The man growled slightly, as he felt himself unable to rise above one knee. It was taking all his strength to remain THAT upright, and it was clear to see why. His clothing was torn and shredded, stained red with his blood, and while one of his eyes was closed, old scars covering it, his other eye remained open, his pastel pink iris and jet black pupil glared at the one before him.

The other male stood there, triumphantly. His own clothing was a little tattered and ruffled, as his prey had not gone down without a fight, but he had definitely had the advantage when they fought. It had helped that he had had the element of surprise as well. He looked down at the injured man with his lavender eyes... which matched a patch of lavender in his otherwise light brown hair, just as the other man's pastel pink eye matched a patch of pink in his own lighter brown hair. He grinned a confident and cruel grin, as he took a step forward.

"You were hard to find, you bothersome nomad." he said. "Or... perhaps I should say 'Your Majesty'." he added as he took a small mocking bow to the man, causing him to growl again.

"As if you care." he responded. "You've always loathed and despised the monarchal form of leadership of this world." he said further, trying again to get to his feet, but failing to find the strength.

"It is fundamentally flawed." the victor stated. "But that is a discussion that is moot now." he said. "As it stands, you are a very big piece of the puzzle that I need." he went on. "Once I have you... 'secured'... then I will be able to go after the rest of them." he told him further. "The ironic thing about you... is that you don't really know how to DO anything. You just do things better." he added in what seemed to be a cryptic statement... but they both knew what it meant. And the injured man knew it.

He had very little offensive capabilities on his own... which was why he had tried to hide as he had. And he had succeeded for the longest time, until he somehow made a mistake that opened his presence to this person's view. And after that, it was only a matter of time, as had just been proven. He narrowed his eye as he watched the man take out a vial of strange liquid... one that looked quite dull. It would make no sense unless someone saw it, but as soon as someone were to see it, they would describe the substance as 'empty-looking'.

"This won't hurt at all." the man stated. "...or it might hurt an awful lot. Depends on your pain tolerance." he clarified with a loud laugh, as he uncorked the vial of liquid.

"No! Wait!" the other one pleaded, panic rising in his tone.

"I've waited for too long!" the first one declared. "I'll be sure to tell your daughter you died like a dog!" he added with sheer glee, as he poured the liquid onto the floor... which immediately resulted in a strange rune spreading out and encompassing the injured man. Time seemed to stand still as this happened, and after a few seconds, the smile on the attacker's face shifted to one of confusion and concern.

"What...?" he muttered. "The drain should have started-..." he started to say further, but before he could finish, the rune that he had created suddenly turned a pink colour that matched the eye of his victim.

The downed man suddenly smiled when he noticed this.

"Well... THIS is interesting..." was all he said, before there was a flash of pink energy, causing the first man to shield himself with his arm.

"What!?" he exclaimed, as he looked again when the light had died down, only to see that the one that had been there previously... was not. And it looked like there had been no evidence of him being there in the first place, other than the blood and the shreds of clothing. "NO!" he yelled. "NO! WHAT HAPPENED!?" he shouted further, but got no answer.

The next thing the injured man knew, he was falling. But not for a long distance... when he hit the ground, he felt like he'd fallen from a height of about 6 stories, which wouldn't have bothered him normally, but injured as he was, it hurt him considerably. Or, rather, it aggravated his own injuries enough to cause pain to shoot through all the nerves in his body.

He cried out as he flopped onto his back, staring at the unfamiliar sky above him. He then shifted his gaze to where he'd heard footsteps, and saw a pair of individuals making their way towards him, a large and imposing structure of a building behind them.

"Hey!" one said, his tone concerned and surprised. "Hey, are you all right!?" they asked.

"Ah... h-help..." was all he managed to respond with, before he coughed violently, some blood spattering out as a result.

"Quick, tell Lady Remmington! We need to get this man to a medic!" the person then said, as they helped the man to his feet, allowing him to use their shoulders for support.

Jake looked over to the woman, and the man watched as a forked serpent-like tongue flicked out of the one sitting down's mouth... before they recoiled slightly, sheer confusion in their expression.

"...ah... I..." he stammered.

"...what the...?" he mumbled, but shook his head to clear it, before clearing his throat lightly, and nodding.

"Right." he said. "He goes to Angela, you're going to Sharp." he said, before pressing a button on the desk that was there.

"I need a readily available agent for escort purposes at the main security checkpoint!" he said into it, releasing the button and then pressing another button that allowed the two of them to enter.

"Go on." he said. "Someone will be here shortly to escort him to Angela." he told the woman.

"And I'll let Sharp know you're on your way, though he probably already knows you're here." he then added.

The man looked at her for a moment, before nodding.

"Ker'uk lamart." he said in what sounded like gibberish, before he seemed to realise something, and cleared his throat.

"Ah, excuse me." he then said in English, his voice rough, but as kind as hers. "Yes, I am." he confirmed, as he slowly rose to his feet.

"Thank you." he said further, as he got a little closer to her.

"My apologies to be a bother like this." he then told her as they started to walk.

"I fear I am in no condition to be wandering about, lost." he added.

The man was silent as she asked her questions and made her assertion, before sighing quietly.

"You are correct in stating that I am not from around here." he confirmed.

"And... judging from what I've learned since I got here, you are knowledgeable in the magic arts?" he asked her. She looked confused for a moment, causing him to pause once more.

"Such as conjuring fire, or lightning, or ice." he stated.

"Oh! Yes!" Gemini confirmed.

"Well, I am from a land called Adaminia, where magic flows readily, and people rely upon for much." the man told her.

"Ah, alchemy, a noble profession." he responded.

"The pursuit of knowledge, the passion to make dreams a reality, the melding of science and magic... it's fascinating." he commented with a smile on his face, and a voice that denoted nothing less than absolute sincerity.

He then paused for a moment, as he realised something.

"Oh, where are my manners?" he asked rhetorically.

"My name is Ciroc." he told her.

"Ciroc Icesska."

"...she knew you were coming." Hal mumbled.

"Jake called me and I told her when I said you were on your way..." he said further.

"Damn it." he cursed.

"Anyway, hello." he greeted her in response.

"Tell me, what circumstances bring you here?" he asked.

"...good, or bad?" he then asked further.

Hal raised an eyebrow when she explained the situation.

"I... I see." he said.

"I understand everything that you just said." he told her.

"But... 'a man'...?" he then asked.

"That's it? 'A man'?" he asked further.

"Any details? His name? Where he's from?" he asked her, going to his computer.

"Maybe he's in a database of ours." he suggested. "Or one of the many I have access to, anyway."

Hal looked at her briefly, before doing some typing in the computer, confirming the spelling of the name. After about 3 or 4 minutes, he paused, was silent for a moment, and looked back at her.

"Well." he said.

"When you're right, you're right." he muttered.

"I have access to over 20 different comprehensive databases of people." he went on. "No name even CLOSE to that." he said further.

"So... he's just some mystery man that appeared?" he asked her.

"Hmmm." Hal mumbled, scratching his chin.

"That's a fair assessment and assumption." he told her.

"I can see that." he went on.

"In the meantime, where do you suggest he stay?" he then asked. "Here?" he asked her.

"I have no issues with that." he quickly assured her.

"I just wish to make sure we're on the same page."

Hal was silent again, rubbing his chin.

"Oh?" he asked.

"Hmmmm..." he mumbled.

"It's not unheard of for someone to not notice a wellspring of mana within them, but if it's YOU saying that he has a lot of mana, it would be highly unlikely for him to NOT know of it..." he went on.

"Puzzling..." he muttered.

"But all right, I'll see to it that he's put up with room and board here." he assured her.