. "I don't want to see Harrigan again. To be honest and quite frank, I'm very... VERY... scared of him. He does not forgive in the least, especially when I left him with a lie and accidentally attacked him when he came back to me to start over." She put a hand through her hair. "If I do face him, I want to get my healing magic back first. The only thing I'm afraid of about this is the fact that I will lose myself forever, but why would I be sent here if my mentor wasn't looking for a solution." Kyll looked at Zeno. "Do you know what might happen if I go down this path? Would I just become another demon like my mother?"

Zeno sighed and ran his hand through his hair after which he scratched his neck.

"Befriend a dark mage... There are several ways to do that, but it depends on what kind of person Alexander is. Whether he's the kind of mage I can save or not..." Zeno mumbled.

Kyll continued to talk about Harrigan. Zeno replied with a comfortable gaze into her eyes.
"You wouldn't need to face him alone... I had Einrich with me during my most challenging confrontations back then. You'll have me."

Zeno walked forward, a bit painfully since he couldn't move his body all too well yet, and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"You'll be fine. Your soul is your own, regardless of what state your body and mind might be in. I've seen your soul and it is beautiful. You just have to cast aside your doubts and find confidence in your newfound powers. You're strong and powerful, they don't have anything that can tear you down. All you need is the will to loosen yourself from the grip they have on your deeper emotions."

He took a brief pause to cough and rub his temples.

"They don't own you, you own yourself."

Zeno made sure to show Kyll he was serious. He didn't know how many times he would have to tell Kyll the power was clearly inside her, that he could see it as bright as ever, but he would repeat it as many times as it would take.

"If you want your healing magic back first, then that is fine. We can go get it."

Kyll smiled and nodded when Zeno gave her reassuring words. They really helped. "Master Zeno," Kyll said calmly. She took a sip of her tea then pulled her right sleeve to her pajamas up. "This marking, would you know anything about it? I mean I already know that Einrich had some sort of connection to it, but I'm not certain what it is.... at all." She held her hand out in the light to reveal the half of a single skeletal bat wing. The marking was like a scar, but specifically designed like a brand. She wanted to ask another question. Kyll sat there for a minute wording her thoughts in her head. The question she wanted to ask was what KIND of connection Einrich had with her mother if he had one at all. Were they friends? Were they enemies? Was there anything she needed to know at the moment that she didn't know or was she going to have to let that all unfold on its own. What if she was right? What would happen then? Kyll's thoughts just overflowed. She then stared at the marking, and what would happen when she tries to get her healing magic back? Kyll's thoughts were chaotic and flowing into so many tangents and rabbit trails she had no idea of where she wanted to start.

Zeno took a look at the symbol but it didn't ring a bell.

"I'm sorry, Kyll. I do not know," the guildmaster said. He could see that Kyll was drowning in a sea of questionmarks. Maybe he did possess the power to give her some answers.

Zeno turned around and made his way over to one of the tables. He calmly sat down and placed his deck of cards on the wooden surface. "Sit down. Maybe this can shed some light on your situation," he said as he gestured at the seat opposite of him.

"Place your hand on the deck and let it feel your magic."

Kyll watched Zeno move to another table. She followed him and sat across from him. She looked down at the deck of cards. She only read of Zeno's fortune telling from her mentor's novels. She was sort of floored by the offer and honored that he would give her some FORM of answer. He placed his deck of cards in front of her. She looked at the deck. They looked rather new, but carried an aura of age to them that she couldn't even understand. Kyll put her hand over the deck and she could feel the magic in the cards. So powerful. She knew Zeno was probably THE most powerful mage, but this was the only proof she needed. What do you cards want to tell me? Kyll thought looking down at the cards. She then looked up at Zeno and then took her hand away from the cards knowing that her question had been received. "Okay?"

Zeno nodded quietly in response.
He then placed his own hand on the cards and breathed out. The whole deck lit up in bright silhouette of all the rainbow's colours swirling through each other. The silhouette then took on a uniform yellow colour. After a few seconds, the light dissipated and the box-ish silhouette became a deck of cards once more.

Zeno's index finger ran along the top card's surface briefly before he lifted his hand entirely. The guildmaster then snapped his fingers and light erupted from the surface of the wooden table. Instead of actually revealing the physical cards, their projections appeared between Zeno and Kyll. When the light dimmed, the shapes, contours and artwork of the cards seemed to be burned in the table. The burn marks were still sizzling.

Zeno gazed upon the table with curiosity, it had been ages since he had done a reading, especially for someone like Kyll.

"The first card,"he started as his index fingers pointed at the first burn mark to his left. The artwork burned into the table revealed a collapsing tower in the middle of a lightning storm. A tornado seems to be in the back but it isn't very clear. The number 'XVI' was at the base of the tower.
"Is the reversed tower. The tower represents your life as it was, built brick by brick until it touched the sky. The storm is a drastic change in your situation, destroying your tower and turning your whole world upside down. Everything crumbles around you and when the storm dissipates... everything will be different." Zeno spoke, letting silence hang between them as he shifted his eyes from the table to Kyll and back.

"That is your past. It is not something we can do anything about, but it is the situation from which we must move forward. The next card helps you to do so, it is the upright three of pentacles."

Zeno said as his finger moved from the reversed tower to the second card in the sequence. It was simple in design. Three equally sized pentacles stacked vertically, each with a strange and vague visage reflecting on it.

"Mastery, renown and power. This is what lies in your present, what lies within your reach. It is up to you to seize it in order to fulfill your future."

The finger moved to the last card.

"The Fool," Zeno smirked, "represents the journey, the search for wisdom and experience. For you, Kyll, the beginning of a new life."

Kyll looked at the three cards. Laid out upon her, she still got such a vague answer. She stretched and finished off her cup of tea. She smiled warmly to her master and nodded. "I get it," she said and stood up. "Well... I'm starting to get tired again. I guess I will brave sleeping again Master... Good night. She bowed to her master and smiled. She waved her hand and walked back towards her room.

"I was wondering when one of your first guild members would leave," Einrich said finally. It seemed like he had been there the entire time. The pink haired mage carried the exact warm smile Kyll modeled herself off of. The golden eyed man held his arms crossed hugged around a katana, etched with a butterfly. He looked just about as tired as Zeno perhaps more so from all of the "traveling around" he had done during the events in Era. His skin was rather pale and he carried luggage in his eyes. He definitely hadn't been eating correctly for the past few weeks. His cheeks were rather sunken into this face. "Well my old friend, seems like your memory fades with time after all." He walked over to him and stood across the table where Kyll's three card reading laid before him. "The inverse tower, the three of pentacles, and the fool. The Fool suits her quite well. I did try to get her to wear a jester outfit." He gave a single 'heh.' Then sat the katana down on the table. "What I'm surprised about is how the great Master Zeno forgot to notice that my seal on her was half way broken. That scar on her hand is the same scar my first student, Archer, had during our quest to take out the first coming of the Queen." He looked over in the direction Kyll walked away. "And when she finally opened her eyes to speak to you with full integrity. It set my heart a flutter, because I thought I had seen Kalister again." He then pulled a bottle with a butterfly missing half a wing. "But I had to remind myself, that she is right here." He paused and then looked back over to Zeno. "Well most of her that is." He put the bottle away. "Zeno my friend, we have a problem."[/color]

Zeno let out a brief sigh.

"Einrich," he said as if he was confirming something.

The seal, of course. How could he have forgottten? That was not in his nature. Maybe the battles with Lichborne and Warden had taken more than just a physical toll.

Zeno listened to his old friend quitely and watched him sit down. After glancing at the bottle for a brief moment before it disappeared again, Zeno looked Einrich in the eyes.

"You've seen better days..." he smirked.

Zeno rubbed his temples to suppress a sudden headache, then let his thumb and middlefinger slide down to his eyes and rubbed them too to relieve the pressure.

"I wondered more than once when you were going to show up. Now, tell me what I need to know." Zeno spoke as he nodded at the katana.

"Don't even say hello, how have you been... Just get right to business." Einrich stretched and then cracked his back and shoulders. He looked at Zeno with the same warm smile. "Same Zeno I know and respect." He looked towards the direction of Kyll and sigh. "I'm glad to see my problem child has grown so much. She may as well not need me after all."

I figured something out." He sat down across from Zeno and put a hand on the katana. "Kalister's family was very unique. You may want to check them out sometime. They are sort of like the monks here." He folded his arms and leaned back in the seat. "I came to warn you of a vision I had. It looks like it's being completely rewritten as I thought because I committed a taboo in order to prevent it." He scanned the room to see if Kyll was still around. She definitely was not there. Nor was the other young lady mage, Alye. "But I'll cover that later, if you really want to know. Kyll's going to go through a sort of... Metamorphosis. With the vision I had, I saw that there was no hope for her, but I didn't take into the account that Kalister, her mother was actually spread across the astral planes, or as you know well in my beliefs, spiritual playgrounds. The sword she made me stab her with... The one on the table... is actually a blessed weapon. One of the males of the Wei family blesses it with their magic. It's a key weapon for shattering their family healer's soul in to hundreds of pieces. In case the women healers ever go rogue." Einrich patted the katana and pushed it over to Zeno. "It was meant as a LAST RESORT." His face then changed to that of a protective father as if he was hinting to Zeno that he didn't want anything to happen to Kyll, whom he considered his child.

"I've been spending all the time searching trough the playgrounds, after I had that chilling vision of Kyll dying at the hand of someone she considered a friend. So I went out of my way to make sure this doesn't happen. I think that we can change this. Actually make this right... But at a price I'm willing to pay." Einrich sighed. "You of all people should know what the price of changing one's fate is."

Einrich smiled and got up to the bar and looked around at the shelf. "Where is it... hmm..." He then shoved a few bottles aside pulling out a dusty bottle of rice wine. The bottle was in a semi vase shape with a lotus flower painted on it. Then he grabbed two tiny cups and walked over to Zeno. "Can't believe you kept this lying around still. As old as it may be..." Einrich laughed a little. He put the two cups down and poured some of the wine. "And you kept it room temperature. Just the way I like it." Einrich grabbed the cup and sipped it to taste the strength to it. "All this time, and it's still... so smooth." By smooth, Einrich meant hard. Yet he never seemed to care. Einrich smiled and then put a hand through his hair. "So as I was saying. I think we can actually send them away. With the help of this little soul." He pulled out the small bottle with the butterfly in it. "Say hello Kalister," Einrich said a little lightly. The butterfly was rather weak looking but it fluttered its wings slowly. "Like I said, I have traveled all over to find pieces of her to put her back together. Little specks of light. It's been rather hard, but I'm almost through." He took the cup and sipped it again pouring himself another round. "Do you have any other questions for me?"

Zeno's eyes widened and his eyebrows pulled together in a frown during one of Einrich's sentences. His focus settled onto the katana and for a minute Zeno had retreated into pensive thought. The guildmaster had not even noticed Einrich grabbing the special wine from the shelf.

"Do you have any other questions for me?"

Zeno was pulled back into reality. His frown shifted from the katana to Einrich, the worried expression on his face did not fade away.
"Einrich..." he uttered, "One, I will not use that katana on Kyll. And two... I will not allow you to make such a sacrifice. There must be another way. I have made several attempts at letting Kyll find her own power, at letting her be in control of it and look at how far she has come. She can do it. I will be with her every step of the way and we will conquer whatever difficulties ari-"

Zeno cussed quietly as he was cut off mid-sentence by another intense burst of headache. His left fist fell down onto the table so violently splinters exploded everywhere and the table fell apart.

The silence was broken by another sigh.

"Damnit..."

Zeno picked up the katana from the floor and walked over to the bar. He placed the blessed steel calmly on the wood and sat down on one of the stools. It was very rare to see Zeno in a condition like this, and he would only allow Einrich to be a witness to it.

"Look, I am going to get Kyll through this, you are going to make Kalister whole again and afterwards we can all share this wine together and drink to better days ahead, understood?" He said with a voice that did not allow further discussion, even though that probably had little effect on Einrich. As soon as Zeno finished his sentence he poured a cup of wine for himself and drank it down.

Einrich watched as the table shattered to that ground. He looked forward and heard the setting of the sword on to the bar. He watched Zeno take the small cup and chug it down. Then gave a small laugh when he left a 'final say' in the matter. Einrich already knew that the wheels have been set in motion. Zeno would not be happy if he heard anymore, but Einrich would leave a small final say. A warning for Zeno. After his episode of headaches of course. "You should remember this when I first introduced you to this special wine. You enjoy the taste and sip on it. Let the wine go through you with ease... Let it warm up to you. Then you can start drowning in it. You remember the last time you tried to keep up with me drinking this wine." Of course it was Einrich who learned that lesson the first time when he tried to drink with HIS mentor. Einrich reached into his sleeve and pulled out a bag full of herbs. "You're going to need this if you plan on feeling up to watch over your children, Zeno," he laughed silently. If Zeno were to open the bag a strong fowl smell would waft out into his face. "Don't eat it... Make sure Kyll doesn't get a hold of this. She will unhinge at the seams to try and make this a seasoning. She has always made it a goal to make this stuff edible." Einrich laughed thinking back to when Kyll tried to feed this to an animal. "Put it in your incense to cover the smell. If you want to brave the scent, then burn it and smell the smoke. I warn you now Zeno, it stinks, but it should help those headaches subside."

Einrich started to increase his pace as he took another glass and drink it two thirds of the way down. His golden eyes looked over at Zeno with a look of concern. "Zeno, I do have another request. Kyll's temper... You have not seen it as much as I hoped you would. She looks like she is patient, happy, and willing to do anything for others. However, her acerbity is what concerned me the most when she was under my mentoring. You see I tried to tell her about her mother, instead she focused more on destroying the killer... or killers. I, a guardian of balance, could not bring myself to express to her why it happened. She only expressed how sick and twisted the killer was to her." Einrich paused. "Now that I know she is confused on whether to still love her mother or just hate her for what Kalister had done out of the want for Kyll to live a normal life. However, explaining the influence of these imps would not be possible. She wanted no part of it." Einrich stopped and sighed pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. "This is not turning into a request, more of an explanation. What I'm trying to request of you is that you would not reveal to her what truly happened, until she is ready. Until she figures out just WHY these stupid creatures influenced Kalister the way that they did... or if you hit a situation where you have to MAKE her understand. She's got this peculiar thing about revenge."

Einrich finished his cup off and sighed. "I have stayed later than I wanted to, just trying to catch up with you." He grinned to himself and then looked at his cup. He poured himself another cup. "You have this aura about you that makes everyone change subjects to easily. When I wanted to tell you that you need to be careful of Savage Skull's shadows. Mainly because the lich's disciple is no longer aligned with them. He will be acting on his own."

Zeno gratefully accepted the herbs while he thought back to the good old days; the first time he drank the wine, the first time he got incredibly hungover on it, and then even further back into the past. He had forgotten how much he missed Einrich. He had been so distracted by so many things. He had been blind in many regards to Kyll's situation as well. Einrich had been vague about it, mainly because he had hoped Zeno would simply know and understand. Zeno should have, but it became more apparant to him that the situation was much more grave. The simple methods of soul searching and healing he had tried to apply on Kyll would not work that easily, and for the first time he understood another important reason why Einrich had sent her to him. They were similar in many regards. The spirit of vengeance being the dominant source of energy. It had fueled Zeno too back then. Einrich had let him discover the truth behind it because he knew Zeno would figure it out on his own. That's where Kyll and him differed, and that's what made Einrich so worried.

Zeno had been Kyll's northern star and her shadow. Pointing her into the right direction, whispering to her the vague answers he could give her in order for her to find the way herself. Zeno understood now that he would have to be more than that. He would have to become an active manifestation of support beside her. More than just a guide.

"I understand. She is stubborn, Einrich, and so is her confusion. I have tried to get through to her and lead her to a realization that would allow her to clear the fog within her mind herself, so that she can accept the truth... but she is too emotional..." Zeno said with a rough voice as he stared at the empty cup between his fingers.

"I am prepared for anything that may cross our path, but when it comes to steering her... She is the first student I have ever had that made me feel this lost as to how to guide her back onto the right path. I have read her fortune, and it was a very positive result, but she did not seem to grasp it. I have given her great power straight from the arcane realm and connected with her soul, but somehow... somehow I cannot bring her emotions into clarity. I have seen her temper, Einrich, I really have. I..."

Another sting between his ears followed by a painful expression on his face.

"I'm starting to believe I will have to resort to spiritual cleansing in the end... Which is a completely different ordeal, as you're well aware." He said and looked up from the cup with raised eyebrows. He kept eyecontact with his friend's golden soul mirrors.

"I can do all that you request of me, my friend. But this time I cannot see the fate that lies ahead; this is the thing that I am struggling with. Therefore, I place my trust fully in your hands. I will be Kyll's guide, but you must be mine."

Einrich put hit thumb and index finger on the bridge of his nose, thinking of what to say, then grunted slightly. He thought for a minute. "I can see where you're coming from. I did put you in this situation with out you asking. However, you did promise to house any of my problems I send your way." He took his hand off his nose then looked back at Zeno's red eyes. "Also, I brought Kyll under your affiliation with out you knowing it, not even sending you a message." He grinned warmly. Then gave Zeno the familiar sneer. The same exact one he gave when one of his novels became a best seller. "But knowing your knowledge and power, you should have known I was up to something when I gave her the sister guilds identifier. After all, we sense our members and how they are doing no matter what the distance."

"Hmph... I guess I could help you out with developing her control." The sleeve covering his hand was pushed back revealing his sister guild tattoo. A fox jumping over the eclipse. "You think Kyll is emotional. Kali... She had more sadness than you could ever see. Being arranged into a marriage to a mad scientist who was running on his last bit of funds. It's as if the Wei family willed for this to happen to Kali." He held both of his hands up in an "I don't know" fashion and shook his head. "But I wouldn't know anything of it."

Einrich looked over at Zeno. "Now for steering Kyll in the right direction. Kyll was forced down her path. However, she was never directed in The Sprinting Fox before her ex husband showed up. No one in the guild is compelled to do anything. They make their own choices. They find their paths on their own whether it be light or dark. Kyll is confused because I made her join a legal guild. Everyone in my guild knows that their stay is only temporary. They gain the control they need to learn their magic. Then they spend the rest of their time contemplating on the path they want to take." Einrich downed another cup down. He looked at the wall and swirled the jar. "Mages who are in my guild are brought in to understand that they provide to better the world no matter what choice they make. If they feel that foundations need to fall and the only way to do so is join a dark guild, then I will not stand in their way. That mage's job is to keep the Magic Council on their toes preventing any sort of 'utopia' to appear. With out dark guilds, there would be so many laws that nothing would get done. The Council may even influence the King of Crocus to join in starting wars with other nations. If my guild member feels that they are to fight against the dark and keep it at bay. Then they are free to join a legal guild or even the Rune Knights if they wished. Thus our guild byword will always be, 'Without day we would never wake, and without night we would never sleep,'"

Einrich poured another cup and sneered over at Zeno. "You may need to restock on this wine. Don't worry I'll be sure to send a messenger hawk with another jar for you to keep. It would be entertaining for Kyll to learn to actually drink this wine. She would wind up just like you." He laughed.

"In Kyll's case..." Einrich drank the wine and continued. "She never made the choice of what path she wanted to take, even though I knew she was going to wind up here after all. In fact, she was never to join my guild to begin with. Kyll's path was laid out before her in this thorned twist of fate. She walked down the path barefoot and in a skirt. Taking every scratch along the way. All because her mother 'wanted the best' for her." Einrich looked at Zeno and closed his eyes knowing that he was going to give him the cold truth about Kyll. "To be frank with you Zeno, she was meant to die. The moment Kali made the wish to never fathom love and give her Heavenly Body magic, she was shot out of that fate and down this path. She escaped death again making a wish and appearing at my meditation spot in the forest. Wishing for my help made it impossible for me to get rid of the imp." He crossed his arms and sat up straight on the stool and nodded. "Which is the reason why I will be of no use to you when the Queen's Second Coming happens."

Zeno refilled the cup.

"Then I will take the obstacles as they come." He sighed, grabbed the wine and drank it down.

Kyll's fate had been rewritten from the start. Zeno's readings would be accurate but he would not get any visions. He would not have any guidance. Not from the cards and not from Einrich.

He stared at the sword again with clenched jaws. The way he saw it there were three possible endings to this whole ordeal. The light, the sword, or spiritual cleansing.

"Time will tell, huh?" He whispered to himself.

"If you out her through Spiritual cleansing, she needs to be willing to undergo whatever trials you give her. One more thing, keep in mind that she may just go insane. I also have a fair warning for you Zeno. You need to forbid her from leaving for a while... " Einrich said in a monotone voice. He then nodded to the mess Kyll made before she even saw Zeno watching her attempt to clean up. "Heavens' sake you need her to. Cleaning will help her control the new found strength the Universe has given her. Believe me, I've done it and it works wonders." Einrich gave a single heh and stared at his cup. "She is a bright young mage and you have gotten farther in her training that I will ever. You are the best fit for that girl's life's adventure...." Einrich paused and his cheeks began to go red. Einrich was getting pretty toasty. "But... with the threat of her past coming back to haunt her, she will run when given the opportunity." Einrich looked back at Zeno with a grin. "She's done it before with me training her. Let's see on her twenty-second birthday she wanted to go to Magnolia to see the Harvest Parade. I gave her two weeks. She didn't come back for a month. So I searched for her. Only to find her in a cave outside of East Forest too scared to come back with me to our complex." Einrich paused and shook his head. "She stated she had seen Harrigan with Harland there and she was too scared to get on a train to get to the nearest city...." Einrich paused for a second. "I need to show you something."

Concerned about Zeno's condition, Einrich decided to not show the vision in its entirety. Einrich looked at Zeno and put a hand on his shoulder sharing the vision that he was trying to prevent with his good friend. Instead of seeing the entirety of the vision, Zeno saw a lifeless Kyll held up in a column of Reiki's ice hunched over with her blood dripping down down the pillar and freezing to it. Zeno would see Alye fallen to her knees sobbing and striking her fist to the ground. Reiki would be standing with his head bent down hiding his face from showing any emotion. "This vision struck me so hard I relived it for three days." Einrich sighed and put his hands on the bar. "The vision was very much like Kali's death. The pleading for death. The screaming that they will not stop unless she is dead. The fact that she admitted her transgressions. Trying to be accepting of her faith, but scared at the same time." Einrich's nostrils flared as he took in a deep breath through his nose and let it out in a deep sigh. "I left the Phoenix Mountains because of this. I did NOT want to see something like this happen again. Now..." Einrich picked his fist up about six inches off the bar then slammed it down out of anger. The bar took his abuse leaving a crack circled around his fist. "Now I have seen it again and there's nothing I can do about it myself."

Zeno placed his hand on Einrich's shoulder as well.
"Do not worry, my friend. I will be there, and I will prevent it."

It was as if Zeno had shaken off the withdrawal after having seen the vision, though that was far from true. Nevertheless, his eyes were serious and confident. The grip in his hands was strong and his aura was steady.

He would not fail his oldest and most trusted friend.