Out to Hunt Beasts

Finding Arthur flying towards his job was not particularly a strange occurrence, especially coupled with the fact that the sun's rays bore down upon him with its heavy presence. Today, in this geographical area, the temperature was hot and the air was arid. Arthur's lips cracked as the dehydrating air rushed over his face. Flapping his white wings, the paladin looked down upon the canyon to try and see where he'd be meeting his partner. From his own magical senses, he knew it wasn't quite time to descend out of the sky. Basking in the sun's warmth, Arthur let out a sigh as the warming feeling encompassed him. If he could take a nap while flying, it would be the number one thing on his to-do list. From what Arthur knew of the job, he'd be joining up with another member of the Rune Knights in order to investigate or clear out an abandoned mine shaft. Hopefully, he'd get paired up with Kyra again, for he knew her to be quite combat capable. But to be honest, he was willing to work with practically anyone as long as the job got done. The two guilds were growing closer, Arthur had observed, from his own experience that he was getting grouped up with their ranks quite often. It was probably a good thing, everything considered, for legal guilds and the military enforcement group to be getting along. Arthur held no qualms about providing his services to their ranks if it mean that he was able to learn more about magic and the people that used it. The organization had always been interesting to Arthur, and he had even considered joining at one point. One thing lead to another, though, and Arthur hesitated on the fact that he didn't want to feel obligated to enforce the law or essentially serve the government. While he knew that legal guilds did do that in an indirect sort of way, it wasn't like directly working under the government like most Rune Knights.

A vulture cawed in the distance, grounding Arthur in reality and waking him from his reverie. Maybe sleeping while flying really was possible. It was probably not that luxurious as it sounded, not restful in the slightest. Flaring out his magical senses, the Paladin froze in his tracks as dread overcame his senses. Impossible, Arthur thought, as his body instinctively reactive to the tremendous magical signature. Within his range, he could feel a tightly-concentrated force of magic. It was strong though, to the point where the crusader had no direct point of reference aside from knowing it was leagues above the monster he had fought back on Amber Island. Could this have been the thing he was fighting? Swallowing somewhat, he attempted to calm himself down by slowing his breathing and becoming mindful of the wind brushing across his face. Maybe there was something wrong, something deceiving about the signature he could feel. His senses had been wrong about the parasite before, and so he wouldn't put it past himself to completely be fooled by whatever shenanigans were on the go. Steeling himself, Arthur gathered his composure as he glided down into the crack of the canyon. Slowing his descent, the mage forced his body to calm with a few well-guided pulses of healing magic to compensate for his adrenal gland working overtime. Gracefully touching the ground, Arthur landed in a stride, one foot after the other sending bursts of dust into the air. Dispelling his wings, the solar mage fingered at the hilt of Dawn's Edge. Flexing his jaw somewhat, air popped in his ears as his hearing returned to normal. That was the one aspect to flying he wasn't particularly fond of. Nothing major, just a minor annoyance all things considered. Now that he was on foot, Arthur's gilded armor creaked and clanked as its moving parts came back to life. The terrain under his armored boots was not quite grainy like sand nor soft like dirt. It was the two somewhat blended together, creating this dusty sandy substance that would definitely get into every nook and cranny of his armor. Sighing, Arthur released his nervous grip on his sword as he approached the signature's general location.

The dark magical signature was hidden from sight around the canyon's curve. As the thing could probably feel his own presence, he had to be ready for a quick dodge or escape. Readying a teleport in his hand as he slowly creeped around the corner, Arthur came to see the sight of a darkly-clad man leaning against a rock. His face was hidden from view given his short-cropped raven locks, but Arthur could see the paintings of pale skin and facial hair. Was this the creature, then? Probably not. Member of Rune knights? Probably so. With the confidence that he wasn't about to get eaten by some dark shadowy monster, he stepped out into the man's sight.  Dispelling the teleport from his hand as he did so, Arthur smiled at the man with his light-reflectingly white teeth and waved. The person would probably have killed him already if it was possible, it wouldn't have taken more than an ounce of that magic to kill him. It wouldn't hurt to present his best aspects forward though. It was still mind-rendering unfortunately, being in the presence of such tightly-controlled magic. It felt as if he was metaphorically nearing the edge of a cliff, and some dark corner of his mind was whispering for him to jump, witness the mage's energy before him in its entirety. For now though, Arthur just needed to get past a friendly introduction. It was a strange thing, shyness. Arthur was never traditionally a shy person, but in the face of what his  bare soul was feeling? A little shyness from the excessively charming knight was forgivable in this situation.

In his most amicably charming tone, Arthur spoke up. Even while closing the distance with a slow walk, he still wasn't able to see the man's face as the unknown figure twiddled with something in his grip. Getting closer, he made out the man's features to be remarkably handsome and yet pointedly familiar. He had seen that face before, the face with ruby-red eyes and midnight-black hair. And yet, in his moment of quelled fear, the memory of the face escaped him. "Hey, I'm here for a job with a member of the Rune Knights? My name's Arthur, and I'm pleasured to be working with you." As the paladin would finish his introduction, he would hold out his hand for it to be shaken as a show of trust.

WC:1107 TWC: 1688/10000 @Mythal Ragnos

When Mythal introduced himself as the leader of the Rune knights, Arthur's mind came to a complete pause as it struggled to correlate the information it had been given. This man, the one with tremendous magical potential, was the leader of the Rune Knights. All things considered, it seemed to line up with what he had felt on his way towards him. Still, the fact that he had been paired up with someone that powerful, Arthur suddenly felt as if he was really not all that accomplished of a magician. He was honored though, to be working with and pretty much at the service of someone as accomplished as Mythal Ragnos. He was one of those mages that people generally tended to talk about as the Rune Knights and Dies Irae were becoming closer and closer with each and every passing day. Naturally, the paladin had heard of the man's existence before, and he could recognize Mythal's face now that he had the information and memory to correlate it with. Maybe he was just very lucky to be on a job with the man, but Arthur would use this as an opportunity for growth, the man probably had a lot of information and wisdom he could teach. Mythal sheathed his weapon behind his crimson cape and Arthur planted hands down at his well-armored side.

"Well, this is certainly a surprise, Director Ragnos. Nice to meet you. I didn't expect to be paired up with the actual leader of the Rune Knights. Normally, I just do missions and jobs with one of your members, and they normally actually go pretty well. I also recently just cleared out a Naga with Kyra...? Can't remember her last name but it was a great job to be honest. Regardless, I hope that our mission goes well."

The director's handshake was rather soft, but fitting for a man who appeared as relaxed as Mythal. From any other person, Arthur would have seen the weak handshake as a sign of disinterest, but that didn't seem to be the case here, instead showcasing the man's general demeanor. The growing bond between the two associations left a good taste in his mouth. Arthur had never been one for rivalry just based off of whatever guild one came from. Sure, he understood good vs dark guilds, but not good vs good guilds. Working together was what amplified the strengths of mages, and so if two guilds worked together the combined forces would be a force to be reckoned with.


"From the briefing and case files I've read, we're investigating a source of evil magic that has had a profound effect on people who are just passing by this area. Now, I'm no expert on these things, but the fact that it's just affecting people who are passing by is quite worrisome to me. Dies Irae usually sends me out on these extermination jobs because they know I have a lot of experience fighting the darker side of creatures, and i feel like this is one of them."

The sudden apparation of a spirit put Arthur on guard. Caught by surprise, Arthur's magic suddenly flared before being willed to calm down. This creature was not going to harm him, and Arthur couldn't detect the thing as a proper undead. Its form was radiant, lithe and muscular. It was like the spirit was formed from pure light. Its hairstyle was combed back with a somewhat creepy-looking mask. Although, Arthur wasn't one to judge, because at least the spirit wasn't necromantic in any way shape or form. It would have otherwise been hard for the paladin to ignore the cruelty of necromancer if it had just been shoved in his face like that. Thankfully, Arthur could not feel the tortured wails of rebound souls, and so this apparition would most likely be safe. The spirit seemed quite jovial anyway, laughing and cackling and speaking with who Arthur assumed to be its summoner or anchor. Arthur's ears perked up at the mention of light magic from the spirit, was this man a user of such an element? It seemed unlikely at face value, given his general dark demeanor and signature, but stranger things had happened before. Would it be too much of a personal question to ask? If this man knew anything about light magic, Arthur would have greatly benefitted from anything he would know. The director cleared up the information around the apparition. It was Mythal's spirit ally. The tenseness from Arthur's face faded as he responded. Arthur couldn't help but be a little nervous when started pretty much checking him out from every angle.

"That's uh-, uh... I have to admit I was quite surprised by the spirit showing up. I don't have the best history with spirits or afterlife forms in general, so I'm glad you're friendly Lux. And Lux, you're a lightbringer, does that make you a light elemental? Most of my powers involve light actually."

Gathering a ball of solar light in his hand, the element shined brightly as he presented it to the spirit. The light was pure, radiant, and most importantly warming. With a small burst of light,t he elemental ball dispersed from his hand. Arthur couldn't help but nerd out at the creature. This was pretty amusing, he had to admit, seeing the director of the Rune Knights getting annoyed by its spirit ally. To be fair, the paladin wasn't around to see what the spirit really got up to, but Lux really didn't seem that bad. Chuckling, Arthur's voice portrayed tones of amusement.

"A pain? Surely Lux isn't that bad. How'd you meet him?"

Arthur felt for traces of wretched magic in the area. While his undeath detection was not as strong as magical sense, it could detect lingering signatures not unlike tracking footsteps, rendering most hunting missions somewhat easier than they'd be without it. He could feel those small wispy traces of what felt like fiery darkness trailing down into a nearby mineshaft entrance. Pointing down at the opening, Arthur finished.

"I think the monster is down there? I hunt these types of things a lot, I can guess from its energy that it's some kind of undead or demon. I can't tell much more than that though from this distance, all I know is that it has been here some time ago."

WC: 1060 TWC: 3885/10,000 @Mythal Ragnos