"I don' be likin' this, lad," Garran said as he looked around at his surroundings. Usually, people would feel uneasy around the cutthroats and brigands of a port bar but...Garran's fears ran in the complete opposite direction. "Why, whatever do you mean, my dear friend?" Caelum asked monotonously as he brought a finely decorated porcelain cup to his mouth, delicately sipping at the fragrant tea within before placing it back onto a saucer. Garran turned around and glared at the Seraphim, whose nearly atrophied wings flapped gently in the breeze. "Ye know what I mean," Garran shot back as he glanced briefly at their surroundings. In a famous restaurant of Aldarich, the Wings of Daelon, deep in the merchant's district, an unlikely pair sat together at one of the more isolated, rear tables, a third seat going unoccupied. Going to great pains to disguise Garran so he could enter the establishment, Caelum had hung a talisman around the pirate's neck which changed his appearance. For one thing, the giant gaping wound on Garran's face had been patched up with illusory magicks, but it also gave him a pair of broad, muscular wings. Purely for decoration of course. He had even been forced to dress for the situation. His hair had been combed, de-liced and tied back in a long white ponytail, while his usually bare chest was covered with a thin sheet of cotton and a tie, the dress shirt doing nothing to hide his form. 

The pirate shifted uncomfortably in the padded seat. "Why 're we here 'nyways?" he asked as he wrapped his hand around the tiny tea cup, lifting it up to his lips and draining the contents in a single sip. Grimacing as he put the tea cup back down, he signalled for one of the waiters to bring him more tea. "To meet an...old acquaintance of mine," Caelum replied, placing the saucer onto the white tablecloth after a short pause, "I have matters to discuss with him and...well, he's known to be rather temperamental...and I'd rather have someone by my side if something happens."
"So...he be a dick?" Garran said bluntly. At the mention of the foul word, a lady from the next table over spat out her tea and looked at him in open mouthed indignity. Garran didn't notice. "I would never say it so openly...but yes, I guess you could say that," Caelum replied, a small smile appearing over his face, despite his paralysed muscles, as ever entertained by the pirate's simple mind. "His emotions change rapidly, and as such he's hard to predict..." Caelum said as he stared blankly into the chair in front of him, as if expecting something, "he is a riddle, wrapped in an enigma, bound by a conundrum..." Garran raised an eyebrow, not exactly understanding what his friend was saying, but hmmed thoughtfully anyway, stroking his clean-shaven chin. "So when's he goin' t' get here?" he asked. "He's already here," Caelum replied, calmly sipping his tea again. "Hello, Valiance."

"I was wondering how long it would take you to notice me," chuckled a rich, mellow voice from beneath the table. With a disgusting squelching sound, a puddle of red pooled beneath the table and then climbed the chair, eventually pooling on the upholstery before morphing into the form of a Seraphim and solidifying, colour taking over some of the scarlet. Alarmed, Garran was holding the neck of the vase, about to attack the strange apparition, but at a shake of the head from Caelum, sat back down. "Hello old friend," Valiance said as he placed a wide brimmed red hat on his head, trimmed with white and decorated with a single feather of the same colour, "how long has it been since we last-"
"Don't give me that," Caelum replied as he took another sip of his tea, "last time we were together you let the Kill Teams to my house and tried to convince them that it was me who killed the Marquis." Despite the accusation, there was little emotion in Caelum's voice.
"Ah yes...that old hijink...hehe, it was fun to watch you reason your way out of that," Valiance replied, crossing his legs and leaning forwards.

While the two talked, Garran couldn't help but feel a chill run through the room as they spoke, as if their mere speech required heat to operate, but still, Garran felt like he had to examine the newcomer. Dressed in a well tailored red suit, the front of his body was hidden under a long red cloak that was fastened with a golden brooch on his left shoulder, bearing a blood red jewel in the shape of a tear drop. His face was smooth and unmarked by scars and age, and his silvery blonde hair, hidden under the large red hat, flowed over his shoulders and halfway down his back, covering one of his piercing blood red eyes. His hands, which were neatly folded in front of him, were hidden under a pair of well maintained white gloves, and his face always seemed to be smiling. "Garran...meet Valiance Sengris, a blood mage," Caelum said, Valiance granting a nod of his head and a pleasant smile to the pirate who replied with a grunt. Blood mage...the mere name brought up old superstitions of people sacrificing creatures and people alike to some greater god. Not exactly someone he wanted to meet.

After a waiter refilled Garran's tea, which swiftly disappeared once more, and gave Valiance his own, deliberations began. And Garran was swept away by the speed of their negotiations. Words passed between them in a flurry noises, and Garran understood why he would never be a diplomat. Their tongue was elegant and refined, and bore nothing that was similar to common, the language that was mutually shared. Instead of spending his efforts futilely listening, Garran instead scratched the side of face. As much illusory magic helped to hide the wound, he could still feel the raw flesh of his ripped face. Still. He didn't want it completely fixed. He would bear it proudly as a symbol of his fallen comrades. Lost in his reverie, he continued feeling the wound.

Meanwhile, the two Seraphim spoke in a tongue seldom heard outside of the northern marshes. "So why have you called me here today?" Valiance asked, a devious smile on his face as he brought the tea cup to his mouth, but his tone indicated that he knew exactly why he had been called, and he had chosen to entertain this knowledge seeking seraphim. Caelum looked straight at him, he facial muscles unable change, but finally his lips moved, forming the difficult and arcane words. "You know very well why you are here, Son of the Herald of Aelthanion," he said as he mixed in a little bit of cream, the spoon slinking against the sides delicately as he rotated his wrist, "surely, you have felt it too. He has risen once more." Valiance chuckled quietly, cutting himself a piece of the cake on the table. "Indeed I have, rune mage," he replied, moving the brown slice onto his plate, "the tides of change are blowing. The blood shed by your friend over there," he said, jerking his head inconspicuously to Garran, "has awoken my former liege from his slumber, the former soldier that the Seraphim now regard as, 'The God of War'. He was not kidding when he said that he was eternal." Caelum cocked his eyebrow quizically. "Former liege?" he asked. Valiance bowed his head and spread his arms mockingly. "I am now referred to as the 'Pariah' by my peers," said with a self-mocking chuckle, "I refused to listen to the Oracle and herald the arrival of my lord to the world, and thus, I was ostracised." Caelum nodded his head, but then came the inevitable question. "Why would you do this, Pariah?" he asked, using his new title. As if stung, Valiance visibly winced, but that was the only reaction he had. "The seraphim...are no longer ready for war as Aelthanion knows it...under his leadership, he would bring our kind to ruin. We are knowledge seekers through and through, not soldiers...but my bretheren think differently...they desire him to lead the Seraphim into a new age of prosperity...but all I can foresee is sorrow..." as if to punctuate his words, Valiance drained the rest of his cup, before looking to the sky. "And what do you plan to do about it?" Caelum asked. Valiance scoffed. "It is not what I am going to do about it," he said, looking back down to Caelum, "it is what you are going to do about it."

Smiling sadly, the seraphim stood up. "Time has passed quickly...if I am gone too long, my brethren will suspect my actions," he said in common tongue. Caelum did not react, instead, he sat pensively in his chair. "If further contact is needed, use the discrete channels. The Sanguine are growing suspicious of my absences, and there is no need to stain my relations with them further." Looking over to Garran, who waved him goodbye, he chuckled. "Oh, and my large friend...I have two parting gifts," he said as he strode closer. Caelum made no attempt to stop him, and Garran, his name having been mentioned by this utter stranger, leaned in closer out of curiosity. Moving his hand, Valiance gripped the talisman around his neck gently...and then blood began to flow, causing Garran to try and shrink back, but the seraphim bore surprising strength, holding him in place as rivulets of blood ran all across the mage's hand, winding their way into his palm. A slight tingle on the side of his face and all around his body was felt, before there was a collective gasp and more than one scream. "You cannot hide who you are," Valiance said with a mischevious smile as the talisman's power faded, to be replaced with a blood red jewel similar to the one set into the seraphim's brooch, having grown over the talisman. Garran, surprised, looked into the glass in the side of the wall and saw his face in its original form, scars and all, before looking back to Valiance, about to rise and knock his teeth out, but he was stopped with a look from the seraphim. His eyes were glowing brighter than before, and Garran found that his limbs refused to obey him. "And here's my second present," he said as he leaned in closer, almost able to kiss the pirate on the forehead. Garran growled as he bared his teeth, but instead, Valiance lifted his hand over Garran's cup, and let a few drops of blood trickle in. The drink steamed and boiled loudly, before clearing into a blood red fluid. "Look deeply into the liquid...and you will thank me." he said, laughing loudly, turning back into a blood red liquid before sinking into the floor.

Allowed to sit back down again, Garran swore viciously, despite the fact that all eye were all on him now, and rubbed his head. Look into the liquid? What could that possibly...was that...Fiora? Leaning in closer to his tea, Garran, saw a familiar form, but from below. Blood ran lightly from her wrists, and the view was intermittent. Only in the shape of droplets of liquid, but with every drop from her wrist, the image grew larger. Soon, it became larger than the cup could reveal. "Cael'm! Make th' thin' bigger!" he demanded of the rune mage. Caelum looked over to Garran but shrugged. "I am not privy to the workings of blood magic...but logically if you gain a larger surface area then-" 
"ENOUGH A' YER SCIENCE TALK!" Garran said, standing up and shaking the table, "JUST TELL ME WHAT T' DO! ONE A' ME MATES IS BEIN' HURT HERE!"
Staring at Garran, Caelum finally chuckled. "Pour the tea onto your plate, Garran," he said as he put his own teacup down. He hadn't seen Garran this angry in a while...not since someone had hurt one of his crewmates.

Doing as he was told, Garran poured the tea out from the tea cup and onto the small plate before him. Like Caelum had said, the image grew larger. "That be Fi'ra!" Garran said, peering closer, trying to spot something that would give him a location. Damn this new city! As another drop of blood fell, something became vaguely visible, and Garran pounced on it. It seemed to be...part of some sort of heraldic emblem..."C'mon lass..." Garran hissed, clutching the table and, as bad as it sounded, willing Fiora to bleed a little more. It seemed that the gods we're on their side though. A final drop of blood fell before he could see the wound close up with magic. "Cael'm! What be th's sign?!" Garran demanded. Casually, the Seraphim glanced over. "That...huh...Garran...we depart now," Caelum said, his tone definite as he and Garran stood up. "Sirs! You have not paid ye-" the waiter started, before Garran threw a bag of gold to him. "Keep th' change," he said angrily as he stormed out behind Caelum. If anything...the Seraphim seemed angrier than he did...but this was a different sort of anger. It was invisible, but the hidden flame burned all the hotter.

As they walked along the streets, Calum started to talk to Garran. "That was the seal of Sir Garen," he said, dodging a passing human merchant, "a brown nosing little bastard who campaigned for the reduction of funding to the University of Magic to hinder my parents' research, for little other reason than to spite them." Moving down a smaller street, the seraphim continued, explaining further. "Our rune magics are now the primary defence of Adalrich, displacing his own field of magic, and so we cut his luxurious funding. Something he hates us for." Pausing at an intersection, he pointed to his left. "Now he's barely holding onto his power, and if word got out that he was kidnapping a young lady...well..." Caelum said with an evil smile on his face, "his credibility would decline...and as would his campaign progress. Besides, if he's kidnapping someone who's important to you, I have a duty as a friend to assist you in stopping it, do I not? It is merely coincidence that he is my enemy as well, is it not?"
"...Caelum, ye scare me som'times." Garran said as he trailed behind the seraphim, feeling the flames of hatred spilling out of him, "b'sides...Fiora ain't anythin' special t' me..." a small blush came onto Garran's cheek as he upped the pace. "If I remember correctly from our old meetings," Caelum said, calling up a mental map, "his residence should be in the west wing..."

Thankfully, the layout of the city had not changed too much and they pair managed to make it to a large mansion, protected by a large iron gate and a pair of guards. "This is the house," Caelum said as they emerged from an alleyway. Immediately, the two guards reacted. "Halt! You two there, what business have you here?" shouted the first one, a seraphim, raising a staff to point at them. "We must have words with Lord Garen." Caelum said gently. "O' w'll be havin' a lot m're than words!" Garran shouted, prompting the second guard, a human to raise his blade. "Quiet Garran!" Caelum hissed angrily. Garran growled in compliance, but the human slowly lowered his blade. "Garran? As in Captain Garran?" he asked, almost reverently. "Aye, what's it t' ye?!" the pirate shouted. "You...you rescued my family from the capital...they're staying in Xerxes right now...I must thank you!"
"Quiet human!" the seraphim replied, echoing Caelum's earlier mood, but Garran didn't care. "If ye want t' thank me so much, l't me in!" he shouted, stepping forwards, but the human raised his blade again. "Sorry sir...but I need this job...to support my family now more than ever," he replied. Angered, Garran stepped forwards, about to crush his skull, but the sign of a carriage flying overhead drew all of their attention. It bore the same mark to the one Garran had seen in his tea. The seraphim guard looked back down. "Leave now, or I will be forced to make you leave!" he warned. Neither Garran nor Caelum moved an inch. Raising his staff, it started to give off a yellow light. "Last warning!" the seraphim said. Too bad that he was focussing entirely on Caelum, who had his Grimoire in his hands. With the crunch of breaking bone, Garran's fist slammed into the side of his jaw, sending him flying and his staff tumbling away. The human guard, to his credit, reacted immediately, slicing down with his blade. easily, it cut through the woven cotton of Garran's shirt and sliced into Garran's flesh, but powered by berserk fury, the pirate turned on him. Grabbing his face with his large hand, the pirate threw him to the side, where he was knocked unconscious against the wall of the gate, the blade clattering onto the flagstones.

When the two people stepped out of the carriage, one of them ignited something in him. But it wasn't anger. "Fi'ra!" Garran shouted, catching her attention. The other person, a male seraphim, saw his two guards lying on opposing sides and then back to the pirate, whose right arm was dripping with blood, both his own and the Seraphim's. "Guards! Seal the gates and stop the intruders!" he shouted, dragging Fiora bodily into his home. "C'mere ye little bastard!" Garran shouted, diving straight towards them, but as he took a step forward, he found his body's movements frozen. A rune circle had been placed at his feet. Looking back towards Caelum, he snorted out rage. "Traitor!" he shouted, but Caelum shook his head. "This much i can cover up with my own political influence...but killing a nobleman is sure to have repercussions, Garran," Caelum said, stepping forwards, "think about your little party, and how it would affect them." Hearing his words, the analytical part of Garran's mind processed it, but his rage centre was just blocking everything out. "I d'n't care!" Garran shouted as he tried to resist his magical bonds. "You can't be a pirate forever Garran," Caelum said as he walked towards the gate, "one day, you will have consequences for what you do." Garran growled. Deep down he knew he was right, but he still refused to admit it. 

The gate had been sealed, both physically and magically. "Hmm...this could be troublesome..." Caelum said as he examined the gate, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there were now house guards closing on him. With a wave of his hand, the prison encapsulating Garran was released. "Deal with the bugs for me, Garran...I must crack Garen's codes," he said as he opened his grimoire. Growling in assent, the pirate walked to protect Caelum's back while he worked. "Cease and desist!" shouted a seraphim as he closed, a ceremonial staff held out before him. The tip glowed red hot. "Don't make me use-" he started, before he was promptly cut off, his staff suddenly snapped in half as Garran wrapped his massive hands around it and bent it. "Wha-wha..." the seraphims tarted, before he was slammed across the head with the mace-like head of his owns staff. The scent of burning hair was prominent as the mace followed its master. More guards appeared, this time human. The seraphim probably didn't think themselves low enough to live their lives as guards. The first one approached, swinging a small sword, but being the experienced fighter that he was, Garran sidestepped and brought his fist crashing down onto the man's head, flattening him into the ground. The next one swung another blade, but Garran used the momentum of the swing to dodge and sent him sprawling with a kick to the ribs. The third one hesitated as he licked his lips, his clammy hands sweating as he held the knife in his hands. "Ssss-surrender now!" he tried. Turning to him, Garran bared his yellowed teeth. "Run," he said, prompting the man to flee for his life.

"Done," Caelum said, finally undoing the magical seals of the door, "now time to figure out how to physically op-" Without warning, a pair of massive arms appeared over him and gripped two of the iron bars. With a low groan of effort, Garran pried the bars apart, the metal protesting all the way as the pirate made a gap large enough for Caelum to pass through. "That works," the Seraphim said, stepping through, "although i could have just flown over. There was no reply. Instead, the gate opened out further, until the two bars broke from their housings, allowing Garran to step through. He was silent. Striding past Caelum, the Seraphim watched him pass...It was probably better for him to go alone at this point. "Try not to kill him," Caelum said, "remember what I told you. There is only so much I can cover up...I'm going to go erase the memories of the guards. Be careful." Garran replied only with a hand wave.

The doors were locked. As expected. Not to mention they were heavy oak doors. Running his hand over them, Garran felt their solidity. Well. That never stopped him before. Grinning vindictively, he took a step back, before running forwards and crashing his entire bodyweight onto the door.He felt it give a little, but it was immediately pushed back. Probably people were barring it shut with their own bodies. Taking a few more steps back, Garran tried again, and the door gave again. Taking a deep breath, the pirate took a final few steps back, before screaming loudly and charging straight towards the door. With a heavy crash, one of them splintered inwards, and the pirate found himself slamming into two armoured guards, one of which was swiftly knocked unconscious by a piece of door. The second one took the brunt of Garran's heavy weight and was also knocked out cold. "FIORA!" Garran shouted, his voice echoing in the darkness, "I BE COMIN' FER YA!"