(Nooguy)<br/>Hubert chuckled softly. "You are indeed correct. It takes more than just a black soul to wield the Obsidian." He said. He looked to Gina, who shivered but offered her own piece.<br/><br/>"From what we understand, the wielder of Obsidian is consumed by it, and absorbed into its essence so that the Obsidian Guardian may instead take the wielder's place. That is why the Obsidian Witch was so powerful, because she had a direct connection to the Source as well as the Root, the Root being the darkness bread from destruction and violence. Where others must sustain themselves by life, Obsidian is the only one which could be considered immortal. Even in the Void, it would still exist..."<br/><br/>"That is why," Hubert said, placing a hand on Gina's shoulder, "we must never drop our guard. There with always be someone who can bring about such ruin again. And judging by the way things are going now, I would assume that my reasons for believing such depressing thoughts are not too outlandish."<br/><br/>(XarcesTheDelicious)<br/>Jaas stared back at Xarces for a moment before sighing, mildly annoyed but doing her best to calm her nerves. "...I suppose I can indulge you in a tale. If you are looking for stories of grand espionage or classical tragedies, you might want to stop me before I get ahead of myself."<br/><br/>She drained her glass, waving a waiter over. As he went to refill, she simple took the bottle from him and began to chug that down instead. "...Hmph...Anyway, I'll tell you about Suinouzin before and after the war. That would be interesting enough."<br/><br/>She leaned back in her chair, taking another gulp of wine before setting the bottle on the table. "...I am the second in line for the crown. My mother was a wonderful ruler, loved and cherished by all people. When times of war came, she stayed her hand when others were pushed to the front lines, and kept her subjects within the walls of Suinouzin. Beneath the depths not much could reach us, and even those Dark Offspring who could were destroyed by my mother's might. The perfect balance of beauty and power. That is what she had..."<br/><br/>She seemed lost in thought for a moment. "...It was not until the Obsidian Witch came that we began to fall on truly troublesome times. People died, building crumbled, and yet the Witch didn't seem interested in the death of the kingdom. Her target was my mother. The two fought, with no chance of my mother winning, yet strangely enough the Obsidian witch left with only a bite mark on my mother's neck to signal her victory. After an hour the city was empty of the Dark Offspring and the Obsidian Witch, and there my mother lay, on the stairs leading to her castle, rotting from the inside out."<br/><br/>She gripped the wine bottle, causing it to crack. "...The Obsidian Witch wanted us to panic...She wanted us to suffer an emotional blow, not a physical one...So when I snapped my own mother's neck to save her from the corroding poisons, I killed more than just the one who gave birth to me. I killed Suinouzin, the kingdom of peace that she had created..."<br/><br/>She took a deep breath, withdrawing her hand from the now leaking wine bottle, holding one hand over the other as she awaited patiently for a waitress to clean up the mess. "Things had to be different when I came to the throne. I forced the entire kingdom into submission. I wiped clean the memories of what Suinouzin was, and instead made it into what it was supposed to be. We became strong, prestine, a kingdom to be unrivaled...I did it so that we may never suffer such pain as the war brought ever again..."<br/><br/>(Bright)<br/>The ghostly figure smiled warmly before looking around, lifting a hand and bringing black leather bound book to his hand. "The Obsidian Witch," he began, thumbing through the pages delicately, as if it was tainted, "is the Guardian of the Obsidian Stone, which devours the wielder and uses their essence as the Source, while connecting the Root with the darkness of the Earth itself. Everything vile and twisted feeds it. We tried so hard to destroy that Stone, but...there is rumor that it still lives on while Onyx was the only one to perish..."<br/><br/>(letsgowiththat)<br/>The naga smiled, collecting the coin with an air of warm appreciation as opposed to her previous aggressive nature. "Well, there is a barber down the street. Near the Meeting Hall. She is the best for miles, straight from the Temerak Kingdom." She said, sliding out from behind the bar and coiling around the fireplace once more as the elf took her place.<br/><br/>"Why is it that you get all of the attention in here? I'm the one with the skill and grace you lack in that brutish body of yours." The elf grumbled, immediately tending to other drink orders with his usual flourish.<br/><br/>"Cause I'm not a tool, skinny." The naga hissed in reply.<br/><br/>(Elsewhere)<br/>The further into the Meetig Hall the mysterious man went, the closer he got to his ultimate goal. He started with the support beams, placing a hand upon them until a runic symbol appeared. He did this for every pillar he crossed, stopping only when he reached the main chamber.<br/><br/>A small, wooden chamber sat in a vast dome of a room, lit by several torches all along the walls. Upon the table was a scroll, bound by a magical twine. Inside was a treaty between all four kingdoms, signed by their leaders. It was not for this the mystery man cared about, but for what lay between the lines, embedded in the paper, a single fragment of the hope of an entire world...