Anime/Manga: Divine❃Rose

A Price Unpaid- Gavin, Zephyr, Thea
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"That case is unrelated to this one," Lahar said to Gavin. "I have no idea what you're talking about anyways. We are currently on his trail, but there's much to be done here. Such as making sure the rituals do not continue... But I see you already took care of that for us," Lahar gestured to Xilyn's fresh corpse. "Yet we need to evaluate the health of the remaining children and see to it that the destruction does not have a chance to spread further. As I said, everyone must be interrogated. After the Magic Council decides their judgement, we will see if they will be let go."

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Izra could see that there was no choice. The mages in the Divine Rose couldn't help her case right now. Though she had nothing to hide regarding the incidents here, she wondered if they would uncover her previous life before becoming an independent mage. And being an independent mage was frowned upon by the Magic Council since they weren't under the laws of the land and the legal guilds. Still, she lowered her head and held out her arms to the guards. "Thank you for trying to help me," she said to the two mages that were conscious. She glanced at Zephyr and smiled a little. "I guess... this is goodbye... Thank you for helping this place and saving Selena..." The magic-nullifying handcuffs were placed heavily on her wrists and then a guard placed a hand on her shoulder, making her follow after Maliel.

"Your work here is done," Lahar said as he looked to the boys. "Though... do be more careful with her in the future," he said, pointing to the unconscious Thea. "Although, no damage has been done to the actual village itself. If you were Fairy Tail, I'm sure that would have happened. At least your Master has her head on straight. After we start our investigation here, we'll see to it that you are paid the Jewels that were offered for your troubles."

The mages in this quest can now wrap everything up here and continue back to the guild. Talk about a possible timeskip to arrive back at the guild no later than 24 hours.

 

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He just stood there griping he weapon tighter and tighter. 'I have no idea what you're talking about anyways. We are currently on his trail, but there's much to be done here. Such as making sure the rituals do not continue.' Of course the person had no clue what he said. Just pretend that it never happened. That was just how things worked with the Council. He wished that they could somehow take Izra with them maybe they could. Now would be a good time for Thea to wake up he thought. "What if we take Izra with us and she becomes apart of our guild?" Saying this he knew that he really did not have a say in who joined and who didn't but It did not hurt to offer Izra a place to call home. That said he knew the council was not about to listen to him. 'Your work here is done,' Lahar said as he looked to the boys. 'Though... do be more careful with her in the future,' he said, pointing to the unconscious Thea. "What do you mean more careful? She was the reason that thing is dead." He said this pointing to Xilyn's fresh corpse. He looked to Zephyr who looked like he was about to pass out. "When she wakes we tell her everything." He leaned over a scoped up Thea in his arms, considering Zephyr did not look like he was in any shape to carry Thea. He let a spark of wind heal Thea. Some of the damage of fight was now gone. He then turned to Zephyr and said, "ready to go?" He just had to hope that Zephyr could make it back because he was not sure how he was going to get Thea and Zephyr back.

 

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He sighed in defeat, he didn't think that the magic council would be all that flexible in listening to them. The fact that his last name sparked no reactions wasn't surprising either, but maybe it was a good thing that his father hadn't done anything to get the attention of the Magic Council. Zephyr felt a bit of surprise when Izra had smiled at him, but when that brief feeling had faded and he returned the smile. "No problem, it wouldn't have gone as well if it wasn't for you." As she was escorted away, Zephyr noted the way that Laharl spoke about Thea and it didn't take a genius to figure out to he wasn't fond of her. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

~We Time Skipping in this Mission~

When all was said and done, Zephyr nodded to Gavin and they got on a carriage with Thea in tow. Contrary to how he felt and the way his body was basically screaming at him to rest, he was the one that carried Thea to the carriage and back to the front door of the guild.

 

Once the group arrived to the Guild Hall, Master Midarah and another young mage was standing there waiting for them at the top of the steps.

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Master Midarah was holding her rabbit in her arms, looking on to the tired group with worry. "We received news what happened not too long ago..." She moved down the steps with the other guild mate following closely, examining them all. "I would ask you how you are, but that seems a little redundant. I'm glad you all made it back... I was worried."

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The other mage stepped forward towards Zephyr who was holding Thea. Cera had been in the guild for a few years and filled in as a secondary healer when Samuel was off on missions. She was efficient with spiritual magic, which also served as a healing property. She wasn't seen around quite often as Samuel since she was usually sought after in the town for ailments and medical aid. She smiled gently to Zephyr and nodded to Thea. "I'll take her from here," she said in a calming voice. She carefully took the girl into her arms and cradled her close while stroking her hair out of her face. "You burned yourself out again..." Cera tsked with her tongue and then looked to the two boys. "I will see to her first. You two can follow me." She then turned away and walked up the steps, heading to the Healing Room where she could get started on helping Thea restore her energy again and see if there was anything else that needed to be done.

Master Midarah watched Cera go with Thea in her arms and then her focus was back on the two mages that were left. "I want a full report... but after you rest. The message from the Magic Council sounded as if the job ended being more challenging than what it led on to be..."

 

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"Sorry about that." Zephyr already tended to feel bad when someone worried about him, but Midarah was a special case. When it came to her, he hated hearing that she was worried even if it was something he had no control over. Still, all things considered it could've been much worse for them. "Alright, I'll do what I can." Zephyr said, taking a step forward. The instant he'd made that step it felt like all the strength left his body. He couldn't even stand, let alone move. "Oh crap." Zephyr realized what was happened as his vision blurred, making the last thing he saw was the ground getting closer to his face.

 

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Master Midarah saw Zephyr go down and quickly moved to grab him. The bunny hopped out of her arms and safely on the ground while Master Midarah swooped in and caught the mage just before he hit the ground. "I got you," Master Midarah said quietly to him. She picked him up and held him as well in her arms. Although she seemed smaller and fragile, she was stronger than she appeared. "I'll take it from here. Go rest, Gavin," she said to the last mage standing. "You deserve it." With that, she took Zephyr and followed after Cera to the Healing Room.

~Time Skippy to About an Hour Later~

Cera had finished taking care of Thea not too long ago. She helped the girl regain her energy through Spiritual Magic, and now it was just a matter of resting and time before she woke up again. Most of the physical wounds had been miraculously healed, so that made her job easier. Thea was laid on a bed, wrapped carefully in a blanket and with a cloth placed on her forehead to keep her temperature leveled just in case.

Cera was now sitting by Zephyr with her hands hovering over his chest as a soft, golden glow encased her hands and wrapped around his frame. She was working through his energy reserves, helping Zephyr to build up his strength once more. "Both of you have given Master Midarah a heart attack," Cera mumbled under her breath. There were incense that were lit that smelled like flowers, and the window was opened to allow a gentle spring breeze through the room. The sound of birds could be heard outside as well, making this a peaceful, and healing atmosphere. There were even small windchimes that were hung on the window to make it even more relaxing.

 

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As Zephyr's body slowly regained it strength through a natural process, Cera's magic had help to speed up the process of his strength returning to him. After a while he started to stir, slowly waking up and hearing voices. Well a voice, Thea's to be exact. He had regained enough of his senses to realize who was speaking right. Though, the only thing he had clearly heard was her last question. "Yeah, she's gone." Zephyr tried sitting up and was quickly pushed back to a laying position by Cera. At least he was able to move around without feeling any pain. Not well enough to actually walk around, not if Cera could help it. He turned his head to look in Thea's direction. "How are you feeling though?"

 

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That was good to hear. He'd assumed that burning she was feeling was similar to the pain he felt after over using his own magic. He'd made a slight movement to adjust himself, seeing as he wasn't going to be allowed to get up for the tome being. Might as well make himself comfortable while he laid here. "They're fine, no one else got hurt." Zephyr planned to see what Midarah thought about everything that had happened with the magic council, nothing about it sat right with him. Which brought him to his next point. "I did all this to myself, don't worry."

 

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Cera finally removed her hands from Zephyr, curling her fingers into fists to stop them from glowing. “Seems you two have had quite the battle,” she commented as she nodded to the older mage. “You’re free to sit up, but don’t push yourself if you feel faint. As for you...” She turned in the swivel stool back to Thea. She placed a hand on the girl’s cheek and raised an eyebrow. “Mmm, you still have the magic fever,” Cera mused out loud. “Lay down... everything is fine now. You’re safe here.” Cera gently nudged Thea’s shoulder to lay back down while her hand hovered right to the middle of her chest. “Here, I will try to cool your magic streams... We want you to feel one hundred percent again if you’re going to chase Samuel and Everette to play dress-up when they get back.” Cera smiled at Thea and winked, then focused on the healing. Her hand glowed blue this time, and a soothing, cool affect would come over the girl. There was no need to refill her energy reserves now, only to stabilize them. “The Magic Council being involved... seems it was a serious job,” Cera said as she opened one eye, glancing at Zephyr while keeping her hand over Thea.

 

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He had sent Storm to look and follow the mayor but The mayor had seemed to slip away. When they arrived back at the guild hall Midarah was waiting for them. Midarah had said something about receiving news what happened. Midarah wanted a full report on what happened. 'The message from the Magic Council sounded as if the job ended being more challenging than what it led on to be..' "Nothing we could not handle." 'I'll take it from here. Go rest, Gavin.' "The mayor is out there and we need to find him." He then left Midarah heading up to his room. He had checked on Thea and Zephyr every 15 minutes or so but the last time he had been in to see them was 15 minutes ago. He had filled Midarah in on some of what happened in the town but had said that the rest should come when they were all together. He was still was somewhere in the guild castle.

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A phoenix sat in the med bay on a perch in the corner looking down at Thea and Zephyr. Gavin had took him to keep a eye one the two sense he could not be there all the time. Speaking of Gavin he was starting to get worried as he had not been back in 15 minutes or so now. In a low voice the bird said, "Well It is good to see you two are awake." He did not like taking to others but he did so when he thought it was right and he needed to. That said he did not mind to much.

 

He had been mildly succesful in his initial attack, leaving a vulnerable spot on the snake's back, however it was out of reach for now and as Conrad hoped to direct his attack towards the opposite side of the snake's head that Everette was targeting the great Serpent reared back and made for Everette, only to be protected by Samuel's magic, Conrad looked over the mage was giving every last bit of his magic power to make sure the two of them had a chance at defeating this beast. "Samuel, withdraw to the trees. Everette and I got this." Conrad called over to him, he wasn't being mean, with most of his magical energy spent on saving Renza and keeping the villagers safe today he was at the end of his rope, it'd be better if he stayed out now, for if Samuel were hurt badly or worse poisoned they were in big trouble.

The Serpent however wasted no time in attempting to make short work of them in spraying poisoned water their way, he could protect himself and Everette had a way to protect himself too, but Samuel... Everette rushed over and cast a reflection spell to shield Samuel, Conrad utilised his own reflection to deflect the water sprayed at him, he had his armour but having ended up in the poisoned river he was certain that getting hit by that spray would still have it's effects on him, he already had a bad feeling about having been in the water and in such close proximity to the poison, he couldn't focus on that now though.

Before Conrad could try and get on top of the snake again, Everette leaped on the back of the serpent in the hopes of utilising the weak spot he had created, so Conrad fell into the role of distraction hoping to keep the snake steady so Everette could end this. Conrad charged up a sphere of lightning in his hand, more to draw attention to himself than anything else, the magical orb softly glowing in the dark of night. He waved it around in his free hand to make sure the Serpent's attention was on him when Everette dealt his blow. Conrad remained wary though, ready to dodge out of the way very quickly if necessary.​

 

Village in Peril- Conrad, Everette, Samuel

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The sword driven into its neck was a fatal blow. And with the magic flowing through the sword, the creature was sure to be finally dead. Though the sword was not big enough to behead completely, a good chunk had be roughly cut out. The poison from around the snake seemed to evaporate into thin air in thick steam while the snake landed with a heavy thud on the ledge where Samuel was standing previously, but had retreated back as Conrad told him to after Everette saved his butt. The snake's eyes turned white and lifeless, and it's jaw was agape with it's pearly white fangs glinting in the moonlight.

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Samuel etched from the bushes he was hiding behind, feeling completely useless in being able to help his friends. But now that the snake seemed dead, all was right with the world... Hopefully. Samuel was catching his breath, looking up at his comrades. "Everyone is okay, yeah...?" He then looked at the snake fangs and shuddered. "Alright... antidote, coming up." Samuel took some vials out of his jacket that were secured and safe, and moved so he was standing by the head, just by the fangs. The fangs were oozing venom at this point and was dripping downward, which made Samuel's job all the more easier. The mage placed a leather, magic lined glove on his hand and then held up one flask at a time, collecting as much as he could in each vial.

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Conrad did what he had to, to make sure Everette could deal the deathblow. When the serpent was dead and the poison was evaporating into a mist, Everette however seemed unharmed by it. Samuel joined them again having hidden away from the battle. "Nicely done everyone." Conrad said as he dispelled his armour with a quick gesture. In the moonlight a starting rash could be seen all over him and just like Everette and Samuel Conrad was exhausted, more so than he normally would have been. He didn't feel exactly briliantly. "I don't feel too well...kinda itchy too..." Conrad said. He wasn't in too terrible a state with the sickness only being in the starting stages as he didn't gulp down any of the water. "I'll be okay." Conrad added, Samuel was working on an antidote and Conrad was glad they had destroyed the apparant source of the poison and were now able to get an antidote for the condition.

He saw Everette drawing the mark he had seen when on the back of the serpent. "I think I have seen that symbol before... but I don't remember where exactly..." Conrad said, he tried to think of where he had seen it. "It must have been working with people... those guards they weren't killed by a serpent, the wounds didn't really match anything a serpent this size would do to a person." Conrad explained, he looked around in the low light. There were trails that implied the snake had been around. "In addition it's like you mentioned the water supply was not connected to this river it had to be done by someone having access to the serpent's venom..." Conrad said putting puzzle pieces together. "Either way without the serpent to provide new venom the water in the well will clean up eventually. We got a critical piece in the plan of whoever did this, so they can't continue poisoning the water. We did what had to be done. We can get an antidote and cure these people." Conrad was exhausted but he had to hold it together just until they got back to the village, maybe they could all get some rest when they got back.​

 

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Zephyr nodded at Cera as slowly sat up. By the time he was completely upright, he'd placed both his hands on his lap and sat there for a bit. "It wasn't at first, but when you find out the mayor is sacrificing kids to a spider demon makes it so." The mayor was still missing and likely had a grudge against them for ruining his plans. It didn't mean much to him alone, but Xiyln words were still fresh in his mind. Someone was targeting the guild and the mayor might be working with them.

"They did, but you weren't in trouble. They weren't mad anyone either." Granted he got the impression that Laharl was always irritated about something from the way he interacted with them. When Storm had spoken to him, Zephyr too gave him a nod. It wasn't often that he'd seen it speak to him. He then saw the way Thea was sitting and spoke once again. "I was going to speak to Midarah about them, if you want to come with."

 

He was getting really tired of this, his few options he had was fight them more, threaten to destroy the wagon or let Lakoda take over. It wasn't like he could attack the shadows them-self's anything he did to them would just do nothing.
He leaned over picking up a sizable chunk of rock and threw it with all his might at Lytton head. "Let me take over Lakoda". He then reached for the rains so she could do something. It wasn't like he could do much. He was secretly wishing Yukyo could take care of the bird, he also was keeping an eye out for the other mage that seemed speedy.

 

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He had spent most of the last hour looking for clues for where the mayor might of went. When he was not checking on Thea and Zephyr he was in his room looking for any clue of where the mayor might be. So far he had been relatively unsuccessful. For the most part all he had found was information they gathered on the mission or they knew before hand. He had not found anything new so far. There was a couple of books on his desk that he had been reading to see if he could find a sort of clue. He walked over to his window and pushed it open. He was not sure what to do about the mayor but he was not about to give up.

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Storm had just stayed where he was. Thea then nodded at him as did Zephyr. Something then came up about the mayor. 'It wasn't at first, but when you find out the mayor is sacrificing kids to a spider demon makes it so.' "Gavin had sent me to see if I could find the mayor. Unfortunately the mayor seemed to have slipped away. Perhaps he went in to a underground tunnel or something. In any case the mayor is more then likely to stay hidden for some time." Then something came up about seeing Midarah. "I can go see if I can get her to come here if you wish." If they wanted to rest more then the best course of action would be to bring Midarah here.