The Search For Mana

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Ember's steps were stopped about 2 meters away from him, as the lightning barrier raised up, and rebounded her back a couple meters. It wasn't enough to get her off her feet, but enough to push her so that her feet skid the grounds. At Vosur's charge, Lazaryos' attention did switch to him and he held up a palm, which enlarged into a large version of itself and pushed forward. Hitting Vosur right in the face and pretty much clotheslining him.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember let her feet naturally slide back, not fighting the motion. When she came to a stop, she smirked slightly. "Lazaryos..." She said in an almost eerie sing-song voice. "What's the matter? Is the Mana personality afraid of me?" She grinned with her sharp, pointy teeth. "Come on, I know you're not afraid of me. So let me in." She started to move forward again, not afraid of running into the barrier again.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono listened while he watched Vosur's seemingly failed attempt at distracting Lazaryos, somewhat interested at his own chances of faring better. He got back on his feet and walked at the same pace as Ember, understanding that this would either knock him out or outright kill him if he couldn't bring his "guard" up in time. Odd, I really can't think of leaving as an option. Just how strong is my attachment to these two mages?

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos' barrier rose again, but this time, it was more intense and sent the two oncoming walkers flying back several meters, though Chrono didn't get shot as far due to his armour. No! I can't kill her! She can't.... she was the first... Lazaryos roared aloud as he fought for control of his body once more. "You guys get out of here, now! I... can't... control it! You fight harder than the previous hosts, but you're too late. You and I are one. Just relinquish yourself to me, and I'll make sure they die nice and quickly~" When he saw that they weren't going, he roared one more time, while lightning built up in his hand and ran it into his own chest. There was a look of surprise on his face as he knelt to the ground and collapsed dead.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember wasn't surprised when she was thrown back by the barrier and she crossed her arms as she waited to make impact with the ground. Once she did, she let herself roll and then sat up. She slowly got onto her knees while Lazaryos was speaking then was slowly getting to her feet and starting to step forward when he roared and proceeded to run his lightning-charged hand into his own chest. Her eyes widened and she froze on the spot as she saw him collapse. "No!" It was meant to be a yell but only came out as a whisper. After a couple more seconds, motion came back to her body and she swiftly ran over to Lazaryos, kneeling down beside him once again. "You idiot! You were supposed to stay alive!" She said in a low, angry (yet hurt at the same time) voice. Her fist hovered an inch over him because she wanted to hit him for doing such a thing. Instead of hitting him though, she gently rested her fist on him and hung her head.

[Vosur Aekira]

Vosur took a little while to recover from the sudden clothesline, not having anticipated such a move from him, slowly getting to his feet and clutching his head. "Oi... felt like I got caught in a stampede. He had more than enough of a chance to kill me then, but why didn't he?" When he finally shook off the vertigo, he looked to where Ember's voice came from and saw Lazaryos collapsed and Ember running to Lazaryos. "Careful Ember! The Mana revived him before! We do not know the extent of what it can do!" He wanted to make a run towards Ember as well, but the nature of the surprise attack caused him to stagger a bit, making him walk towards them.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Not too long after Vosur's words, black steam radiated from Lazaryos' body, which formed a malicious face, "NOOOOO!" It evaporated into the air and faded away. However, Lazaryos' body was still very much motionless in a pool of his own blood. But after a few minutes of silence, a small gleam came from underneath Lazaryos and that gleam turned into a large shine as it seemed to lift his body up into the air. Very soon after that, normal lightning seemed to start emanating from Lazaryos' wound and eyes, crawling all over his body. The light source exited from within Lazaryos' wound as it closed up, and it touched his chest. Lazaryos then let out a roar as he came back to life and landed back onto the ground, the light source now dimmed down and landed in his hand, a small, blue gem connected to a golden chain. He gripped it tight and continued to breathe heavily as the shock of it all was still taking a toll on his body. "I saw it all. I know what happened to all the previous wielders."

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember has heard what Vosur said but she didn't move from the spot. Lifting her head, she watched the steam leave Lazaryos' body looking like a malicious face then evaporated into thin air. Her eyes moved back to his body for the next few minutes, waiting for something to happen until it finally something did happen. When she saw the gleam underneath Lazaryos' body, her eyes narrowed then widened slightly. As his body was lifted off the ground, her fist slowly slid off of him and landed on her leg. She watched everything that happened next and her mouth dropped open a little when Lazaryos finally let out a roar and landed back on the ground. Her mouth stayed slightly agape until Lazaryos started talking, then she clenched her jaw shut until he finished speaking. "Stop doing that!" She yelled and punched him in the shoulder now that he was alive instead of just a lifeless body.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono landed back on his feet, shaking off the energy coursing through his body by stomping his feet a few times. He could only watch as Lazaryos warned them once again before dropping to the floor in a state similar to death. Now count to five... he mused while also ignoring what Vosur said. Because he expected more, he was hardly thrown off when the dark steam let out a 'death' cry, even though that was not under his expectations. What he didn't expect, was himself having to hold in laughter as Lazaryos got up started talking like he used to before they came into the cave. "I think it can wait, Lazaryos. You're sitting in quite a bit of blood and we still have bodies to bury."

[Srgntcuddles]

Dante finally decided to get up and go investigate. Upon getting there Lazaryos was already back to his old self. "So how many were there?" he asked, feeling as he had been just a face in the crowd for awhile. "And what happens now?" he continued. "The Mana is gone? Just like that? Nothing so special about it after all..." he said folding his arms. The whole time he was looking at Lazaryos, but now looked away.

[Vosur Aekira]

Vosur had to stop every few steps as he made sure that the clothesline didn't do anything more than just simply knock him off balance and knock the wind out of him. "Alright, Old Man, are you among the sane again?" he joked a bit as he kept moving, definitely more cautious in his steps than he would normally be as he got closer. "The Cursed Weapon holders are now dead... which makes me wonder who will be their heirs? I mean... that necromancer's scythe was used in that battle, but now it's bearer is dead, and then there's the weapons that the other two had." He shrugged his shoulders and looked about, hoping not to get caught off-guard. "Personally, I'd rather not have such a burden like that, but who knows what could happen."

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos opened up his palm, which revealed the gem, "This was the one Cursed Item that I've been looking for, but now I know why it was cursed. It was because of the Mana. The plant was first forged from a greedy dark mage from 3000 years ago. Because of the power of the Mana was such a burden on society, and nearly drove the whole planet into destruction, one mage stood up against them all, and killed all who possessed Mana, and dried all the Mana pools. This one dark mage, however, didn't want that, so he created this plant in secret. However, he was about to destroy it when he encountered this item, but it wasn't what everyone expected. Yes, it gives you eternal life, but it binds your soul to it, while your body still withers and dies naturally, despite how it can revive you from being killed. So to keep living, he not only had his soul infused, but also the gem and his source of Mana, all infused into the plant. That dark mage's soul took over body after body every 200 years for the last 3000, shaping our society so that he would one day be able to permanently gain a new body. However, the only way he gains full control of anyone's body, is by acting solely upon the possessor's greatest desire, so he's limited on what he can do during each revival. As for the Cursed Weapons, I would prefer that they remain here and be buried with the plant. Which reminds me..." Lazaryos got up slowly and raised his hand towards the large plant. The gem had restored his majicka along with reviving him. Natural lightning streamed from his eyes and manifested on his palm. With a silent breath, he released his most powerful lightning attack, which he had displayed a long time ago against giant monsters before the sea crossing, and the plant burst into pieces as well as flames. Lazaryos was surprised at how much he had come from being nearly incapacitated from using that attack to almost feeling nothing. "Let's go. The legacy of the Mana has ended."

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

"Thanks for all your help..." Ember mumbled when Dante walked over to the rest of them. After that, she listened to Lazaryos speech. It was interesting to hear what had gone on behind the scenes for the past 3000 years but she still got a little impatient as his speech continued. When Lazaryos got up, she got up off of her knees as well and watched him destroy the Mana plant, watching the flames that were produced dance for a moment. She sort of wished that she had been the one to destroy the plant but let that go since it didn't matter. "That was sort of...abrupt." She said, turning toward the exit.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono listened to Lazaryos' monologue, then watched him destroy the Mana plant with seemingly no difficulty. He got next to the lightning mage, and jabbed him in the shoulder. "I think I got a title for the book I'm going to write. What do you think of this title: 'The Search For Mana: A tale of three mages and two normals.'. Granted, the title is also a rough draft, but I would like you and Ember to help me write it after I deal with my father..."

[Srgntcuddles]

Dante shrugged when Ember made her sarcastic comment. "Who else would have ran into his shield relentlessly to drain his majicka low enough to get to him?" he said as he began to walk away. "Maybe my disease helped after all...Suppose I don't need to get rid of it after all...It does make me unique in a sense." he continued as he walked on. "It was fun everyone, but I have places to go and people to see."