Storm Magic - #3

She looked exhausted.

To keep short, the female merely piped up again and looked to all of them, then to the door. "Nevermind, look- Jianghu has essentially now kept the entire continent. Everyone is protected here in Prosperity, but we cannot just be running off and doing stuff in public.

...Evan is gone. I know most are coming back, but... Evan is gone."
(Forte)

Adrian had been recording notes through the entire procedure. Once it had all been said and done, he closed the tome and strapped it onto his lower back. He leaned forwards and watched as Ceres made her way out of the coffin. Not quite dead anymore, but her life was.. very obviously artificial. She was a fabrication of flesh, created from a series of components. It wasn’t natural, not in the slightest.

But it was something, and she more than anyone had deserved the luxury of breathing once again. Not as a corpse. Not as a thrall, but as a woman. He couldn’t help but smile. It was a joyous day, or so he thought.

“Thank you, Rebecca. We couldn’t have done this without you.” He offered the woman a curt yet respectful nod, and then directed his attention back onto Ceres. He gripped her by the shoulders, looking down at her.

“You’re your own woman, Ceres. You aren’t Morgan’s thrall anymore. You owe no obligations to him. There is no reason for you to bear his name, unless that is what you really want. In regards to the casket, I-” The scholar was cut short, taken aback by Forte’s news.

Adrian walked over to his wine cabinet, removed a large bottle of vintage, popped the cork and grabbed a glass. He went over to the table and poured himself a drink , taking a long sip. Then he got up and walked outside.
(Adrian Montbell)

It didn’t seem real. Any of it. Jianghu’s sudden victory, Evan’s death. Adrian made his way down the steps of his manor and onto the hard cobblestone, he stopped. There was no wind. No clouds in the sky. The night was colorless. The redhead looked up into the blanket of darkness above him. The stars seemed dim.

A flash of memories overwhelmed him. Everything hit him, all at once. The day they had met. The day he joined Adrian at the Montbell estate. The day he made him his first prosthetic, the day he made him his second. The day he put everything on the line to become the Champion, the day Adrian robbed him of that position. The day he swore to protect the scholar as his Storm Warden. The days he saved him from death, from danger. From heartbreak.

The day he taught him to fight, to stand his own ground.

Adrian wanted to tell himself that it was a bad dream. But it wasn’t. Forte wouldn’t lie to him about something so serious.
(Adrian Montbell)

Tears began to roll down his face, but there was no weeping. He was vulnerable. But far from weak in his current state of mind. Adrian closed his eyes, gritting his teeth as he scrunched up his face and clenched his fists so hard that his hands began to bleed. Wind began to gather around his feet, violent tempests building around his person. The fencing behind him was demolished, thrashing about and flying into the air.

The winds only grew stronger by the second. Before long, the very manor behind him began to shake in response to the raw magical potential that was being expelled from the Champion. Clouds began to gather above the estate. Rain poured down violently, reinforcing the strength of the uncontrollable zephyrs that surrounded. Water began to splash sporadically, a miniature whirlpool forming around the base of the twister that encompassed him.

Thunder, the likes of which Forte had never seen before, broke through sound barriers as bolts of lightning sundered the fertile crops being grown in his garden, burned through cobblestone and set fire to some of the buildings on the estate. Wrathful arcs of electricity struck down and about the center of the gathering winds and whirlpools, and at the center of at all stood Adrian.

His cries of vigor and agony were drowned out by the sound of thunder.
(Adrian Montbell)

She could only stand.

Even among the great storm of sadness, Forte did as she had always done- Stand. No matter the situation, Forte had not the ill to kneel now of all times. This was no time for it. It never would be.

Her throat was dry- Eternal shame was rested upon her face. Her single eye rose with a wary sadness of her own, far more silent than him.

"There was nothing I could do. It was either submit and agree with the others, or kill all of them. Marge, Acha, all of them. Including ourselves.

I sold the world with them, Adrian. I..."
(Forte)


Forte says, "...This is not the end. Though everyone is safe under this embassy, we do not falter now. You know why."
“Not the end?!”

Something clicked. An unseen fire was rekindled, the flames of his resolve burning so desperately that they seemed to consume him in the process. The winds only grew stronger, the waters more triumphant and the discharges of electricity more fearsome. His normally dull, steel blue eyes were glowing brightly.

As he took a few steps forwards, the cobblestone from the ground below was uprooted by the strength of the tempests. The statues that had been placed up against the cliffside attracted two bolts of lightning, melting into piles of liquid metal. The field of crops that had once been in front of him was flooded.

He gripped Forte by the collar of her shirt, baring his teeth like and furrowing his brows like a vengeful spirit. He didn’t know what to do, what to say. He was just.. angry.
(Adrian Montbell)

Before anything else, might it be known, Mai was left practically discombobulated by the moment. Ceres' words had hit her, but the sheer closeness of that moment had put her out of words- even for the lightning crashing around.

"... yes, Ceres... eih... eiheh."
(Mai Lei)

No vengeful spirit of the arcane was nothing compared to her own shame.

Forte's singular eye only looked with sadness as the Estate was slowly ruined, not entirely destroyed- But rid of it's unique niceness and royal smell from pure magic might. With a careful movement, she gently rested an armored hand on his arm.

"Just because Valmasia surrenders does not mean you do."
(Forte)

"...We will discuss this later." She says as bolts of lightning crash down upon the roof as the entire estate shakes. The Oscuri gives a glare at Mai before grabbing her stuff and making a run for the front door.

"ADRIAN MONTBELL!" The Oscuri shouts out in actual rage for once. "YOU ALMOST KILLED US ALL IN THERE!"
(Rebecca Ravenseer)

Mai clears her THROAT.
(Mai Lei)

Before anything else, might it be known, Mai was left practically discombobulated by the moment. Ceres' words had hit her, but the sheer closeness of that moment had put her out of words- even for the lightning crashing around.

"... yes, Ceres... eih... eiheh."
(Mai Lei)

No vengeful spirit of the arcane was nothing compared to her own shame.

Forte's singular eye only looked with sadness as the Estate was slowly ruined, not entirely destroyed- But rid of it's unique niceness and royal smell from pure magic might. With a careful movement, she gently rested an armored hand on his arm.

"Just because Valmasia surrenders does not mean you do."
(Forte)

"...We will discuss this later." She says as bolts of lightning crash down upon the roof as the entire estate shakes. The Oscuri gives a glare at Mai before grabbing her stuff and making a run for the front door.

"ADRIAN MONTBELL!" The Oscuri shouts out in actual rage for once. "YOU ALMOST KILLED US ALL IN THERE!"
(Rebecca Ravenseer)

Mai clears her THROAT.
(Mai Lei)

Lizzy was concerned and honestly...she wasen't in a very cheerful mood right now. The Jianghuans could potentially order her and her friends executions or just walk into Valmasian land and kill them now!
(Lizzy)


Forte says, "Just... Let me rest, Adrian."

Forte asks, "Is the guilt not enough?"
Harley rushed out of the room was bolts of lightning came crashing down from outside. One barely missed him and seared the floorboard beside his feet. Scared the living shit out of him to be honest, Harley rushed out behind Mai and Ceres was greeted to even a far more vicious sight. Vicious winds blew around in the area, a storm of emotions engulfed the manor and the source.

Adrian.

Harley wanted to shout, to ask someone to calm him down but the moment he turned his attention away from the magical storm of rage. It struck at him. A strong force of winds came rushing into his direction in the as if though a packet of air just randomly popped and all of it was flowing into his direction. Harley didn't know what to do
(Harley)

Leaning back Ceres would give her friend a small huge of assurance before smiling to her. Eyes laid to rest on the partially ruined house behind them, a frown on her face due to the situation. It was...very rough.

Slowly Ceres walked forward and gave a nod, stopping behind Adrian as she found herself agreeing with Miss Forte.

"Yes...We aren't finished yet, hm?...We can still work, and make progress in secret. We write home about this loss, Lord Montbell, and we prepare. All Spire's shards will go to secret projects, we will hide our true hand, and we will play whatever throw away cards we have to keep them from suspecting us."

There was a sudden..power, to the woman's voice. It seems like a lot had already changed with her in a new body, given a new life. The radiate of purple time focused around her hand, a mana of power that crackled in it's bleak nearly colorless form.

A glance was given as she stepped to Adrian's side, and then one to Forte.

"Go get rest...We'll speak with the other Leaders and figure this out..Thank you for telling us. We appreciate it." A warm smile was given to the woman. Still Ceres, despite looking different..
(Ceres Deadwood)

" Ack! " He was blasted back with great force and he turned himself around, swinging his rifle back unto his back. He'd have to do this old school. Harley then clasped his hands and coated himself in a case of ice just moments before impact with the house door. " ...." Nothing was really heard from the teen for awhile but eventually from all the smoke and dust. Harley limped out, holding his left arm in pain. Looks like it took a bad hit.

There was many things going through the man's mind but among all of them. A thought began to bud and slowly became his only concern. The thought of a mad scientist. Adrian's strength, induced by intense emotions of loss and rage, that strength, that power...could he mimic it, could he recreate it? A crooked grin began forming on his face as Harley stood there, hurt and learning from Adrian's loss.
(Harley)

Forte looked only again with sadness- Guilt, shame, everything inbetween as she felt foreign quickly among the others, looking to her home- Rebecca, as well, before leaving, quietly giving thanks, but nothing more.

She sold the world.
(Forte)

Slowly but surely, the winds began to grow less and less prevalent, the rain became a sprinkle, and the bolts of lightning had subsided. Adrian closed his eyes, his face twitching as he tried to contain the overwhelming mixture of emotions that currently held supreme authority over his actions.

Once he opened them, Forte would notice something different about him. It was that look in his eyes. It was the same as it was whenever he got into arguments, debates, scientific discussions. It was something to be feared.

The anger of an academic.

He was too caught up in his own emotions to think about much of anything else. He wanted to fight. To conquer, to kill. Anything to ease the suffering of lose.

He glanced over his shoulder, Focalar’s unseen wrath still possessing his body and soul. Normally he would have apologized to everyone for putting them in danger. He would have helped the young man that was hurt because of him. But he couldn’t. All he could think about was Evan. The Unbreakable had been broken, and this time there was no runes or prosthetics that could nurse him back to health.

The scholar walked off, leaving the estate he had worked so hard to build alongside his companions in a state of chaos and disarray.
(Adrian Montbell)