{M} Falderon: The Beckoning (IC)

[ElizabethStark]

Layla's mood had gone up, most of the apprentices here, though most days she tended to avoid them, were kind and gentle, and she was glad they were around to comfort her.

A guard then disturbed the group... The King had summoned them? Layla was very confused by this, why would the King summon for them so suddenly? A rarity indeed, Layla nodded her head in agreement with Nalria.

Nonetheless, she walked to the Throne Room alongside the others, leaving her breakfast behind. The others who weren't in the dining hall seemed to be waiting at the entrance to the Throne Room. As soon as the rest of the apprentices arrived, the guards opened the mahogany double-doors.

---

The Throne Room was quite large, with marble flooring and a marbled ceiling, and within the room was Dulin Stark, the Royal Mage of fire. Gerald Genovian, the Head of the Kingsguard. The council, which consisted of five men who took care of documents and other business with the King. And Alexander Khalington, the King himself. The King sat upon the Throne, but when the eleven entered, he stirred from his seat of bronze. Dulin stood at the left of the King's side, Gerald stood at the bottom of the steps to the left along with the eight other Kingsguards, who were whispering to one another before the King stood. The council was seated along a horizontal table, facing toward the entrance of the Throne Room, each sitting directly next to each other. This table rested to the very right of the steps, being sure to grant a better view of the King and his Throne. Each of these men held a face of grim stature and each appeared staidly.

A guard lead them to the King's Throne, he bowed respectively before the King,"Your Grace." And took his leave.

"Hello all," Alexander's smile was warm and kingly,"I have grave news to bestow upon you eleven..." He paused a moment, his smile faded completely, to take his gaze along the eleven apprentices,"This morning, a courier from Selaria arrived with unsettling documents from Empress Astana..." He slowly and dignifiedly made his way down the steps of the Throne,"The Dragon has gone missing, and the barriers that have protected Tretashi for many a century have fallen. Its magic no longer in effect.

"There have also been letters coming in to Elysium stating over incidences in the absence of magic, this has been happening over the period of only a fortnight. No doubt you eleven have heard the rumors.

"It's so soon for all of you, but I'm afraid the God and His Sister have decided it is time."

King Alexander stood directly in front of the apprentices, looking them over once more,"Time for you Royal Mages in training to venture amongst Falderon. You all shall be going on a quest, by airship, to learn the whereabouts of the Dragon and why the magic of this world is falling. Mage Dulin and I have already discussed this," he turned from them to make his way back up to the Throne,"you all will be leaving tonight, and you will of course have an escort led by Sir Genovian," he gives a gesture toward the knight,"he, and Dulin, will be discussing the trip.

"Any questions you might have, you may refer to me now." He seated himself, once again, upon the Throne."And you may bring whatever you wish to bring."

[Chihana]

"yeah, me too..." Jona mumbled towards Nalria as she spoke to him before they were escorted to the throne room. He noticed how all the apprentices were present, which had to mean that this was something big... he had had a few audiences with the king before, but never all of them at once... what was going on? He wished he knew...

As they stepped in, Jona made sure to walk one step in front of everyone. He wasn't trying to take the sight or pretend to be big, but as much as he loved the king, he hated his guards. They mostly didn't share the lords kind being, and Jona was always quick to respond if any of them felt like dropping a slave joke towards the elves, or the other non-human apprentices. He knew very well they weren't gonna do it in front of the king, but why would he call them all there, if not to scold them?

But as it turned out, his first wish were granted, and he clenched his fists at the king's words, as he spoke of the missing Dragon. Jona had seen it once, when it flew over the castle, on it's way to Selaria. And it had fascinated him, it was a majestic beast, but he didn't get why it was so important...
"Your majesty, what's so important about this dragon? I know it's the last, and I would rather see it be alive than dead, but I don't get why you need all your apprentices for such a task. Isn't it something more suited for a guard?" Jona spoke the word "guard" as if it was a bad taste in his mouth, as he glanced towards one of the guards by the stairs in front of the throne. He had had his share of run-ins with most of the guards in this castle, and he clearly didn't think highly of any of them.

[Derpnaster]

"Tel' sgiathat? ikotane sina elma sai a' i' olos amin halv'" (the Dragon? Then this must be connected to the dreams I had) Nirel muttered in elvish so the guards, whom she did not trust, couldn't understand her. Then she looked around at the others and then to the king. Nirel took a deep breath and began piecing together her words in common tongue, a language she still did not take to very well.
"Then... we will be... leaving soon?" The young snow elf asked in a heavy and very much broken accent, yet it still carried the softness of her voice and revealed the gentle nature of the young elven woman

[Waarnemen]

Ervin Makarios Iliad III

By the time Ervin and Zathura entered the premises, they were taken aback by the extravagance. Ervin thought that he was in some kind of immaculate church, given its Gothic/Baroque style. Baroque music seemed to permeate his brain as he listened to the King. His request was unorthodox, especially being called an apprentice. Ervin, according to his mother, was an advanced magic user, even for his age. He was able to transfer dead souls into inanimate objects. As insane as it sounded, Ervin believed in the impossible.

Ervin and his scarf familiar stood in silence. He did not wish to displease the king by showing them Zathura's capabilities. Zathura was simply too naïve for showing them without turning into something otherwise too dangerous for the team to handle. As the king aforementioned: "... take whatever you want." Ervin had to wish for luck that the scarf would pose little threat to the King.

Ervin smiled and showed the king a pyrite case. "This case is made of pyrite. This holds my saxophone in place. My papa made it for me."

Zathura could do little but reveal herself to the king. The scarf unraveled from his neck, spilled onto the tiled floor and morphed into a grown woman. The grown woman had on a black dress with long black hair. She stood around 5' 4", which was much shorter than Ervin. Her breasts were also prominent in her dress. The girl knelt down to the King. "Your majesty, this was against Ervin's rules, but..." Solemn tears welled into her heterochromatic eyes. "Sir Ervin has conversed of your qualms, my lord! I will be set to follow you, and Master Ervin. My brother, my father... AND MY EVERYTHING...!" Zathura fell down to the ground, crying on the floor.

Ervin gulped while he tried to capture words to say. "I knew not of this incident, but... I was waiting for this moment to come on an adventure that required ALL of us to band together. This is Zathura Bathilde Iliad. She was made in essence of my dear sister. She died of a blood disorder (leukemia). I was just a lil' boy then."

Zathura looked at Ervin and stood next to him. She wanted to be in harmony with him. Feeling his hands made Zathura smile, so she hugged onto the man's hands, no matter what. Zathura and Ervin awaited to hear the news.

[Heson Shadowbane]

J'ni didn't fly to the throne room. Instead she finished off her breakfast and then sat down atop Grunty's head. "Hup hup!" The automaton gave a disgruntled grunt before it broke off into a run and jumped off the table. It's gas rockets activated and J'ni rode with comfort on top of it's head.

As the doors opened J'ni flitted off Grunty's head, politely flying in with the other 10 apprentices who were walking in. She continued floating in the air as the king spoke but her wings soon tired of keeping her in place and she glided down to the ground and stood there as she finished listening. As people voiced their questions J'ni tried to ask her own, but her tiny voice was lost in the enormity of the the Throne Room. Finally fustrated she motioned Grunty over and pulled the plate on his head off when she got to her. She used her magic and reshaped the plate into a megaphone like object and brought it up to her mouth. "Will I have time to visit my human family before we leave?"

[Dire Hoef]

[] Mystery of the Dragon []

Wooddrow crossed his arms with some sort of disturbance within the magical forces of darkness. He rubbed his chin, 'A dragon? Disappearence? This must be the work of something..', he thought as he listen to the king go on to explain the situation forward. He stood there before slamming one of his hooves down upon the tiles floor of the throne room. 'That must be it.. But how can I be certain that is right answer to this situation. Well thet fact of the matter is that we will just have to see what happens.', he thought with a slight smirk.

He could feel the darkness rise within and upon his skin. He had been practicing with spells that would create offensive movements besides using his weapons. He might have been the weakest of the eleven before him, but he did have more sense of his surroundings than anyone within the city of Elysium. After all, he was the one who traveled miles upon miles to see the world. He did have fame, but that only came with some distractions as well as comfirmation of who he was on retrospect of the matter. He sighed, "Well, if that is the case, then we can't waste time standing around here..", said Wooddrow not reallying thinking ahead of what he was talking about.

[Kaptain Panty]

Dragons missing...He'd been told quite a bit about the old thing, mainly by eager recruits in his earlier years, though those were hardly to be trusted. For him, it was just some big lizard that flew around. apparently a very important big lizard though. Well, if theirs this much worry about it the things got to be important in someway. Defiantly a good reason to stop their training.

Then they moved on to the fading magic. Now this was a problem. To his knowledge society used magic quite a lot, more then was healthy in his opinion, an that was too much of society to have magic disappear. Not to mention the races that depended on the stuff, this issue leading to a few extinctions in his eyes. Though this was a problem more fit for scholars and men of knowledge, not aspiring mages. He was about to inquire about this until he was interrupted by Ervin's scarf turning into a grown women. And when your used to not seeing inanimate objects suddenly turn into people, his reaction was quite justified.

He was halfway drawing his sabre, a common reaction among military men when surprised, those surprises usually being something very bad and wanting to give you an invite to Death's tea party. Though seeing her descend into tears, Ervin going to comfort he, he sheathed the blade, standing straight and a look of puzzlement crossing his face. Pointing towards the two, he gave out a "Nope" before turning round to face the king, and pretend that did not just happen.

[Derpnaster]

Nirel looked over to the diminutive J'ni and smiled slightly. Nirel thought the small creature to be just plain adorable and when she heard her little voice, amplified by the little megaphone, she smiled even more. Nirel then looked around for a moment and made her way to the little fairy.

Nirel made it to J'ni and knelt down so she could speak to her quietly.
"It is not safe for one so small around all these big feet" Nirel whispered then gently picked up J'ni mad Grunty in her right hand "if you wish you may sit on my shoulder" she said with a small smile.

[Heson Shadowbane]

J'ni squeaked as she was picked up by the ice, no the chill elf. Yeah that's it. She was standing in her right hand with Grunty and smiled at her offer. "I like sitting on shoulders, a comfortable sitting spot. I've sat on pop's shoulder many a time when I went with him on trips to work." She skipped and climbed up the cold elf's arm to her shoulder that she then used to make her way over to her cheek and give her a small kiss before sitting down and wrapping her arms as best she could around her neck. "Thank you very much oh frozen elf." She then turned back to the king, leaning a bit on Nirel, as she awaited an answer to her question.

[☆Catwoman☆]

Nalria watched the exchange in an outwardly calm manner, her demeanor and expression giving nothing away. But within, her heart was pounding in a chaotic mixture of excitement, fear, and uncertainty. To hear that they would be venturing out, away from the city and into the world, was sweet music to her pointed ears. Elation warred with her anxieties at the prospect of seeing her beloved homeland once more.

But fear also crept into her heart and threatened to choke her. The dragon, the symbol of hope and peace, had vanished, and with it the magical barriers that protected Tretashi, her home. This was grim news indeed, an ill omen, a sign of change so dreaded and the hardships to come. While many of her fellow students did not understand the importance of the dragon, the long-lived elves had ever looked to it with reverence. The very sight of the magnificent beast caused many to fall to their knees in praise to the Lady, and the ties it had to peace, prosperity, and indeed magic itself were known.

What would happen now that it was gone? The very idea made Nalria shudder.

The elf kept her hands primly clasped in front of her, and all her thoughts private. She listened as the others voiced their questions and concerns, but her own dark purple lips remained shut. A list of essentials was forming in her mind throughout it all; she would need to pack light. Her scimitars and bow, a few changes of clothes and what little armor she possessed. Rations, wineskin of water, perhaps even a potion or two…