I Dare Say that the Color of Stars are Blue[Star Piece Quest]

[Demetri Malius]

The thief gave a low yawn as they came into the room, listening to Ezzy's remark. He had already removed his mask and lowered his hood upon entering Camelot. After all, he must make his his mundane presence known in order to for his cloak and dagger style to even have an effect. His hair was ruffled, stained with a few specs of blood,  his face ashen with soot and soft red burns. He smiled at Ezzy's remark. She seemed excited to get to work on the Thieve's Guild, but he was long worn out, haven't had a good day's rest since his time in Nippur. With a few steps he passed by a late night drinker at the bar, making his way to the bartender, who always seemed to be cleaning a glass. 

"Good evening Master Demetri, back from a long day of exploration?"

"I suppose it can be called so, Ezzy and i have suffered some injury, we will be tending to ourselves upstairs, bring me up a light ale when you find yourself the time, might help me sleep a bit."

"Of course, I shall bring it up shortly."

After his quick request, Demetri turned to Ezzy, looking her up and down for a moment before speaking. "You feeling alright lass? That nick seemed to cut pretty deep."

"I'm perfectly fine, nothing that won't heal in good time, love~" She responded with a smile.

With a nod Demetri motioned towards the stairs, allowing Ezzy to make her way up them, Demetri following behind as they each claimed their own room, preparing for rest.  Demetri watched as Ezzy smoothly opened her door and stepped out of view, pausing for a moment before turning to his own room. He turned the knob and pushed the door open, the creak echoing in the hall and his mind before he stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

"There seemed to be something Off about the succubus on our way back. I couldn't quite place it."

"Aren't you always?"

"Of course Creator, but there was something else this time, something that wasn't there before."

"I'm sure it is nothing to worry about, we are both fatigued from the battle, surely some rest would help us all."

"If you so believe, Creator."

With that, Demetri unbuckled a few straps and pulled off his leather bracers, bent and completely singed, much like the rest of his outfit. A small patch was missing where he must have made contact with the wyrm while burying the blade into it. He tossed them to the side before tending to his chest piece, cautiously pulling it off, huffing a bit in pain as it stuck to the cloth he wore underneath, clenching his teeth a bit. IRIS began to peel herself off of her Creator and become a small floating sphere of blue particles, watching Demetri loosen his armor. It seemed that everything in this vast world was harder to kill but he, but he was glad his skill and speed were blessed in return. He pulled aside his dark garments to reveal a rather large and swollen bruise on is chest, one that hurt to the touch.

"You should not take as many risks in battle, Creator. I understand that your life is not as precious as it was before, with the ability to come back from the dead at the Fountain in the Nexus, but you should remember that it is not guaranteed."

Demetri remembered the words of the Smiling One, that his life was guaranteed so long as he maintained the being's interest. If he wanted interest and drama, then he can have it. Demetri would make sure to show off his skill at every opportunity. Perhaps one day he would find the being and find out why this whole place existed. It was still a great wonder to him, and in contrast to many who found themselves poorer and weaker than their past selves, Demetri had never been more skillful or talented.

With a groan he did wish he had tougher skin, but he soon gave a sigh and loosened his armor on his legs, letting the remaining pieces fall to the floor before he slumped over the bed, allowing his thoughts to wander and sleep to consume him. 

It wasn't much later that he opened his eyes to a large mug of ale on his bedside, a mug that was taken up in a split second as Demetri angled it upwards, sitting up on the bed, gulping it down. It seemed to wash all the ash and soot out of his mouth and leave a much better taste. Once he downed the beverage he gave a sigh and looked at IRIS, who hovered beside him, humming softly and seemingly staring at him.

"Awake already, Creator?"

"I believe so, but it almost feels as if rest doesn't hold the same relief as it did before. You mentioned that one can use omnilium in order to greatly increase recovery from wounds, correct?"

"Oh, yes, I did mention that early on. Why don't you try it?"

With a nod the thief focused on building up his omnilium, taking it into his hands before rubbing his chest through his shirt, focusing on repairing the snapped bone, along with wounded organs and skin. He felt the omnilium fill in the gaps between his wound,, mending ever so slowly but so soothingly. As he did so, he pulled off a bit in order to speak to IRIS.

"Any suggestions as to prevent me from taking damage like this? I think I am starting to get tired of my face being pounded into some type of rock."

A soft murmuring giggle could be heard from the floating AI, "Of course, I already starting working on a prototype buckler and blade for you, Creator. If you wish, we could test it out after you recover from your wounds. I also allocated some omnilium for testing my previous blast wave ability program called 'pulse'."

"I have faith in what you've done IRIS, and yes, I bleive we can find someplace to test out the abilities nearby. For now, I want to discuss some things, and tell me anything you have found recently on that possible job we discovered last time we were here..."

For a while the two spoke, until dawn had come and past and the sun peeked under their door, discussing future plans as well as strategies for battle. After realizing that his chest felt a lot better, Demetri dressed himself up in brand new leather armor and set out downstairs.

"Milk, if you please."

"Of course, which would you like?"

"Oh, whole milk of course, I am no milksop."

"So you assure me."


"Bartender, I am a big boy. I know of which drink I prefer. Now please, before I tire of this charade, may I have my drink?"

Demetri entered partway through a conversation that an early woken man had decided to take with the bartender, apparently for some milk. Such an odd drink to ask for at a tavern. Demetri waved his hand at the bartender, asking aloud.

"I thank you for the ale, by chance have you seen Miss Ezzy come down at all?"

"I have not, Master Demetri."

"Let her know that I am out and about when she wakes."

"As you wish."

With a nod Demetri glanced at the young man at the bar, raising his eyebrow a slight bit. He looked so... familiar. Demetri tried to shake it off as he walked out of the tavern, heading out of town. He and IRIS passed by numerous townspeople as they ventured out into the green fields just outside of town.

"Now IRIS, activate and show me what you have created. Impress me."

"Of course, Creator!"

She floated to his finger where she gripped onto him and flowed onto his body, again as his cybernetic, almost woven armor. Demetri focused as she stretched over his eye, showing him diagnostics and how to summon the items she now allowed him to possess. In one arm he flicked out his wrist, a sharp blade expanding and reaching out, before a chain whipped around it, grinding against it snugly and rotating to give a soft whirr. He gave it a swing,m hearing it cut the air, before deciding to try the buckler. His left arm locked in place as a cybernetic plate expanded and stretched outwards in a circle,his chains wrapping around it, giving the shielding device a rough surface. He practiced a few techniques from his old world, even testing the blade against a few trees. 

"They are very satisfying, you mentioned one other thing?"

"Yes, my pulse function, I will be able to control it for you, but all you ned to do is request it."

With her words, Demetri raised his arm and planted himself in place as he aimed at a tree, multiple plated erupting from under his leather armor to charge a blasted that shed much of the tree of its leaves, though its branches stayed sturdy, swaying from the force.  Most likely could know an enemy back a bit.

"You may also use it around your whole body, but I will warn you now, it will use much of your energy."

"Good to know, now, let us go see if Ezzy has woken up yet, yes? I want to begin on our quest to find this item of value to these scientist in the inner city."

After dissembling his weaponry, Demetri and IRIS both ventured back to the tavern, to which they still only found the man from before with the bartender. 

"Bartender, is Ezzy still not down yet."

"Well after some conversing with this man here, Master Demetri..." the bartender spoke, seeming quite concerned, the man at the bar turning to look at him. "This man is the woman you used to know as Ezzy. He now calls himself Ezrihel."

Both AI and thief froze for a moment as they processed this information.

Ezrihel simply smiled and extended his hand with a bow. "Greetings, Demetri~."

A low whisper came from IRIS.

"I apologize Creator, I was misled. The Prime is not, in fact, a succubus. Clearly he is an incubus."

[Ezrihel]

He remained standing, still bowed as he took a look up at his guild master. Well, was the man going to shake his outstretched hand or not? Observing how the man stayed stuck in place, he made his decision. Apparently his guild master was taking the rude route of just staring at him this fine morning before taking a surprised step back.

With a soft scoff, Ezrihel righted himself and tugged on the hems of his long inquisitor robes. He placed his arms by his sides and allowed his emerald green eyes to scan over this visage of the thief. So this had been the man that his lovely feminine intruder had grown a soft spot for. The man before him didn't look all to special, but he was rather handsome, what with how his facial hair had grown out and how his wavy hair fell across his forehead, or how his dark eyebrows held a sharp arch to their shape. The most attractive facial feature Demetri had was most definitely how his steely grey-blue eyes contrasted against his tanned skin and black hair.

Looking once more over the body of the thief, Ezrihel noticed that his build was stocky, but not too wide. His arms and legs were well shaped and gave the man the appearance of having done some form of physical labor for an extended time at one point in his life or another. He was wearing new black leather armor, having found or summoned a whole new set of unmarred animal skin between now and their earlier arrival.

Ezrihel gave a roll of his eyes, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Yes yes, a big shock. I'll assume that you'd still much prefer my body to appear more womanly and geared towards your ravaging human sexual appetite. Alas, eventually Ezzy Von Titties will be returned to you, but for now I'm in control of this body, and I'd rather it stay that way."

He paused, pursing his lips before fidgeting with his clothes, strangely self-conscious about how Demetri and IRIS observed him. "Gaaah!" He gave an exasperated groan and flippantly motioned with his left hand before giving a smile. "Incubus is a compliment, little machine. I've been called much worse, my lovely~"

The artificial intelligence gave a soft whir, "Well at least he admits it..."

Demetri, with a look that spelled thoughtful contemplation, crossed his arms. He waved his right hand in the air as he spoke, "I suppose I could deal with this unexpected change in... Companionship. I've heard whispers from various sources that some astronomers have discovered something precious. We should head towards the capital soon."

Ezrihel cut his eyes, looking around the practically empty tavern before he took a few steps. He walked to an empty chair, pulled it out and, in a fluid motion, sat down with his legs crossed. From vague memories he could remember how Ezzy and the thief had reconstructed the pillars, floor, ceiling and furniture of this building. He remembered how they had flirted and tease each other. He gave a soft smirk, again looking over the princely thief. Such a cute little romance had been blooming, a romance that had prodded and stirred him from his backseat games of simply watching and focusing on other, somewhat more important tasks like managing the amount of power and withholding memories from his cancerous growth of a personality.

He loved Lilith and Lilith only.

She was his wife, his love and his only romantic interest. Every other person would always fall to the side for his blonde haired warrior goddess of a wife. Granted, she was prone to the occasional fit of anger that could drive her to rip his heart out of his chest. Again. Or attempt to break all of his limbs. Again. Oh, how he simply loved how rough and demanding of a love game she played with him! He enjoyed the thrill of being hunted down, outwitting his stalker before he would eventually allow her to catch up with him. He even deeply enjoyed the violent thrashings she loved to give out to him as punishment for playing hard to get!

And then he would tease her back, a simple psychological game, if one must label it. While she never did seem to derive any sort of pleasure from it, he did love to hear how she screamed from his playful little touches. Like a wound up spring she would explode into a hysterical and sad rage of profanities and threats, the panic in her eyes always evident for him to revel in. He broke her down constantly, playing with the parts and leaving her to put herself back together.

Yes, he really did enjoy their love games, the loud and profusely gory occasions that many others would look down on him for always brought him a sickly pure form of delight.

That was why he had to put a stop to this needless and incessant flirting that his amply curved counterpart had been plying. Even the thought of himself loving the thief as he loved Lilith made him shudder, nausea almost over taking him for a brief moment.

He slammed his right hand down on the wooden table in a startlingly fast and sudden motion. As the loud slam dissipated throughout the empty building, Ezrihel's eyes snapped up to look the thief dead in the face with an expression of intense excitement. "So, my wonderful Guild Master, tell me about this quest to thwart these Camelotian scientists! What thing is it that they do ever so value inside of that city, and however do you suppose we plan to take it from their grasp?" He paused for a moment and pulled his hand from the table, allowing it to rest folded on top of his left hand in his lap. His tone was playful but borderline sadistic and toying in its lilt.

"It would be most wise for us to start near the capital city, as that is where the purported astronomers are based at."

"Granted, this whole communication thing would be much easier if I could get an 'A-OKAY' from you to talk with you telepathically. You see, I don't like breaking down someone's mental defense, I'm absolutely in love with it. ... Though making you into a broken shell of a man wouldn't be all too helpful in working together or achieving our goals. As such, I simply have to ask permission from you first. It would be rude to intrude on my... Hmmhmm, Master, as you call yourself."

In an absent minded way he reached down and picked at the dirt around the heel of his boot, a smirk growing across his face as he studied the sole of his black leather shoes. The double stitched hemming had always been his favorite part of the entire work of leather. While he gazed over his summoned handiwork, he couldn't help but notice how Demetri's eyes were narrowed at him. He couldn't stop himself from internally smiling at the thief's reaction.

"Well, Master," he started, only to be interrupted by the thief.

"We have no need for formalities, I've dealt with enough of that in my lifetime." He made a brushing motion with his hand, a brief expression of annoyance painted his face as he broke away from looking at the blonde man.

"-As I was saying. I'd love an answer on that whole telepathy thing." He continued with a smile. The thief's reaction to his words was rather telling. Something about the use of the master honorific had bothered him deeply... What about that word though, made Ezrihel extremely curious though it didn't show on his face.

"I suppose if you are accustomed to such a manner of communication, you may, but I myself would prefer to speak aloud. I will most likely continue to do so, whether you choose to do the same of not, unless some sort of restriction prevents me from doing so."

Ezrihel gave a quiet chuckle before reaching his mind out to touch the consciousness of his guild master. He enveloped his mind and spoke. Ah, yes, this is much more comfortable for me. Besides, it's much faster and easier to communicate with you at the speed of thought than waiting for our flimsy and slow biological machines to catch up. Less input lag, if you'd like to call it that. Now, if you'll permit me, I'd like to take a glance through whatever information you've gathered on this so called astronomer relic. ... And I'd also like to know more about your thoughts on my lovely feminine intruder.

"Well, she was quite interesting to say the very least."

IRIS gave a whir, "A succubus," followed by another whir.

Hmm. Interesting only? If you don't feel the need to elaborate, I'll just leaf through your memories containing her. A thought crossed Demetri's mind, bespeaking a permission. Before the thought could form into words and leave his throat, Ezrihel was already rapidly flipping through each and every memory he had with mention of Ezzy. The first memory he had of her was at a familiar place, the last place Ezrihel remembered physically being last. She sat on the fountain, her outfit, pale skin and blonde hair catching his eyes from a distance, drawing closer her piercing green eyes held him captive. Between a fight erupting not far away and a giant glass serpent falling from the sky, the thief decided to save this new lady's modesty by rescuing her from the ensuing waterfall that rained down on her previous location. He held her close to his chest and she touched his face with her warm hand. A spark of deep interest and infatuation as well as some degree of attraction was felt as his AI fussed at him.

Ezrihel moved to the next memory, a memory of memories being shown to him, memories that Ezrihel was already far too familiar with to care to re-watch, though he did note that she was a female instead of himself in each memory. That was an interesting development, if he had any sort of say in it. It had seemed that she had decided to completely block out any memory of him being him. Ech, how rude of her to take my memories but scrub me out of them. Rang his voice, soft inside of Demetri's head.

Continuing looking through every Ezzy related moment, he could sense a growing sense of attachment towards the blonde female. While the thief had always been polite to the woman, it slowly became a more playful and natural process where he actually grew to care about her to some extent, not just as a charge or damsel in distress.

Ezrihel exhaled softly in his seat, a quite scoff came from him as he contemplated and judged how the thief felt about his blonde bombshell doppelganger. Having drawn his precise conclusions he simply opened his left hand and held it out next to him, his palm facing the ceiling.

Since you enjoy the presence of what effectively was cancerous to me, I've decided to recall her into the physical realm. If it pleases you, you may travel with her and take her across the various verses on your adventures when I'm not here. Aside from killing her or getting her killed, I care very little about what you and her decide to do together. Don't make me re-summon her. The alluding to a sexual encounter was thinly veiled as he withdrew from Demetri's head.

He began to summon forth a rainbow hued glob of Omnilium into his palm. Taking his right hand, he traced over the glowing liquid. He made certain to take care a he sculpted the physical body of Ezzy, making her hair flowy, her clothes clean and neatly pressed and not that... Hideous chain themed outfit she had wanted to wear and had urged him to put her in. He had gotten enough experience with chains, memories that she couldn't recall, that made him particularly loathe of the metal bindings being on himself. If she wanted that outfit back on herself, she'd have to take the time to recreate it on her own body once he had finished summoning her.

With an inhuman grace he brought her physical body into existence and soon she was standing before both him and Demetri. Her black hair cascaded down her back and her skin held warmth, but her eyes were empty. She had no memories and no personality at the current moment due to her lack of personal experiences. Though Ezrihel was tempted to turn what was practically a zombie over to the thief, he decided against it.

He made a 'come closer' motion with his hand at his secondary, who obliged him. As she bent down ever so slightly to bring her face to his, he pulled his left hand back and struck her in the forehead with his palm. He had hit her hard enough to cause her to stumble back as her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

She would limply fall back onto Demetri, who, being the good little thief he was, caught her before she could hit the floor. He head lolled back, her mouth limply open as blood ran from her nose. His guild master cast a rather confused and displeased look towards him. He flippantly waved his left hand and brushed the nearly glare off.

"She'll be fine in a few minutes, when her mind gets done absorbing the memories I just gave her back. The nose bleed is a rather unpreventable side effect of that, by the way. I didn't hit her hard enough to actually hurt her. That's something I reserve for my dearest love; a thing our little tumor here most definitely is not~"

He stood up from his seat and reached his arms up. He rolled forward onto the ball of his foot while he arched his back, allowing himself to give a huge stretch and yawn. His arms dropped to his sides, and cast a look to the bartender. In a kind but assertive voice he asked, "Would you mind packing some provisions for us to carry with us on our trip? Also, seeing as I have next to no clue as to the extent of this verse's size, how long of a trip do you think it is from here to the wonderful capital?"

The rather Attractive Bartender nodded and responded, "Not too far. About three days' walk, but likely a day for primes like yourself." He paused and reached a hand up to stroke his beard before he asked, "Would you like another glass of whole milk before you set off?"

Ezrihel nodded and placed his hands on his hips. "Well yes, of course I would like another glass. I personally don't think one can ever drink too much milk."

The Dapper Bartender nodded before looking to Demetri, and Ezzy, who was now coming back into consciousness. "Would you two like anything to drink before you depart?"

Ezzy rose her hand in a shaky manner. "I'd like... Two of the strongest drinks you can give me. Whatever will kill this headac-"

She froze up as she saw Ezrihel, her grip on Demetri's arm tightening dramatically as her heart began to pound. "Oh gods, it's you." She spat half in fear, half in anger. Her eyes narrowed as she shifted herself away from her summoner.

"Me? Oh? Don't give me that dirty look now my darling dearest~ I'm the only reason that you are even back in this realm of existence. If anything I should be the one glaring at you for taking my body over for that little adventure to the wyrm's den. I, personally, didn't enjoy having to heal from that amazing gash you managed to let be scored on my side. Now, you might be a masochist, but I do not enjoy my pain in that way, at least not from volcanic wyrms and their underlings."

"You tortured me within my own head!" Her voice picked up volume as she glared. She straightened her posture and steadied her footing as she held on tight to Demetri's forearm.

"My head," he corrected, "but yes love, but you stole my body and brought it into harm's way. Those are offenses I would normal destroy you over, but I've decided to spare you due to your... attachment to this thief. You had to have realized that your little game of control in my mind would come to an end."

When she gave a confused look, he responded in a condescending tone with, "Oh, my dear, you didn't even realize that you shoved me out of the way and took over, did you? Oh you poor delusional little creature. I wonder how such a pathetic little thing could have ever taken root in my mind."

Pathetic? She thought.

"Why- you--! I'll put you in your place!" Not able to take the condescending tone from Ezrihel anymore, she stepped towards him and drew her sword. In the same motion of drawing her blade, she swung the humming steel down and aimed to strike him hard across the chest.

With his left hand he nimbly reached out and grabbed her wrist. In a quick motion he wrenched her wrist up and to the left. As he pulled her wrist up, he also jerked her up from the floor. Her sword dropped from her hand and clattered against the wooden floor. He lifted his right hand to his face and waggled his finger in front of her as he reached into her mind.

See, now you don't have a sword and you vie to play an extremely dangerous game with me. Alas, I'll be taking your sword for now, until you learn to play nice with us other kiddies. After all, that is my sword.

He let her arm go and pushed her towards her loving thief companion before he stooped down and picked the sword up. Giving a moment of concentration, he started to extract the blade, aiming to break it all the way back down into omnilium.

"What are you--!! What are you doing?! Stop! Stop! That's my sword!!" She cried out, tears of anger springing from her eyes. "Stop! Stop it please!"

Upon hearing her pleas, he decided that it would be fitting to stop at the handle and give her only that back. He handed her the black lacquered handle and turned away with a smirk. As he handed her back only the hilt of her once magnificent sword a few tears slipped down her face and pattered on the floor dully. A deep seated sadness welled up inside of her as she held what was left of her blade.

Now you have a weapon that fits you. Weak, pathetic, laughable and pointless.

He noticed that while the whole shebang had been going down, The Appealing Bartender had produced three travel packs as well as the drinks they had asked for. He grabbed the glass of whole milk and raised it to his lips. He downed the thick drink quickly and set the glass back down on the counter without much noise.

"Now if we're done playing children's games of tag and what not, I'd like to get moving."

3326

[Demetri Malius]

Hmm. Interesting only? If you don't feel the need to elaborate, I'll just leaf through your memories containing her.

If only to sate your curiosity and be done with this impediment of my mental freedom then so be-

A harsh, held back gasp rushed between the thief's teeth as he hadn't the time to even voice his thoughts before the man was digging through his mind, each pick of a memory just a blow to the front of his head. Flashes of Ezzy and the precious battle mrang through his mind, including his emotional states during each event. He disliked the feeling of being read like a book, as someone who kept many secrets over his origin. The thief almost growled through clenched teeth as her struggled to leave only the basis of his thoughts exposed to the intruding eyes, but clearly Ezrihel had plenty of experience circumventing those precautions. Luckily, the thief had enough willpower to keep the man only to recent events, or perhaps it was he himself who decided that the most recent events were all that he was interested in. He could hardly hear Ezrihel's words before he pulled back, only understanding a few phrases, his mind dizzy from the experience.

"I can... gladly inform you that I do not wish to undergo such an experience like that again in the future, so I hope you gained all the information you needed..." the thief rubbed his temples, hearing IRIS pipe in.

"Are you alright, Creator? Your body seemed to be responding in a frozen panic for a moment there, I do agree that such interactions with the incubus Ezrihel should be cautioned."

Demetri swore he heard a low chuckle from Ezrihel before the man spoke up once more in his mind.

Since you enjoy the presence of what effectively was cancerous to me, I've decided to recall her into the physical realm. If it pleases you, you may travel with her and take her across the various verses on your adventures when I'm not here. Aside from killing her or getting her killed, I care very little about what you and her decide to do together. Don't make me re-summon her.

Demetri gave a furrow of his brow at Ezrihel, clearly not liking his seemingly  outgoing and positive tone. Though his parameters were fair and his voice gentle, Demetri could sense the underlying threats that lie beyond it. It gave him a bit of worry that the man seemed to pull off the charade better than anyone he had met before. No noble he knew could rely such a underlying tone so well hidden beneath kind words. The thief knew to be cautious, though unsure of exactly what goals this being had in mind.

The thief watched as Ezrihel gracefully began to summon his so called "cancerous" counterpart, weaving omnilium in the air like fabric, sowing together the reality that composed Ezzy. Demetri could never get over how amazing it was to summon items out of omnilium like thin air, and though he found the whole process to be wonderful, he couldn't help but look cautiously towards the man.

After a short while, the fine features of Miss Ezzy finally appeared, showing her soft, pale face, one that helped the thief relax as he turned and leaned his back against the wall, watching the rest of her fully form. He watched as Ezrihel beckoned her, then suddenly bumped her forehead with his palm, sending her falling to the ground.

Demetri's eyes narrowed as he burst forward with enough speed to catch the falling damsel, glaring as Ezrihel as he helped her stand up. The thief could not believe how much disregard the man had for his own secondary, waving his hand as if brushing off the woman from his sights. Even as he spoke as to not worry about the woman, Demetri could not help but feel a tinge of annoyance.

"Creator, besides the succubus being back, I have some news for you regarding some clients that have posted on our dataverse contact page."

"Let me know in a short while when things clear up, IRIS."

"Will do, Creator."

As Ezzy seemed to come to her senses she retaliated against her Prime creator, an action which Demetri did not hold against her as she seemed to try to take a stab at him, but clearly deprived of her previous abilities as a Prime, Ezrihel was far more powerful. Demetri grumbled under his breath for a minute as he turned away leaving them to their quarrel. Ezrihel seemed to enjoy making a fool out of her, as he simply took the weapon and dismantled it in front of her eyes. Ezzy cried out as it was almost completely turned back to omnilium, mourning her lost weapon. Demetri couldn't take much more of this pettiness.

"Enough." He spoke aloud,turning but Ezrihel had already started speaking to the bartender.

Demetri couldn't even be sure that he heard him as the man drank his milk and grabbed a travel bag from the bartender.

"Creator, i have designated enough omnilium for us to create a Recall and datacerse upling station for the guild. It will serve for us to have aquick way back home in case of emergency as well as a way to physically enter the dataverse if need be. I ahve also arranged some contracts with others in exchange for use of our terminal."

Demetri gave a sigh, deciding to respond to the information. "And are we to trust those that you have made contact with?"

"If they don't comply we can always hunt them down."

"Fair enough. Shall we make it in the cellar."

"If you so wish."

Demetri nodded as Ezrihel spoke up about getting a move on. Demetri held a hand out, motioning to the East.

"So, off to the Capital we go, I believe we must head East and follow the road to there, most likely encountering numerous wnaderers and merchants along the way. Perhaps we shall meet some friends, hmm?"

Demetri would walk along the road with his comapnions.

"Creator, may I have permission to examine and question Ezrihel, perhaps you can get a chance to speak with the, now secondary, succubus?" she teased at the end of her sentence.

"If you wish to do so, then go ahead."

A small part of the machine detached and hovered over to Ezrihel, taking a erch on his shoulder.

"So Mr. Ezrihel, why did you let yourself become a woman? After all, you seemed pretty against it, and you seem much more pleasant to look at while you are male! Were you a noble at all? I noticed that you dressed in rather nice clothing. " She then paused for e moment.  "Why not tell me a bit about yourself, since I wasn't able to see what the succubus showed Creator when we first came to Camelot."

Demetri, on the other hand, went to see the distressed Ezzy. He walked calmly and decided to bring up a few questions.

" I understand that it seems to be hard to come to terms with so much, but who exactly are you if the memories you showed me before belonged to the man that stands before us? Are you perhaps twins, or two minds of the same body, or at least were of the same body..." Demetri trailed on. " I just want to be sure that no more mishaps occur in the future."

"Aye,  we should be going soon, but there is one last task for us to compete here. I'm sure you both heard what IRIS spoke to me about, so I believe that we should establish that link before we depart."

Demetri would let them follow him to the cellar, where he would attempt to create a small station in which they can accomplish the tasks they wished to complete, as having a recall station would definitely allow easier retreat after a heist or job. The dataverse uplink would allow them access to the physical dataverse, expanding their reach. Perhaps further on they could acquire more ways to expand their realm, but for now, this would do.

They would focus on the intricate wiring and wondrous technology that made up the machine, Demetri using IRIS's display to help guide his mind, He was very much thankful to her for her new form, weaving over much of his body, with the snaking device that went up to his ear and right  eye made for communications and displaying her HUD. Once finished, Demetri would head back up and dig through his pack, transferring much of his to his satchel, thanking the bartender for the supplies before heading outside.

[Ezrihel]

"So Mr. Ezrihel, why did you let yourself become a woman? After all, you seemed pretty against it, and you seem much more pleasant to look at while you are male! Were you a noble at all? I noticed that you dressed in rather nice clothing."

Ezrihel cast a look to her, observing how her metallic form seemed to shift and change, as if she were made from some sort of non-Newtonian fluid. Her blue coloring wavered as she spoke, brightening and darkening with the flow of her sentence. "Why did I let myself become a woman? Huh, well, you speak as if I had complete control over the entire thing. No, I have next to no memory of the events leading up to the succubus's first memories. I assume that she was simply some sort of dormant personality that took root due to the stress of being pulled into this place. I wasn't the most stable of individuals back home either, so that most likely plays some sort of role."

The little AI paused for a moment, seeming to think up a new question to better phrase herself as she perched on his right shoulder. He had to admit, she was a fairly adorable and precious machination. Her voice trilled lightly, "Why not tell me a bit about yourself, since I wasn't able to see what the succubus showed Creator when we first came to Camelot."

"A bit about myself? Well, only if you agree to tell me some about yourself and what you've picked up about this universe." He paused for a moment, waiting for her affirmative. Only after she gave it would he respond.

"Well, you see, I was born to a very prominent Duke. Our family was very well trusted by the British monarch for generations, and as such we were given dukedom over a large colonial expansion. I'm certain that having blood relations with the royal families of both England and Prussia helped us along a good deal as well. From the time of my birth I was engaged to a lovely young damsel by the name of Lilith La'Blanc. She had close family ties to the French royal family, she was in fact, the niece of Marie Antoinette.  Her family fled from France before she was born due to peasants uprising in a rather nasty "revolution" as they liked to call it. She was quite a beautiful woman, truly a treasure onto my world. Her and I were born on the exact same day, and our parents saw that as some sort of omen. She was always agreeable, always exuding this sort of grace that I saw in no one else. It was only on my wedding night to Lilith that her and I had quite a large falling out, caused by various things but mainly my want to become powerful was what seemed to push her away. We fell apart in a beautiful fashion, and I left my family estate that night and journeyed onwards to claim what was mine."

He paused for a moment, observing what Demetri was building before he continued. "Six months before I turned sixteen, I met a man by the name of Lucian Sennor. He changed my life, opening my eyes to the realities of my world and pushing me to climb to a position of power. He wasn't always the most kind, but he had firm values and was a role model for me. You see, he was the one to enlighten me to the knowledge that I wasn't human- I was something much different. I was a being that- like him- had reincarnated several times before, and had lived many lives. We were a race that humankind had viewed as gods, a technologically advanced race that had genetically engineered humans. In many past lives I had been a close ally of his, even through the civil war that tore my people apart I had served him. I had been blamed for the war and killed by the other side. Completely demonized for something so very innocent and simple."

"I had taught the humans how to use cosmetics, how to forge themselves armor to protect themselves and how to create metal weapons in order to better defend themselves. I like to joke that before I met him I was a Man of God, and after I met him I was instead a God of Man. He had me ruling over humankind as his Earthly conduit when I was drug into this dimension."

He now stood waiting to hear her input and answer to his previous question when Demetri had asked Ezzy a set of questions.

He was concerned for her, that much was obvious to her by his compassionate tone. With a soft sigh, she fidgeted with her hair a bit, trying to think. So much was different now. Her senses were dull and her mind felt slower, she felt absolutely blind to everything in the world around her. It all made her feel so small and trapped inside of her own head.

But everything was quite now.

No more racing, frantic thoughts or loud bombardments of sensory information. Certainly it would take her time to adjust, but she almost liked the silence. Quietly, she would speak up, trying to find her strength while forming her words.

"Who am I? ... I... I am uncertain. Those memories were all I have ever known. I feel disjointed and sick, weak like a dying animal. My mind is still rattled and reveling from the experience and shock of this all... Perhaps we were to minds within the same body, as that is what he suggested. Maybe I was just a voice in the back of his head that grew too big. I... I don't know. To be pulled out of existence, smothered and destroyed completely before being put back together and put back into the world... I don't think that I will ever be able to properly describe the experience aside from the words 'painful' and 'sickening'."

She dropped her hand from her hair, casting her eyes up at Demetri. Her expression, normally so stunt and unchanging, now showed an alarming amount of emotion. Her feline-like green eyes appeared large and doey. The skin around her eyes-normally a pale alabaster- looked red and puffy, as if she were merely moments from crying. Her voice was steady. "It seems my personality didn't change, however. I am exactly how I remember myself..."

Again her voice came, shakier, "but that doesn't mean I know anymore what I am or who I am than a stupid animal."

"What's the point of my memories and thoughts if they mean nothing? If I mean nothing? I am nothing but a conjured up body given the will to move and act by another better suited being. I was brought back into this world only for entertainment and pleasure. That is my only purpose. Ezrihel sees me as nothing more than an amusing object to be made into your traveling companion. I am under the control of my creator, not directly, but by the threat of suddenly not existing. If I displease him, will he destroy me again? What if he does it simply to prove a point before resummoning me? I fear my future Demetri. I- I'm scared."

With a surprisingly timid hand, she touched the Prince Thief's right arm. She was horrified at the thought of her possible futures, and even more frightened by her creator. She felt as though in this ocean of uncertainty Demetri, this Thief, was one of the only people she could trust. Not his machine, not her creator, but Demetri. After a brief moment she pulled away, casting her gaze towards the stone floor of the cellar as she mumbled an apology for touching him.

She halfheartedly watched how he pulled the new machine together, being more distracted by her current crisis than whatever was being built. Eventually she did venture to ask a few questions as they were walking out the door.

"So what was life like for you before this place? Certainly it must have been interesting enough for you to have picked up such... risky career skills."

She would walk behind Ezrihel and his shoulder-mounted insult supplier, allowing them to tread a fair distance ahead of her and Demetri in a bid for privacy. She didn't know or care to know about what conversation those two could possibly be having, but they seemed to be enjoying each other's speech. After listening fully to Demetri's answers, she couldn't help herself but ask, "Maybe the next time we have off time, you can teach me a thing or two about what you've learned? It would give us something to do in our spare time, and maybe it will help me find a purpose and drive."

After about fifteen minutes of walking, Ezzy spoke up again. "Demetri, what do you think makes something alive? What do you think makes something real? Is it just the way we perceive things, or do you think that there's something more to all of-"

"Are you two twitterpated lovedrums going to catch up, or should we slow down?" Ezrihel, about one hundred feet further down the path, had turned around and called back to them.

With a slight blush, Ezzy called back and informed him that no, they were fine at their current pace.

"As I was saying," she continued, "do you think that there is really anything more to all this? ... I apologise if these questions happen to be too upfront and on the nose, but in the light of recent events, I'm just rather shaken up about everything. I'm confused and just..." She trailed off, unable to continue.

"I just like having answers." She finished with a sigh.

Meanwhile, further up ahead on the path, IRIS chirped another question at the blonde man, now asking him what he enjoyed doing in his free time. He gave a soft smile before patting his right hip.

"Well, I really do enjoy swinging this old sword around in combat practice, but outside of that? Probably causing as much debauchery as possible. Partying, drinking, eating delicious foods and enjoying the carnal pleasures of the body? Those are all things that people don't bother to enjoy as much as they could- or should. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one in the world who dares to enjoys the simpler things in the world, so I take it as my duty to get as many people to do the same. After all, what's the point of living a boring existence where you never go out and do things?"

He paused, clearly thinking something over for but a moment. "Speaking of which, as an advanced artificial intelligence, is there any reason in particular that you're just your core? Is your shell in need of repair or something of the like? If your thief needs help with repairs, I could always lend a hand. My race has long since used artificial intelligences and cybernetics and most of us officers had their own personal AI that we were expected to upkeep and care for, so it really wouldn't be too big of a problem."

With little effort, he reached back with his mind and touched against Demetri's mind, careful and gentle in his actions. After all, he only needed to ask him a few questions. Thief Master, after conversing with your AI, who has a quite lovely personality by the way, I've noticed that she lacks a shell. I wanted to ask you why she hasn't been in one during all of my past memories of her. Did her shell become damaged some time before we met and now need repairs? I'd be more than willing to help you repair your AI's casing if you would like. Along with the questions, he flashed a few still memories of working on the various synthetic bodies that had held his AI to prove his experience.

3326 + 1999 = 5325

[Demetri Malius]

IRIS listened to Ezrihel explain his state of mind upon entering the realm of the omniverse, mentioning a bit about his home world before turning back to her, requesting her own account of events since her summoning to the omniverse by her Creator.  She gave an affirmative hum as she perched on Ezrihel's shoulder, forming almost a camera-like shoulder mounted camera, her bright glowing blue eye watching him closely. 

She then questioned of the world he came from, and he began to speak of his background and history before the omniverse, about what he was and the environment he grew up in. It was all really intriguing, finding out so much about it, but there seemed to be so much more. Hearing him go on about past events reminded her of her time in the Tangled Green, alongside Crow, Jan, and everyone else in her group that ventured to go see the Smiling One. She wondered where they were all at now, and what might have been if she had made it along beside them. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted as Ezrihel soon finished his vocal biography, to which IRIS had to take a moment to completely process all the info. She replayed his voice in her shards of circuits, taking note of his nobility, among other things. So apparently, he had lived different lives, reincarnating after each death. He must have a quite vast amount of knowledge then. She might have to press further later, but she shouldn't be too forward. His family seemed to have traveled to some new world, where they were gaining much of the free land. What an interesting thought, perhaps one day there would be new land in the omniverse that had been unexplored before? She and Creator would have to explore more about that possibility. As for this Lucian fellow,  he seemed rather curious, something seemed amiss about him. She wondered if they would meet at all, either by Ezrihel's summoning or by Omni himself. It was always so confusing thinking about who gets pulled from which universe, especially when wondering, why? What is the key factor that all those that make it here share? How can we predict others coming to this place, perhaps from our own worlds?  It was all so interesting. This was another fact worth taking note of, this Lucian, and what exactly he and Ezrihel did with each other...

Not too far behind the AI and noble man, the thief continued to form the dataverse uplink, listening to Ezzy ramble to him about her identity and existence, her sanity delicately trying balance itself between reality and hopeless despair. It made it hard to concentrate on the uplink and recall station, given that it took most of his attention and willpower. She even managed to panic to the point of nearly cuddling him from fear, to which she immediately apologized for. With a more relaxed tone, she asked about his skill background and reasoning. After finishing the device, Demetri gave a sigh, patting Ezzy on the shoulder.

"Lass, you need not worry about your state of mind at the moment. Clearly, you have much to come to terms with. As for my skills in thievery and such, I learned at a young age. Allow me to tell you in greater detail once we head outside."

With that, they continued upstairs, gathering supplies from the bartender and heading out the door. Demetri resumed his story as they began to walk outside.


"My father was a thief. A respectable one as well. He taught me many skills when I was a young child through many convoluted chores and such, but I can see he was simply trying to conceal the training from me so that I may live a normal life. See, he 'retired' once he met my mother, having gathered enough wealth to gain a small amount of nobility, settle down and have me, his one and only child. Much of my veiled training was simple masking of presence and basic combat skills, but learning that at a young age set the foundation for the next stage of my life, because you see, my father never really escaped his past, and with settling in one area, it found him pretty easily, hit hard too. My whole family and life fell apart, and I sunk down to the bottom of society, where my name was lost to all but my own mind."

He waited a moment for his companion to assess his words before he continued.

"I ended up in the streets by the age of nine years, where I focused on picking locks and pockets for a living, for survival. Stealing from the bakery, looting nobles for gold to buy clothing and other supplies, I always made sure not to get caught. I was a patient young boy, quiet and intelligent from my parent's teaching. My mother was a smart woman, knew her politics and whatnot. But furthermore, I began to realize my own skill and take on bigger challenges, not just for survival, but for greed and satisfaction. I even took on gambling, learning how to cheat the system, whether by mathematical means or simply rigging the physical elements. Sometimes both. It was then that I decided to find out more about my father, and by some rare find, I meet my Uncle, a fence for local stolen goods. He taught me more and furthered my skills while telling me about my father, even helping me to find the ones who tore my life apart. But that story is for another day. My young adulthood is riddled with controversy and dark times." He gave a bit orf a stretch as they wandered out of town, the long dirt road ahead of them.

"Maybe the next time we have off time, you can teach me a thing or two about what you've learned? It would give us something to do in our spare time, and maybe it will help me find a purpose and drive." Ezzy spoke up, a soft smile on her face.

"Perhaps, though you should think about what you want to learn, after all, much of the skills I hold require large amounts of practice. Just let me know when you wish to learn, and I shall teach you, so long are we are in a safe--"

"Are you two twitterpated love drums going to catch up, or should we slow down?" Ezrihel called out from ahead. Demetri hadn't even realized they fell so far behind.

Ezzy seemed to blush beside him as she answered and they hurried along to catch up, afterward asking more about her existentialism.

"The way I see it, there is no difference where you come from in this world, only where you go. Does being a secondary really change that much about how you feel about yourself? If Omni wished to do so, he could have the same done to me, gone in a split second. I've seen it happen before to those that 'lose his interest'. Not sure what exactly catches it, but I don't intend on losing it anytime soon. "

He waited patiently for Ezzy to form an opinion on the matter before speaking again.

"If you want to talk more about it, IRIS may be better suited for such conversation, she has actually had more experience than I, being that time slowed for her in the Tangled Green. Granted, she fell inactive, but still, it accounts for something, she was on a quest to see Omni, along with a group of other secondaries," Demetri paused for a moment as they stopped at a roadsign, getting closer to their destination. "Doesn't seem to be much further."

IRIS whirred as Ezrihel answered her question. My, had she known that such an interesting man was hidden underneath that devilish succubus, she would have been trying to get him out! She really enjoyed the man's outlook on life and his general attitude. However, upon mentioning her body, she became slightly nervous. 

"N-no I just, it's my fault really. I lost my host body back in the Swamp of Sadness in the Tangled Green. I was actually on a mission to find Omni... and... I failed. I wish I had done better, but, if you truly wish to speak to my Creator and work something out, that's fine.."

Demetri, meanwhile, heard Ezrihel speak to him telepathically, and he responded aloud.

"I had been planning on doing so, but with my limited knowledge on advanced technology, it seems I fall short on giving IRIS the proper body to meet her full potential. If you truly do wish to help, then I suppose I have no issue with building a shell for her with you, so long as you know what you are doing, not that I doubt you, but I am not quite sure myself how IRIS functions, after all, see almost seems to have grown past the limitations of my own mind."

[Ezrihel]

"Does being a secondary really change that much about how you feel about yourself?"

This question caused Ezzy to stop and think for a moment before drawing a conclusion. Yes. Yes it did bother her, and it bothered her deeply. She felt absolutely weak and frail, like a newborn. She felt defenseless in this vast new universe. At least, before being over come by Ezrihel, she felt like she had held some semblance of power and control over her surroundings. Now she was nothing more than a machine to fit the needs of others.

She glanced up at her thief companion, deciding it was best not to answer his rhetorical question. She had a lot of differing things to think about and over at the current time. From the little bit she did know on Demetri's history, to coming to grips with her new lot in life.

She studied his face for a moment, thinking over how to best respond to his answers about his history.

"I'm sorry that you lost your family. I'm... Not quite sure what that feels like, but I assume that it was deeply unpleasant. However, I am glad you are here with me now. I've always found you interesting, but maybe that's just due to your roguishly dashing looks and reserved nature." She jested, giving a soft laugh as punctuation.

"But no, the life of an urchin is always a tragic one. Hopefully within the omniverse, with this new chance, we can make a change and make a difference. I miss what I considered to be my home, I guess I share those memories with Ezrihel. Whether or not he misses it, I have not a clue. The world was a strange place, magic and science had just come together, and finally we had built large machines that put out a great deal of smoke. Machines that took up entire buildings and turned the air black with soot."

She made a gesture with her hand, the theater of her mind playing out a Victorian scene from memory. "Coal and steam. Alchemy. We were the blessed people and we raced along as if touched by the grace of God. ... I'm not sure what your world was like, but I was from a strange new world, a new continent that we called The Americas. Spain had pioneered our push to this new world, looking for gold and an undiscovered trade route to India." She gave a pause to chortle. "Instead of sailing smooth across an ocean, they instead found a whole new landmass with primitive people and everything. Sometimes I wish I had been there to explore New Spain with the Spaniards. I've always wondered what it would be like to be swept off my feet by a Conquistador~"

She looked down, smiling and blushing bashfully before fluttering her lashes. "Ah, but I guess that's just a girlish day dream that men wouldn't understand... After all, it's my job to be exquisitely dreamy in my wishes. Real ladies don't concern themselves with the world of Man."

"And maybe you can teach me those oh so unladylike skills in our downtime in the capital. Seems like it would be a big enough place, easy to blend in, even easier to get lost on the old winding streets and crowds."

She listened as Demetri gave a response to some question or another that Ezrihel had asked. She blinked a few times, looking at Demetri with big curious eyes. A question coming to her mind. "How... How did you come onto summoning your machination if you don't understand it? Did it come to you in a dream or vision by God?"

Upon hearing this, Ezrihel gave a snort. People don't get visions from 'God'. He thought to himself before speaking to his new 'parrot'. "Tell me, missus IRIS, more about the details of your blueprint, of your system. It would be of vital importance once I begin to conceptualize a new housing vessel for your main processor. After all, it would be quite a shame for me to make you a cute and flashy new body only for it to be incompatible with your core." He gave a playful and flirty chuckle.

His sharp emerald green eyes made sure to keep track of the time as the day passed them over. The pale green light of morning fading into that beautiful and familiarly earthly blue before giving away to the rosette pastels of the setting sun. Time seemed to dial forward for Ezrihel in this place, days passing so quickly compared to the long summer days of Old Charleston.

Soon, with Ezzy and Demetri caught up, they came upon the capital city. It laid sprawling up the side of a black mountain, its stark white walls a mimicry of peace and order. The designer of the impressive capital city obviously knew their way around architecture and city planning from what could be seen at this distance. The buildings appeared to be stacked in order to compensate for the limited amounts of flat ground the place undoubtedly housed. Just from the outside walls and visible looming white stone buildings Ezrihel could safely say that this place reminded him of his own city's, Aufsteigen Stadt's, rival. In fact, this place looked almost like a carbon copy of Shinkai Shigai, so much so that Ez almost wanted to puke over the repulsiveness he felt from its visage.

A city so repulsive in its back asswards hypocrisy that even he, a seducer of mankind, recoiled from. Yes, he certainly had always liked how twisted humans could be, but Shinkai Shigai was not a place he ventured to in order to have fun. Everything was always looming, always watching him as if he were a dying animal ready to become carrion for the vultures.

He shook his head as he came up to the gates of the city. He gave a glance at each of the guards posted there before one of the two, the one to Ezrihel's left to be exact, approached them.

"State your business Travelers." He commanded.

Giving a soft roll of his eyes, he waved his hand and spoke, "Well, our feet are quite sore and tired from the long trip, and we wish to enjoy the many delights of your city's renowned taverns, fill our bellies with drink and mayhaps even tip the wenches."

"And the missus, what do you expect her to do?"

"Ah, you see, I travel with my sister and her Fiance-"

Ezzy spoke up, cutting Ezrihel off, "We're simply trying to relocate after being heckled by bandits on the roads. Please, allow us sanctuary my good sirs."

The guard nodded and turned around, shouting to the top of the wall for the gate to be opened. After they stepped through the gates Ezrihel cut his eyes at Ezzy. "Never. Again." He whispered to her.

Making short time, they found themselves at one of the various taverns known within the walls of Minas Tirith. The Immoral Raven. Huh, what a name to be chosen. He thought to himself as he pulled the heavy iron handle out. Immediately his senses were overcome with the all the delights and dislikes of a tavern. The mouth watering aroma of fresh hot spiced meads, various beers and wines followed the smell of wonderfully greasy tavern food. The general scent of the place bespoke of an old building, mold, mildew creeped into the wooden framework of the establishment; the earth directly beneath the floorboards gave off a pungent odor of many years of split drink and dried blood from long forgotten bar fights gone bad.

And yet, through all of the wonderful and interesting smells this place gave off, the stench of too many hot and sweaty bodies crammed into a single building mingled in the air with the muted scent of burning candle wax like an oppressive fog. From the doorway Ezrihel could tell that this was not like the neon-blacklight hideouts he enjoyed back in Aufsteigen Stadt. This place housed the working man. A sort of concept he wasn't completely familiar with. And while he wasn't openly repulsed by this all, he knew he wasn't going to exactly enjoy his time here.

Stepping into the tavern, he quickly found himself and the group a booth like table towards the back of The Immoral Raven, in a quieter corner. As they made themselves at home, Ezrihel went to work conjuring coins into a tangible existence from his reserves. After a good deal had been made, he cast a look to his guild master. Looking towards Demetri, he spoke telepathically, so he could be heard over the sounds of rolling intoxicated banter and heated arguments that threatened to boil over at the tip of a hat. A room? I'm going to get a room so we can remove ourselves from this tomfoolery and discuss our plans. If you wish to come down here and party with the raffle later, then be my guest, I myself plan to gather information before resting tonight. Shouldn't be hard with a crowd like this.

Demetri gave a nod and Ezrihel beckoned a rather busty white haired wench to them. She wore much too much make-up, her blue eyes framed by dark kohl raccoon eyes and her overdrawn lips a shade of red that bespoke emergency. Poor thing looks like she needs to escape. He thought in a desultory tone before speaking. "A room for three, please?"

The dolled up woman nodded, "Thirty gold pieces please my good sire. Is tha'  'nythin' I can get for ya handsome group 'fore I show ya's to ya's room?"

Ezrihel glanced to Demetri, who asked for a pint of Mead, then to Ezzy who asked for, "A dry red wine of some sort, if you'd be so kind ma'am."

"Oh, there ain't no needs in callin' me ma'am dear. You can jus' call me Josie. Now sire, is there 'nythin' you'd want?" She asked Ezrihel.

"Oh, for me? Simply a glass of whole milk, if you have it in stock." His answer made Josie raise a darkened eyebrow before she nodded and grabbed at her key ring and motioned for them to follow her up a flight of creaky dark wooden stairs across from their booth.

She lead them down a small dark hallway that smelled of musty wood and drunken shames before pointing them to a heavy wooden door with the number three etched into it's front. "An' 'ere's ya room dearies. Tha drink's'll be up in jus' a minute." She pushed the key into Ezrihel's hand before turning around and going back downstairs.

Ezrihel and Ezzy exchanged looks before they both glance to the Prince Thief. "Well. Ain't this quite a..." Ezzy paused to inspect the old sheets, "Quaint place."

"Well, at least there aren't rats and various other bugs nibbling on you, my dearest 'Ezzy'." Ezrihel pushed his mind towards his guild master, gently touching his mind before telepathically speaking once more. So, on the topic of-

Suddenly IRIS beeped and alerted Deme to something, a flicker of the sensory knowledge graced Ezrihel in an unintentional side-effect of being mind-linked, but he didn't bother in trying to read into what it could have been. It wasn't worth riling the thief up over. He withdrew from Demetri's mind and IRIS's voice rang out, "Creator, there appears to be another faction that wishes to form an alliance with us and exchange information- Oh, and it may be a good idea to recruit others as well to better spread our name, do you wish for me to search the dataverse for potential thieves and rogues?"

"Well then, I suppose we should reply in favor of such an exchange, after all, its nice having friends everywhere, though we should caution to make sure we don't befriend another's enemy, anything else? Recruiting sounds agreeable, go ahead and reach out whenever you would like, and perhaps we should send someone to greet the SoSV." Came the Prince Thief's response with a smirk. He leaned against a counter and gave a knowing look at Ez. Ezrihel returned with a curious and questioning look.

"Perhaps Ezrihel can do so? As much as I enjoy his company, this journey may not need all four of us, and it may be best if a Prime goes to meet the faction, just in case things don't go well. And I think Ez can handle himself~"

He gave a few blinks, his mind having automatically processed every word muttered and all it's implications. "What are they needing information on? I've hardly had a moment to breathe and find information on the varying subjects of this realm, let alone wherever this 'es-oh-es-vee' thing happens to be."

He paused a moment and ran his left hand through his hair and pushed his bangs out of his face. "But if the guild needs it, then certainly. I would be delighted to go off on that adventure for you."

Thinking over it all for a moment, he held his hand out in front of him with his palm facing up. "I suppose it would be wise to build some form of a communication device, wouldn't it? I'm not really used to having to use such things, but I must make do, as I am uncertain if the physics of the Omniverse would allow me to telepathically reach out across the various gates."

He summoned forth a glob of Omnilium and began to construct a very small chip, lacing the transistors and gates onto the microscopic board. After a moment, he crafted it to contain a small and simple AI to it, a very rudimentary one at best. At the end of the summoning, it sprung up on gossamer thin mechanical legs and crawled up his arm. It appeared no bigger than a flea as it made it's way to behind his ear and let it's wiry frame spread out to his left temple. It's frame was invisible under all but the perfect light and angle with which it would simply reflect the light in a rainbow glare.

Ezrihel gave a smile. "So where exactly are we sending me?"

"To the Pale Moors."

"The- The Pale Moors? Oh goodness me, that seems rather grey, but I'll go after I have my drink. I will be in touch with you later, Mister Malius."

As if knowing, a knock came at the door to the room. Taking three strides across the small room Ezrihel opened the door to see Josie holding three tankards with little effort. She smiled in what would have been a charming way had her makeup choice not still appeared to have taken a beating from a carnival stick. Graciously he accepted the drinks and bid her a goodnight before he closed the door.

With little interest he handed the mead to Demetri and the wine to Ezzy before taking to his own drink with much more enthusiasm. "So." He set his empty tankard down on one of the nightstands and adjusted the strap on his travel pack. He walked to the door and opened it, casting a glance over his shoulder. "If you two lovers don't mind, I'll be heading out."

And with that he was gone.

Ezzy sat down on the edge of the bed gracefully, maintaining the poise of a refined lady. "So, Demetri... Now that Ezrihel has been sent off, what do we do next?" She asked as she cast a look up at the dark haired man. "And do you think that he'll ever be back?"

She paused for a second, the fumbled slightly with her words, "Not that he doesn't have his uses-- but he just... Has always rubbed me the wrong way during my so-far-short existence."

She studied his face, making sure to pay attention to his reactions. She reached her hands up and and ran them through her ebony hair. She always loved how soft the strands felt. Following this, she absentmindedly played with some of the lacy ruffles that spilled from the cleavage-showing scooped collar of her bodice. It had been quite a while since she had gotten the time to play with lace and other frivolous feminine things such as clothes making or idle tea-talk.

Her cheeks flushed when her stomach made a soft noise of hunger. Her hands flew to her tummy and she glanced to her companion with embarrassment. "Oh... How unladylike of me. Might we acquire some hot food? Something downstairs smelled awfully wonderful when we arrived... Maybe we could get some of that."

2849 + 5325 = 8174

[Demetri Malius]

It wasn't long before they had managed to make it to the great city of Minas Tirith. It was grand, with large pristine walls around it, an impenetrable fort by all means. Very impressive. Demetri allowed Ezrihel and Ezzy to figure out their reasons for visiting, which ended with a scowl from Ez towards the now secondary woman. 

Demetri narrowed his eyes at them but didn't say much as they walked through the gate, wandering around until they found themselves a tavern. It was named The Immoral Raven, a name that hit a line of familiarity within the thief's mind. No matter, they decided to enter and perhaps stay the night to plan and perhaps gather information on where this rumored item may be. 

Ezrihel took it upon himself to summon gold for renting a room, speaking in Demetri;s mind soon after about gathering information. 

"I shall do the same when I can, and so shall IRIS."

"On it Creator." Most of her came off his armor, forming a small trail of metallic shards as she seemed to go into an idle state, sensing their surroundings. Ezrihel beckoned a rather dolled up wench who wore far too much makeup over, having their room confirmed as she took orders for drinks.

"A pint of mead for me, haven't had a good drink for a long time." The thief requested.

After the wench left, Ezrihel began to speak but Demetri's mind was quickly interrupted by IRIS, who alerted him to incoming dataverse messages. How interesting. After exchanging some words and including the other two in the conversation, it was decided that Ezrihel wouuld meet a group that held interest in allying themselves with the Thieve's Guild. A very positive sign that the gu8ild was already catching a few eyes just by its existence. Of course, a name can only get you so far, a reputation is what truly causes a guild to flourish. And that is the reason they were all there today. The wench came back with their drinks, and after Ez finished his, he was quick to head down the hall abnd back downstairs. 

"Shall I go venture off to see what I can discover, Creator?" IRIS spoke, possibly wanting to see Ezrihel before he left.

"So long as you don't draw tpp much attention." The thief smirked as he lifted his arm and allowed her to detach from him, floating along in various pointed shapes through the air, a cloud of metal shards and data. Demetri looked towards Ezzy with a smile as he pushed open the door, mead in his hand. 

"Finally able to rest, aren't we?"

Demetri lifted his cup of his ale, sipping softly as he walked over and sat at the bedside table, bringing his mind to ease while he relaxed back into the chair.

“This task will be one that will start up our name as the Thieve’s guild in this verse. Do you find yourself nervous at all?” He questioned aloud to Ezzy as she came in through the door.

“Hmm? Oh, no, I don’t really find myself nervous at all. I think it’s all a rather interesting tale about to unfold. Why do you ask?”

“It’s always good to relax before large missions or heists like this. I find that if you go into a mission with your nerves tied in a knot, then you will find yourself in a knot yourself, stuck in the most inopportune of times. Happened to me once when I had decided to take it upon myself to steal from the vault of this well known noble.” Demetri leaned back some more and waved his hands above him, as if painting the scene across the air.

“Accidently stumbled upon his wife, and I had to give up the jewels in order to make it out alive. Granted, it wasn't at too much a sacrifice… but still,” he gave a sigh, ”my tensed mind had forced me to rash decisions, pretending that certain ways out had no chance of being blocked. It’s one of the troubles with being a good liar and thief, you have to be careful not to lie to yourself.” The thief put his hands behind his head while he leaned, his voice had been yearning at first, but it seemed to end on more of a note of caution and care.

“Oh, well I guess I don’t have much to worry about then, do I?” She gave a teasing smile. “I’m not much of a thief yet, so I guess I won’t be all too great at deluding myself until some future time.” She sat down at the foot of the bed, glad to finally rest her feet some as she worked on unlacing her knee-high black boots.

The thief chuckled, “Perhaps you don’t,” he spoke while he sat up and stretched, “however, I cannot exactly be certain of your innocence with how long we have known each other. Sure you aren’t exactly that semi-crazed devil of a man, but you do hold his charm and wit. I don’t blame the man for his unstable mind, the depths of it- it makes me shudder.” Demetri enacted the last word of his sentence, shivering before laying himself onto the bed, His hair sprawling out of his hood and spilling onto the sheets.

“I did quite enjoy your flirtations earlier, though I wonder if I should take it with a grain of salt or perhaps actually consider something more meaningful?” He teased. “Perhaps I dazzled you with my entrance at the fountain,” he turned to look at her, “or perhaps you just love the look of a dashing rogue. Sends a rush through your body at the thought?” He chuckled again, allowing her to respond while he caught his breath.

She couldn’t help but blush at how blunt he was being. “Oh- How forthcoming of you!” She hid her face away as she withdrew her ivory ribbed silk fan. She fluttered it in front of her face, trying to cool her flushed skin. “I can’t lie and say that you- quite literally- failed to sweep me off my feet.”


“Any fine woman deserves someone to sweep them off their feet at least once in their life, though tell me, what do you find charming about yours truly?” He spoke while setting himself up to sit beside her while she unlaced her boots. “Surely there is something that makes me different from your average ruffian~” Demetri played with the tone of his voice with a smirk.

Ezzy couldn’t help but give a soft, almost nervous titter before struggling to find her voice. “Well, you certainly give off this bold aura, mister. I just can’t help but be ensnared by your devilishly steely eyes or your unrefined personality- it’s honestly quite exotic.”

Demetri stood to give a proper bow, his hood flipping over his ruffled hair as he bent over and straightened himself again, speaking in a seemingly high-class tone. “You honor me with your gracious loving eyes my dearest, oh how lucky am I to have come across such a beauty of a flattering design.” The corners of his mouth rose into a smile as he tried to hold a straight face, failing as he broke into a laugh. “I apologize, it’s been quite some time since I’ve attempted to speak with formality, sadly the early years of education can only get you so far. A good book does just as well. however.” He then puckered his lips at the woman before speaking again. “As does good woman!”

She giggled at his silliness, again hiding her face behind her fan. “Oh goodness me! You’ve just managed to get me all poked-up you gal-sneaker! Tell me love, am I the jammiest bit of jam you’ve seen, or am I just mad as hops tonight? You’re certainly the most swell of misters I’ve managed to meet thus far! It’s been a fair while since anyone has gotten me all up in a tizzy such as this~”

She kicked her boots off and gave a stand, a smile of complete jovial nature bending her mouth as she extended a hand out to her companion before she pulled him back towards the bed so that she could continue to sit and rest her feet. “Enlighten me my darling, what is it about me that you find right bang up to the elephant?”

“Just something about the way you carry yourself, it’s almost like you allow things to happen around you, it’s almost as if you have an effect on everything around you without a thought to it. It’s quite enticing. However,” he walked around to stand in front of Ezzy and take her hands into his, “you haven’t answered my question in it’s entirety. Is this just meant to be a casual labor of leather or perhaps something of greater value? After all, we may be in this business for the long ride, so may as well become acquainted with what our current goals are.” His soft laughter echoed faintly in the room, the light tone escaping his lips as he leaned in close. “Do not fret, I can tell there is nobody listening if you wish to be direct~”

Her fan slipped from her fingers as she looked up at Demetri with large, shocked eyes. The sharp clattering of the ivory as it hit the ground did not break her gaze as her face flushed a deep shade of red. “I-...” She repeated a few times as her now free hand fidgeted with one of the bows on her dress.

“Oh gracious, forgive me please... As a lady, I would prefer something more stable, to say the least. I wouldn’t want to make the fool of myself by being such a floozie.” She rubbed the insides of her feet together as she spoke. “That is if you wouldn’t mind keeping me~” She half joked, resting her hands in her lap.

“Then answer one last question, do you believe you have what it takes to be my greatest treasure? To be the one that outdoes the hoards and treasures of any other man, my dearest?” His hand gracefully caressed her cheek, softly pulling her chin up so that they stared into each other’s eyes, their lips a few inches apart as he awaited her answer.

The air hung around them in utter silence as her mind rapidly shifted from thought to nervous thought. She knew that her lack of marriage was a great sin if she were to bed this man. She played with the band on her right ring finger as she pondered. Her emerald eyes fell closed as she gave one final soft exhale.

She pushed herself forward and gave him a single kiss, holding it for a long moment before returning to her original position. She opened her eyes to look down at her hands. “Any thief worth his weight in salt would know that real treasure is heavily guarded and must be carefully procured. I will be the most valuable treasure you ever heist.” She paused, taking the plain silver ring from her right ring finger. She held his left hand in her right. “Breach this castle and bring me the Eden I most desire...”

She pushed the band into his palm and closes his fingers around it, looking back up at him. “And I will be your Eve.”

The thief chuckled, “Of course I should have been wise to know that a woman such as you would not be so easy to bring under my charm, but of course, such a challenge is not something I would turn down. I may not know exactly what you wish to gain from my efforts as this, but consider your challenge accepted, by all means.” The thief flipped the ring in the air and opened his satchel, catching it in one of its pockets.

“In the meanwhile, I suppose we should--”

“Creator!”

Demetri’s gaze shifted across the room as the shards of IRIS slipped under the door, their blue glow illuminating the room with its bright hue.

“Creator it appears that those who know about the item we heard about are in Dalaran!”

“Dalaran, the floating city with the Library?”

“Yes, though there is some degree of secrecy with what the item is, it seems important. “

“And how do you know all of this?”

“There’s a drunk guy downstairs blabbering about how the mages there couldn’t tolerate his obnoxious or ‘fun’ personality and threw him out after he spilled some mead on ‘just a few books’.”

“How rude and foolish, now, I suppose that gives us a lead, however, night is already upon us. That is, unless we wish to perhaps see what we can extort out of this man and move out at night?” He gave a glancing look at Ezzy as he spoke, seeming to want her opinion on the matter.

“Oh uhm, well, I wanted to sleep some, but if it’s necessary I won’t argue much against it. I’ll have to catch up on it some other time.” She gave a pause, pushing a few stray strands of hair out of her face. “And to think- I just got my boots off and started relaxing.”

"And I had just finished my cup of ale, but it might be best we start began it starts to rush to my head. Oh, and don't forget." Demetri grabbed the wine from the platter on the table, bringing it to the woman. " Your wine, m'lady. For the road." He spoke with a chuckle before heading out the door, IRIS beginning her attachment to his armor.

By the way I am about 6985 words in for the quest (wordcounttools)

[Demetri Malius]

After just a few steps, Demetri noticed that the woman behind him was not exactly as nimble as she was a moment ago. After having reached out to grab her wine and follow suite, it appeared she might be a bit more worn that she was willing to admit. He stopped at the doorframe, taking a step to turn and look back at her, tilting his head with a bit of a chuckle.

“Perhaps it would be best if you stayed here for the night, the day’s journey seems to have taken its toll on you.”

The elegant woman leaned her hand on one of the bedposts, puffed up about the thief’s comment. “What? Nonsense, I am perfectly fine, and I shall accompany you wherev- Oh!” She yelped as she wavered, her hand slipping as she fell to the side, the thief luckily having the reflexes to catch her before she managed to end up on the wooden floor. He raised a brow and gave her a suspecting look, as he held her swirling glass of wine, the liquid just tipping over the edge and dribbling down to his fingers..

“Oh fine! But I shall rest tonight before I make my way back to the Guild tomorrow and direct our new recruits. If I cannot accompany you then I shall make at least some use of myself.” She swayed a bit as she pushed herself back onto her feet,stomping softly as she made her way to sit on the bed, a bit indignant about the situation.

With a bow the thief began to walk out once more, “your humble resignation is one I cannot refuse. Of course, I will keep in touch with you, so long as I am not in immediate peril.”

“I shall hold you to that Mr. Malius.”

A wave of a hand was the last she saw as he slid out of the room and around the corner.

“Creator!” Came a familiar voice from the stairs, the shards of glowing blue and dark metal swirling through the air to make its way to the thief.

“Greetings IRIS, Miss Ezzy will be staying here and returning to the guild tomorrow once daylight arrives. As for you and I, we will be pushing forward and heading to Dalaran, where we can investigate the location of this powerful item. Gather any more information?”

IRIS gave a few rumble of beeps before speaking up. “Well, I couldn’t find anything more about the item at all, but Ezrihel was kind enough to make me the blueprints for a new body! May we test them out?”

“Oh?, “ the thief questioned, a bit surprised by the act. He was still unsure of Ezrihel’s behaviours, but he couldn’t help but feel excited by the new blueprint. “Well then, it appears we must find a suitable area to create this body. I suggest we start on the road to Dalaran and do so along the way.” IRIS responded by floating around his head while beeping excitedly, following close behind him as they both left the tavern, leaving the dull ambience of voices behind them.
Lampposts scattered the city streets, lighting up the roads leading out of the city. With his cloak flowing behind him, Demetri slunk past each one, nearly invisible as he made his way through, IRIS in tow. He raised his hood and mask before picking up speed, quickly making it out of the city. He knew to be careful at this time of night, as nighttime robbery was common for cutthroats and bandits. He strayed from the road to keep himself in cover, finding it easy to weave through the bushes and trees, a shadow smoothly moving across the landscape.

Eventually, he found a nice spot to settle and spoke up aloud. “So, what are these blueprints that you have for us?”

IRIS swiveled around and formed a visor on his head, creating a hologram of all the details.

“Hmh, it seems like it would be fitting, what are your thoughts of it?”

“Well, it’s a pretty solid design, but I want to add my own adjustments. We just need to activate it and I can weave your om into its supply and adjust some functions.”

“Sounds fine to me, how do we activate it.”

“Easy.” IRIS seemed to take a deep breath as her glow gave a slow pulse.

”Andromeda.”

With the word the blueprint came to life, drawing from the omnilium within it to supply its manufactory, pumping out electronics and metal plates as IRIS weaved Demetri’s own supply in, morphing the body to her will. It was an elegant, mystical process as the body formed, looking nearly human. After a period of about ten minutes, the body was formed. Wispy white ribbons were in the place of her hair, with a integrated headgear for analyzation. Her outfit was fit to her body, covering up a decent amount of her flesh colored metallic skin, a microfiber nanoarmor that gave her enough defense to withstand a few heavy attacks. Small lines traced her body like veins, thin silver that showed the difference in metallic plates.

IRIS soon began lifting herself off of Demetri, flowing into the body as it glowed bright, her energy powering the android device. Soon the energy flowed through her electronics and her chest began to emit a bright blue light through her skin, before fading slowly. For a moment all was still, until she tilted her head up to look at the thief.

“C-Creator?”

“I believe it worked, IRIS.”

“CREATOR I’M LIKE A HUMAN NOW!” The android screamed at the top of her robotic lungs, nearly making Demetri deaf before she tackled him into a hug. Demetri gasped as he swear he felt his ribs crack. Either her body was very strong or he needed to work on his muscular training. He hoped it was the former. After IRIS felt satisfied with her hug, she let him go, allowing him to speak.

“Remember. We… whew… we need to stay quiet.”

“Oh, right, sorry.” The android meekly responded, embarrassed by her excitement. “Well, in this form I can fight pretty well, and I morphed my abilities to rely on more nanoshards for combat. I believe this should be sufficient for me to survive independently if needed, however, I can still adjust to become your armor as well. Simply say the code word again and come to me.”

Demetri raised his brow as he rubs his sore chest, stepping forward hesitantly. “Alright then, let’s see.” He began to head to IRIS. “Andromeda!” He spoke aloud, watching as IRIS turned and disassembled, reforming around him as he ran through her. He soon was covered in lightweight nanoarmor, similar to the form she was able to take before.

“I believe with this I am able to have more control over our synergy, as well as combat focus. Give me some time and I will notify you of our new abilities.”

“I’m impressed. Now, shall we head to Dalaran then?”

“Of course, onwards, creator!”

Demetri chuckled before taking a few steps, stopping as suddenly he felt a presence, then a  bolt fly across the air in front of his face.

“Nice reflexes there, but that’s not all.” A voice from the trees spoke. They must have been just out of his detection range.

“Oh, wonderful, let’s find out what we can do , Creator, I want to destroy things!”

“You say that with a little too much enthusiasm IRIS, you might concern me.”

“C’mon Creator, are you not excited to get a bit of action?”

“I suppose we can have a bit of fun then.” Demetri spoke as a smirk spread across his face.

“Stop talking to yourself and fight! Men, attack!”

An ambush of bandits came through the trees, packs of three attempting to surround the duo. They around and formed a circle around them, aiming crossbows forward. A man, assumedly the leader, came out last, holding a larger, modified crossbow that looked like it could pack a punch.
“Surrender, we have you on all sides, so there’s no point in fighting. And dont make me ask twice,” he spoke while reloading his weapon, Demetri still staying motionless in his position. “Not talking anymore are ya, well we can make it so you never talk again.”

As the man spoke, Demetri charged up IRIS, preparing for the right moment, waiting until right when IRIS predicted the danger.

“FIRE MEN. KILL THE BASTARD. THEN WE CAN LOOT HIS CORPSE.”

Pulse Charged.

A flurry of arrows were fired at Demetri, and it seemed that they were going to poke through every square inch of his body until the last moment, when a wave of energy reflected them all back, a few managing to lodge themselves in some of their attackers.

“Damn it all, its his suit, regroup and take him out!” The man took aim with his crossbow and fired at the still motionless Demetri, his eyes widening as it flew through his chest into nothing, and the thief appearing a bit aways to his left, a chain shooting out through the air and snapping onto the hilt of the modified crossbow, before pulling it out of the man’s hands and onto the floor between them.

“What the-! You damned thief!”

“Ah, finally I am recognized.”

The men around Demetri began to pull swords and daggers, rushing towards him. In the short span of time, Demetri managed to summon his swordbreaker, and began to deflect attacks with ease. Some came close as he pulled back, trying to find some room. Soon in his hand another weapon began to form, and the leader called out pulling out his own falchion.

“Fools! Focus on whatever he is making!”

“He’s too fast!”

“I don’t want to hear it!”

With that, Demetri flung himself forward with a burst of movement, the captain finding himself staring him in the face. With a gasp of surprise the captain swung, cutting just the air as Demetri feigned to the side and swung up with his fist, punching the man with the hilt of his swordbreaker.

“DAMNED LITTLE SHIT.”

Demetri smiled as he now held his right hand a grumbling chain attached to a blade, his very chainsaw IRIS developed earlier. A look of terror overcame some of the bandit’s faces, some of them even fleeing. Again they attempted to all dive in after the thief as the captain yelled about his bleeding nose, one by one being disarmed or injured by their own men. The chainsaw tore up blade after blade, any chance of retaliation reduced to shattered steel. Finally, the few stragglers finally decided to be smart about the situation and flee, following the rest of the crowd. Leaving just the captain. Demetri took a step towards the man, who in return took a step back.

“No! You bastard! Leave me alone!”

Another step.

“Stay away!”

Faster.

“You demon stay away!”

The man turned to try to flee, but in a rush Demetri was already there, tossing swordbreaker to the side as he grabbed the man.

“What do you want.”

“Well, had you been more skilled, I may have recruited you. However, I don’t accept cowards among my ranks. And for your punishment…” He desummoned his chainsaw, keeping hold of the man as he grabbed the crossbow off the floor and stuffed it in his satchel. He could sense the large beads of sweat on the man’s forehead. “I’ll be taking this. Oh, and also,” the man flinched as Demetri looked at him. “Goodbye.” He held his hand to the man’s chest and began charging up.

“NO PLEASE, I’LL DO ANYTHING, DON’T KILL ME.”

“Who said anything about killing you?”

Pulse charged.

FWOOOOMMMP

The mans scream echoed through the air as he too flew through it, flying over a tree while Demetri gave a chuckle.

“I do enjoy these abilities.”

“I can tell Creator,” IRIS replied with a chuckle.

“Well, off to Dalaran again, and hopefully we won’t have any more distractions.”

6985 + 2065 = 9050 words total

Demetri gained a crossbow into his satchel, with one bolt.

[Demetri Malius]

Oddly enough time seemed to pass by quickly once more as Demetri and Iris made their way to Dalaran. Once dawn had arrived, they had taken the liberty of strolling along the dirt road, relaxing at a more leisurely pace. Iris was exploring more of her android form, taking in the world from a different perspective.

“Hey, Creator?” piped the android from behind Demetri as she poked a few flowers at the edge of the road.

“Yes Iris, what do you inquire?”

“Do you think I look sexy~?”

Demetri halted for a moment, allowing the words to process in his mind before turning around, seeing Iris in a suggestive stance. His eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“For what reason do you ask me such a question you sly little machine.”

“Hey! No need to be mean, all I did was ask a simple question.”

“If you are concerned about your looks then do not fret. You look in good taste.”

“Awww how sweet Creator.”

The thief couldn’t help but blush a bit and fluff his cape in indignation at the robot now trying to throw off his guard.

“Enough fooling around Iris, the city is just up ahead.”

“If you say so!”

Iris quickly caught up, walking alongside the thief as they approached the city. A guard by the main road approached them.

“Your business in Dalaran, Sir?”

“Ah, yes. I am an owner of an artisan guild and am seeking others to aid me in my efforts. This here is my apprentice, she is our finest member.”

“YES HELLO~!”

“I see.”

The android began to inch forward with a finger outstretched towards the guard, who eyes her suspiciously.

“I believe we have business to attend to, Iris.” The cloaked thief quickly grabbed her by the arm and scuttled off into town.

“And what are you attempting to pull?” The hushed whisper came shortly after walking beyond ears reach.

“Well, I wanted to feel his armor!”

“I understand you wish to explore your new body but remember to research proper etiquette. I told him we are from an artisan guild and in turn they are going to expect proof with educational behavior. This is so that we have the least amount of eyes on us.”

“Sorry, Creator! I’ll be more careful!”

“Much appreciated.”

They continued along, examining the nearby shops and houses, well, at least Demetri was. As he examined the surroundings, Iris kept her eyes to the sky.

“Woah, it's so far up!”

“Did you not see it upon travelling here?”

“No? I didn’t even realize!”

“Well, it’s the reason why I am looking around. We need to find a way up.”

“From my research on the dataverse they say a large amount of warlocks and wizards are up there Creator! Supposedly they sometimes come down, so surely there must be a way up!”

Demetri grumbled a bit. Wizards. If there was anything more about royalty to hate it was the damned court wizards of the like, in addition to what was usually the local mages guild. More often than not they involved themselves in with judicial affairs, and their abilities were a boon to the guardsmen. He doubted it was any different here.

“Iris, as hard as this may be, try not to stand out too much. I am aware of the looks you are already getting as they see your skin and light, but any more and we would have unwanted attention.”

“Why is that?”
“I haven’t had the best encounters with magic.”

“Oh. Well you have me here so I can help!”

“I just may need it. Now, with that in mind we have a very daunting task. We need to find a mage.”

9050+626 words = 10,676 total

[Demetri Malius]

Although the range of his extra sensing abilities had been greatly shortened, Demetri was able to reach out and try to detect magical presences. Only a few stood out to him nearby. One of the shop owners, one of the guards, and one of the wandering citizens.

The merchant was selling enchanted goods of all sorts, although there were quite a few shops around that did the same. Perhaps she was a mage from above that created her wares and sold them in order to make a living, but then again, perhaps she was only low level and just received shipments like the others.

The guard was most likely the captain of this section of law enforcement, with more offensive capabilities, if anything Demetri would need to watch out for him. Last thing he would need is fireballs flying at him. That or perhaps some debilitating magic that would prevent his escape.

Then there was the wandering one, cloaked in robes and wearing a rather large hat. It seemed almost comical, like they were trying to stand out. It was worth investigating.

“What do you think of this one, Iris?”

“I dunno, they are just standing there in the plaza trying to talk to people.”

“Then allow us to take a closer look.”

They walked alongside the townspeople, making their way to the man, who they found sported a long white beard and was fairly old. He seemed to be surrounded by mostly children.

“Now now, that is not all, here I have a deck of cards. Now here, child, pick one.”

“Okay!” One of the children in front of him looks at the deck of cards displayed out in a fan in front of him. She hesitated twice, before settling on one in the middle.

“Take a look at your card.”

“Okay, I see it.”

“Good, now put it back in, and don’t let me see it.” The young child nodded and did so, a expecting look on her face for what was to come.

“Now let’s see, I will shuffle it a few times.” The wizards did show, displaying his knowledge of these tricks as he fancifully shuffled the cards around in the air. In the moments of awe, Demetri noticed a card slip into the wizards sleeve.

“The sneaky bastard.” He whispered under his breath with a smile.

The sly wizard finished his shuffling. “Are you ready to see your card?”

“Yeah!”

The wizard began to look through his cards. “Hmm… interesting?”

“What?”

“Well dear girl, I don’t seem to see your card in here, do you?”

“Huh? Lemme see!” She stretched to her toes as the wizard spread out the deck, the girl searching for the card she had seen.

“Where is it? Where did it go?”

“Ah, wait I see it, right over here. The Magician.” The wizard reached forwards behind the girl’s ear as he slid the card in his sleeve up to his hand.

“See?” He spoke as he pulled his hand away, showing the last card, the girl’s eyes widening in surprise. ‘WOW! Do it again do it again?”

“Ohohoo…”The wizard chuckled and waved his hand towards a small bucket that held a few gold coins.

“Aww but I ran out of my allowance for today…”

In the meantime, Demetri had began summoning a simple gold coin, and handed it off to Iris, who whirred with excitement as she walked forward.

“May I have a try at it mister wizard man?” Iris asked anxiously.

“Of course, now let’s see.”

Demetri watched as he repeated the process, waiting for his chance. He left his image standing next to his partner and quickly reached into the sleeve of the wizard once he saw an opening, snatching and stashing the card before returning to his previous position.

“Hmmm… how peculiar. Again the card is missing? I wonder…”

“Ah, old wanderer, it appears that the card must have fallen out of your sleeve,” Demetri spoke up as he reached down and pretended to pick up something, quickly flashing the card. “Is this your card Iris?”

“Uh, no it isn’t Creator… that’s The Fool.” Iris spoke up, a bit of concern in her voice.

Demetri was dumbfounded. Had the wizard made a mistake?

“Ah, wait you troublemaker, I see it now.” The wizard gave a smirk and a chuckle.

“You were hiding it behind your ear all along. Ah, I see, The Hanged Man.”

“Impossible I sensed what you-”Demetri stopped his accusation as the wizard reached behind his ear and pulled out the correct card, Iris nearly squealing at the wonder of it all.

“Amazing Creator!”

Another chuckle escaped from the wizards lips. Before he could speak up a nearby guard confronted them.

“That’s enough you old fool, your tricks are nothing to gawk at, simply to entertain children. Shameful that you ask for gold in exchange that is.” The upset guard seemed to hint that this happened often.

“Seems that’s all I have time for today, I must be on my way.

“Yeah, back to Dalaran with you.”

Demetri didn’t have time to mull over what just happened in his mind. The guard stated that the old wizard was heading back to Dalaran. Perhaps he should catch a ride. He pulled Iris aside, whispering the activation word before stealthing and keeping the wizard in his range. Dusk had begun to fall, and he needed the night to cover his tracks.

“Oh dear, can’t have you getting bent, gotta straighten you up a little.” The wizard spoke as he straightened up his Chariot card. “Atta girl.” He seemed to dust it off before giving it a toss, the card growing into a large platform floating just above the ground. This was Demetri’s chance. As the wizard began to ascend, the end of each of Demetri’s chains snagged the corners of the flying card, rocking it slightly.

“Woah there, seems you're having a little of trouble, remind me to iron you when we get home.”

Demetri sighed with relief, this was a very roundabout way of getting up there, but he didn't want to take the chance of summoning a ride and either having to dessumon it at the top or risk it being discovered. Mages were unpredictable, and he needed to stay as hidden as possible.

“You’re being pretty risky here Creator.” Iris whispered as they ascended to the city.

“It bothers me just as much, but we don’t have much choice. Magic has always made my skin crawl, especially when I don’t have much knowledge of it.”

“Understandable.”

It was not too long of a flight, with Demetri waiting until the island was just in reach before retracting his chains and swinging over to the nearest building. The city reeked of magic and tricks. Granted, Demetri could now detect many of the hidden secrets that were around him, but even so, it felt he could not even trust the ground beneath him.

“So now what do we do?”

“We find out where this powerful item is hidden, and we simply take it.”

10,676 + 1,197 = 11,873 words

[Demetri Malius]

This was no easy task for the magically inept thief. It seemed that most of his life in his home world revolved either using enchanted items to fight magic or simply avoiding it altogether. This mission was neither of those things, though the fact that Demetri was a Prime definitely worked in his favor.

While stealthed, the duo began to search around, finding a few shops and libraries that were the most common places of interest. It seemed that many who resided up here tended to have their own research laboratories along with guilds and other gatherings. The thief grumbled under his breath.

“I do not feel very comfortable up here with these mages.”

“I didn’t realize how much magic was practiced up here.”

“Enough so that once we acquire this item we must escape immediately.”

They continued to tiptoe around city grounds before they came upon something interesting.

“You wouldn't by any chance be a Prime would you?” Demetri stopped dead in his tracks and followed the voice of what seemed to be an old woman, getting closer as he listened more to the conversation.

“Consider the motorcycle on the house Mr.Darby.”

Darby… perhaps a new prime?

“Jack where are we…” The thief listened in as they continued on, it seemed that this new prime was fresh in discovering the wonders of this world, and an ally with him.

Jack Darby. Demetri siphoned the information from him. Some kind of bow… and a ring? It reminded him of the pink one that had slammed him about in Nippur. The same man that now held the gauntlets he desired from the one they called Ganondorf. Demetri would need to check periodically to make sure these two never met.

The duo slunk away while the fresh prime and his ally began to leave the city. Once out of range, Demetri and Iris continued their search. Countless facilities and labs were passed and inspected, until finally a clue.

“Disastrous I tell you, yes we have had a few help with our cause but the rumors of other stars being stolen or scattered are alarming.”

Stealing stars? Even Demetri thought he could only dream.

“We understand that, but perhaps if we contacted the Primes that have already helped up, then we can have them hunted and gather the rest of the pieces.”

If this was not pertaining to the important item that was being kept here, then there might be more here that Demetri should be aiming to take.

“Iris, have you picked up what they have been speaking about?”

“Yeah, I think this is what we are looking for, Creator. Should we investigate?”

“But of course, let us see where these researchers take us.”

They followed along, listening in to the conversation. It seemed that there were other pieces in the verses, but they were keen on making sure they did not describe it in great detail, glancing around to see if anyone was listening. Demetri would have to find out more within the facility they were heading to or perhaps interrogate one of the scientists.

Soon they came upon the facility, the pair of researchers making their way to a security door. They quickly used their passcodes and opened it, giving Demetri a slim chance to pass through.

“This is gonna be a tight fit.”

“Careful, Creator!”

A burst of movement and a bit of acrobatics helped Demetri squeeze between the researchers and through the door. The scientist felt a slight breeze but nothing else.

“It feels so nerve-wracking to not be able to speak about the details of this in public.”

“I know what you mean, anybody could be listening in. I wonder every day whether or not some grand prime would bust through our doors and demand the star.”

“No kidding.”

Luckily for them, Demetri had no plans of killing anybody. A simple hit and run would do more than suffice. All he needed to do was find the location of this so-called ‘star piece’.

The scientists continued forward, Demetri shadowing them as they navigated through the maze of the halls, until finally coming upon a meeting room. Many others were already there, sitting and discussing what Demetri assumed to be the other stars.

“Ah, Chris and Blake, thank you for joining us. We have to discuss the status of the star pieces.”
Interesting. Perhaps the thief could glean some extra information about the

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Of course, it could never be that easy, could it Smiling One?

INTRUDER DETECTED

Then again, where was the fun in not being found out?

STATUS: PRIME DETECTED

Panic quickly ensued.

“Everybody summon defenses and grab whatever relics you can find, keep the star piece safe! We must must everyone and everything to the vault!”

Immediately a trio of scientists began to enter a code along with using a series of keys to open up the center of the meeting table. The doors began to close except for one, most likely the way to the vault. The barricades were thick steel and would have probably been able to keep even stronger primes out for a short while.

“I’m carrying the Pixie Devil to the vault, I’ll be ba- OOF!”

One of the scientists bumped into the invisible Demetri, who had been sandwiched between a small group. The item in the scientists hand was sent flying through the air, a look of horror on his face as the glass box of what appeared to be salt smashed into the wall. The contents spilled out, revealing a silver box that flipped over before snapping open, just off the edge of the grains.

“CODE RED: MEETING ROOM! INITIATE DEFENSE SEQUENCE!”

A tiny demon seemed to sprout out from the container, a wicked smile on its face as it rushed to the nearest researcher, lifting it off the ground.

“Filthy humans! Die!”

A loud crunch sounded as the man was smashed against the table, going limp nearly instantly and ragdolling as he was thrown to the side by the small creature. Magic began to fire in the room as defense turrets began to shoot. Demetri hugged the wall as his eyes widened in surprise. The events quickly spiraled out of control.

“Creator, I think we are in trouble.”

The pixie demon was quick, smashing through the members as they scrambled for cover or defenses. A stray shot managed to hit the thief, a burn appearing on his shoulder.

“THE PRIME IS HERE!”

Well, his cover was now ruined, he was in the thick of this now. The creature suddenly turned, seeing its new prey. It immediately pounced on Demetri, or at least attempted to as it grabbed nothing but air, the thief having left a decoy as soon as he was discovered.

“Quick! Gerald, hurry to the vault with the star!”

One of the fleet-footed scientists started to make his way to the door, just as the demon was again heading for the thief. Demetri shot out a chain to the nearest item, a large glowing rock.

“Creator do you think this is wise considering that…”

“No time, Iris.”

He flung it over his shoulder, barely nicking the Demon, whos, horn managed to pierce the surprising brittle object.

A flash of light soon followed by a large explosion. Demetri was left dizzy and flat against a wall.

“...tor….cre….”

Demetri tried to shake his head as he came back to.

“CREATOR!”

“Yes Iris, I’m fine, what happened?”

“Everyone is dead! We need to escape!”

Demetri looked around, the room was a disaster, salt wa spread everywhere, even in his wounded shoulder, stinging him as his eyes laid upon each dead scientist, finally landing on the one just in the doorway, holding a strange blue item.

“Here, let’s take this and leave, I believe it is the star piece, we must hurry.”

The thief snatched up the item, storing it in his satchel before making a run through the doors.

WARNING: CRITICAL DAMAGE; EMERGENCY EVACUATION PROTOCOLS ACTIVATED. AUTHORITIES ARE ON THE WAY.

Demetri sprinted out each door, trying to navigate the maze of rooms and signs to the emergency exit. So much for a clean getaway.

11,873+1,383= 13,256 words

[Storyteller]

Samuel Vimes HATED the Omniverse. He marched through the darkness of Minas Tirith with the nightwatchman’s two best friends bouncing from his belt loops. Things had been bad in Ankh-Morpork, alright, bad was such an understatement a well-dressed gentleman with a particular accent was asking to move into its basement, but it hadn’t been like THIS. There was no rhyme or reason to the place was the thing, he decided. When you lived a place long enough, a copper should get a sense of what to expect from it. You knew which of the beggars would give you the chatter, and which would try to nab yer lunch money. You learned exactly which tavern to avoid on which nights and exactly how far into the Ankh a certain stone would sink*, it was just the way of things.
 
But here in the Bleedin’ Omniverse it keeps changing all the time! he growled as he stomped his boots on the doorstop of the drooping gnome and entered. Unpleased and unpleasant faces met him in equal turn, but Vimes just tipped his helm in their direction and moved to his usual spot by the pile of soot and ash that a very generous person might once have agreed was a fireplace. He leaned back in the chair as the barkeep moved over towards him with a bottle of something cheap. Vimes always preferred cheap drink, wine was for the nobs who wanted to play pretend at getting drunk. A poor man knows how to do it for keeps.
 
“You’re right hoppin’ tonight Stephi.” Vimes commented, watching the barkeep’s nervous glance as he filled the mug.
 
“We ain’t doin’ nothing ee-legal here cap’n” the man answered a bit testily, handing Vimes the mug. The Watchmen took it, and added a little somethin’ somethin’ from the flask at his hip.
 
“And I didn’t say you were, Step.” Vimes responded matter-of-factly, raising the mug towards his face, “I’m just a man looking to rest up and take his mind off things after a long day’s work, so you can tell Itchy and Warty to stop fingering them daggers and get on with their evenings. It’ll be the best for the… BLOODY HELL!”
 
The captain of the nightwatch nearly fell from his chair as the gutted fireplace burst into radiant flame. Cries of “Alarm!” and “Black magic!” chorused from the room. Vimes couldn’t blame them. That event alone would have been enough to shock the standard patron who found the drooping gnome sufficiently exciting a locale, but even Vimes could admit that the half-moon spectacles and large beard that watched him from within the flames positively reeked of the OTHER thing Vimes hated.
 
“Dumbledore?” the guard captain asked, one hand futily trying to staunch a growing stain with an equally unclean kerchief, “What’re you doing in the firepit?” The face looked at him with a twinkle and a faint smile, but spoke with urgency.
 
“I needed your tactical advice with a… somewhat clandestine matter. Is it possible we could speak somewhere more… private?” Vimes swung his head around at the mob of nervous gawkers, their faces hovering between outright fear and rapt attention. He just had to give them a nudge.
 
“Last one out of the pub’ll be shackled for impedin’ an officer o’ the law!” Vimes hollered, then turned back to the Headmaster’s face as the tavern exploded into panicked flight, “That, whosname, inconspicuous enough for you, Prof?”
 
“It shall do for the moment.” Dumbledore answered, “There has been an intrusion to our vaults. My knowledge of the event is still incomplete, but it seems that the astronomers have gotten quite flustered.” Vimes glanced at his mug, frowning at its contents, or rather the lack thereof.
 
“So, someone’s after that star-whatsit? Sounds serious enough, I suppose. Also sounds pretty… uh… in medium rest, so I don’t know what kinda help you want me to give your Dalaran coppers from this end of the fireplace?” Vimes said with a sinking feeling. Not sinking precisely, more like circling the drain.
 
“Ah, see, I was hoping you could make a rather more personal appearance. I’ve already sent an associate to come collect you. If your willing, of course.”
 
“Of course.” Vimes parroted back to the simple smile in the fireplace. Like he could refuse the most powerful wizard in Camelot. As if he had been waiting for permission**, the tidiest dwarf that Vimes had ever seen materialized into the room with a snapping sound and a burst of sulphur smell. He gave a look of disdain that only someone who’s used to good food and good armchairs can give, and muttered to himself. Herself? Vimes thought with concern. Blasted Omniverse making things even more complicated. Some of the female dwarfs here had beards and some didn’t. Try explaining that one to a troll, and see where it gets you!
 
“I will never get that smell out!” the dwarf fussed, with a surprisingly nasally voice, “Are you ready Lord Captain?” Vimes sighed with the weight of one who finds loadstones excellent trampolines and nodded.
 
“Then let’s be off.” The Dwarf said, pulling a string from a pocket in his belt and poking its needle through a link in Vimes’ hauberk, “Should warn you,…”
CRACK! The world split in fifteen different ways and Vimes’ blurry vision thought he saw a thatched roof.
“that I…”
CRACK! Stone walls and Aragorn’s banner.
“cannot tele…”
CRACK! Just trees now, though they seemed to be in the air.
“…port to Dalaran…”
CRACK! Still trees.
“in a single…”
CRACK! Trees. And a very startled falcon.
“Trip due to the…”
CRACK! There might have been a river down there?
“Nature of the Om…”
CRACK! There was some sort of dark line… that was certain.
“…niverse. So please tell…”
CRACK! Back to trees. Vimes wondered how his internals were kept together through all of this, and immediately regretted it.
“me If you experien...”
CRACK! Trees. Vimes thought he could see a city in the sky, but at this point he just wanted to hold down dinner.
“…ce any discomf…”
CRACK! It wasn’t the sulphur smell, though that wasn’t helping the matter, that made teleporting so nauseating.
“ort during our…”
CRACK! That had to be Dalaran, right?
“trip. Okay?”
CRACK! Stone buildings. quite close. It wasn’t the smell, it was the fact that you didn’t bleeding get a chance to finish your…
CRACK! A study, and a nice one at that.
“Made it!” announced the dwarf pleasantly.
Thoughts.
 
Vimes sagged into a convenient chair, eyes clamped shut and hands seeking to crush his own temples. He hated wizards. Vimes hated them even more than the Omniverse, he decided. But at least he could do something about wizards. They tended to break just as easily, or more so, as everybody else. That wouldn’t be such a bad thing. People couldn’t blame him for that, could they? His musings were cut short by an offering of tea. Vimes forced his eyes open, to look into the bespectacled face of Dalaran’s archmage.
 
“It can be a little jarring until you get used to it.” Dumbledore spoke, eyes twinkling with the same benign bemusement that absolutely drove Vimes up the wall.
 
“I’m here now,” Vimes snapped, upending the precious few drops left in his hipflask into the tea, “How are things going?”
 
Dumbledore moved over towards a stone basin and peered into it, the greenish-blue light illuminating his face from below. Vimes got up to follow then immediately decided to sit back down. At least until the edges of things stopped tangoing around for a moment. Dumbledore glanced up at the green-faced guard captain then decided to explain.
 
“the thief’s in the streets now. We’re trying to cordon off his expected route, to prevent him from disappearing into a crowd. He seems to be making his way towards the stairs.” A spray of tea disturbed the surface of the pensive, causing Dumbledore to glance up again.
 
“You lot put bloody stairs on your floating city?” Vimes hollered incredulously, for the moment ignoring his internal gymnastics.
 
“No, it was a visiting prime, though the merchants were quite keen to keep them in repair once they noticed.” Dumbledore said, giving Vimes a look that the guard captain couldn’t immediately place.
 
“Well bugger that lot! If you’re going to do something like this then you blime well better commit to the idea. How else is he gonna get off?”
 
“That was much our line of thought, so for the moment we have just been guiding his progress through the streets. He wants to make for the stairs, we make sure that’s where he’s heading.”
 
“And you block him there?” Vimes said, feeling strong enough to cross the distance between chair and basin. It was a trial. The view in the basin shifted between several of the gargoyles that lined the buildings of Dalaran. It seemed that the perp had managed to find the exit to the vaults, but there was still an awful lot of city between him and these supposed stairs…
 
 “It could work, but it feels like you’re putting all your chicks in one pie. If he gets down those stairs we’re plum outta luck. He’ll just scarper into the woods and be gone.” Vimes though for a moment, shaking off the last bits of his travel sickness. “Can you show me a larger map of the city?”
 
Dumbledore nodded, then touched his wand to his temple, drawing a silvery strand from his head in a way that Vimes found entirely unpleasant. He looks just like Nobby when he’s… nope, focus on the job!
 
Dumbledore cast the strand into the pensive, and the image changed to a bird’s eye view of the city. The headmaster trailed a finger through the water, tracing a path of light from the vault towards the staircase.
 
“We are erecting some magical wards to limit his choices, and the golems are nearly awake. It’s been so long since someone invaded it seems that some of them were, quite out of repair.” Vimes nodded, looking at the route.  It still felt risky to let him get that far. Then Vimes spotted something that made him grin.
 
“New plan. Get a crew to dismantle those stairs as soon as you can, throw a troll at ‘em I dunno.” Vimes’ mumbling started to build steam as his plan started to fit together, “Guide the perp towards there instead, and surround it as best as we can.”
 
Dumbledore glanced at the location on the map.
 
“The Unseen Library? That would certainly be an interesting pursuit. I fear however that it might provide refuge for our thief. Finding people in there can be notoriously difficult.” Vimes was now grinning with a madness that would cause a wild boar to think harder about whether they really wanted to get involved with something that off its rocker.
 
“We just need to get him into the library. One of my best men… er… I got one of my best coppers in there. Trust me.”
               
*Two or three inches, depending on how absorbent the river scum was feeling on that particular day
** He had, in fact, been waiting for the third north star to decide if it was in alignment or not, which can be seen as permission after a certain fashion.
 

Dalaran security is attempting to keep Demetri from getting out of sight or involving bystanders, but is not looking to directly combat him without reinforcements. They will call for you to surrender, and obviously if you give them a good shot they might take it, but they aren’t SWATing you. Yet. You can either let yourself be guided towards the Unseen Library or confront the blockades with soldiers and mid-strength mages. Your choice.
 
Due to the concurrence with Dante’s Abyss, you have two week’s time to respond to this post. Best of luck!

[Demetri Malius]

Damn. As the duo burst out of the facility, Demetri could still feel the pain from the blast earlier.

“Iris, I believe we should go ahead and integrate fully, with stealth no longer an option we may fight resistance.”

“Already on it.”

Within a few moments, the lightweight armor that composed Iris became sturdier, Demetri feeling more protected and sensing the hum of energy he was now provided. Though his chest still ached, his mind felt a bit more at ease knowing that the next hit he took would not be as damaging. On the other hand, he could feel the difference in his speed as he rushed away from the now pillaged facility.

“Any ideas on a way out, Iris?”

“Well, supposedly some Prime built an inefficiently long staircase going down, and some of the mages were trying to keep it intact. By now there should be law enforcement protecting its perimeter.”

“Then allow us to take the stairs then.”

Demetri set off in a burst of speed, stealthing before heading through the streets, a few wandering patrols on the lookout. Many seemed to be holding scanners of some sort.

“Hey, we got activity over here!”

Some began to head in Demetri’s direction, but the thief still pushed forward, not even looking back.

“Damn, it’s gone, branch out he’s nearby.”

It had been a while since Demetri had been on the run, Nippur was the closest to the experience. It sent chills down his spine and forced a smile across his face.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself, Creator, in spite of our lack of luck.”

“Challenges like this are what make me who I am, Iris.”

“Oh, and what might that be.”

“A master of the thieving arts.”

Another burst of speed sent the thief through another trio of patrols.

“Moving south, he’s probably heading for the stairs. Prepare the barricades.”

So be it. Let them try to stop him. Even with their magic and numbers, the thief would find his way out. He would be the sand between their fingers, slipping through the cracks as they attempted to force him into their prison of time. What had the thief to lose now? His life? No. The Smiling One would bring him back once more, he was sure of it. After all, was this not entertaining to him in the least? Demetri would strive to be different. To focus on taking these lands not by force, but by shadow and guile. He had no need to be the ruler of anything, simply the beneficiary of it. As many of the guards and mages began to close in, his heart raced, his breath quickened. Until all at once, he came upon the wall of defense.

“We know you’re there, no point in staying invisible. Our wards show us where you hide.”

Demetri stopped and stood straight, noticing all eyes on him even while not visible. The shroud soon dissipated, leaving him facing what seemed like half the guards in the city, taking up the breadth of the road.

“Ah, so it seems I have been surrounded.” The cunning thief spoke as more guards came up from behind him. The black cybernetic armor glowed with red and reflected the sunlight as the thief took a step forwards.

“Not another step! You are wanted for trespassing, grand theft, and a series of the first-degree murder-” One of the many guards came forward with a scroll, unraveling it and attempting to give the speech Demetri had heard over a hundred times before.

The thief quickly interrupted, holding up a finger and waggling it at the accuser. “Ah, one moment, please. I had nothing to do with the mishap that happened to doom those poor researchers. I simply was trying to-”

“Enough foul deviant!” The man stomped the ground and screeched, holding the scroll to the side. “ You are to hear your charges without interruption, we have witnesses and evidence of your infiltration and horrific plot!”

“Evidence you say, why, what a strange thing to point out. After all, it is difficult to find such a thing where it does not exist.” Demetri teased, trying to aggravate the scroll holder. A low whisper caused a small charge of energy within him.

“Let’s see how that holds up in court once you return what you’ve stolen and spent your eternal prime days in a cell.”

“Now now, we can’t have that, what a way to treat a new guest.”

“Pleasantries are nullified when you assault our citizens. “

“Such a shame, and here I was trying to come quietly.” Demetri rested his elbow in his hand as he spread his fingers in a mocking fashion.

“Ready your arms!” Came the call from within the wall of flesh and steel. All sights were on the stationary rogue.

Pulses charged.

“Fire.” In a split moment, Demetri had disappeared, seeming to teleport to the base of the defensive line, just below two guardsmen. His arms pressed against their chest as the boom of energy blasted them into the air, above the rest.

“Focus your beams on him! Do not use area of effect! Avoid collateral damage! “

Demetri shot out a chain as the commands thundered in the backline, a few mages already taking their shots. The first few managed to miss, but one managed to catch his side as the end of his chain latched onto one of the flying guards. Demetri grunted as he pulled the chain, using the momentum he had created to pull himself into the air. Blasts of magic, arrows, and even a sword managed to follow suit, attempting to collide with him. Fire roasted at his leg, ice hit his arm, and an arrow attempted to embed itself into his neck.

The thief and his target quickly passed each other, the transaction of momentum complete, but all was not finished. Another chain shot out to the second of the two, enacting the next phase of the maneuver. With a quick pull, Demetri closed the gap between them and grabbed the shield of the guard and faced it outwards as he hugged him tightly.

“Don’t get too comfortable now. I don’t tend to do this very often unless it’s with a woman.”

“Hold fire! We have a hostage!”

A few of the restless made their last shots, a few arrows smacking harmlessly into the shield that protected the flying trio.

“Good thinking, Creator!”

“We still have to outrun them, Iris”

The whole of the defenders watched with anticipation as they soon came down. At the last moment, Demetri sent the guard into the crowd as he summoned his cybernetic shield. He slid a short distance on the ground, sending sparks while the shield scraped along the cobblestone. Soon after, the shield caught and sent the duo somersaulting through the air, the soles of Demetri’s feet barely found the ground as he immediately broke into a run.

Within moments the rest of them were on his heels. Many were already catching up, with a few shots being fired from the mages. A wall was summoned in front of him, and with quick thinking, he shot a chain and pulled, his feet leaving the ground once again and leading him over the new barrier. Another arrow hit the side of his leg, wedging itself between his armor.

“Iris, we need a bit more speed to escape.”

“Increasing your energy levels, inputting omnilium for a temporary boost, full synergy initiated.”

With each step, Demetri felt faster, more focused. In short time he widened the gap, before hearing a shout from behind.

“We have no choice! Destroy the staircase before he reaches it!”

1309 words according to docs, also recounted my words since I realized the site counter is bogus.

total is 13,609 according to google docs

[Storyteller]

Vimes swore as the sounds of pursuit closed in on the stairway. He would have to give whoever was in charge of Dalaran’s guard a right ear full if they couldn’t even properly funnel a single convict, prime or otherwise. The Golems were still enroute, they wouldn’t be able to demolish the stairs in time at this rate. Lovely. Vimes grabbed the nearest wizard, noting with some satisfaction that it was the same dwarf who had gotten him into this mess.
 
“Get those golems here faster!” he shouted point blank.
 
“Er… how do you propose that we…” the dwarf began somewhat haughtily, but Vimes bowled his arriving objection straight over.
 
“Hopefully magic will be kind enough to help you out!” The guard captain released his hold on the dwarf, who gulped and vanished, leaving Vimes pinching the bridge of his nose. That one clearly wasn’t a  dwarf from the Disc.
 
The middle-aged guardsman turned towards the approaching highwayman, glancing disdainfully at the gnomish contraption that he had been given to organize the demolition. There were entirely too many gears and vents* for anyone to actually carry the blasted thing around. Vimes pulled the ripcord and hollered into the mouthpiece.
 
“THAT’S ENOUGH RUNNING, PAL!” came the mechanically enhanced voice. Windows rattled at the sheer sonic energy, it's sudden booming causing both Demetri and his pursuers to falter in their sprinting. The dashing rogue pulled to a halt as the speaker, now entirely encased in a growing cloud of billowing steam, continued.
 
“THIS IS YOUR LAst chanc… bloody machine!” a ripcord sounded again from inside the cloud, which gusted out farther like it was on a personal mission to obscure the area as completely as possible.
 
“LAST CHANCE TO SURRENDER BEFORE WE TAKE YOU DOWN HARD!” the voice finished.
 
Demetri could see the stairs there just beyond the dozen or so shieldsmen. That stood at attention behind the slowly dissipating steam cloud. There were also a noticeable number of archers on the roofs nearby. His pursuers seemed content block of his retreat.
 
“Well this is a nice little box you’ve got me in!” Demetri called out, slowly sauntering forwards.
 
Creator, incoming aerial projectile!
 
A hammer struck the ground directly in front of Demetri, sparking electricity in a shower as it dissipated its charge into the street. A screech split the air as the massive wings of three gryphon riders crested a nearby tower, circling the standoff.
 
Demetri paused, “Duly noted! Not advancing! I’m sure we can come to a reasonable solution to all this!”

“REASONABLE, EH? TRY THAT NEXT TIME WHEN You havn’t killed any…” There was a sound of something metal bouncing off of cobblestone and an increasingly displeased Vimes stepped out of the steam cloud.
 
“Try that next time when you haven’t killed any of my… our men!” Vimes shouted, his own voice quite capable of clearing the distance now.
 
“It was just supposed to be a spot of burglary! Honest!” Demetri shouted back, while IRIS plotted the best path through the guards once things kicked back up. He wasn’t keen on how willing this guard captain seemed to be with bantering. IRIS chimed in his head, echoing his thoughts.
 
Creator, I am almost certain the captain is stalling for time. They said they were planning to destroy the stairs. They might not be ready yet.
 
“True that!” Demetri conceded, then exploded into action. IRIS’s fully synergized form giving him neigh uncontrollable speed as he streaked towards the stairs. Arrows snapped against cobblestone around him, but none found a mark on the elusive rogue. A volley of purple lights tracked the thief through his evasiive maneuvers however, slamming into his retreating form one after another with relentless finality.
 
“Cheapshot magic missiles!” Demetri grumbled as he staggered forward. The guards swarmed around him as his momentum ebbed, the cybernetics clad rogue fought back, weaving between them with supernatural ease. The guard captain was shouting again, but Demetri didn’t hear his words over the swords scrapping off his cybernetic armor. He dove between several guards, and sprinted towards the stairs. He might actually have gotten through the wall?
 
Creator! I’m picking up a series of rapidly approaching spatial-kinetic anomalies!
 
“Several what now?” Demetri questioned, but even as he said it a loud CRACK! Was audible, followed by another, then another. Demetri glanced upwards as he neared the top steps, and spotted a quartet of figures in the air above them.
 
“INCOMING!” the dwarf shouted, before disappearing with another CRACK! The remaining three figures, statues of stone, iron, and gold, animated to life by wizardry, now falling face first downwards, arms outstretched.
 
“Ah crap.” Demetri sighed, scrabbling back from the staircase moments before the trio of fifteen foot giants collided with the structure at high speeds. The hastily summoned Omnillium stairs crumbled under the impact, falling chunks crashing into lower sections, setting off a chain reaction as the structure fell to pieces. the entire mess of colliding stone continued for a long time as the structure finished its earthward aeronautics.
 
“We cleared the area around the base right?” Vimes asked off-handedly as a possibly quite unpleasant thought occurred to him. The dwarf shrugged, clearly exhausted from transporting so much weight.
 
“lovely. I’m gonna get an earful for this…” Vimes muttered, turning back to address the thief, now stuck on the edge of the city and surrounded by guardsman, “Alright pal! Show’s over, get outta the robot and put your hands up! Actually, didn’t I give this guy his last shot already? Go ahead and take him out!”
 
*Leonard of Quirm once attempted to create a gearless contraption of a similar vein, however an unfortunate incident with the king’s royal pet dog led to his fourth sentence for execution.**
**and coincidentally the invention of veterinary medicine, which just goes to show something. Quantum, most likely.

Jack Darby's staircase has been effectively destroyed, so you won't be able to escape that way (unless you feel like skydiving)

Also you're surrounded by about 2-3 dozen guards, with a mix of swordsmen, archers, a few mages and Gryphon riders for air support.

Also, Also, Vimes isn't gonna cut you any more slack.

Two weeks again. Good luck!

[Demetri Malius]

A peek over the edge of the floating city revealed the plummeting stone, large chunks breaking apart as they sped to the ground far below. Time seemed to slow as a few pebbles joined in the mass descent when Demetri stepped away from the edge. His gaze turned back towards the small army behind him, many of those on the front line preparing attacks like some fantasy firing squad.

“Iris, what are our chances of developing the ability to fly while we fall?”

“Nearly impossible.”

“I figured as such, and our chances at surviving a barrage of mage fire and volleys of arrows?”

“Equally likely.”

“I see.”

A few early notched arrows whizzed by, either striking the grass beside them or completely missing their target and continuing far passed their mark to the grounds below. Demetri seemed to focus in the short amount of time he had before being splattered on the edge of Dalaran.

“Well, this isn’t the worst I’ve committed to.”

A flurry of arrows and magic blasted where the thief stood, leaving behind plumes of smoke. When the air cleared, only a black spot of scorched earth remained. The guard captain wiped his eyes in disbelief.

“Well, that was far easier than I had hoped, but where is the item he stole?”

“Uh, sir, he jumped.”

“HE WHAT!? Can the damned Prime fly?”

“No sir, he seems to be in a freefall, the gryphon riders are in pursuit. There is also an issue.”

A grumble rose from the captain’s throat. It seemed that nobody could get anything done right today.

“What is it?”

“There are now five of him.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake.”

Already many feet below, Demetri and his clones clung to the remains of the staircase, attempting to find a way to slow their descent. The debris consisted of large chunks of marble and stone the size of a large truck, as well as smaller chips that could be held in one's hand.

“IRIS!”

“Yes, Creator!”

“Any pleasant ideas?”

“Uh, don’t die? You also seem to be out of reserve energy. Returning to your default state.”

Demetri groaned as he watched his armor return to a blue state and felt it thin out over his body, the same happening to the rest of his clones as they began to slow down.

“So long as we stick with the momentum of these remnants, I believe we can…”

SCRREEEEEE

Demetri watched in shock as a gryphon rider dove down and snatched one of the clones, dispersing its image as it simply flew through it.

“The extra bodies are simply illusions! Find the real one!”

A fireball struck the marble that Demetri was taking cover behind, blasting off a piece and forcing Demetri out of his hiding spot. A nearby wizard on a broom appeared to be the culprit.

“I have one over here! No direct hit yet!”

Demetri gritted his teeth, this was far from over. A chain shot out to the nearest platform and pulled the thief towards it, allowing him to take shelter on top of it. Once his feet landed on the stone, he felt himself stabilize. Interesting, his body would become one with the falling stone when he touched it. Good to know, since when he wasn’t attached to one any of them, it made it much more difficult to take any good shots with his chains. *

Another shot from the wizard nearly struck his platform. Demetri shot out a chain, striking the broom by its handle. The two struggled for a moment as the tether nearly lifted Demetri off his falling ground, at the same time forcing the wizard into an arc. A well-aimed pull led the wizard into a spot of falling rock, knocking him off of his mount. The robed mage fell, one of his allies coming and swooping him up as they both retreated to the island above. Demetri winced a bit as he felt the pain from the arrow in his left leg. With a pained grunt, he broke it off, pulling the rest out carefully to prevent further damage. At least that took care of two of his pursuers. 

SCRREEEEEE

The gryphons were still a cause of worry, however.

“Another one down! Let’s pick up the pace!”

Demetri stayed close to his flat piece of stone, hugging it as he noticed that it was slowly rotating. He held on tightly as he leaned forward and aimed for another nearby stone, until realizing something coming up from below.

“Creator, there is a…”

“Dragon!?”

Flames erupted from the mouth of the newly arrived defender, narrowly missing the thief as he rolled onto his back against the rock, allowing it to fully turn him over and face the ground. Demetri braced for the air to peel him off of his rock and send him to the floor, but he stayed glued to the slab as if magic had bound him there.* It felt as if the whole of Camelot was spread out before him, nothing beneath but some miles of air dotted with falling rocks.

“Oh dear. This feeling in my stomach.”

“I believe that is called regret, Creator.”

“As inclined as I am to agree with you, I believe the realization of what happens if we don't find a way to slow our descent.”

“Oh, yeah that. We should find a solution to that.”

Demetri gave a sigh as he assessed the situation. The duplicates above them were most likely either expired or destroyed by now, leaving only him against the plethora of flying battle mounts. Well, just three gryphon riders and a dragon, but that’s a lot for a single thief to handle.

“Down further below, I think I see him!”

The riders sped into a dive towards the slab of marble, the dragon beside them turning to join in. The large reptilian capable of flight was a stark red, with lighter hues on his wings and underside. His eyes glowed neon green, shining bright enough to spot from even this distance. Demetri slammed his open palm into the stone and charged up a pulse, waiting for his moment.

Pulse charged.

The blast forced the marble slab in a spiral, the thief holding on for only a few moments as one of the gryphons attempted to smack him, the large talon being slammed with the dense rock. The impact sent the thief flying side, dizzy and dazed. The gryphon screamed at the pain, its rider struggling to keep it under control as it tossed and bucked. The pulsing blue light on the thief's suit flashed with panic.

“Creator!”

1100 words according to docs, adding up to 14,709

* Achievement: Discover inertia

Demetri used Split Tactics. I had also forgotten to mention his T2 power up for a round the previous post but told storyteller about it 0/5 sp remaining.

[Storyteller]

Vimes watched from the edge of the floating island, palms itching with urge to chase after the perp himself. If he was smart he would’ve been so much less committed to his job. Officers never got to get their hands dirty in the same way as the average patrolman. Not that he had the ability to get out there right now, mind you, but the thief should never have gotten this far in the first place.
 
Without any better options, the perp had leapt from the shattering marble chunk to the back of the nearest gryphon, and was now grappling with the half-elf rider while the beast flailed about uncertainly. It was an unfortunately clever stratagem, Vimes realized, as the other two riders couldn’t get a clear shot on the thief without risk of hitting their comrade instead. The gryphon rider and his hitchhiker spiraled through the empty air, the startled beast trying its utmost to be free of the unexpected guest.
 
Then the Dragon swept in again. The fifteen-foot behemoth smashed into the gryphon with a predatory speed, taking the increasingly tangled collision sideways. Vimes still didn’t know who was in control of the thing, there was someone in control of it right? Vimes grabbed that same dwarf again, and pointed at the confused mass the roiled in the air.
 
“What’s the plan there, eh? You can’t just throw dragons at our own men in the line of duty!” the dwarf shrank back, stammering out a reply.
 
“That might be a drake actually, it’s a bit on the small side for a proper dragon and…” here he trailed off, wilting further under the desert sun that was Vimes’ glare, “…and it’s a tossup whether we still have control over it at this point. They’re more of a ‘let it loose and pick up the pieces’ kind of thing…”
 
“Pick up the pieces…” Vimes repeated this last bit, still withering the poor dwarf with his growing rage. The Guard captain turned away abruptly, lifting a long metal whistle to his lips. He blew hard into it, though no sound emitted from the other end. With the deftness of a man on a mission, Vimes grabbed the discarded maxiphone, and with only the slightest sigh, pulled its ripcord again.
 
“ALL GRYPHON RIDERS GET DISTANCE ON THE DRAGON!” came his voice from the emerging steam cloud.  The two unburdened gryphons wheeled away, as a small shine became visible in the distance, a trail of dark smoke following behind its path. The dragon* looked up just in time for a three-foot bullet of a swamp dragon to shoot directly past it. The ensuing shockwave rattled windows, and made Vimes step back involuntarily, but at close range it was devastating, blasting apart the jumble of aerial creatures and riders.
 
Vimes cursed as the half-elf was knocked free of his saddle, and started to freefall, his companions diving after him in a desperate bid. Errol would take a few moments to slow down enough to make another pass at the dragon, but the beast seemed to have been stunned. It sailed in a lazy circle away from the city, probably trying to clear its head. Where was the thief? Vimes’ eyes rolled skyward as he spotted the cybernetic suit, dangling by a trapped foot from the startled gryphon’s saddle. The beast was bolting now, riderless and perhaps more pressingly a victim of a surprise dragon mauling, it was clearly just trying to get away from the situation. And taking the thief with it. Vimes punched the nearest wall, then blew his whistle again.
 
“Go get ‘em, Errol!” he muttered.
 

---

 
The alarms finally shook Demetri out of his daze as IRIS continued to repeat her questioning of his status.
 
“I’m fine?” he slurred, his ears still ringing from whatever that had been, “Woah, IRIS, when did I get on the gryphon?” the thief asked in alarm as he looked down at the reins in his hands.
 
I had some limited motor function still in this form creator, and I was unsure of your responsiveness… the AI almost sounded sheepish. Demetri shook his head.
 
“It’s fine, it’s… hey! Did we get away?” Demetri said with surprise looking behind him as he noticed the floating island was growing steadily smaller.
 
I think we might have Creator, although I don’t know if- PROXIMITY WARNING! Demetri yanked the reins to the side, and the startled gryphon wheeled sideways as a foul-smelling scaled beast shot past them. 
 
“Is it… is it farting to fly?” Demetri asked, as a clear jet of flame was protruding from the dragon’s rear, trailing a black line through the sky as the beast arced around for another drive-by.

*though it was correctly a drake, if such things are of importance to your story.
 

Alright, you’re away from most of Camelot PD, but Vimes has sent his pet swamp dragon Errol Goodbody of Flynn after you. I’ll PM you with some details about what to expect from this encounter.

[Demetri Malius]

This was perhaps the worst situation Demetri had found himself in thus far in his time in the omniverse. Of course, there was the Battle of Nippur, as well as the Battle for Death Mountain, but here he had no others besides he and Iris. The drake had made its way around, heading towards the gryphon riders that trailed behind the thief. In the meantime, the rather odd farting dragon was almost already on their heels.

“Do you suppose that we can control this creature?” Demetri asked as he pulled on the reigns of the gryphon, attempting to steer the flying mount like a horse. With a few bucks and screeches, it finally listened, rather having a stranger guide it than struggle long enough for one of the flying lizards to attempt to fry it.

It seems to be responding well to you, at least for now. We should focus on that smaller dragon, it seems to be much quicker with its... flatulent maneuvers.

With a nod, Demetri angled the gryphon into a nosedive, looking into the distance to the marble that had by now reached the ground. If he planned to make it to the ground without becoming a splatter, this gryphon was his only hope.

Creator, I believe we may have overestimated our lead.

The thief rotated his head to look behind him, seeing the other riders quickly catching up with the two dragons behind them. It appeared that the one he was riding was more keen on joining its allies than escaping completely. Demetri fumbled with his pockets, attempting to find a ranged weapon to defend himself with.

Creator! The crossbow from the man in the forest!

Of course, how could he have forgotten? The thief reached into the void of his satchel before pulling out the stolen weapon, a bit of relief spread across his face. Another screech from the mounts behind him warned him of their approach, wiping away the relief, replacing it with anxiety and anticipation.

"Iris, since we are relying on this mount, perhaps we should focus on combat."

Understood, changing your systems to combat mode.

Demetri took aim with the crossbow as his suit thickened, showing a hint of purple for a moment as it shifted from blue to red. The two riders appeared to have their own crossbows aimed at him, firing before the thief could get a chance to defend himself. The first bolt flew past, causing the gryphon to screech, the sound only escalating as the second embedded itself in its rear. Demetri fumbled for a moment before the crossbow was knocked out of his hand by the wing of his mount.

A split decision to shoot out a chain allowed the thief to snatch the handle of the weapon, attempting to recover his single shot. However, his aim was a little too true, the chain having wrapped around the trigger.

The shot flew through the air, completely missing both targets and falling to the ground below.

“Curse the gods that spit on my luck.” Demetri groaned with annoyance, his anger leading him to swing the useless weapon around, aiming it behind him. The surprised riders had assumed him now defenseless, and had not enough time to react to the wooden incidental projectile. It smacked against the head of on of the riders, causing him to pull his reins, slamming his gryphon against his partner. The two struggled and quickly fell behind as they tried to untangle themselves from each other.

“I suppose that worked just as well.” Demetri gave a smirk as he looked up, before soon realizing something.

“Where are the dragons?”

As if on cue, the large drake came from the side, attempting to slam into them, Demetri tugged on the reins with all his might, barely managing to pull the choked up gryphon up in time to narrowly miss the attack. That is, until a steam of fire flew past them and around, covering the thief and his companions in dark soot and forcing them to cough from the smoke and smell.

“I am honestly not sure what I had expected. That odor would be enough to knock out a giant.” The thief spoke through his hand and mask, trying to keep his head in order. Already the dragon had managed to stop and seemed to growl at the escaping criminals. Demetri’s senses kicked in, causing him to duck as the dragon attempted to ram him while they stood still in the air.

With the distraction of the smaller fiend, the other drake had already circled around and slowed as it arrived at the pair of flying creatures. The head of the drake snapped forward, nearly chomping down on the swamp dragon’s tail, before then turning its attention towards Demetri. The gryphon beneath him squalled and flailed, threatening to kick him off and escape on its own. The thief stroked the creatures neck before having it dash forward, something the animal was all too willing to do.

“I have an idea, but we need to time this right.”

The thief looked down, seeing how close they we're to the ground now. There was no way they would escape without first losing the two dragons, as l they would most likely attract even more attention. Behind them, the two sped forwards, hot on their trail while giving each other glances to make sure the other didn't switch targets.

“Wish us luck Iris.”

Creator are you sure that-

With a quick motion, Demetri took the gryphon into a nosedive, leading the dragons down, glancing behind him to make sure they were in position. The thief then let go of the reins of the creature, allowing himself to fallback before giving himself a push off the beast’s back, launching him towards the two dragons. A chain shot out, latching onto each of the scaled flyers, Demetri only having moments if he didn’t want his arms completely torn from their sockets.

A swift twirl crossed over the chains and knotted them together, while the thief used his nimble fingers to unlatch his bracers. The large drake roared as the smaller dragon was slammed into him from the change of direction, the fumes and fire scorching some of its side. Below, Demetri went into a freefall, angling himself back to the gryphon.

“And now we just-”

As he reach out to grab the reins, the gryphon pulled up, deciding it didn't need its strange rider anymore.

Creator?

“Iris, prepare your pulse.” A stern, serious tone was suddenly apparent in the thief’s voice.

Charging. Creator, what are we gonna do? You have fifteen seconds till impact!

“Iris just charge the pulse!”

Demetri focused, summoning his buckler, hoping it would do something to soften the impact. A series of loud beeps and panicked warnings sounded internally in the suit, its red glow pulsating with what seemed like terror. The ground rushed towards the two, a thicket of tree below them that spread out for at least a few miles. A odd calmness came over Demetri, as if he had accepted whatever was to happen within the next few seconds.

Pulse charged.

“Brace yourself Iris.”

Creator?

1209 words, adding up to 15,918 words

Demetri used the last item in his satchel, it is now empty

[Storyteller]

Demetri opened his eyes and stared up at the stars. They were shining down from the tree tops with a delightful twinkle.
 
He felt like he could stare at them for hours.
 
He might have, it was kind of hard to tell.
 
At some point he became aware of an annoying droning sound. It wouldn’t go away, a consistent humming that eroded his tranquility with all the delicacy of a cheese grater. It wasn’t all around him, he realized, it was kind of off to one side.
 
Slowly he turned his head and blinked involuntarily as a dried leaf almost poked his eye. The fact that he was no longer viewing the world through IRIS’s HUD registered at the same time he recognized the metallic figure slumped against a nearby tree.
 
The blue lights that shone throughout her form were not consistent, pulsing slowly with an occasionally alarming flicker. Her left side was dented and caved in at several places, and perhaps the most worrying, her left leg had completely severed, loose circuitry and exposed wires sparked in the moonlight.
 
“IRIS?” Demetri coughed, surprised at his own difficulty speaking. The android stirred, lights flaring back to full brightness as she opened her eyes. She smiled weakly at Demetri, but her eyes seemed unable to focus on his. He watched her artificial pupils, tracking for a target they could not find as she responed.
 
“I’m sorry Creator… I couldn’t maintain myself while we were still integrated… I had to…”
 
Her lights flickered rapidly, and a shower of sparks erupted from the exposed limb socket. IRIS’s head lolled, and her lights dimmed to a faint blue pulse.
 
“IRIS!” Demetri spoke louder, reality and memory starting to flood back into him. With it came pain. So much pain! The Rogue grit his teeth, quickly realizing that although IRIS had taken the brunt of the fall, he certainly hadn’t been spared. His left arm was decidedly broken, or at least wasn’t moving when he tried to, but the pain was far worse from his leg. Mentally preparing himself, the thief risked raising his head to take a look at just how bad the situation was.
 
He almost passed out as cognizance brought home the agony he had been feeling with a cruel acuity. His leg was bent a full ninety degrees beyond what it was supposed to, IRIS’s missing limb was still twisted around his own. The metal was torn in several pieces, sometimes twisted unnaturally upon itself, other times stabbed into his flesh and oozing dark liquid. Demetri swallowed, Was that a piece of his shin bone right there?
 
Demetri let his head drop back to the dried leaves of the forest floor, gasping several breaths in an effort to keep his wits about him. Even breathing was painful.
 
Great.
 
His right arm still moved. He lifted it to check its function, but in doing so noticed the blue glow that emanated from the rock that was griped in battered and bleeding fingers. He had the star piece.
 
Victory?   
 

Demetri has successfully eluded Kingdom authorities (for now)!
Demetri receives 14 points of damage, a serious injury (broken left arm), and a Major injury (a (to quote Karl Jak in DA ’17) a “broken-as-fuck” left leg)
IRIS receives 17 points of damage, and two Major injuries (significant internal injury (or rather the android equivalent thereof)) and (severed left leg)
Demetri has obtained the Blue star piece artefact!
Demetri has become low profile.
Anybody here a doctor?

[Storyteller]

Samuel Vimes watched the cleanup process of the stairs with an unavoidable desire to punch someone in the face. There hadn’t been anybody down here, thankfully, the golems had simply pulverized some poor farmer’s storehouse and fields. Said poor farmer was currently chewing the ear off one of Dalaran’s guardian attendants, but after their poor performance today, Vimes was more than willing to let that happen.

He wasn’t even really necessary at this point. The perp had disappeared off into the woods somewhere, and he didn’t have Angua to track him down here in the Omniverse.  Could he maybe find a trustworthy werewolf in the Moors? Bah! Vimes kicked a small rock, aggravated with the lot of it. Aragorn up and asks him to be captain of the guard, asks him to keep the peace in this crazy messed up world and he doesn’t even have his best coppers for the job. It was heinous.

Again, Vimes wondered if he should stop being stubborn and just go and summon his whole squad to help out. People kept telling him the Omniverse wasn’t a prison, but Vimes couldn’t shake the feeling that reminded him of his time stuck during the Glorious Revolution of Ankh-Morpork. He wasn’t willing to get anybody else stuck here if he could help it.

He had barely conceded to summoning Errol and look where that had got him. The poor swamp dragon had taken something of the worse from the fight, since the tether had prevented him from getting away from his much larger foe. Errol had flown off towards Minas Tirith the moment he was freed, but he was listing to one side in a way that made Vimes a touch concerned.

It was just one thief! Sure, he had some of that weird Imperial tech stuff, but they had him cornered on a literally floating city! Vimes swatted at one of the ghost lamps that Dalaran was using to light the cleanup. The golems were apparently made from some particularly volatile magical components, that shouldn’t be left in the open. Their magical nature also apparently required that the pieces be recovered by hand.

Vimes pulled out a cigar and started searching his personage for his lighter, when a loud Crack! erupted behind him, causing the man to jump and spin about, nearly punching a smiling Dumbledore in the face before he caught himself.

“Ahem! Uh, evening professor!” Vimes muttered, his momentary embarrassment only deepening his need to sock someone good.

“Perp got away. Whoever let that dragon out needs to feel a boot somewhere unpleasant, if you ask me.” the guard captain said, finally finding his matches and lighting his cigar. Archmage and Captain watched the work in the field bathed with moonlight.

“that may be.” Dumbledore responded, unperturbed, “Or perhaps this is simply a warning? The stars fell in every verse. They are certainly not a secret. Yet we had hoped that a few of our agents could recover them without serious protection.” The elderly man turned to face Vimes, his halfmoon spectacles reflecting lunar light in a slightly unnerving way.

“We need to approach this problem with a touch more attention, I should think.” The archmage of Dalaran said with a smile. Vimes stared him down, giving a cynical grin in response as he chomped his cigar.

“A few of my fellows are currently speaking with the princess of Ambrosia, it seems we may have a lead on the Yellow fragment sooner than we expected.” Dumbledore nodded, seeming oddly content with the state of things so soon after having his vaults robbed.

“Ambrosia?” Vimes said with a very skeptical air, “Then you can count me out of it. You couldn’t pay me enough to even go near that sparkly wonderland.” Dumbledore nodded at Vimes’ declaration.

“I expected as much. I have instructed Minister Cadwell to prepare for your return trip, he should be arriving shortly.” As if on cue, that same dwarf appeared directly behind Vimes. The Guard captain jolted and swung, a solid right hook that sent the surprised dwarf to the ground in a daze. Bloody teleporters! Vimes thought, before turning to Dumbledore.

“If it’s all the same to you Prof. I’ll walk.”