[[Day 19 of Month --2, Barrens]]<br/>Syndra clenched her fist in rage, mouth opening in a wordless snarl.  Naesa slumped against the wall, falling to the ground gracelessly.  Back on Palaugrim, one of her puppets raced out of one of her lairs.  It was a massive three-headed beast.  Ground shook under each lunge of its paws as it crushed all unfortunate enough to come in contact with it.  One of its heads caught sight of a village and the cerberus leapt into the air.  There was a resounding<span style="font-style: italic">Boom!</span>as it crashed atop huts on the edge of the settlement.  The center head howled in furious delight as the left head gathered magic for a breath attack.<br/><br/>Syndra laughed in her chambers, reveling in the chaos.  Inevitably, some Pristine Knights would come to slay her puppet, but for now she had free reign.  Stones crumbled under her claws before she lashed forward at the fleeing humans, jaws clamping around one body while her other head released a blast of Sin.  There was nothing like the screams of beasts being trampled and wanton destruction to make up for a disappointing turn of events.<br/><br/>She had gotten Naesa ready for Eve, implanting a compliant but mildly obsequious personality in the dark-haired woman.  Queen Eve preferred those types, unlike the God of Sin.  But by the time she’d piloted that wretched contraption back to Eve’s castle, Eve had already handed Lillith’s essence out to someone else!  The reminder prompted another roar of rage from her and her puppet.  The final breath attacks leveled the village and she bounded off in search of another target to terrorize.<br/><br/>There was a flash of pink in the corner of one of her eyes and the cerberus turned one head to look at the unusual light.  For Sin’s sake!  The demon wore white, pink, and<span style="text-decoration: underline">hearts</span>!  In what way did that upstart represent the God of Sin?<br/><br/>“DOGGIE!!”  The overhyper squeal sent unexplainable shivers down her back.  Why did Syndra suddenly have a bad feeling?  There was another wink of pink and then Syndra felt something invade her space.  There were two taps then a third as something landed on her back and then another shout: “GO DOGGIE GO!”  The cerberus reared back in fury; that damn upstart dare try to ride her?!  But the newest exalted wouldn’t be dislodged.  It raced up her back to perch atop her middle head before pointing in a direction: “THATA WAY!”<br/><br/>Again, Syndra tried to throw off her unwanted passenger (it was all her fault she was rampaging like this anyways!) but there was sudden disorientation.  When her front paws hit the ground once more, she felt buildings crumble underneath.  What?  There were suddenly screams from below and eight paltry holy presences flickered into existence.  How had the Knights gotten here so quickly? And why were there so few?  Suddenly, half of them flickered back out of her senses.  There was a circular indent on the ground to her left.  Everything had been flattened there.  She jumped to the right and another circular indent joined the first, right where she used to be standing.<br/><br/>“BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!”  The psycho who now had Lillith’s essence shouted with each downward swing of her hammer, apparently reveling in having arm strength once more.  Though the weapon met nothing but air, circles of flattened ground appeared with every strike, forming a suspiciously familiar curve.  Why in Sin’s name had Eve put Lillith’s essence in<span style="font-style: italic">this</span>Pure Sinner?!<br/><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~~</div><br/>Eve threw her head back and laughed, enjoying the scenes playing on her scrying mirrors immensely.  She’d found the now orange-haired demon wandering around the Barrens, randomly blowing things up.  Lillith was being boring (well, the tears had originally been funny but really! It was getting dull!), so she’d gone off for new entertainment while her minions searched for a descendant of the Pure.  She’d thought of making Amon and Syndra compete in a contest for the essence, but Vulcalina was just too entertaining!  How had the girl found a Cerberus of all things?<br/><br/>“BYE BYE!!” The excited voice of her newest demon shouted from the scrying mirror before the image was obscured by black smoke.  When it finally cleared, the village was razed except for the indent Vulcalina had left behind: <3 .<br/><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~~</div><br/>[[Day 21 of Month --2, Caleta]]<br/>When Squad Ten entered their training room for their fourth day of tutelage under Lady QianHua, Valiar wasn’t the only one tempted to turn right around.  The other six members had quickly learned that an impassive QianHua was the best QianHua.  Any sign of emotion, especially mirth, should be treated with extreme caution.  Thankfully, the ex-Captain wasn’t smiling as she had on the second day.  Instead, a frown dominated her face, an omen of evil things to come.  She was flanked on both sides by Mei and Ethera; it was no consolation that they were impassive.  Were they ever anything but expressionless?<br/><br/>“It has come to my attention that some of you” Scathing grey eyes sliced over the seven Knights assembled in front of her, “are not happy with my training regime.  Apparently Lethe’s recommendation wasn’t enough endorsement for you.”  She ignored the guilty winces her wording prompted from select individuals who had been more vocal in their disgruntlement.  “So I offer you an opportunity.”  The amusement that now played on her face was not shared by Team Blonde.  “Any three of you against one of my squad members.  If you win, I’ll release you from training.”<br/><br/>Before anyone could say anything more, YunQiao bowed and stepped forward.  “Very well, Lady QianHua.”  He walked to the sparring court, turning to look back at the three women.  Her nephew was getting entirely too cocky!  QianHua glanced over at Mei and nodded, her smile lifting back into a grin.  The brunette nodded complacently and walked to the other side of the sparring arena.  Neither combatant bothered with pleasantries or confirmations.  The Knight readied himself while Mei simply watched in apparent boredom.<br/><br/>YunQiao frowned at his opponent’s apparent unconcern.  The woman specialized in seals, but they required time to create, even with how fast she’d been in Puerta Ciel.  He’d make sure she didn’t have that time.  He summoned a runic circle, silently starting the incantation for one of his stronger fire spells.  Only seconds had passed when he released his magic in a flare of—nothing. There was no stream of flames, not even a spark!  What?  He tried another spell but though the runic circle appeared, again there was no expression of magic.  He reached for his sword but found himself immobile.  His panic must have shown because there was a cacophony from his squadmates.<br/><br/>“What?” “Hey wait!”  “Stuffy?”<br/><br/>He could see in his peripheral vision that they all tried to move forward, but were equally unable to.<br/><br/>“Disappointing.”  Silence cut through the noise, clearly not voluntarily as some mouths were still moving.  “It appears we need to work on<span style="font-style: italic">all</span>of your situational awareness.”  Before startled eyes, lines appeared on the ground, the walls, even the training equipment.  “You’ve been running, training, working in this room for four days now and none of you noticed the seals Mei put in?”<br/><br/>There was a guilty silence before the seals faded from view and with them, Squad Ten’s apparent immobility.<br/><br/>“Begin your warm-up exercises, but be more aware.  The seals may go off randomly.”  QianHua, Ethera, and Mei were walking off now, the latter two towards the armory at the back of the room and the former to her normal position at the center of the room where she could watch them all.  The seven Knights, suitably chastised, exchanged looks but took off obediently.  After such a humiliating display, what else could they do?<br/><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~~</div><br/>Lethe concentrated on the practice Judgment in her hands, one eye glowing with sight of the Divine Realm and the other locked on the physical one.  The overlapping views were disorienting but she needed both, for now at least.  She hoped to eventually get good enough that she didn’t need to see the divine plane for this attack, but that was a distant dream for now.  Lifting her blade, she sliced down at her wooden target.  The flimsy blade, more sheet metal than holy steel, bounced off the block uselessly.<br/><br/>With a sigh at her failure, one of many by now, she stepped back to reassess her weapon.  The second day with her former Captain had been spent on physical training again before he deemed her ready to deal with the strain of channeling divine magic.  Yesterday had been spent working on increasing her efficiency with opening and closing the Divine Realm.  Under Abel’s tutelage, she’d learned to open them wordlessly like Master Guilford had demonstrated in the Council Chambers.  The older Captain had admitted, reluctantly, that if she wanted to use the spell she’d created with her keyblades, it might be best to maintain the incantation given how much divine magic she wanted to channel.  From there, it had only been obvious to combine divine magic with her Heavens Judgment and the rest of yesterday had been spent on the endeavor.<br/><br/>Besides integrating Light’s Wrath (as Captain Abel called it) with her blades, Captain Abel hadn’t been able to suggest much more besides some other formations she might use with the now nine blades she called hers.  She hadn’t deemed it necessary to show him Luna so he still thought she used a Judgment as her main sword.  And thus, he’d proposed a way to improve her sword using a dimensional blade.  As Master Guilford had his Nirvana, Captain Abel hadn’t thought the other Seraph needed such a technique but perhaps Lethe could try it?<br/><br/>The reminder of his unintended insult had a wry grin forming on her face.  Captain Abel had always preferred Master Guilford out of all of Squad Seven.  He probably thought himself discreet, but none of them had been oblivious to her former Captain’s proclivity except perhaps Master Guilford himself.  Well, Lethe couldn’t complain.  She had sought mentorship with the Pure Magic Squadron instead and that bond had survived more than ten years now.  The reminder of Lady QianHua, and the other seven crazies who made up the Immaculate’s only all-female squad experiment, prompted a fond laugh from her.  Her team was in good hands.  As for herself, necessity made odd bedfellows, so perhaps she should just be glad it was only with her former Captain and not a Sinner or something!  Closing her right eye, she surveyed herself on the Divine Realm.  The blade she’d formed on the other realm wavered uncertainly.  In light of its frailty, it was no surprise she hadn’t been able to cleave the wooden block.  With a sigh for patience, Lethe mentally focused on solidifying the blade in her hand, pointedly ignoring the stare that burned into the side of her face.<br/><div style="text-align: center;">~~~</div><br/>The sudden sound of laughter broke Abel from his recollection of his latest meeting with Gil.  The other man was still not happy with him, continuing the requirement that he call the other by the man’s formal title.<span style="font-style: italic">Master Guilford</span>indeed: he had seen the boy when the younger couldn’t even take down a Pure Sinner!  He had trained Gil!  He wasn’t bold enough to claim all the credit for Gil’s success, but surely he had provided the foundation upon which the younger Knight had earned his fame!  After all, who else could claim to have been the Knight Captain of<span style="font-style: italic">both</span>Seraphs?  (For that matter, as there were only two Seraphs, he had the distinction of being the only Knight Captain of Seraphs!)  But such thoughts were pointless.  He’d buried five of his subordinates; if he’d truly been that good, all seven of his squad would have survived.  He’d never been particularly close with them he supposed, any of them really, but he still felt responsibility for them, just like he felt responsibility for this one.<br/><br/>His gaze invariably turned towards his other living subordinate.  Lethe had always been an enigma to him.  Lethe Urilla.  What did it mean for a child to choose such a last name for herself?  Devout, certainly, of that he had no doubt.  But why a Knight?  Why not an Advocate?  Why not just an orphanage matron, as QianHua had ended up choosing for herself?  He didn’t get it.  What drove Lethe?<br/><br/>And, more importantly, could she be trusted with the Hidden Truth?  He had been pleasantly surprised when Gil had decided to keep fighting.  Would Lethe do the same when she learned the truth about Sin?  She was so reliant on the Light, so sure of it: could she handle having her beliefs shattered?  After what he’d seen at the Grand Cathedral, he’d come to the reluctant realization that they needed her.  They needed her just as they needed Gil and every potential Knight, both those who could wield Light’s Wrath and those who couldn’t.  The Immaculate were woefully unprepared for the evils that Eve and the God of Sin would release.  Could he potentially let her turn away from the impending War because of the Hidden Truth?<br/><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~~</div><br/>Valiar looked over the training room.  Every member of Squad Ten looked worse for wear, all victims of seals and traps gone off.  Even he hadn’t escaped unscathed, though his healing specialty meant he wasn’t feeling any discomfort besides lower magic reserves than normal.  But not being at full magic capacity was normal for being on the field so he just shut his mouth and soldiered on.  He didn’t want things to be easier; he wanted to get better so this regime would<span style="text-decoration: underline">be</span>easier.<br/><br/>Unfortunately, not all of his squadmates seemed to be sharing his opinion.  Seraphim was also grinding away, but even she looked a little miffed after realizing she had been caught in a loop seal that kept her walking the same ten meters for over thirty minutes before she realized her predicament.  Or she could just be annoyed at herself; it<span style="font-style: italic">had</span>been pretty embarrassing.  Leon looked exhausted but accepting of the current torture; of course, his entire year with the team had probably been full of him being the worst trainee just be default of him being the newest.  The other four all looked annoyed in varying degrees.  Well, YunQiao had always been (rightfully) proud of his abilities; the not-spar with Mei earlier today had been mortifying.  Cricket, Deimos, and Adair were also confident in their skills and these past days of training were no doubt humbling.  Cricket had barely avoided a few unwanted haircut attempts.  Lady QianHua’s running commentary was probably just salt on the wound.<br/><br/>QianHua frowned at the Knights staggering through the training course she had put together.  There was a curse as a jet of fire shot out of the ground.  Her nephew dropped to the ground and rolled to smother the flames out.  When he stood up again, he was slightly singed but otherwise fine, not at all like the blonde Knight earlier who’d been forced to change clothes.  She looked over at her squad’s seal specialist; she’d told Mei to lay off on activating the seals after the blonde’s incident.  How unusual for the woman to disobey her orders.<br/><br/>Leon sighed as he saw YunQiao’s cross expression.  The amount of traps going off was getting a bit ridiculous, but who was he to say?  What if war was really like this?  Just because his training in the past didn’t include this hellish regime didn’t mean reality wouldn’t be this way.  He only had to remember Palaugrim to know life and the PKA could be very different.  He expanded his sense to search for any seals in the area in front of him.  He’d realized that the seals tended to release a spark as they were activated and was searching for any seals looking ready to discharge.  There was nothing in front of him, but what was that up in the rafters?  Had Mei placed a seal up there as well?  The flash of incoming magic startled him out of his questioning mood and he dodged out of the way of Ethera’s arrow.  Glasses gleamed at him threateningly and he compliantly resumed his jog towards the climbing wall.  When he reached the top of the wall, he chanced another glance at the rafter.  Why was he so curious about that area?<br/><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~~</div><br/>A woman giggled in amusement at the scene below her.  Captain, Vice Captain, and Mei were overseeing a bunch of Knights in training for some reason and it looked<span style="font-style: italic">awfully</span>boring, the only reason she wasn’t down there as well.  She’d just gotten the grumpy brunette with a fire spell.  Which one should she focus on now?  There was a flash of light and her attention was caught on a shiny shield.  Ooh, shiny.  But that shield could be made better with a liberal application of—her hand fished out a small cloth sphere.  Yes, this would make that shield better.  She tossed the bag into the air and her wind magic whisked it off to the appropriate spot.  Three. Two. One.  She activated one of Mei’s seals and released her present, just as the wind shield around her collapsed.<br/><br/>She jumped off the rafter to avoid a downward katana strike on her previous location but was captured by a firm grip on her bicep.  She flared her magic around her, anger heating the air uncomfortably and she was rewarded by a masculine curse as she was thrown downwards.  Okay, she’d just—a body impacted with hers, seemingly unaffected by her aura.  Her captor painfully slammed her into the ground just as a sphere of water sprung into existence around her.<br/><br/>Skassia crossed her arms and legs, sulking in the middle of her water prison.  She haaatteeeddd water prisons!  The seven knights she’d been torment—prank—assisting! Assisting was a good verb!  The seven knights she’d been<span style="font-style: italic">assisting</span>all day assembled around her, their expressions ominous.<br/><br/>“Who are you?”  Her latest target, she meant trainee, asked with furrowed brows.  His arms were crossed over his chest in clear displeasure, his shield hanging off one forearm.  She took one look at the pink and glittery thing and fell to the ground howling with mirth, rancor vanishing at the sight of her latest tric—result! Result? Was that a good, politically correct word?<br/><br/>Her former squadmates stepped up to the side of the water prison as well, irritation turning into exasperation as they recognized her.  “Have you had quite enough, Skassia?”<br/><br/>She held up a hand to request a moment to compose herself, wheezing for breath as she tried to stop laughing.  Pi-pink and glittery!  She sat back up, caught sight of the monstrosity once more, and fell back laughing once more.<br/><br/>“Do you know her, Lady QianHua?”<br/><br/>“One of my former squadmates.”  The ex-Captain explained, adding a touch sourly, “She wasn’t this giggly before.”<br/><br/>Skassia had recovered by this time and she carefully looked<span style="font-style: italic">only</span>at her former squadmates.  If she caught sight of that shield anymore—pft! Oh no, Ethera was fingering that bow most threateningly.  Gotta calm down. Gotta calm down.  “Captain, my Captain!”  She greeted QianHua warmly, eyes spread out as if requesting a hug.  “Long time no see!  Imagine my surprise when I got your letter!  When did you start training the nooblets?”<br/><br/>There was no response besides her Captain palming her face.  Skassia felt the hostility outside the barrier increase and her smile faltered the<span style="font-style: italic">tiniest</span>bit.  Was it something she’d said?<br/><br/>“This is one of the Cathedral’s best Knight squads.”  QianHua admitted, her glare on Squad Ten showing them exactly how little she thought that compliment was worth.<br/><br/>Skassia glanced at the seven unfamiliar people surrounding her and then blinked in confusion.  “Uh, when’d you get a sense of humor, Captain?  That’s a funny joke.”<br/><br/>Ethera rubbed her temples in irritation.  Skassia always had the ability to make her want to strangle the other woman.  It hadn’t been so bad during the War, but in the decade since… They’d only met three times in the past five years for a reason.  “Captain is not joking.  This is Lethe’s squad.  You remember Lethe?  The one that went on to become a Seraph?”<br/><br/>The grin that had been dominating Skassia’s face slowly faded as what appeared to be reality sunk into her brain.  By the end of Ethera’s unprecedented speech, Skassia was eyeing her seven victims in uncertainty: “… but they all suck.”<br/><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~~</div><br/>There was the sound of blade cutting through thin air before a slash appeared on the training dummy.  Critical blue eyes examined the cut from the center of the room, constantly switching from one sight to the other.  On the divine realm, the dummy had been bisected but on the physical realm, the cut had only been transferred partially.  As it was, it was hard to see the target on the divine realm.  It just didn’t register on a realm that only saw things in terms of magic.  With a sigh, Lethe closed her access to the divine realm and collapsed gracelessly on the ground.  It was a mild consolation that she’d ‘graduated’ onto a real Judgment and she could now transfer the damage between the two realms; however, the ‘dimensional blade’ still wasn’t at the point that Captain Abel had described.<br/><br/>The memory of her former captain made her gaze wander over to where he had been standing.  He was missing now, undoubtedly having slipped out when she was concentrating on ignoring him.  As his only pupil, she understood that she’d be the focus of his scrutiny, but there had been something oddly contemplative about him today.  Before her thoughts, and more traitorously her sympathy, could extend in that direction, she firmly shook her head.  It was none of her concern.  She was only here for tutelage on how to use Light’s Blessing, just like he was only here because she had some capacity in using the magic.  There was no other sentiment attached to this business relationship.  He had made that clear enough with that letter.<br/><br/>Her hands clenched at the reminder of the letter.<span style="font-style: italic">Lethe, I was passing by Rosetta when the attacks began.  I’m sorry to say, but Gil died in the battle.  I checked the body myself.  I’m hurrying in pursuit of—</span>She turned her head aside before she wandered down any more unkind thoughts.  If he didn’t trust her, that was simply another fact of life she had to accept.  Wasn’t that what her entire life had been about?  Accepting, adapting, surviving.  She tried to remind herself that she still had her squad, the Sisterhood.  The reminders almost dulled the pain.  Morosely, she summoned her keyblades, watching all eight weapons spin lazily in the air, forming the seal she had chosen for herself: an eight pronged circle—patience. Councilor Laith had wanted something fancier, more suitable for a<span style="font-style: italic">Seraph</span>but this was something she’d chosen for herself.  Patience.<br/><br/>Speaking of patience, she wondered how her squad was doing.  Had Lady QianHua beaten better technique into them?  She hadn’t realized she’d been neglecting their training so much until that spar.  Hah, could it even be considered a spar?  Only Deimos and Adair had put up a decent fight and that was with her coming straight out of convalescence.  They better be in better shape; she couldn’t take them out on the field with her at their current levels.  It’d only get them killed.  Eiji. Fidelius. Santa Olivia.  Luciano.  The white-haired woman paused at the reminder of the most recent battle.  Something had happened.  Something unexpected that she’d forgotten.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">A body suddenly appeared in front of her. There were other thump!s around her and then she was tripping over something.  Seraphim was suddenly here. Why was Seraphim here? In fact, why was her entire team here? A small key, white in color with a red bead at its head, floated in front of Seraphim’s chest. She felt herself blanch in horror.</span><br/><br/>Wait, had summoned her squad?  She must have; there was no other explanation.  Somehow she’d dragged her squad through the portals her Heavens Judgment blades used when being summoned.  But how?  And more importantly.. She looked down at the Judgment in her hand, the one she’d been practicing with for the dimensional blade.  She could transfer what happened on the divine realm to the physical.  Her eyes immediately sought out the eight keys that had stopped revolving at her first shock, the idea starting to solidify in her thought.  Could she summon herself through the portals?<br/><br/>She beckoned one keyblade into her hand and was moving the others away when there was a sound from behind her: a click of the door.  She whirled around to find an inscrutable Abel behind her, staring at her and the swords in her hand.  After a long silence had passed, her former Captain finally spoke up.<br/><br/>“Were you planning to try with that blade instead?”<br/><br/>Her hand tightened on her Heavens Judgment blade, but she smiled politely instead.<span style="color: silver"> “Yes.”</span>Her idea would just have to wait until later.  The other seven blades winked out of sight.  Determinedly turning to face the training dummy once more, Lethe cleared her frustration with an exhale and focused on the dimensional blade attack.  Patience.<br/><br/><dl class="codebox"><dt>OOC | <a href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="var spoiler = this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('dd')[0]; if ( spoiler.style.display == 'none' ) { spoiler.style.display = 'block'; this.innerHTML = '-'; } else { spoiler.style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '+'; };">+</a></dt><dd style="display: none;"><a class="postlink" href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/335025659751226949/">Vulcalina</a></dd></dl>