The Gate of Lords

Greg's eyes grew wide with a wild kind of glee. "No, no," he said excitedly, "the prophecy has to be the real deal. And not only will we save the world, we'll fix it. The world is a wreck. Humankind has screwed up royally. If we saved the world, we'd have so much power. We'd be able to remove the plague of violence. Thinking would be necessary. A new world order could start... but only if we follow the prophecy. We have to. If you guys don't..." Greg paused for a moment. "...I'll go by myself."

"So, what should we do now? I doubt the Masters are keen on having us go through trials after this little Demonic invasion" asked Megan.

Lionel just stared at Greg.

"I've seen enough cartoons to know where this is going... I think maybe you might want to be careful. The thing about a false hero who's really evil? That could be you if you aren't careful. The power-craving? The new world order? That's bad-guy talk. That's shorthand for when someone used to mean well but is too far gone now. So could you maybe not go off the deep end? It'd make things easier for me, and probably for you too in the long run... Maybe even for all of us..."

Greg scowled and turned towards the wall. "No. How could you even suggest that? I am far from 'villainous'. I just want to cure the world of this... this plague that is raging inside society. My cause is nothing but a pure one. Purer than most, in fact."

"Pure is not always good," Phoebus said. He too thought the strange poem applied to the Orbkeepers gathered today, but he was disturbed by this one's overzealousness. "Good intentions can be twisted to excuse horrendous action. That is not a path I believe you wish to walk."

"Yeah, what do I know? I'm just a kid," Lionel replied bitterly. "Never mind that while everyone else was piling on the demon, I had to pull a wounded man out of the room by myself... They think they've got him stable, by the way. Never mind that after I did that, I fought the demon just like the rest of you. Never mind that I was the one who scouted out the room in the first place, or that if I hadn't opened that safe, you wouldn't even know about that prophecy you suddenly think makes you The Judge Of All The Earth. How could some stupid kid possibly understand any of this?"

"Cease this pointless fighting" Andel finally spoke in a loud voice "We are getting nothing but strife from this conversation. We should simply rest and prepare for whatever the next step may be whether trials or seeking the source of the demons." Andel walked closer to Lionel and placed a hand on his shoulder as he spoke "Just because you are a kid, and to some most of us besides the masters here are still considered kids, does not mean you are stupid, disregard those who would believe otherwise."

Looking around Andel, still transformed, leveled a gaze at the other orbkeepers before he concluded his miniature speech "We should stand together not squabble over a poem that may or may not speak of the future."

edited 23rd Jun '12 5:19:41 AM by AuraofMildChaos

"Andel is right." Master Conrad said. "Even if it is a prophecy, they are never immediately relevant. For now, we need to prioritise the sealing of the academy and the finishing of the trials. The question right now is whether people want to postpone the trials so that they can help with the search."

Why is it that nobody trusts me? Greg wondered, turning back around to face the Master. I'd never go to the demons' side!

Out loud, he said, "We should just forget the Trials. They are of lower priority to keeping all of us safe. Plus, I think we need some time to figure out what the prophecy means. They often have twists, double meanings. We can't take it at face value."

Lionel took a deep breath, and calmed down.

"Sorry... You're right, I shouldn't let it get to me."

He turned to Greg.

"You're definitely right about the trials taking a back seat... Whatever that thing came for is still here. Heck, for all we know, this one could have been a decoy, meant to keep us occupied... It was powerful, but it didn't seem especially smart. Master Conrad, how did you find this demon?"

"Well, a student heard hissing coming from the area. She mentioned it, and we sent someone to investigate. They returned, saying that the room was being wrecked. After that, I used my powers to reach out and sense the demon's mind."

Lionel nodded.

"Not subtle at all... I think it might be a good idea to start our search with the most important places in the academy..."

Sense. That's what the poem lacks.

Or so Vann thought. He had stayed silent the entire time, refusing to indulge himself in a poem that was very unlikely to be true. Throne? Fake hero? Dark lord? To him, it screamed absolute nonsense. This time Master Gratso really disappointed him, why would a Master he admired so much kept, and perhaps, believed, this 'poem'?

The fact that other Orbkeepers were arguing over it ashamed him, especially those believing that the poem contained a degree of 'truth'. Vann focused in figuring out why and how the demon got here.

Then he hard about the search plan, and proposed several important sites, "We should separate ourselves into small groups, a small search party. One group can search the Dueling Grounds and the Master's Quarters, and another can head to the Dormitory, which was located near the Library. The third group can search the Garden and the Classroom Building." Vann explained, then he examined the people around him, "If we managed to form a fourth group, it can use the assistance of a Master to explore the Academy Dungeons, although there is a considerable risk factor involved."

edited 28th Jun '12 6:15:40 AM by LimitRemoval

"That sounds reasonable." Master Conrad said. "I hate to postpone classes, as that feels like giving the demons what they want, but we really don't have another choice.

"However, the trials will only be postponed a short time, a month at the most. I will not allow any demon to keep the next generation of Orbkeepers from the world."

He looked around. "We must be fresh for the search. Please return to your room and rest, and we we will start the search at sunrise tomorrow."

Returning to his room would have been welcome if the post battle adrinaline had not been pumping. Andel felt like he had some energy left to work with and decided that he would not sleep even if he wanted to. " I do believe I will head to the library, I doubt I could rest anymore than that if I wanted to. Perhaps something in one of the books I will find some knowledge that will prove useful."

Andel turned from the crowd of people and began to make his way toward the library, he was going to look for books the dealt with the origin of demons. Perhaps a book could shed some light on the strange poem.

"Well, orders are orders. Seems like we have some free time" said Megan as she looked at both Vann and Lionel.

"Yeah, lots of free time it is." Vann remarked. He looked at Billie, then back at Megan, "I have something to do, so don't get your hopes up." He said before walking away.

Vann approached Billie, "About the favor... Is this a good time? Or are your schedules full?"

Megan grinned as she saw Vann walk away, shaking her head a little "Charming as ever"

"Well Lionel, seems like it's just you and me then"

"Don't really have anything else to do unless another demon pops up." Billie replied, sneaking something small and gold into her pocket. "What you needing?"

"I just need you to be a refrigerator for a little while." Vann said. "I have several things, that, because of the circumstances, cannot be frozen into a desired shape." Vann scratched the back of his head, "Well, the material is in my dorm room. It'll take a while before I can get it together. So... I think I'll see you in the magic lab later."

"A fridge? You have such a nice way of putting things." Billie was half-tempted to refuse just to irritate him, but the demon fight and her small looting had left her feeling cheery. "You're lucky that you're cute. I'll pop in after dinner or something then."

Lionel smiled, blushing a little.

"Yeah, it's... Nice..."

He shook his head to clear it.

"Um, right, so... Everyoe's either sure of this propheccy thing or sure it's fake... And I think that's probably not good. We should probably just keep our eyes open for signs just in case, but not treat it like an absolute. Even if it's true, there might be something in the wording that makes it mean something different than it starts out sounding like..."

He paused, then smiled sheepishly.

"Anyway, you wanna go out? Now that I've had some time to clear my head, I'm realizing I did a lot today, and I'm feeling like I should celebrate... Maybe with a friend?"

edited 28th Jun '12 7:00:47 PM by Scrounge

Mewgan grinned and the ruffled Lionel's hair "You can bet you're going to celebrate with a friend. Want to head out right away or do you need to pick something up?"

"Let's head out and hit the toy store," Lionel said. "I think today's gonna be a good day!"

"Ehehe indeed it shall be. Lead the way, I wouldn't know how to pick a good one" says Megan with a little smile as she puts her hands behind her head and walks with him.