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Post by Prythian on Jun 30, 2014 20:58:11 GMT -5
The old man sighed. "You are actually correct. My intentions were pure, but my actions when I was alive marked me as one of the greatest villains of our world's history... specifically because not only what I did, but what the sword that would eventually become Prythian was used for. However, I see I explained improperly. There are not enough floors in this castle for Prythian to delve deep enough into the soul fragments without intervention. Some of us can force our way to the front, like I have, otherwise I too would be far too deep to reach." He looked at JessY with sad eyes.
"Last time Prythian came here, he was not as broken as he is this time... but he had very little clue as to who or what he was. I aided him then, as I wish to aid him now, because I was willing. But the soul fragment Prythian needs to talk to is the first one ever taken by the sword. It is the deepest... and she is the hardest to wake. She has little idea that he is coming through these floors, and does not have the awareness currently to step forward and make sure that he will be able to reach her."
His lips pursed. "There is a ritual I can do to bring her to full awareness and ensure that her soul fragment will step forth enough for one of the floors above to reach. However, I am a mage of darkness, and she is... was..." Here a tear rolled down his cheek. "A warrior of light. In order to wake her up, I need two things: light, and a female warrior." Here he nodded towards JessY. "By using my darkness and another's light, I can reach through the void that currently exists between the soul fragments with our scattering to her. Without you, however, there is no one similar enough to her to wake up her. For obvious reasons I cannot use Prythian in this ritual as one of the sources of what I lack. Is that frank enough for you?"
Prythian looked up at JessY. "If he... wanted me dead... he could've let me die... the first time I came here." He explained. "It was... here that my soul... was put together... and I obtained a Keyblade. The melding held..." He winced. "...until the Keyblade was destroyed. He is..." You could visibly see the strain on his face, both from struggling to speak and from finding the right words. "...remorseful."
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Post by Raphael on Jun 30, 2014 22:08:53 GMT -5
Arin listened to the old man explain how he intended to help Prythian reach the soul fragment that would repair his damaged state, realizing that the person representing 'another's light' was likely him.
Crossing his arms, he closed his eyes, shaking his head "That's where things might get complicated…As it is, my heart's too badly tainted by darkness to create much light right now. If someone was able to balance my power out long enough for me to help you with this ritual, I could help with the light magic."
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Post by JeY k on Jul 3, 2014 11:34:22 GMT -5
'Greatest in history'? That bad? Well, he did use 'our world' as a modifier to his description, so fair enough. She would help, but she wouldn't like his attitude very much. So he needed very oddly specific things to trigger some sort of connection with something, and lo' and behold, JessY was the perfect candidate right off the bat. If this already wasn't fishy from his unintentional misdirection, it sure as hell didn't help his case now.
Before she could make any more smart remarks, Prythian to decided to speak on the man's behalf. While she could claim that the poor broken boy was delusional and ignore him, there was no real counter-argument to the one in needing saving to justify that. JessY closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Very well." She wouldn't say much more than that, since Punky McPunkenstein decided provide his own input. Well, technically he wasn't fully acquainted with the girl, so it probably wasn't fair to utterly shoot him down at this point, but she wouldn't be afraid to butt in.
Looking over at the other guy and narrowing her eyes, she would address him directly. "Calm down, dudebro. I'm pretty sure I qualify as a full package for this ordeal. Sit back, take a load off." She addressed him rather casually, not really raising her voice or sounding sarcastic. "I need you to let me set you down, sweetie. Against the wall is fine right?" she turned toward Prythian, asking. She would easy him down to be able to sit upright with his back against a wall, unless that wouldn't work, but he still had to be let go in some fashion.
"Alright old man, I'll play your game, but one wrong move and I'm slicing you to pieces." The girl stepped forward and brought up her arms, and immediately a cascade of thin, thread-like weaving Ability energy began flourishing throughout the room, like a fancy three-dimensional line painting that glowed in the dark. It threaded around rather quickly before the girl brought her arms in causing the energy to spiral and collect to her. Raising one arm up, most of the energy twisted around up to her hand and slowly shaped itself into something solid and recognizable: A very long, slightly curved sword made of light energy.
The residual energy wrapped around her left arm, which was still lowered and close to her chest, and formed another sword much faster though it wasn't nearly as bright, in fact it seemed semi-transparent. Regardless, she brought the solidified sword down and then flicked it up into the air in an arc toward the old man, it landing tip-down into the ground directly in front of him. "As your female warrior of light, there's more where that came from. Dig in." Despite being perfectly obedient, she still didn't seem happy about following this man's instructions.
While she also my be holding the other sword in her hand, it was merely a distraction. In reality, she laid a terrathread down behind the man, something that couldn't been seen due to how microscopic the thread thickness was. If he tried anything she didn't like, it would be capable of leaping up and performing long-distance slashes at the girl's will. She wouldn't tell him that obviously, though she was prepared. Hopefully just an example of light energy was necessary, as she wasn't too fond of letting him hold any more than he needed.
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Post by Prythian on Jul 3, 2014 13:26:41 GMT -5
The old man nodded towards her as Prythian leaned against the wall once JessY set him down. "Just... hold still, everyone. This is difficult work." Slowly, he stood up, joints popping as if unused for a long time. Prythian's eyes widened slightly; last time, the old man hadn't had to stand. The old man turned to Prythian, and made a few arcane gestures in the air, lines of purple energy trailing from behind his fingers to form strange symbols... and a small orb of rainbow light appeared in the air before Prythian's face, before floating over to him. "First, the material that binds the souls in the body..." The old man murmured. "The ethereal substance of life. Egas torpi wasth!"
The old man turned away from the three, completely caught up in what he was doing. With a few more symbols, the rainbow light formed into the outline of a circle in front of him. "Darkness to complete the gateway. Open up a window to the void between. Rav meigh zouth!" Dark poured from his hands into the center of the circle, filling it up... and then flashed, altering subtly. Now, instead of a flat black circle ringed by rainbow light, it was as if a hole had opened up in the room... and through it could be seen small glimmering lights. Some were brighter than others; others were larger yet dimmer.
The old man turned back around, this time facing JessY and the sword of light in the ground before him. His face was covered in sweat, and his expression was one of intense concentration. "Light to form the bridge. A line through the void to connect the pieces. Rael..." The symbols flashed in the air as he visibly trembled from the effort, the sword flickering. ...graf!" The sword melted into an sphere, and then threw a single beam out of itself, around the old man, and turned to dart through the gateway, a thin rope stretching out through the darkness to some destination only it could see.
The old man stumbled to his knees, panting heavily, but simply tilted his head up towards JessY and, with a visible effort, lifted his hands and continued making more gestures. "One who is similar. A female warrior who resonates with the one drifting in sleep. Erjah thren mae!" The sphere pulsed, and then an image of JeY appeared in it, rapidly vanishing as a pulse of energy shot through the line into the gateway.
"Almost..." The old man whispered, forcing himself to his feet. "Almost..." All of the symbols he had made before floated in the air around him in a circle, and he slowly turned, seeking out specific ones. "Life... Egas." He touched one of the symbols, and it began to raise up in the air. "Darkness... Rav. Light... Rael. Resonance... Erjah." With each mystical word, another symbol rose up in the air, floating towards each other. As they raised up above his head, they stopped close to each other, another symbol simply materializing between them. The old man, looked at it, trembling. "Awaken..." He closed his eyes, bowed his head, and raised his hands.
"Hiastre!" He brought them up above his head, clapping them together, and held them there as the entire room... shifted. It was as if it shook, but not physically; there was an impression of sudden shocking motion. The line, visible through the gateway, began retracting back, exiting and reuniting with the sphere in front of the old man. An image appeared in it...
It was a face. She couldn't be called pretty; her skin was scarred in multiple places, including the corner of her mouth, making it look as if she was scowling. Her hair, cut short around her, was a dark grey. She appeared to be asleep; her eyes were firmly closed. Then, slowly, they opened. One eye was covered in a white film; the scar over it showed that she'd been blinded in it. The other was a brilliant golden color. The image, and the sphere of light, faded away, as did the gateway behind the old man.
Prythian stared at the spot where the woman's face had been with wonder... and the old man swayed back and forth, before falling forwards.
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Post by Raphael on Jul 5, 2014 14:03:51 GMT -5
Arin listened to the girl's comment about him resting this time, and letting her take over for a while, and shrugged "Okay, if you say so." He watched as she generated a sword of light and stabbed it into the ground, curious how she was able to do so. He shrugged it off as mere coincidence, it didn't matter how she did it, she just did.
Then the old man got to his feet, joints popping as he stood. While he wondered if the old man was alright, he seemed focused on the task at hand, and was speaking in a language Arin didn't understand. However, the longer the old man went on, the weaker he seemed to get. By the time the old man had finished the ritual, he started falling forward, and Arin took action by hurrying over to catch the old man before he could collapse on the floor.
"I got ya old man, easy does it." Arin helped the old man back to a sitting position, making sure he was alright before giving the man room to breathe. It was then that Arin decided to ask the obvious question "That must've taken a lot out of you, you alright old timer?"
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Post by JeY k on Jul 9, 2014 11:37:54 GMT -5
While the entire impressive display of chants, lights, and colors all worked around the room though fixated on the location of the old man, JessY stood cautiously with her other sword drawn. She should've trusted him by now, after everything he said and even Prythian's confirmation, but something just felt... off about this whole thing. Still, it completed without a hitch, everyone was fine and it seemed like they had access wherever they might need to go.
The old man was about to take a tumble, but before JessY could catch him with a sling of energy, the other boy managed to rush over and support him, asking him if he was okay. The girl wondered what exactly his deal was, acting like a stand-offish punk for a while with an attitude to boot, and now he was putting way too much effort into playing the hero. maybe it was just the situation or this castle messing with everyone's heads, since the other boy was originally here to help Prythian, though she wasn't too particularly fond of his presence for the most part.
Still, it was an extra body to help which was nice, she just hoped that he trusted her to lead the way once they started making progress again. It was a natural instinct of hers to take charge, and seemingly like the most capable in fighting fit due to their own previous encounters, she thought they would have no choice but to listen to her if she were to make a command. She wouldn't be unruly or exhibit any signs of being a control freak, but if the boy got any funny ideas that she didn't agree with she hoped he wouldn't ignore her disagreement and go off to do his own thing.
This was all speculation of course. There was probably no reason to follow this train of thought, since everything would probably work out just fine. She was so weird when it came to groups. Though, if anything was certain, she wasn't too sympathetic toward the man. He was being taken care of, so maybe they could figure out what to do next. "Alright, so we're all still alive, that's a good sign. What's next from here, gramps?" Perhaps she lacked a bit of tact in her quest for knowledge, but it would get the job done (hopefully).
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Post by Prythian on Jul 9, 2014 12:58:59 GMT -5
"I won't... be able to... do that again." The man replied, breathing heavily. "She's... awake now... and should step forward... so that she'll show up... on one of the... higher floors. Best... I could do." He waved a hand at a curtain behind them. "On the other side... the door to... the next floor. Move on... and watch for... him. He was... a young mage... sacrificed himself to... destroy the sword. His soul fragment... is very hostile to... Prythian's existence." And with that, the old man slumped over, eyes closing as he passed into a meditative trance, presumably to recover his energy.
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Post by Raphael on Jul 9, 2014 20:16:47 GMT -5
Arin nodded to the old man's warning, standing up and walking over to Prythian, kneeling down beside the broken man "Come on, let's get you back on your feet. No sense sitting around waiting." Hooking Prythian's arm around his neck, he started helping him to his feet. Arin looked over at JesseY as he tried lifting Prythian up "A little help please?"
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Post by JeY k on Jul 14, 2014 12:18:49 GMT -5
Welp, the old man collapsed, claiming all of this amazing stuff happened and the girl was awake and whatever else there was. She believed him, she just had a sour taste in her mouth, and being a rather stubborn human being she refused to let go of a relentless dislike for this old man. It was whatever, JessY's opinion didn't affect their progress whatsoever, inf act by demanding more of him she probably streamlined the process to be a little smoother by getting more explicit details about their goals. So, all they had to do was reach this girl huh?
Of course, the girl's train of thought would have to be derailed eventually. "Yeah yeah, don't get your panties in a twist." JessY bent her wrist out and pointed a finger, a single strand of Ability Energy racing over to Prythian and quickly recreating the distinct brace she held on him before allowing him to hold himself up by leaning on it, keeping it stable. It was up to the other boy if he wanted to continue assisting him, but in all honesty, having him laced on his shoulder would help him move along much quicker. It was probably one thing to get him to stand up, another entirely to get him to actually move. "Should keep him up, just help him walk for the most part." She wasn't necessarily ordering him, just indicating what there was left to do to make this work.
And now the fun part: what's behind door number one!? Is it a new car? A family vacation to a tropical island escape? A summer beach house? Oh, how she couldn't contain the excitement! Well, that might be her reaction on a game show about revealing prizes behind doors, but that wasn't the case here. JessY slowly and carefully made her way over, keeping a firm grip on the energy that acted as a base for Prythain and keeping him stable, getting there without hurrying too much. She would draw back the curtain and enter, leaving their fate at the mercy of the old man's spell. "I just hope it worked..." she muttered to herself.
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Post by Prythian on Jul 14, 2014 13:43:04 GMT -5
As they passed through the door, a bright light filled their vision... and then they entered back into Castle Oblivion proper, the stark white decor clashing with the dark stone room they had been in before. Prythian sighed. "Somehow... I don't think I'll... see him ever again." There was a distinct sadness in his voice. "Regardless... of what he did when... he was alive... I owe him my life... twice over. And if his spell worked... three times." Prythian shook his head.
"It should be... your memories next... right?" This was directed at Arin. "Or maybe... now that you're with us... some of yours might show." He said, looking at JessY. "Either way... if it follows the pattern... not another fragment of mine... until at least after this next one."
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Post by Raphael on Jul 19, 2014 14:34:08 GMT -5
Arin helped Prythian through the curtained door leading to the castle proper, helping him up the stairs leading to the next floor. As they walked closer toward the next floor door, Prythian pointed out that it should be Arin's memories next.
"…I think so…Hopefully it will be the one that can help balance my powers again…" Arin took the lead to the large double doors, squinting his eyes to shield them from the bright light.
And once the light cleared, Arin, Prythian, and JesseY found themselves in the middle of a barren wasteland, nothing but keyblades stabbed and laying about on the dry, lifeless ground. Arin looked around, instantly recognizing this world
"…This place…I know what world we're in…" He looked around before spotting a familiar crack in the cliffside off in the distance, pointing in that direction "There! That crevice in the wall, that's where we have to go." He turned Prythian's body towards the crevice, helping him walk toward their next destination. As they slowly grew closer and closer to the cave, Arin's body shuddered more and more, anticipation and fear rocking his body.
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Post by JeY k on Jul 21, 2014 12:19:28 GMT -5
Owing someone your life three times over wasn't fun, but if they're completely dead, nothing can really be done about it. JessY wasn't sad or awfully sympathetic as she had a more cynical approach to viewing death. She wouldn't antagonize the issue by saying anything unnecessary, instead, she moved on without so much as a word. It was hard to say if he was truly dead or not; by the sounds of things, he'd long passed and this was merely a representation in him. Somehow, some people just truly don't die. It made her think of another boy she knew.
As they moved through the door, Arin made another comment about balancing his powers. While she didn't ignore him really, without much context or being directly facilitated in his condition, she was only left the wonder what exactly that meant. Hopefully this didn't mean he wouldn't go feral and try to kill them, but her intuition doubted that. Not that it was impossible, that it wasn't really likely. She wouldn't bring any attention to it, but merely noted it as a thing.
Now they were in an arid, dry, open land. Littered upon the ground were countless weapons, probably keyblades as JessY could make out, though she still wasn't sure. Her attention being drawn to the cliff, they had a clear destination and focus. In an open are like this, surprised attacks were far from likely minus the nature of Heartless, who simply appear and disappear from existence. She was wary, but she'd still probably jump when it happened and she would curse herself for them getting the better of her while she expected it. She kept a grip on Prythian's brace made from her energy with one hand and formed a blade with the other. "Seems simple enough, what could possibly go wrong?" she said, oozing with clear and obvious sarcasm. Shaking her head, she followed Arin's lead. Here goes nothing!
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Post by Prythian on Jul 21, 2014 14:09:46 GMT -5
Prythian simply sighed as they continued forward. If it came down to a battle, he knew that currently he was completely worthless. Even with this brace, the majority of what he could do took up too much power and concentration, both of which were in short supply for him without his Keyblade. He just didn't have the focus to muster even one of the spikes, which was the simplest possible thing he knew. "Sorry... that I can't help... with whatever might come up." For a brief moment, blue shot through the light that was visible through the cracks in his skin. "Maybe... once I reach her... it'll be different."
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Post by Raphael on Jul 21, 2014 16:37:37 GMT -5
Arin looked over when JesseY asked what could possibly go wrong "That's how I felt the first time I woke up here…The quicker we get inside that cave, the sooner I'll be able to help protect Prythian until he can fix himself up."
Prythian then started feeling guilty about his weak state, and Arin looked over at him with a dull gaze "You just focus on keeping yourself together, don't worry about what you can contribute until you can fix yourself."
As they approached the entrance to the cave in the cliffside, Arin stopped just short of walking into the cave to look at JesseY and Prythian "Before we go in, I want to warn you. What happens next could go one of two ways. The first time I came here, I accidentally created an evil double hellbent on destroying me, but I didn't realize this until after I left the world. So either that double shows himself, or the large Heartless from a lower floor will come back for another shot at me…Hopefully, I'll be ready for either one, but I can't promise I'll be ready enough for my double."
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Post by JeY k on Jul 23, 2014 12:45:48 GMT -5
So the kid wasn't a complete blank slate, picking up on her sarcasm rather perceptively and offering a very viable response. JessY was almost completely floored by surprise, though she showed no reaction on the outside, she wondered just who this guy really was now, especially after that. It was so simple, but very thought provoking. He seemed somber almost; he definitely knew more than he let on in regards to this place, and she didn't like his trembling. This could only mean something bad.
Leave it to Prythian to ruin the (nonexistent) mood though. "Relax dude, just like Crazy-Guy said," JessY decided to add, referring to Arin with a nickname she quite liked this time. "Focus on keeping together. I don't know what kind of heat he's packing--" she continued, pointing to Arin, "But it takes a lot to get the best of me." Cocky was an understatement, though she didn't seem arrogant at all due to little emphasis being put on any of her sentence anywhere. She was trying to build his confidence, while also making a rival out of Arin. Intentionally.
She didn't hate him or anything, it was just more fun to have some competition for once. At any time they would have to put aside any differences JessY would be more than willing to do so, for example now that they were at the cave and receiving a grave warning from the boy. "Bring 'em both on," she said with a smirk. Maybe that was a bit much, but she was in the mood for sure. She was itching to kick some butt at this point, with all of her ego drowning the entire universe. "Appreciate the heads up, though." She still wanted to prove she wasn't incoherent through her ego, regardless.
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Post by Prythian on Jul 23, 2014 14:59:26 GMT -5
Prythian grit his teeth as he tried to follow JessY's advice, but he was actually focused more on the large Heartless that Arin had mentioned. While most people weren't aware of this, in his search for his past long before he came here, he'd actually been somewhat of a scholar, and one of the things he'd studied was Heartless. This particular one, from what he'd been able to see, had been a Pureblood, which meant it should be easy to identify... but it had power that was far greater even than the rare Dark Follower.
If he could manage to find a way to survive long enough, Prythian rather thought he'd like to see that Heartless in action, because there were so few Purebloods that to run into one he didn't know was unusual. But, somehow, he doubted that he'd manage to survive even if he put his soul back together. Deep down, some part of him knew... his body was already too damaged.
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Post by Raphael on Jul 25, 2014 23:15:58 GMT -5
Arin listened to JesseY confidently respond to his warning, and he actually had a bit of respect for her confidence, albeit a bit cocky "I admire your confidence…But let's at least hope for the best here, it took me and four other people to take the Heartless down, and my evil double practically floored me the last time I confronted him on my own. And right now, we have less than half of that. So let's at least keep our fingers crossed for something we can fight."
Arin took the lead inside of the cave, firmly gripping the handle of his sheathed sword at his hip as he grew closer and closer to the glowing grotto at the end of the crevice. After about a minute of traveling through the 1-person wide passageway, they were inside of a wide open area, at least 20 yards in any direction. And in the very center of this grotto was a gold and black keyblade (refer to Nirax's profile), embedded into the stone floor enough to bury half of the blade.
Arin stared at the keyblade, and was actually frozen in place from how his nerves were tensing up in anxiety *…This is only a memory…But why do I feel like I'll be fighting for my life once I grab that blade?*
Taking a deep breath, he took a deep breath and approached the keyblade, reaching for the handle and hesitating just short of wrapping his fingers around the blade. Steeling himself, he grabbed the sword with both hands, and the result was instantaneous. Arin found himself gripping the sword tighter as his body lit up with an explosion of light. While his body was glowing from the mass infusion of light, his sword was slowly dematerializing into nothing.
Once the light dimmed, Arin was dropped to one knee, panting softly, and looking completely different than just a few moments ago. His black hair had now taken its usual blonde hue, his black and yellow eyes had returned to a normal human form, with white eyes surrounding his teal irises, and his black coat had been shed to reveal him red and black pants, shirt and jacket. Tucked inside of the belt around his waist were two gold trimmed handles resembling the grips of a sword.
Arin eventually forced himself to stand, breathing deeply to regain his composure. Looking at his body, and channeling aura from both hands, one light, and one dark, he clenched his fists and let the aura subside, grinning.
"It's good to be back again."
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Post by JeY k on Jul 30, 2014 18:28:31 GMT -5
How uneventful. they made it into the cave with seemingly no issues. Arin seemed to complain that a lot of manpower was needed to take down these enemies, but as far as JessY's ego was concerned, she was more than enough on her own. She didn't really say anything though, other than nodding to acknowledge his words, since boasting the issue wouldn't solve anything. She would just have to show them when it was time to shine. she tried to picture in her head what it is she might face, and what kinds of things she might do to end it quickly before it could notice their weakened companion and go after him and stuff, as well as things to play defensively. Mentally,s he was ready.
But for nothing really. Not a darn thing showed up. Well, it was cool and all, but the girl was ready and rarin' to go but had nothing to go on. It was probably for the best. they reached a single keyblade embedded in the stone, and before a conversation can be made about it Arin decided to step forward and try to pull it without any second thought. Maybe it belonged to him? Maybe he did this in the past? "Hey uh, not doubting you but you sure that's a good idea?" Her question would have no effect on what happened next.
He pulled it, some mystical stuff happened, and he transformed or something. It was cool, sure, but uneventful rather. "So... I'm guessing we're gonna get mauled on our way out then? You swear something's going to attack us here, though I'm pretty free from bruises right now." Her sarcasm probably didn't help at all, but she was genuinely curious when she had to be ready for these things.
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Post by Prythian on Jul 30, 2014 18:51:09 GMT -5
Prythian sighed. "Back to normal, I see. Now... we just need to figure out a way... to get you back your Keyblade." Prythian shook his head, jaw clenching. "I'm going to... find that man... and make sure he can never... break someone's Keyblade again. No more people... put in my situation... or yours." The light flickering beneath the cracks in his skin was tinged with red as his anger rose. "Let's... keep moving! I'll need... all the time I have left... to find him... once I'm fixed!"
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Post by Raphael on Jul 30, 2014 19:52:48 GMT -5
(He didn't pull the keyblade out, it's still stuck in the stone)
Arin smirked when Prythian pointed out that he was normal again "Yeah." He then noticed Prythian's temper getting the better of him, patting his shoulder "Just keep yourself together until we can get you fixed up, then we can take our anger out on the old man who broke our keyblades."
He then turned his attention to JesseY with a dull look, not too appreciative of her sarcasm over the lack of attacks "Yes, well I prefer not to fight unless necessary, so in a confined space like this I'm actually appreciative of that fact. Tell me, are you always like this, or do you just have something against me?"
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