eswareinmal | [Log] West Haven

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[Log] West Haven

Characters: All on the road to West Haven
Open? Yep
Where: Starting at the gate of Schwanheim, on the way to and in West Haven
When: The 5th of Rebirth's Height

It was a clear morning, a touch warmer than the previous days, a sign that Rebirth was progressing along. For the more superstitious of Schwanheim's residents, it seemed a good omen for the heroes' journey to the unfortunate town of West Haven. Of course with how the weather of Rebirth ran, it might be pouring rain by the time they left the gates but that was Rebirth for ya.

[[OoC: this log will be split into 3 parts/sub threads. You don't have to tag the preparations or travel threads to arrive at West Haven.]]

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Obi-Wan took his companions' hands, drawing in a deep breath to center himself. He let himself relax into the living Force, into the sensations of life and energy gathering around him. His breathing was calm and even, his own power a steady, safe thrum between Loki's strangeness and Ryou's blinding light.

And Loki called forth power.

From Obi-Wan, there was a low pulse, like a pitch countless octaves below voice. It hummed in his chest, all around him, and as he breathed, he felt it revitalize his spent energy. He could hardly catch a glimpse, but he saw the bare corner of a web, a thousand strands woven together and trembling with a life force -- a web the size of the nine worlds. Power and potential too large to tap entirely, and Loki would have voiced his amazement at the very idea, but he was busy. After the spell.

With Bakura, he was more direct. He took the power and drew it into himself, breathed into his chest. Blinding-white, and it stung his skin, his heart, his bones. He was not the sort meant to wield the light, and the more he held it, the worse it ached.

He opened his eyes, and touched his hands to the runes.

Thurisaz (of power, of destruction), Hagalaz (of terrible, terrifying harnessed energy), Nauthiz (for need, for toil, for resistance) and Perthro -- the last, of mysteries, of investigation. He might as well cast one rune for their true purpose.

He drew the power and directed it, little channels and paths, finesse and talent. A lesser sorcerer may have simply bludgeoned the spell with the power, but Loki used it. He worked the spell to see what this gem was, to understand it's purpose, to locate that flaw within and break it apart, destroy, shatter. First, to see; next, to break.

Edited 2012-01-23 03:39 (UTC)

There was a hideous moment of silence as the nothingness of the gem seemed to almost absorb the energy being poured into it before the band of shadow in the center began to glow, a dull, sickening grey. There was a sudden snap as a crack flashed across the surface, the same smoke winding at the ground of the village beginning erupting outward from the glowing flaw.

Dark felt the emptiness burst out into the world when he was only halfway back to the castle. Something had gone wrong. He turned in midair and flew back at twice the speed he had left.

Loki kept steady. The runes held, and the smoke flowed and he pushed, one more time, as much energy as he had to splinter the thing apart.

For a brief moment, there was a balance between forces before a spiderweb of cracks crackled through the black gem. Seconds later, it shattered explosively, flooding the circle with a whirlwind of scentless smoke that washed over the runes, smoothing them into oblivion before taking the rest of the circle with them and beginning to expand, growing in force and intensity.

And Loki stood. Released both the hands. He knew what was happening, now; he could feel the presence growing, and he let the light of the spell dim and go out. He wouldn't feed it any more of his own energy.

He held against the whirlwind.

"Show yourself," he demanded, into the noise.

There was a very light, amused laugh before the smoke pulled suddenly inward with the sound of an inhale, clearing the air to reveal the form of a young woman with dark hair and tan skin, lit cigarette at her lips, funneling the smoke back inside of her. With a lazy gesture, she lowered it, exhaling a thin line of much more normal smoke that quickly dissipated.

"As you have demanded, so I have answered." Her tone was lightly mocking, as she bowed her head the barest amount.

He was afraid.

He didn't like the feeling; it reminded him of the splintered rainbow bridge, of shards of power and pain whistling through the air like a hurricane. He wished for Thor at his side, was relieved that Thor was not.

The wind was cold on his skin, still damp, though the spell had dried him somewhat.

"You made this place," he said. "Why?"

This was a force greater than his current power, one that may demand he kneel at her feet. Once, Loki may have defied; once, he may have obeyed with silver words and sweet assurances. Now, he did not know. The spell had drained him of defiance, and there was nothing but low, shivering, distant pain.

"What trap have you set?"

Bakura wasn't very used to sharing power, not this way. He had assumed it would be like assisting Yuugi back home, focusing his will to match his friends to give Yuugi that boost...

This had been very different. Maybe it was how things were different in this place, but there had been a drained feeling almost the moment Loki had started, as his consciousness tried to follow where his magic was going. It was like trying to read Egyptian, the symbols not having meaning, despite having familiar shapes, only with something just not right to it. His magic wasn't designed for this sort of destruction, not when he himself was only curious and wanting to contain it. But he had already given his will to follow Loki's magic and couldn't run counter to it.

When the gem shattered he gave a small cry, knocked back to where his father was waiting in the sudden storm of grey as the consciousness that had been following the magic snapped back to him abruptly like a slap.

So there had been someone lurking inside...? Not good...!

Obi-Wan had realized a heartbeat too late that Loki's intent was turned to destruction--too late to let go of his hand, too late to pull himself back out of the Force and put up some kind of barrier between his adopted son and Loki. Suddenly the wise, calm diplomat had retreated behind the skill and precision of the hardened warrior.

He held on to each of the other magic-users as steadily as an anchor, his presence coiling tightly within itself.

A bemused smile quirked at the edges of her lips. "That is the answer I have come to hear. It matters not what I tell you, but what you perceive," she returned cryptically before taking another slow drag off her cigarette. "Anything I tell you could be a lie, after all, and you would have no way of knowing."

Dark flew immediately back to the well where, sure enough, he found the source of the energy blast: a very attractive and incredibly powerful woman. He glided down low enough that he could dismiss his wings and land lightly on the ground, waltzing onto the scene for all the world like they were all waiting for his arrival.

"I guess that gem was yours, beautiful?"

"So you made it for us," said Loki. "To lure us here."

That was his guess, reading between the cryptic words. His eyes narrowed; if only these others were not here, if only he could speak to her, one sorcerer to another.

It did mean that she was dangerous, though. To create a place like this took incredible power; to know that it would bring a specific group took foresight. The two, together...

"Have you learned what you came to find?" he snapped. Angry, now, because he did not like being tugged from one place to another, on an invisible tether, bound by reins that cannot be felt. "Perhaps you'll deign to tell us what is behind the thorns, before you sweep away in smoke."

She glanced over at Dark with a disbelieving expression before rolling her eyes and turning back to Loki, again inhaling the light grey smoke as he spoke.

"Chaos," she answered simply, smoke escaping in a puff at the word.

"Well if that's all," Dark interrupted with a shrug, "what are you waiting for? Let's party."

And Loki turned to Dark. "Silence your tongue!" Fury, in him, in his voice. "If you would like to ransack the town for trinkets, please, do so, and spare us your presence. In the meantime, some of us would rather solve the problems for which we have been summoned."

He was a hypocrite, of course. He had not intended to summon this woman -- he had intended to destroy this city, or at least its center of power. And he had, of course, taken Obi-Wan's and Bakura's energy without telling them how he was using it.

Nevertheless: Dark annoyed him.

"Is there no balance here?" he asked the woman, his mind working quick. "Chaos should destroy at the rate that order builds, should it not? Or are the thorns the price for springing haphazard cities from the wilderness?"

"I was talking to the lady, smartass," he snapped back, effectively ignoring everyone else in the circle and not particularly caring that he was.

"And the lady was listening," pointed out Loki, delicately, "to me."

"Balance is a fragile thing," Anya answered, looking far too amused at the bickering. "Both sides try to build more and more power, thinking they will overcome the other without any regard for it."

Dark ignored Loki with a broad, charming smile. He didn't even glance in his direction as he addressed Anya.

"And you're here to balance the equation, is that it?"

"What do you think?" she returned with a hint of a sly smile, looking almost the way a cat toying with a mouse might.

"And how is order responding to chaos' intrusion?" asked Loki. "And where do I find them?" -- an arch of his eyebrow. "Or have I already?"

Was she part of order?

Balance. Chaos.

Darkness.

Her words brought up miserable memories, the shadow of a misinterpretation gone horribly wrong, and when he glanced directly at her there was fire behind his eyes.

"Something has changed." His voice was sharp, commanding. "Conditions are different now, else you wouldn't need to be here."

He kept his Force sense held back from her presence, not quite daring to test her lest he find an echo of Anakin's darkness. But he looked at her without fear and without gentleness.

"There's a prophecy, isn't there."

"Prophecies always exist for any situation you care to look for," Anya returned with a bored tone before looking back at Loki. "And you should know what Order's counter was."

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Meanwhile, let me not forget to write this part too. :)

HOW DID I MISS THIS GOOD MORNING Y'ALL D:

GOOD MORNING, CUDDLES. :D

/BURSTS BACK ONTO THE SCENE

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