Little lost dragon and I

[Ryujin13]

Avira continued to cry as the others spoke, but seemed to at least be listening, even if her ears drooped down. She was terrified truth be told. She didn't remember any of what they said happening, and now she was in some room without an arm.

Suddenly she realized what Vita had said and anger flared up, more tears falling.

"You accessed my implant!?" She asked, revulsion on her face. "Why? Why would you do that? I told you what happened! What they did to me with that thing, and you used it to change me, just like those... Those monsters at Red!"

It was different from that and Avira knew it, but it still felt the same. Someone had gone poking around in her brain and rewrote things to accept the new arm. It didn't matter that it was with the best intentions, what mattered to Avira was the act itself. She felt dirty again, like all those times she had been raped at Red and her implant had been programmed to enjoy it.

 

"Avira!" Guthrie barked suddenly, his father voice coming out. "Stop it. We did what we did to save your life. Vita did something with this plant, and now you have a new arm so you can lead a normal life. Is that really so bad? We had only the best intentions when we did this, all of which were aimed at helping you. The arm doesn't change who you are, it just let's you remain the same. You can do everything you used to now instead of having to learn everything all over without one arm. Be glad you got this chance." His voice had softened by the end of his speech, and even though Avira was still crying uncontrollably the words seemed to have had some effect as she finally looked at Fren and suddenly hugged the Shatong, completely ignoring the fact that her fur would get covered in slime.

Avira missed her friends, her comrades in arms. She missed laughing and joking with them. She missed the breakfasts that Rachel used to make, she missed their scents and their sounds. She missed their presence, and it had been straining her for as long as she had been here. All of her stress, her worry of not being real, her fears of never seeing her friends again, and every other pent up emotion was spent on the hug as she held onto Fren like a drowning man to a raft. Her sobs continued to shake her whole form as she held on. Finally she let to and pulled her legs to her chest, looking down and away sadly. "I'm s-sorry Fren." She hiccuped, wiping a tear from her eyes.

She didn't say much beyond this, but looked down at her arm, slowly making the fingers move, then turning her wrist. It was a horrible feeling, realizing she would never feel anything from that hand again, but Guthrie was also right. She could still do things, she still had an arm to use.

Quietly she made sure the arm was water proof before going into the bathroom and taking a shower.

It took her a long time, long enough that Guthrie began to worry before the shower finally shut off and movement could be heard inside. A roaring sound could be heard as a blow dryer could be heard, then a long time of a brush running through hair. Finally the door opened and Avira stepped out, all of her clothes freshly washed, her fur carefully groomed until it shone again, and her teeth brushed.

She still looked like she had been crying, but seemed to have calmed down somewhat, even if her eyes were puffy and red.

She didn't say anything, seeming to still be in shock at the changes that had happened without her knowledge, but she seemed ready to go like always, standing by the door and waiting for the others to join her.

[little lost dragon]

Vita just stood there his metal features showing no sign of reaction to Avira's words. "Negative. You told Varren what happened thinking I was completely offline. Which did not matter, the day your implat tried to communicate with my parts I knew everything about you that mattered. With a fake positive a virus had been uploaded which masked the signel you held for a few moments before it disconnected and deleted its self. At the time you where posing a threat with your weapons out." he said.

 

Fren listened as Guthrie spoke and nodded in agreement. Though the result his words had Fren had no expected. She nearly jumped back as Avira suddenly came at her and hugged her. The fox ladi only came up to her chest due to how she was standing. The grip Avira had though was firm as she cried. Fren gently hugged her back gently stroking her back to help try to sooth her. When she finally let go Fren knelt down and gently pressed her forhead against Avira's "I forgive you Avira." she said softly before standing up and watching the woman give her hand and arm a try out.

 

As Avira showered Vita spent the time helping his constructor make a self sufficent power supply for Avira's arm, Fren spent the time with Guthrie and Alina taking the family time they could get. Though all but Vita worried about Avira and how long she was taking, Fren the most due to what she saw in there before. She nearly had a heart attack at the roaring sound but soon recognized it.

That night Fren lay awake beside Guthrie knowing this was there last night in this safe room.. or rooms. The castle seemed to allow more time for them to band together again instead of kicking them out right away.

 

When she finally closed her eye's instantly she opened them again like something woke her. She looked around, nothing showed up on chemical radar, not even Guthrie who had been right with her in the same bed, her tail shifted a little to explore the bed behind her and nothing. She got up silently and listened.

Where had Guthrie gone? What had woken her? Why was it so dark that even her preditor eye's barely saw even the rooms door? She crept forward and listened again, and nothing once more. she narrowed her eye's and peered under the door. All she saw was pure darkness. She looked around the room and spotted the shield she helped get and grabbed it and readied it before slowly opening the door and allowing her eye's to adjust. Again all she could see where rough outlines it was so dark. And nothing showed on her chemical radar. Not even the signature of a dead body.

Tense as heck she slowly went into the main room and waited. then a sound, faint, she trained her body's hearing ability and listened. It was coming from Alina's room. She neared the door, then opened it slowly.

Inside where horrors beyond even what she had seen. Everyone she knew strewn about and twisted into runes across the whole room. And Alina's body gutted and left to rot. A chuckle came from the far corner, and all the dead body's eye balls light up lighting up the room showing Avira, again like they had never removed the arm, covered in runes and deformed. And she was slowly eating Alina's hind leg. She in a swift action flung the shield to be head the sight.

 

As soon as the shield made contact Fren sat up in the equal of a cold sweat panting. she looked around eye's wide. Guthrie was here still, she got up and entered the main room and found Vita looking as puzzled as he could look at her distress again. she checked Alina's room to see her daughter sleeping peacefully as she cold in such a place. she returned to the bed with Guthrie and took refuge in his arms quietly saying the dream and horrors. along with what had happened to the bathrooms mirror.

She was too spooked to move much now, she never had training for things like this. It made no sense. "Its like...... its like the corrupted Avira is..... haunting me..." she admitted using a term she had heard humans use to say being followed or spooked by the dead. She got out that... she could not believe she was truly frightened to leave the safe room, she expected to see the arm she had tossed, some how attached to a Avira like it grew back the body it would have been on if they had not removed the arm. And that right now scared her out of her scales.

[Ryujin13]

Guthrie jerked awake the moment Fren did, his senses tuned to detect if somethin was wrong. He sat up and watched her leave the room, listening to her move around then come back.

He held her tight to himself and stroked her back, listening quietly to what she had to say.

"Magic is strange Fren." He said. "It's energy, it flows everywhere, permeates everything whether that thing can use it or not. When we broke the spell the magic was released into this place. It was powerful magic, bad magic, and letting it loose like we did means that strange things can happen. You were directly responsible for breaking the spell, and were closest to it so you got the full force of the blast." He paused, thinking how best to explain it.

"Remember when we swam with the kids?" He asked, smiling at the memories. "And we had splashing contests? It's like that. The closer you are to the source when it's released the more hits you, like the water." He hugged Fren gently and kissed her gently, before laying his head next to hers so their noses touched.

"Fren, I will never let anything hurt you again, not ever." Guthrie whispered, his eyes downcast. "They will never take you from me again." He was talking more about Fren's abduction then anything, still having never forgiven himself for what had happened.

He kissed Fren again, them held her close as they both fell to sleep.

 

Alina was having bad dreams of her own, but hers were more worries about home. She missed her brothers and sisters. She missed them a lot and was dreaming about never seeing them again. She didn't want that to happen, even if that meant letting Nuria and fuzzy have the red cage.

 

Avira didn't sleep hardly at all, her thoughts plagued by the knowledge that her limb was so easily replaced, that someone had accessed her implant again, and that she had been marked by the castle. She knew that what the others had done was the right option, but she couldn't help but feel a small sense of betrayal.

 

The group woke the next morning to find food like always, but after everyone had eaten the castle apparently decided to kick them out as the room suddenly started shrinking until everyone had left. The door slammed of its own accord, and the group was alone in a new hall, no sign of Avira's arm anywhere.

[little lost dragon]

Fren buried her head into his neck as he explained the magic thing. It was confusing to her, ok yes she did have a base of understanding of magic but that was as far as her understanding went.

She nodded slowly as he used the time when they swam with the kids as an example. She nodded again and opened her eye's as he touched noses with her. She looked into his eye's and nodded and kissed him back and huddled close to him before falling into a dreamless sleep this time.

 

Vita spent all night working on design plans and how the power supply would work. Never had a need to design such before as 99% of the time all units that needed power could be given power on the planet they where on, even if it was from a small out post. But Avira was a different case.

 

In the morning Vita nearly blasted the table that showed up with food as it appeared. As the group ate he explained that no threats where detected though with what Guthrie knew it was largely aimed at Fren as he had seen her exit both the bathroom and bedroom in fright and worry. No one said much as they ate, but once they finished and then shrieking sounded. Hard to tell from where and Fren grabbed her shield as the others grabbed there stuff, the main door was open and as soon as they left it slammed shut and locked.

 

Fren looked down the passage way the fact Avira's arm was missed bothered her. Who took it? And where? The Janitor's did not come daily.... at least that she knew of. "Well, lets resume our mission, Alina? Avira? Would you 2 like to take point or watch our backs?" she asked. Her and Guthrie would take what ever they did not and Vita would help at point as always, his small bot took its place in the middle due to lacking combat ability.

[Ryujin13]

"I'll take point." Avira said immediately, drawing Varren's weapon and moving to front of the group. She seemed to be having a little difficulty with her arm in that she wasn't quite used to it. She didn't seem to want to use, and when she was forced to it was awkward. After a little bit though she seemed to settle in a little better and move more naturally.

Alina looked at her mother questioningly, wondering why she was being given the opportunity, but finally took up position behind Avira, ready to spring forward if needed. Guthrie stayed near the back with Fren, glancing around nervously now and then. He still hated the castle. He hated everything about it, from the terrible things of spawned, to the things it made them do. He hated not being outside, being enclosed like they were. Most of all though he hated the fact that he had left his family to come here. He felt guilty that they had left the kids alone, uncertain if they would even come back. What would happen to them if something were to happen to him and Fren?

Guthrie shook himself angrily, trying to clear the thoughts. Thinking like this didn't get him anywhere, they would be back for the kids, and they would watch them grow up. Guthrie would see this through and then their family could be back together forever.

Guthrie quickly took ahold of Fren's hand as they walked, trying to calm himself down. Having a panic attack over claustrophobia wouldn't be helpful to anyone, so grounding himself was key.

 

The group travelled for hours, sometimes wandering through large, empty rooms, but mostly just passing through the endless halls. Avira hadn't spoken much since they had left the room, and had given only the most basic of answers to any of Alina's questions, making the young dragon eventually fall into a brooding quiet.

It was as they passed into another room that they came across a hall of statues, all of them depicting different races. All were at least ten feet tall, and all showed beings of obvious influence. Every race imaginable was here, including a human, a Shatong and near the back even a plant person. The plant person wasn't recognizable though, and it seemed that she was was in fact from the past when the old ones had just left. Speaking of the old ones there was a statue depicting one of their race nearby, depicting a male wearing armor holding a long staff with a blade near the top. The bottom had a metal spike jutting out of it, it's edges jagged to inflect horrible wounds as it was withdrawn from a stab.

"Wow." Guthrie said, looking up at the old one in aww. "Even though I know they're not gods they're still impressive." He murmured.

 

Avira meanwhile had found a statue depicting a tall and muscular tiger, it's hands holding a large assault rifle. The tiger was posed with one foot atop a rock and a finger pointed out as though leading troops. He was wearing combat fatigues including a vest that was obviously well equipped. A sidearm was strapped to his leg, and a helmet with holes cut for his ears was perched on his head.

Avira didn't say anything, but there was emotion in her eyes as she read the plaque on the statue.

"Dalden, leader of the chimera rebellion, earth 2078-2085. First president of the Free Chimera States (FCS) 2085-present."

Avira smiled as she reached out, running her fingers over the plaque, her eyes a little misty.

"They did it." She whispered, almost unable to believe what she was reading. "We're free, I'm free... No more payments, no more Red, nothing, just living like normal people..."

[little lost dragon]

Fren gently gripped Guthrie's hand as he took hold of hers. She knew he was frightened and hoped she could ground him well enough. She glanced at her shield then at Guthrie before handing it to him "Here, all it does largely is slow me down, and I'm trained to not take hits, you'd make better use of it then I can." she said to give a reason. She did not say it, but she knew he wanted to protect her when he could, and he still blamed him self for her suffering when she had been captured. Handing him a shield that could not be broken she figured may help him in the future protect her, and help him feel a bit more safer then he currently did and by extension not be as tense as a result.

 

When they entered the huge room with the statues Fren blinked and looked around. she walked over with Guthrie to the old one and looked at the plague "Great philosopher and scientist. known for his great wisdom and application to the sciences. She summed up before looking at Guthrie "He's most likely as close to a god as it gets. Its no suprize that if your people met him, its why they deemed them gods." she admitted before walking over to the Shatong statue, it showed a female with what looked to be paint on her thighs and sides standing like she was almost praying "Mother Ceilten, she's the one that prevented the civil war from wiping us out, over 100 years later she also kept the colonies together. She's the sole reason my people have not gone into a civil war for a second time. Many refer to as the mother of us all, she took it apon her self to learn everything there is to learn about everyone, and while most go mad doing this, she kept it together and the result, she could read your emotions just by watching your foot, she knew what you where thinking by watching your eye's, she remains alive to this day 300 hundred years later, very frail and in care as a result, but she desires to continue to use her wisdom to improve her kinds lifes." Fren explained "Mother Ceilten over all, her magor acts other races have achieved as well, however she kept her self or tried to keep her self at a level where even a little child could visit her even if it just because they wanted to see her and no other reason, I can't due her justice with words..... you'd have to meet her to fully understand." Fren finished off saying not sure how to word it.

 

((Sorry for the delay, not feeling well))

[Ryujin13]

(Hey just letting you know that I'm going to be without a computer for this weekend so I won't be able to respond, sorry.)

[little lost dragon]

(Alrighty, you have fun man, looking forward to your return )

[Ryujin13]

Guthrie slowly took the offered shield and put it on, unsure of what to say. He was conflicted because on the one hand it might let Fren save herself one day, but on the other it meant he could save her himself.

After only a moments pause Guthrie put the shield on and moved on with the group, to the hall of statues. Inside he listened quietly to Fren's explanation of the statue that looked like her, then looked up at it.

"That's amazing." He said, his eyes tracing the statues features. "I hope someone like that will appear for my race. I don't want them to wipe each other out just because I couldn't shut up." He shook his head and smiled before hugging Fren.

"Love you." He whispered, kissing her lightly before looking back up at the statue.

He stood there with Fren for as long as she wanted before finally turning and looking around, finally spotting Avira.

The chimera had a weak smile on her face and tears soaking her fur as she looked up at the statue.

Guthrie wandered over and looked at the statue then read the plaque.

"I'm happy for you Avira." He said. "It must feel good to be free."

Avira sniffed and nodded, giving another rare smile.

"Yeah, it... It does feel good." She said, new tears falling again. "I wonder who he was though." She said, tracing the chimeras name. "Where he came from, how he managed to do it."

She looked up at him, but shook her head finally. "Doesn't matter, it happened, the chimera can be normal, not have to worry about paying back corporations for existing, not having to constantly watch for slavers, or keep an eye on where they are. We finally have a place to live where we can just be people."

Avira let out a breath, her tension fading away a little, then turned and gestured to the group. "Come on, we've got to move." She said, moving off towards the far end of the room.

It was a long room, and once you moved into it the walls began to form huge shelves of sorts, each with stairs leading higher up to form another row of statues that circled the huge rectangular room. The entire place was massive, tens of thousands of statues sitting in perfect stillness, the only sound the groups footsteps which were quickly swallowed by the silence. The place didn't seem to like the idea of talking, and indeed all sounds seemed hollow if they were heard at all.

The group walked down the path in the center for hours, stopping and resting below the statues now and again before continuing. They had long lost sight of the door they had entered through, and now the only sign that they were getting anywhere at all was that they continued to pass new statues the further they walked.

Alina even tried to fly up and get a look at how far there was to go, but reported that light seemed to disappear the further up you went until it was pitch black.

Still, the group did manage to pass a halfway point after about for hours of walking when a huge square building came into sight before them. The outside was plain marble with lines passing towards the roof, each one twisting among its neighbors, but never ending and never crossing each other. Inside stood a single block of black stone, about fifty feet tall and ten feet on each side. It was perfectly formed with no blemishes of any kind. The only thing that made it interesting beyond its size were the names on it, eah one carved into the rock itself and inlaid with gold. Every inch of the stone was covered in the names of the statues, all perfectly formed and neat. The building opened four directions. One, the way they had entered, two paths heading to the long walls and the stairs, and the third opposite where the group had entered, heading towards the exit.

The group halted there for the moment, resting in a place that was calm compared to the rest of the castle.

Avira busied herself with gnawing on a piece of jerky, followed by a bone she had taken from one of her steaks. Avira didn't seem to like the group knowing she did this, so she found herself a corner and huddled there, her back teeth working the bone down as the taste seeped into her tongue.

Guthrie stayed close to Fren as the rested, always floating at least a few inches from the ground at all times.

"I wonder why this place has statues of dead heroes." Guthrie said suddenly, his voice breaking the silence. "I mean if it wants to kill everything then why honor important people? Why do this?"

Edited September 1, 2014 by Ryujin13

[little lost dragon]

Fren nodded before hugging Guthrie back and kissing his cheek "Love you too Guthrie, and maybe, when we return to your people and our family, I could try to get communications out to see if my our peoples are in the same universe just different locations." she offered. She looked at the statue and place a hand on the talon and sighed before turning to Avira after a while, she went over with Guthrie and gave Avira a gentle pat on the shoulder "Often time, heros don't come from well known people. Mother Ceilten came from no where as well, later learned her family had been torn apart by her father who displayed disloyal behavers and killed her mother as a side effect." she explained. "Anyway, Congratulations Avira, your free with us as you always where, and you'll return and stay a free person when you return home." she said.

When they started to make way through the hall she looked around. A few races she recognized. One made her almost hiss. When Guthrie asked her what happened "the Gretens, the first race we found when we left our home world. Few colonies at the time, they where a war faring race, vast fleets and a nano infection bio weapon. Our only advantages where they did not know where our worlds where, and they had poor security to defend against our mimic ability, We captured the bio weapons and only won because he fired it on there fleets. Our prototypes that held the weapon we then froze on a ice world to hide them away, only to be thawed if we where driven to our home world again." she explained "they did not like us because we where 'slimy reptiles' and 'reproducing trophies.'" she said in disgust.

Hour later when tehy got to the small building of all the hero's names Fren looked at it and sighed. When Guthrie asked his question she nodded "My guess is to keep its subjects from becoming demoralized. Raise the moral of them, it wants to test us, to try our limits after all, kind of hard to do that when your subjects have given up." she explained before Vita spoke up "Sufficent alloys in this chamber, I could start a base in this chamber and begin work on producing our own army. Statues have enough in them I can get a metal maker running with a few power plants to create a self sustaining resource supply." he explained.

Fren looked at him "What about only using one?" she asked and Vita looked at her "Using only one would make the process take longer..... but possible." he said and Fren nodded "Good, if the others agree, take down the Greten one. One of there speices would have to wake up in this room to have a chance of seeing it anyway." she said

[Ryujin13]

Guthrie nodded slowly at Fren's guess but didn't seem completely convinced. Instead he wandered over to the huge stone and looked at it, circling the pillar a few times, each time floating higher up.

Finally he shrugged and came back down to sit against the wall for a moment, thinking hard.

Finally he looked back up at Fren, his facial expression the same as Squer's when he was thinking hard about something.

"I don't know." He said finally, frowning up at the name-filled column. "I mean... What if this place, this castle, wasn't always like it is now. What if it was envisioned as something else?" He asked, still thinking.

This line of thought had obviously caught Avira's attention, her ears had swiveled to listen better even if she kept gnawing on her bone. Alina seemed to be listening as well, though her head was still on the ground where she was resting.

"What I mean is this; the castle was built for a purpose, it has to have been. I doubt seriously that it was built just to torture and kill people, so what if something went wrong? What if this place has been changed of corrupted? Maybe it was a repository of knowledge and culture before it was a death trap. You told me that the castle sometimes helps you, that there's an elevator that can take you anywhere, little tools that help you find things, stuff like that. Maybe those are leftover from when this place was serving its actual purpose." Guthrie said excitedly, becoming more and more convinced that this was correct.

"Ok, say you're right, say this place was a repository. What happened?" Avira asked, obviously skeptical about what Guthrie was saying. "I mean come on, janitors that use dead bodies as servants, giant crystal dinosaurs, curses, ghouls and who knows what else, how does that even happen? What about the abductions? Why do that?"

"I'm not saying it's perfect, but it would make sense that as this place was corrupted its actions became more sporadic. Look at it like this; you all know this place is magic right? Well like Fren said there's a will behind the castle, it thinks, at least on a basic level, it can reason, it can solve problems. Let's pretend that it in fact has a mind. If corruption seeped into its mind, if the plant began to rot as it were, then it would begin to mutate to protect itself. Magic is energy given form through willpower. If the castle became corrupted it could use magic to make te things it thinks it needs. For instance, the library. Let's say the castle was ordered to collect books from the universes on every topic, which seems to be the case. If that is the case it probably was told to protect the books. Now Fren said that the books and the shelves repair themselves upon destruction, so that's taken care of. But if the castle rotted though it might have reinterpreted its orders. Maybe it changed from just keeping the books safe and intact to protected from everyone at all costs. Hence it created the crystal demon to protect the library. It's just an idea but it sounds plausible, at least to me."

[little lost dragon]

With no objection Vita and his bot left the small room into the chamber to begin operations. As Guthrie spoke.

 

Fren tilted her head a little to the side as he spoke. She looked at the names on the pillar as he got more animated. Perhaps, but what was done is done, she looked at Alina as she spoke and nodded a few times but remained silent as Guthrie responded. She looked at him for a bit "Such maybe the case, but we have no way to purify it if it is the case. And it might of been anything as well, but fact remains, it is what is now. And its doing what its doing." she said before looking at the pillar again and sighed "Fact also remains, even if it was met to healed all sickness or something, best course of action is to destroy it, if it has been corrupted, it just goes to show it can't secure its self, which means if the wrong being gets control...." she explained "Somethings are better off left as idea's and not made into being." she pointed out

[Ryujin13]

"No, I can see what he means." Avira said, removing the bone from her mouth and swallowing before continuing. "Know thine enemy. If we know what the castle is, what it's function is and how it was changed we might be able to get an advantage. That being said this place does need to be destroyed, preferably with a large explosions. It's a bad place and I doubt anythings gonna change that."

Guthrie nodded in agreement, then sat back in thought again. He was silent for a good while, listening to Vita move around and work as he did so.

Guthrie still didn't like Vita, the stigma of mixing life with tools still to ingrained into his mind to change completely, but he at least wasn't outright hostile. Now it was more of a wary distance that he maintained.

Avira went back to chewing on her bone until it was finally gone, then checked her weapons again. She was still studying the weapon that Varren had given her, and hadn't taken it apart yet, but she still had other weapons to worry about.

"How long until you're done Vita?" She asked, wiping off the cocking mechanism with a cloth from her bag.

[little lost dragon]

Fren looked at Avira and nodded "I good intel goal to strive for however I assume such information is held in the library, and that could be anywhere by now." she pointed out "But..... what do we know based on what we've seen so far? We know it kid naps beings, we know it likes to test them, we know it likes to study them. And in some rare cases, open them up.... litterly, or try to." she said with a small shake remembering when Alina first used her powers to escape a castle dissection table. "We know it collects data and archives it, makes me wonder, must of been a scientific mixed with historian base before it became corrupted." she explained "Thoughts?"

 

Vita looked over at Avira a ways off "Making a self sustaining base its no quick matter, I have a few solor power plants online but this light does not provide too much energy, the metal maker is struggling to make such. For a more effient start we need a better light source at least." he explained "I can work with this but it will be a while before the army is made."

[Ryujin13]

(Sorry for time it took to post, got really busy the last few days.)

 

Avira stroked her muzzle, thinking about the whole thing and what she knew. This wasn't her forte, it was Rachel's, but Rachel wasn't here which meant it was up to her.

"Ok, it does all those things you said." She said slowly, turning the facts over in her mind. "And based on the facilities we have seen it could obviously hold thousands of people here, tens of thousands even. It was obviously designed to be lived in, so the medical rooms could just be what it sounds like, a medical room. So, it was designed to pick up people, feed them, clothe them, take care of them in every way. For what purpose I don't know, but that's irrelevant. In order to do all that the castle would need an extremely powerful AI, something that would take care of every need the people here could possibly have. If we're working off of the corrupted idea, then something happened, the AI stopped following its orders as originally laid out. It still collects things, makes food for people, all that stuff, but now it's experimenting on the people it picks up, testing them against defenses..." Avira snapped her fingers suddenly and smiled.

"A virus." She said, still smiling. "It thinks we're an infection."

Guthrie slowly nodded as well, before smiling. "That's it, I'll bet on it."

"I don't get it." Alina said, her head cocked as she thought the whole thing through.

"Think of it like this Alina." Guthrie said. "When you get sick it's because small things get inside you and messes up your body. The castle, if our idea is correct, has a brain that controls everything inside it. When a body is sick it begins to work on countermeasures, it starts to adapt, trying new things until something kills the sickness off completely. That's what the castles doing. For whatever reason it thinks that the people it's bringing aboard are a virus, a sickness. So it's experimenting on them, attempting to design defenses that can stop anyone or anything from hurting it. If it's an AI that's been corrupted then whatever corrupted it is probably making it worse all the time, making it continue to search for more cures." Guthrie said with a smile.

Avira's face fell again and she slumped against the wall again. "Still doesn't help us get outta here, or help us beat Nuria. She's got enough troops to completely overwhelm the entire system. Even that thing in the library can't stand up against her power combined with the army she's brewed up."

"True it doesn't help immediately, but it might in the future." Guthrie said quickly. "Like you said, know thine enemy."

[little lost dragon]

Fren shook her head "When ones body can not adapt on its own you give the being medicine to help it along the way. The body does not fight what is helping it along, if we where to make it think we are helping it, we might be able to make it think where no longer a infection, but something that is helping it." she explained "Once the invasion begins, it won't be hard to start doing this, all we got to do is kill off any foe we come across, ideally finish the job right before it uses its own measures in that area. Its AI is constantly watching after all." she explained "We might be able to turn its definces into a force to help us in our struggle. Of course, we'll need to be very careful from now on and find ways to avoid hurting it from now on if we try to trick it into think where say, a dose of antibiotics." Fren explained before looking at Guthrie "Sometimes, the best weapon against your enemy, is the enemy them selfs." she said knowing how he might feel about helping the castle. Sometimes to defeat an enemy, one must seemingly be on the enemy's side.

[Ryujin13]

"It could work..." Guthrie said slowly. "And trying won't hurt anything, I'm just not sure. This places brain is probably magical origin, which means the corruption is probably magical in nature, that makes things a lot more complicated."

"How so?" Avira asked with interest.

Guthrie took a breath, considering how to explain magic to an outsider before finally settling in to a more comfortable position like he did when he told stories to the kids.

"Ok, magic is energy, plain and simple." He began. "It is the very foundation of existence. Everything stems from magic. My people are aware that plants and animals, water and stone are all made up of different different molecules I think you called them." Guthrie explained, glancing at Fren for confirmation before continuing. "Even though all that exists it is still magic that gives the foundation."

"I don't think that's how it works." Avira said skeptically. "The universe was created by the Big Bang, not magic. Things are made because cells come together, fuse together and become more then they were."

"I don't know what the Big Bang was, but you are correct in what you're saying." Guthrie said with a smile. "Things are created in the way you described. My people have bred hundreds of plants together to form useful materials, you don't have to convince me. That being said you're misunderstanding me. You're thinking of magic as something that just lets me snap my fingers and have something happen. That's incorrect. It's..." Guthrie frowned, thinking hard on how to explain the whole process. "Ok, let's pretend that the universe is a circle." He said finally. "At its center is the spot where it was formed, where a huge amount of energy began to flow outwards. That is the location where magic comes from. It's energy flowing out from the very middle of existence. It's a force just like the wind and the rain, but it's much more subtle. It affects how things grow, how things live. It can make a planet sprout with life by making probabilities flow closer together, or it could leave a planet a barren rock because there's nothing there. It's energy."

Avira's frown deepened as she considered the whole thing before she finally nodded. "Ok, that makes sense I guess, but why does magic complicate the AI thing?"

"Because it's not a tool, a machine. If my guess is right then it is magic pushed together to form a being of pure energy that has been bound to the castle. If it has truly been corrupted then different magic has been seeping into it, and that could mean anything."

"Ok, how so?" Avira asked again. "If magic is energy then shouldn't there be no difference?"

"Magic isn't the same Avira. There are varieties to it, shapes and colors. It's full of an infinite number of possibilities, but they can be broken into eight rough categories. Every person who can wield magic could use them all in theory, but it's difficult enough to master one discipline in a lifetime." He shrugged, then held up both his hands. "Ok, so there're the obvious ones, fire, water, earth, and air." Guthrie said, summoning a tiny ball of red, blue, white, and brown energy above four of his fingertips. "Then there's life and death." This time a black and green light joined the energy. "Then there's light, and dark." A grey and yellow ball appeared as well.

Guthrie let the others look for a moment before closing his hands and letting the balls disappear.

"Each of those energies is a fundamental force in the universe. They affect everything whether we realize it or not. Free will exists of course, magic doesn't determine the past, present or future, it just affects probabilities and energy. A person who can access that energy commands it's essence. My people have learned control over the energy of life, we use it to shape our surroundings to suit our needs without hurting our planet. Because we are using the energy of the whole universe we can alter anything. It's much harder to use life energy to say make a plant wither and die, but it is possible. Different magics are better at different things, but all could be used for anything if enough energy was exerted."

"So what you're saying is that our AI, if it's magic, has been corrupted with energy from a different energy then it started, making its behavior erratic." Avira said, nodding slowly.

"Exactly, and if the two energies were to opposed, say if our being was made of life magic and death magic began to seep in somehow..."

"It would throw everything off, everything would go to hell."

Guthrie nodded slowly.

"But if it's energy A subverting other energy B, then what will happen if there's more of energy B then Energy A?"

Guthrie closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.

"The effects could be catostrophic, or minor. It would be chaotic for sure, but I do know that the more this new magic infects the castle the more defenses it's going to put up, and the more erratic it's behavior is going to be."

"How do we stop it?" Avira asked quietly.

"Stop the source of opposite magic that's infecting this place then purge the new stuff. Of course that would mean trying to merge with the magic of this place, and that will kill anyone who even tried. That's if we wanted to save this place, which I will not do. I will not allow this place to hurt anyone else."

Avira flashed her long toothed grin and nodded. "I agree completely. This place needs to be rubble. It's killed to many."

 

[little lost dragon]

Fren nodded as the conversation went on. When Guthrie looked at her when he mentioned molecules and such she nodded. Though she did not agree with the humans big bang thing. There own scientific methods and rules prevented them from being able to say for sure all, not to mention the whole random part they kept talking about. Pretty bloody regular for a random convergence.

She listened as Guthrie explained the magic consept to Avira, remembering when he told her and there children similar versions to help them understand magic. At the end of it though, it was concluded they would destroy the place. "Agreed, if it was corrupted once already, whats to stop if from getting so once more?" she pointed out before crossing her arms over her chest in thought "Guthrie, since magic is energy, and to aid our cover as help for the castle, plus Vita being able to detect it in both the castle and Avira when she was infected, do you think a device might be able to be created that may purge or...... fool the castle into thinking an area is healthy again? Because if its possible, we might be able to carry such a device and where we go, the castle won't be detecting infection." she asked. "With energy's at least what my people have learned is that energy's have signatures, if we could at least mask the corrupting energy's signature with the proper signature, it may show favor towards us thinking where ever we go the area around us is clean."

 

Vita continued to make the base, using one side of the room to make a bunch of power plants and energy metal makers to get the 2 things he needed to make the rest. His helping doing the same. The air seemed to hum a little with the energy flowing from the power plants to the metal makers seemingly wireless.

[Ryujin13]

"It's not impossible." Guthrie mused, his hands constantly moving like they did when he was thinking. "It will be trial and error though. I don't know what magic created the castle which means that replicating the exact conditions that a healthy area would give off is extremely difficult. If the castle had a mix of magics to begin with for instance, I would need to get the balance just right in order to fool it into thinking the area is cured. There is also the possibility that if it thinks there's a clean area it will converge as many defenses as possible on that area. Our best bet is to get ahold of one of the guardians, a bigger one preferably, and let me scry it. That way I can see what mixture of magics I would need to make us invisible."

"I like it, make the enemy think we're one of them." Avira said around the bone she had resumed chewing.

Guthrie nodded happily, the end of his tail twitching like it did when he felt he had done a good job.

Avira lapsed into silence as she considered the logistical side of things and how they would go about capturing one of the guardians. None of the ideas she came up with were any good but Avira knew that given time she, or one of the others, would think of something. In the meantime she pulled out the newest journal and began to read again her eyes tracing the familiar words that she had read a dozen times.

[little lost dragon]

Fren nodded "True..... it detects a clean area and it may want to ensure that area stay's clean. Masking as one of its own may help...." she paused then did her races equal to snapping of the fingures which was her tail tip went straight and stiff for a moment "No need to find a guardien, Avira had been infected, Vita detected the same energy in her that he did in the castle and janitors. If he's like any robot I've seen he would have that data logged, we could mask as a janitor as a result." she said before looking at Avira "Maybe the castle gave us the means when it thought it took the means to get us." she said though a nagging thought told her, where was Avira's cursed arm?

[Ryujin13]

Avira stiffened at the mention of her recent... Infection, and looked down at the metal arm that had so recently replaced her old one.

She had almost forgotten about it being there, but now that Fren mentioned it the emotions came back.

Avira didn't cry anymore, she didn't have the energy or inclination to. All of her years as a soldier, of her time through Red, all of it had taught her that crying didn't solve her problems, action did. Unfortunately the action had been taken and she had to deal with the repercussions.

 

"I don't know anything about um... Robots, but I believe you Fren." Guthrie said with a small smile, hugging his wife and giving her a kiss. "If um, if Vita does have the energy logged, then I can make us charms that will give off the same magical aura."

 

Alina meanwhile had stood up again and taken a deep breath, letting it out slowly while she closed her eyes. She flickered out of existence, then reappeared a couple feet away. She repeated her quick jumps in and out of reality a couple more times before finally going back to her spot and laying down. Jumping so quickly like that was exhausting, but she knew that finding the last sibling to fight Nuria could mean all the difference in the world.

She had just lain down her head when a eight blue sigils appeared in the air. A gust of wind later and a young oriental woman stood before the group, looking intently at Alina.

"Hello little one." The woman said. "You've grown a lot."

 

(She's Cadance the missing sibling.)

[little lost dragon]

Fren nodded and hugged and kissed her husband back and nodded "I'll ask him once he's back." she said. She looked over at Alina as her chemical signature vanished and reappeared a few times on her chemical radar. But what happened next she did not expect at all.

The lost sibling of the 4 beings showed up. Just like that, Alina had attracted Cadance out of hiding. One hand she wanted to blow the horn to get Bor, but that may scare her off too. Fren moved so she was beside Alina "Greetings." she said polightly "I beleive you met my daughter.... a few days ago castle time, 10 years ago our time." she said with a small smile "I am Fren, He's Guthrie, where Alina's parents." she introduced "Over there is Vita and she's Avira. All of us including Alina are in a bit of a spot of trouble and where wondering if it where ok to enlist your help." she said carefully.

[Ryujin13]

"I am Cadence." The woman said, nodding to the group. "And we have met before, at least I've met most of you." Cadence looked at Vita with interest then turned her focus to Avira and stopped, scanning the vixen with grey eyes that didn't blink quite often enough.

She watched Avira for a few seconds saying a few words in Japanese.

Avira got a surprised look on her face, but shockingly answered back, albeit in a slower and more thought out manner, like someone who struggled with the language.

"So you do speak it!" Cadence said happily, her form blurring before settling into the form of a woman with nine grey fox tails and two grey ears to match. Lines on her cheeks signified whiskers but beyond that she was human.

"I had wondered. You are a human creation after all."

"Uh, well my friends and I took classes when we were little. One of our trainers told us a story about kitsune's and we thought it would be fun to learn to speak Japanese." Avira said, taken aback by Cadence's sudden change. "We pretended we were actually magical creatures instead of just mass produced chimera."

"So you're not Japanese then? Well good for you for learning a new language, a very complex language at that. It's good to see someone trying to better themselves." Cadence said before turning her attention to the rest of the group, her nine tails held like a Avira's always was, high up so they wouldn't brush the ground.

"So, I understand you and everyone else has been looking for me." Cadence said lightly, walking over to the pillar of names in the center of the room and looking at them closely.

"Yeah we are." Avira said, regaining her composure. "Your brothers are fighting a war with your sister over the red cage and they need your help. Bor said he has been looking everywhere for you, why haven't you answered?"

Cadence didn't answer and instead walked out of sight around the pillar, her fingers still tracing the names etched in the stone.

"Your brothers need you, hell the universe needs you. Where have you been?"

"Doing what I'm supposed to be doing." Cadence said, walking through the door behind Avira, causing the vixen to jump and whirl around. "I am doing what I am supposed to do, give mortals hopes and dreams, allow their imaginations to soar. I am fulfilling my purpose. I have no interest in the red cage or the squabbles of my family. They are always fighting. Why should this time be any different?"

"Because the red cage is falling!" Avira said angrily. "Because Nuria has raised an army that will invade this castle and take the keys! She will destroy anyone or anything that gets in her way, and she has already said that once she has the cage she will destroy everything she sees as unworthy, including Medad and Bor. The balance of the universes will be thrown off and everything will burn!"

"Nuria has tried this before, she has never succeeded. Only a mortal can open the cage, and she has never gotten one anywhere near close to it." Cadence said calmly, her tone almost one of boredom.

"She has the sword! She has a key, she has an army, and she has turned Fren and Alina's friend into a brainwashed warlord! What's more she outnumbers Bor and Medad's forces five to one! It's going to be a slaughter unless you help!" Avira said angrily, her patience finally failing.

Cadence seemed to consider this for a second before shaking her head and turning away. "And what would expect me to do? Fight? Raise troops and lead them into battle? That is not my way. The three warriors are already apart of this war. I am merely the concept of thoughts, dreams and imagination given form. I am the wind of change, I merely usher in new eras, I do not cause them."

[little lost dragon]

Fren smiled a bit as Avira and Cadence spoke. Cadence seemed interested in Avira at first not understand what Avira was till she mentioned mass production. Then Cadence seemed to lose some interest before the 2 got into a bit of squabble. Fren crossed her arms across her chest and sighed. But when Cadence mentioned she was the wind of change Fren spoke up "There are other ways to fight a war. One does not need to be a warrior to do there part. Fact is Cadence once your sister has taken what ever is inside the red cage, she won't just let you remain free, your the force of change as you just said, Nurais will not let a force like you, remain, at least not freely. Change spells doom to Nurais rule some day. Get rid of change and she can rule as long as she wants." Fren explained "We got troops covered already, but a mere thought can alter a entire future. Cadence, what we need most right now, is a way to break your sisters hold on Jak, once that is done, her army is gone, her only pawn to use is free once more. And after he is free, you won't need to run the risk of your sister eventually finding you after she's secured her power." she said "We don't know what your powers can do, nor do we know how powerful compared to your sisters, but for nature, law and order, and change, we can not allow lust and ambition have her way." she finished off saying

"You don't need to fight, you don't need to raise army's, all we ask, is a way to free Jak, and we'll do the rest. Can you help us?" she asked

[Ryujin13]

Cadence turned her grey eyes onto Fren, considering the sharing for a few moments before speaking again.

"You raised Alina correct? You and him?" She asked, gesturing to Guthrie.

"Yeah we did." Guthrie said floating up a bit higher so that he was in his normal sitting position.

"That's good, it's a tragedy what happened to her kind. Maybe in time she can rectify what happened." Cadence mused. "As to what you said Fren, you do make a good point, my sister would come after me if she succeeded. She would attempt to subdue my power and control how I use them. She would fail. The wind cannot be captured, imagination, thoughts, everything mortals are cannot be stopped. Even in my weakest state I have more power then she ever will, just not in the way she defines power. I can raise powers, destroy nations, create wonders, and deal death. Every single mortal's idea, their imagination was given flight because of me. Even should she succeed the mortals will overthrow her in time. She cannot stay in power forever, no one can, mortals do not take long to begin dreaming of a better existence, and soon enough the old power has been thrown off."

"But how any die until then!" Avira said, eyes flashing as she took a step forward. "You're right, your sister probably can't stay in power forever, but even if she can't how many mortals die until then? How many die by Nuria's hand before they can mount a resistance? How many beings are tortured for her amusement? Can you live with that on your conscious? You say you care for mortals hopes and dreams so much, well what happens if she goes to far? What if she kills Medad and Bor, throws everything into chaos and destroys everything? The natural order would be disrupted and mortals would die by the galaxy as everything goes to hell! What if she destroys all life? What then? There will be no hopes and dreams! All that will be left is blackness and the guilt that you could have done something to help!" Avira was truly angry now, her teeth were bared, fists clenched, and her hackles raised. "You could stop anything from happening! You could keep all that suffering from happening just by caring more! On earth we have people like you who refuse to fight because of religious reasons, they think that killing will anger god! You don't have that luxury! You're just a coward! You would rather turn tail and run to hide in your imagination then to make the hard decisions! No wonder your sister doesn't care if you're involved, you're pathetic and weak, no threat to anyone but small children who fear the closet!"

Cadence turned to Avira and in a flash had turned into a monster. Her eyes went black as the air around her began to vibrate. She lifted from the ground a for or so and wind began to swirl faster and faster until Avira and the others had to lean into it to keep from being blown over. The sound of thunder could be heard and primal terror filled the groups hearts as every thing that a mortal could fear came into the groups mind. Being hunted, falling a great distance, being alone forever, claustrophobia, drowning, and anything else one could think of made Avira and the others fall to the ground and cower.

"You do not know me Avira!" Cadence screeched, her beauty gone to be replaced by a horrible face of death itself. "You cannot know me! I am as far above you as you are above an insect! You cannot grasp even a fraction of my purpose, and yet you tell me how I should think or act! I am not a warrior but I can kill you as well as any other! I can make your heart stop from terror! I can drive you to insanity! Every nightmare you have ever had will be made manifest! Oh yes, I can see your time in that slave house! I can see how it eats at your heart! I can see the fear and pain that tortures you even now!" Cadence roared, the wind roaring even faster now, even as an image of a room appeared, Avira tied to a table being whipped repeatedly, a muzzle keeping her from biting as a group of men came into the room, the intent clear in their faces. The image faded as they flipped her onto her stomach, but Avira was already crying from the terror of the memory she had just relived.

"Every thought you have had is mine to see! I can control your dreams from now until the end of your death! I can make you relive every detail of your existence in that place every time you close your eyes! You think that I don't care about mortals then you are mistaken! I care more for them then even Bor! You do not judge my actions! You are not my master, nor will you ever be I-"

"Enough!" A familiar voice roared over the din, a steel hand clamping onto Cadences arm.

Instantly the wind died and the group was released from the spell. For the others the terror passed immediately, a faint memory, but Avira, who had taken the brunt of the assault, fell onto her side with a whimper, curling into a fetal position as she sobbed uncontrollably, her mind still terrorized by the memories she had just relived.

"Cadence, set Avira right." Bor said sternly, still holding onto the arm of his sister.

Cadence seemed to consider saying no flat out before thinking better of it and instead make a small gesture at the chimera on the floor.

Instantly Avira stopped reliving the memories, but she continued to sob in her position on the floor, her tail held close as she curled into as tight a ball as she could.

"That one seems to think that she can control me Bor!" Cadence said angrily, her eyes returning back to their normal grey. "She called me a coward and deserves what she got!"

"Cadence, you're not Nuria, this isn't you and I'm disappointed that you've done this to these people." Bor said calmly, gesturing to the others. "Please calm down and we can talk this over."

Cadence looked at the group as a whole, still shaking with anger, but seemed to visibly calm when she saw everyone else.

Guthrie had frozen up like he did when nervous or scared, and only unfroze when Bor gestured at him, while Alina was backed into a corner, her eyes wild as she shook her head, tying to clear the terror that had gripped her.

Cadence took a deep breath and gestured, to everyone but Avira, clearing their heads of the evils they had experienced.

Cadence walked over to Avira next and looked down at the fox who was still shaking and crying uncontrollably.

"I will apologize for overreacting, but I will not undue what I have done. I am thought incarnate, and that means learning as well. Learn from what you did Avira." Cadence said before walking back to Bor.

"I suppose you want to recruit me too?" She asked calmly.

"We could really use your help." Bor said, his voice quiet. "Nuria's has enough power to actually stand a chance of breaching the sanctuary. This is as close as she's gotten before and I don't know if we can succeed in defeating her without your help." He said.

"And what would you have me do? Burn her armies minds out? Terrorize them like I did Avira? I will not do that, it was a lapse in self control that made me do this to Avira, I will not purposefully do this to anyone."

"We don't need to terrorize them, and Nuria probably has them warded against such attacks anyway. What we could use is a person in charge of moral more then anything. Give her troops small thoughts, make them think about why they're actually following her? Maybe some will desert, maybe some will even switch sides. Just undermine their confidence. If you can it would be even better to do the same to her general. If she loses him then she loses everything." Bor explained patiently.

Cadence seemed to consider this for a long time, her arms crossed as she thought quietly. Finally she sighed and nodded.

"Fine, fine I'll help you Bor, but only because you asked. I'll begin work as soon as I've probed her defenses. It'll take at least a week because I have to look them over carefully. If I don't she'll notice and shore them up against my attacks. If I help you though then you will not mention this to Medad or Nuria. To them I wasn't part of this war. Understand?" She asked, waiting for Bor to nod before disappearing with a gust of wind.

Instantly Bor was over at Avira's side, trying to see in how bad of shape the vixen was. Physically Avira seemed to be fine, but mentally she had been lashed the hardest, having been made to relive a good portion of her time in the brothel within 30 seconds. To her though it was like she was there again, every day and every night, every hour and every minute, all forced on her again, just as bad as the first time.

She flinched away from Bor and anyone else who tried to touch her, and instead continued to sob, her fur and the floor stained with tears.

"Shh... It's alright lass, it's alright. Just let it all out, it's over and nothing can hurt you now." Bor said gently, his voice slow and soothing.