[b][i]Palace of the Balchranae, Renovation[/i][/b]

[b][i]One Day Earlier[/i][/b]
[sub]Collab with [@Letter Bee][/sub]

Luminita rose to her feet, stretching to release the tension in her muscles. Sleeping late was not usually a part of her daily routine, but for situations such as these, extra rest was imperative. A meeting would take place today, one of great importance. She would have to get dressed quickly. 

At her side, the trusted companion, Mogquis was perched diligently at his post. 

"Good morning, Miss Draculea! You are awake quite late today, kupo."

Luminita gave a tired nod to her moogle, before tossing the covers off of her bed, making her way to her dresser, retrieving a uniform, typical of those involved in the Byzantine Special Operations, but with a particular insignia, that of the Order of the Dragon, emblazoned proudly on the sleeves and chest. 

"I trust you sent out those invitations as I asked?"

The Moogle looked at the ground in a mixture of confusion and embarrassment

"Hmm?" Luminita pressed her inquiry

"No...kupo. I must have forgotten."

Luminita scowled, "Then I trust you know to get to it right away, we do not have any time to spare!"

With that, Luminita finished, excusing the moogle to tend to his duties. Exiting from her chamber, she was to seek out her fellow leader on this assignment.

Tocsax was weary - Despite his youthful form, he was prematurely aged inside. Clad in his dark robes, he waited to meet Luminita in one of the palace's more covert briefing rooms, a secret chamber hidden beneath one of the ladies' powder rooms. This secret chamber was large enough to fit five people, a desk, a miniature computer, and some documents and a few small pistols - Those ought to be enough. Once Luminita had found her way in, he looked at her and said, "You arrived just in time. I hope that the invitations to the squad that will secure the 'contingency world' have been sent?"

Luminita winced at the question. "Unfortunately, there was a clerical error with my assistant." She sighed as she spoke again, "Mogquis is sending the invitations as we speak, they should be arriving any time now."

Lumnita quickly changed the subject before the other could interject with a quip of his own, "As I'm sure you're aware, we lost contact with our scouts in the target world quite recently, so we suspect that knowledge of the area may have been severely compromised if the Local Warlord proclaiming himself as the Messiah knows to directly target our agents. It looks like things will be more difficult than we previously anticipated."

Tocsax sighs at that, "Are there any hints that Leo had managed to contact this 'local warlord' after all? The main assumption of the mission was that for once, we can get there before he has an inkling of what we're up to. Has that been nullified?"

Luminita nodded, "From what we gather about this character is that he has proclaimed himself to be the Jewish Messiah, by way of an angel proclaiming revelation to him directly. We hypothesize that this "Angel" may have some connection to Leo, and has directed him to begin targeting those they can identify with us. Beyond that, we have no information, not even this so-called messiah's name. We're dangerously in the dark here, and it may be for the benefit of our invitees if we keep them...on a need to know basis, lest they compromise our mission."

Luminita pointed to the Levant, "We'll start out here in Israel, the Axumites don't have a strong presence here, unlike in most of Africa or in Arabia, so we can stay hidden until necessary...but once we have to go into Arabia...the Axumites have much of Arabia under occupation, so the danger is high there..."

"We can probably go east, to Persia, and take a ship from the Sassanid Empire to Mecca, and bypass most of the Axumite occupation." Luminita smiled, "And from there, we get the two prophets away from danger, east to..." moving her finger across the map eastward to Kaifeng in China. "Here. Where the warlords can't reach them, and where they can flourish in the height of civilization."

"Sound plan, no?" she inquired, smiling. 

"It is," Tocsax was impressed. "But two things. One, is the Destined Star - Capella Auriga - one of the prospective invitees, and has the Stellar Keychain meant to amplify her powers been sent to her yet? Two... There are ancient notes from the Mysterious Tower of Epibatai that something - Or someone - powerful and connected with the Old Keyblade Order is lying in wait inside the [i]Green Sahara[/i] universe. That something might be an asset we'd need to deny to Leo... Or try and get to [i]our[/i] side, if possible."

"The Star Child has been sent the keychain with her invitation", Luminita assured Tocsax. [i]"At least she will once Mogquis sends the invitation out."[/i] 

She pondered on this information, "I will be sure to keep my eyes open. I have done some research on this area. The talk of a lost empire, from a fallen one of the ancient ranks..." Luminita snapped back, "But this is all mythology, no? Even if it's worth looking into, could a human being live that long?" She pondered over it a bit longer, It seemed unlikely, but more bizarre things have come to pass before. "It's only been recently that we could even contact this world, could it not be that whatever this power was, that it has passed, and that is why we can make contact with the Green Sahara?" 

Luminita caught sight of a pink flash in the corner of her eye as Mogquis entered into the chamber. "Miss Draculea, Mr. Tocsax, kupo. The invitations have been sent out by way of moogles, they should arrive by tomorrow."

"Wonderful news!" Luminita proclaimed, "Our plan is set into motion. And with that, I should go prepare the accommodations and debriefing for our new arrivals." She turned back to Tocsax, "Do you have any final points to discuss, Tocsax?"

Tocsax had a final thing to say, "Just this. Whatever happens, [i]one[/i] of our groups has to succeed in their mission. Otherwise, all [i]will[/i] be lost, including our contingencies."

[b][i]Across the Multiverse[/i][/b]
[sub][@Tenma Tendo][@Double][/sub]
At Luminita's orders, Mogquis sent off a fleet of moogles on gummi ships to the various lands inhabited by the chosen few who would go on to aid on the journey to secure the Green Sahara against the forces of darkness, each was sent with a simple note, inviting them to the cause.

[i] Come quickly, chosen few, to the Palace of the Balchranae in the world of Renovation, for the thousands of Universes in Existence stand on the edge of a knife. From there, to the world of Green Sahara, and thence forward to the Kingdom of Israel, and in Israel, look for a village called Bethlehem and fly above it as a Star. There, a legion of Heartless seek to slay a child named Yeshua, a child born of a Virgin Birth. Do not let them touch him, or all is lost. After you've saved Bethlehem, go to the western side of a Peninsula called Arabia, and save a city called Mecca from an invading army calling themselves the Kingdom of Axum. Do not let a single Axumite - Or their own legions of Heartless - get within 50 miles of the city. Another birth of immense importance is to occur there.[/i]

The Moogle sent to the world of Capella was equipped with a further note. 
[i]As proof that we are right, we are sending, with the Moogle, a symbol; a Keychain that empowers the Keyblade,[/i] The Moogle bringing the message then brought a triangle of platinum with three symbols at its corners, one a pure golden circle, and the other two finely engraved pictures of Frankinsence and Myrrh. [i]Attach this Keychain onto Halcyon, and attain great power.[/i]

[b][i]Palace of the Balchranae, Renovation[/i][/b]

[b][i]Present Day[/i][/b]

"Good morning, Miss Draculea, kupo." Mogquis chimed, "The Invitations have been sent out, the arrivals should be coming soon. We should make our way to the throne room as soon as we can." 

Luminita shook her head, "We are on a need to know basis, for the moment. We will have to skip the throne room and explain the mission to our companions on the ride to the Green Sahara." With that, Luminita went off to the airfield to meet with the arrivals, and hurry them onto the Gummi ship for quick transfer over to Green Sahara in one piece.

While Meri and Sunja were in the midsts of their argument, Auxentia took the time to examine her surroundings. The little girl would be quite the humorous sight, being dressed almost like a small ancient Roman soldier, in makeshift armor fashioned from the broken pieces of those dead soldiers she scavenged it from, her tunic, long turned to a sallow color from hiding in the dirt from horrors, but a red cloak covering her body with the oversized helmet on her head. Perhaps she would even be somewhat cute if it wasn't for the ravages of malnutrition leaving her repulsively skinny, and the dirt and grime on her giving not only a greasy look, coupled with her matted, oily hair, but the odor of a child who couldn't remember the last time she had bathed. Anyone around her would be thrilled when the filthly little girl would be taken back to be scrubbed clean and made presentable. Auxentia herself thought about this, there was no way she was in any position to be presented to royalty like this. Still, this was [i]Roman[/i] royalty, and she would be damned if she cared to be respectful to the same people who enslaved her and put her in this position. Yet, she wasn't sure if these were even the same Romans, the Palace was, while so familiar, also so different from what she remembered in her brief time in Constantinople. Still, she went along with it, best not to aggravate people who have the means to turn you into cheese with their swords should you offend them. 

As the team was herded, Auxentia got a look at another woman, Luminita, making her way to the airfield as they left. She wondered what she was up to before snapping back to reality, lest she get in the way of any of the others. Auxentia wasn't sure what to make of them, the two women in the front seemed rather disinterested in the others, who the girl found difficult to parse. What surprised her the most of all was the appearance of a boy her age. The thought of anyone else as old as her being recruited for such a mission was unfathomable. She gripped onto the book in her hand tightly, pressing it against her chest. She wondered, if that boy also had some special power like what the Gnosticum gave to her. 

Meanwhile, Meri was trying her best not to make eye contact with the infuriated nun casting deathly eyes in her direction. She understood the suspicion, but still was bothered by it. The Selenites had done terrible things, that much was true, but Meri had left that all behind, turned against Chang-e's machinations and fought to defend humanity. Still, she understood the hostility, yet it looked like only this Sunja figure was also from her homeworld, as the others didn't seem to look at her with the same hateful gaze. Meri removed her hat, as her long, rabbit-like ears stood up to listen around the palace. Such strange new sounds and sights, humans had advanced quite far by this period, almost like that of what was being done on the Moon. Unlike Sunja, who seemed lost in time shock, Meri was quite aware of what the technology of the Byzantines was, or was able to infer it by what the Selenites had of their own. 

Her ears perked up at the request for medical attention, to which Meri shook her head, "I'm in good health, but I think that kid there might need to get looked at." She said, pointing over to Auxentia, who quickly pulled her helmet over her face as eyes turned to her, "Poor thing looks like she hasn't eaten or bathed in months." 

Auxentia trembled at the thought of the others judging her. It was true, and she was lucky enough to have been given the food and drink by the man they sent to escort her to the palace, but her stomach [i]did[/i] still hurt, and she did have a few injuries that were never properly treated. A moogle quickly dispensed a small drink to the girl, some kind of liquid, instructing her to drink. A quick drink of the potion gave Auxentia an instant rush of energy, unlike anything she had felt before. As the Moogle spirited away the empty glass, the group continued moving along to the Throne room, where all was explained to them. 

Parallel worlds, an evil wizard, and a quest to save everything. Auxentia found it all very difficult to digest, but she tried her best. Meanwhile, Meri and Sunja listened intently, with Sunja speaking first, "A simple enough goal, but if I may inquire, Nobelissimos, how shall we go about putting an end to this Leo's plans?"