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[b]Meeting with Samuel[/b]
Olivia screamed at Remiel to stop what he was doing, tears and despair clouding her aura, but she was being held back. There seemed to be a general consensus to simply end the life of the one who had brought them together in the first place, the one who they had sworn to avenge by joining the academy and the Cause, the one who they had loved so dearly. Olivia could not fathom it, even if she knew that Samuel was not the same boy she had grown to cherish. “Remi, stop!” she shouted, it was naught. The girl was afraid for the both of them. She knew that something was different with Samuel, but she could not put her finger on it; he was more than what met the eye.

A low-pitched rumbling sound descended upon itself as thick, vile smog suddenly sprouted from Samuel’s presence and engulfed the spacious shaft that they were in. It overwhelmed Remiel’s thirst for power and knowledge in the fraction of a heartbeat, and as the blackened particles parted, [url=http://i.imgur.com/SgvRd9i.jpg]a stupendous being of hellish nightmares[/url] emerged. It swallowed that which had previously devoured all in its path akin to how a black hole diminished stars. The creature, that Olivia could only assume to be Samuel, wrapped its massive fist around Remiel’s entire torso, its crusted fingers and nails overlapping each other by several inches, and lifted the man off of the catwalk. It stared deep into Remiel’s eyes and soul, uttering growling words of some incomprehensible, ancient language; and stared down Magdalena with its hollow, molten, gaping eyes as she attempted to approach with an attack. 

The dreadful display was over within seconds. After speaking to Remiel and intimidating Magdalena, imposing visions and dreams upon them — in which Atlas drifts across the cosmos, barren and dark, towards a war of beings beyond the worlds of men, where realities clash when this imposter dominates creation, and mankind recreated serve eternal — the creature moved disproportionately fast to the displacement device, where it metamorphosed into Samuel’s being again. The man glanced at Olivia before entering the radiant energies of the teleportation; she could only gaze upon him with horror and despair. 

The vortex and fluctuation of opposing energies within the shaft had caused the facility’s foundations to shatter; the whole structure was coming down upon them. Olivia set herself free from whoever it was that held her down and ran over to Remiel. She grabbed his arm and placed it around her neck to offer him support, asking Emily to help her. “Come on, we have to go!” she shouted, as she led them towards the displacement device. Even if some of her squad members had spirits that could transport them out of the soon to be ruins, it would not have been fast enough. Their only escape was by teleporting into the dark unknown.

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[center][url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFiZF-ISqVk]*[/url][/center]
[b]The Tree of Life[/b]
Everything happened so fast. One minute he was standing there clear as day, the next he was gone. She could not understand it, nor could she remember if it was real. Had she dreamt all this time? Perhaps it was an elaborate hoax conjured by a student at the academy, or perhaps someone had slipped heavy drugs into one of her drinks at the graduation party; these were scenarios that she wished to be probable, but knew in her heart that they could not. The truth was that the boy she loved beyond any reasonable measure was alive, but at the same time not. He was not himself, nor was she. Something happened to her on that catwalk; something that she could feel beneath her skin, but could not explain. It was a splinter in her mind, driving her mad. Olivia could not shake the image of that hellish creature out of her head. Beings like that only existed in fiction and fairy tales, thousands of years ago. It was almost as if Samuel had taken the form of a kami.

Upon awakening from her unconscious state imposed by the turbulent teleportation, Olivia realized what it was that had changed about her. Her spirits were gone. They had been absorbed by a presence out of legends, standing not three feet away from where she was lying on the muddied ground. It was the Tree of Life, the most spirit dense entity on the planet. The girl was astounded by the sight before her, and by the infinite shades of blue that evolved in the air as though unaffected by time and space, but she was also intimidated. Olivia had read about this tree in her studies at the academy, but she never believed it. To her, it was just an urban legend conjured by peasants to inspire hope.

Olivia managed upon her feet, seemingly without any notable injuries. She had an uncanny ability to always emerge from commotions unscathed. The girl could feel blissful heat radiating from the tree, and see spirits of myriads flowing in the atmosphere around her. The three brother spirits of lightning had left her, and for good reason. They were extremely strong and impersonal spirits, not looking kindly upon those with weaknesses of the slightest form. But she did not mourn, as they had aided her in a world where Samuel did not exist. His return changed everything about her being, about her world. She was clouded by her own obsession, mesmerized by an avatar of something beyond her comprehension, and it had taken its toll.

As she reached for the tree to feel its texture, Olivia suddenly absorbed a new set of spirits. Their entrance into her body was tranquil, as attaining spirits always was, but something was different with these peculiar phantoms. They were completely blank, and they did not impose any emotions or words upon her; there was only silence. It was unlike anything she had ever felt, entirely different from her previous, beloved spirits of lightning and wind. These ghastly things were of pure energy, of formless gray, and of absolute balance between extremes. Olivia felt confused in her newly found strength, yet somehow more confident in her place in the world. Her internal pendulum had stopped. As she retracted her arm, some manner of thick, almost liquid matter sparked from her fingertips, disintegrating in their nature. She was suddenly distracted by the thought of her friends, but the curiosity and the air of mystery surrounding these new spirits was intriguing to Olivia.

Her father’s leather jacket that she had worn so vigorously throughout the years and throughout the recent endeavors had finally met its demise. The sews and stitches by the shoulders connecting the sleeves had been torn, the back had caught damage from energy residue leaking and spewing forth from the displacement device, the zipper and buttons had been torn, and it was oozing of sewer. Olivia took it off and tossed into a heap of rubble and debris at the base of what appeared to be some kind of factory building. Looking around, she noticed that she was standing in the ruins of an old town. There was no identifiable landmark anywhere to be seen, and Olivia’s cellphone did not have any service; in fact, it did not work at all. She muttered some incomprehensible words.

“Is everyone alright?” she inquired, as she did a headcount of her squad that was scattered in the immediate area around the tree. To her horror, some of them were missing. The displacement device had not been calibrated to carry all of their mass, and thus split them up into different target locations. It was no wonder, she thought. Samuel’s escape through the machine had brought the entire facility to its knees, and had it not been for their own break away through the same contraption, all of them had been dead now. “Stay here, I’ll be right back,” she said and had a look around for those who were missing. It did not take long before it became apparent that portions of her squad were nowhere to be found amongst the ruins. Being away from the rest of her friends, she took a moment to reflect on things and what she had seen.

Olivia seated herself on a heap of rubble. She attempted to spark life into her cellphone, but it was hopeless. Wherever they were was a dead zone, or the tree was causing some kind of interference due to its high spirit density. “Damn it,” she muttered and put her phone back into the right pocket of her tight, denim jeans; utmost uncomfortable. While doing so, she noticed that her originally fluorescent-white sneakers were muddied up beyond recognition. It was probably not as bad as it looked, but to Olivia it was a disaster. At least her plain, white t-shirt was relatively intact. As she ruffled her hair in frustration, she noticed something that was barely visible in the shadows of the building; the early hours of the morning had yet to cast any considerable sunlight. With a bit of effort and superior strength of her Guardian nature, Olivia managed to dig up an enormous broadsword. It was peculiar that the thing had ended up here. The ruins were obviously ancient, but this sword could not possibly have been wielded by a normal man. From tip to handle, the weapon was five to six feet long with a single-edged, large blade approximately one foot wide. The steel was of dark-grayish coloration, although lighter shades to mark the edge of the blade itself, scarred and muddied, and the hand guard appeared to be bolted or riveted into place with designed plating. Lastly, there were two holes situated at the base of the blade, near the hand guard, for whatever esoteric purposes. Olivia had no conception of its proper weight, as it was extremely light to her, but it looked heavy.

The girl returned to her sitting at the tree, and she [url=http://i.imgur.com/p1funO7.jpg]rammed the sword into the ground[/url] before it. She inspected the sword with care and wondered whatever happened to her gunblade. It must have been confiscated, stolen by the Nautilus guards when they were captured at the artillery platforms earlier that night. Her thoughts soon returned to the sword in front of her. Where did it come from? Who wielded it and why did they leave it here? Did this mean that someone had found the tree before her? It was possible, but the legends told that the Tree of Life was always moving, which is why it was nearly impossible to find it. [i]How could a tree move? Did it uproot itself and just walk away?[/i] Olivia thought. Perhaps it was not that peculiar in a world full of monsters and spirits.

“Well, at least I have a weapon again,” she said to herself before finding Remiel, who was resting on the ground nearby with Emily. Olivia bowed down before them, resting her palms against her kneecaps. “How’s he doing?” she inquired of Emily, but then also speaking to Remiel directly: “Remi, are you okay?” she said. Olivia did not have the time or luxury for thinking about herself right now, even if her eyes and lips were swollen beyond measure and her tear canals were dry.