[Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

Archives of Occultus Magica's beginnings, ten years prior to the current story.
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Kai
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Re: [Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

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Miyuki was right on Coco's heels as she ran to the small, Percy-like figure. The Japanese girl had only just realized that the beret on the apparition was the same one she'd seen Percy wearing on numerous occasions. As Coco came to a stop, so did Miyuki, and she blurted out, simultaneously with the American girl "Are you alright? We can help you if you need it, Okay?"

She crouched down with the words, and smiled sweetly at the ghostly embodiment of Percy's younger self, hoping that it would understand, and that they would be able to communicate with each other to save the Percy they knew and loved.
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Kokuten
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Re: [Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

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The young ghostly figure recoiled as the others worked their way down to him. The little uniform he wore wrinkling with his movements. He seemed to try and crawl away from them, his hands getting onto the platform and pulling him. Yet, he stopped and turned as soon as Coco spoke to him. Much like one would turn upon hearing a voice they remembered, he spun about with a bit of shock on his face. As soon as the ribboned magi met his eyes, he changed.

Those eyes became sharp, somewhat bewitching in their unnatural luster. Gone was the little boy, and what replaced him was more of the young man they knew. Yet, he looked austere, calculating, thoughtful. He seemed sharper than natural, which made him seem unnatural. This effect became even more noticeable as the spectre look upon Miyuki.

The edges of him became smoother, and so did his gaze. There was a less confident brusqueness about this one that made him almost seem like the child of before. Yet, he seemed weary, worked, and someone more built. There was a strength to this one that belied the less-than-ready nature they could feel from it.

Then, he looked back at Coco, and he became the form, and back at Miyuki to become the latter. As if he were a strange mirror flitting between the two girls, his appearance changed uniquely between them.

Yet, as he the Coco-reflected spectre, another feature became glaringly, evident. Coco, who was normally just came up to Percy's waist or above, was just at that now, even in her aged form. The sharp ghost was gainly in height, and somehow represented a similar size in perception to how the young undead normally viewed him. While this made any manner of door his enemy, the increased size allowed the whole group to see him point off in the distance. Far off on the edge of the abyss, was where the land of Elementalia Magicus began again, still breaking into the sky. In that direction seemed to be a grouping of rocky crags and plateaus within a dry-land.

----

Tulan settled near Ruarc, who was more contemplating his own measures rather than that of the group's. Like her sister, Tulan seemed to have a similar empathy. She leaned over a bit, her messy hair flopping aside, clean and pure now that the simulated dirt was gone from it. That concerned look was all to familiar, at least to those who knew Zulan. Yet, Tulan had her own style to it, which was to twitch and twitter every now and them while showing her concern for the most distracted of the group. She opened her mouth to speak, at once placing a hand on his shoulder, but then paused.

That gloved hand withdrew from the druid's shoulder, and went into her robe, where she began to shuffle about. From under the folds, she pulled a small vial of reddish-black liquid. With an audible pop, she loosed the cork from it, and offered it to him. A chilly vapor arose from it, along with a certain bubbly nature.

"Here, it helps me c-calm down," twittered Tulan, "sometimes."
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Re: [Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

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Direction. Guidance. Leadership.

Being here inside of Percy had been fun - Coco never thought she would get to - but it had it's downsides. Like getting shot. Or having no clue what to do in order to really save him most of the time. And, sometimes even having a vague idea was just as unsettling as having no idea at all. But now, it was Percy himself giving them a clue! A hard, fast clue at last! But even better - he was literally pointing a finger at himself, right? "Huh? What's that boy? Percy fell into the well Percy?", Coco asked, cupping a hand to an ear as she pretended to listen to the figure. Reinvigorated by the instruction the giant form gave them, she spun on her feet and faced the rest of the band. "Well, you all heard him! Let's all set off for the Dry Dry-lands!" the Litch declared, triumphantly pointing a finger to the distant horizon.

Looking back at the fragment of Percy, she might as well have tugged at his sleeve. "Hey, hey! Are you going to come with us?" Coco asked, mouth wide in an adorably toothy smile.
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Kokuten
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Re: [Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

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After holding the flask out for a bit, Tulan withdrew, and pressed it back into her robes with the clinking cacophony of glass she seemed to keep under her robes. Her attention turned forward to the mind-aspect holding all of the attention. The ghostly figure seemed to give Coco's question some thought, but appeared to ignore it to a point as it tip-toed the edge of the small island they were on. Coco's tugging fell through cold air, proving the incorporeal nature of the construct, despite its aetherial content.

"Well! You're going to need a bridge!" declared Tulan loudly as she stepped forward, tugging a seed out of her robes. "Luckily! I h-happen to be good at such a thing!"

She paused at that, with a similarly paused, yet confident expression. "At providing such a thing."

Rising at her sides were two figures. Both male in build and stature. Both were blonde with kempt, yet loose hair. While not entirely identical, they shared similar robes to Tulan. Their eyes, while not enhanced by coke-bottle glasses, were occluded behind obscuring goggles.
The 'citizens' of the Elementalia Magicus.

Even the nicest of the Guardians called them 'thralls'. As that was what they were. They possessed some kind of identity, but all that was lost when they were called upon. They always share aspects of the Guardian that broods them sometimes to unfortunate extents. In my study of them, I found that the number of Thralls were relevant to the cumulative power a guardian had, or had drawn from a Font's source.
The two thralls towered over Tulan, or at least, they did now. With their arrival, she had taken to the diminutive state that Percival's other summons took. That only appeared to inconvenience her in distance, as she settle the seed down away from the group. She drew another potion from her sleeve this time. Then, carefully, she poured the miniature flask on the seed, and then began to run away. Why was made apparent quickly, as the seed exploded into a massive tree that slapped the little Alchemy guardian head over heels into the limestone.

"No worries! I. Am. Okay!" chittered Tulan in a pitched voice, quickly standing to her feet. One of the lenses on her thick glasses had broken, revealing one of her eyes more clearly, showing a more spitting image of Zulan. In her triumphantly pitiful stance, she threw a had forth, shivering in pain as noticeable streaks of blood began to form on her cheek from the cutting glass. The thralls seemed to understand the meaning of the gesture, and drew their own potions from their sleeves, Tulan, on the other had, quickly turned and grabbed her face, mewling quietly in pain.

Of came the corks of the potions, and down the hatch the contained liquid went. In a moment, the thinly thralls were thinly no more. Muscles bulged under their robes, turning them into beastly men. Yet, their quiet stride was uninterrupted, as if answering a status quo. In a moment, the massive sequioaesque tree was torn from its already feeble grasp of the platform, and carefully set to its side by the wordless, supernaturally strong familiars. The top end of the tree, beset by branches, seemed to clear the abyss safely, though sagging uncomfortably. Satisfied by their work, the two men returned to mini-Tulan's side, who herself was still reeling from the stinging pain to gloat.
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Re: [Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

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Miyuki stared in wonder at the constantly changing ethereal form that this part of Percy's mind had taken, not entirely certain how to interpret it, but when it pointed, her eyes were drawn away off into the distance toward the area he seemed to be indicating. When Tulan mentioned they needed a bridge, the Japanese girl started mentally preparing herself to make an ice bridge that long, but was stopped short by the batty guardian, and her summoned aids. She was momentarily stunned when the tree suddenly burst into being, and then more stunned when the two whispy assistants (where had they come from?) turned into beefcakes and then uprooted the majestic growth, turning it into the aforementioned bridge.

"Dear goodness..." was all Miyuki could say, blinking a few times, before noticing what had happened to Tulan in the process. Miyuki knew she couldn't do much about that, but regardless, she approached her, and handed her something- a chunk of ice.
"It's not much, but it might help the pain and swelling." she explained, before starting off down the bridge. "Come on, guys! Let's go save Percy!"
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Re: [Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

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Ruarc was lost in his own thoughts up until he noticed Tulan withdraw the potion she had offered to him, and he couldn’t help but feel guilty for having inadvertently ignored her. The motion did bring the Druid back to focus on the present, which probably would have happened eventually the moment the large tree erupted from the ground. With a stunned look on his face he watched as Tulan and her thralls provided the group with a bridge that they could use.

Adjusting his robes slightly, Ruarc made his own way over to Tulan after Miyuki had given her some ice. “Thank ya for all of your help, Tulan,” the tall boy said as he kneeled down so that he was closer to her level. “And Ah’ll be sure ta try some of tha’ potion next time, so be sure to bug Percy about summonin’ ya from time to time.” Ruarc assuming that Tulan was able to be summoned in the same manner as Percy’s other spirits. Then, with a quick smile and a wave Ruarc stood back up and followed Miyuki onto the bridge.
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