Colin's posts

He was silent, before walking towards the building in front of them, and she felt herself pass by the two sentries. However, when they entered what she knew as the security checkpoint... nothing happened. No Jake asking about her, not even a sign of him. Not a sound. No Izzy, no Mira... nobody.

He led her through some doors, and sighed quietly.

"Welcome back." he said.

"We'd feared the worst." he told her.

"First things first, we need to remove that accursed mana inside you." he then said further.

"It can't be good for you to have it in there."

The man was silent, before raising an eyebrow.

"Uh..." he stammered.

"Hm." he muttered.

"...yeah, come with me." he said. "We'll draw you up a shower and such." he went on.

"You two, back to duty." he told the two that were there.

"SIR, YES SIR!" they declared, before marching off, causing him to sigh.

@vixen: Aaaaand here's an echo from me on Amber's sentiments.

Holy craaaaaaap, WOW!

"I know, I know." he said.

"But I promise you, you ARE safe her." he told her.

"I promised everyone it would be, and I've kept it that way." he went on, before sighing.

"Can you move?" he asked. "Or do you require help?" he asked further.

"Or just a moment to gather yourself?"

"Shh, shh." he said quietly.

"It's all right, I'm sure you have questions." he told her.

"I'm sure you're confused and scared, but we'll answer your questions properly, as soon as we remove that nasty blindness from you." he went on, gently placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Come on." he said further.

"Let's get you inside." he said.

"Where you can try and relax."

Before she or either of the two could say anything more, an authoritative voice rung out.

"At ease!" the male said. "Back off!" he commanded, causing the two to do so, as the one that had spoke up approached her and knelt down close to her.

"I'm so sorry." he apologised. "They're new." he said.

"Are you all right, Hazel?" he asked her.

"You look absolutely terrified. I'm sorry these two scared you even further." he apologised further.

"I promise you, you've made your way to a safe place."

She wasn't awarded very much time to chill at all, as she heard footsteps approaching her. Not animal steps, these were human steps. And from what she heard, there were two people approaching her.

"Halt!" one declared.

"Why are you here!?" the second one demanded of her.

"This is protected ground! HE and his influence are not allowed here!" they then commanded further, before the first one nudged her with what felt like the barrel of a firearm.

"Speak up." they growled.

She ran and ran, but didn't seem to see anyone. At all. In fact, from what she could tell, the area that surrounded her, and everything that sprawled ahead of her... was wilderness. Sheer unadulterated wilderness. Nature. However, there was far from a peaceful aura emanating from it. Rather, the opposite. She couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding all around her.

It was undeniable, it was practically palpable.

And her sense of fear was confirmed when she saw a shape ahead of her. One that looked rather... lanky, and canine. Was it a wolf? A coyote? Something else?

Whatever it was, she could tell it intended her harm, because it was coming straight at her... and she could hear its harsh cries, as though it were insane and desperate to get to her... and kill her.

As she started to fumble around, she heard the man yell out in the distance.

"K! Where are those damned syringes!?" he shouted, as his voice got further and further away. It meant that he was at least FAR more concentrated on finding them, and seemingly blaming someone else.

She stumbled around a little more, before she found what seemed like a door handle... and it was in the opposite direction that she'd heard him go in, meaning there were two entrances to this room.

And she'd found the other one.

A quick check and a tug proved that security really wasn't much of a priority here... it opened easily.

"Now, then." the voice continued. "All we need is a little serum to help that mana be expelled." he told her, a subtle glee to his voice. "There will be some discomfort... maybe some pain... all right, definitely some pain... but it's... nothing that..." he went on, but trailed off a little, his voice getting a little unsure now for some reason.

"Where...?" he muttered, revealing the reason WHY he was unsure now.

"Oh, where IS that syringe?" he then asked, before she heard some shuffling and clattering, alongside the clinking of glass.

"...hm. Maybe..." he then mumbled, before she heard the distinct sound of a box being grabbed and opened, and the telltale sounds of it being dug through.

This was her moment. He was clearly preoccupied in finding a syringe to inject whatever horrific serum into her.

"...ah, it seems you're awake." a voice said. She couldn't properly see who said it, or where they were, as her field of vision was restricted by her bondage, but she could tell two things about it. The first was that it was a male voice, clearly. And the second was that there was a weird ring of familiarity to it... but it was overshadowed by this ominous tone to it.

"Not that it matters." he continued. "I was merely commenting." he added, as she heard shuffling around and clinking and clanking.

"But enough small talk. Enough of this chatter. Let's get down to business." he suggested.

"The mana emanating from you is immense." he commented. "I haven't felt such a wellspring of concentrated mana in... well, ages. Lifetimes." he said further, almost seeming to reminisce about such a thing.

"It's wonderful." he said, a dreamy tone to his voice now.

"So much raw material!" he exclaimed. "You'll fuel my studies and experiments for... months! Maybe even years!" he then declared happily.

"Hm." Hal mumbled.

"Admittedly, the sheer lack of knowledge on this is worrying in and of itself." he said.

"We don't know what happened... and it doesn't seem like she's injured." he went on.

"What about Ilias?" he asked.

"Did he mention anything?" he asked her.

"Anything seem off or different?"

Hal was silent as Kiah said what she did, before sighing quietly.

"I see." he said.

"That IS concerning, I admit." he told her. "And it seems the concern was warranted, given what's just transpired." he went in, before leaning back in his chair and looking at her.

"Do you know anything about it?" he asked.

"...which is to say, were you able to glean any info from Hazel's state, assuming you saw her?" he clarified. "I did not mean to imply you were involved with this in any way." he assured her.

"But yes, can you make any educated guesses or assumptions?" he asked her.

"Does Hazel seem okay, at the very least?"

Once she finished her wish, all Hal said was 'done', and the call was ended.

Sure enough, not 5 seconds later, Hazel appeared in the room, before Kiah. She was unconscious, she was still, but she seemed to be alive.

Kiah then received a message from Ilias.

I'm going to gather what looks relevant, and bring it back. it read.

Beyond that, every seems normal here. You'll understand what I mean when I get there. the second one said.

I'll lock up here and head back pronto. the last one told her.