ShiningSector

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

"I have something that may help us take this guy down. However, its current design only work up close, like point-blank. Do you think you can..."

Travis' voice trailed off upon coming to a sudden and alarming realization that he and Zuri were once more under attack. During the ongoing conflict between Raiya and Rutger, Travis was able to catch the Father creating and unleashing a spread of explosive bolts with a few aimed directly at them. Not wanting to have Raiya loose her momentum and mana protecting them again in addition with protecting herself too, Travis quickly leapt past Zuri to respond.

"Shit, hold that thought!" yelped Travis as he hot-generated a pair of his lightning runes fired them the mere moment they were ready. Two streaks of ionized plasma surged out from their magic circles and quickly connected with Rutger's attacks moments before they could reach their targets. While his reply was likely enough to neutralize the blasts via premature detonations, Travis' considerable timing wouldn't prevent him from getting knocked down from the force of expected explosions.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Reaching the next room didn't take long and there was thankfully a lack of obstacles that stood before them. However in hindsight, it became apparent upon reaching a particular corridor where a trap had only just gone off recently. Travis noted the fresh arrows that either lay embedded into the wall or lay scattered across the flow. Someone clearly went through this way and made it out unscathed due to the lack of a body or traces of blood for that matter.

Travis and everyone else had then arrived to their destination to a room notably spacious and played host to an active light source. It was then evident that the individual that had been ahead of them was at the opposite side of the room. Upon closer expectation, Travis could make out the apparel and appearance of the interloper whom seemed focused on a large door at the end of the room. The person in question resembled an earlier image Nemo had shown of Rutger Stockton of the Arcanocracy.

Almost immediately, Raiya and Rutger began waging a skirmish of statements and declarations. Raiya, getting straight to the point, presented Rutger with her ultimatum; leave or die. Rutger on the other hand, presumably unfazed by Raiya's heated advisory, countered with verbal disparagement over Travis' teammate. That's when things became personal. Travis didn't know the history between Raiya and Rutger other than the basic facts such as Raiya's parents having been unfortunately murdered and her initial inclusion with the Catholic Church until things ended up going South. All he could gather and assuming that this confrontation was a feud that was now boiling over with intense emotion and mana radiating from Raiya. So much so that the expulsion of such pressure via her manawell was enough to kick up powerful artificial gusts within the room.

It was then that Zuri presented a rather logical if not blunt query that overlapped and contradicted with the tone of the moment regarding the existence of any scheme or strategy in dealing with the situation at hand. Travis simply hissed in reply, "Not really..."

Rutger finally made his own declaration; one that Travis really didn't want to hear but knew was inevitable. In the blink of an eye, Rutger had quickly invoked a sphere of rapidly expanding energy that sailed toward the group at high speed. With so much ground it was covering in such mere seconds, Travis truly thought it was the end for him were it not for Raiya's timely and ethereal response through her new empowered form. The spell she followed up with resonated and quickly dispersed the Rutger's attack before it could cause any fatal damage. Looking back and him and Zuri, Raiya advised them to stay back and develop a contingency in the event is she were unsuccessful in dealing with Rutger herself; a notion Travis was eagerly pleased in carrying out and not having to participate in the exploding battle before them

"R-right," he sheepishly replied before retreating with Zuri to a safer position.

Having fled the immediate scene, Travis took the opportunity to observe the battle has it played out. There was no doubt about it that Raiya and Rutger's combat skills far outweighed his own as he struggled to keep up with the swift movements of each participant and the spells they deployed. It was then Travis came to a realization of Rutger's own skills and devised that the Arcanocracy rep seemed reliant on the spells he used rather than displaying any physical feats, something he had scene through his conflicts with Roy and Lori whom only used spells as only a means rather than their core method of engagement.

"That fellow has quite the mana well," Travis said to himself as he continued his study of Rutger through the use of his manalysis.

It was then he recalled something he had brought with him that could very well turn the tide of this new conflict if the situation demanded it. Travis instinctively rummaged through this trench coat's internal compartments and produced a transparent icosahedron that stored within it the rune he had created, one that could silence a Paragon. He looked at his creation and remembered what Felix has said and what the rune could very well do if its application had be redesignated. Travis was still uncomfortable with the though on using it on any living being but the matter seemed to have created an exception he may just have to undertake.

"Zuri," he suddenly called to his teammate beside him, "you recall when you, you know, turned in to that large shadowy entity when we were still aboard that ship? Think you can do it again?"

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

"Y-yeah, I know what you mean," replied an uncomfortable Travis. He felt awkwardly derailed from the conversation just as Raiya made a pass at what sounded like a joke, only to have it then become a variety of dark humor. Her proceeding justification on the brief diverging topic of didn't help make the occurrence any less bothersome.

Thankfully, Raiya got to the point and skillfully, almost effortlessly, made her way across the ravine, leaving Travis to attend to his part in getting himself and Zuri over the large and seemingly bottomless gap. As per his suggestion earlier, Travis produced a tome upon unlocking it and removing the book from its belted housing, "Okay, this should only take a minute or two."

The tome itself was quite old with the edges of the hardcover having been worn down while numerous scratches decorating the exterior and nearly compromising the engraved Arabic lettering that titled. As he opened the tome and held it within his left hand, he carefully shifted through torn and stained pages while he looked for his intended spell. The text with the book seemed faded due to the decay of time and mistreatment by previous owners but remained legible due to Travis having restored entire sections that neared legibility. Surely it was a wonder how it had not yet fallen apart.

He then found his bookmark that marked the chapter versed in creation artes and briefly looked through the contents, noting the diagrams and verbal sequences involved with his spell. Having gotten the gist of the procedure, Travis raised his right hand out towards the chasm and began chanting a verse. Through the channeling of his mana, an orange hexagon surrounded by glyphs materialized around his wrist. Once he knew for sure the spell was properly casted, his open hand shifted into a pointing gesture with only his index finger and thumb remained open while the other fingers folded in to his palm. A new light then brightly shined from the tip of his extended finger before he began drawing out a triangular shape over the gap. The spell responded to his hand motions and crafted the three-dimensional shape per his instructions. Before long, he connected the mana-threads, finalizing the construct the spell had fabricated. The triangle platform hovered silently over the chasm while illuminating an orange flowing mist within the design.

Travis then hopped on to the platform with little difficulty after landing on its surface. The floating triangle of course remained unaffected by the shift of weight upon it, "All aboard!" Travis had then called out to Zuri.

The moment she stepped on the platform, all it took for it to traverse the large space between them and the other side was a simple snap of his fingers. The construct would then move at a fair pace and would take no longer than a minute to clear the gap and finally reach the other side.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

After finally departing from a seemingly never-ending staircase leading deeper to the earth, it was then that Travis and his other teammates arrived at a problematic dead-end. Before them was a presumably massive crevice with little indication of how far down it went. His light spell could only illuminate so much of the cavern that only a few notable details could be identified. What was made obvious once the had arrived was the presence of what seemed like a river below them which trailed off to an unknown destination. The more intriguing fact however were the narrow pillars that stood out from the racing stream.

With no appealing option to cross the gap, it seemed that the only way forward was to use the tops of the pillars as actual stepping stones. The problem however was that he, and maybe Zuri too, was not the most athletically nimble person of the group unlike Raiya. There was a chance he could make it across but each hop or jump had to have been carefully planned, given how small each pillar was. He unfortunately did not have the balance nor the confidence to traverse the small platforms. Raiya eventually came to the same conclusion and vocally presented her concern with the situation.

However all wasn't lost. Unlike Raiya, Travis was decently trained in some creation spells along with the retrofitting of constructs through multiple artes. Before replying, he overserved the water below flowing around the pillars, noting the mist and water molecules that consistently sprang forth.

"I have a couple of ideas," Travis began, "With the amount of moving water beneath us, there should be enough moisture for me freeze the surrounding base around each pillar up to their apex. I predict that should enlarge the overall platform size of each pillar we'd have to hop on to. Should make things moderately easier for us slowpokes."

Travis then placed his left hand on one of his tomes, "Of course if you don't mind waiting, I could conjure up our own mobile platform that should ferry us across, would take time to get it ready though."

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

It didn't take Raiya long to confirm that aroma of the room they idled in was essentially vacant of any foreign scents. Travis knew the idea would likely fail but he couldn't blame his teammate entirely for the idea falling apart; the entire place thus far was impossibly devoid of any impurities or indications of age. The mere pondering of the fact bothered him, making the Untalent question the exact reason in to going through so much trouble in maintaining such a clean image, even when the owners were more then likely deceased.

Travis sighed just as Raiya unleashed her displeasure upon one of the golden trinkets which pinged across the room's smooth surfacing floor before finally scraping against something rough and unkempt. He turned around after registering the difference of the sound - Raiya also picked up on the anomaly though only visually and determined that the stairway was actually not apart of the room's décor and instead served as a hidden passage. The assumption was sound as the cobblestone surrounding the descending stairway lay uplifted and broken; a conflict to the room's otherwise perfectly intact state. He agreed too this seemed to have been the handiwork of someone that had only just recently been through here.

He approached the stairway and took the moment to analyze it before signaling his candlelight spell to position over the stairway to better illuminate its sinking steps, "no objections from me. We should get a move on."

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

"There ya go!" Travis said in acclaim of Zuri's effort, "now just maintain that flow. Nemo and Raiya should be-"

Before Travis could finish his sentence, a loud explosive sound coming from outside rang out through the hallway, cut him off and nearly shook him to the ground. The Untalent however managed with little effort to remain standing and turned to face the entrance, now clouded with dust and debris particles. Travis wanted to go back and investigate, but he knew he and Zuri couldn't leave their statues unpowered without the doors ceiling up due to their would-be absence. Annoyingly still was their that manadials were still being interfered with and therefor couldn't be used in anyway to communicate with their teammates outside. Feeling the hopelessness washing over him, Travis gave an irritated grunt and kick the statue before turning to face the entrance once more, now witnessing the doors beginning to slowly close

"Nemo? Raiya? What's going on out there?!" Travis called out.

No one answered immediately but after less than a minute of silence, Travis could then vaguely hear the voice of Nemo from outside. Travis couldn't make out Nemo's words to well but after seeing Raiya rush into the hallway before the doors closed behind her, he came to the assumed conclusion she was ordered to enter the temple, possibly to back he and Zuri up before they were separated from the outside. It was likely now that Nemo was currently engaged the aggressing members of the Church, hopefully just one of them.

Travis then backed away from his statue after feeling its aura vanish, signifying that the construct was no longer responding to his mana circulation. At Raiya's commanding remark, Travis hurried behind her just to keep his candlelight spell with them has they traversed the dark hallway. They eventually arrived into large room littered with trinkets of jewels and gold, fitting for a royal palace. While a pleasant sight, he concurred with Raiya's deductions on what this room's true purpose was. The gold pieces seem real enough and Travis couldn't detect any trace of any visual foul play cause by any illusions. Whoever owned the gold though was beyond him; considering Nemo's earlier history lesson, there was a chance that the treasure strewn about was not owned by the original owners of the temple but by pirates long ago. Whether the case might by, Travis was hesitant of touching any of the rich fortune before him fearing there was a likelihood of it being booby-trapped.

However, their main problem presently was where to go. There were three closed entryways before them and a spiraling staircase leading to another room before them. Raiya then opted a rather unorthodox method of finding their desired path by, literally, sniffing it out. It technically wasn't a bad idea. Certainly a weird one; albeit inefficient too, though the concept of identifying the scent of decayed or burnt surfaces and even residual mana traces was a doable method of locating their path. Travis meanwhile scanned the lit room for any other hints while he aimed down Nemo's shotgun in anticipation for any more threatening surprises.

"I hope that nose of yours is a good one then," Travis replied, sounding somewhat doubtful but nevertheless going along her technique.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

While Travis did accept Nemo's offer in lending a firearm to him, he wasn't expecting to receive a long-barreled shotgun. Travis' eyes widened with his expression shifting to a surprised, near jaw-dropping look; if anything, he was anticipating something much smaller such as Nemo's revolvers. Although, Travis certainly wasn't against using such a weapon, having already utilized Lori's rifle hours ago, the familiarity of the weapon in his hands lingered still.

Upon closer inspection of the shotgun, it was apparent to Travis how much care and decorative effort Nemo had put into the weapon. Not only was the weapon elegant, Nemo had even gone into detail about its destructive capabilities, ranging from shattering magical barriers to flat caving right through them based on the cartridge used. While eight shots seemed limited, it seemed fair given its role for busing open defenses.

"Thanks, I'll be sure to look after it. I reckon this'll come quite in handy," replied Travis as he took hold of the shotgun and its ammunition.

While they travelled deeper into the jungle that seemingly became less dense with each meter elapsing, Travis and everyone else would’ve began seeing an increase in the number of ruins and older structures as they converged on the center of this ancient civilization. The mere thought of where they were nagged at him, had their manadials been free of whatever interference they were encountering, Travis believes he could possibly narrow down a few likely old civilizations that should have inhabited the region. Eventually, they arrived before a larger building that stood at the center of the decayed village. However, the sanctum-like structure appeared as if it had been built and completed just recently without any sign of wear or tear. Given the state of the smaller buildings that surrounded it, its seemed nearly alien in comparison.

“Strange,” Travis thought aloud but expected no reply, “no indication of aging or temporal decay whatsoever and yet there is no one around to be able to manage it. Given the interference on our manadials, could this too be the work of a Paragon…?”

He then watched as Nemo closely inspected one of two shrines that each hosted a large crystalline statue of an unrecognizable figure. It soon became evident that the statues were made up of manacrystals just as Nemo touched the artificial hand of the statue before him, causing the entire figure to light as a response to his mana flow. With one of the statues now glowing, the doors to the ancient structure reacted and partially retracted into the walls. It was now clear what they had to do.
With Raiya walking up to the second shrine and powering its statue, the doors finally separated and revealed the entrance inwards. Beyond the entrance was notable pathway shrouded in darkness seemingly uninterrupted by the sunlight that beamed inward. Even before Nemo had ordered Travis and Zuri to investigate the inner hallway of the structure, Travis was already able to deduce that there as method of ensuring the doors outside remained retracted without Nemo or Raiya’s involvement,

"I suspect the mechanism inside shouldn't be too different like the setup out here. This should take too long,” declared Travis as he armed himself with Nemo’s loaned weapon before proceeding inward, "let’s go Zuri."

Already a few steps in and Travis could quickly tell they were running out of supporting light. Figuring that it was inevitable, he soon pooled a portion of his mana into his left hand and tossed a newly created ball of light that floated above them while illuminating the entire passageway, “that should get us going for a bit.”

After walking a few meters into the ancient establishment, did they finally come across a set of similarly build statues that mirrored the one outside. With the quick use of his advanced light projection spell, he soon confirmed the statues here provided the same functions as the ones outside after the spell pointed out the mana pathways and the mechanical components that controller how the doors opened and closed. He then turned to Zuri.

"It’s the same principle as the setup like we saw at the entrance," said Travis has he placed his left hand on to the statue’s right palm, causing the manacrystal figure to light up as he began channeling mana, “think you can charge that statue over there? That should keep the doors open and allow Raiya and Nemo to come in.”

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

"I appreciate the compliment," replied Travis before following up after Nemo’s reasoning, "I'll try not to boast, though Untalents do have to compensate for something at least since many of the performance tests aren't segregated. Therefore, it is expected we compete with other students, including Talents."

As they moved deeper down the island, Travis figured why stop given how everyone weren’t bringing up any other topics aside the one initiated by Nemo, "yes, there is a social food chain though I suppose it can't helped as the Untalent population is pretty small in comparison so some tension is expected to arise."

"However, I feel the impression of the Societas Academia being an elitist school that brings down the incapable and unfit is really undeserving. I won't deny the few cases that pop up but it’s certainly not that bad. Many of my close colleges back there are Talents too," concluded Travis.

After presenting his part of the topic, Travis and everyone else soon arrived into a wide-open space within the what was likely the center of the island. Between them and a notably a taller land mass was a series of deep canals and trenches, as flowing with rushing water supplied by the waterfalls that spilled from the center island. It was even more likely that was there main objective.

However, a problem that briefly presented itself was the obvious case of traversing the active lanes of water that stood before them. Unless one would be able to fly or walk on water, there weren’t too many options to be had when dealing with the aggressive currents without being swept away. Even Travis’ cryo-rune wasn’t as effective when dealing with such an active stream and the best he could hope for were merely the creation of a few isolated Icey surfaces behaving as stepping stones.

Nemo on the other hand provided the seemingly more efficient action of knocking down one of the local trees and repurposing it as a makeshift bridge. While not as colorful nor subtle as Travis’s would have put it. After a word of caution, everyone began making their way over the trunk of the fallen tree without too much difficulty. It was then that Nemo summoned another subject, one that initially stumped even Travis initially.

"...I thought it would be obvious that I don't carry any weapons," Travis bluntly replied, almost sounding unamused even.

After he cleared the tree and stepped on to the other side, he then faced Nemo and continued, "nevertheless, I lost that intricate rifle back there and considering whom we may eventually run in to... I guess I won't say no to having one just in case."

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Travis collapsed in the sand with a sigh, "You know what I meant,"

Awhile longer and eventually Travis regained his strength in his legs, allowing him to finally stand and walk again after a short rest. Zuri eventually returned in their fold, prompting Nemo to declare that everyone here had survived the wreck. However, the way it was worded caused Travis' gut to turn again. There was no sign of Zoey still and the last time he even saw here was while they were fighting Seidon. Further more, he lost sight of her the moment she transitioned him through one of her shadowy portals all the way to the opposite side of the ship. He soon began to expect the worse as he silently delved more on the subject.

Eventually, as they finally began trekking into the jungle, it was then Nemo ambushed him with an unexpectedly personal question. The query certainly caught him off guard but it was nevertheless a needed distraction to keep his mind off of gloomy facts and circumstances, "Technically, I still am a 'student'. I may have mentioned earlier that I'm a Scholar which is one of a few aspects I was required to select from. Given my majors, it was the perfect fit."

"While as a Scholar," he continued, "I would have higher clearance to some of the more ancient and advanced tomes, my main job however is to seek out newer knowledge the Academia does have recorded yet and to research and fabricate new spells or techniques. I'm sure you've already seen some of my personal handiwork in action,"

"You'd think Scholars would have it good, being as we're usually writing reports and not looking for trouble unlike our Ruin or Knight Mages friends; unfortunately, trouble tends to find us. I've been on several expeditions and had to deal with a handful of threats though the most amount of trouble I seem to get in with the most are those Disciples of Salem jerks or the Cultist nutjobs.

Travis paused briefly before picking back up with Nemo's main asking point, “Anyway, the solo expedition I was on was more or less a bust. Too many sacrificial-happy denizens occupying many of my lead research sites and I was reduced to making spells in the middle of nowhere. As you can imagine, Felix showed up and recruited me after that.”

It was not a moment later did Nemo's final comment finally registered with the Untalent, “And what do you mean by looking like a masochist? You mean the hairdo, right? Having a full side of hair practically shaved off wasn’t my idea.”

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Travis continued away at the literally weighing problem that had befallen him. In a matter of minutes, he had eventually carved through a section of the large metal debris that held him to the sand. His head recoiled into the warm tropical grains as he exhaled in fatigue after having conjured a continuous spell while only using a mustered portion of his available but diminished strength. Travis would've reached into his trench coat for a filled mana crystal in order to replenish his faltering and weakened reserves but the mass of the wreck consumed most of his body and made retrieving any of his items impossible.

Still, the uncertainty of the situation demanded Travis free himself as soon as possible lest danger were to discover his unfortunate and vulnerable state. With a grunt, Travis raised himself up as much as he could and began channeling mana once more into the same arte. Pressing his straitened left hand against the metal, sparks jumped into the air almost instantly as his spell loudly hissed and burned through the scrapped alloy.

Luckily, Nemo had apparently honed in on Travis' unintentional commotion and arrived and offered his assistance as soon as he deduced the Untalent's predicament. Travis himself was quite surprised how Nemo projected his voice past the rattling sound of his worked however having being been silenced by momentary fatigue, Travis, now feeling relieved, managed a passable 'yeah' followed by a more easily readable nod. With a simple display of telekinetic-like magic, Nemo effortlessly peeled away the battered hull Travis had been working on, finally freeing him from the wreck.

Travis crawled away from the debris as best he could before collapsing again for another breather. Travis, having looked over the condition of his lower body and legs, suddenly gave a tired chuckle, "Well, at least they're there still - too bad I can't feel them right now...thanks for the help, Nemo. Good to see you and Raiya didn't become fish food..."