[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/0JQHlYZ.png[/img][/center] Inanna sighed as he turned away from the wreckage of the stadium, eager to head back home and rest for at least a little while. [color=darkred][i]Wait,[/i][/color] the voice inquired. [color=darkred][i]The staff![/i][/color] Inanna frowned. Wasn’t it broken? Couldn’t he just get another one? [color=darkred][i]That staff was no run of the mill sigil! It was the genuine article, preserved over millennia for us alone! You cannot simply let it rust away beneath the rubble of some frivolous stadium![/i][/color] The young warrior frowned before he shrugged and took a portal to the ruins of the arena. Aside from the rubble and the heat, both pieces were relatively easy to find. He remembered the precise spot where he dropped the top half. The handle was somewhat more difficult, as the leg of the robot it was embedded in had since fallen off, and the handle had since fallen out of that. Finding it was a small task compared to everything else he had done that day, though. At least now he had some time to think. So the staff was… special somehow? [color=darkred][i]Yes,[/i][/color] the voice answered as Inanna pried the staff out from a pile of rubble, falling over backwards. [color=darkred][i]It had stood by my side for decades… Perhaps, once you grow more talented with the arcane arts, I can teach you how wield it properly...[/i][/color] Inanna listened intently as he opened a portal under his feet and dropped down back outside the ruins, stumbling for a moment and scrambling to hold on to the pieces of his staff before he got a hold of them once more. The voice held back a sigh. [color=darkred][i]Though I think you wield it well enough already.[/i][/color] Inanna tilted his head to the side slightly. [color=darkred][i]Yes, you fought rather well. I daresay that if the circumstances of our existences were different, you would have made a fine member of my guard.[/i][/color] Inanna smiled, happy to finally get a compliment out of his partner. Inanna attempted to open a portal back to Iran… and failed, his entire being beginning to ache and strain against itself. [color=darkred][i]Do not strain yourself,[/i][/color] The voice echoed. [color=darkred][i]You have done more than enough magic for one day.[/i][/color] The golem wished he could do a bit more, but he could make some good distance on foot, right? Stow away on a boat? Maybe even get a little rest? He began to head off before a mysterious figure appeared in front of him, pressed a letter into his arms alongside the pieces of his staff, and left as quickly as they came. The golem tucked the pieces of the staff under his arm and opened the letter. [quote][b][code]Hello, I'm Xue Lei, champion martial artist of China. It seems that, despite your best efforts, you have missed the scheduled sign up date for the tournament. The fighting cup may have been interrupted, but we cordially invite you to our private tournament in Hong Kong. You may find exactly what you seek. I hope to see you there.[/code][/b][/quote] Inanna folded the letter away and stored it in his robes. Well, it seemed that they had found their lead. [color=darkred][i]I doubt it. They’re likely baiting us into some sort of ridiculous errand. Let us head back to the temple, first. We shall get our staff fixed before we plan our next move. And make sure no one’s tracking us, this time.[/i][/color] Inanna nodded. It sounded like a plan! The golem hummed an ancient tune, feeling, as always, that everything would turn out for the best. [hr] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/ZFBsm2b.png[/img][/center] [h1]Iran, Hours Later...[/h1] The armored relic trudged through the desert sands, ignoring the perpetual sandstorm that surrounded her. It was that and other ancient magics which hid the temple’s presence, which she dispelled by humming an ancient hymn. She continued to hum as the sands faded to reveal a decrepit stone temple. It looked abandoned, though she knew better. She held her free hand up to the front of the great stone doors as her song reached a crescendo. The door refused to budge. Had she forgotten the spell? No, that couldn’t be. They simply knew better than to let such a trick work in the first place. She raised her rifle and pointed it at the door. “Maahes…” She whispered, firing several large bursts of flame from the rifle’s grenade launcher. They stuck to the door for a few moments before exploding violently, blowing open a hole big enough for her to pass through. She didn’t, though. She stood at the threshold and peered inside. Through the smoke, she could sense those inside; their ki, their magic, the heat from their bodies… Some of them could evidently do the same, staring at the warrior clad in shining white armor and discussing it amongst themselves, wondering what to make of it all. The warrior frowned, her rifle falling to the ground as she shot her hands forwards, palms laid flat. “Mafdet,” She recalled as her fingers began to glow. “Missile!” She let out a warcry as green beams of magic arced out from her fingers and traveled towards the robed figures inside, just as one tried to attack her. Far too late. The missile batteries on her shoulders opened up and began launching missile after missile, the boosters on her back flaring to counteract the recoil generated by the onslaught. After what seemed like an eternity, the barrage ceased, and the room was covered in smoke. The old soldier picked up her rifle and walked through the temple’s hall, scanning for survivors. Some were dead, many were wounded, mortally or not, but none were in any shape to fight back against her. A cold, analytical stare could barely be seen through her visor as she looked to the doors further impeding her search. She turned towards the sound of one of the doors opening, seeing a figure in the same red robes as the rest of them, wearing a hood and an iron mask that obscured most of his features. He wielded a steel staff topped with a sigil all too familiar to the armored Nomad. “Who are you,” he asked, sending a burst of magical energies sailing towards the relic. “What are you after?” What a pathetic display of the arcane. The woman whispered as she raised the shield on her arm, creating a shield of blue energy that sent the projectile sailing back towards her foe. Panels on the back of her armor opened once more to reveal boosters that flared and sent her rocketing towards the man in red as he was hit by his own attack, and she raised a hand, catching him by the neck and slamming him against the stone walls of the temple, jamming the rifle into his stomach. “The vessel.” The armored figure inquired. “[i]Where is it?[/i]” The man only gasped and struggled periodically. How foolish of her… The warrior loosened her vice grip on his windpipe and repeated her question once more. “I shall repeat myself.” The warrior said, more impatiently this time. “[i]Where is the vessel?[/i]” The sheer animosity present in her voice was more than enough to make him fear for his life. But he remained steadfast enough to notice that, through the glow of her visor, the warrior’s eyes could just barely be seen, and with her eyes, was the Wadjet symbol her right one was decorated with. Realization flashed through his eyes. “You,” he said quickly. “You’re The Traitor! After all these years, you have finally-” [b][i]”WHERE IS THE VESSEL?!”[/i][/b] The woman roared, tightening her grip on the man’s neck once more before slamming the back of his head into the wall. She took quick, deep breaths as she slowly steadied herself and loosened her grip. “We suspected you were long dead,” The man said hoarsely. “We expected him to be back from Rio by now. But even if you challenge him, you shall never succeed, demon. You may wipe us out, but the might of H-” “Do not say that name in my presence!” The golem said loudly. “You pathetic fool. Do you have even the slightest idea who he was, four thousand years ago? Do you have any idea what his vision was for humanity?” She dropped him and kicked away his staff, staring him down and pressing her rifle into him. She let out a long, tired sigh. She had seen many foolish humans in her years, who sought out these strange, self-destructive goals, but to her, this pathetic cult put them all to shame. “In truth,” The armored warrior continued. “I have little desire to destroy my brother once more. I see no reason to seek him out. But I must head to Germany for the sake of my mission, as you will likely figure out regardless, and if you have the slightest bit of sense and compassion left within you, you will not send him after me. For I will still kill him the moment I deem it necessary.” She turned her rifle to the side and smashed his ribs with the stock, knocking him to the ground. She turned to leave before she heard the man speak in an arcane tongue once more, and promptly turned and delivered a quick bullet to the man’s kneecap. “And on the subject of wiping you out,” The golem growled. “If I didn’t have the slightest inkling of hope that you might have knowledge that I may find useful, this temple, you, and your ilk would have been reduced to [i]nothing[/i] today. Even history would not concern itself with immortalizing your pitiful existence.” And on that note, she left, vanishing into the sands as suddenly as she had appeared. It seemed to the warrior that her brother thought he could invest in this pathetic cult, hidden away for thousands of years in a part of the world she would not expect. But she would likely have to thwart him once again, even after all this time. Humans often said that history repeated itself, and it was a bitter irony that she had experienced herself multiple times over. A figure had appeared before her, given her a letter inviting her to some tournament and promising a reward, but she simply crumpled it up and threw it away, setting it aflame as it sunk into the dunes. She could not waste her time thinking about such things. She had a mission to attend to. [hr] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/0JQHlYZ.png[/img][/center] [h1]Iran, One Day Later...[/h1] Inanna warped gracefully from dune to dune, stopping to tuck the staff pieces under his arm take a bite of his kebab every once in awhile. After he finished, he hummed absentmindedly, listening to his inner voice as the two of them chatted away. It was rather pleasant conversation… which stopped once the golem finally returned to his home temple. The magic hiding its location was gone, and the door had been breached, the lighting inside revealing scorch marks across the walls and floors. He entered, seeing the disturbed and sorry faces of the people that he considered to be something close to family light up with hope at his return. Many of them were wounded, their red robes still visibly stained with blood, with the healthier ones closely tending to them, while others still were completely absent. Inanna’s companion did not need to tell him why that was so. A voice called out to him, and he turned to the altar, seeing a familiar masked figure leaning heavily on his staff, almost like a crutch. “Elder Bijan!” Inanna cried, rushing towards him. “W-what happened?” The old man smiled, coughing several times before he answered. “The Traitor yet lives,” he explained. “She lives, and she tore through us like a bloodthirsty animal. But all is well, Inanna. The fool told us that she has business in Germany. All you must do is take her core. Then you shall be truly complete. You shall be the true savior of order and mankind that you were made to be.” Inanna looked at his broken staff, and the elder nodded, motioning to set them upon the altar. Inanna did so, and he steadied his creator as he dropped his own staff and began to speak in his arcane tongue. The end of the staff’s handle began to glow red hot as he reattached it to the staff’s head. The entire tool began to glow with a green aura until it appeared to be as good as new. [color=darkred][i]Perhaps it would be best to make sure we're ready before we leave. If he is not mistaken, then we could have quite a battle ahead of us...[/i][/color] “The world felt so tense when we first created you,” the elder continued. “My father dedicated his life to finding your core. As did his father, and his father before him, for ever so many generations. We had to piece together faint accounts of how to perform the rituals used in your creation, and when you awoke, we were convinced that we had failed. But even seeing your exploits at the tournament, you have already proven us wrong. Stay and train here for as long as you need, Inanna. It is the least we can do for the Avatar of Horus..." Inanna nodded as he retrieved his staff, that strange feeling of weight in his heart only growing stronger as he went downstairs to hone his technique.