~A Haunting Fortress on the Horizon~

Observing with a keen eye, Kirie noticed that Serin was trying to hide something. He also looked like he was trying to conceal pain. 'Did he get hurt?' Frowning, Kirie slid of the fall tree and made her way towards Serin. Without saying a word, she took his hand that he tried to cover up and pulled the sleeve back. Sure enough, there was a burn mark. Without saying much, or even taking notice of his bracelet, Kirie put her hand over Serin's hand where his burnt mark was. Then sighing out slowly, Kirie's hand glowed dimly as it consumed the burn, easing the pain and healing it. Finally, acting like nothing happened, Kirie pulled her hand away from Serins and walked over to one of the horses. "Oh, you are a beautiful animal, aren't you?" Kirie swooned lowly as she stroked the side of the horse's neck.

She didn't want to make her abilities such a big deal. She could only do so much. She didn't require graditude, she just did it because she felt obligated.

 

The horse Dyre had found was a mare with a dark grey coat, and a black main and tail. Dyre's red fur would stick out against the mare's colour almost too obviously. But it was her best bet of keeping on Varil's trail. All she had to do was track him. She could surely do that, couldn't she? She cut through the rope tethering the horse to the fence, and climbed on after a slight struggle with the nervous creature. The horse didn't have a saddle, but at least she had reins. She lightly dug her heels into the mare's sides, who began to move forward at a trot. Dyre steered her out of the city.

 

His entire life... Elaina had only just found out about the Veritas Magus, and she traveled to come and get it. She followed after Alec. "That is understandable. I'm sorry that happened, but at least you're optimistic." She smiled. "However, do not thank Thanatos. He is an evil man, and you must flush any feelings you have of that sort if you're ever going to be able to defeat him."

Elaina blinked. "And you can't just steal a horse! You don't even know if it's been properly tamed, if it is healthy, or if it is quick!" She stood where Alec told her to wait, and stomped one foot. "Plus, stealing is wrong, y'know!" She called after him.

 

"I know that, but evil man or not," Alec grinned as the distance between him and Elaina grew and the distance between him and the horses diminished, "It's because of him that I get to travel again. He deserves thanks from me for that." He picked up his pace, turning his walk into a skip as he waved his hand. "I'm not stealing it! He said I could use one for the journey!" The lie was obvious, but he was already near the horses and too far ahead of Elaina for her to stop him. As he reached the horses, he made sure to be quiet. The white horse noticed him first and raised its head. "Hey, Ivory," Alec whispered as he raised a hand to pet it. "Sorry, I don't have a carrot with me today," he geniunely apologized. The black stallion was chewing on grass, and paid him no mind. "I need you to stay here, alright, Ivory? I'm going to borrow Ebony," Alec pet the white stallion one more time and walked towards the black one. When he reached it, it finally looked up at him. "Ebony, ready for an adventure?" Alec had taken care of the Elder's horses and his house throughout his time in Etha and had become quite fond of them. "The old man can consider you the thanks he owes me," he told the dark horse as he walked to where the saddles were, silently hoping the Elder wouldn't come outside. He took a saddle and fastened it to Ebony. The horse neighed quietly, but didn't seem to object. "I wish I could take you, too, Ivory, but I'm only one person. I can't ride two horses," he told Ivory. Ebony was his favorite of the two, but he really wished he could take both. He untied Ebony from his pole and jumped up on him. "I'll see you around, Ivory. Tell the old man I said hey," he grinned as he whipped the saddle. Ebony instantly took off down the road, quickly nearing Elaina, but Alec didn't stop her. Instead, he passed her, quickly saying, "Don't get left behind!"

 

Kirie swung herself up on the horse she was just petting, and waited for the others to get moving. She was comfortable on a horse, seeing how she used them to travel to different neighbors on different farms that needed her assistance. "Right, I'm ready to go," she said quietly. It was like she didn't even heal Serin. Just walked past him, touched him briefly on the hand as to say 'hello', and then walked around to her horse. Although she did see something within her mind... she shuttered, trying to block it out. 'But it's your gift... It's their fate...' a voice seemed to have whispered to her. Feeling a bit uneasy, Kirie stroked the horse in hopes to let it slide. She only saw a glimmer of something, but it bothered her.

 

Mya gave a quick snap of her fingers and the horses started to trot forward. She continued to replay the battle in her head. Part of her says that she did what she could've done, bu the other half says that she was completely useless and was basically a sidliner. She shook it out o her head and continued to focus where they were going. If I'm so useless, why did I agree?

 

Elaina scowled. She disapproved of stealing, but realizing it was necessary, decided not to push the matter. A thief once busted into her flower shop and stole several flowers that were hard to come by, especially since she lived in Murex. She watched as Alec fastened a saddle around a beautiful black horse. There was no doubt in her mind: It was definitely a healthy horse.

The horse ran past her, and at the sound of Alec's taunting, Elaina quickly ran to Titania, untied her reins, and hopped in the finely crafted leather saddle on her back. "Hyaa!" She called as she snapped the reins. "Go Titania, catch up to them. Quickly, m'dear." She gasped as she looked over her shoulder, and watched Lucus light up for a moment on her back. That's strange... Titania sped up quickly, and upon catching Alec and Ebony, stopped in her tracks, and waited for further instruction.

"Okay girl... You can act normal now. Are you alright?" Titania stared dumbly up at Elaina, as if nothing strange had happened.

 

Lyn watched as the others got on the horses that she had summoned for them. She hopped onto the last of the horses. A light brown one, with cream around it's feet as well as the tail and mane. She had always been fond of this horse. The others had already begun to move on, so she gave the horse a small tap with her feet and the horse began to trot forward.

 

"Whoa!" Alec pulled on the reins abruptly when Elaina had stopped. Ebony reared back on his hind legs and left out a loud annoyed neigh, angry at being stopped with no warning. It huffed its nose and looked back and Alec could swear there was a message in the horse's eyes saying "What the hell are you doing?" Alec simply patted the horse on the head and directed it to turn around, walking towards the other Veritas Magus owner. "What happened?" He asked, slightly annoyed as well, but even more curious. "Is everything alright?"

 

Julie was taken aback from Raphael's question. How could he not know what was happening? He did have a Veritas Magus after all. The young girl sighed softly, her gaze momentarily hovering towards Raphael's ring. "The town elder didn't tell you anything?" she asked, perking an eyebrow.

 

"Um... Sorry, I..." Elaina stared at Lucus. The Elder did say it had command over animals... Elaina had no clue Titania would follow her instruction so precisely. "Just, Lucus. I accidentally used its power without even realizing it. One of Its powers to control creatures, and they follow your every word."

Elaina almost felt bad for forcing Titania to run like that without asking. She would be more careful next time. "Now, where are we going? We can't just leave without having at least a bit of an idea."

 

Mya clicked and the horse Serin was on calmed down. Mya got off her horse and looked ahead. She didn't see anything, but she knew Serin could sense other Veritas Magus around. Still, something could go wrong. She climbed up a tree to get a better look on what was up ahead.

 

Alec raised a single eyebrow as what Elaina had just said registered. "Control...creatures?" He repeated, looking at Lucus then to Titania, then to Elaina, and back to Lucus again. "Well, isn't that something!" He exclaimed with glee. "That's definitely an interesting power!" He told her. I wonder what all Unda can do? The Elder only said that it has control over water... he wondered to himself. "Oh...where we're going...?" He realized he had no idea either and turned around, looking at the distance. "I figured we should just head to the closest to-" He was interrupted by the voice of someone behind him, in the distance inside the woods. "Who's that?" He asked Elaina, surprised.

 

"I found it completely on accident. I haven't even spoke with the elder. I've only learned about it from my teacher" Raphael thought for a moment. He gazed a his ring.

 

Julie sighed out once more and looked down at her brooch. "There's this person called Thanatos that those with Veritas Magus have to defeat. I was told by the town elder that we need to look for the others that have Veritas Magus and set out to defeat Thanatos," the young girl explained, clutching Tempest. "The town elder told me it'll most likely be difficult, but it's something we still need to do."

 

"So I could die? Sounds fun." Raphael laughed. He flipped Flamma around in his fingers. "Well of we need to start looking now. If this guy is so dangerous then we should start looking right?" Raphael motioned toward the gates of the city. "So where should we start?"

 

Lyn sat on the horse as it trotted forward, watching and waiting. She figured she could offer to fly up and see where the people were, but at the same time she thought not to. She wouldn't want to feel stupid. She decided helping in the calling out would be better, "Hello, anyone?" She said as loudly as Serin had. Her horse stayed calm.