BoZV - Arc 2

[Sorrum]

The big red beast turned into a young man and got right up in Aquas face. If that wasn't interesting enough, he was hitting on her now. Aqua maintained her composure. She used to be a captain of a boat full of men. She'd been hit on before, this was no different. Besides it being a large dragon.

"My, oooh my." Aqua slowed her words and lowered her tone slightly. "You're a bold one. I kinda like that. But you need to work on your approach." Aqua removed her helmet and pulled the ties out of her hair, freeing her long blonde hair. She whipped it around and looked back at Celestrus. "Now I can't make you stay, but I'll look forward to meeting you again, Mr. Celestrus. Granted you aren't lying about how these crystals work. Otherwise.."

The temperature dropped around Aqua and Celestrus as the girl covered her hand in ice. She took a step forward and lifted the icy hand to the dragons face, and harmlessly dragged an icy finger down from his forehead to his neck. "You won't be jumping out of trees with frost bitten legs." Aqua pulled her hand back and snapped her fingers, dispersing the ice on her hand. She winked at Celestrus, then stepped back to retie her hair.

[Bloodbane]

Listening to Celestrus and his explanation, Rion simply nodded in understanding. He had to admit, the guy made sense; he seemed to have even more knowledge about this sort of thing than Silver, if he could work on his own they could potentially cover more of the situation. He might not have said much about how he was dealing with things, but what he did say was enough when paired with knowing he had been helping Silver for Rion to trust him.

When the dragon transformed and began to speak to Aqua, Rion raised an eyebrow, tilting his head as it seemed that not only that Celestrus may have been, in some roundabout way, flirting with Aqua... but she had no problem returning the favor. So... that happened. He thought to himself, putting a hand to the back of his head as he looked over to see that Silver was finding the scene somewhat embarrassing. Looking back to Celestrus as he returned to dragon form, Rion simply nodded. After all, it was clear the dragon had caught the reaction and at least knew he was a light mage based on that; it was unclear if the dragon was referring to something beyond his effectiveness against the undead, however...

Once the dragon left and Aqua looked to be putting her helmet back on, Rion looked to Silver. "Well... he seems helpful enough, I suppose. But we should press on." He said. While he was sure there would be questions, the group could walk and talk as they made their way toward Agrova.

---------------------------

After a fairly uneventful walk along the dirt road leading there, the party eventually reached the city of Agrova. It was clear at a glance that the area was not only much larger than the hub towns, but with it being a central headquarters for the military it was also even more heavily guarded, with guards standing atop walls and at the gates, ready to fend off any riff-raff that got too close to the city. Looking to the party for a moment, Rion nodded. "Finally here... all we need to do now is get some directions to the headquarters or some central office and we should be able to relay the news from Aldur with no trouble. Considering we took some time to rest I'd imagine word has at least gotten out." He explained, before approaching one of the guards directly.

"Excuse me, our group here has come to bring news of an undead attack on Aldur; could you direct us to your main office? It's terribly important that we get word out to someone who can help keep people aware of this threat."

The guard understandably looked skeptical of this claim, before looking at one of the other guards nearby who simply shrugged his shoulders. "No harm in getting you folks to the right place, I suppose... follow me." He spoke in a gruff voice, before waving the party along to follow as he began to lead them through the city streets. The walk through the city was uneventful, save for one point where the guard paused briefly to salute a person who, based on their attire, was clearly one of their superiors. As the silver-haired officer passed by, however, Rion briefly glanced in the man's direction, the two looking directly at each other for just as they passed each other before the stranger continued on his way. ... That couldn't have been... Rion thought to himself, continuing to follow the guard along with the party as they were led to where they could make their case known.

[Arashi]

Once they reached the entry to the large city, Silver stayed somewhat close to Rion, behind him. She was hoping he would do all the talking. It was clear this sort of big town wasn't exactly her favorite place to be. She pulled her hood up and made sure all her dragon features were well-hidden.

"Good....then we can leave after that, right?" She quietly asked Rion before the party reached the guards.

She eyed the guard with suspicion after he replied to Rion. As she expected, the guard didn't really believe them. This may have been too quick for her to assume; after all, they were just a random group making a rather bold claim, but she just couldn't help it. This might be tough...hopefully it would work. It would help a lot to have cities on alert at the very least.

Silver followed behind, glancing at all the people populating the streets. This was a much larger city than any she had voluntarily gone in before. It had a lot of people...too many people. Ugh. Most of them were humans. She still stuck close to Rion; behind him. He was human, he knew what he was doing, right?

She glanced at Aqua, wondering if the elf girl felt the same way she did about this situation. Silver couldn't really say anything and risk offending the guard leading them around, but just sort of gave Aqua a look of mild disgust as they walked.

[Sorrum]

Aqua followed behind Rion and the guard, next to Silver. She turned back toward Terra and Lucas to see if she could discern their thoughts, but felt a glance in her direction from ahead. Silver was covered in her hood but those eyes of hers gave away her uneasiness. Though Aqua couldn't tell if it was from the humans around them or the teasing she'd done to Celestrus. She assumed the latter.

"Oh don't worry about that. I don't think your friend got offended." She smiled at the hooded figure, then relaxed and looked ahead."Still though. This city is quite crowded. I wonder if anyone from Aldur decided to abandon the town and start again here?" Her thoughts reminded her of the unpleasant memory of that girl's grandfather falling victim to the monsters caused by the Blight Crystal, the very one she was carrying with her now. She wondered if she'd ever see that girl again.

"I wonder if anyone will recognize us here. Word travels fast, after all." She said to nobody in particular. Though, for as quiet as the group had been, she subconsciously invited someone to break the ice.

[Bloodbane]

As the guard led Rion and the others through the streets of Agrova, he could see the different reactions that some of the townsfolk had to their presence. It was clear, at least to Rion, that word had indeed reached Agrova in some form about what had occurred in Aldur the day before, though while some looked towards the group in thankfulness and admiration, others appeared to be more tense in their reaction. Seeing this brought Rion's mind back to the questions that had been asked of he and Silver after the battle; even if those who fought off the undead in Aldur believed that it was indeed sheer coincidence, it would not convince everyone right at first. To him, that did not matter as much as doing what he could to get the message out there, even if it meant seeking out more crystals before others became more aware. If he could do anything to avoid another tragedy, he was determined to do so.

Turning his head as he walked, Rion listened to what was going on between Silver and Aqua. Curiously enough, it seemed Terra and Lucas had little to say regarding what was going on. "It wouldn't surprise me. We did a lot to keep Aldur from becoming a worse situation than it was, but even if another outbreak were to occur near here I have no doubts that even a larger attack could be handled here." He said. The reason he was here was not so much for the benefit of Agrova; there was plenty of strength here to handle undead attacks. However, the smaller towns like Aldur, with light mages being harder to find these days, were going to need some additional security to prevent major disasters.

Before they had to deal with the awkward combination of stares for too much longer, the guard had led the group to a large gate that led to what appeared to be a fortress, judging by the number of armored soldiers that moved in large numbers, possibly for some sort of training or patrol. After nodding to the two other guards that stood in front, the guard who was currently doubling as a guide pushed the gates and continued to lead the group right into the building. After a little while of navigating some hallways and passing a set of interior training grounds, the guard stopped in front of a large wooden door, which he pounded on twice before someone called for him to proceed. He stepped inside first, closing the door behind him briefly, before coming back out and holding the door for the party, leading them into the office that was before them.

"Need anything else, Captain?"

The middle-aged man behind the desk simply shook his head, waiting until the guard nodded in response and left the party in the large office, at which time he stood up from behind his desk, looking over the party before briefly scrunching up his nose, chuckling lightly afterward before running a hand into his short brown haircut to briefly scratch his head. "Well, you folks certainly smell like you just ran through a field of corpses, that's for sure... I take it you're the ones who helped save Aldur?" He said curiously, waiting until Rion nodded before nodding in return. "The name's Cliff, I'm the captain of these barracks, and overseer of the town patrols. I suppose I should thank you guys, then... though what brings you here?"

[Sorrum]

Aqua sounded agreement with Rion. She remembered that the crystal was considered a small one though. What if it had been bigger? She thought to herself how little she really knew about this Blight magic. "Hey, Silver.." she turned to the dragon girl. "After we've gotten this business out of the way, how about letting me see that book of yours? And I'll need your help to understand it, of course.." She'd hoped the dragon would give her the time once they could afford a moments rest.

~

The fort they had made it to was larger than Aqua anticipated it being. She tried to draw a map of the building in her head as they weaved through the corridors. She theorized the training grounds were less about military stratagems and more about civil peace keeping. They weren't all that different in reality however. She wondered how skilled in magic these town guards were in the event of a large scale Blight invasion. All questions that could be answered by the captain of the guards.

~

Inside the office, Cliff asked the party what their purpose was. Aqua was used to talking with officials, so she cleared her throat and stepped forward. "Good afternoon, sir." Aqua put her hands together in front of her, then held them both out, palms up, facing the guard captain. It was an elvish salute. "I am Captain Frida "Aqua" Nyharllothor. You may address me as 'Aqua'." Aqua gestured toward the party. "My companions and I have traveled here from Aldur, following the surprise attack on the town that occurred yesterday." She had contemplated telling the humans about the danger of the Blight, but looked to Rion. He knew more about this than she did, and would know the best way to communicate the risk to his own race. When it came to that line of questioning, and she thought it would, she'd rely on him or Silver. "We suspect the culprit or culprits behind the attack would have fled to the closest, highest populated area, which is Agrova, to hide in the crowd."

"I do not believe that Agrova itself is at risk for an attack. However, the attack on Aldur would have been drastically different had we not been there. There are other towns and villages like Aldur in this area, and until the ones responsible for the attacks are apprehended, these towns are not safe. My personal suggestion is to send militia to these towns and prepare a squad of reinforcements should any of these towns come under attack."

[Arashi]

Aqua didn't quite catch what Silver was trying to imply, but that was probably for the better anyway. Talking openly about humans when so many of them were around probably wouldn't reflect so great on the group.

"O-oh...yeah, sorry about that. I have never seen him hit on anybody before. I promise he is harmless to people he likes...and nice, when he wants to be anyway. Hopefully he will be slightly less weird next time we see him." Silver looked to Aqua and scratched the back of her head. This situation was something she wanted to address anyway, so it worked out in her favor.

"Yeah, a bit too crowded if you ask me." Silver quieted her voice on that one. It was clear by her tone that this sort of situation was not something she particularly enjoyed.

She then continued quietly following Rion, still sticking close behind him. She fell quiet now, uncomfortable from the cityfolk looking at the group in both awe and distrust. Silver noted Terra's silence and couldn't help but wonder what was up with that. Was the woman still uncomfortable? Probably. Silver listened as Rion and Aqua spoke. Did word really travel that quickly...? It must have. How interesting.

Soon enough, Aqua turned to Silver and asked about the book.

"Certainly. Like I said, it's a mess...but you can look at it all you want. Just...outside of public view. Who knows what others will assume about us if they see that." She spoke quietly once more, so no outsiders could hear her words. Silver was gaining a certain fondness for Aqua, so she would not mind handing the book over to the elf.

~

As they soon entered the fortress, Silver grew increasingly more uncomfortable. Being from a time before there was peace between humans and dragons, she had a certain level of distrust for human military still. She kept her eyes forward, making no eye contact with any of the trainees or other personnel. She was a bit relieved when the group finally made it to the office; at least there was only one human now.

Silver looked over at Aqua as she explained the group....with an extreme amount of confidence. It was impressive, she thought. She was glad Aqua was on her side.

For now, Silver decided to remain quiet unless the group had difficulty explaining anything in regards to the blight.

[Bloodbane]

Raising an eyebrow as the elven woman introduced herself, Cliff responded by standing and giving a standard human salute of his own. "Aqua Nyharllothor, huh... been some time since I've seen any elves leave that island." He said, recognizing the name as one of renown from a particular region of the world. From there, Aqua explained that while Agrova was likely not in any apparent danger, the surrounding villages were likely to suffer similar fates to Aldur if security was not increased. "Is that so..." He said, sitting back down in his chair. "That's a mighty tall request, you know..." He added, placing a hand to his chin, thinking for a moment before looking at the group as a whole once more. "You folks may smell like a bunch of dead crap, but you don't seem to have anything to prove what I've heard about what happened in Aldur."

"You don't believe us...?" Rion said, tilting his head before reaching into his cloak and pulling out the crystal shard he had been given, pausing once Cliff only raised an eyebrow. "Err..." He looked to the others, nodding. "I'm not the only one with one, mine's just a bit... different." He said, waiting for other members to reveal their own dark crystal shard. "I'm sure any survivors you ask would tell you the same thing... what came through Aldur was a group of undead, called from a smaller village nearby that was completely wiped out." He stated, at which point Cliff gave him a rather harsh glance, looking over the stones as more were revealed, before sighing deeply.

"You're kidding... first the Shining Swordsmen get wiped out, and now you're telling me there's a chance someone's dropping more of these things in our back yard?" He grumbled, crossing his arms. "If you think someone's hiding out in town, they won't get far... but I can't very well send my men out on wild goose chases, either. As it stands, it's going to take a little more than a handful of black rocks to convince me to send people out to the villages. Unless you've got some other way to prove that this is as big a deal as you're saying it is, I think our business is done here for now."

Rion frowned, looking to the others, though he seemed to wince just slightly at the mention of the Shining Swordsmen for some reason. While he was a bit disappointed, he felt that Cliff's request was reasonable. However, where were they going to find even more proof of this foul play?

[Sorrum]

Aqua expected resistance from the man, but not flat out denial. She scowled momentarily at the man's decision not to heed their warning, but couldn't do much else.

She noticed a trend among these human types long ago. As they aged, it became harder to tell them things as if the years gone by gave them more reason not to believe in the words of another. The only way was to show them, and if the crystals aren't enough, the next attack would be.

The only way to stop that was with their help now though. Unless they found the one behind the Blight themselves. They expected them to come here, but they could have a hideout somewhere, plotting their next move. This was a really tight spot.

Aqua couldn't think of anything else to say to the man that would change his mind right now. It might better to come back when they had more to go on then the crystal charms they were carrying.

She noted what he said about the island she'd came from. He was right about elves not leaving often. Once she had seen enough of the world she did not consider leaving her home again. Foreign eyes stared enviously upon her country, but none could take it from it's people.

She would have a long talk with her father tonight about her first encounter with a human government. But for now, they'd better start looking for clues toward their blight mage.

[Arashi]

Silver simply listened to the man as he replied to Aqua, not entirely surprised by his reaction. Humans in high positions were always slow to believe things for whatever reason, even if it was a threat to their own safety. Typical. She crossed her arms and scoffed.

Some weird shuffling and voices could be heard just outside the door at this point.

Rion soon tried to counter by showing Cliff the crystal shard. Bold move; but luckily enough, there is nearly nobody out there that knows much about the crystals to pin something fishy on to the group, and this was something she was confident in. Besides, even if he knew, it's unlikely he would believe the shards were actually a blight crystal. Unfortunately for them. Trying to help Rion, she pulled several shards out of her bag and held them out, with a rather sharp glare towards Cliff.

"How about you ask the injured, then? What do you think they will say? That they made it all up? So you are truly willing to put others of your kind in such danger?" Silver spoke finally, rather brash in tone. Probably not leaving the best impression, but it was clear she didn't care.

"What would it hurt to belie-" She was soon cut off by someone barging in to the room, much to the discomfort of one of the guards. For whatever reason, the guard wasn't exactly actively trying to make this person leave, but rather trying to discourage his attempts at going in. It failed. Terribly.

The tall young man with black hair soon shoved his way in to the room and shut the door behind him, nearly hitting the guard in the face. Yeesh. On a closer look, the intruder was heavily armored with leather, and looked pretty serious.

Silver turned around to look at the source of the sudden racket, a bit startled. But as soon as she saw who it was, her expression changed to that of relief. He walked up to Silver and stood beside her. Before she could say anything though, the man spoke with clear authority in his voice.

"Cliff. It'd be wise of you to listen to these people. Why would they just barge in your office for no reason and lie about this? Be a bit more reasonable here. Besides...I've seen it for myself. In other places. It's scattered and not all that common, but...it's back. I'm certain. Now, why would I lie and risk my position?" His gaze was fixed firmly on Cliff. It was clear he must have heard at least part of the conversation...that must have been what that noise outside the door was. His position must be why he was able to manhandle his way in to the office without getting killed, too. At least, that's what Silver was assuming.

He then turned his head towards the others, looking them over, and then looked to Silver.

"Hi Silver. I see our paths seem to be crossing again. Seems like you have some good allies there, you'll have to introduce me later." The man spoke to her in a far softer tone than he did with Cliff, making it clear they knew each other from somewhere.

"Good timing...seriously." She smiled at him. It was crazy how lucky his timing was...perhaps he was here to report something he had seen as well, which wasn't a very reassuring thought. But, she did hope his presence would help their case a bit.

[Bloodbane]

Cliff said nothing as Silver began to chide him for not doing anything just yet. Apparently these folks had missed the memo as far as who runs things; while he was indeed captain of the town's guarding forces, it was going to take more than some rocks and the word of some group of strangers to impose what would essentially be an increased military presence in the towns, even if he wanted to help them out. People tended to enjoy not having the military breathing down their neck at every turn, and he was just the first in a line of people that would have to approve of such an action. Before he could respond to Silver, however, a far more familiar face barged in, apparently having overheard the conversation judging by his tone, causing Cliff to lean back in his chair, almost seeming to relax a bit despite the armored man's stern demeanor.

"General Enfurnus...? You know this one?" Cliff asked, pointing a thumb in Silver's direction briefly before looking over the party once more and sighing. "I never said that it wasn't happening, and for an undead attack of all things to pop up near Aldur is definitely troubling... but I've got a chain of command much like you and the folks under you do, and before I propose something that's going to obviously put people ill at ease, we need to assess the situation for what it is."

Suddenly, a pair of knocks could be heard at the door, before it was opened by yet another uninvited guest... the silver-haired officer that Rion had seen previously. Giving a low whistle, the man spoke in a somewhat upbeat tone, much in contrast to the situation at hand. "Wow, quite a party you've got going on here, Cliff! Even managed to get Enfurnus in on the fun..."

"Couldn't this have waited, Shin? I know you're here to deliver some news but I'm a little busy--" Cliff began to say, before the officer known as Shin raised a finger in response. "Ah, yes, about that! I couldn't help but overhear you needed some proof of what was going on, and, well, that's actually what I was here to deliver." He said, before opening a folder that he was carrying and laying out a number of photographs across Cliff's desk. "This is what was left behind after the explosion near Diamond Town. We're not quite sure what it is, exactly, and given the nature of the situation it's too risky to send people in to investigate. Until further notice, Command has issued a full quarantine of the area."

While Cliff looked over the photos, looking noticeably more concerned as he looked over what appeared to be areas completely engulfed in a crystalline substance, Rion moved slightly closer to the door, also seeming a fair bit unnerved by this information. After a few seconds, however, Cliff looked up towards the group. "I'll send the word up... but it'll speed things up a lot if we can find any more of these things close by, or better yet, the son of a bitch responsible." Strangely enough, Shin nodded and responded to this request. "Scouts have already located a site of unusual activity, leave that to me." He said, before looking to the group. "I don't know about you folks, but it's getting a bit cramped in here; let's take this outside and leave Cliff to his duties, shall we?" The man said before helping usher the party back out into the hall.

[Arashi]

Enfurnus crossed his arms. It was clear he was a little more calm about the situation than the others; perhaps because he understood things a little more. Though, he still held his position; he knew very well the danger of these crystals and how quickly actions must be made to prevent their spread once more.

"I certainly do. An old friend. In...dragon time-span. Known her for probably 100 years...give or take. She is trustworthy...and I am certain this group would not have come to you if the situation were not dire. Do what you can, I know it isn't as easy as it sounds, but we need to be on alert now. Blight is no joke...I know it hasn't been a major threat for decades, but if it comes back...trust me, it'll be far, far worse than freaking out a few civilians." His words were firm, but warm. He was obviously being very serious, but he was in no way mean about the matter.

"I think I'll travel with this group out for a bit to look in to matters myself firsthand, so if there are any messages you need delivered by someone others will take seriously, please let me know." Enfurnus crossed his arms and nodded.

Silver did nothing but smile at Enfurnus, silently thanking him for the much needed help.

As knocks could be heard again on the door, Enfurnus turned around and watched as a silver-haired man with a familiar face walked in. He waved, though didn't say much. He figured Shin likely had something important to say.

Silver took a few steps back, sticking close to Rion again. She seemed to do that when a human appeared that she didn't know, and it was sort of becoming a habit.

She watched as the silver-haired officer gave Cliff the pictures, which seemed to change the man's mind...and put him in the position of now believing the party. She wondered what Diamond Town was; she had heard of it in passing before, but didn't pay much attention to human affairs, so she wasn't entirely sure what it was...and didn't quite remember what she had heard about it. She was further confused by Rion's seemingly further concern than usual. She looked at him and tilted her head.

Soon enough, though, the rather enthusiastic Shin led them back out of the office. Silver simply followed along, with Enfurnus close behind.

"See you around, Cliff. We will get this solved. Thanks for your help in advance." Enfurnus said to Cliff with a smile before leaving the office.

At least he wouldn't leave a horrible impression on her companions like she was certain Celestrus did.

[Sorrum]

Aqua had crossed her arms and let Rion and Silver take their shots at convincing Cliff about the Blight, but to no avail. She turned her head and raised an eyebrow at the newcomer in excessive leather armor and black hair, who carried with him an air of authority. She felt change coming from Cliff now as the man spoke. General Enfurnus? She blinked. She didn't imagine a high ranking official to come walking into a captain of the guard's office. She suddenly wondered just who exactly Silver was, being friendly with this man, who was no ordinary man. Another dragon, assumedly. That makes three now that she's seen if Celestrus counted, and all to do with these Blight magic attacks. Her journey to see the world felt like it had been hijacked by these turn of events, and she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand.

She shook her head. What nonsense. This must be all in her head. Before she could contemplate her thoughts further, a man with silver hair entered to report his mission. Cliff didn't seem to care that her and her comrades were still in the room as he openly discussed the contents. Diamond Town. Explosion. Nobody can get near it?

Before she could discern anything else, they were ushered from the room. Aqua looked at the others. They were now joined by this Enfurnus character whom Silver knew. Aqua thought for a second, "Her friends are... unique."

She turned to the group, somewhat eager to talk after being silent for so long. "I heard before we had to leave the office something about Diamond Town, an explosion nobody can get near. That sounds almost like the problem we had back in Aldur. It might be a stretch but, we don't have any other leads right now about the person behind these attacks." With Enfurnus being an official with some weight around here, she thought he could get them the say-so to investigate the area.

"I'm a little worried. I don't know anything about this Diamond Town, but if its' the same situation as it was in Aldur-" She stopped as she vaguely remembered something Cliff had said. The Shining Swordsmen had been wiped out. Rion reacted to it, just slightly.

"..Hey Rion. Do you know who the Shining Swordsmen were?"

[Bloodbane]

Before too long, Rion and the others were led back out into the courtyard by Shin, who up until this point appeared to be at least some sort of officer and above Cliff in ranking given his reference to "Command". Rion looked back briefly at Cliff as the group left, before heading out with the others.

From there, things had been fairly quiet, but before Shin could mention what else he had found, Aqua had spoken up, referring to Diamond Town as a possible location to check on next. "It's too far away from here." Rion interjected rather quickly. "We're looking for something closer, are we not?"

Shin looked over at Rion for a moment, before looking back to Aqua with a calm smile. "It's good thinking, but Rion's right." Rion looked over at Shin somewhat suddenly at that, as up until that point his name had not been brought up in any conversation that Shin had been a part of, though Shin continued on. "Even if you guys took an airship, it would take at least a day to reach the area of Diamond Town; I suppose if some of you could fly it might be faster, but I imagine Enfurnus has better things to do than to haul a bunch of kids into what's essentially an already resolved matter anyway."

"You mean--?" Rion spoke up, before Shin looked at him and nodded. "There's no way the mage that attacked Diamond Town would have been able to survive an explosion like that; a pillar of light that size would take the combined magic of several light mages to call forth. The quarantine's more of a formality; there's no dark energy left over there, even if it's not clear what exactly those crystals are. Isn't that right, Rion?" Shin replied, raising an eyebrow. It was clear that Shin knew something more than Rion did, or at least enough based on the whole reason he knew Rion in the first place. Just as Rion stared at Shin, somewhat unnerved once more, Aqua looked over to Rion and asked if he knew the Shining Swordsmen. Rion looked to Shin briefly, still not sure why he seemed intent on putting this business out in the open, before looking away for a few seconds, unsure just what to say before finally looking back to Aqua.

"The Shining Swordsmen are an order of mages who specialize in using light magic offensively. They've been around as long as I can remember, and probably even longer than that; they roam about together, looking for signs of dark magic such as undead and making sure those signs don't turn into something bigger." Rion explained, not saying much more than that, though surprisingly it seemed Shin had something to add to that.

"Not a bad start; I'll continue." The silver-haired man said, before looking to Aqua. "The Shining Swordsmen have been around since the days of the old war; they fought alongside the dragons against the Archmages who tried to unleash the Blight upon the world. In fact, rumor has it the clan was originally formed by a light elemental dragon and their children, but such a claim would be impossible to prove these days. But like Rion said, their purpose has always been to keep the Blight from appearing again. Unfortunately... that makes them a pretty big target for someone looking to bring back Urufu's legacy. If I had to take a guess, whoever attacked Diamond Town was much more powerful than whoever put that rock near Aldur." He said, before looking to Rion. "Seems like a pretty logical explanation, right?"

"S-Shin..." Rion stammered, looking back to Aqua, then to Terra and Lucas, then finally to Enfurnus and Silver, before his gaze went to the floor, his hands balling up into fists. "... Compared to what happened in Aldur, it was as if the gates to the underworld threw themselves open. If it wasn't for the others, I--" "But you didn't. Maybe they felt it was too late for them, maybe they felt it was the only way to stop what was going to happen, but whatever the case, you survived it somehow. I'd say they'd rest easy knowing you've gone and found some support since then, no?" Suddenly, Shin found himself lifted up slightly off the ground as Rion took a hold of the front of his shirt.

"What do you know about them?!" He yelled out, the discussion and dragging out of what happened finally breaking his temper. If anything, it was clear now that he was certainly more connected to not only the Shining Swordsmen, but the events of Diamond Town than had originally been let on, and those events clearly weighed heavily on him. He stared up at Shin for a few seconds, a calm gaze being returned to him before finally lowering him, at which point Shin simply smoothed out the front of his shirt quickly. "I don't know how you managed to pull me out of there, but it doesn't matter. They're gone now. All I can do is get back at the bastards that did this... Even if I have to do it myself." Rion said bitterly, before making his way past the others and towards the exit of the keep.

Sighing lightly, Shin looked to the others after watching Rion storm off. "It had to come out eventually. If you guys really want to travel with him, you should at least understand what you're getting yourselves into. That man is quite possibly one of the last surviving Shining Swordsmen... but that's the thing about organizations, they can always be rebuilt." He stated, looking a bit more reserved for a moment before seeming to return to what seemed to be his usual self. "If you guys came from Aldur straight to here, you all could probably use a bit of a rest, and some time to let all this sink in a bit. Things are a lot more serious than just some small town coming under attack, as Enfurnus here is well aware of. I'll go get the details about what the scouts found; if you're serious about helping us, meet me out in front of the keep at dusk and I'll tell you what I've found so far."

[Arashi]

Enfurnus looked to Aqua as she spoke about Diamond Town, then to Shin as he replied to her. Enfurnus added his own reply to that as well.

"I don't know if it's worth investigating. I don't have access to all the details, but it sounds like Shin is right. There may be leads close by though, or at least...somewhat close. It seems the most recent attacks have been showing up in clusters. So, who knows? Maybe another one would be close to there? I can carry several, and I am certain Silver can fly at least one or two. The option is there..." He shrugged.

Silver looked at everyone as they spoke, not really having much to say in the matter. Aqua just so happened to ask the question she herself had been wondering about, so perhaps she would get to hear the answer to that now. It didn't matter much to her, but she was curious all the same.

She did notice Rion's increasing discomfort, though. As he explained what the Shining Swordsmen were, her head tilted slightly in curiosity. She vaguely remembered Enfurnus talking about something like this before to someone...it was something big and important, but that's all she really remembered.

Silver then connected the dots as Shin spoke more. So Rion was one of these Shining Swordsmen people? They sound pretty strong. That explains a lot. But, she couldn't help but be slightly bothered by Shin telling everyone this. Was it really his place to dump out what seemed like something Rion didn't want to talk about? And why did it matter so much if that's what he is? He is helping, and that's all that mattered to her, really. She couldn't help but glare a bit at Shin. She knew how it would feel to have people know something you'd rather they didn't...

Enfurnus sighed a bit as Shin continued. He also wondered if it was necessary to reveal all this to people that didn't know much about the Shining Swordsmen to begin with, but it was too late to do anything now, really.

Silver looked a bit surprised as Rion grabbed Shin...which didn't even seem to affect the silver-haired man in the slightest. At least he was calm? She couldn't blame Rion for the anger. Instead, she felt bad for him...and watched as he stormed off. She looked back and forth between Rion and Shin several times, taking a few steps in Rion's direction. She had to do something after what he did for her. She waited to see what Shin had to say first, then that glare came back.

"Why didn't you let him tell us when he was ready to? And why does it even matter? I already know how big of a deal this is. What ever he is doesn't make a difference, because he is helping out just like everyone else in our little group and that's all that matters." She spoke to Shin in a rather snarky manner with a glare still. She then took off after Rion, trying to catch up to him.

Enfurnus sighed heavily.

"Excuse her. She's a little too loyal to her friends sometimes; logic doesn't always reach her. I understand, even though that was a little bit sudden...it's important for them to know what this entails, completely. Silver has things like this hidden in her closet too...though, I'll leave it to her to tell you guys that much. It's not a game-changer." He looked upon the group, shifting his gaze around at the group that remained. "..Don't ask her though, unless you want her to hate you. And I'm a dragon. Just so we're clear. I led armies against the blight years ago. Trying to prevent that from happening again. If you need to know anything, please feel free to ask." He crossed his arms. "After some rest, of course. Like Shin said, let's meet at dusk. Think of all your questions..."

"Though one more thing before we all get some rest; has anybody seen Celestrus? He was supposed to be trying to track the archmage that got away from the attack you guys helped with. Wondering if he had any luck. He's a bit of an enigma sometimes...."

~

Once Silver caught up to Rion near the exit, she looked back at the others one more time, then back to him. She stayed behind him a little bit, almost hesitant to try to get his attention. She was unsure if this was the right thing to do...

But it had to be done.

She reached out and very lightly tapped him on the shoulder.

"Rion? Um...are you okay?" She tilted her head slightly, a look of concern on her face. She spoke quietly. "I'm sorry he did that to you. That wasn't right. Do...do you want to hang out somewhere for a bit before we turn in?" She was a bit nervous in asking that last bit, just because she wasn't sure how it sounded. She just wanted to cheer him up somehow; he helped her, so now she would do the same. Besides...she knew exactly how this sort of thing felt.