The two could feel the twisting of the surrounding mana, and hurried to return the cart and goods to the waystation. Where they found the slack faced gazes of the guards looking down the street. Where a large twister of mana was shaping itself. Marshall couldn't help but release a sigh while looking over at Pyra. They had been feeling weird since coming this far, and the changes they had undergone. He was pretty sure that Yana was becoming more self-absorbed like Pyra had right before her own crash during the Day of Ash.
Pyra nods at him before rushing back down the street towards the dungeon arch. This city had been build partly around the dungeon entrance in order to respond when it's monsters crawled out. Which had happened a lot less since so many groups enter it every month, but it still only had one controlled point into the dungeon. Though not for lack of trying, apparently, if you listened to the usual gossip.
Behind them a few others started to run after them, though it was unclear why. They both had a feeling that the System sent out a message for aid. The sky was beginning to look far more pale, and the light all around seemed to bend into colorful ribbons. Pyra had made a storm of ash that even high levelled individuals couldn't resist. It had been something primal that the System could only channel, or that was Yana's insistence on the matter.
The air seemed to shimmer as they smashed through the gate closing off the dungeon proper. It would probably have raised a few eyebrows at their strength if anyone had cared. Marshall and Pyra knew that Dark had a couple powerful aspects, and it wasn't clear which would take the lead. The rapidly darkening spaces along with the shimmering ribbons didn't exactly give a solid clue either.
----
Rasputin had jumped from the windows of the Academy before slapping his chest, and a storm of mana left his body to activate his flight tools. Air moved around him in chaotic patterns before settling into whirlpools from his hands, feet and back. Imposing his Will, he shot forwards towards the anomaly. Twisting his old body to gain height and clear the perimeter wall to the shocked expressions of the acolytes.
Using his Will as extra hands he activated the glasses he wore. They weren't needed to improve his natural eyesight, just to give him insights in mana which was had to see clearly. Which allowed him to see the way the vortex was pulling in large amounts of mana, but condensing it as well. He had expected the funnel to be releasing the mana upwards from the cone, but it seemed to be condensing it around the source. The Dungeon stone made it hard to see underground, but it wasn't hard to get underground either.
Seeing a few brave souls running towards the dungeon made him nod. Such dedication was impressive if foolish for all of them. They were clearly guards or low level servants to a guild. Which made it unlikely for them to be able to do anything in an anomaly. These things tended to draw the attention of every monster, and being in a Dungeon it was likely to be wild with the beasts.
A few other devices hummed to life as he fed them mana, and then frowned as he could feel his mana being affected by the draw as he approached the tunnel heading underground. Not a new thing by any stretch, but a heavily unfortunate one since it would limit even him in this place. As he passed through the blasted doors, he wondered if all the people he had seen worked together to do that. They were blown outwards into the dungeon so it wasn't a beast.
tick
----
Sitting atop the castle tower was a shape made of void with a white crack of a smile, and six colored eyes gazing at the tearing sky. A tin soldier was sitting on the roof next to it, a single dark finger resting on it's head. Though it could almost be mistaken for a young man with a staff when you blinked.
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External Entity Detected...
The air rippled with green-gold light near the figure. The smile seemed to grow as the words echoed around it.
"Don't act so surprised, Ceridwen." The creature of void said, without a shift in its smile. The lights seemed to flicker in response, but moved away as it lifted the tin figure into sight.
"I wonder what could have been different if you hadn't broken your word?" It asked, a cruel smile in it's voice.
Threat Detected... Remove the Relic from Operational Areas...
The smile retreated a touch at the words hovering in the air.
"Have you lost so much, Ceridwen?" It tilled it's horned head in thought and amusement, "That makes things easier, my deal is with Ceridwen, not what you are now." It nods it head as the smile grows even wider than before.
"Well, likely we won't meet again System. Good luck you toy." Then it was gone, the tin soldier flew through the air towards the vortex of energies. The green-gold lights flickered.
Extreme Warning is noted... Anomaly convergence with Relic upgrades threat to... to.. to.. TICK
---
Rasputin looked down at his old hands in confusion. He had just crossed the space and entered that vortex of power and then...then..
---
Marshall was standing in a waving, wheat field while looking towards the torn sky in the distance. His core and mana system were working hard to break this warped space and reality enough to keep his mind clear. Looks like this calamity would be one hell of a mind game for anyone tied to the System. Or he guessed it would be since, if it wasn't for his core purifying the mana coming in he would be under the Dark mana corrupting the very air around him.
Yana had once been of Air, so he had been told, so this wasn't surprising in hindsight. Marshall also hoped that less death would result from this particular mixture of mana, though he had a feeling that the Dark aspects would overcome the Air ones as it continued. Just like it had in Yana's life. Hopefully, Pyra, who had gone ahead, would be able to do something about it. It was something they shared now.
Then he heard the growls.
"Of course." And he readied his body for a fight.
---
Yana was standing in the stone library within Mother's Dungeon, and he knew something had gone wrong with his experiment. Clearly an outside element had influenced the results, and he had a feeling it was the System trying to prevent progress again.
The staff hovered near him, but his hand kept missing as he tried to grab it. Such simple tricks of perception shouldn't have worked on him since he was now a dragon, and because of the orb on the staff. It should be rending the System from the mana and preventing anything of it from surviving. Yet, now he was in this illusion and it made him feel uneasy.
"It's because you don't have control." A voice echoed in the stacks of stone, and surprised him. He was formulating another plan of escape when the voice's owner stepped around one of the shelves.
"Hey, brother." Pyra said, her voice calm and even had a sad smile on her face. It confused him to see such an expression, "Did you know that, when I was away from Mother, I got angry and turned dozens of people into ash?" It was a light tone, but still with that sad smile. Yana had been told a few things that he pieced together that story, but she never talked about it.
"I blamed the System for it, of course," She continued, and Yana decided to focus on cataloging the things around him. What could he use to get them out of this place, "But I found I could do it myself if I tried really hard later. The look on their faces as they burned away to nothing, but felt no heat but could see themselves falling away. It's a look I will never forget." Everything seemed so solid around them, and he couldn't see a trace of mana. Which heavily confused him, wasn't everything made from mana? No matter how dense it was?
"Mother made us, but I wasn't perfect. Powerful, sure, but not perfect." Pyra's gaze caused Yana to stop thinking for a moment, and look over at her.
"We are imbalanced, Yana, we are young. I didn't have anyone to help me in my moment, but I will be here for you." Yana looked closer at her, as her outline began to darken and then flake away like embers.
Yana was standing in Mother's library, broken stones tossed around the place, and all her written knowledge shattered. Strange sounds could be heard from the tunnels beyond. He couldn't find his staff, he couldn't find his sister, he suddenly felt like the walls were too close. He had to get out of such a small place, and so he ran towards the sounds.
---
40 it read while shading to orange.