[Episode One] Bones for Bread

Archives of Occultus Magica's beginnings, ten years prior to the current story.
CadetNewb
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

Post by CadetNewb »

Duncan lazily hummed as he hacked and slashed at the Gashadokuro; untrained eyes would think that what he was doing was ineffective, but the results were well within his goal. The thing was kept busy cobbling itself back together just long enough for someone else to use an expensive spell to pin it down with massive pillars of earth. 'Those should give us anywhere from ten to thirty seconds at the most before it breaks loose again.' he thought. The spell was incredibly wasteful for the projected time bought, but it wasn't exactly his energy being used up; he vaguely toyed with the idea of not complaining since he wasn't the one getting exhausted from the process. And then he decided he should be complaining anyways because it was idiots being idiots.

'My own spell kept the Gashadokuro busy with a low cost, but it still reassembled itself very quickly because of how close together the separated parts were to each other. I'll improve the spell, later.' Duncan thought, crossing his arms and slowly tapping a foot. The boy then started walking off to the side so that he was no longer between the group of inept individuals and the now sinking monster, making a memo on the spell research he wanted to do later on in his smartphone. No need to give them any funny ideas about him being the vanguard or anything.

He looked back at the rank amateurs. The earlier Public Display of Affection wasn't exactly welcome, plus, there was another caveat. Duncan facepalmed; at this rate, someone was going to die. Perhaps he should have had done something more than just tip the scales here and there for these idiots who didn't know what they were doing. At the very least, one of Miyuki and one of her familiars seemed to be getting a little brighter. Still, there were details to attend to. The boy sighed and took in a deep breath; he wasn't going to like this.

"Hey, you, you dumbass bimbo!" Duncan shouted angrily at Modeka, "Cut out that PDA with Miller and pay attention! This is the second time you stupid familiars are killing your master Percival!" He shouted at the mini like a Drill Sargent, pointing an accusatory finger at her in the process. Personally, he really hated shouting. It simply wasn't as satisfying as deriding someone in a normal conversational tone. Sadly, shouting was likely the only thing these thick headed numbskulls were going to get. Especially when a giant 70-or-so-foot tall monster was hogging all the attention.

'Now, who was it that made the binding chain spell?' he wondered. It didn't matter.
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Kokuten
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

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Percy's gaze lifted up to meet Ruarc's face, the slightly delirious boy seeing the Druid's form through the black haziness that death had enraptured him in. Saph's magic stabilized him enough to hold him in place, too keep his mind conscious to watch it happen. He felt his finger press against his cheek, firmly rubbing against it, which caused the boy to wince. It was even a stranger to feel one of his sleeves being drawn back, but all was made clear as he saw the pattern being drawn on his arm. He was using blood to draw a healing rune. Blood! Infusing the physical manifestation of life force made any magic much more powerful, and that's what Percival felt. The imbued pattern began to bring more consciousness back to him. His body began to defy the pain within, and his insides were mending slowly.

In school, Percival had always been advised against using blood in Alchemy. Blood period was something of rare use in his facet of the magical world. Though, it was for the main reason of spells and potions becoming dangerously powerful in untrained hands. He remembered the last time he had seen blood in use. A boy in his Alchemy class was making a growth potion for a final exam. Though, he had broken one of his vials on a burner and cut his hand. A good bit of blood had found it's way into the guy's flask. When he later tested the effects on a tree just outside the room, the tree grew up to four hundred feet and the trunk destroyed half the class room. Though, Percy had never studied to see if forms of inscription magic worked along the same lines.

"Thank you... I'm being a bit of a burden aren't I?" he laughed very weakly, beginning to stand, if not shakily. As Percy rose, he saw Duncan mouthing off to Modeka, who was still out-cold on the ground. As Duncan made the jarring jeers, the tree closest to him began to gray and wither, it's branches turning up sickly and it's real leaves beginning to shower leaves down. Beyond that, he saw that their enemy had been put down. The fight was over? The God-Summoner gripped his staff tightly and looked around.

"We need to relocate... now."
CadetNewb
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

Post by CadetNewb »

'Well shit.' Duncan thought. The half dead idiot was right; they did have to get moving soon. This wasn't the States where all he had to worry about was covering it all up from the normals. The spell he performed had only hidden the audio and visual abnormalities, but did nothing to hide the magical signatures. It was another reminder that he was in another country with it's own jurisdiction and everything; if Duncan was caught with these idiots, a mess would be sure to happen. A single word came out of the American boy's mouth, at which his discarded bike came to him like an obedient dog. But speaking of jurisdiction and everything...

"No shit Sherlock." He replied to Percival. "The JSDF's magic division should have been all over us ten minutes ago." Duncan added on, mounting his bike. 'Ten minutes ago...' It dawned on Duncan; they should have been here by now to take care of all this like proper professionals. 'Either we really ripped out their balls after that war was over, or something's up.' He sighed; either case wasn't good at all. A country that didn't have a Magical Defense Force strong enough to suppress these incursions was in trouble, and one that could have the wool pulled over its eyes? Such a country was in even deeper shit.

"Listen up numbskulls, this country's authorities should have been here long ago, and they're not. Just in case I'm not putting it clearly, someone or something's pulling strings or keeping this hidden, and that's even more reason to get the hell out of here." He looked at them all hard. "Well? What are all you dumbasses waiting for? Get the hell out of here before something worse happens."
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Gwathdraug
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

Post by Gwathdraug »

When Miller had translated Miyuki's request to distract the skeleton all Riley had been able to do was shake her head tiredly as she had leaned back against her tree. The illusion she had used earlier – while successful – had been rather sloppily done if she was honest with herself and had pull more mana from her reserves than it should have.

Reduced to the position of an observer, Riley had been rather impressed by her cloaked rune-using friend from the incident at the pond. Remembering that he had been rather happy to eat her breakfast bars due to his diet consisting of nothing but dried meat for months the girl decided that she should introduce him to Mr. and Mrs. Caxton – she couldn't just leave a fellow waif to go hungry after all.

Of the three other strangers around; Percy's summons like the teacher, so he was probably okay – at least as long as he didn't start trying to interrogate Riley on why she had never been to school properly before, and the second one, the school girl had animals for friends so she had to be a decent person. The third stranger though, he kept giving hostile looks to various members of the group despite the battle going on.

When the skeleton went down and the rude stranger opened his mouth Riley's view on him fell straight down to villain. Ignoring Percy's command that they needed to get going the girl pulled herself up and walked past a few of Modeka's trees to get closer to Duncan.

“First off, he's Watson.” Riley told Duncan, with a wave of her hand an illusion of Sherlock Holmes appeared. “That's Sherlock.” Another wave and it disappeared. “Second off, who are you to run around insulting foreigners in their own country based on your blind prejudice!” Riley, seemingly unphased by the fact that the stranger was older, in better shape magically, had more weapons, and a vehicle, glared fiercely at Duncan. “And for a final point, what makes you think you can order us around so rudely after you spent the whole fight looking at us like you're Iago from Othello?”
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Mr. Blackbird Lore
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

Post by Mr. Blackbird Lore »

Percival Caxton would hear only a sigh as he was rejuvenated and the vision of Death's collector dissipated. What came later, however, was perhaps far stranger than all his talk with the young reaper.

He heard a soft giggle. It wasn't just Percy that heard it, either: all of them caught wind of the haunting notes. Just a few paces from Percy and company was a young girl, clearly younger than most present, with dark auburn locks spilling over the shoulders of that same strange cloak the summoner had previously witnessed. It hid all her shape save for her face and slender arms. Leaning against her right shoulder was clearly a scythe, the blade curving out of sight behind her back. "Well you could all stay. That would be alright with me, anyways. You couldn't fight off lame cows in your current conditions, and the dead are always welcome in my line of work." Words spoken like a true adult from the mouth of a pubescent (do the non-living experience puberty? you might wonder) girl gave her tone an unearthly weight. Furthermore, everyone clearly understood everything she said as it reached their ears in the respective native languages.

Emilia was looking forward to having a little fun now that the prospect of reaping was practically nil.
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Straken
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

Post by Straken »

Ruarc stood in time with Percy to make sure the boy was healed enough to not fall back down. Once the Druid was back to his full height he inspected the sudden burst of activity. The young girl from the geese incident, Riley if he recalled correctly, was reprimanding a kid on his bike for something Ruarc hadn’t paid attention to, and now there was another young girl he had never seen before saying something about fighting cows. One of the plus sides to hearing a second language is that if one didn’t pay attention to, or didn’t care enough about, you could more or less phase out everything being said.

With his second glance over the ad hoc team of magic users, Ruarc grabbed the hood of his cloak and once again slung it over his head and casting his face in deep shadows; although he was pretty sure secrecy was shot at this point in time. With no other pressing matters sticking out, the Druid walked over to the area where the skeleton had fallen. As an attempt to satisfy his curiosity about what he had fought, and a futile ploy to forget that he had been robbed, he focused his right eye on the area to try and gather residual observational data, but when nothing showed up he dismissed the idea.

Having nothing more to really say to anyone, Ruarc made his way over to the edge of the canal and stared listlessly at his scattered pack across the way.
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Kokuten
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

Post by Kokuten »

Percival gritted his teeth at Duncan, not feeling too in the mood for his badgering, especially this insulting variety. He breathed a little more, about to respond before Modeka came back to life with a hop, skip, and a jump into Percy's arms. The glow overtook his body immediately as the little green healer curled up in the summoner's arms, giving him strength, and washing away his negative thoughts. Still, the Caxton felt he had something to say to the rude American, and was about to, until Riley came in and tore into Duncan like a squirrel tore into tree-nuts. It was a time for him to sigh, and catch his breath, perhaps sit next to a tree while Modeka worked her magic, but no, fate had another thing in store for him. Little Girl Death appeared again, this time throwing rather inappropriately placed insults at them.

"Wha--... I'm not dying! What are you even doing here!?" said Percival incredulously as he stared at Emilia. Seeing her seemed to remind him of that all-consuming blackness of death, and he didn't like remembering it. "Everyone is alive. Go away." He shooed her with his hand, with a rather straight stare.
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Kai
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

Post by Kai »

Miyuki was completely lost in the fits of yelling going on between everyone, and then some other person appearing, with cryptic words accompanying her. Duncan, who should be infirm, was instead here calling out everyone, some little girl from the battle was yelling at him, Percy was yelling at the other little girl, and Ruarc seemed to be the only one with any sense about him, taking up and leaving now that the danger was over. Everyone was acting like little Imbeciles, and nobody seemed to be paying attention to the teacher whom had collapsed on the street, unconscious from an overuse of whatever powers he held.

Miyuki just shook her head, staring at everyone. she wanted to shout, to call out everyone for their immaturity, to do something about everything that was going on right now. She could feel anger welling up inside her, and notice a tree near her starting to wilt a little, though nowhere near as badly as the ones by Duncan had.

"WHY DOESN'T EVERYONE JUST SHUT UP!" the girl screamed in Japanese, finally snapping, but she stopped and stared in wonder at the ground. Intricate lines and scripts flowed out from beneath her feet, forming an enormous magic circle that encompassed everyone in the area, and then began glowing a bright white. Miyuki had no clue what it was, and could not feel any power running through her, but as soon as the circle completed itself, it began to glow even brighter, the level of light rising until everyone present was blinded.

The Next thing Miyuki knew, she was back at home in her bedroom, staring down from her seat on the bed, dressed in her nightclothes. "Was that all just a dream?" she wondered, her thoughts answered by Saph.
"I don't think so..." the cat answered, hopping up onto the bed and dropping the Topaz in Miyuki's hands. "Whatever it was, it was powerful magic. I can't account for the last three hours after all that..."
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Straken
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

Post by Straken »

Ruarc went from staring across a canal to staring at the other side of his makeshift home under a bridge. For many long moments he just sat silently in his cozy nook with no real thoughts going through his head. He could feel Laoise sleeping, tucked against his neck within his drawn hood. Looking around slowly he saw his pack set off to the side, and finally convinced himself to move over to it.

As the Druid dug through the large pack his suspicions were confirmed. All of his runes were still missing.
“I wonder what happened after the fight and just how I ended up back here,” Ruarc said silently to himself. Seeking a second opinion, he lifted his hand into his hood and gently nudged Laoise.

”You’re wondering how we got here as well?” Laoise responded softly as she stirred within the folds of the cloak. ”Well, I don’t know any more than you do.”
“I see. I still wish I had time to track down where my runestones ran off to,” the Irishman said dejectedly. With nothing more to be gained, he made his way back into his nook and curled up within his cloak, Laoise still nestled against his neck, and promptly fell asleep.
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Kokuten
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

Post by Kokuten »

Percival opened his eyes.

The ceiling was a little dusty, as a result of being untouched for about a week. He'd have to fix that, perhaps grab the duster in the cavernous basement beneath the house. The room was slightly dark, with the lamp on the nightstand being set to dimly lit. The window was cracked slightly, letting a small breeze enter through the preventive bug-mesh that kept the elements outside. The certain still dimness of the room provided a peace and tranquility that could only be matched by one thing. The ghostly feeling of a cold, comforting hand caressed his cheek, reminding him of what that thing was.

Death.

A yelp cut the air as Percy bolted upward, sitting up and over, resting his hands in his lap in a cold sweat. His eyes bulged, staring down at his hands, and then his arms, then his legs, and then rest of him. He spurred out of the bed and onto the floor looking to the small mirror mounted on the wall to see himself. As he rose up and stared at the mirror, he could see his face, panicked and hurried, but alive. The young man was alive. Everything was slowly coming back to him as the shock of the realization, and the fog of drowsiness slowly left him. They had fought the beasts at the canals, and Percy had nearly lost his life, twice. Once was an accident, another was experimentation, but both left him feeling rather scarred. He shook, fear tearing into the steely being he had been on the battlefield. He had almost died! At the age of fifteen! He hadn't even kissed a girl yet! He hadn't even been able to experience true love at his greatest! He never had the chance of doing something great in his life that make every mage in the world forget that he was just some nonmag who knew about magic!

It scared him, and he shook more, wrapping his arms around his cold body. He wanted his mother to come to him, to hug him, hold him, tell him it was all alright and over, but he couldn't tell her about this! He couldn't even find his own mother's comfort, and it made him feel alone and even colder. His mind reflected on this, Alone... I...

I wasn't alone...

Riley!

Percy's head jerked around to look for the little girl he had come to accept in his home. Thankfully, he saw her lying on the bed, dressed in Breakfast Bear pajamas. In fact, those B.B. pajamas were his from when he was her age. How she got into them, he did not know. Seeing her clothed, he looked down at himself, noting the blue and light-blue pin stripe pajamas he usually wore to bed. Though, the Caxton boy didn't dwell on that long. In a bit of a mild panick, he went to her, and gently began to shake her.

"Riley. Riley... Wake up." he said quietly, a rattling tone in his words.
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