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A Hero Tale {Complete}

"Aye, aye!" Vale said, rather matter-of-factly, " I knew, of course I did, my blade, Yin, she whispers to me, Yang, all that might be, whether it comes to pass or not! I'm happy to know you were not killed by Shadra, a timeline where you slaughtered Ada without remorse, ahaha.." Vale nodded and smiled wider. "Truth be told, perhaps your mercy does not hold abysmal weakness as I'd once thought, considering the circumstances of the order and their people, You are a mere tadpole in this world!"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

~ Chapter 48 ~

_{Path Interrupted, Once More}

Jenso spent quite some time heading down the mountainside, but within an hour, he was already on the ground, and halfway across the second half of the rocky plains. He found himself met with a large chasm however, with a single rope bridge leading to the other side.

"Treacherous, is it not?" A familiar voice called out. Behind Jenso, stood Vale, once again, with his trademark wide-mouthed grin, brandishing his sharpened canines. The sun was just coming up now, and Vale looked skinny, his white eyes refracting the light like opals. "My my, I can feel your Ki, more thorough than ever!" Vale taunted, moving close to Jenso and extending a hand towards his face.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

As per the norm, Jenso's wounds had healed in record time. Though, despite this, his arms seemed to still have subtle scars along their lengths. That blue arcane fire did a number on his skin, somehow weakening his healing factor. Perhaps there was something more to Ada's magic than he'd thought. And what of Nexus' words? Who exactly were the Order of Chaos? Only time would tell, and seeing just how powerful Ada was, it might be quite a while before Jenso stood a chance against their full ranks..

---

~ End Of Chapter 47~

Scattered Shades: Arcadia Chronicles

@Empath Currently, @rune_alchemist is waiting on you.

@Guilty Spark Hows your situation looking recently good sir?

@Everyone:

Glad to see progress, I'm enjoying everyone's characters thus far. Hopefully the branching arcs will come to fruition, haha.

Scattered Shades: Arcadia Chronicles

---

Hyznia, CMAS HQ

@RyuShura

---

Sarah narrowed her eyes. An assistant? There was no way she was going to allow any of the CMAS officials to accompany him. Fortunately, he was not the first she'd contacted to take this odd job, and sure enough, he wasn't going to be the last. Sending one rogue diver after Sulfrax was inefficient, and foolish, anyways. Although Sarah had no estimate for his abilities, she was sure that somebody like Pincy might have had no chance at killing him, even if it was with a unique type of magic.

"I have several whom you can choose from, though, none of them are of CMAS affiliation, and if you'd like to keep your head in place, I'd suggest you refrain from affiliating yourself with us either, regardless of what we ask of you," Sarah announced, after a short silence, "If you are willing and able, I can pair you with a man or woman of your choice from our current roster of... Volunteer Divers. You will be, of course, compensated if you are to succeed. Generously." Sarah looked to one of her officials and nodded to him. The man nodded back and exited the room to fetch the other Divers there were within the confines of Hyznia's CMAS HQ.

"Shall we?" Sarah beckoned, standing from her chair. Pincy felt a hand grasp his shoulder from behind. One of the CMAS officials were urging him to stand and follow.

---

Illon, Yvin's Quarters

@13org

---

Yvin glanced at Kasumi, as irritable as ever. Pride turned to her, her own expression blank with disappointment. Or was it pride for Kasumi's habit of speaking out of turn? Nobody could really tell with her. Yvin shook his head and cleared his throat, prompting their attention.

"The recent murders have worsened. Reginald is dead," Yvin grunted. Curt and to the point, as always. the man wasted no time with formalities or small talk. "I've called you two back to investigate. None of our soldiers have had any success in tracking down the killer, despite the copious amount of bodies they've left in their wake. This is turning into an epidemic, one death every night." Yvin paused and looked to Pride. "The only lead we've found it that some crime scenes were rather... Clean. Devoid of blood. In fact, the body of Reginald himself was practically bone dry, drained of his fluids like a raisin. We suspect a Warlock is at play, or worse, some kind of monster that we've never cataloged before."

Illon was known for cataloging more monsters within No-Man's-Land than any other Nation, despite their size and location in the center of the swampland. Reginald especially, a councilman within Yvin's court who was responsible for managing the city's defenses, was adept at recording the traits of larger, titan-class monsters. As a government official, and a CMAS mage, he was one of the more powerful, and well respected members of Illon's influential group of people, and he sat within the coziest portion of the Nation's walls.

"Reginald was killed last night, within the confines of his own bedroom. Now, well into the afternoon, we've not found a single indication that his room was broken into, but there was something that, with his dying breaths, Reginald was able to offer us." Yvin reached into one of his trenchcoat's pockets and pulled out a clump of white hair that refracted light like steel. "This is the killers hair. It is unnaturally pale, and I highly doubt an elderly person was responsible for Reginald's murder, even if they were also an Archmage." Yvin sighed and dropped the hair to the ground.

"To reiterate, you two are here to track, and kill whomever was responsible for this."

---

Diver's Paradise, Eastern Entrance

@Jensoman@LokiLeo789

---

"You're a bigger man than I am, Jenso," Brian cut in, chuckling nervously, "I hate them very much for what they've done, every last one of those drones. CMAS officials that have been taken by the system are at fault for their own wrongdoings, regardless of who executed the order. I should know, I've seen it. Men and women, institutionalized by the CMAS, unable to think for themselves any longer. If you ask me, that's no different from the beasts in No-Man's-Land." Brian sounded rather confident, for once in his life, with what he'd just said. It was passionate, fueled by his regrets and desires to make a difference. "I don't... I don't know. Following orders without questioning the morality of it all... They may not have had evil intentions, but after changing so violently to appease the CMAS? It just, it seems pretty evil, to me. If any of my colleagues were ordered to kill my daughter without rhyme or reason, I don't doubt that they would follow through with it. And although I don't wish to kill anyone, I'm almost certain, that if I was met with something that evil, I would drive my dagger through their skull without a second thought."

While the three Divers spoke, a familiar figure strode down the eastern entrance ramp with a limp. It was Luke, sporting his iconic Olive green tank top, and ragged patched pants. His darker complexion was riddled with sweat, like he'd just run a marathon, but he didn't seem too worried despite his condition. The man walked to the edge of the eastern platform and looked down at his paradise with a frown, immediately reliving the events that had happened earlier that morning. The afternoon wasn't kind to anyone, apparently.

---

Diver's Paradise, Western Entrance

@Rekaigan

---

Kevin grit his teeth angrily, but shook the thought of beating Oswyn to a bloody pulp from his mind. Just like Luke, Kevin was rash, but not so rash as to make terribly unproductive decisions whenever his temper flared up. Not usually, anyways. "I aint got a clue about those orbs. Could be manifested Ki, could be artifacts, hell if I'm an expert on something like that. Sounds like they were sucked dry of their Ki, or arcane energy, or both," Kevin guessed, not really understanding the situation himself. "Those robed guys sound familiar though. There have been other incidents, similar to this one, across No-Man's-Land according to a few rumors." Kevin walked closer to Oswyn and gave him another once over. "Why'd you help that kid, anyways? Most Divers 'round here 'aint about to go forgetting about Luke. Seems suspicious if you ask me." Kevin avoided asking for the man's name just yet, and didn't feel the need to share his own. Although his reputation was somewhat reliable, there were a few who didn't know who he was, but mister Laro never really cared to acknowledge formalities. He thought himself just as famous as Luke, even if that was nonsensical.

Scattered Shades: Arcadia Chronicles

Update: I am a Persian now.

Post inbound.

A Hero Tale: Mikhael

Ezekial remained silent, walking alongside Mikhael as he thought over the boy's words. Perhaps now wasn't the time to pry, he simply nodded and looked forward, patting Mikhael's left shoulder lightly, as he readjusted Lucas' weight. "You will eventually see it, and learn to accept the truth that Maya has bestowed upon us, I am sure of it," he said sternly. But something caught his eye as they continued forward. The Tree stump that they'd passed earlier, and the strange bush as well, in the same order. "W-Wait one moment," he stuttered, "Had we not passed these landmarks less than a minute ago?"

A Hero Tale: Lystra

Zelriane's fist crashed against the shield, but felt light. There was reverb, of course, and enough power behind the strike to send a man to his knees, but the shield Lystra wielded did not falter for a moment, backed by her strength and stance. Zelriane's right eye twitched ever so slightly and Lystra moved to strike again. He retracted his fist and shifted his body weight to the right. Using his stance, he dropped low, and stood upright once again, moving the base of his palm towards Lystra's wrist before she had a chance to retract her knife. His speed slowly began to increase, as did the force behind his blows, but Zelriane held back the urge to circumvent Lystra's abilities. Something about her surpassed what he'd seen in Kalen. Kalen himself saw it too, to a lesser degree, but back away, speechless, as the two clashed before him.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Although he searched the horizon, there wasn't much to be seen. He noticed the outpost, and even the Forest where Lark resided in the far horizon, as well as the wastelands of Orobo, and the far of reaches of Pharie's snowlands to the north. The the east however, there was a large white wall, in a square, and beyond that, a large flat plain.

Scattered Shades: Arcadia Chronicles

@Necrophage okie dokie