{Altamira} Zachary Leos' Training.

[Zorolo]

OoC: Well, and now it starts. For those wondering why this is so unusual, you'll see as it progresses. ^_^

BiC: The green cloaked man walked through the jungle with a nigh silent step. Mayhaps it was the fact that he knew what lived in this place, or mayhaps the unconscious red haired youth in his hands, but he felt like not fighting anything right now. In fact, he had rather important business to attend to. Where, when and why were irrelevant right now; all that mattered was he move on and get to work. After all, he hadn't returned here simply to visit this room.

Perchance it was knowing what lived within the boy's soul and sword that drove this man attired in a dark green cloak, the hood of which covering his face, to help him. Currently, though, this same man had other things he had to attend to. After all, some students were about doing business that pertained to him. He had to get back to them, which meant he had to leave this boy somewhere. What better place then his own quarters?

With that thought, the concealed man smiled and placed the boy down on the bed of the cabin, the dark cloaked man's home, and headed back into the woods. Before he could take two steps, the watcher had a visitor. An albino monkey jumped on his shoulder, and he smiled at the creature, patting it on the small animal's head. "Yes, Armond, we are off," he said as he raised one of his hands and a door rose of the ground. He walked through it, and as the door swung closed, it seemed to simply vanish. Zorlo had places to be.

***o=)---------- ----------(=o***

Hours, maybe even a day, may have past in the room the youth was in before he stirred, but in the grand scheme of things, what did time mean? The swordsman rubbed his head, feeling the massive lump he had been given from a vicious shot from the fencer, Zorlo, when last he had been awake. He didn't quite recall why he had been hit, but he knew it was hard enough to take him down. The ice innate had to get stronger, this was what he knew.

But where had he found himself? The massive trees, the types of trees, the humidity, and hell, everything about this place seemed unlike anything Zachary had seen before. The hot, wet climate made his uncomfortable, preferring the dry, cool of the frozen lands to anything else. He'd trekked through deserts, forests, beaches, mountains, plateaus and even a good number of cities, and he'd never seen anything like this. Where on earth was he?

Well, if someone had been there to answer his question, he'd have first learned he wasn't on earth. Well, not anymore. He was in the Dome, and he'd been simply abandoned to make his way through this jungle. Whatever, it couldn't be that hard to get through this place, could it? Without thinking about it more, the ice innate sat up and got off the bed, heading out into the vast rain forest, instantly taking in the beautiful sights.

After a few moments of observing his surroundings, the young swordsman began to walk through the forest. He'd not been walking for more then a few minutes before the firebrand found something else he'd never seen before. "What is that?" he asked as he looked at the giant spider web. After a few glances, he deduced that, "Well, obviously, it's someone's idea of a bad joke," Leos stated blandly, not a big fan of being fooled.

Either way, no matter what it was, he shrugged and drew his sword and cut through the web, making a path for him to pass through. He had places to be, people to find, a green haired fencer to kill. He had to get stronger, it was the only way to finish his dream. If he could, then he'd find a way. He'd find a way to free a certain person from the only person that the ice innate had ever met that was stronger then the fencer. He had to find a way to increase his power.

As the swordsman thought about finding a way to become stronger, he found himself not finding anything, actually. Slowly, as he meandered about, the jungle began to get darker, the trees getting larger, and the setting he was in becoming slightly more alarming. He took but a step, and suddenly...

SNAP!

A massive snake with green scales and red eyes lunged out of the woodwork and shot at the young firebrand, narrowly missing him by an inch. Leos felt fear for a moment, but then pulled himself together. This was just the challenge he needed. After all, it would make him stronger, wouldn't it?

Carefully, Zachary watched his new foe closely, making sure to keep his eyes on the snake's massive eyes. He drew his sword, and the air around him began to cool, refreshing him slightly, but not much. The muggy, humid climate wasn't the best type of place for him to fight. He began to concentrate, creating two ice shards, but before they could go to any use, the snake struck again, and the swordsman rolled to the side, barely avoiding the massive fangs of the serpent.

Zachary charged boldly at the creature and swung his sword down, cutting into the beast's nose, but no more then a few inches, but still causing blood to spurt from the wound. Without any kind of hesitation, the beast through the ice innate angrily, and Leos screamed as he flew through the air. As he moved, a door appeared behind him and opened, his body flying out of the room and slamming against the marble wall outside of the room.

The snake charged angrily, rushing at the youth, but the door shut, causing the snake's head to run into it. The snake recoiled and glared at the door as it vanished, the snake heading back into it's recesses. It'd have its revenge yet!

***o=)---------- ----------(=o***

The fencer walked down the halls, his cloak flowing behind him like a cape, and the small white monkey on his shoulder watching avidly. Slowly, monkeys came from other doors of Dome to travel with him. He was heading towards a person he'd only heard rumors about. She'd only returned recently, and he wished to speak with her and learn more about her, not that she'd discuss that. Dome teachers had a way of not discussing their personal lives.

The fencer stopped in front of a doors. It was in the area he'd been told she resided in. Well, anyway, it'd be for the best if he knocked, right? Who knew, maybe she'd be there, but maybe not. The Aura Master shrugged and knocked on the door and awaited an answer, mayhaps he'd meet her, and see if she'd help him.

[Altamira]

Some days, those trifling little annoyances you'd normally brush off add up--the encumbering work matters, the frustrating idiocy of those around you--everything boils down to a point.

Cadenza's return to the Dome was one of those days. Sniveling menservants and couriers, clutching whole archives of papers to their fragile bodies, seemed to just run to her from every hall and door and library, shoving trembling fistfuls of notes and notices--you have a new student and you've got to read this letter from so-and-so and it's your turn to deal with the creatures from this world. The gypsy couldn't remember all these trivial little things from before; she sparred with other teachers, she trained her own students, ate, slept, and kept to herself. Being a full-fledged teacher was obviously going to be very different--perhaps in some ways a nice change from a thief, but curse it all if another bloody messenger sprang in front of her and--

--down the hall, was that the kid Louis had mentioned to her before? The hair was a striking enough shade of red, but she couldn't make out any other substantial details from this distance. She considered going to speak to him for a fraction of a second, but then she remembered that Merridale had left already and that Avello was unattended in her rooms, and sprinted away down the hall to see to the dragon instead. If anything good had come of her time here, it was that she had a new, swift mode of transport and nice living quarters--and she wasn't about to let the former ruin the latter in the search for meat in the kitchen.

Had she not been in such a rush--and had she not already been annoyed beyond tolerance that day--she might not have delivered a punch backed with shadow magic to the courier who was carrying a notice announcing the return of yet another teacher.

And yet, there he lay nursing his broken nose as the gypsy ran on.

OoC: Please excuse any rustiness on my part--it's been quite a while since I last wrote an RP post (and I've only been back in an English-speaking country for five days.) ^^;;

[Zorolo]

OoC: Hey Teach, you forgot to leave da assignment. >_> *Laughs*

The fencer looked down the hall and could hear very loud, quick footsteps moving towards himself. What in the world was moving so quickly and in such an angry sounding pace that followed this person. The Aura Master closed his eyes and looked at this person's aura, seeing a dark, shadow like energy emitting from her. An interesting power to control, especially for a human, but the fencer had seen it before. After all, Tsuukai Ita did call himself 'The Master of Shadows.'

However, this person wasn't like the dark fencer, was she? Well, from what Zorlo knew, or didn't know, was that she may be. He had never met her, and only heard scattered things from people she'd met. One of which, he wasn't too proud to say, were the few scandalous words that Kellson had handed her. Then again, who gave two thoughts about Kellson. From what the green haired man had heard, that guy was dead now. Come to think of it, the Aura Master would look into that later.

Anyway, as the fencer watched the on coming figure, that seemed to move closer and closer towards him, the monkeys, one by one, began to jump, seemingly in joy. Armond, the green haired man's most loyal helper monkey, pointed at the figure, assuring the fencer that this person that was approaching him was the person he was looking for.

Zorlo took a few steps away from her door, and the monkeys spread out. If she was looking to get into her room, he wouldn't want to get in her way. In fact, getting in a person's way when they were moving like that normally involved some kind of pain. Well, the fencer merely shrugged, he'd make sure he didn't incite any kind of fight here. He needed her to help him, not be his foe, right?

And as Zorlo and the swarm of monkeys around him waited for the woman with now visible black hair to get to where they were in hopes of speaking ot her, the monkeys kept jumping, making a light racket. They wanted to know what was going on. After all, Zorlo had promised to let them in on what was going on, even though Armond had some idea what the green haired man was thinking.

***o=)---------- ----------(=o***

Zachary slowly opened his eyes, letting vision slowly return to normal. At first, everything was blurry and dull, but before long, the world of technicolor entered his eyes, and he found himself not where he had left. His eyes scanned around, taking in the even more awesome sight then the last thing he'd seen. It was getting more and more insane with each thing he was seeing today, it seemed.

He pressed his back, which stung like hell, against the wall and pressed his feet, pushing himself to his feet. His brown eyes took in all the colors, majesty and beauty that was... wherever the hell he had wound up in his adventures. It wasn't like this was the first time something insane like this had happened, and almost all of these events somehow involved Zorlo in them. Come to think of it, Zorlo was the beginning and end of almost all of his problems, and when Zorlo was dead, his life would be almost complete. Almost, being the key word. There was still someone else Leos had to help.

"Where the hell am I?" he groaned as he looked at each of the doors, noticing small tags above them with a label on them. Actually, that was only the first door he saw, because, in fact, each door had the tag that said where it was too somewhere else on it. Slowly, the red haired misfit began walking down the halls, looking from insane looking door to insane looking door. Where in the hell, am I? he asked himself with a quizzical look on his face.

Something about walking through a seemingly endless hall with endless doors lining it, each different, made the thought of this place somewhat more awesome then anywhere else the ice innate had been. Suddenly, the swordsman stopped and looked at a door. It was sky blue in color, and with a small inscription carved into it in a very flowing, cloud looking font. "Cloud Kingdom?" he asked himself, reading what the door said.

His eyebrow rose slightly more as he turned the door handled and the door swung open, the youth dangling by his toes, which were hanging on by the door frame, and the door handle, looking down at a room of nothing but sky and clouds. The youths eyes went wide as he used his free hand to pull himself upwards and shut the door, his heart beating so loud he thought it would attract some kind of animal or something. With a sigh of relief, he made note to not open doors here unless he was sure of what he'd find. It was just safer that way.

Needless to say, the ice innate looked over several doors, just walking past them idly as he continued on his trip. Eventually though, something caught his eye and, in this case, his stomach. It as the cafeteria. What luck! he thought as he looked at the double doors, each having the word cafeteria written across a golden strip on the doors. He grabbed the rather fancy door knob and let the doors open and peaked his head in. Seemed safe enough.

Then again, to any other person that had come to the Dome by choice for even a short period of time, they'd know damn well that things were not always what they seemed. Leos, unfortunately, had not come here on his own accord, and therefore wouldn't have any possible concept of what could happen, even if it seemed illogical. Well, he walked in, and found the place completely empty. "Where is everyone?" he asked himself as he began to look around at the buffet style set up that was the style of the day.

Unlike the eating quarters of the teachers and teachers assistants, this food quarter was much more free form and very different in set up, more like a school cafeteria then a dining hall, unlike the elegant restaurant part of the dining quarters that Zorlo enjoyed eating at. The ice innate quickly took up several large plates of food, after all, he hadn't eaten in a while, and moved to a table where he began to gorge himself.

Unbeknown to Zachary, a large figure was approaching him. A rather disgruntled ogre had meandered into the cafeteria and hadn't found anything that he was hungry for... yet. Then his eye caught sight of the ice innate, whom he slowly trudged towards. "Food," he said in the utter stupidity that was obvious about him as he rested his massive, wooden club over his shoulder.

Leos turned slowly and looked at the creature as it swung its club down. He had almost no time to respond, but a little was better then none, and he jumped out of the way as the table was smashed. After rolling a little bit, the ice innate drew his sword and grasped it tightly in his hands dodging another down swing from the giant and throwing an ice shard into its eye and then driving his sword through the beast's chest, freezing him from the inside. With a fast, and violent, jerk, the rune blade ripped itself free, along with a chunk of the ogre.

The blinded beast stumbled back and fell on his back, quite dead. Zachary smiled and cleaned his sword off and sheathed it. Boring. This place did have interesting creatures though. Even so, that didn't mean the ice innate could be defeated. He had to get stronger to defeat Zorlo, and he'd find it here, he guessed. He laughed and stood silently in the cafeteria, he had no where else to be. So, he merely headed off and grabbed another plate of food and sat down to eat. That'd keep him busy for a bit.

OoC: SOrry for the poor ending, I didn't really know where to take this post with Zachary, but there we go. ^_^

[Altamira]

OoC: Here we go again! At least this time I have all my posts backed up--and if you need yours again, I still have them too.

Oh right. <_< With such a long post from you, I got to thinking I was writing for a Crossroads instead. I won't forget this time. ^^;;

IC:
Cadenza stopped short a little ways from her room, gaze cast sharply meters ahead of her. There, by her door, loitered a man who was just the very vision of green; young, with a vital look about him and a fresh face. His bright, keen eyes were trying their hardest to look uninterested and un-noticing, but the gypsy knew that look all too well; she had perfected the casual bystander guise long ago. Another courier who had heard about her temper and chose not to cross her path then? Hardly. The messengers that were normally sent were weak and forgettable--this man seemed to be just the opposite, if Cadenza were any judge of appearances. So then, what could be his business here?

Standing around won't answer any questions.

In a slightly more relaxed pace, the teacher resumed her progress towards her room. A monkey squeaked somewhere, giving her an excuse to look up as she unlocked her door and glanced hard at the green-clad man a number of steps away.

She said slowly: "You know, I almost hate loiterers as much as I hate those without the guts to talk to someone face-to-face."

The man seemed to smile under the hood of his cloak.

The gypsy gave the knob a turn and the door opened with a creak. "Allow me to feed my dragon," the word dragon here was emphasized to scare anyone of a weak will or jittery nerves away--when it proved ineffective, she continued, "and when I'm finished, you may enter and state your business."

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

A bird chirped urgently in her harpy mistress' ear.

"What's that? Argor has been killed you say? By whom?"

More frantic chirps and flaps of blue wings.

"Some red-haired kid in the cafeteria, eh? Well, we can't just let my bodyguard's murder go unavenged, can we? Go round up the other girls. I'll fetch my flame-whip."

OoC: One of the other "girls"--harpies, as you can imagine--will enter the cafeteria and offer to show Zachary around the Dome and answer any questions he might have. Have him accept, only to have the harpy fly away from him mere seconds after. Confused, he should chase after her until he finds himself in a garden--and surrounded by flame-whip wielding harpies. Then--well, let the fight ensue. ;]

[Zorolo]

OoC: I love it. Also, this kinda is a crossroads, so don't worry about it. ^_^ Good assignment by the way. This shall be fun.

BiC: The fencer nodded and smiled at her. A dragon, eh? he thought as he watched her vanish into her room. This woman was very interesting, to say the least. He'd been impressed before, but not as he was now. This woman stood several inches below the green haired man, yet she held more power then he did... well, normally, anyway. The Aura Master wondered what kind of fighting style she used, but then let it go. He'd find out, one day.

As the door closed, the monkeys scattered off into the four corners of the Dome, although the fencer knew he'd see them again. Every so often, they'd gather in his room and he'd get to watch a gathering of the small mammals, and the meetings were always much more interesting then some things he'd seen in the Dome. Anyway, Zorlo still had Armond who remained attached to his shoulder, ever wanting to see what it was the Aura Master did in his free time. Then the final creek, and the door was closed.

Luckily, he didn't have business to attend to at this moment, and hoped he wouldn't for a while. If something did come up, that man that had ever so obscurely appeared in the Dome a few days ago would certainly assist Zorlo, right? Well, maybe not, but the fencer had to hope that the aforementioned person would at least take in some of the sights. After all, it wasn't every day someone walked into the Dome that didn't seem to be out of the ordinary.

Anyway, the fencer pulled his hood back and kept his normal smile across his face. She was older then he was, so he'd imagine she'd take him for a youthful warrior, who had much to learn. Didn't matter to Zorlo, since he did not know everything, but he did know much. He'd proven that before, but that didn't matter now. He needed her help to learn exactly what this power was that Zachary had, but the fencer had a job he was supposed to be doing, that he had put aside to go about his own business.

The fencer knew the person that had sent him on this mission would get angry if it wasn't dealt with soon, but either way, the green haired man could wait. To Zorlo, this was far more important then investigating an odd skeleton with weapons not of the time he had been spotted in. He'd talk to this woman, and then he'd be on his way to do what he had been ordered to do nearly a week ago. Hey, it wasn't like finding someone that had a moderately powerful aura was hard, after all.

***o=)---------- ---------(=o***

Bored. That was the only good word that could be used to describe how Zachary felt at this point in time. He'd eaten his fill, killed an ogre, and was left alone in an empty cafeteria. His fingers rapped against the table as he sat in absolute silence, save for the noise coming off of his fingertips, and that wasn't anything at all. What Leos wanted was a person, or animal, or something that could behave in a rational, logical manner. He closed his eyes tightly as his fingers continued to rap against the table, trying to relax.

Well, needless to say, his attempt to relax only made him more angry, and seconds later, he had moved his hands under the table and flipped it on its side. He took long, deep breaths as he looked at the overturned table. "That wasn't very rewarding," he groaned in annoyance, kicking the table, but then recoiling his foot, hopping around in pain. He hadn't imagined that a table could hurt so much.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" he shouted as he hopped around, looking almost like a kangaroo with the way he was moving. "God dammit!" he roared as he drew his sword and cut the table in half, the two halves with noticeable ice formed over the cut area. He released a few shallow breaths before taking a deep one and releasing it slowly. "That was rewarding," he stated with a smile, but then he heard something. It sounded like... giggling.

The dark eyes of the ice innate scanned the room, trying to find the source of the sound, but he couldn't find anything but more empty space. Another noise caused him to turn around suddenly; what he saw made himjump back a few feet, his eyes wide in surprise. What he saw he couldn't believe he was seeing. What in the world was this creature.

Two massive, hawk-like wings stood at her sides, arms that were much shorter in front of the massive wings, which were nearly as tall as the five foot girl. Her hair was blue, and her eyes a shade of light purple, which didn't really strike Zachary as too odd. After all, Zorlo had green hair, but that was another story. The woman moved a taloned hand towards the ice innate, and he tried to move back, but her hand merely ran down his chest as she smiled.

"Hello," she said softly, moving her hand and brushing it against his cheek gently before fully retracting her hand.

The swordsman blushed slightly as he stepped back from her touch. "H-hello..." he managed, looking her over. After all, harpies tended to be quite scantly clad. The ice innate shook his head and took not mind of it, whatever this woman wanted, he felt was worth knowing, at least. "So... what is it you want?" he asked her, raising a quizzical eyebrow.

"I've come to answer your questions and show you around," she told him, floating a few feet into the air.

"Really? Well, that kind of help I can use. First of all, where the hell are we?" he asked her, but before she could answer him, she burst off, flying away from him. He stood in disbelief for a few moments before breaking out into a sprint after her. What the hell was all that about? Well, he'd know soon, he supposed.

A twist, a turn and a door before he finally thought he had caught up to her. He found himself in a garden; his eyes, out of pure instinct, took in the geographical setting. After all, setting was where the ice innate could gain his greatest advantage. Plants, small animals and sunlight everywhere, but absolutely no water anywhere. Well, that didn't matter, more practice on his new skill. He hadn't had more then one chance to use it since his dream, anyway.

Heavy footsteps followed each of Zachary's feet as they pushed through the ground. He didn't know why, but he felt something strange... something that seemed hostile towards him, for some reason. Before he'd let some feeling get the better of him, he'd get the better of whoever was stupid enough to decide to challenge him before they got him. Well, that would have worked if the ice innate hadn't already walked into their trap.

He walked for a while before he finally stopped; his annoying sense was definitely getting the better of him. Perhaps he'd picked up the feeling of danger approaching from his time spent with Zorlo, who always seemed to look brightly upon something unusual happening. Well, the ice innate wasn't like that idiot. In fact, he was better then that moron. He
knew how cruel the real world was, and he'd use that to become
stronger.

Suddenly, the swordsman stopped, his eyes falling upon a red haired, red feathered harpy, who seemed to be smiling at him. "Welcome," she said as a twisted smile crossed her face. "It seems the slayer of my bodyguard has come, like a moth to a flame, to my trap. Now, it is time for the spider to catch and eat the fly," she said in a sadistic tone. Her hand reached to her side, and before Leos knew what was happening, a whip composed entirely of flames cut his cheek and knocked him over, causing him to fall on his left side.

"Ow," he whispered as he felt the singed cut on his right cheek. She was fast. Really fast, actually, and with a fire elemental weapon. He'd have to be careful. His eyes moved back to her as he stood up and grasped the handle of his sword. Even if she was fast and with a weapon who's element was harmful to him, it was still just her, right?

Well, that turned out to not be so true as suddenly, several harpies appeared, feather and hair color varying from one to another, all wielding a weapon similar to their master's, it seemed.

"Dammit!" Zachary groaned once more as he quickly drew his sword and launched two ice shards at the leader harpy, who effortlessly knocked them away. Second after, lashed of raging flames cut across Leos' body, driving him to his knees in no time, and continuing to bombard him. His breathing got shallow and his eyes went blank for a few minutes as his skin slowly burned away at the touch of their whips.

Moments past as his breathing became erratic, his heart beat became faster and faster. He wanted to destroy these harpies, and he wanted it bad. There were too many to simply fight them like he fought normally. He needed more power. He needed to use his secret weapon.

Slowly, a small, dark smile crossed Zachary's face, his hair hiding his eyes. The runes on his sword began to glow darker and darker blue, and when he opened his eyes, they matched his sword. Suddenly, a blast of freezing air erupted from Zachary, dispelled the whips of the harpies, and his cuts freezing over, healing the burns in an instant.

As he stood up, an unnatural air escaped his mouth. Vapor forming a kind of mist escaped, and all the harpies looked at him in terror as he looked around at them. They stepped back slowly, readying to flee, but the first that did learned why that wasn't such a good idea.

In an instant, a massive, jagged ice spear had simply ripped through the harpy's torso, right through the center of her sternum, killing her nigh instantaneously. The others looked on in horror as Leos' smile grew, and before they could even respond to what had happened properly, dark blue, magical energy rose into the air and formed several more spears of ice, all of which scattered faster then the harpies could react to, and killed all but the leader in the same fashion as the first.

The leader narrowly evaded the attack, watching him with a dark response smiles. She moved some hair behind her ear and charged at him,
unsheathing her claws and slashing at him with a violent force. Before her claws could come near him though, his sword split her evenly down the center of her body, and the darkened ice innate let her blood splatter all over him. He laughed maniacally for a moment before his eyes opened, revealing his normal, brown eyes, filled with a twisted kind of happiness. He was learning to control that power, and he just needed a little work now.

OoC: >_> Just under 2000 words... I feel I probably skimped on something somewhere, but hey, I like this post. Hope you enjoy it. ^_^

[Altamira]

OoC: Lesson only time! Let's see if I can get this remotely right...

Zachary's not out of the harpies' trap just yet--the little bluebird that delivered the message to the harpy leader is still alive and well, and from one of the trees in the garden, she will begin singing a melody that will activate a frequency-sensitive trap door underneath the ice innate. With no chance to escape, he'll be dropped down into the sewers below, where he'll quickly find that both light and oxygen are scarce. And as he fumbles about looking for an exit, it'll become clear to him that he's not completely alone down there either. End your post with Zachary eventually finding a way out.

[Zorolo]

OoC: I think I'll just leave the Zorlo/Cadenza part to you. I'm quite interesting to see what you've got planned, and Zorlo and Cadenza's part can wait for now. I'll get to work on Zachary's. ^_^

BiC: A sound caused Leos' evil laughter to end. He couldn't quite distinguish what it was, aside from the strange, almost bird song like tone that was being released into the air. Some of the things the ice innate knew it wasn't, well that was simple, was it not? It certainly wasn't a swarm of bees, wasps or other associated insects. For one, it was a single sound, not multiple; and two, the sound wasn't an annoying, buzzing noise. So what the hell was it?

The red haired youth heard the sound getting louder, and started moving towards where it seemed to be coming from: a rather large tree. The youth stood at the bottom of the tree and looked at the bird, who's singing was now loud enough to be heard through the entire meadow. The next thing Zachary heard was the churning of gears, and finally...

Snap!

The ground beneath him caved into a trap door, and the youth found himself falling.

Whoosh!

It is a strange thing when a person finds themself falling into a dark shaft. Soundless, light less dropping, as air currents kept your body speeding up ever so slightly. It was a strange thing that, as the firebrand fell, he didn't see his life flash before his eyes. Rather, he saw what he hadn't accomplished flash before his eyes. He truly was a driven person, to the point that, even in the face of death, his desire made him see what he wished to finish.

First, and foremost, the swordsman saw himself cutting down Kellson. Oh he hated the demi-angel, and wished to see Kellson's face as he was skewered upon the ice spears Zachary could make now. It wouldn't take many, and after he was done, he'd gloat some about how much better he was then the big mouthed brawler. Oh how the ice innate would savor that feeling, well, until Kellson's last breath. Then Zachary would throw his corpse off a cliff and watch as it was shredded into nothing. Man those images felt good.

The next image that the ice warrior had was of rescuing the woman he had feeling for from her... "Master" as he liked to be called. He'd get his one day, and she would be free. He would see her freed, and wouldn't let her suffer anymore. How could anyone treat a person, even a servant, the way she told him she was treated.

Lastly, the ice innate watched as he violently maimed the fencer, Zorlo. Oh how great that was. Aside from saving Lament, this was his favorite image, but then, a voice in the back of his head protested. Zorlo had helped Zachary so much. How could he simply disregard all that and kill the fencer? It didn't matter, Zorlo was evil. He deserved to die.

After falling for what felt like an eternity-even though it had only been a few seconds-the ice innate splashed into something... and not something that was pleasant. His head popped up and the smell made his eye twitch. He was covered in feces! Oh God, how could this get any more embarrassing? He almost felt he should shower at this point. This was awful.

As soon as he found the wall, even through the darkness, he pulled himself up and froze the entire lower river of waste. He walked slowly along the side, and across the frozen lakes of fecal matter. Something didn't feel right though. Almost as if the swordsman was being watched.

It sounded almost like something was moving in the ceiling above him, keeping a close eye on his every move. The feeling of being stalked was awful, and he couldn't help but shake a little bit, even though he wasn't cold. Whatever was stalking him carried one hell of a cold feeling about it. What in the world was it?

As the ice innate continued to walk, the feeling never left him, not even once. He couldn't tell what it was, and as his breaths shallowed, he suddenly rolled forwards, narrowly evading something that stabbed into the ground. It was too damn hard to see to tell what it was. Before Zachary had any concept of what was going on, he jumped back to avoid the attacker again.

As the ice innate backed away, looking at where the attacks had come from only seconds before, he suddenly heard something drop behind him. He turned slowly, his eyes looking upon the figure, the only of which he could see is the glowing red eyes. Quickly, the swordsman ducked, evading a sharpened claw whizzing over his head.

Whatever the hell this thing was, it meant business. The red haired youth turned and ran to the side, evading the icy patches he had made, and running along the crosswalks as best as he could. The sounds of his attacker following after him kept his heart and his eyes wide and his heart racing. He couldn't die, he still had all that stuff he had imagined himself doing to do yet! He wouldn't get caught, he just couldn't!

The ice innate looked back at the red, glowing eyes that stared at him. They were moving slowly near him. This bastard was mocking him! Normally, that would end in him trying to kill it, but since he couldn't see, he didn't have any idea what the hell he was fighting. Something about fighting in the dark wasn't an appealing idea, and it soon did turn out to be a good idea.

Crash!

The ice innate banged into a massive, metal sounding door. He shuffled to his feet and started trying to find a handle. The eyes grew closer and closer. Holy crap, he was going to die. Where the hell was that handle!

His hand moved faster and faster, searching every corner of the door. Finally, success. He found it, and turned it quickly. The door swung open, and the ice innate fell out, turning as fast as he could to shut the door. A quick sigh of relief as he looked at the closed door. He'd gotten out of there, and wherever he was now was lit. That was a plus. He'd survived yet another brush with death.

OoC: I hope you liked that. It seemed to flow rather smoothly, and damn did it feel fun to write... most of it, anyway.

[Altamira]

The shadow of a dart flickered through the air--a particle of the gloom flashed in Avello the dragon’s eyes before the construct pierced through the monotone rumblings of his waking snores and he fell deathly silent, staring as the dark magic scattered from the hole in his pillow.

With mingled shock and wild hope alight upon his face, he looked up from the hole to the figure he could feel looming in the doorway.

And there, wearing her usual, calm smile as if she had never left was his master, Cadenza Madrigal, teacher of the Dome and former scourge of Rubato.

Her feminine, Latin voice was music to his ears: “Still practicing that one—it should have caught you right in-between the eyes.”

Avello, accustomed to her sort of half-serious replies, just let out a gleeful string of squeaks and squeals, rushing towards the gypsy to coat her in a layer of affectionate slobber.

Cadenza held him off with an outstretched hand, “Easy, okay? And no hugs.”

The dragon whined, but settled himself back onto his popped pillow which belched out a few more feathers under his antsy, shifting weight.

“Now…yes, yes, if the answer will help calm you down, then of course I’m alive and well. Nothing happened after I parted ways with you all in Santa Mariela. But more important right now is the matter of the man waiting outside in the hall--you’ve noticed him, I assume?”

The dragon gave an indignant grunt, as if to say, “Of course.”

Cadenza smirked back. “Well, I should hope you did, considering how long you’ve just been lounging around here. So what do you know about him, if anything? I had originally suspected him to be an emissary of that bastard I’ve been tracking down back in my world—he has the same air of subtle action and cleverness—but now that I think harder about it, I seem to recall seeing him before at a teachers’ conference.”

Avello gave a reptilian approximation of a nod, remembering the scent of monkey on a teacher from before, but not much else.

His master turned towards the kitchen, her smirk fading into her slight, more straightforward scowl. “All right,” she said, “sum up the situation: there’s a man outside that we don’t entirely recognize, and he looks too competent—and around here, that means dangerous—to be given any sort of benefit of the doubt. You’ve spent enough time in Rubato, so you know my methods—re-light the Dome’s accursed incense and I’ll get some meat from the kitchen to wipe that desperately hungry look off your face. Be sure to eat it in the most brutal way possible to scare off any wussy underlings—and then…our guest will be more than welcome to enter.”

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

The figure of a woman watched intently from a nearby corner, out of the boy’s line-of-sight.

The boy has potential—the bluebird’s report of his massacre of the harpies attests to that much. But then if he wields so much power, why run cowardly away from our friends in the sewers? It doesn’t make sense…but perhaps the best way to answer my questions would be to meet him face-to—

--her train of thought was cut off abruptly by the sight of the teacher, Louis Fritz, and his protégé, Melody Ferrier, rounding the opposite corner and spotting the woman’s own target.

“Just the boy we need!” the minstrel cried out to Zachary, throwing his arms up in both surprise and relief, “What a happy coincidence indeed!”

The ice innate stared back at Louis, utterly shocked to see the man he had fought at the Nieva Dojo standing there before him—wherever “there” was.

But unfortunately for him, the older man was not in any sort of mood to explain at the moment: “The boulder that once stemmed the upsurge of a roaring geyser in the hot springs has been destroyed, and the water is too plentiful and powerful for us to control! But--with your powers over ice--we may just have the smallest sliver of hope to save the room and the people trapped inside! Thank God that you have somehow arrived!”

“T-trapped!?” was all Zachary could manage to spit back as a reply.

“Hurry lad, there’s little time! The geyser’s at the entrance of the room and no one is able to skirt around the mouth of it to escape! And if we don’t make haste, escape of any kind will just have been a distant dream!”

The minstrel grabbed the young swordsman by the arm, and along with Melody, the three rushed down the halls to the springs.

OoC: Pretty simple—find a way to stop the geyser and save the people inside. This post doesn’t match my original word-for-word, but it still fits in with your next one nicely.

[Zorolo]

OoC: Actually, nice and short. Also, this will give me a reason to implement one of Zachary's newest trick. Oh, and Fritz: He ran because he couldn't see what the heck he was fighting. >_>

BiC: "Fritz, what the h-aaah!" Zachary yelled as the door swung open and he was thrown through, landing face first in the ground, stopping inches from the geyser. "Ow..." was the only muffled sound that came from the ice innate as he laid face down on the ground. Man this sucked.
Well, hey, whatever a person can do, right? The red haired youth still couldn't figure out how he could freeze the massive geyser and keep the heat down. It wasn't like his ice was temperature resistant.

The youth turned himself over and sat up, noticing that Louis had already soundly removed his violin and had started warming up. What a jerk! Getting ready to play music at such a time. What in the hell was he thinking? Well, it didn't matter, since Zachary still had a question to ask: "Son of a *****! That hurt, Fritz! Also, how the hell do you expect me to freeze this geyser?" the ice warrior asked, but suddenly found a nice violin case smacking him on the side of the head, knocking him back.

With all speed, he sat back up, rubbing his head as the case landed next to him. That hurt too. It might have been hard to believe, but the ice innate didn't hate Fritz, as he did Kellson and Zorlo, but merely disliked him. After all, the bard had won, fair and square, and the youth couldn't change that fact. Come to think of it, Leos kinda liked Louis. He seemed to do some of the strangest things.

"Well, aren't you going to get to freezing that geyser, or are we all going to die?" the warrior asked, still tuning his violin. What a strange guy. So calm under such deadly circumstances. He and Zorlo had that in common... then again, from what Zorlo had said, the fencer had crushed Kellson's body into a bloody, defeated pulp. Mind you, Zachary had been unconscious by that time, but he had learned that Zorlo didn't normally lie.

"Just because I can create ice doesn't mean I can freeze anything. That isn't something I norm-ahh!" he said as he got hit in the head with something else. This time a large stone, nearly knocking the ice innate over again. That was getting annoying. With an annoyed sigh, the red haired youth stood up and unsheathed his sword, moving towards the edge of the geyser. He had two choices now. One was using the energy from the sword and hoping that worked, and the second was "awakening" and trusting that that power could stop the geyser. Either way, his choices were few.

Suddenly a melody entered the air, very fitting for the circumstances. A fast, dangerous tune echoed from Fritz's violin, and Zachary suddenly felt the mood of the setting catch on. It was show time! With a powerful stab, his sword entered the geyser and began sending chilling cold down the walls. The rock towards the top froze quickly, but the pool of heated water prevented the ice from getting closer, and the boiling water rose higher. Leos had to come up with a way to stop this.

This left one choice. Zachary began to draw the energy from his sword, and when his eyes opened, they were dark blue. He'd use this power. Hell, it was the first time he'd used it for a good purpose. Zachary stabbed his sword into the ground again and a massive wave of ice shot down the entire geyser, freezing everything, including the top of the geyser.

A confident smile appeared across Leos' face as he looked at his work, but it soon changed into a look of shear horror as the bubbling liquid began to erupt. No time to think anymore, and the swordsman dropped his sword and jumped into the opening of the geyser, sending down his pure ice magical energy down towards the bubbling liquid. It would only freeze the heated water for moments before it broke free.

With each failed attempt, the ice innate turned up the amount of magic. The dark blue mist that left his hands and tried to freeze the burning water didn't seem to help. He pulled his hands back as he found himself inches near the water, sweating now. He needed a miracle. He focused all the energy he could muster into his hands and unleashed the ice as a massive ice column shot into the air, the water stopped.

The pillar shot the ice innate into the air, and he landed on it with a thud. It wasn't cold to the touch at all. In fact, it wasn't warm either. It was temperature resistant. By focusing his power, he had created temperature resistant ice. He'd have to test this ability out again some time. Maybe he'd tried freezing a fire. That'd be cool. With that last thought, his eyes closed, the runes on his sword completely drained, and he passed out. He needed to recover his energy.

***o=)---------- ----------(=o***

The door suddenly creaked open, and the white monkey hopped off of its Master's shoulder. Apparently, he had other things to do. Armond could do as he pleased; meanwhile, the fencer would go about his business. He cracked his normal smile as he moved towards the door. Suddenly, the words, "Come in," echoed out of the room, and the Aura Master simply obliged.

The green haired man entered the interesting room, smiling as he normally did and breathing deep the incense in the room. It had a unique smell about it, and as it filled his lungs, he felt a bit... strange... well, stranger then normal. Even so, he simply continued to smile as he walked further into the most interesting room.

To one side, a dragon feasted violently upon its food, but the fencer didn't care. He always found dragons interesting, and he wasn't capable of being surprised of anything, much less be scared of a creature eating. After all, everything ate, right? Well, even if there were living things that didn't, he didn't even shudder at the dragon's actions, and he merely continued to smile as he took in the smell of the incense. What the hell was it?

"Now then," the gypsy started, looking at the fencer, "What business do you have with me?" she asked, looking at him blankly. He could almost tell she knew something was going to happen, but still, that made the situation all the more fun.

"I've come seeking your aid, Cadenza of Rubato," he told her, placing his right hand on his forehead, his vision getting strange. What in the world was doing this to him. He began to see flashes of things, but they were strange, not entirely real at all. He feared no one and nothing, but he did fear events. Things a person couldn't control were the only things that could spark any kind of fear into Zorlo. And what he saw for a few moments was the dead body of Selene laying on the ground. He pushed back the images, knowing they weren't true.

Slowly, he began to figure out what was going on. It was the incense, wasn't it? It was filling his head with images to try to scare him. Well, he couldn't let that happen, after all, that would require him to be weak. The fencer forced himself to stand up completely straight, looking the woman in the eyes, his right hand removed from his forehead. He'd face this problem like he did everything else: head on!

"How... how do you know my name?" Cadenza asked, looking at the Aura Master.

"I was told it by a woman named Asha, who had an associate named Jhans that helped me and a person I brought here to escape. I know that Jhans is a student of yours, and I also know that Kellson, who is now quite dead, was also a student of yours. Both of which I fought in battle. Jhans held up very well, and I was nearly certain he would match up well, but..." the fencer trailed off, recalling how Kellson had wound up.

"As for Kellson, he suffered most grievous wounds at my hands. I did teach him why he shouldn't pick fights with those weaker then himself. He picked a fight with a person much too strong for himself, and he wound up nearly dead. I won't lie, I was slightly aggrieved when I learned that he had died, but simply because I didn't learn if he had learned to stop being a moron," the fencer said as his smile remained attached to his face.

Cadenza stared at him slightly, partially with interest, and partially with annoyance. "You sure do like to talk, don't you?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him. "Do you know Hunter by some chance? You and him would be good friends, I'd imagine, what with how you both liked to hear yourselves speak," the gypsy stated as she continued to glance at him, almost like asking him, "Why the hell do I care what you did, just get on with whatever you've got to say already."

Zorlo merely laughed, enjoying her spunk. "Aye, I've met Prince Hunter once. Nice man, and yes, he and I are both quite long winded, if I do say so myself," he told her, finally finished laughing for the moment. "Now then, on to why I have come."

"Finally," she interjected, seemingly very annoyed. "Get it over with already," the shadow mage seemed to demand, obviously not entirely liking the fencer.

"Since I'm quite a busy person, and am supposed to be on a mission right now, I've come to ask if you'd assist me in training the person I've brought here, and helping to free him of the demon that uses him through his sword. It would not be a hard thing to do, but I must get to work on my mission, and I need someone to make sure he doesn't die while I'm gone. I know you are more powerful then I am, and that is why I come seeking your aid. I need someone stronger then I am to overcome this obstacle that cause Zachary Leos to chase me. Will you help me to free him?" Zorlo asked, his smile turning into simply a smirk. How could she say no?

OoC: Well, that was fun. I hope you like it. This post felt quite good,
actually. ^_^

[Altamira]

Cadenza’s expression had changed perceptibly at the question.

“Well…” she began, “let me just say firstly that you should have presented your references beforehand, Signor Green Hair—just going on face value, you didn’t look stupid enough to be trusted.”

The woman flashed a brilliant smile after this; a sign that she had gone from the defensive to her usual half-serious, quick-witted mood. Zorlo himself cracked a broad smile of his own in return, but remained silent and serious in all other respects, patiently awaiting a direct answer.

Cadenza, however, was never the sort to give a direct answer—she, as always, would consider things a bit more closely first. “Zachary Leos…” she repeated after some time, her voice going over the name as one might scrutinize a new weapon they’re about to acquire. “My friend Fritz respects the kid, and I suppose I may owe you some service, seeing as how you're a fellow teacher and all.”

This wasn’t a yes just yet—it was never a yes with the gypsy unless you had an outright “yes” spoken to your face. The fencer, much to his credit, appeared to understand this and maintained his respectfully calm expression as he endured this somewhat suspenseful weighing-of-the-situation.

The woman went on: “And you speak of my power, as though you’ve heard of it—as though you believe in it, although such a small frame sits before you. This humbleness and respect…yes, I can see why Jhans and Merridale would have associated with you.”

Another smile from Zorlo—things were going in his favor.

“Well…I suppose the situation’s been considered to bloody death, hasn’t it? This seems a cause worthy of my time, Signor Green Hair, and so…yes. I, Cadenza Madrigal, agree to help you.”

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

Little Melody Ferrier cried out as the young swordsman’s body dropped to the earth like a sack of lead weights.

Calm brown eyes alert to it all, Louis finally let the fiddle slip from under his chin as he turned to placate his protégé’s concern. “He’s all right, my little friend,” he assured her. “The lad’s merely tired from such intense exertions. When he awakens, we’ll have to tell him of all the gratitude he has earned here today.”

Golden curls bounced as the girl nodded.

“Come now, play your uplifting tune and have your magics carry him to a place where he can recover peacefully. If memory serves…” he paused to stroke the short beard bristling on his chin, his wide-brimmed hat shading his thoughtful expression as he remembered all the times he had delivered injured students to medical care in the past, “…if memory serves, the nurse in the westernmost wing has an especially plush cot, and she’s as quiet as a mouse. Let us hurry there, Miss Melody. And be careful with him!”

OoC: When Zachary wakes up, he should find himself in the aforementioned nursing station, resting on a cot in one of the rooms. Some Dome students will be sharing the room with him, recuperating from their own injuries. Have Zachary interact with them; describe them, hear their stories, ask questions of the ice innate’s own, etc., etc. Not the most exciting lesson—but it seems kind of necessary at this point, right? ;]

[Zorolo]

OoC: It is fine by me. I'll just have to improvise. ^_^

BiC: The fencer smiled as she said yes. Somehow, he knew she would, but now was not the time for celebrating. Not just yet, anyway. He had a mission to attend to, and he'd leave this woman to do her job. He turned to leave, but suddenly recalled something, aside from giving his farewells to her, that he had been remiss about. "Forgive me for being so rude, Miss Cadenza, I am Zorlo, the fencer of Tasogare and Aura Master, although I am a bit remiss to give you a surname. Mostly seeing as, I don't have one."

The fencer looked back and smiled, feeling a bit awkward. "I've got something I've been putting off for a week now to go do. I'll be back in a while. Good luck, Cadenza of Rubato, for Zachary can be a little fire cracker when he wants to be." With those words, Zorlo turned and left her room, heading out to find this skeleton with weapons not of his own time. Something about this smelled of someone the Aura Master knew, but as to who, well that he didn't know.

***o=)---------- ----------(=o***

Slowly, consciousness seemed to return to the ice innate, Zachary Leos, and he could feel only one thing. Pain, and lots of it. Every part of his body hurt, even places he didn't know could hurt. It was insane how much he hurt, yet he couldn't do anything about it. Well, he supposed he'd try to open his eyes, but even that was hard, but it did get done.

His brown, half opened eyes looked around, vision slowly returning to normal. He couldn't quite move yet, but he did glance around, seeing someone, barely out of his peripheral vision, next to him. Apparently, he was in some kind of hospital, or something. Well, that didn't matter, since the guy next to him seemed to be looking at him. How he had gotten here, he'd guess it was Fritz, but if he wasn't there, he couldn't find out exactly who brought him to this place.

Then Zachary looked back at the boy sitting next to him. The person laying next to him had blue hair, with dark green eyes. She wore the tatters of a black t-shirt, and brown pants that had countless holes and cuts on them. The girl was probably a year or two younger then Leos was, but the ice innate didn't try to think about it. That wasn't his business, he was here to relax, he thought.

"So, why are you here?" the young girl asked, wincing slightly as she looked at him. She seemed to be in a lot of pain, but he couldn't stop that. Poor girl, but whatever. It was her own fault, and his for his own wounds, because they had both been weak. All weakness got a person was wounded, was what Zachary had learned from his fights. That one had been a reoccurring theme when he fought Kellson, anyway.

"I'm here because I over exerted my energy trying to freeze a geyser that was about to erupt. It seems by focusing my magical energies, I can create temperature resistant ice, but I'm sure you don't care, whoever you are," he told her. Unlike Zorlo, he wasn't nearly as long winded. Hell, he didn't care to say more then he had to, if at all.

She seemed to get quite mad at his response and glared at him. "First off, the name is Lira, and I'm here because my teacher decided fighting a master swordsman would be a good idea," she boasted. All she had done was care, and he'd chosen to be mean. Why not change his tune a bit and be nice, for once.

"Sorry. And I'm Zachary, it is nice to meet you." He thought about what she had said, and elected to learn a few things about wherever the hell he was. He supposed that made the most sense. "By the way, where in the world are we?" he asked her, his tone a bit more flat then curious, but he couldn't help that, he was hurting beyond what he imagined possible.

The blue haired girl laughed slightly at the question, and then broke out into extremely hard laughter. "I'm amazed you don't know. How long have you been here for?" she asked between her snickers.

His eyes narrowed at her, but then he simply sighed and looked at the ceiling. "I'm going to say about a day," he told her, glancing back at her.

"A day? And a teacher hasn't found you and explained anything yet?" Lira asked him, half sitting up. Man she still hurt. After all, several cuts and slashes would do that to a person. "Well, here is the Dome, a place where students come to get trained by some of the greatest warriors in the universe. And as for teachers, they are the people that tell you what they need you to do, vanish, and appear randomly. You know, that whole thing."

All the ice innate could think about in the moment she said the strongest warriors in the universe, the only person that popped into his head was the person that ignited his violent passion. He could feel his blood boil, and his heart beat increase. Man how he hated that man. Oh how that man infuriated him. Perhaps he'd ask this girl if she knew about him. Hell, why not? "Do you know a guy named Zorlo?" he asked her, looking at her, his passion burning in his eyes.

She laughed. "Actually, I have. He's my teacher, and he dropped me off here," she told him as she laid back. "Now then, get some sleep, and don't get so mad. It isn't healthy," she stated as she laid her head back and went to sleep.

Zachary merely laid in bed, looking at the ceiling. So he was here. He could find him, and destroy that green haired man once and for all. After all, with all of his new powers, he'd be unmatchable. He'd simply need to wait for his chance. Now the only thing that seemed to run through his mind was the only other question he had: Who in the world was his teacher?

OoC: Not my best work, but I figured I'd get this done now. Hope you like it. ^_^ ANd with this, we are, again, caught up. ^_^