The flow of mana has been shifting the balance of the forest greatly as of late, affecting all the residents, and leaving the young and elderly sickly. Elven and fae scouts were sent out to look for what had been causing the disturbances but could not find any satisfying results. They would only discover more drained mana deposits and roots of the great tree that was once full of life, now all shriveled up or eaten. With the mana being sapped dry from the great tree at an alarming rate, the elders feared this was a sign of the end of the deep green unless they could find the source of the problem. In a desperate attempt to find a solution, all the scouts were sent out to search every corner of the forest and report back anything unusual. One fae decided to take it upon herself to leave the forest entirely and head toward the nearest town to seek help from the guilds.

The next  day –

Zeno had awoken early as he normally does, he left the guild hall to visit the neighboring forest to stretch his legs and soak in the morning's grace. Just then a messenger hawk screeched from above before swooping down and perching itself on Zeno’s shoulders. A small sheet of paper with a four-leaf clover crest was attached to the bird's leg. It was an emergency message from the elders of Deep Green about how suspicious incidents were plaguing them and how unstable the mana flow was. “Looks like I got assigned a mission to check on the state of the deep green…fun. Go tell the others at the guild” Zeno whispers to the hawk before lifting his arm and letting the hawk fly off. With the livelihood of the forest in jeopardy, he rushed off to see what the problem was. He reached the forest around nightfall and was met with a shock wave that knocked him off balance mid-flight. After regaining his composure, he landed on the floor and fixed his hair. “Was that some sort of attack? I'm getting a reaaally bad feeling about this…sigh” Zeno sighs and shrugs his shoulders before walking into the bleak-looking entrance.

The once lush green earthly glow that filled the deep green was a thing of the past. The soil was dried up, and plants and flowers were all withered. The forest was indeed dying. Swift noises of multiple things brushing through the leaves of the trees overhead alerted Zeno, but before he could react and see what it was, they darted deeper into the darkness. What followed next was another shock wave. With it came a loud warping sound coming from what seemed like underneath his feet. The ground beneath Zeno suddenly started to rumble before splitting and sinking into itself, bringing down the surrounding trees and a large portion of the land, causing him to fall into the chasm. He pointed his fingers upward, summoning a magic circle in front of him, green vines burst forth from the seal entangling Zeno’s arms, flinging him out of the chasm onto the sturdy part of the land.“So–so much excitement and the night just started” he uttered after taking a deep breath and shaking his head while lying on the dirt.

WC 527

Take a deep breath in. Breath deeply out. Take a deep breath in. Breath deeply out. That was the process that Salem was doing as he meditated. He was circulating the mana in the air. Getting a deeper understanding and working on the mana sensitivity that he lost. He needed to work hard. The downside of having a human body was how weird these things could be. It could react differently to things he was used to.

A small rumble was felt. It was another disturbance in the forest. Salem stood up feeling pissy. He had sent a notice to Paradise Dawn to gather more help. The aftershocks from the void were making too big of a mess for him to clean alone. He could have been sealing them faster but that was not something he felt like doing. A bigger rumble shook the ground. Salem sat on his staff side saddle. Like an ancient depiction of a witch he rode it into a different area of the forest.

The greenery that he passed made way to various colors. The forest looked like it was in the middle of fall. It was not a good sign when it was so late into the spring. His staff was vibrating and Salem was feeling more and more sure. He was coming upon another one of those void things. He could only hope that he would not come across more of those dang birds. The view gave way to blighted woods that gave way to a giant hole.

Salem stopped for a moment and thought to himself. He did not remember a giant hole just chilling in the forest. He was in the forest a lot. Salem would believe a giant hole would be something he would notice. Holes were just too fun to pass up. The things had multiple uses that always made them fun to use.

Upon getting closer Salem noticed someone else present. “Do you need some help?” Salem asked a dude that was just hanging around. His eyes took on his peculiar blue glow when he used some of his power. “Unless you are just hanging around Zeno.” At first Salem was asking to be polite. Unsure if he would have actually helped. When he used his ability to see through the river of fate and the world. He realized that this was a member of his guild. So he was actually going to help if it was needed.

WC:410

The after effects of that tomb really were something that fen was still trying to get used to. Her body had changed, somewhat for the better; she felt healthier and a lot less irritable now. Something about not having your fate decided by another that was long gone made it somehow better. Her equipment no longer bore the resemblance of her homeland either; new jacket, new pants, hell even a nice form fitting leather center. She’d be in her room, going over the new weapon that she had acquired from it too. It was a massive bleeding blade that was taller than most men and then some. But it was light to her, easy to slash and stab, hell even thwack with it.

She was more or less minding her own business when the hawk arrived; the little message around its leg was picked out and she’d read it over. Furrowing her brows the werewolf realized that it was a call to action. She didn’t much care about the wellbeing of the land; especially one that wasn’t hers but with the feeling of that symbol on her tongue she’d let out a sigh. Standing up and heading out immediately; her sword sliding onto her back with a strap now going around the front of her chest as to not fall to the ground.

”Deep green huh…”

She’d mumble a bit as she padded along, slowly at first and she’d only speed up as she could see someone flying in the distance. Either they were the one that had sent the hawk or maybe they were another person checking out what was going on. Either way as she got closer she noted that much of the forest was in a sort of autumn vibe. Definitely not natural for spring. But in a world of magic; it was likely that something was wrong. She’d pick up her pace a bit, arriving a little bit after salem did. She’d fold her arms over her chest and cock her head to one side; eyeing the hole in the ground.

”What's going on here?”

Her accent was a thick and thick icebergian; not to mention she was straight to the point. Leaning somewhat to see if she could see anything down that hole and clearly was more interested in that than the two fellas in front of her. A hand slipping up to the hilt of her massive blade.

”Think the hole’s the reason for the leaves being that color?”

WC: 415

The deep breaths and a moment of rest helped Zeno’s nerves return to normal. He sat up slightly to look around, infusing his eyes with mana, causing them to shine a bright reddish-orange hue with glints of yellow around the pupils. With his fae eyes activated he checked to see if any friendly beings or monsters were hiding away in the dimly lit foliage, but nobody seemed to be hanging in the distance. The forest has never been this quiet nor empty before, and this hole forming beneath him only adds to the weirdness of it all.

The silence would soon be broken by the voice of somebody hanging overhead outside Zeno’s sight. Feelings of shock and uneasiness flowed through him from hearing his name being called from out of nowhere after having not seen anybody in his vicinity. Quickly scouting the air with his enhanced vision, he eventually spotted an aura hovering over him. He could not put a name to the face but could tell this being was a fae from its soul signature resembling that of other faes, standing up from off the floor to greet the suspicious man with a polite yet disingenuous smile.


“Yes, I am just hanging around waiting for the next sinkhole to carry me off to meet the divine fates below.” Zeno rolled his eyes at the man and responded to him with sarcasm. “I'm sure you are here for a similar reason as I, investigation, no?... Come down and let's tackle this mess before the deep goes deep underground.” Zeno said to the fae roguishly. As he walked over to the edge to peer down into the hole, another unexpected voice rang out from the other side of the hole, but this voice had a rough accent to it. Turning his gaze over to where the voice came from, he noticed it was another aura, but one he did not recognize. “Look Mr. Fae, it seems we have more company… The more, the merrier” He humorously retorted while pointing to the figure. Zeno grew more curious and cautious about the numerous people arriving suddenly. ‘Why so many people suddenly come out of nowhere to the deep green? Did they also get notified to come check this out? Or maybe they are related to it. For now, I will keep it cool’ He thought to himself while shifting his gaze on the newcomer.

Sprouting his wings, he flew over to the creature covered in fur that was speaking out. “Why hello there, I overheard you and your guess would be close to what I summarize. I encountered some nasty speedy buggers that flew deeper into the green and then shock waves pulsed forth, sinking the ground as you see. But how about we introduce ourselves before spelunking down this deep savory hole that potentially leads to our doom? No?” He turns his gaze to the hovering fae behind him as he makes this suggestion. Turning back to the creature in front of him, “You can call me Zeno, I am a member of Paradise Dawn” As Zeno introduces himself sincerely, he puts his hands together concentrating and gathering lots of mana, before opening his palms and dropping tons of tiny green glowing wisps in the shape of butterflies into the hole to light it up. By letting these wisps flutter deeper and deeper into the hole, sticking to the walls, they light up the way but reveal just how deep it goes. “This pit goes pretty deeeep” Zeno flies to the tree hanging over the creature and sits on the tree branch looking down at them.

WC 607

Salem was mildly impressed. It was only mildly at best. The majority of people would simply ask why he just knew their name? Especially, when it was normally the first time they met and the person in question was not even famous. The fact that Zeno took it in stride was impressive. “Sure. I came for investigation in a sense. Well really I came to deal with this problem.” Salem pointed to the hole. The random person showing up was a bit to curb the enthusiasm. He gave bonus points for them noticing the hole. His eyes flickered as he used the world’s gaze on the newcomer as well.

She looked decent enough. Her fur had a shine to it that looked nice. Salem had slept or seduced enough werewolves and demi humans to call himself an expert on it. The world revealed that her name was Fen, but he chose not to say anything about it this time. It was interesting that the world's eyes revealed to him her guild logo from his visions. Like what Zeno just said she was also from Paradise Dawn. Just from looks he would hazard that he or Zeno would be more of the senior members. He landed on the ground with the others to be more polite instead of levitating.

“Well, pleased to meet the both of you. To answer your question. The hole is the reason that the leaves are turning and we will need to deal with it soon. You can consider this a request from a senior Paradise guild member to my juniors.” Salem returned the roguish smile to Zeno. His asking was more of a request since he was without his normal team. He could only hope that the duo would be strong enough to do what needed to be done. If not this job was going to be a lot harder. Salem would allow Fen to introduce herself from there.

Salem made a grimace. He pointed two fingers at the edge of the hole and moved them inwards towards it. A magic circle formed where he first pointed, it released a cascade of water that floated in the air. He tried to cover up as much of the hole as he could. The Fairy Godfather had heard the familiar buzz of the winged creatures. A fight was about to break out at any moment. He could only hope that the two of them knew how to fight or flee. He was mostly joking about earlier. He would not make it easy for them to die. The least they could do is fight.


WC:435 TWC: 845

The two that were here were of fair disposition, she didn’t recognize either of them. With that her hand rested on the pomell of her sword. Ready to act in case their friendly venue was a farce. Lumikki had been straightforwardly more powerful than Fen was. She didn’t get the same sensation of an impossible gap from the two here but maybe they were more careful about flaunting their strength. Her striking purple eyes flicked from the hole in the ground up to the one flying above her. Magic really was something here in fiore wasn’t it?

”Haven’t run into anything like that. Felt like something was watchin me the whole time though. Yeah. Sounds fair.”

Zeno from paradise dawn, the guild that Lumikki had inducted her into. The two of them were both from it but the other hadn’t introduced themselves yet. She figured that they probably would in due time. She’d lean to look down the hole; her brows scrunching together for a moment.

”Fen Von Wolfenstein. Recently joined Paradise dawn. If you want to call me Fen go for it.”

She’d bite the inside of her cheek and glance at the other; how did he know that he was their senior before even introducing herself? Or was there something else at play here? A thumb played around the guard of her sword and she’d push it out of it’s sheathe slightly; checking the edge against her thumb before nodding her head.

”What about you Senior Paradise Dawn member? Got a name?”

Her aggressiveness had a heavy underlying curiosity to it. She had never heard of lumikki before coming to fiore and had never heard of Zeno either. She’d dip her head slightly in an acknowledgement of the both of them. Manners. She knew lumikki would likely be cross if she wasn’t at least courteous to other paradise dawn members.

”Its… Good to meet you both. Only other member I’ve met is Our Guild Master: Lumikki.”

She got closer to the edge, seeing the wisps she’d ponder if she could maybe jump down just fine. Or maybe she could hang on the edge and let her claws do the digging into the side. She felt the sing song voice of her blade against her hand and mulled that she could also use that to slow her fall. There was a simple whisper of leaping down into the darkness, her body was strong. It’d be fine…

”I can’t use magic, so flyin’ is a no go for me. I’m tougher than your average werewolf too.”

If it wasn’t blisteringly obvious from fen being around a single story building in height and built like someone that had spent most of their life training for battle… which most certainly was the case. Annoyance flicked on her features for a moment and she’d curse under her breath.

”Should have at least picked up somethin’ from one of the local mages… odins beard…”

[WC: 490, Total: 905]