Stranded
[Corven Umbrovante]:
Although he had jumped into the red mechanical doorway, Corven soon realized that jumping headfirst into an unknown Dungeon had not been his wisest move. It definitely would not make the list of the "Top 10 Things Corven Would Have Liked To Have Done," but he hardly had much choice in the matter. He couldn't let Celeste succumb to the horrors that most likely awaited her, and he most definitely could not let a smug, arrogant bullshit of a person like Sean Luminaris find any success in his plans. He'd be a pain in the ass to deal with later on if he did. Still, though, at least the inside of the Dungeon was aesthetically pleasing in terms of visuals, anyway, albeit somewhat cold.
The Dungeon Corven had entered showed a vast, rocky terrain littered in snow for as far as one can see in all directions. Under the cerulean glow of the beautiful Blue Moon, the snow upon the land glowed blue like cobalt iridescence. Night blessed this world with countless stars, forming unfamiliar constellations, even to Corven's eyes. The wind sent chills down Corven's spine, causing Corven to realize he's underdressed.
As Corven took in his environment, he noticed Celeste was nowhere to be found.
"According to what I read in the Luminaris Estate Library," Corven thought aloud. "Dungeons can either be just gateways to worlds and planes across Space and Time or limited spatial environments, sometimes a the size of small town or a city-wide area or sorts, depending on the dungeon one enters. When entering dungeons in groups without a strong enough grip of physical contact, these gateways typically send those who enter it to a random place within 15 miles of one another… With luck, Celeste is somewhere nearby—."
"Awhoo!" A sudden howl shook the night, interrupting Corven's thought process, its intensity causing Skyron and the shadow wolves inside Corven's shadow to stir. Through his connection with them, he could sense they were antsy and this sent a shiver down Corven's spine, as he realized whatever made that howl was as strong as, if not, stronger than Skyron.
'This is a Red Dungeon,' Corven thought, heart pounding, thoughts racing in horror as he contemplated his predicament. 'Whatever is in here would at least have to be Tier B and goes as high as Tier S beasts. Skyron is a Tier A(peak) rank beast, meaning, if Skyron was getting antsy by this beast's howl, the beast responsible had to be something just as powerful as Skyron or stronger, a Tier A(peak) or higher, maybe even Tier S! And, since wolves always hunt in packs, and my luck is the worst… I need to find Celeste, and hide.'
Corven knew there's a 12 hour cooldown time on Dungeon doorways, so, if help is arriving, they'll have to survive on their own for half an Earth day for it to come. But he couldn't do that dead, and he certainly couldn't do that without Celeste. 'Find Celeste and hide,' Corven thought, summoning Skyron; Corven willed the shadows beneath his feet to form into reins and rope as he harnessed his Nightstar wolf, and climbed atop his new mount. 'Shouldn't be too hard, right? Hopefully, no powerful monsters has sensed my presence yet.'
Corven picked a random direction for Skyron to charge and, with an enthusiastic howl, the duo was off, Skyron running as soundlessly and as swift as a comet upon the rocky snowy surface of this unknown world.
However, unbeknownst to them, their presence was indeed sensed the moment they appeared upon the world, and Skyron's howl seemed to have alerted those who didn't. What's worse, one of the powerful presences that have sensed their arrival was one of this world's "bosses."
This was not going to be as easy as finding Celeste and going into hiding for 12 hours. If Corven wasn't too careful, he would die.
[Somewhere Miles Away…]:
Somewhere, many miles away from where Corven appeared, lies a dark greystone, ancient Greek-styled castle. Inside this castle, there was a throne. And, atop this throne, there sat a beast.
This beast had a wolf-ish appearance, with a wolf-ish snout, wolf-ish eyes and wolf-ish fangs on a wolf-ish head that belonged to a body covered in ash-like fur. Unlike a typical wolf, this wolf was bipedal, standing on hind legs, that, when standing, allowed the wolfman to reach the astounding height of 13 feet tall. He had class composure that could impress royals, especially considering this was a wolfman; he had claws that could cut through steel and eyes as gold as the Morning Moon. he was dressed in a blue exomis bottom and no shirt or top, displaying a vast and muscular torso. He had a powerful presence, being att he early levels of the Chaotic Stages or 'Tier S,' as his more bestial companions would label him as. This was Prince Pallas Lycaon, secondborn son of Lycaon, the 1st Progenitor of Werewolves.
As Pallas sat atop his throne, a sudden disruption caught his attention. It was many miles west of his castle, but he could sense it all the same. He had a very high affinity for the spatial element; Spatial and ice, of course, were a devastatingly powerful dual affinity for any one person to possess, let alone a werewolf progenitor, whose werewolf nature added an explosive flare to his already formidable abilities.
Turning his head in Corven's direction, he sensed a bizarre presence that way. Not a threat to him, no, but, alas, not native…
Initially, he intended to ignore it. Otherworlders often appeared on his planet all the time — they were either dealt with by the inhabitants, killed off by the elements or, if they were lucky enough, escaped. He himself never really gets involved with the process – Either his guard or his brethrens' guards takes care of them and that is usually the end of it.
But then…
"Awo!" but then he heard a howl. It came from the same direction he sensed the earlier disturbance. Ironically, what he was hearing was Skyron's howl, but he didn't know this.
And, from its resonance with his being, he sensed it belonged to a gifted creature similar to or in equal of origins. And he wanted it. Grinning greedily. Pallas knew what he must do.
He immediately ordered his men – his pack – to hunt it and bring it to him alive or dead, but preferably alive. He wanted to see what kind of creature could resonate with himself like so outside of his siblings or his father. He knew that if he consumed such a creature, he'd be sure to pass through the bottleneck he's been trapped in for the better part of half a century now, post his reincarnation…
"Whatever or whoever you are," Pallas said, mouth practically drooling in anticipation. "I'll consume you whole!"
[Corven Umbrovante]:
"Achoo!"
Corven, riding atop Skyron couldn't help but sneeze, unaware that he was being hunted by a great and terrible enemy.
"Am I being talked about or something?" Corven thought, ears twitching in attention. "Its probably that wretched Sean. When I get out of here, I will kill that bastard!" Corven fisted his hands, heart full of rage. "Or maybe I'll torture him. I haven't yet decided."
"say<" suddenly, Corven thought of something. "By now, my contingency should have taken place. Hopefully, those idiots can figure it out. Now, where am I?"
Skyron had been running for 45 minutes straight. His darkness attribute and night/star attributes were perfect for their current situation, considering it was night time, and his energies were constantly getting renewed under the glow of the cerulean moon and countless stars. He could run for days if this night were eternal here — Corven, too, thanks to his connection to Nyx herself.
That said, he had no way of knowing if this planet was in eternal night or had a day and night time cycle, so it was best to go with his plan of finding Celeste and going into hiding until help arrived. He can figure out things then.
"Onward, Skyron! Faster!" Corven had his wolf go faster, intent on finding his friend before daybreak.
He just didn't know he had a pack squad of over 30 Tier A werewolves on his tail, already at the place he had appeared earlier at. They sniffed the snow covered ground, picking up his scent, before following the tracks due west…
[Jabari Ausar]:
"You're lying. What else are you hiding from me? Tell me," Jabari questioning, sounding somehow dangerous and emotionless simultaneously.
Jabari wasn't buying the story of what the goons of Sean Luminaris were spewing. He was certain, almost instinctively, that what really happened to Celeste and Corven were very different from what was being said. It was evident that he didn't believe their words by his increased pressure he applied to the goon's head as he forced the boy's head into the wall deeper and the frown he wore on his face while he "interrogated" the bastard. Despite the goon being more than a couple feet taller than Jabari, Jabari held firm his grip to the head of the boy in his grasp.
"I swear, that's all I know!" the goon begged to which Jabari just hit the nape of his neck with the back of his hand, effectively knocking the guy out.
Hand on chin, Jabari merely looked at the unconscious form of the boy before him. They were a second year at the Legacy rank, but not someone that Jabari couldn't handle,
"Take him to the Infirmary," Jabari waved to one of his cousin guardsmen, who rushed forward, grabbed the goon and rushed their way out of there.
"You think he's lying?" one of Jabari's higher ranking cousin guards asked. She was around Jabari's age, but her experience in hand-to-hand combat was almost as good as Jabari's, making her his most highly ranked cousin body guards. "That Corven pushed Celeste through the red gate and then did so to himself whenever Sean said he'd tell?"
"Oh, I know he is," Jabari said, rubbing his eyes, ears twitching slightly. "Corven and Celeste are too tight to fight each other and Sean's not nice nor generous enough to do anything to help his little sister. He is much too power hungry. The problem is, most of the staff here either already thinks he's telling the truth and believes him or doesn't believe but can't resist him without sufficient proof without being targeted by him and his noble status. We need proof to prove Corven's innocence, but we also must be discreet, lest we acquire Sean Luminaris' ire."
"What will you do?" the guardsmen asked.
"Continue to investigate this myself. As the only person here that hails from a Great House that knows a lot about Corven and his character," Jabari began, eyes squinting into slits. "I'm the only one who would defend him without worry for my safety. By now, they would have locked down the Portal Dungeon Room, so there's no way to gather on-scene evidence against Sean without alerting anyone he's connected to."
"What else will you do?" she asked. "This won't be an easy task. How do you intend to succeed in proving Corven's innocence?"
"I don't know….," Jabari admitted.
It's been hours since the incident, and it has been rubbing Jabari the wrong way. There was no doubt that they were inside the red dungeon — It was confirmed when the faction heads ordered an overview of the authorized portalling dealings and theirs were the most recent. Jabari only knows this much through his connections. Still, even with his connections, this was all he could gather, pretty much.
DING!
A notification sound caught his attention.
Pulling out his phone, he read a text from Marxes. He nodded, as if to himself, before responding. Then, looking at his cousin guardman, he said "We've got a technopathic genius to meet up with. Are you coming?"
"Of course, my lord," she said, with a courtesy.
And the two of them walked away, heading for the Marxes' location.
[Marxes Ilmari]:
Marxes had waken up to a strange, four-eyed crow, peaking at his face, startling him. As he rubbed his eyes, however, the four eyes on the crow vanished and there were only two, completely normal crow eyes in the place.
"Strange…," Marxes muttered aloud, more to himself than anything else.
'Let's see…I remember Celeste losing control, and then…,' Marxes thought, remembering how he got in this situation. 'Blank. Must've passed out. Hopefully, Corven got my text before I did, though.'
"Kaw! Kaw! Master needs your help! Kaw!" the crow cawed out, interrupting Marxes' thought process and causing Marxes to double-check his eyes, making sure he he'd heard properly.
'Did this corvidae just talk?' Marxes stared blankly at the bird before processing its words. Suddenly his eyes widened as he remembered something. 'That's right! This is Corven's crow familiar… Is that who his 'Master' he's referring to? Corven? Did something happen to Corven? No, something definitely must've happened to Corven, otherwise it wouldn't be here.'
"Kaw! Help Master! Kaw!" the crow sounded impatient, as it grasped Marxes finger, practically dragging Marxes from his bed to his feet.
'This bird is surprisingly strong,' Marxes thought, surprised by the bird's strength,
"Alright, alright, I'm getting up," Marxes waved off the bird. "Where is your Master? Where's Corven? Do you know?"
"Kaw!" the crow suddenly landed on Marxes' shoulder, one of its eyes glowing an azure blue hue before projecting a holographic blue scene of what it saw happen earlier in the Dungeon Portal Room. marxes saw everything — from the meeting with Sean to Sean throwing Celeste into the red portal and running away, cackling. He even saw Corven, who jumped through the closing Dungeon gateway after Celeste.
"This is…," Marxes was not happy — He was pissed, is what he was. He knew Sean was a horrible individual, but to throw his own sister into a red gate? The ruthlessness needed for this was… Well, not something Marxes admired.
But, instead of going after Sean, Marxes decided to think logically — He needed to tell someone, to show someone he could trust this footage, and it had to be someone with influence in the school, but he had to be careful. He knew Sean enough as a person to know that he'll have spun a whole story, likely that Corven did the pushing, and then went inside after Sean threatened to snitch — Sean was not a good person, and Corven and Celeste weren't here to combat his lies.he also knew that Sean would have had quite a few high ranking and influential figures on his payroll in the academy, so he couldn't be reckless on who he shows this story to.
Yet, despite everything, Marxes couldn't help but consider the color portal they had entered. A red dungeon was equative to higher ranking Magic Beasts and low level Apex beasts, where were both equal to Ascendant Stage cultivators. The chances of them making it out of there alive—-
Marxes cut that thought process off. He wouldn't allow himself to think like that. That would solve no one's problems, only enhance the stress he was already feeling. Breathing in, breathing out, Marxes pulled out his phone and sent a message out with a glowing glance of his technopathic eyes.
"Looks like I have a date," Marxes muttered, eyeing the bird on his shoulder when he got a response. "Probably shouldn't be late…".