The Gate of Lords

"Hm. Tah." She emptied half of the vial into her mouth then stowed away the remains of it along with her crystal. She went over and nudged the demon's body. "What's a dude like him doin' in a place like this anyway?"

Greg turned to Billie. "It might be a female, you know. It's hard to tell..." He looked up at Conrad. "Do you know, sir? Is it a male or a female?"

edited 13th Nov '12 3:03:10 PM by Collen

"Male." Master Conrad replied. "Females of this kind are usually larger and have a much longer tongue that can ooze acid. And if I had to guess why it was here, I'd say... Well, there are actually two reasons. The first is that it might have wanted to kill some still-learning Orbkeepers so that they wouldn't have a chance to grow more powerful.

"As for the second, I'm afraid it's a secret. I can ask Master Gratso to tell you about it, but I can't tell you without his permission."

Greg frowned. An idea was entering his thoughts, a terrible idea that he did not like at all

Greg gulped and spoke up. "Um, sir... is it... was the demon... do you think... Do you think it was like... like, the quiet before the storm? What I'm trying to ask... do you think more will be coming, sir? Is it possible?"

"It most certainly is." he replied. "That is exactly why we're trying to find how it got in. We want to prevent any possibility of a second attack, considering that this one has done so much damage on its own."

"Well, there's a ton of ways it could've gotten in, ain't there?" Billie said. "I should know, I was the one who found out half of them. Well, quarter of them at least. And like three of them are probably big enough for big and nasty here to get in."

The life force of the demon was gone and a breath of relief escaped Andel's mouth. "Good thing that worked" he said before laughing a little. He swayed slightly before going down to one knee, using those spells and such intense focus had drained a good deal of his current energy. Nothing a short rest couldn't restore but he did feel like he needed to sit down for a few minutes.

He looked over at Megan who had been observing the battle. He reformed his Orb and placed it back in his pocket as he reset the bow on his back. "So miss, how did we do?" he asked with a grin. She had not joined the fighting to his knowledge. He assumed she had been waiting to see what the rest of the orb keepers could do before joining the fray herself.

edited 19th Jun '12 2:49:26 PM by AuraofMildChaos

Khaine sighed and decided to add his two cents, saying "At this point, we can probably expect them to come in droves. It's only a matter of time before they learn about what just happened. This one just proved it was possible to get into a haven of the one thing standing in their way. It's simply not possible that others wouldn't be emboldened by this." He turned to Greg and continued with "In the end, however, it changes little. Our kind have been destroying demons since we first appeared, and we're not about to stop because of something like this. If they invade the academy, then we simply have to push them back so thoroughly, or so brutally, that even the idea of a second attempt would be a last resort nightmare scenario to them."

Lionel, returning to normal size, but still keeping his plastic sword, turned to Khaine and shook his head.

"That'd hardly be the end of it. They'd just attack somewhere else. And worse... Start avoiding us and making sure whoever they go after can't fight back. I hate to say it... But better us than our families, right?"

Khaine turned to Lionel and said "Of course it wouldn't be the end of it. But it would be something. And it's not like we would simply let the survivors escape. An attack on the academy would happen eventually anyway, this incident just speeds things up and gives us a bit of warning.

Besides which, I think your underestimating the number of demons that there are in the world. We are already targets simply because we're orbkeepers. The thing is that there are enough demons out there to attack both us and our families at the same time. I don't think you realize that targeting our families and/or people who can't defend themselves is something that demons already do with much more regularity than targeting our kind. They're easier prey, and there're far more civilians than there are orb-bearers. That's why actively hunting down demons and rooting them out of their hiding places rather than waiting for them to reveal themselves is not only important, but essential for our ultimate victory."

"Well, at least there's no fatalities." Vann canceled the charge of his orb in a breath of relief. Then he approached Billie, "Aren't you going to do something about the wound itself, Billie? You got me worried for a second there."

"You were worried about me? How cute." Billie shrugged. "It's just a scratch Vann, I've had worse." Nevertheless she started rooting around for the swathe of gauze she kept on her.

"I'm just worried, don't get the wrong idea." Vann said casually, before turning his slightly blushing face to the room. "How are we going to start a trial with this mess around the corner?" He looked at the dead demon, and then he spotted a safe near the destruction, "That safe has been intriguing me for some time now, what's inside?"

Master Conrad bent down to inspect the safe. "This is the safe that Master Gratso gave the Orb Dueling teacher a while ago. I saw him put some aged paper into it beforehand, and occasionally noticed the teacher reading it. I never learned what it said, but I imagine it must be pretty important for such a demon to be unable to destroy the safe it was kept in."

He scratched his head. "What we need right now is some way to unlock this. Does anyone want to try?"

"Well, I can dip it in water and attempt to crush it by hydrostatic pressure, but the documents will be damaged for sure, not to mention getting wet. A fire-element orbkeeper proabably can melt a hole, though." Vann looked at the safe.

He sighed, and pulled down the hood of his jacket, "Violent methods aside, couldn't we just ask Master Gratso? I doubt a safe with durability of this caliber comes cheap."

"While I respect him, I still find Master Gratso to be slightly paranoid. He would never help us open the safe for many reasons, especially considering that he would not tell me what was in it. Fortunately, as long as he doesn't arrive until we open it, we can tell him that it was broken by the demon."

He examined the lock carefully. "Even if you can't destroy the safe with water, you might still be able to unlock it. What if you used the water as a lockpick of a kind?"

"Well, I have no knowledge how locks worked, so picking it with my powers are out of the question." Vann said rather grumpily. "Not that I'll try to. With all due respect, Master, I have no intention to meddle in affair between the Masters." Vann said. He held Master Gratso with high respect, as his favorite Master.

"Whatever those old documents contain is not privy to others for a reason, and I believe Master Gratso made it so with the best of interests." Vann said.

Khaine looked uneasily at the exchange between Master Conrad and Vann, and said "I agree. I find it difficult to believe that Master Gratso is hiding whatever is inside for no reason. If he hasn't told you what's in the safe, Master Conrad, then it's entirely possible he has good cause. Besides, opening it without his permission would be a direct violation of his privacy. We should hold ourselves at higher standard than that." Much higher. Violating Master Gratso's trust wasn't something that Khaine was willing to do. Prying into this would be wrong. At the very least, Khaine would have no part in it.

Conrad nodded. "I suppose that some respect would be useful. I merely thought it would be best for us all to know why the demon was here in the first place, and sought to answer your question."

One of the doctors approached. "We managed to identify the attacked man. He's professor Spielding's assistant."

"His assistant?" Master Conrad asked. "But given that class was soon to happen, the professor himself should have been in this room."

The doctor shrugged. "The important thing is that he'll live."

"Well, thank you for letting me know." Master Conrad said. "You'd better get back to watching over him."

The doctor nodded and left, and Conrad turned his attention back to the Orbkeepers with a nervous expression. I can't believe that Spielding would forget his own class. His memory isn't that bad.

"Well you guys truly had things under control. It's also always impressing to see the martial artists go at it. It was also incredible that you guys managed to put it down by yourselves" commented Megan of her observations about the battle.

Lionel was a little annoyed that Megan hadn't helped, but he let it go because, well... It was Megan.

"Glad you were impressed... Maybe you'd like to join in next time? I... Wouldn't mind working with you..."

He turned his attention to the group around the safe.

"I don't think a water lockpick would work... I haven't picked locks before, but I'd think you'd need something solid, like metal, or at least... plastic..."

He paused.

"Master Conrad... Assuming this is a normal lock... And I were able to pick it for you... Which I should, since you're a master, but I really don't want to 'cause I'm scared..."

He fell silent, then took a deep breath, and made several false starts before he was able to find his words again.

"Swear to me that if it's anything that can help us fight the demons, you'll tell us... all of us. And promise me you won't lie about how the safe was opened... Because I won't."

He sighed, sweating.

"This was not what I wanted to do today. I wanted to go into town and do some toy shopping after the exams... Instead I'm fighting demons and struggling with the dark secrets of the academy, and now that I'm not even going toy shopping, I need to pick up a new Bumblebee, too..."

"True enough" Andel said in response to Megan's assertion that things had been under control. When the other boy, whose name eluded Andel at the moment, showed up and began talking to Megan then the master Andel simply sat instead of kneeling like he had been. It was much more comfortable.

"If what is in that safe threatens the academy we must know, if the master refuses to show us that should make us question what he hides that a demon would dare enter the place of its hunters" Andel voiced his own thoughts. It was true, whatever was in that safe had attracted the demon and the third presence that he had noticed before. Realizing that he would not know if that third person was near Andel regained his luminescent form and scanned as far away as he could manage for the odd third life force he had sensed previously.

edited 20th Jun '12 7:04:25 PM by AuraofMildChaos

Khaine looked at considered Lionel before saying "You did some recon in here before the battle. Was the demon attacking the safe, or even looking at it?" He then turned to Andel and said "Your element is life, right? Did you see or feel the demon interact with the safe? Or anything unusual at all, really."

"I don't 'see' life force, it's more like a sixth sense. I just know how much life a being has. That said, there was a twisted and unnatural third life force in the room before we entered and it left the room before we arrived, perhaps it was the way the demon got in or it might have been a demon leader. I cannot say for sure beyond that" Andel said as he continued checking the area for abnormal life forces that might indicate the third beings reappearance or another demon's arrival.

edited 20th Jun '12 8:02:14 PM by AuraofMildChaos

"I promise." Master Conrad said. "It would be idiotic to do otherwise."