Two figures clad in black cloaks, pushed through the wind torrent hills of Avelyn. It had taken several days to cut through the perpetual foothills, but they weren't inclined to turn back now. Leading, a man donning the white mask of a fox, marked in red stripes. A Kitsune from the small village of Minnit. The Second, seemed only older due to his scraggly brown beard and distinguished gray soaked eyes. A Scientist from the realm of Nightgale. Both, lost in thought and a paltry nostalgia as they drew near the now ruined village of Minnit.

"It's ironic, don't you think?" The masked man bellowed over the whipping wind. He didn't need to look back to know his partner was listening. "Returning here after all these years." He clenched his cloak tighter as the wind howled and screamed. He wanted to ask the more transparent question, but did not want to express distrust with his partner. Arsto had been researching the Red Sage and the Lost Empire for many years, and the first major clue they had received led them right back to Hadyn's home.

Arsto had no issues distinguishing Hadyn's thoughts, however. "I had my suspicions." He responded vaguely as the wind begin to weary and die. Minnit wasn't far off. "You've heard the stories of the Emerald Dreamers. You've seen the archaic tablets." There was a moment of silence. "All the clues indicate their imperishable connection to The Empire. The Red Sage was a guardian of their secrets and intermediary between The Empire and the Realm of Dreams."

Hadyn's thoughts began to escape. The Realm of Dreams. The Emerald Forest. He'd dreamed of it many times. The emerald veins of root that flowed through a timeless forest of lush green life. The solitary statues of seemingly lifeless beings he couldn't even comprehend. The stone slab that emanate a Crimson dominance. He hadn't told Arsto of his dreams, but that's all they were, right?

"It's said to be on a plane distant and distinct from anything else." Arsto continued. "What kind of creatures do you know that can practically create entire realms distant and unattainable to any insane thing that might roam the Nexus and beyond?"

"A Kitsune." The wind had almost completely died down now. Hadyn could smell the ash and mildew on the horizon. "So, that's what you were doing there that day?" His throat clammed up, even mentioning it. The day his brother died. The day all his people died. The guilt began to creep up on him like an old friend. It was his fault. 

As if on cue, Arsto interrupted his thought. "It wasn't your fault. Pau's death was not on your hands. Your brother's endless torments were to blame for that." The memories came rushing back, as Arsto stared ahead at Minnit. He could almost see the clouds of fire that had once suspended over the village in anguished rage. He had rushed to stop what would happen next, but none of them realized the full extent of what was happening. "A Kitsune's reaction..." He paused. "Anyone's reaction to a loss like that would cause that kind of strife. A Kitsune, even more so. Your spirit raging in defiance like that was out of your control."

Hadyn wasn't sure if it was the conversation or something else, but his body felt heavier for it. He strained to ignore the pain as his feet fell begrudgingly against the dirt path.

Arsto continued. "But yes, that's part of the reason I was there." He pulled a tiny emerald from his pocket. The item that had led them back to Minnit. Within it's glow, time seemed to not exist, as the reflections played out. A man, composed with a stature of great power. His face could not be seen, but his demeanor spoke for itself. Strikes that left no creature in it's wake alive as he led an army against dark forces. It was obscure, but lucid once it caught your eye. A man following behind, a rugged banner hanging from his belt. The Ancient mark of an Kitsune.

"Do you think my people were once part of the Empire?" Hadyn abruptly asked.

"I'm not really sure." Arsto replied. "If they were, it seemed like they'd had died off with the rest of the Empire." Arsto regretted the comment. Except for Hadyn, there were dead.

Hadyn didn't seem to mind, even as he stopped abruptly, staring upward and then to the sides. Before Arsto could ask, a sudden surge of energy seemed to spark from Hadyn. Arsto could make out the brief outline of the Kitsune's fox spirit revealing itself as it began to break down wards that were placed around the village.

"It seems our contacts were right." Arsto grimaced, staring into the remains of the village, beyond the wards. "There must be something living up here. And if they are still right, whatever it is, is dangerous and powerful." Arsto instinctively stepped behind Hadyn. "We need to be prepared for anything."

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Hadyn's eyes scanned the village as they wandered through, his golden eyes peering through the mask at his birthplace, and what felt to him like a graveyard. A sense of urgency and danger seemed to nudge him. Perhaps it was instead a sense of remorse. 

Images plagued his mind as he glanced to and fro, witnessing what had become of the once proud village. To his right, women sat on a porch pressing soaked clothes against washboards and laughing. Children ran irrationally in the streets as a riled merchant pressed slowly through the packed street on his wagon. To his left, crowds of people walked the stone stairs, between beautifully designed houses painted in luminous colors, leading downward towards the lake at the bottom of the hill. From here he could see a giant stone monument, lathered in moss, peeking over the hills, an entry into the once concealed training halls of young Kitsune coming into age. He was surprised they still stood. The humans were relentless in wiping the Kitsune and everything they stood for, from the face of Avelyn. 

His senses began to tingle at a novel force, that seemed to drift from the descending stairs. It was slight, but there. His feet seemed to move with an automatic tenacity. An all too familiar stride. Arsto, quietly followed.

A chorus of indistinguishable voices seem to drift up the hill as they got closer. Even Hadyn's quick ears couldn't decipher the noise. It was strange and almost melodic. They almost had a familiarity in them, that caught his attention. He was sure he had never heard sounds quite like it. He rounded a corner, coming face to face with not a creature but a memory.

Two boys stood in the road, their laughter taunting and familiar. He watched as people passed by unaware of the darkness that was just right around the corner. A young boy wandered, his hands out, reaching to grasp anything that would give him a sense of stability. The boys laughed harder, almost becoming an echo in the back of Hadyn's mind replaying over and over again as he watched the events unfold. He forced to hold down tears as the young boy screamed and cried in vain. He didn't deserve this.

The boy's hand reached out touching a wooden fence. The point of a broken fence, the only sign of ground that he could feel. He turned, fighting off the illusions of his mind. He was trying to be brave. To show his brothers he wasn't afraid. However, in an act that Haydn could only describe as horrid, a small single rock, slipped from under the boy's feet. Hadyn screamed. The boy fell. Hadyn propelled forward by an desire fix this. He couldn't stop it before but just maybe. Arsto stood watching Hadyn in a sorrowing silence.

It was too late though, Hadyn fell to his knees as he reached the impaled body of his brother. Sobbing.

"Hadyn." Arsto spoke, a fear filling his voice. "Hadyn." He said more urgently.

The Kitsune sat, knees submerged into the ground, his hands grasping for memories. 

"Hadyn." Arsto spoke once more, in a solemn voice as he watched new events.

Hadyn finally looked up, his eyes gazing upon 3 gray figures, their cloaks filled with rips and dust. Their faces distorted in a darkness under their cowls as they seemed to dance in a rhythmic pattern, their words becoming like an unnerving song, that seemed to hold some archaic meaning. Hadyn stared wild eyed at the salient scene before him. He wanted to speak, but his words became like dust on his tongue.

Arsto was filled with a sense of dread. Could this be? He tried to reach back far in his memories. Memories that did not exist anymore, but for faint flashes of clarity. He could not recall their names, or their faces. He could not understand their intentions or the extent of the powers, but one word rang from the depths of his mind, a lost thought from a life long past. He spoke, his voice cold and distant. "Ancients."

As soon as they had seemingly appeared, they faded. Upon the ground where they had stood, a body lay. Immobile. Hadyn's ears twitched as he stared with concern. "I don't sense any life." He pulled himself from the ground. "He doesn't even seem to have an indistinguishable smell." The two moved closer, an almost immediate impression of familiarity falling over Hadyn, causing him to sprint toward the body.

Arsto followed, though more cautiously. Glaring down at the body, he murmured. "You remember when you asked if I found it ironic that we ended up back here?" Hadyn nodded. "A stupid question, Hadyn. You know I've never been a big believer in coincidence." His gray clad eyes reflecting the body of a young man, carrying the resemblance of a boy that has been long dead.

"Pau?" Hadyn managed to whisper, grabbing the foreign red hair of the thin shaped body. "I'm still not sensing any kind of life, Arsto." His dismay was evident. 

Arsto bent toward the body, with an attempt to turn it over. It's weight was insane, even for a dead body. Hadyn, curious of his partner's intentions, forced the body over. "That's because I don't think it's alive in that sense." Arsto pondered, his fingers running across a small section of flesh on the body's lower left back. Something seemed almost carved into it's skin. I.M.P.A.Q.T. "I think it's some kind of machine."

"Like an android?" Hadyn mused with a crooked eyebrow behind his mask. He had questions, but even Arsto looked puzzled. With a sudden jerk, Hadyn's arms reached across Arsto's chest, pushing him backwards, as he pulled himself up. His hand finding the hilt of his sword.

[color=7bcdc8]"Who- are you?"[/color], a soft voice drifted up from open soft blue eyes of the being. It slowly began to prop itself up. Staring around. Suddenly, as it's eyes landed on Arsto, it's eyes changed to a bright yellow. [color=fff200]"I- I know you. Don't I?"[/color]

Arsto, barely on his feet, stared back into the eyes of the being. Something oddly comforting and familiar. However, before he could say anything a strange energy formed in between the two. Reality seemed to distort within strange reflections of light. Arsto rubbed his eyes, feeling like he was seeing things, only to open them and see a strange skeletal looking figure glaring coldly back at him.

[color=8882be]“I am Skallagrim, and you are a skilled and worthy warrior, you are invited to attend the Nexus of Worlds Tournament. When you are ready merely call my name and I shall open the gate to the Nexus of Worlds.” [/color]

Arsto was baffled. "You must be mistaken. I'm not fighter." Before he could finish his statement, the irregularity was gone. 

Hadyn stood wide eyed and concerned. "Obviously, I'll fight in your place if it comes down to it, Arsto. I'm not letting some jackass who thinks he knows it all get you killed."

Arsto stared at Hadyn for a minute then back at the boy. "What's your name?"

[color=7bcdc8]"Isaiah."[/color], he spoke, his eyes returning to it's original blue.

Arsto, standing fully to his feet, walked over, extending his hand to Isaiah. "The name is Arsto. My partner here is Hadyn." He said, nodding toward the Kitsune. Isaiah hesitated, then grabbed the man's hand. Arsto attempted to help pull him up, forgetting his weight. Isaiah seemed to let off a grin, finally standing himself. "I think that 'jackass' might know more than he's letting on. It's not me per say entering this tournament." He stared comfortingly at Hadyn, then turning back toward Isaiah. "It's you."

Isaiah nodded with a certainty. Within each of them, they felt an odd connection. Perhaps it was more than that. Hadyn stared even more confused. 

"So, what now?" Hadyn asked.

"Well, Isaiah isn't going alone, that's for sure." Arsto grinned.

"Hell yea!" Hadyn laughed. He was still extremely confused, but he'd never turn down the chance for some action.


Isiah turned toward an open space, the two following behind him. With an sudden clamor of excitement, he spoke out, his voice ringing across the emptiness of Minnit. There was something else in his voice. He wasn't the only one speaking.

[color=7bcdc8]"Skall[/color][color=39b54a]agrim![/color] [color=fff200]We're[/color][color=f7941d] ready [/color][color=f26522]to[/color] [color=ed1c24]fight!"[/color]

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In a flash of light, the three found themselves standing amongst some of the greatest warriors across the multiverse. A Kitsune, A human scientist, and an A.I. of unknown proportions. 

They seemed to stand in silence, as events unfolded around them. Arsto stared at Isaiah, taking in his facial features. He was unsure still what to make of this. "Hadyn. Keep your eyes open. We may have just stepped into our most dangerous mission yet." The Kitsune nodded, the aura of the fox spirit burning like a fire around him. 

Hearing all the conversations going on, Arsto turned his eyes back to Isaiah.

[i]I wonder. If he does win, what will he do with the key?[/i]