Fight against fantasy - IC

[wonderweiss]

Frank was alarmed. What was it that he had? Was it the shadow lurker attractant? He couldn't figure it out... he would figure out in three days. Now, he needed to get all of the disturbing images out of his head... and talk with Reginald. He faced Wen.

"... Listen, if you need anywhere to stay for the night, I have a guest room. You can stay if you like... but just know that if you or the other SYSTEM operatives ever decide to lay disturbance in Myrkur, I will not hesitate to fight back."

Frank headed back home. He went back into his room. Then, he took out his suitcase and hung his Night Lurker uniform and placed the mask on a desk near his bed. He collapsed on the bed.

[S121]

Enalausir Forest - Azeruk's House

Azeruk thought about what Sidna requested and tried to simulate the outcomes in his head. The problem wan't that Azeruk couldn't do it, it was that he had never traveled with that much mass before. The more mass Azeruk used his light speed travel on, the more strain it caused him. He could probably still accomplish it, but it would be a bigger strain. What if they were ambushed as soon as Azeruk stopped traveling by light? He could see and react while he was in the light speed state, but they would most likely be hiding. It was an irrational, paranoid thought, but in a situation like this, it payed to be cautious. Finally, Azeruk made his decision and spoke to Sidna.

"Yes. In fact, I can probably get us there in a single instant. I'm not used to traveling with another person, so it might stress me a little bit, but there's no way to be certain.", Azeruk said as he took a leather strap and attached it to the "SYSTEM knight's crossbow".

Once he attached it, Azeruk then slung it over his shoulder and fastened it in place. As this happened, Azeruk decided to ask Sidna a question.

"You're familiar with SYSTEM, right? Do you know what this is?", Azeruk asked as he pointed at the "crossbow" on his back.

[Katrix]

Enalausir Forest - Azeruk's House

For a long time it looked like Azeruk was just thinking. When he spoke he told her about that it would take him more energy. "That's alright. You don't need to go full speed. Just make sure that we'll get there before nightfall. We don't really know what to do once we get there anyway."

Azeruk then took out something SYSTEM made. You could immediately tell that and asked her if she knew what it was. "I'm not completely sure myself. It looks like some sort of weapon. I think it's pretty old tough. The only way to be completely sure is to ask someone part of SYSTEM."

"Alright. I'm ready when you are. Take us to Myrkur."

[S121]

Enalausir Forest - Azeruk's House

Azeruk walked outside with Sidna and looked at the stars to try and figure out which direction Myrkur was in. Azeruk had never actually traveled there before. In fact, Skógur was the only town he had ever been to. Azeruk began mumbling directions to himself as he pointed towards a constellation and looked towards a second one. With his free hand, Azeruk pointed to the second constellation and slowly moved it forty degrees towards the first constellation.

"There.", Azeruk said as he grabbed Sidna's hand and used light to travel.

In a single instant, they were gone.




Blómlegt Forest

In a single instant, Azeruk's cozy home was replaced by a large forest, almost a jungle. It was very dark, due to the trees overhead. Azeruk let go of Sidna's hand and began to breath heavily, trying to recover from the strain.

"Nope... Too far...", Azeruk said as he sat down at the base of a nearby tree.

"Sorry I couldn't take us further... I'm just not used to going that far... and carrying that much with me.", Azeruk said as he forced himself to take deeper, but slower, quieter breaths.

[Katrix]

Blómlegt Forest (Time dilation ends at the end of this post)

When Azeruk grabed her hand they travel really fast for some time. It was slower than what they had done earlier, but still blazing fast. After some time they arrived in Blómlegt Forest. Azeruk couldn't take them any further. "It's alright. We just have to go trough the forest and cross the river. After that we should arrive at the lake."
They then began to walk towards the lake.

After walking for a few hours they finally reached the lake. When they looked out at it they could already see a few persons. "Do you think that's the one we are supposed to meet?"

[bookdragon2000]

Ljost lake

Wenxuan (*facepalm* I decided to get rid of the space and the second caps...causing confusion(@wonderweiss)) turned down the room and was debating whether to tell Frank that he wasn't part of SYSTEM, at least not anymore. But he had already left. So Wenxuan sat down next to his bag and relaxed, but kept hold of his bow. Just them Madge landed once again on her previous perch, which Wenxuan now realised was actually a barrel, Frank must make use of this island near his home. She had a rodent clutched between her claws and once saw that there was no further emergency, started eating.

Wenxuan sat down and contemplated the light at the bottom of the lake while he thought about the earlier confrontation. He had no idea what Frank could have picked up, and now that there were others who knew about his presence and were not exactly "friendly", it would be safer to move on. But he was still tired, and the two of them had not shown any undue interest in him, so at least they weren't after him. Besides, he wanted to investigate this light further. He didn't intend to remove it, just to examine it. But first, he needed rest. Once again, he prepared to sleep, keeping one hand on his bow and the other near his quiver. This time he asked Madge to keep watch while he slept. But he decided to stay up a while first, he stared at the light, trying to think of how memories could be used to power magic and converted into other forms of energy. Of course he had heard the phrase "Memory is power", but he had always believed it had something to do with the greater technology of SYSTEM due to keeping memories that others lost.

[S121]

Ljost Lake

Azeruk sent his gaze to where Sidna was pointing and saw a man by the glowing lake. The light beneath the water was quite a strange sight. It was something Azeruk had never seen before.

"I.. I think so.", Azeruk said with a tone of uncertainty.

Azeruk really didn't know who he was supposed to meet. There was nobody in his vision, but they at least made it to the lake. Why were they supposed to be here anyways? Azeruk only knew that they were supposed to be here. Azeruk looked over to Sidan and spoke his thoughts. Maybe she might have an idea.

"I really don't know what we're supposed to do next. I suppose we should go talk to that man over there, but we should be on guard. He might be a SYSTEM agent.", Azeruk said.

[Katrix]

Ljost Lake 11:30 PM

"Well there's only one way to find out." Sidna then began walking towards the lake. She was still cautious as just as Azeruk said this whole thing could just be a big trap. When she rached the water she simply removed it and continued walking towards the person. "Hello, excuse us, but you don't know anything about something going on with this lake by any chance. We was told to visit here and now we don't know what to do." She said while walking towards the little island the person was standing on. When she finally got up she took a quick look at him. What she way was a SYSTEM spy. She quickly removed what he had of magic and also removed his ability to move. After a few seconds he fell to the ground. He couldn't move in any way other than talk.

"Come over here Azeruk. Quick. SYSTEM's here" she yelled over to Azeruk to get him to come over. She then began asking the man questions. "What are you doing here? Was this just a trap to get us? Are there any other SYSTEM spies nearby? What does it even matter that we have these memories?"

[wonderweiss]

Frank heard voices. He thought they were that of the SYSTEM operative... but one of them was that of a female. And she was threatening the SYSTEM operative. No matter how much pain they cause, he didn't think that the SYSTEM operative did any damage yet. He must see what was going on.

Frank was about to rush out, but he decided that if he were to be seen fighting, he would risk being hunted down. He quickly changed into the Night Lurker uniform. He went outside and whistled loudly. Suddenly, the same shadow lurkers that had assisted him earlier came by. They rushed to the lake. Night Lurker then froze a large part of the lake so that they could all cross the lake safely. Then, he melted all of the ice and created a large ice circle around the island. The shadow lurkers took their place around the island, surrounding it. Night Lurker jumped on to the island.

"What do you think you're doing to this man? He hasn't done any harm yet."

Though Myrkur was small, the popularity of the Night Lurker spread. Night Lurker was known well in Myrkur, but in other places, they mostly know just his name. there were rumors about him though. Rumors that were different with each town. In fact, some rumors were so crazy as the rumor where Night Lurker will steal your life with a simple gaze, and even that he can fly, including the one where it was said that he was raised by shadow lurkers. It's all a matter of what these two have heard of the Night Lurker.

[S121]

Ljost Lake - 11:30 PM

Azeruk heard Sidna shout out for him and began to approach the island, but all of a sudden, ice began to form around the entire island. It surprised Azeruk, but right now, he needed to get to the island now, or else Sidna would be fighting alone. Using his light magic, Azeruk dashed towards the island at the speed of light, barely managing to jump over the ice wall that began to form. As soon as Azeruk made contact with the sand, Azeruk stopped in place, almost as if he teleported. Azeruk looked around and saw strange creatures surrounding the island. What were they? Were they hostile? What were they capable of? Azeruk thought over it for only a split second as he then saw a man in a black outfit. Sensing a battle coming, Azeruk then began to charge up his light magic, causing a bright aura of light to form around him.

[wonderweiss]

Night Lurker faced Azeruk. He wondered how he had jumped over the wall. Then he found out, he was a light mage. Then, he thought about how he was a light mage... and how he might be able to... he shook his head and ignored the feeling and faced the man.

"You there. None of us need to fight. However, there is no need to threaten a SYSTEM operative just because he is SYSTEM either."

The shadow lurkers growled. Night Lurker signaled the shadow lurkers to calm down.

"I am Night Lurker, peace keeper of Myrkur and guardian of lake Ljost."

The mask is burnt from the last battle. Night Lurker looks like he is in no condition to fight. However, if he must, he will.

[S121]

Ljost Lake - 11:31 PM

Azeruk's attention was quickly taken away from Sidna as the man in the black outfit, Night Lurker spoke about the man Sidna was confronting. Was there a chance that this man was from SYSTEM too? Why was he charred? Azeruk kept on his guard and continued to charge his magic reserves, just in case.

"SYSTEM is not the good organization you think it is. For all I know, this could be a trap. He could have agents all over this island. We're just trying to find some answers and my friend over there is just being cautious.", Azeruk said to the Night Lurker.

[wonderweiss]

"I understand. But such aggressive maneuvers shouldn't be taken. Plus, I honestly don't think he's SYSTEM any longer. He seemed... hostile towards that other SYSTEM agent earlier, and she was too dedicated not to be SYSTEM."



Meanwhile, back in the Myrkur dungeon...

Reginald was tied up on a chair. A knight was in front of him.

"So... You're the rogue knight I've heard so much about. You caused us much distress."

Reginald spat fire on his face, but the knight was unfazed.

"Oh, come on. I know you're a rogue, but you should at least know that during questioning, a knight with similar attributes are to do the questioning to keep the other in check."

"Psh, Why do ya think I did that?"

The knight stood up. "I wouldn't worry about that anyways. Old Night Lurker is going to give you a little pep talk tomorrow."

Reginald, who should've been exited to hear that he will be seeing a rival soon, just smiled. "That... won't quite do."

Then, all of a sudden, a giant burst of flames cooked the rooms. Reginald was freed and he had escaped. He was extremely happy now.

Oh, silly Night Lurker, yer done for, because... I know who you are. I saw you change, I saw where you were headed... now I'm gonna burn everything you care about before I fry you!

Reginald took off... to the lake.

[S121]

Ljost Lake - 11:31 PM

Azeruk thought about it for a moment. In front of him was somebody that didn't seem hostile. In fact, he looked as if he was too tired to fight. There seemed to be only one SYSTEM agent on the island and based on what the Night Lurker said, he was not hostile either. The SYSTEM agent was a retired one, based on the information that the Night Lurker gave. Should Azeruk trust this stranger? Should he let his guard down? Azeruk corrected his posture to a non-combative one, but still kept charging himself. He needed the magical energy anyways. Azeruk then nodded to theNight Lurker and looked over to Sidna.

"Sidna, this guy says that that guy is retired. I don't think there's going to be an ambush.", Azeruk shouted out to Sidna.

[wonderweiss]

Night Lurker had lowered his guard as well, though for Night Lurker that simply meant that he lost tension in his shoulders.

"... Thank you. Say... can I trust you all?" He said as he melted away the ice, shadow lurkers reaching shore. Night Lurker walked to a cabinet on the island and took out several bowls. He put them all under the barrel and turned the nozzle, apple cider pouring out. He placed the bowls on the floor and the shadow lurkers began drinking out of it.