[IC] Arcana et Anathema

[rusty4297]

Ryan looked to Qubus, only a few questions going through his mind. He wasn't really worried about the history, seeing as it wasn't happening then and there, and he wasn't really worried about what would happen as they became these knights, he only truly cared about the consequences of accepting this contract. Even that didn't weigh very heavily on his mind, so long as his wish would truly be granted. "Will you be able to tell what our wish is, or will we have to say it?" He glanced at each of the others individually, not wanting to say his wish out loud, lest he embarrass himself.

Although Ryan didn't care much for how others saw him, he did care for whether or not they knew his true objective in life. He always thought it'd simply be easier to wear a cool 'mask' than to show his 'face.' It wasn't that there was any evil, or that there were any problems that he could really think of, but that he was a rare kind of shy. A kind of shy that will talk face to face with almost anyone, but isn't capable of showing their true intentions, whether they wish to or not.

[Ariamis]

Damiann47 said
Ancia turned to face Sofia and crossed her arms. "Yeah sure, although if you don't mind just don't distract me, for once some progress is being made on whatever is happening." There was a hint of venom in her voice.

Sofia was nonplussed. "Ok, sorry," she said before she switched her attention to Marie.

onenote said
Felice gave Sofia a smile and a small wave before turning her attention back to Dora and Qubus. "I was going to ask about the process of becoming a magical knight and about the magic and wishes, but now I have some different questions to ask. The first is about this evil presence that you keep mentioning Qubus. What is it exactly? What does it do to people? If it's so bad, how come nobody ever noticed it before now? Is this evil just in this city, or does it affect places all over the world?" Felice stopped for a moment as she realized she had no ideal what this evil looked like and scary thought came to mind. "It doesn't look like humans?" She asked. Felice thought she could handle fighting scary, evil looking monsters, but actual humans...she wasn't sure how well she would be able to handle that...Felice shook her head, no point in worrying about it. It would be what it would be..."Anyways, my next questions are about the magical knights. Who are you guys? Like, what's your history? Do you just fight this evil? Are their others like you around the world or do people just from this city get recruited for the cause? Will we have to go leave our normal lives to train or something?...Sorry for all of these questions." Felice said, blushing slightly as she realized she started rambling on and on again. "There's just so much I'd like to know."

Qubus moved her ears up and down in a cute way as she looked at you with her round, red eyes like a child would look at a tiny ant. "The evil presence is always born from the hearts of humans and can take numerous forms, but its most common form is in the shape of very powerful magical beings known as Witches and Warlocks. They spread curses of despair and hide themselves in their own pocket dimensions known as Lairs. Entrances to these Lairs are found close to human establishments. Of course, since they are born of humans, they are found anywhere humans live in, which means we must work in every human establishment large enough to house these beings."

"They may take humanoid shapes," Dora continued, "but I can assure you they are not human. They usually look like grotesque monsters, which can be scary for your first time fighting them." She paused for a moment before continuing.

"We Magic Knights are a secret order that has existed since prehistoric times. Cleopatra was for example a Magic Knight," Dora said, and smiled.
"Anyway, we act as the guardians of humanity by dispatching these Witches and Warlocks, and ensure they don't grow too menacing. Qubus and her friends usually recruit Magic Knights to act in their own city or town. If you were lone Magic Knights like I am, you would have had to leave your homes to train to fight, but since you will act as a group it won't be necessary. Whew, I hope that was all," the blonde Magic Knight said as she finished. "You sure are curious about this."

"Now then, let's begin," Qubus said. "Gather around in a circle around me, if you please."

You formed a ring around the white creature. Dora and Marie were standing on the sidelines, spectating the event.

rusty4297 said
"Will you be able to tell what our wish is, or will we have to say it?"

"There is no need. Simply close your eyes, give your hand to me, and make a wish."

Each of you did as asked, and made a wish, your hearts swelling up with hope and happiness at the prospect of having it granted. Qubus's pupils shrunk, and her tails lifted up. They pointed at you, like a pair of hands about to grasp something.

Then it happened: You felt an indescribable surge of power as you were consumed by a bright light, and you fell unconscious.

"Wow...I can't believe my eyes," You heard someone's voice in the blur.

You felt light-headed and woozy as you regained consciousness, and to your shock realized that you were now wearing new clothes: Magic Knight uniforms you yourselves have envisioned using.

Marie was in awe at the sight of you. Dora was smiling. "I'm so overjoyed to see your magnificent attires."

Qubus spoke again. "Now, as Magic Knights, you're going to need these: your Soul Gems."

You looked above you, and saw a circle of floating objects descending into your hands. They resembled small Faberge eggs with a transparent glass-like core, each of their colors unique and correspondent with their owners' favorite color: Navy blue for Ancia, Yellow for Markus, Beryl Green for Felice and Crimson for Ryan.

Qubus addressed each of you at a time.

"Ancia Broker, your wish was to lead, to want to know what to say and when to say it, to help guide others rather then push them away. It has been granted: you will now have confidence and intelligence fitting of a human leader, and able to use it to carry responsibility like no other. Your desire to respond with the right words to any situation, no matter how critical, has awakened the Arcana of Adaptability within your Soul Gem: you may use your magic to change the shape of your limbs or even your entire body as you see fit. You may even take forms of animals and inanimate objects. However, the magic cost of this power exponentially increases with the change of mass and density from your original form. Your power also allows you to change the shape of your weapons with a lower cost of magic than is possible."

"Wow," Marie whispered as she watched.

"Markus Goethe, your wish was to release your father from his prison. It has been granted: The humans responsible for this detainment have pardoned him, and he will be free. Your wish to break your biological progenitor from his physical boundaries has awakened the Arcana of Intangibility in your Soul Gem: You may use your magic to turn yourself and anything you touch ethereal, but sentient beings may turn themselves corporeal at will. The magic cost of this power exponentially increases with the difference of mass and density between yourself and the target of the power. The following applies to ethereal objects and beings: they may pass through the physical world and float, they are immune to physical effects, but are more vulnerable to the magical world and magical effects. This power is imbued into your weapons, allowing you to turn them ethereal and corporeal at will, even remotely."

"What an interesting power," Dora remarked.

"Felice Mayer, your wish was to find your place in the world. It has been granted: you will never become lost, and once you have attained enough magical power, become able to find your destiny. Your wish has awakened the Arcana of Attunement in your Soul Gem: You may use your magic to sense the energy of living beings around you in a kilometer radius. You may also use your magic to understand the energy patterns within other beings and read their movements ahead in time. With a great cost in magic, you can even read the intent and state of mind of sentient beings."

"So you can sense even the tiniest creature nearby," Marie said in a whisper. You could tell she was still taken aback by all that was happening.

"Ryan Kane, your wish has been granted: your physical strength has now been increased to twice it previously was at all times, and increases further whenever humans you perceive as your friends are under threat. The Arcana of Illusion has been awakened as a result of this wish: You may use your magic to perform spells of deceit and subterfuge. Whether it is creating fake images, charming lower-willed beings, and with a large cost, even invisibility, you have the means to leave your enemies in a state of confusion. As with other spells, more powerful ones require more magic to use."

"All right. Bedazzlement away!" Sofia was excited, and not in the least because it was her turn next.

"Sofia Bremer, your wish was to heal your friend Wolfgang's hand. It has been granted: his hand has been restored to perfect condition. Your wish has also awakened the Arcana of Restoration: you may use your magic to heal and restore anything back to what it used to be, and with a great sacrifice of magic, even resurrect the recently deceased. But beware of fickle use of this power: it requires great concentration and magic, and has a low chance of succeeding."

"Wolfie, I did it..." Sofia seemed to be crying tears of joy. "You can play your violin again...I'm so happy..."

[rusty4297]

Ryan's eyes widened in surprise and almost confusion as the entire ceremony seemed to work perfectly. He never got the idea out of his head that all of this was just a lie or a joke, but he couldn't deny it anymore with how strong he felt as well as his new attire simply... being there. He grabbed hold of the crimson gem... his crimson gem. He stared at it for a moment before looking up to Qubus who began telling them about their wishes being granted as well as their unique abilities based on their wishes. His face turned slightly red as Qubus looked to him, assuming it'd be speaking his wish. It seemed Qubus understood he wanted that to be private though, as the actual wish wasn't mentioned. He mentally sighed in relief, before nodding, smiling at his new gifts from Qubus. Once again... Someone does a lot for me... At least now I can return the favor... I consider you a friend.

Ryan glanced around at the others, each having their own unique abilities as well. They were all unique, and in their own way, powerful. He looked directly to Qubus now, only curious about the cost and hopefully the regeneration of whatever they use to use this magic. "When we use our abilities, you said something about cost of magic, right? About how much do we actually have, or is that dependent on the user? And will it regenerate over time, or do we have to get you to regenerate it or something?" As he asked this question, he began to move around to test out his new strength. I feel lighter... Twice his previous strength, while it wasn't to the point where he could compete in a national competition for strongest man, he was definitely not a weakling.

[Gisk]

Markus picked himself off the roof and looked down at himself. The new clothes definitely agreed with him, though that was hardly a surprise. In some way he didn't understand, he seemed to have chosen them. He could feel his power, too. A lightness he could extend inside his body. He reached out to the roof's guard wall and put his hand on it. When he extended the magical feeling, his hand passed through. He drew his hand back and looked at both it and the wall in wonder. He took hold of his soul gem and clutched it in his hand as he approached Qubus again.

"I have to admit, I didn't really believe you until just now. So how do I summon my, uh, my weapon? And... what now?"

[Damiann47]

Ancia moved around, rolling her shoulders, opening and closing her hands, basically anything to prove what she was seeing actually existed. This uniform as they called it was exactly has she had imagined, very lightweight and not encumbering in any major way, even the gauntlets allowed complete unrestricted movement pretty amazing engineering wise, or maybe magic, probably a mixture of both. Ancia looked over the other freshly recruited knights, funny thing is seems they all had similar ideas on what a knight uniform would look like, not as if someone imagined themselves wearing modern body armor. Markus had the most interesting one however, the fencing mask said a lot about him if Ancia had to guess. All these people had their own wishes, she was only able to get some glimpse of what they were from what Qubus said, again Markus was the odd man out he had a literal wish. His father was in prison, for what and why no idea, doesn't mean the guy was a criminal circumstances mean a lot, something could have gone wrong which landed him in jail. Ancia decided it might be best to keep an eye on Markus, technically they were allies but still... Ancia shook the thought off, assumptions were never good, for now just leave no conclusions. Really there was a lot to go over, just not any time to ponder.

Ancia's train of thought broke as Markus asked his question, again another Felice moment... now Markus did have a point, while their powers were uh, powerful, not like they could fight evil abominations with them, knowing how to summon weapons would be helpful.

[onenote]

'So there's a few that do look like humans then...' Felice thought with a sigh, 'Well at least not all of them do...' Felice continued to listen carefully as Dora explained some of the history and gave more info about the magic knights, and when she was done, Felice nodded in thanks. "Yes, sorry about that. I just like to know as much as I can about things, especially things like this." As soon as Felice said that though it was time to start.

Felice joined the others in a circle around Qubus, noting that Marie had declined the chance. Felice stretched out her hand to Qubus and closed her eyes, repeating her wish in her head. She had just enough time to start wondering how exactly her wish would affect her, but the sudden surge of power inside of her, the bright light, and the sudden lost of consciousness kind of got in the way of her thinking.

As Felice came to, she brought her hand up to her head to rub her face. But she stopped when she saw her hand. There was this green mist stuff coming off of her arm, drifting upwards and fading away, and when Felice looked down, she saw that it wasn't just her hand like that, but her whole body was covered in the green mist stuff, and her clothes had been changed. The clothes part didn't really faze her, as she kind of knew that those were supposed to be there, but the green mist...She looked closer at the mist, it wasn't really thick around her, actually it was very thin, especially as it started to dissipate into the air. As Felice sat up, she noticed everyone had some sort of...color thing going on around them.

Ancia's was a navy blue color, and while Felice's was like mist, Ancia's was like a stone around her, hard, strong (but still transparent), and a little rough. It seemed only to move when Ancia moved. Markus' on the other hand was the exact opposite. His was a golden yellow and it slowly, elegantly, flowed around him like a gentle whirlpool. Ryan's was a crimson red that looked a bit like cloth and draped over him like a cloak and seemed to move slightly in the breeze. Sofia's was a pure white and hers was many tiny flashes around her, like invisible fireflies whose only features that could be seen was their light. Dora's was also yellow, but more like the color of daisies. and it was kind of like shafts of light pouring down on to Dora from out of no where. Felice could barely see Marie's thing at first. It kind of went around her in a sphere but the further it got from her the thinner it got, and it wasn't even that thick around her in the first place. The only place the color was semi strong at was in a small outline around Marie's body. Qubus..Well Qubus didn't have one. Maybe it was because she was a ferret? A magical ferret thing?. One last thing Felice noticed was that when she moved her hand, or when the others moved around a lot, they left a trail of their color behind. Kind of like the effect that happens when you try to take a picture of a light source while you're driving by it. The trail didn't last for to long though.

Felice was brought out of her awe by a little jewel falling into her hand. Felice had been to busy to catch what this was for but she would find out later. She did pay attention to what their wishes had been (well, except for Ryan's) and their powers were. 'Markus' sounds like he could turn himself and other things into a ghost. Kind of curious about his dad but oh well, that's none of my business. Ancia's wish and power go hand in hand together, hope it makes her happy. As for Ryan's...strength and illusions huh? An odd combo.' Felice thought to herself and couldn't help but be reminded about that weird red cloak thing (that was apprently his energy) that was around Ryan. 'Eh, probably a coincidence.' Felice thought with a shrug. 'And Sofia's power makes sense with her wish as well. But mine is kind of...odd...I guess it makes kind of sense and I should be thankful that I apparently got a really useful power. Especially since I can apparently use magic to read moves. That'd be good for dodging.'

"So um...I'm the only one that can see these things?" Felice asked as she went over to Sofia and started to try and mess with the flashing lights, but she could neither touch them or disturb them, as her hand just went through them. "And I can sense things for a kilometer around me?" Felice smiled and went to the edge of the roofs fence and looked out, focusing. She saw nothing, but after a moment she heard... "I can hear my brother..." She said quietly as she heard a piano playing softly. She knew her brother was supposed to be playing right now. But in a soundproof room in the music room down on the first floor of the school. And...she knew it was her brother. She knew the music belonged to her brother without a doubt and she got a feeling that even if she didn't know where exactly he was, she would know just by hearing this music. "Oh man! So cool!" She laughed, and ran back to the others. "So you're going to teach us about weapons now, right? Let's get started!" She smiled.

[WanderingSpirit]

"Click...Clack...Click...Clack"

Was all he heard as Ryuu was slowly walking up the stairs up to the roof, he had finally gotten himself convinced to actually come up here. It was a ridiculous idea that he was actually going to do this but never the less he was still walking up these stairs. Then he finally reached the door, and started to open the door before he stopped, this was his last chance of going back and if he didn't it would most likely mean that he couldnt back out anymore... So what was it going to be, going forth and backing up like the wimp he was... With a surge of courage his hand pulled down the metal handle and a gust of cold wind blew against his face and to his own bemusement, he found a group of five other people just like him, more or less. But now it was too late to back out, they had seen him and it wouldn't do much to run, so he walked forward onto the roof.

"U-u-uh hi, I'm guessing i'm late then?"

He said nervously with his arm holding his side. He saw each of the students having a strange gem each with a special color, as the white creature was going around. He had heard from the stairwell about something relating to a 'wish'. He had watched silently at the little ritual, was that right? To call what they were doing a ritual, I guess it was the best word he could come up with as each of the other teenagers were given a stone. They were also given a brief description of what they could now do and what they were capable of doing now. He watched silently as the other teenagers began to... well... do some pretty strange things, one could move his hand through the wall. That itself was pretty strange, but he sighed he closed the metal door behind him and looked at the group before approaching the white creature. Studying it briefly for a second.

"Im guessing I am suppose to um... talk to you?"

He asked nervously to the white creature. It wasn't that awkward, in fact he found himself more relateable to the white creature, which was a weird thing to say but he got that thought out of his head. He didn't know what to expect from this rooftop meeting, as the only thing he knew what that he was suppose to have a wish ready. He knew what he was going to wish and hoped that it would be okay.

[TheHangedMan]

The door to the rooftop swung open and banged against the wall with a loud BAM! and revealed a grinning Tracy. Upon seeing the people gathered on the rooftop, however, her grin morphed into a pout. "Aw geez, I guess this means I'm late then?" she said. Of course, the question was rhetoric; she already knew the answer to that. "Well, so much for being early. Aaaanyway, where's the magic ferret that's supposed to give me a magical bauble so I can fight monsters that take the form of seeds when defeated? Your name sure as hell better not be Kyubey or I'm backing out of this shindig."

The girl continued with her deliberately unsubtle reference to pop-culture shows as she walked towards the group, still grinning by the way. "If I do join anyway, remind me to take the advice of any mysterious girls that show up out of nowhere and hog-tie me; I'm not ending up like Mami and - Ah crap" she said before looking at the boys in realization, and audibly mumbling the rest. "Wait, there are boys here. So does that make this Nanoha instead of Madoka? Well, getting Raising Heart would be cool . . ."

She shook her head, erasing the thoughts from her head. "Ah what the heck, it's not like any of that matters! Anyway, nice to meet you guys! I'm Tracy Robertman! Nice to meetcha!" she said stuffing her hands in her jackets pockets and grinning expectantly at them. "I take you guys are Magic Knights too? Well, I'm not yet one but that's a minor thing."

[Ariamis]

Sofia twirled around in her new uniform: a white bustier and diagonally cut skirt with red and blue highlights, brown boots, white opera gloves and a flowing white cape attached to her shoulders. "This is just like I imagined it! Should I show this to Wolfie? Maybe I-wait, Marie?" She suddenly stopped, and looked at the pink-haired girl, who was even more quiet than before.

"Hey Marie, are you still thinking about that stuff that creep Julia said? You don't have any reason to be afraid about becoming one of us, you know."

Marie's eyes shifted around a bit. "I know, but-"

"I promise I'll protect you and everyone you care about. Knight's honor!" She boisterously said with a finger pointing at the air, and giggled.

WanderingSpirit said
"U-u-uh hi, I'm guessing i'm late then?" He said nervously with his arm holding his side. "Im guessing I am suppose to um... talk to you?" He asked nervously to the white creature. It wasn't that awkward, in fact he found himself more relateable to the white creature, which was a weird thing to say but he got that thought out of his head. He didn't know what to expect from this rooftop meeting, as the only thing he knew what that he was suppose to have a wish ready. He knew what he was going to wish and hoped that it would be okay.

Qubus turned her head to your direction, and stared at you with her red eyes. "Yes, but it is not too late for your wish to be granted..." You heard the white creature's feminine voice in your head.

TheHangedMan said
"Aw geez, I guess this means I'm late then?" she said. Of course, the question was rhetoric; she already knew the answer to that. "Well, so much for being early. Aaaanyway, where's the magic ferret that's supposed to give me a magical bauble so I can fight monsters that take the form of seeds when defeated? Your name sure as hell better not be Kyubey or I'm backing out of this shindig." The girl continued with her deliberately unsubtle reference to pop-culture shows as she walked towards the group, still grinning by the way. "If I do join anyway, remind me to take the advice of any mysterious girls that show up out of nowhere and hog-tie me; I'm ending up like Mami and - Ah crap" she said before looking at the boys in realization, and audibly mumbling the rest. "Wait, there are boys here. So does that make this Nanoha instead of Madoka? Well, getting Raising Heart would be cool . . ."She shook her head, erasing the thoughts from her head. "Ah what the heck, it's not like any of that matters! Anyway, nice to meet you guys! I'm Tracy Robertman! Nice to meetcha!" she said stuffing her hands in her jackets pockets and grinning expectantly at them. "I take you guys are Magic Knights too? Well, I'm not yet one but that's a minor thing."

"...or yours," Qubus said, not really minding the rude introduction of the other latecomer. Dora however sighed. Sofia started laughing. "Oh man, you're a riot!"

Qubus continued. "Now, close your eyes, give your hands to me, and make a wish." You did as instructed, and you fell unconscious as you were consumed by unimaginable power and bright light. The others saw a glimpse of them levitating for a bit on their backs before they gently fell on the roof, and soon rose back up, wearing Magic Knight uniforms of their own design.

"Here are your Soul Gems," Qubus said. A bronze and an ashy silver-colored Faberge-egg-like object descended and landed on your hands. The mysterious creature then spoke to each of you in turn.

"Ryuu Wantanabe, your wish has been granted: an attractive human with a biological gender of your interest will become emotionally attached and forever loyal to you. Your desire for company has awakened the Arcana of Conjuration: you may use your magic to create a magic circle, and perform a summoning ritual. This ritual may be used to summon entities such as spirits and mythical monsters from another realm, and give them commands. However, the greater a summoned being's power is, the less likely they are to obey your commands, and may even turn upon you instead of your enemies. Greater beings also require more time and magic to summon. This power is also imbued into your weapon, allowing you to generate ammunition for it for no magic cost. In addition, you can also focus this magic into your ammunition, and shoot small summoning circles from which you can summon tiny beings from a distance. However, in addition to regular costs for summoning, the magic cost for this ability increases with the distance you summon from."

"So you can summon a dragon or something? AWESOME!" Sofia shouted. "That was a pretty forward wish from what I gathered from Qubus's words, though. I couldn't have done so with my Wolfie...i think..." she slunk back into being silent.

"Tracy Povis Robertman, your wish has been granted: your agility has been increased to twice it previously was, and by training, you can achieve reaction times above human limits. Your desire to be swift has awakened the Arcana of Teleportation in your Soul Gem: you may use your magic to instantly move yourself and anything you touch into any other location in your line of sight. The magic cost of this power increases exponentially with the number of objects and the difference of mass between yourself and the target or targets of the power."

"Not bad," Dora said as she kept a neutral expression. "So I guess that's all you've invited this time, Qubus?"

The ferret-like creature scratched its ear. "Yes. Only one has declined the contract," she said, and looked at Marie.

rusty4297 said
He looked directly to Qubus now, only curious about the cost and hopefully the regeneration of whatever they use to use this magic. "When we use our abilities, you said something about cost of magic, right? About how much do we actually have, or is that dependent on the user? And will it regenerate over time, or do we have to get you to regenerate it or something?"

"I'll answer this one," Dora said. "You see, we don't regenerate our magic, we actually lose it over time. Costume upkeep and all that," she waved her hand around. "How much we have left is tied into the brightness of our Soul Gems. Once it runs out we lose our ability to fight as Magic Knights, so we have to keep on vanquishing monsters and take Grief Seeds they leave behind. I'll explain those later when we get one. The magic drain is fortunately slow: it takes about a month or so for our Soul Gems to dim from full brightness. As long as you think about your use of magic you will be fine, don't worry about it." The blonde Magic Knight said with a smile.

Gisk said "I have to admit, I didn't really believe you until just now. So how do I summon my, uh, my weapon? And... what now?"

onenote said
"So you're going to teach us about weapons now, right? Let's get started!" She smiled.

Dora nodded. "So about our weapons-"

"All right, now we're getting to the good stuff!" Sofia jumped in the air due to sheer excitement. Dora smiled awkwardly.

"Our most important magical ability is the generation of weaponry. Each of us has a signature weapon we can visualize in a heartbeat and use like a master thanks to our magical intuition. You know the one, the one weapon you always imagined using. You just picture it in your mind," she said as she closed her eyes and spread her hands.
"Then you focus magic to the palms of your hands...and release."

And just like that, a mass of yellow ribbons burst from Dora's hands and instantly took the form of a pair of exquisitely crafted golden crossbows. They seemed to faintly shine in the waning light of sun. She pointed one of them at the sky, and took a quick peek through the iron sights.

"Now you try it. Remember: focus magic, then release."

[Damiann47]

Looked like two more potential knights showed up, although pretty late considering most of the group already signed their contracts. Still Qubus didn't seem to mind too much, the same perhaps couldn't be said for Dora. The guy seemed to be another shy one kinda like Ryan, on one hand its nice to have some better gender balance really there were not that many men in their group, on the other hand he didn't seem like much, guess time would tell how he does. The other one fortunately introduced herself as Tracy Robertman, lots of energy and pretty straight forward with getting started, that's great all things considered Ancia could like Tracy here, an attitude like hers would be welcomed really. Qubus didn't waste any time in getting the wishes done, the boy who turned out to be named Ryuu had a simple wish, love from the sounds of it. Still the way Qubus worded the wish sounded odd, "Biological gender of your interest?" Qubus had an odd way of wording so could be nothing. Tracy's wish was direct as herself, just wanting to be faster not much could be said about that.

Ariamis said
"So about our weapons-""All right, now we're getting to the good stuff!" Sofia jumped in the air due to sheer excitement. Dora smiled awkwardly."Our most important magical ability is the generation of weaponry. Each of us has a signature weapon we can visualize in a heartbeat and use like a master thanks to our magical intuition. You know the one, the one weapon you always imagined using. You just picture it in your mind," she said as she closed her eyes and spread her hands."Then you focus magic to the palms of your hands...and release."And just like that, a mass of yellow ribbons burst from Dora's hands and instantly took the form of a pair of exquisitely crafted golden crossbows. They seemed to faintly shine in the waning light of sun. She pointed one of them at the sky, and took a quick peek through the iron sights."Now you try it. Remember: focus magic, then release."

Ancia nodded, Dora's quick lesson made enough sense, sounded like there was not a lot to summoning a weapon. She closed her eyes, instinctively she knew what her weapon was without thinking about it, for a moment she held the image in her mind. In Ancia's right hand her spear steadily materialized, first appearing in a dull blue then taking its full shape. The spear was long, maybe half a foot taller than her at least, if Ancia were to guess the shaft had to be made out of pine or some other hardy wood. The spearhead was forged out of tempered steel, the metal formed into a deadly sharp point. In the end its not like the spear would break like normal anyway, given the magical nature of the weapon.

Ancia grasped her spear in both hands, it was light not like what she expected, not that she would complain about it. She proceeded to experimentally stab the air in front of her it felt satisfying, a grin was plastered on her face. Next was to take it further, Qubus said her magic cost for modifying weapons was lower, saying so meant it was possible to do in the first place. A good place to start was as if she was summoning the spear again, Ancia closed her eyes still the image of the spear was present. She had no idea what her limits were, best to start simple. In the mindscape she shortened the shaft, taking off about three inches, next she turned to the spearhead itself. She molded the head into a cylinder, blunt and simple, then she extended one side until it resembled an axe. Ancia wasn't done yet, her last modification was to extend the axe shaped head farther out and curved it down.

Ancia opened her eyes again, her spear shined its blue hue like when it was summoned. The changes took the same order as she imagined it although much quicker. Now finished the new weapon properly materialized into its final form, this time being a battle scythe. Ancia felt somewhat drained, not much, at least she thought so she couldn't quite tell how much magic she used. On top of that unlike the spear her new scythe felt flawed in some way, not in appearance just something else indescribable. Maybe she made some kind of mistake when forming it, clearly she needed some practice. Ancia turned toward Felice waving the scythe, still uncharacteristically grining wide, "This is pretty awesome right?"

[TheHangedMan]

Tracy didn't summon her weapon immediately. She was a bit busy admiring her costume change. "Man, do I have style or what? Haha! Look at these kickass lion pauldrons! And my helmet! This is an eagle ain't it? Freakin' 'Murica people! Freedom and Liberty all the way, and stuff!"

She reched for the back of her head to check something, and ended up patting the back part of her helmet, which extended a bit behind her back in segmented plates. "Oh man, this is cool too. It covers up my hair," she said, feeling around the armor, which was indeed cupping her bundle of hair to prevent it from moving about. "Nothings grabbing that for sure."

Upon hearing Dora's instructions, Tracy gave a lopsided smirk. "Ooooh yeah, definitely Madoka. I get dibs on Walpurgisnacht then. That's beside the point anyway; time to see how my weapons look like."

Tracy glanced at her palms, opening and closing the repeatedly. "Let's do this shounen manga style: with lots of screaming and flashy lights!"

The girl roared joyfully and bronze and gold lights flashed around her arms. Cocking her right fist back, the wisps of light solidified and looked like golden plates hanging in thin air. "I pledge allegiance to the purity of this world! I am a Magic Knight and this is my oath! I have no idea what to say next, but HAH!" and with that final cry she punched the air in front of her, and a sound breaking glass could be hear as the plates of metal assembled themselves into big golden gauntlets around her arms.

Taking a deep breath as she finished her summoning, Tracy straightened herself out and stared at her weapons in admiration. "Haha, well damn, this is even cooler than the armor. So was that summoning sufficiently cheesy for you guys or do I have to ham it up a bit more?"

[onenote]

Felice turned when she heard more people come up. She recognized one from one of her classes, Ryuu, but he was kind of like Ryan so they didn't talk much. The other girl, who boldly introduced herself as Tracy, she was sure she hadn't met before, Felice got a feeling a personality like that was a hard one to forget. Felice examined both of them with her new sight. Ryuu was surrounded by little mini silver clouds floating around him gently, while Tracy on the other had bronze sparks coming off of her. "Interesting..." Felice said, though she still didn't know why everyone's aura looked so different then one another...but then again it might have been a little weird for them all to be the same. But now she had to turn it off, before she wasted anymore magic, so with a thought, everyone's aura, including her own, disappeared.

As soon as that was done, it was time to summon weapons. Felice smiled and started to concentrate...When she heard Tracy yell as she called her weapon. Felice got the feeling that Tracy still wasn't taking this all seriously. But she ignored that and, closed her eyes, focused on her own weapon, seeing it clearly in her mind and grasping for it...and grabbing it. Felice opened her eyes and smiled when she saw that in her hands was her weapon, a Guandao. A weapon that had good reach and also looked kind of cool. She tested it out a little herself before Ancia called out to her. Felice turned and found her fully smiling as Ancia showed her that she had changed her spear into a scythe. "I see that you're getting the hang of your powers too!" Felice told her with a smile as Felice examined the scythe. It's hard to believe that it was a spear just moments ago! Good job!"

[WanderingSpirit]

Ryuu looked around nervously, he had gotten past the armor part quite quickly but he was enjoying the hat honestly, it was something that reminded of Harry Potter but the hat was definitely too bright. But it matched his outfit, or armor so he didn't mind much and when he looked on his right arm, he noticed that his soul gem was in his... gauntlet? He believe that was what it was called, but either way it had a nice shiny coat of glass over it which eased his paranoia of it breaking so that was helpful indeed. He sighed silently as he kinda looked funny... to put it nicely but he ignored that thought before Dora began her lesson.

After the short lesson, he looked at everyone else for a few seconds waiting for them to summon out their weapons first watching them summoning their before he soon began his. He closed his eyes, and cleared his thoughts which were running rampant at the moment but managed and began to imagine a weapon...

'How about something unique? Something like steampunk... that wouldn't be too bad, right?' he thought silently as his imagination began to slowly fill out the blank spots, filling in detail on what his weapon would look like. From what his mind was giving him it looked graceful and beautiful, but still within the boundaries of practical, but then before he knew it he felt a weight on his hands that took him on surprise, this bow had appeared on his hand. The thing almost threw him on the ground but besides that it was surprisingly light for how many details and extras that came out from the weapon. He admired it before smiling softly, looking at the others too see what they had gotten, noticing that there was a spear... a scythe? and what seemed to be a Guandao? Ryuu didn't know what was happening but now it was interesting, the weapons kinda showed who these people are like. Besides Tracey of course...

[rusty4297]

Ryan nodded, listening to the explanation of how their magic would actually work in regards to total amount as well as regeneration. People began to ask about weapons, causing an explanation on that as well. As it was explained, Ryan began to try. He started a slow intake of breath as he held his hands before him, beginning to do as was being taught. For a moment, he had no idea how to, and then suddenly, the magic he had inside of him pushed out of his palms into the shape of a pair of kamas. It seemed like a good fit to his newfound strength, as he could use this swift weapon, then outright punch someone since the handle to a kama was much less than that of something like a greatsword.

Ryan moved the kamas around, feeling a natural affinity towards them, just as was explained. Now, however, it was time to try his illusion magic. But to do so, he would need someone to help him. He looked around at the others, trying to find one of the few he had met previously. He realized now, that one was being extra loud and flashy, and thought they'd provide ample response to his illusions, so he began attempting an illusion for all of them to see, hoping those that were outspoken would give a good response about how well he did with it. He began spinning a kama, focusing on the idea of a flame surrounding his weapon.

As he spun the weapon, he attempted to create the illusion that the fire, also an illusion, would take the shape of a small dragon about the size of a regular household cat. The style of the dragon would be like the Chinese dragon in which it was more similar to a snake with small front legs, than that of a Western-type dragon. The scales would be red as fire, but then suddenly shine and turn golden before fading away into nothing. He then looked for any possible reaction to his illusion, hoping he hadn't just imagined it in his head.

[Damiann47]

Ancia gave the scythe a flourish, "Well part of my magic is about reshaping my weapon, figure some affinity came into play here. Still don't quite know what it is but somehow this scythe is flawed unlike my spear, visually it looks fine just a feeling I got. So you have a..." Ancia paused racking her brain for an answer, "Oh uh those are called Guandaos right? Seems we are polearm users then kinda interesting that for all purposes we are using different weapons despite how similar they are." While not said so Ancia had a feeling that each knight wielded their own unique weapon more so since she hasn't seen two of them with the same exact one. She looked around at the others, Tracy the more-new-then-the-others newcomer had gauntlets although of course being more than just armor, they had some nasty looking spikes on them. Again Tracy was proving to be extremely straight forward. Ryuu had a bow, some ranged killing power from him could be great help in the future. Ryan had some mini-scythes or something? Ancia sighed why do people like using these weird weapons with names she can't know, mental note to ask him later. Before moving onto the others Ryan had a bit more to show, using his... scythe things, he spun them rapidly from them born a dragon, eastern snake like one glowing in bright red before turning yellow then finally dissipating

Ancia was impressed, the show was great despite its length and considering like everyone else Ryan barely had a grasp on his magic. Ryan looked at the group expectantly as if hoping for a response, the guy is the nervous and quiet type so of course displaying such flashiness could be uncomfortable. It dawned on Ancia that other then Felice she hasn't really talked with anyone yet plus her wish still resonated within her, while there hasn't been a chance to make good on it yet right then was a good opportunity. Ancia motioned to Felice to follow, one it seemed rude to suddenly walk away from their conversation and two more people is better right? She started walking towards Ryan, and on the way Ancia had no idea what to say, had to be careful not to screw up by saying something terrible. When she stopped standing before Ryan a calm washed over Ancia, like a sudden but light burst of wind fell over her. She couldn't describe it, but she felt different with a much clearer head, words flowed easier among other things.

Ancia started off with a small wave, trying to keep casual without appearing intimidating given her reputation, "Have to say that show was amazing, had something to do with your magic right?" Ancia held out her hand in greeting, "By the way know we don't talk much so might not remember that we share classes, still I know I've seen you around." Woah everything she was doing was way out of character, by now Ancia expected to alienate Ryan beyond belief, however quite the opposite. She didn't understand why she was able to interact so well, still you don't look a gift horse in the mouth right?

[Gisk]

Markus winced away from Tracy's display. She, he actually knew. They had met on several occasions, as their families were fairly close. He didn't know her well, but he knew he shouldn't have been surprised by the way she acted.

"Dummkopf, be quiet," he grabbed his mask and took it off by phasing it off of his head, "It's dark out and I imagine the whole magic knight thing is a bit secretive."

He held the mesh mask in his left hand and decided to summon his own weapon, finally. He merely reached toward his left hip, somewhat out of habit, and "drew" his sword out of mid-air. He held it up to his face, blade pointed toward the sky. It was very light. He estimated about three pounds. Lighter than his practice sword. Lighter than any sword of its length had any right to be. But not weightless.

[TheHangedMan]

Tracy laughed sheepishly at Markus's reprimand. "Haha, well, sorry I was just excited. I mean, aren't you?" As soon as the boy took of his helmet, Tracy's head poked up in surprise. "Markus, Is that you?"'

To her, Markus was the slightly bratty kid of one of the many business partners her parents had met. When she had seen him, he was asking his mother to get him this and tat. This was around the time she had begun learning martial arts, so her distaste for her family's mannerisms (which were shared by a great majority of the members of high-society) had become more profound. She didn't like him so much at first, but later thought that he wasn't that bad - just a problem of upbringing.

Her head already confirming that this was indeed the son of one of her parents old business partners, the girl approached Markus with an even wider grin on her face. "Wow! This is one hell of a coincidence, I haven't seen you in years! How's your family doi - ugh," she said, biting her tongue in mid-sentence as she remembered exactly how his family was doing. In an attempt to cover up for her mistake, Tracy fumbled with her words for a few seconds as she thought of something to say. "Bu - uh - er . . . so? Um, yeah, it's good to see you again?"

[onenote]

Felice listened as Ancia explained her slight weapon problem to her. "Perhaps it's just where you haven't done it before. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it over time." Felice told her. Felice herself wasn't sure of her own powers. Sure she could see and hear things, but what good was that unless she knew what all the info she got meant and what it could be used for. Maybe Felice could ask someone to try and punch her or something to test out her dodging ability...but if she knew the punch was coming, then would her powers even work? Was this something that could be trained then or something she was going to have to hope was going to work in battle? And even then would it be a vision or a gut feeling that she was going to have to fight over instinct to follow it? Plus will her abilities make her more of a target since one of them was being able to track these bad guys down? If so, then Felice was going to have to work extra hard to protect herself.

Felice blinked when she realized she had started to let her mind to wander again and quickly went back to the conversation on hand. "Oh, yes a Guandao." She nodded with a smile, hoping that her spacing out hadn't been to noticeable. "And yes, are weapons are similar but different aren't they.' Felice allowed herself a moment to think of how differently people used the the two weapons. "Of course, a scythe is similar to a Guandao, at least more similar then a spear." She added, but then noticed that Ryan was up to something. "I see that we all are testing out our powers huh?" Felice smiled as she watched Ryan create the fire dragon illusion. If it wasn't for the fact that he needed his powers to fight crime and they would probably have to keep this whole magical knight thing a secret, Ryan would probably have been able to make a killing doing illusions for movies.

And once again Felice almost missed Ancia as she moved over to Ryan, motioning Felice to follow her. Felice, with a shrug, decided to follow her. Felice was kind of in a comfort zone with Ancia right now, as she knew her the best currently. She could always get to know the others better later anyways. Felice noticed that as they walked over to Ryan, Ancia looked kind of...nervous, and appeared to be thinking hard. But when she got to Ryan...her whole body language changed. She seemed in control and sure of herself, different then what she had been like just mere minutes before. And it seemed like she was talking to Ryan pretty easily. True, she had talked to Felice all fine and well early, but Felice also remembered how Ancia had talk to Sofia, and this was an improvement over that for sure. So Felice followed suit.

"Yeah! That was pretty awesome!" She told Ryan with a smile. "If I didn't know better I would have said that that had been an actual fire dragon!" Felice kept back as Ancia went on, on speaking up after Ancia had her say. "The same goes here. I think we actually have a math class together. I hope to get to know you and everyone here better now that we all belong to a secret magical group!"

[Ariamis]

TheHangedMan said
"Haha, well damn, this is even cooler than the armor. So was that summoning sufficiently cheesy for you guys or do I have to ham it up a bit more?"

"You better leave the kitchen girl, cause here comes some real ham!" Sofia said, and started to scream while doing a crazy pose: "Enemies of mankind, cower in fear, for I will smite thee with my rapier of absolutely awesome doom! By the power of Qubus, I HAVE THE MAGIC!!"

A silver rapier formed in her hands in a white wind, which she then thrust around in more crazy poses. "Try and top that!" She said triumphantly to Tracy with a wide grin.

rusty4297 said
He looked around at the others, trying to find one of the few he had met previously. He realized now, that one was being extra loud and flashy, and thought they'd provide ample response to his illusions, so he began attempting an illusion for all of them to see, hoping those that were outspoken would give a good response about how well he did with it. He began spinning a kama, focusing on the idea of a flame surrounding his weapon.As he spun the weapon, he attempted to create the illusion that the fire, also an illusion, would take the shape of a small dragon about the size of a regular household cat. The style of the dragon would be like the Chinese dragon in which it was more similar to a snake with small front legs, than that of a Western-type dragon. The scales would be red as fire, but then suddenly shine and turn golden before fading away into nothing. He then looked for any possible reaction to his illusion, hoping he hadn't just imagined it in his head.

"Ooh, a dragon! I'll slay it, and rescue the prince from his claws!" Sofia said, and playfully stabbed the dragon, causing it no harm. She giggled. "Really impressive Ryan. It was like the real thing."

"And useful too," Dora added. "It seems everybody got a hang of their weapons. That's good, cause I have been tracking this Warlock for a few days, and depending on if I find its Lair, you guys could join me in the hunt? I'll contact you guys tomorrow then, okay?"

"You can count me in," Sofia said and thrust her rapier forward. "I can't wait to use my awesome powers!"

---

The next day went by like a normal school day would have. All of you except Marie grouped up after school on a single table in the corner in the cafeteria while it was still open, and decided to try and call on Dora using telepathy.

"Oh hi there," you heard the blonde girl's voice. "Yeah, I got a lead on it. It seems to be in the direction of the train station."

"That's good to hear," Sofia said. "We're just about to-"

However, she was interrupted by Marie, who joined your group. "We'll join you in a minute. What's up Mar-Mar?"

"Julia's coming here. I think we should leave..." She said, worried.

"Hey, don't fret. She can't do any funny stuff while here, unless she wants to get herself in some real trouble." She stopped for a moment, and looked aside.
"Well whaddya know, if it isn't Queen Creepie." As you followed where Sofia quickly pointed, you saw her: she was on the other side of the cafeteria taking an empty, stained table for herself. She seemed to be looking at your direction as she had her elbows resting on the table, her fingers clasped together. She was wearing a black leather jacket over a purple dress.

Marie spoke up. "She was amazing in class: she answered even the hard questions correctly, even one the teacher simply threw at us. She must be really smart to do something like that."

"Or she's cheating. Which would be the least strange thing about her," Sofia snarked. She rose from her seat. "I don't know about you guys, but I have an evil-slaying-fever. Time for some questing~ " she sang out the last words as she was walking out.

[rusty4297]

Ryan was surprised to see one of the quieter people walking over to respond to his illusion. He had expected the one who had been late and very loud to respond. It seemed that was a bit off, however someone else that had began acting loud and flashy took over on that point, and stabbed at it, complimenting the illusion. "Thanks." Just as he said that, the two he was sure he had met before also came over to comment on his dragon. "Thanks, yeah... That was how my illusions work, apparently." He nodded to Ancia and Felice as Ancia mentioned that they shared classes, and put out his hand, shaking hers before glancing to Felice, making sure it was obvious that he had heard and was acknowledging what she said, whether vocally or not.

Ryan found it odd how these two that had only moments before been keeping basically just to themselves were suddenly speaking to him seemingly more relaxed than they had been just standing near others. It threw him off slightly, but he still made sure to respond to Felice about the math class, "Yeah, we are in the same class. Sorry if I talk a little more to the both of you than I used to, considering what we all just somehow did..." He said, referring to the fact that they all just achieved magic status in a world that he had never expected magic to exist in.

---

Ryan, throughout his school day, had found some amusement through showing his few friends his new-found strength. Whereas one of his friends that was on the football team had previously had little difficulty beating Ryan in an arm wrestle, he now had great difficulty. Ryan obviously didn't win the arm wrestle, as the one he was arm wrestling against lifted weights every day with the team, and so just had a slight edge over him, but was only slight. It wasn't that Ryan wanted to have credit for his new strength, but more that he wanted to give a reason to participate in a bit more social interaction because of it.

Ryan glanced over in the direction of the girl who had apparently gotten magic knight abilities without making a contract. The others seemed slightly against her, but honestly, what was so wrong with her? The only thing she did was say that she didn't think any of them should become magic knights, and that she regretted her decision to become one. The only odd thing he could think of about her was her abilities and lack of contract. From what Qubus said, that seemed impossible... But, then... So did magic before all of this. He glanced about at the others, standing up to follow Sofia.