[IC] Legacy of Harena

[Rune_Alchemist]

"Right..." Charlotte followed Himeko, unable to shake the feeling of them being watched. She rubbed the back of her neck, uneasily looking around the place. She had no idea how Himeko or Livia felt comfortable in this place. This place just seemed...wrong. Or at least, just off. but then, she was a human. Just a normal human. If something decided to attack her and she wasn't prepared...well, chances of something going horribly wrong were high.

For the most part, she stuck close to Himeko. As for the graveyard itself - as Livia said, it was eerily silent. Far too much so. Just a gentle, cool breeze and not even the chirping of insects or birds. As they walked though, Himeko would become increasingly aware of a tiny blue fox like creature observing them from atop a large stone grave. Except, it didn't have fur and seemed to be made out of some sort of ethereal blue-flame.

[Pyromania99]

Himeko walked around almost aimlessly looking for this Odette. She wasn't sure if she'd even meet the girl... Ghost? Whatever. Rather, there was something else that caught her eye. A... Some sort of Fox-Fire trick? It was a little blue flame fox sitting on top of a grave. The Tengu had to move close to investigate. "What's this? Are you a Kitsune trick? I'd not be surprised by that." Actually, Charlotte probably wouldn't know. "Kitsune are fox creatures. Also known as tricksters. I don't know if they'd be out this far though."

[Rune_Alchemist]

"Fox creatures? We have arctic foxes in Astril, but they're just simple animals." Charlotte replied. Kitsune? She hadn't a clue. Charlotte noticed the thing shortly after Himeko, frowning a bit. That definitely wasn't a normal fox. If she had to guess...made of fire of some sort? It seemed to have fire 'essence' as a part of it. The fox in question merely tilted its head curiously as it was addressed, saying nothing.

Charlotte took a quick look around the area, trying to find anything else out of the ordinary. Specifically the plants in the area. For the most part they didn't look to be anything too different than she had already seen or was used too. She walked some distance away, a small blue flower growing near a few gravestones catching her attention.

"Huh...well look at you..." She quietly commented, running a hand over the flowers. Now this was odd - they certainly weren't like any of the ones growing in Astril.

The small fox, no bigger than the size of Himeko's hand paced back and forth atop the grave for a few seconds, before hopping off and heading off into one direction, taking only a moment to look back at the Tengu before dashing off again.

[Pyromania99]

Himeko just watched the little fox thing, thinking it might be some trick. A Will-o-the-Wisp perhaps. It paced back and forth a few times before hopping off before hopping off and heading in a direction. She looked at it considering her options... But definitely decided that she should chase it considering it looked back at her. Of course, she couldn't just leave Charlotte here... She just got done carrying her not too amazingly long ago but... She did a quick leap over to the girl, grabbed her, and then chased after the fox. "Play along with me here. I feel like we should follow the thing."

[Rune_Alchemist]

"Hmm, blue petals..." Charlotte tilted her head to the side, running a hand over the stalk of the flower. It certainly was something that was odd. Nothing she had seen yet, at least. Small petals, with a dark green center towards the stamen and pistil of the flower. Shaped like a bell, almost. Some sort of Tulip? Well, she'd take a sample then - "Weh!"

Charlotte protested mildly as she was pulled away from the flower.

"Himeko I was in the middle of research!" She grumbled as she was pulled along. "That's a flower I've never seen before I need to document it." Besides, following a ghost fox seemed to have bad idea written all over it...though not that she could really say no to Himeko in this situation, they had agreed to it after all. So they ended up following the tiny blue fox, the small spirit leading them through the gravestones and deeper into the graveyard until they came to a large clearing of sorts in front of a large, stone pillar that was at least three stories tall. It was covered in moss and vines, with old runes and words craved into it.

In front of it, stood a girl.

Person

Long, elbow length gloves adorned her arms, and her hair was blond and long, hanging freely down to her waist as a purple bow kept her bangs free of her eyes. She was dressed in a long black and red diamond pattered dress, with stockings and heels. The tiny fox ran up to her, poking at her legs to get her attention before running off again as she turned to face Himeko and Charlotte.

"....?"

She gazed at them silently, bright blue eyes studying Himeko and Charlotte for a few seconds before she gazed to the ground.

"....intruders?..."

Her words were quiet, and barely audible. It was difficult to tell from her impassive glance, but she seemed a little frightened.

[Pyromania99]

Himeko followed the fox out until it tapped on a leg. A rather... Dressed up person. Girl, rather. The Tengu came to a slow stop in front of the girl and set Charlotte down. If this place was suppose to be full of spirits, then it was as abandoned by the dead as it was by the living. This girl was easily out of place. More so if she were living. "Of a sort, I suppose." Himeko answered, looking upward at the stone pillar. It dwarfed the place around it in a way. "It's hard not to think of the word as a negative, if I'm correct about the language. Though I'd rather hope you not think of us in this way."

She turned her vision from practically in the sky down to the ground, towards the girl. "We came with someone from the city to look for someone." She put her hand up to chin, staring at the girl's feature. The blonde hair. The checkered outfit and the heels and stockings. "Pardon me if I am incorrect, but are you Odette? We're here with Livia."

[Rune_Alchemist]

"...Livia?" She continued looking towards the ground as a small shiver seemed to go up the girls body. "...right...friend...S-shouldn't be here. You should l-leave." Charlotte narrowed her eyes at the girl. Something was wrong here, she could tell simply from the way the girl was behaving. She wasn't sure of what exactly, but something was obviously out of place here.

"...Odette, was it?" Charlotte carefully began. "Why should we leave? Livia said she comes here often, so I don't believe this place to be that dangerous."

"Mhm-Nnnggh!" The ghost, Odette, held a hand to her chest, a somewhat pained, displeased grimace spread across her face. Inky, black, veins appeared on her neck and face and It was easy to see she was in no small amount of pain. "I-I'm sorry...H-have to obey..." Before either Himeko or Charlotte could react, several wisps of blue flame appeared from seemingly nowhere before macabre, surrounding the entire area between Odette and the two of them. Not seconds later, Skeletal creatures emerged from them.

Wraith

The creatures were ultimately legless, and seemed to be made entirely of some sort of odd bluish-purple fire and wreathed in black smoke. With an overall skeletal appearance, they weren't exactly pleasant to look at. In the midst of them appearing, Odette seemed to disappear entirely. They immediately locked onto Charlotte and Himeko.

"What-!" Charlotte jumped back, grimacing at the development. "Well...this could have gone better." She frowned. "Can that sword of yours whack ghosts?" She shouted to Himeko as her hands ran over the inside of her cloak, finding a few vials that might help here, though she couldn't be sure.

[Pyromania99]

Himeko raised an eyebrow at this Odette's words. That was odd, they should leave? She hardly had a chance to think more before the entire area seemed to change. Odette was gone and some monstrous beings replaced her being there. Her hand went to her katana and she replied to Charlotte. "Whack? That is barbarous." She said before she started a small chant. "Kami, grant me strength and bless my blade to tear through evil." In the meantime, her wings slipped free of their magical confines and flapped once.

Charlotte, if she looked to Himeko, would see the Tengu lightly pull out her sword before there was a flash where she was and a flash where the closest of the evil ghosts were. She would see that Himeko was practically dancing, as if choreographed for some play with each strike place right where she wanted. The katana glowed with a bright light as the effect seemed to burn away at the evil spirits. It took no time at all for her to cut through the enemies to the last, where she cut it vertically in half and took to the sky only to fly right over where she was before, retracting her wings mid-air and completing a couple of flips before landing back next to Charlotte. "Precise cuts and slashes are much more civilized, Charlotte. Now, where has that Odette gone?"

[Rune_Alchemist]

Thankfully, it seemed like Himeko was good with that blade as she said she was.

The Wraiths didn't stand a chance. Himeko danced through them as though she were the wind itself. The wraiths did as they were commanded, but it was a fruitless task. The wraiths' claws met nothing but air as they tried to strike the Tengu, only to be slice in two by her blade; Disappearing back into nothingness moments later. Charlotte merely watched as Himeko made quick work of the poor things, and in mere moments they had completely vanished back into nothing.

"...remind me never to piss you off." Charlotte commented, only to have a certain tiny blue fox come up to her and nudge her ankles. "Ah...this thing...what do you want?"

"Are you two alright? I sensed heavy spiritual activity from this area, and I ran into a friend of Odettes,"Livia's voice greeted them before they could do anything else, the younger Fiore giving them a mildly interested look. "And I see you've met Ren too." She looked towards the small blue thing. "What happened, exactly?"

"That ghost friend of yours seems...unwell." Charlotte sighed, ignoring the small spirit staring up at her. With a small pout, it walked back over to Himeko and gave her leg a small nudge. The thing was cool to the touch, and not at all hostile, the blue flames coming from its body not at all like one might expect.

"Unwell...? How so?" Alarm crossed Livia's face before settling on a more serious, questioning glare.

[Pyromania99]

Himeko picked the small little fox up and looked it in the eyes... Well, whatever it was for a living fox of flame. It was odd, but oddly cute. "Greetings, Ren." Himeko said to the small creature. She tried scratching the small creature, as odd as it felt, while looking to Livia. "She said something along the lines of, 'Should not be here. You should leave.' Then she commanded... What are they called? Wraiths? Evil Spirits? Either way, she said she 'has to obey' so I'd assume she's under control. We'd probably want to eliminate the root of the problem if possible."

[Rune_Alchemist]

The fox, named Ren apparently, silently nuzzled Himeko's hand but said nothing.

"Odette attacked you?" Livia's eyes widened again before frowning. "That is...not good...and well, explains where all the spirits have gone. Odette likely...got rid of them." She paused for a moment, obviously thinking of just what she should tell them here but seemed to quickly decide on her answer. "Your intuition may only be partly correct, Himeko." She began. "Someone may, in part, be controlling her."

"Meaning what exactly?" Charlotte asked, a frown crossing her face.

"You see, Odette is a rather special sort of spirit. Dead, yet fully aware and in control...and she possesses the ability to control other spirits. We call spirits like that a 'Wight'. Further still, she possesses the ability to take a spirit and give it another form completely using raw energy...like Ren there." She said, motioning to the blue fox-like spirit. "That's not actually a fox, but rather a spirit that was once human."

"...wait, she can turn human spirits into something else? That...sounds painful." Charlotte grimaced lightly, though she couldn't really judge there. If they were doing it from a mutual agreement or something.

"Mhm, from an uneducated standpoint you might think so. But most spirits do so willingly as it allows them to both interact with the physical realm and offers them more power to do certain things. It's really a win-win situation." Livia continued. "But that also means...if she's hostile then we're going to have to likely fight all of the spirits that once resided here."

"So what do you mean Himeko's theory 'may be correct'?" Charlotte questioned again. It sounded like Livia knew a bit more about the situation that she was entirely letting on. Or at least, she had some insight that could help them. She had to at least ask.

"...Hmph, caught onto that did you?" She smirked. "Well, you see, Odette...is bound to this place, if you will. A protector of sorts. This graveyard is ancient and has many secrets within it, should one look. I don't think Odette realizes it herself, but this pillar in front of us is actually her grave. A rather grandiose one for a simple girl, isn't it?"

[Pyromania99]

"Rather so." Himeko said, commenting on the structure. She petted the little fox thing for a bit as she studied the apparent grave. "So, is she the daughter of an old lord of this area? Does this grave have something to do with the fact she's not quite in control of herself?" She continued. She had no answers herself at this point. It was a bit odd to her, but she's seen odd in her time. One doesn't live over a hundred years and not experience anything in this world.

"Now, I feel bad for the spirits that live here, but if I have no other choice I will defeat them here." Himeko said, unsheathing her sword. "Of course, she looked to Livia, unless of course you have a plan. What say you?"

[Rune_Alchemist]

"No idea," Livia replied. "This cemetery predates the city. It's possible she is, though if so I would think she'd remember her own life a bit better instead of remembering nothing beyond the cemetery's walls. I don't think this stone holds any power, or rather, if it did it's long since faded." Or at least, that's as much as she was going to say at the moment. Not enough information to make a solid guess at the moment.

"Now hold on a minute," Charlotte interrupted. "A protector? That means she's trying to keep us out. Why would someone want to keep someone out of a graveyard?"

"Huhm. Someone's using their noggin." She smirked. "Truthfully, we don't have enough information. My words are only things I have come to a conclusion after a year or so of study."

"So we don't entirely know what we're dealing with here." Charlotte pondered, giving a small frown as she held a hand to her chin. "If something or someone is controlling her like we're assuming, does that means they're looking for something here?"

"Perhaps, but as I said we don't have enough information to have a correct answer. I have guesses," She frowned. "but none of them pleasant. I'll elaborate more if it becomes relevant, but for now we should find her." Ren hopped down from Himeko's grasp, walking in a circle for a bit before settling down. "Don't worry Ren, we'll find her before anything bad happens." The fox raised one of its paws to its muzzle, before scampering off in a random direction. "As for how we find her, she'll likely not be in any of her usual places...and tracking a single spirit is difficult at best. We could wonder around but ultimately I feel that would prove useless. If she's avoiding us, she can simply find a locked mausoleum and hole up there...and it would lead to use likely being attacked by more spirits."

Livia frowned, furrowing her eyebrows. How exactly did one find a ghost that didn't want to be found?

"...Hm, if it's no too much trouble, perhaps we could draw her out." She finally replied after a few seconds of thought. "You're good with that blade of yours, so put it to use. There's a lot of activity not far from here on the other side of the graveyard."

"You think finding more of those spirits and killing them would draw them out?" Charlotte questioned. "That seems a bit of a long shot." Not like they really had much more of a choice, though.

"It would at least be better than twiddling our thumbs."

[Pyromania99]

It didn't really make too much sense in reality, but it was better than nothing. Especially for these controlled souls. "I suppose we could go about it in such a way. I shall go with post-haste." The Tengu said while unsheathing her sword. She had no reason to hold back on that now though she wanted to keep her identity as a Tengu secret still. "Follow me." She added before taking back at an almost ridiculous speed. She took care of any of those unhappy souls.

[Rune_Alchemist]

"Follow you? I think I know my way around this place better than you do." Livia chided. "So I'll lead you to the spirits...just make sure you take care of them before they get more unruly." The youngest Fiore began walking, leading them in the direction of the wayward souls. It didn't take the trio long to cross the graveyard, for as ancient as it was it wasn't the largest of places, though even if it was it was fairly easy to navigate the old stones.

"There they are..." Livia commented, observing the wraiths from a distance. The black, wispy things seemed to not have noticed them yet. They were simply lightly hovering above the ground, almost blending in with the mist of the graveyard. One though, was positioned atop a stone mausoleum, overlooking the area. "It seems our intrusion has been noticed."

"Urf...that's a lot of them." At least a dozen or so.

"...Be careful Himeko," Livia commented. "That one seems to be watching. It'd probably alert the rest of them to our presence." It'd probably be a good idea to take them out as well as they could without being seen to begin with.

[Pyromania99]

"Tch." Himeko muttered. This human girl seemed to underestimate Himeko. It was rather annoying. This would be annoying without going all out either way. She considered her options but in the end, sighed. "How vexing. Livia, I want you to keep quiet of what you see. It... Well... It'd be the last thing you do. Glad we're all on the same page now. She jumped high into a nearby tree and disappeared from sight. It took a minute, but soon both Livia and Charlotte would notice a figure coming from out of the sky, striking at the one Livia took extra note of. It disappeared quickly and the figure moved to the other spectral enemies, gracefully striking at everything.

Soon, the ghosts fell into disarray and then vanished from sight and the figure from the sky disappeared back upward... Then Himeko dropped right down from the tree next to Livia and Charlotte. One thing was different. Something Livia would see for the first time. Wings.

[Rune_Alchemist]

To say she was impressed, was an understatement. The wraith in question didn't even stand a chance, Himeko's blade piercing it right on its head, the thing disappearing and fading into a black mist almost instantly. However, even though her impressive speed had killed it the rest of the Wraiths immediately took notice and began swarming the Tengu, but as weak as they seemed Himeko took care of them flawlessly. Once she had settled back next with Charlotte and her, Livia smirked.

"Well...that certainly was something." Livia commented...and unabashedly ran a hand through Himeko's wings. "And so are these...my, when my little spirits told me you were odd I certainly didn't expect you to be something quite so intriguing."

"Yes yes, Himeko has good looking wings and all that but can we get moving before we get swarmed by ghosts or something?" Charlotte grumpily replied.

"Oh calm down, with the number Himeko killed I can use their residual energy to track Odette. Think of it as her signature of sorts." Livia said, removing her hand from Himeko's wings and holding her hands together. A small ball of white light formed between them, creating a small will-o-wisp that hovered in the air above her head slightly. "This little one should lead us right too her."

[Pyromania99]

Himeko took a step back from Livia's touch. She didn't feel the need to have a human's touch on her wing. There was a chance she'd make her feel disgusted with herself. After, she just listened to the human mage's words. If this wisp found Odette, good. If not, well, they'd figure something else out. For now, she just followed Livia since she SEEMED to know what she was doing.

[Rune_Alchemist]

"Tsk," Livia frowned playfully, calmly leading Charlotte and Himeko through the graveyard. "Rude, and here I am helping you." She frowned again, following the wisp closely. With any luck it should lead them to Odette, now that she had her...signature of sorts, but it was still rather questionable if she could. Charlote was now glad she didn't get caught plucking a feather. She'd have to remember not to do that or mention it.

The wisp twirled and made a path through the field, leading them on quite the complex path as if it was a drunk sailor of some sort. Charlotte began questioning this things accuracy, until it finally came to a stop near the edge of the graveyard.

Except, no sign of Odette.

"Hmm..." Livia gave a cursory look around. "She's around here."

Unbeknownst to the trio, the tiny purple bow resting immaculately on a tree stump was not in fact, a bow.

"She's probably still hiding." Livia continued.

[Pyromania99]

"I believe we are helping you..." Himeko muttered, looking around the area. It was a graveyard through and through. She just followed Livia and her little wisp through the winding path of the graveyard until it came to a stop. The Tengu didn't see Odette anywhere. Nowhere visible at least so she was probably hiding. Well, now Livia was saying that Odette was around at least... Now to look for her. Himeko just started to wander around the area. There were a few graves here and there of course, but what caught her eye was the one thing that just seemed out of place. "What's this?"

She looked to a tree stump. While the stump itself wasn't exactly out of place, the thing that seemed to sit on it seemed quite so. "A bow, is it?" With a questioning look on her face, she walked over to the small thing to examine it. "Odette?" She asked, putting a hand on the handle of her katana, ready for anything. "If that is you, reveal yourself. Slowly."