New Eden; Sieg's Treasure

[Sage]

" That's Syrus for you. He takes things far too seriously, and I'm afraid such manifestations of our powers do occur when one begins to lose their grip on frivolous emotions. Hopefully it was inspired by me! "

Sieg threw his head back with the force of his laughter, whether it was genuine or for show would be impossible to tell. Sieg understood the value of destruction, though rarely considered one's threat instead of their potential. Sieg was rarely challenged, and so did not feel the need, much like larger predators began to lose the need to look up in the wild. Sieg's expression flickered to resemble almost being annoyed, before his inquisitive, charming facade took over once more.

" Tell me, then. You don't feel like wasting more resources than your lunatic accomplice on whatever it is that you've come here for, but you are here, and talking to me. That leads me to one of two conclusions. I must ask, are you even certain yourself of what it is you're after here? One would assume it would be something specific to come all the way into my home territory, but I do not get the feeling that's the whole story. "

Of course Cambria went for the back. In battle, he was only human in that he could employ strategies, but he was animalistic in his immorality. To Cambria, all that mattered was the kill. Cold, hard efficiency. And only when finesse failed him did he take enemies on head to head, and at full strength. This woman was clearly not Algerothian, and as such Cambria had no way of knowing whether or not Adele could see auras. If she could, she would see his completely disappear, as he began to pool his magical energy to build to a strong enough attack to pierce that thick hide of hers.

He demonstrated his own feat of grace as he used his own strength and the force of the impact between their weapons to rebound his body upward, where his feet would connect with a chain which hung one of the halls' many light fixtures. He swung idly back and forth as he focused on her moves carefully while his wristblades began to glow, straining with the force of his magic as he amplified his power, using the blades as catalysts. Algerothian obsidian was good for that.

" You're cute when you're sassy. "

[Paroxysm]

The cloaked man had noticed Sieg’s momentary look of annoyance, he didn’t show it; in fact, he didn’t even show any reaction over the laughter, like he was disconnected from any change in the environment.

“I know what I am searching for; and I don’t. Honestly, you may not even have what I search for, but, right now, the chance that you do is very encouraging and so here I am. Of course, it is just as likely that your family was merely trying to lead me into killing you or something like that.”

The cloaked man shrugged as though it were an after-thought, as though he did not care which direction he had taken, so long as his venture into Sieg’s stronghold was of a lucrative nature.

“Still, the boy reports the same, and it is rare for him to be wrong or entirely off,” he shrugged and smiled from underneath his hood. “I’m here to see a man about a dragon.”

“Heh,” the woman’s sword was brought from the ground and closer to her body. She didn’t know if he was seriously complimenting her or just trying to bait her, but at least the art of banter wasn’t entirely wasted on Cambria, she thought. Regardless, the woman’s eyes grew fierce as her metallic brow furrowed and a sly smile snaked across one side of her face to the other. “Reus ut mihi--ha--per is quisnam est … “

Oh? You were remembering, Adele. Adrift.

The woman spoke quickly, but in a well practiced manner. Her words were foreign and would be gibberish to Cambria, but they had the quality of a chant or maybe even a spell, more alien than mystic, however.

Whatever the woman had just done, it would not bode well for Cambria, as he’d note a sudden tingling in the air, maybe, or streaks of a vibrant blue light, lights that would vanish just as quickly as they appeared.

Adele took a step back with her right foot, the heel of which stayed lifted, even as the toes pressed hard into the ground, and her sword was brought forwards once more, beading onto Cambria’s position. The world’s ambient energy seemed to be drawn to her blade, building onto the weapon, surging through and around it, jagged streaks licking the air in majestic grace. Still, the glow of her armor, from earlier, seemed to spread from her body and onto the weapon.

Truthfully, she was nothing more than a warrior, a skilled one, but a warrior none-the-less. Her perception of the world was that of a normal human being's, she had heard stories from Svadilfari, of course, but she, herself, was unable to sense things, unless one counted her combat instincts. Cambria and she were in a fight, there were only two reasons to bide time, one was normally for a plan, and the other was preparation for an attack. Time was to be used wisely when one’s enemy started the waiting game and Adele, Adele was not new to that, not in the least.

“Hope ye trick’s decisive,” she smiled and nodded to the man. It could have been an over-sight or it might have been a show of respect, but one thing was true: if Cambria’s attack was any less powerful than Adele’s, he was most likely going to be in a world of trouble.

I didn't think this was supposed to be a fight to the death.
Well
I suppose
You knew best ...

"Damn right!" She called out one last time, to no one person, or, at least, no one person that Cambria would know about.

[Sage]

Sieg idly played with his hydrokinetic ability by swirling a bit of his tea around in the air as he mused and chatted with the man. With his left index finger, he directed the display while he seemed to have made some sudden discovery in the middle of the man's sentence, completely unfazed by the notion that those that shared his blood might have been plotting to kill him, again. In fact, so as not to waste his momentary enlightenment, he took to scribbling away on one of the hundreds of loose papers on the table in front of him. There were countless number, undecipherable calculations and descriptions in the Algerothian language accompanied by forbidden runes and glyphs which lit up in various colors before the ink was even dry on the paper which they were now branded on.

He cackled gleefully, but quietly, to himself as he did his scribblings until the man mentioned Dragon-Kin. The liquid under his control began to audibly freeze and crack, before exploding and falling in shards to the floor. Sieg had in fact tricked the last White Dragon into a Bond several years ago, and they had experienced a profitable symbiotic relationship. It had become a symbol, a representation of the terrible devastation that Sieg could bring, and it was the symbol that adorned his banners and the equipment of his elite minions. Few had ever seen the thing in person, and could verify it's existence, as it usually left nothing but death whenever it was seen with Sieg. He had never experienced anyone who would willingly lay eyes on his great beast, and the very idea of it was as troubling as it was interesting. It actually caused Sieg to cease his writings and focus carefully on the cloaked man.

" Dragons, I hear, are indeed elusive creatures supernaturally gifted as they are. The objects they horde, and even parts harvested from their corpses are worth small fortunes on their own. You're not thinking about slaying any endangered species, are you, Mysterious Stranger? "

Sieg's eyes were dark, swirling pools of evil. He no longer held any facade of amusement or any other such unnecessary emotion. He was all serious when talking about his most prized asset. He was not overtly aggressive in his mannerisms, or even impolite, though he could not help but lose his grasp on his usually icy cool demeanor. Offtopic: Edit starts here. xD Regardless, however, they would be as out of lucky rashly dealing with him as his pet. It, like Cambria, he trusted to handle things on it's own.

" You'll find the White Dragon Yamakage southwest of here. I have resources and energy being harvested in the natural hot springs and steam vents beneath the mountains here. Yamakage's cave is the deepest of the series of tunnels, chasms, and caverns there. Having my scent on you will insure the Beast does not attempt to devour you, though under normal circumstances I would suggest bringing a gift. I'm sure you won't listen, however, so I'll just offer this; if you're after that piece of junk it carries...don't make eye contact with it right away. "

And Sieg walked off, as though the strangers had said their goodbyes and left already.

Cambria began to alternate relaxing and tensing his muscles as he focused on drawing his life force through his skin and turning into as much magic as he could manage. He hadn't noted that any of the intruders were all that worried about drowning, but they seemed human enough, and so he would follow up on Sieg's hunch before making his attack. He concentrated on pressurizing the air he controlled between his hands, which became a visible ball of swirling wind and energy now, in the color of Cambria's aura. As he did so, he drew in the air sharply from the area around them, causing the doors on the distant ends of the hall to slam shut with the force of the retreating air. He would force her to charge into his attack by taking away her air supply. Within seconds the only air would be in Cambria's mask and his hands, where he prepared himself for his attempt at piercing that thick hide of Adele's.

" That armor of yours seems fairly thick for hugging those curves tight as they do. Hope it's function over form, for you, Barbarian. "

[Paroxysm]

“Oh! Heaven’s no!”

The man seemed visibly struck by the comment, but his gleeful smile never decreased in size, “I wouldn’t dream of such a thing! No, no and no! I’m a very big fan of dragons, they’re majestic creatures, and their power is to be respected,” he nodded his head in agreement with himself. “Killing this dragon or dying to this dragon isn’t in my to-do list, friend. I don’t even care for the bulk of its treasure, if it has indeed been hoarding like I’m led to believe, but I do require a piece of its treasure, a useless thing to all but my organization, I assure you!--Plus, even if I were after your Dragon, I’d have to bring a lot more of an army to pose any real chance of defeating it, which I could do, if it was necessary, but… Well, I already have my hands full with that girl. I don’t want to lead a crusade on your dragon,” the cloaked man’s shoulders sagged and a sigh was released from his throat, Adele was… truly something else. “Nah, I just want something specific to add to mine and my organization’s collection, that’s all.”

The man’s smile finally vanished, it was similar to how the atmosphere around Sieg had changed, though a bit less physical, but there was a look about him, a feeling: “And I--must--have this item. It isn’t negotiable and I won’t accept failure on my part,” his shoulders rolled into a noteworthy shrug. “And I never disappoint myself. It’s my best quality.”

After Sieg left by himself, the cloaked man seemed to settle a bit, rubbing a pale hand against his chin; indeed, he was carefully thinking of what had been said.

“Scent, eh? Guess I’ll have to keep this unit active. And… Junk? Heh…”

The cloaked man’s body started to sink downwards.

Adele inched forwards, her body tensed, though such small movements may have been overlooked due to her transformation, but it was clear that an attack was soon to be made. The glow that had overtaken her sword seemed sharper, but the woman’s mocking features had vanished; in fact, she seemed almost perturbed.

Indeed, behind the woman, the “men” who had vanished earlier had reappeared, and faced the girl, casually. They were not bothered by the lack of air in the room and nor the energies that were being gathered by both parties.

“Adele!” a sharp voice rose from one of the figures, though which one would be near impossible to say. “We have what we need and Blake says the event is soon, too. Stop wasting time on that kid and let’s go.”

For a moment, it would look as though the woman was going to ignore their call, their warning of this “event,” whatever that was, but she eventually lowered her weapon, dispersing the energy from her blade in a casual slash.

“Eh, maybe I’ll visit ye another time, or you can look me up in Cizok if’n you get a chance. Guttin’ you seems like a good way to kick back,” the girl smiled and took a few steps back and the cloaked men walked forwards, forming a slight circle around the woman.

“ I’m a lot of things,” she spoke and gave a knowing smile to Cambria. “Just count yourself one of the lucky ones for today, ‘fore you give me too much a reason to stay. Next time, though..."

Finally, she stepped back once more and into one of the men, who seemed to envelop her, spiriting her away to wherever her boss was, for whatever it was they needed to do now. However, after her departure, all but one of the cloaked men would follow; that is, the one who stayed took heavy steps forwards, with unwavering eyes focused on Cambria.

“I will have seen many you’s,” a young voice spoke from the cloaked figure; it was a new voice, one that had never spoken before, but that was irrelevant for now, anyways. “And I will wish we had spoken more, again.”

The young voice and cloaked figure slowly faded away, blinking out with a shudder.

[Sage]

Cambria's shoulders shrugged, his body feeling an intense feeling of relief as the strangers gradually disappeared. As he did, the energy gathering in front of and inside of him relaxed, and a surge of energy splashed against the walls, peeling away bits of the stone walls as the air returned with great force. Cambria peeled back his mask, face whiter than usual and there was a vacuous sound as air rushed toward his face, his own air supply having nearly been depleted. He was only vaguely aware of Sieg closing in on him, a long object wrapped in delicate and ancient fabric draped across his forearms.

" Go to Yamakage. Monitor the situation and keep your distance. If they try for anything besides what I talked about letting them try for, or should any harm befall my Beast, do what must be done. I must tend to my creations. "

Sieg's demeanor was unusually cold. He talked swiftly, not bothering with any formality or inferring as to Cambria's condition. He could see the boy was still breathing for the moment, and that there was a job to be done. That was all that mattered. The two parted ways, Sieg escaping back into the upper floors of his stronghold, and Cambria evaporating through the walls that had recently seen so much abuse.

Far beneath the earth, a young girl awakes to the roar of what she can only imagine is the most intimidating creature in existence, to have shaken the earth so deeply.

[Paroxysm]

Offtopic: OH LOOK, I posted by rolling my forehead against the keyboard.
“Are ye insane?” A woman’s shrill voice broke a silence that had set upon the group moments after their leader explained how he was going to handle the next step, how he was going to alone into the literal lair of the beast, perhaps the same beast that their comrade had warned them about, in his visions. “Ye want to go alone in that? I thought you said they wouldn’t last that long if you were usin’ them? This is stupid, even for you.”

The group was surrounded by stone walls and a stone ceiling, stalactites and stalagmites jutted from random spots, mostly untouched by man’s architecture, and even a bit forbidding, at least as far as setting the atmosphere was concerned. Still, the group--mostly clad in cloaks and pale features--seemed eerily calm, save for the only woman amongst their number, but with good reason: this was by far their biggest hurdle to overcome.

“I’m not insane and it isn’t like I’m going to die, but this is the only way, I think. Sieg might’ve been lying about his scent, I don’t know, but I doubt he’d want us to bring an army should we fail this time, so we’re going to try it this way first, end of story.”

The cloaked figure of the speaker stepped forward, removing the hood from over his head, revealing a bald scalp, chiseled features, and a fanged smile. Oddly, these were not the features of a human, post-human, maybe, but the voice and movements all belonged to a man, that much could not be mistaken.

“The Zero was deactivated by its maker a little while ago and the others’ll follow in suit, after I leave. This one can still phase, but it won’t be able to jump very far and I’ve no markers in this area, anyways. Last one was setup in Sieg’s fortress and that’s already decayed.--Yeah, it’ll be risky, that’s for sure, but I’ll stash the item somewhere and we can pick it up later. Real simple; easy, okay?”

“Right, if you say so,” the girl replied with a hesitant glance towards her ‘leader’ on this venture. “Just remember…--”
“I know,” the man cut in before she could finish. “It’s yours to turn in, I don’t care, and neither does Blake or the maker.”

Satisfied, the woman nodded in approval, and stepped back, walking directly into one of the cloaked men behind her; the man seemed to accept her with a swirl of motion before vanishing and, as if on signal, the other cloaked men disappeared as well, leaving only the bald speaker to remain; he had started moving forwards, however. He would navigate the beast’s lair as quickly as possible, bypassing obstacles as though they did not exist, and following any signs of the beast’s whereabouts, if what he understood was to be true, the object he sought would be near the dragon and that made his destination rather simple: Find the beast; Find the Gaiasoul.

[Sage]

From within the deepest tunnels New Eden had to offer would approach a figure who seemed to be dressed as what a native might describe as an assassin. His clothes were light, armored in very strategic areas, and all black. There was a mask and hood hanging from his neck, though not worn yet, and with his face exposed the man would bear a striking resemblance to someone the Collector had met just days ago. The Gartel, Talis Rai.

But this man was younger, and clearly alive, full of ferocity and determination. His features were amazingly similar to what had been his older brother, including the signature white hair of the Baptistes. But then there were his eyes; swirling pools of silver which flickered to blue, drowning in flecks of ten other colors. Pinpoints of light which represented all that Kai Mao Baptiste had absorbed with his incredible eyes. Kai had a mission, and he did not even seem to register the man as he passed, almost disappearing completely in the opposite direction without a word. Something clicked momentarily in his psyche, however.

Very few people had reasons to be down here, and Sieg did have the ability to change his appearance at will to that of one of his defeated souls. Kai faced the man, his ethereal eyes studying carefully as they worked to dispel any illusions he might have placed on himself to conceal his identity. He knew in seconds that this was not the man he was after, and pulled a small black pendant with an archaic 'W from around his neck and tossed it at the man's feet.

" Sieg is a lunatic, if he has tricked you into coming down here without explaining that the beast expects allies to bear a gift representing the Warheight name, then he intended you to die here. Remember that if you choose to return to him, or rather, his corpse. "

Kai pulled the black hood over his wintry locks, and pulled up an ornate black mask over his mouth, covering all but his enigmatic eyes. He left, without another word, completely focused on the task before him.

[Paroxysm]

“Huh?”

The robed figure stopped mid-run and turned to face the other man; it took a moment for the other man’s appearance to register, however. The similarity in looks with Talis Rai weren’t the problem, but the man’s body, as the case was, was a fine tuned instrument, and it wasn’t rare for the occasional ghost to appear before him; in any case, this was no ghost.

“Lucky~” He leaned down and picked up the pendant and shuffled it through his fingers. “I should send him a gift basket when I get back,” he nodded to himself and continued on his path.

[Sage]

Yamakage lie uneasy in the deepest cavern beneath New Eden. It had seen Kai's intentions in his weary eyes, and Sieg would know in turn, but it was not the White Dragon's job to deal with each and every threat that came Sieg's way, he was a big immortal, and could handle himself. Theirs was a bond, one that had been forged long before Sieg's soul had been tainted with murder and death. They had an understanding, and when a show of force needed to be made to quell any group opposing them as a pair was shown no mercy by the usually peaceful beast.

Most times the eldest Warheight brother and the majestic creature underneath the mountains simply coexisted, seldom seeing one another aside from gestures of loyalty and friendship, ranging from gifts to favors. Yamakage had even seen fit to allow Sieg to use him for transportation when the destination was interesting enough, or the cause worthwhile. The lumbering giant shifted as he gazed into his crystalline image, reflected in the warm waters of the springs which littered his home. It had been nearly a year since Yamakage had seen the surface, after his first and only refusal to carry out a request made by his bonded human.

Sieg had instead asked that Yamakage not be seen at all during the particular campaign with which he endeavored to stand victorious. He had, and with news from Kai, Yamakage would soon be seen soaring high over Sieg's fortress; an intimidating symbol representing power and grace. He had only chosen not to surface after feeling the presence of another. Unnatural was he, to Algeroth. It was never meant for him to be here, and slowly but surely he gained ground in the labyrinth of massive tunnels the dragon called home.

Instantaneously, it seemed as though Yamakage had caught fire. The entire height and length of his enormous frame was coated in what appeared to be transparent silver flames which caused the temperature and magic in the air fluctuate wildly as he inhaled. With one great roaring exhale, he blasted what could only be described as his own divine aura across the cavern wall above the entryway into his lair, carving away many layers of thick, compacted rock as he did so. Majesty incarnate had every right to test those who dared approach, and so it did, in the form of a massive collapse blocking the man's only way to physically walk into the cavern.

The look in it's eyes was a mix of curiosity and amusement as it waited patiently atop a perch constructed almost entirely of priceless treasures and artifacts from entire dynasties' worth of history. Had it the vocal capability, it might even be heard laughing at it's own actions, expelling only puffs of steam now from where it had just emitted a concentrated stream of magical energy. It's body ceased to blaze, but instead shined; luminescent in the hot, dark underground.