Treno, City of Shadows

Level : 7 Posts : 12

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So he was back in Treno, the place that he had to run from because of that guy he had met a while ago, one to whom he still had a grudge. The nobleman in Treno was still after him most likely, considering he hadn’t been captured and well, Shadow was confident enough that he could handle the situation if the need aroused, his blood after the last encounter in Spira with that thing was boiling and he seemed to have changed in more than one way. He felt…different inside, as if something was growing, wanting to come out, as if his own self had become much more violent, volatile, he didn’t know how to explain it, but he knew it was dangerous at this stage, he grinned though as he got into Treno, he knew he couldn’t be seen even if he was sure that he had the strength to face whoever came at him, but that’s not how he worked and it was not how he was going to approach the situation.

“I wonder…if my blue eyed friend would still be around here” He said to himself as he moved within the shadows of Treno, trying to remain hidden from sight, moving through alleys and narrow streets, using the shadows casted by the buildings to keep him from being seen, he was confused as to how he got to Treno, or what had happened after the defeat of Famine, but for now, he had to stay unseen while he figured out what had happened.

“Now…if only I knew how the fuck I got back here…last thing I remember was defeating that monster…Famine or whatever…” He whispered to himself as he wandered through the streets of Reno, not completely sure on what to do, where to go or how to look for information about what had happened to him, right now, his entire worry was surviving and, if he could, find the blue-eyed man to pay him back for what he did, after all, friends never really forget their own friends.

“Wait...a minute...” Shadow stopped and looked around, this felt eerily familiar, as if it had happened before, it was extremely strange and the dark, serious character found himself in a rather uncomfortable situation. He didn’t like being in the dark unless it was absolutely necessary, he hated not knowing what was ahead, at least not to this extent. For now, he decided to stay unseen, to stay completely covered in the shadows of Treno, observing, judging, but his main goal: to “cleanse” the city from its roots. [Shadow Reaper in effect]

“There’s some debts I have to pay...” He said in a whisper to himself, as his body slowly transformed into the shadowy figure he usually gets, agile and shadow like, but far weaker and though, this however, allowed him to move through the allies and shadows the city offer, basically unseen as he figured this all out. He remembered what happened, but for some reason he was not in that position any more. He had started his hunt, he had started his quest to rid Treno of the crime families that bound it, his first step had been finding a thug to show him the way to the first of many families he was hoping to destroy...but he wasn’t right now, he remembered, fighting some knights at a mob family’s house, after poisoning the thug...but, it wasn’t the case once more.

“What...the fuck...is going on” Shadow thought as he had followed the same steps as before, he had found the thug once more, just as last time, but for the moment he had decided not to act on it, he simply observed, watched the movements of the city, of the thug, he was nothing but a careful participant on the charade that was going on, he patted his pockets, feeling the Goetia Crystal and wondering if that had anything to do with this, he couldn’t know and there really wasn’t anything he could do to find out.

“The cleansing shall be quick and swift...these crime families do not realize what they are doing...” Shadow thought, his mind on cloud nine as he started to think about what he would do, had he been the head of one of those families, it didn’t sound like a crazy idea, while he was not someone who would trust people, ruling by fear could be his choice and handling an organization such as the ones he had seen could be somewhat helpful, could he become a “Crime” Lord in the long run? For him, it didn’t sound crazy, but the first step was this, destroy every single one of those families.

EXP: 78

Admin Posts : 229

Current Event:Breaking the Bad
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Despite being the gathering place of Treno's nobility, there was only one true place in this city of night that Shadow could start looking for the criminal scum of its underbelly. The auction house was owned by an unknown sponsor and often attracted the wealthy from all around to view the extremely rare items that wee on sale. Whilst the nobility were all too often the ones buying these goods, the ones who were selling them came from an entirely different background but were all too often just as rich. Truth be told if Shadow was going to be eliminating these families the best way to do it would be all at once....though he didn't have the man power for that.

Shadow was strong, deadly...but the crime families of treno were like a hydra. cut the head off one and another one just grows in its place.First he was going to have to find out just who his competition was...and then find out their source of money. Without a source of income those families would weaken, pehaps enough that Shadow or someone else could take them out. Objectives right now were set though...good thing that according to the town crier...there was an auction on today.

Level : 7 Posts : 12

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After wandering through the streets of Treno, and taking a good luck at the scoundrels around, Shadow decided his next step. Cleaning up the city, as he would put it, would require a rather large amount of force, or maybe even cunning, and that was exactly what he was going to do. He was not the kind of person who would utilize simple brute force to make people do what he wanted, no, he would work from the darkness, under water, from a place people could not see him and retaliation would be minimal.

First things first, he needed information and the best place to get that was the auction house, a place for the rich to spend their money on valuable objects, whose precedence was shady at best. Shadow knew that place was a magnet for rotten souls, a place where his thirst for those would be satisfied and from where he could gather the details he so wished to obtain.

[Daemon I: Remain undetected]

Shadow crossed the streets of Reno, using his high agility and limber body to travel through the shadows casted by the buildings around him, soon he had made it to the auction house, his fists clenched as he looked at the rich, presumptuous people gathering at the place, don’t get him wrong though, he realized some of those people were actually philanthropists, people who cared, but for him, their souls was the only thing that matter.

“Now, now, now....what do we have here” Shadow sneaked past the front door, he did not have much money to spend, and he was able to remain unseen for as long as he could, once an item that looked way too strange to be present at an auction house, that would be his signal to strike, a signal for him to find out more about the object and, ultimately, the owner of it.

EXP: 31

Admin Posts : 229

Current Event:Breaking the Bad
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For the moment everything would be going fine for the assassin. This place was one of memories for him, rather confusing ones but memories none the less. The first route on his path to power had been within this city, taking a quest for a man who in the end almost refused to pay him and ended up getting murdered himself. The idea here was to look for an item that was almost too rare to be here, though just what that could be was well....debatable. In truth there were many items that could have been rare to such collectors but Shadow wouldn't consider them particularly valuable.

About half an hour passed, rings and jewels being passed between Auction and Nobleman till something did come up. " Here we have an exquisitely rare item, one that will not be seen again on this stage unless one of you happens to go broke". There was a laugh among the crowd, this was one way to find out which was the rare item...to have it spelled out in front of your face. Of course the laugh had simply been because the nobles of Treno had nearly an infinite amount of wealth to draw upon, at least from the view of one who had virtually nothing.

The employees of the auction house brought out the item which was covered in a ragged white cloth. The auctioneer would draw back the veil from the item to reveal a clouded, rusted hand mirror. It appeared completely worthless though the crowd seemed to be reacting in whispers. " This, ladies and gentleman is [Ispen's Mirror], rumored to have been crafted by Lord Ispen himself....". There was something almost enchanted about the abomination of an artifact....

Still this was the moment, this item was undoubtedly black market....if you stole it..then you'd be able to lure out its true owners....

Level : 7 Posts : 12

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Shadow’s eyes glimmered as he saw the Ispen’s Mirror appear on stage, this was the opportunity he was waiting for, an object of such rarity that it couldn’t possibly had been obtained legally. He was no Paladin, no justice dealer, he was nothing else but a punisher of the excesses, a destroyer of the sinful, a judge who would like nothing else but claim a soul for himself, the darker the soul, the more exquisite it was for him.

The laugh from the crowd was like a drill to Shadow’s ears, how depraved they were at the mere mention of going broke, they had only wait for him to deal with them, one by one, they would all experience the misery of poverty, they would all experience the lack of basic needs, and he would be on top, looking down on them, laughing just as they were.
Shadow’s stealth was rather useful on this situation, the simple fact that the object was such a rarity took their eyes off what surrounded them, the agility and lightness of his feet was able to simply dance through the spaces of that place, using his ability to turn into a smoky shadow simply aided his cause a little bit more.

Shadow could have tried to take the mirror by force, after all, he doubted the auctioneer had any fighting capabilities, and the crowd of rich, stinking rich, criminals where sure to be nothing else but idiots with guns, at most. However, he preferred something else, he preferred not to be seen, to strike from the shadows, to start the chain of fear through a well thought hit, to envelop the entire room in darkness and set the tone for what would be his upcoming reign. Yes, that was Shadow’s goal.
As he glided through the room, he found the fuse room, unguarded as no one really expected a hit at a place like this, with ease, Shadow used his daggers to break into it, causing complete and utter darkness to envelop the room. The people there would be rather surprised and, for sure, the auctioneer would try to get the mirror away. But Shadow was too fast, he was too quick and agile for that to stop him with ease, he moved swiftly through the crowd, through the moving persons that made bumping into each other something not out of the ordinary, he closed in to the stage, in utter darkness, completely hidden away from sight and shrouded in shadows, he stood behind the auctioneer and whispered into his ear.

“Yours is the first soul I’ll claim…” The whisper was low, so only him could hear, with one hand he held onto the mirror, with the other, he slit the auctioneer’s throat, hoping that it would be enough to kill him, but he needed the room to know who had done it, he needed them to know this was not a random act of theft, but a message that he was coming, he wanted them to feel fear, to feel insecure in their own homes, he grabbed the auctioneers head, still bleeding profusely from the slit throat and turned him around towards where the wall would be, with his blood, he wrote on the wall the next message:

“THE SHADOWS WILL COME. THIS IS THE START OF MY REING”

The blood dripped from his message, but it was exactly what he wanted. After being done with that, he moved cautiously, but gracefully away from the darkened room, heading towards the back exit from which he would make his escape.

EXP: 60

Admin Posts : 229

Current Event:Breaking the Bad
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Suffice to say Shadow's message would like have some effect on the gangsters that had obtained the item. However cautious as he might be to move away from any darkened room this place was heavily guarded. The moment things started to turn sour for anyone it wasn't just the local guards that began to swarm near the building but the bodyguards of the nobles and of course the criminals that you were hoping to dominate. For a brief moment the mirror in Shadows possession would glimmer, one step made by the assassin would resound throughout the whole building giving away his position.

Whilst normally Shadow would be able to sneak out without so much as a whisper to his presence, this mirror came from Ispen's Castle, it was a magical artifact. Unbeknownst to its now clandestine owner the castle of Ispen was known for its reality bending effects, the castle itself was like a mirror unto the world giving the mirrored reality to all who entered. The mirror he held was like a smaller more condensed version of this, where in the castle the strongest person becomes the weakest, and the most useful weapon becomes the most useless. Shadow's powers would undogo a similar effect, by trying to be quiet Shadow had in fact become loud.

The Guards rushed towards the back entrance on the heels of the assassin leaving him with two options, to flee...or to fight.

Level : 7 Posts : 12

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“What...?” Shadow thought as he heard the loud thumps of his feet against the floor of the auction house, the attention he grabbed was rather unwanted and he could not understand how that had happened. Did he made a mistake and stepped on a trap? Did he think he was moving safely and got distracted? No, that wasn’t it. It couldn’t, he was not that naïve or careless, especially not when handling these kind of situations, there was something else at works here.

“Well, it appears my presentation will be rushed” He shouted to the room, trying to be as loud as he could, yet only a whisper came out, he could not understand what was going on, but what was supposed to be a loud and quick shout, turned into a whisper that lasted ages. He saw the guards coming towards him, he thought he could take them on and make a quick presentation on what it would mean to oppose him, but that was not the way he worked. No, his work would come from the shadows, not out in the open like this.

“Not today, my friends” He said in a whisper, which turned into a rather loud, echoing shout across the room, there was something extremely odd happening here, and he was starting to understand what had happened with his silent approach, it was not that he had screwed up, but someone or something had been putting some kind of magic on him, he had no time to wonder what it was, or how it worked, it was time for him to go.
He started running towards the exit, if he was proud of something, it was his speed and agility, which he thought would take him out of there, however, whatever magic was on him made it’s act again, the guards where catching up rather quickly and he could not figure out why, they could not possibly be faster than him, how could they? So, he finally understood. He was in some sort of “trick room” everything was opposite here...or was it only him? He did not know nor did he know where it was coming from, but what was for certain, is that everything he did, everything he tried, would become the opposite. He frowned, he did not like it at all.

“I have nothing to lose...” Shadow shouted, trying to see if it actually became a whisper, as he tried out his theory, instead of running towards the exit, he tried walking, slowly, at a pace he would think the guards would caught up to him faster than he could imagine, if he managed to make it past the door and onto the outside of Treno, he would hide himself in plain sight....after all, opposite day might be all the cover he might need.

EXP: 47
- Flee

Admin Posts : 229

Current Event:Breaking the Bad
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The men would be left staring at Shadow as if he was something out of a cartoon.

The assassin would walk away slowly, but to him it would appear as if the entire world had slowed down to a crawl, no one around him could catch up as he just strolled out of the scene and into the crowd of people. Once he was among the people the guards were slightly baffled, the moment Shadow stopped moving however time seemed to return to normal with everyone moving as they normally should. Now whilst Shadow had seen the guards moving incredibly slowly the guards had bore witness to shadow strolling at incredibly high speeds, it was kind of like watching a video of someone walking away only at x20 fast forward. They had no idea what to make of anything other than to head back and report to their superiors.

For now Shadow was left with the Mirror of Ispen and all its reality bending powers, what he'd do with it was up to him. This item though could very well be the most useful item in the world for an amateur thief. An item which allowed all their mistakes and errors to become instead perfect iterations of what they were trying to do. With Shadow however this item was more problematic, whilst it had allowed him to escape just by walking, it had nearly gotten him caught when he had done what came naturally. And that was perhaps one of his problems whilst holding this item...everything that he had trained for, everything that came as second nature...was now useless whilst holding this item. He would actually need to TRY and be bad at what he did...

None the less this had just been one piece of bait set out for the crime lords of Treno, but it was going to take much more than this to rile up these made men. At this point Shadow could choose to stow away the Ispen's Mirror and allow him to return to his normal skill set, or he could bypass that and move onto the next round of baiting out the bad-er. Less bad guys.

[ Stash mirror, or think of a way to bait out the crime lords]

Level : 7 Posts : 12

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“So, the Mirror of Ispen huh?” Shadow said as he realized he was safe, the little artifact held quite the humorous effect on the surrounding area, it was certainly an awful way for him to work, getting bad at what he did best was not his exact preference when it came to magical objects, but he certainly thought it might help him out in a pinch, after all, if he knew the effects of it, he could counter act them, while whoever else was caught in its magical properties would have no idea what was going on.
The point now was, what to do next? He had successfully stolen the artifact the rich families wanted, but that would hardly lure out the mob heads on a hunt for him. No, he needed to do something to lure them, something that would either bring one, some or all of them to one spot in where he could exploit his best abilities and bring them down, ugly, in a way that the simple fear that he was luring around would allow him to start a new age, a new organization, one that would focus simply on the destruction and harvesting of souls, one where he would be the one and only power.

“First things first though...” Shadow thought as he stashed the Mirror of Ispen within his cloak, he had to start working towards a greater goal, a base of operations of some sort, one where he could hide away everything he might encounter in his travels, that he could stay at and plan, and, when the situation let him, one where he could “play” with unwilling individuals. For now, he would look for an abandoned building, any would suffice, however, he was not moving around cautiously, no, he wanted those criminals to know where he was going, he wanted to be followed and once he had put away the Mirror of Ispen, once it’s properties could no longer affect him, then he would strike.

He crossed the city and reached an old, abandoned building from the slums, that part of town where the richest of Treno would never even look at, once in there, he walked towards the furthest part of it, looking for a locker room, a chest, anything that could hold the mirror while he was gone, and there, wrapped with his cloak, he stashed it. He was now visible, the tail behind his body was completely free, his ice, blue eyes stared into the door, waiting for the moment someone would come, staging a counter attack as he could.

EXP: 43

Level : 9 Posts : 9

Current Event: Treno, City of Shadows
Current BGM:

“It was not that I loved him, something about him caught my curiosity, he was so dark, so lost...so FUN, I followed him to the end of the world, and as such, my research found some incredible things” – Fragment of Arianna Milatovich’s Diary, Page 157.

She opens her eyes to the sound and light of a rather crowded city, blinking, she slowly sits up finding herself in the very center of said city. Passerby’s simply look her way and go on, ignoring the beautiful girl in the lab coat, leaving her to fend for herself in such a place. “How rude!” She thinks as she gets up and dusts her lab coat of, she has no idea what happened before, or why she’s in this city, but she doesn’t cares, it just another incident that would allow her to continue her research. She smiles happily, crossing her arms in her back, skipping towards...she stops. Where was she going? Where the hell was she anyways?

“I seem...to be lost...” She says, a rather silent whisper escapes her lips, the ruckus of this city clouds her judgment and thoughts, but something catches her eye. She sees...HIM, that person he had previously helped, a long time ago, and whose body was more interesting than others. Yes, a Genome, a scientifically created...or was it? She could not remember. Apparently, he was running away from someone, or...something? But it was strange, the first few steps were taken with hilariously slow steps, she could have caught him if she wanted. No, she waits, she wants to see where this is going, following him some big bad boys come out, stupid by the look of it, but brawny. She grins, it was always fun to have something chasing you...or your team, it made life exciting.

“He’s not...hiding?’ She whispers as she sees Shadow moving rather...clumsily, was he drunk when he came out of that auction house? She didn’t know but she wants to find out, she follows closely, there’s something enchanting about that person, something that attracts her like a magnet to his location. She doesn’t know where she is, why she is, or how she is, but she knows that for now, his attraction has sparked her curiosity. She notices his eye, the one she had improved herself, one of her....well, not best works but at least it was passable. She follows closely, but carefully, like a stalker would.

“Shadow-Sama...” She says in a rather girlish voice from outside of that abandoned building, she’s looking in at the man that had attracted her here. Standing on a rather large trash can, allowing her to be watching from above. She has a small blush, and a stalkerish look in her eyes, she feels excitement, but not exactly for the reasons one might think, this man, he’s perfect. Yes, he is a perfect specimen for her to experiment on, he’s fearless and unscrupulous, he won’t judge and, more likely than not, he would have the power to provide her with whatever she needed. See? Perfect.

“Castle Baron...” She whispers, was she supposed to go there? She does not know, it does rings a bell in her head, but the allure coming from Shadow catches her back in, she sighs in relief, even though what she might remember seemed to be important, Castle Baron, Lord Kain, something about the Holy and Meteor, she doesn’t care. She simply smiles, watching Shadow wait for...nothing? She looks over at the front door, no one’s coming. What is he waiting for? She pouts, she knows it’s not her but, she sees what he did, he stashes that mirror somewhere, interesting, maybe another thing to do research on? Oh, how fun this will be.

EXP: 62

Admin Posts : 229

Current Event:Breaking the Bad
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All of a sudden, shit just got real.

She was here again, through worlds and time Shadow could not escaping the probing fingers and utensils of that ONE girl who performed an operation on him. The one girl who was probably more insane than even Shadow was. She was here for him again, here to experiment on him, to stick things inside of him, to take things out!

Luckily though for Shadow the Cetran Scientist was not the only person to show up on the scene, it seemed the moment that the had stowed away Ispen's mirror bad luck seemed to befall him. An unfortunate fact of history that Ispen's Castle was a place that was nearly impossible to find, this alone was what made the shard of mirror that he carried so very rare. But as Shadow had come to find out the mirror's reality bending qualities tended to throw out the opposite of everything that Shadow knew to be true. The Abandoned Building had once been a rather secretive place to hide both the mirror and perhaps by extension himself...but thanks to the shard he may as well have stuck a neon sign on the building as all Crime thugs within 300 feet got a sudden psychic inclination to come here and kill Shadow.

" WE GOT THE BUILDING SURROUNDED YA HEAR"

Shouted one thug from the outside ( of course the building wasn't REALLY surrounded, these guys were just dimwitted enough to claim it). None the less there was a lot of them...then again perhaps this was precisely what the situation asked for...he needed to lure out the mob bosses...perhaps a slaughter of their peons would do the job.

[ Kill. Fucking.Everything].

Level : 7 Posts : 12

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So, his plan didn’t actually worked as he had expected it, it was more a doing of the mirror than his actual plan of luring in the criminal organization into his grasp, but in the end, it had worked. Shadow remained still, right at the center of the room without even noticing that an old acquaintance of him was looking in through one of the high windows of the place, the sound of the goons outside made him smirk, knowing that they were coming in to the slaughter house, just as engorged chickens ready for the killing. He looked around, the abandoned building was almost falling apart, old rafters were cracking at the top, mold, water and other things were growing in the corners of the place, broken windows, glass, even blood stained the ground of the place, it obviously was one of those spots where the crime families “disposed” of the inconvenient truth.

“Surrounded, you say?” Shadow said, his voiced echoed through the empty space and escaped through the broken windows and door, Arianna would pretty much be able to see and hear everything he did, mostly because he was not aware that she was there. Soon enough, his body turned into a slightly more shadowy figure, he started to float instead of walk and darkness enveloped him completely. He swiftly moved towards the front, there were some stacked trash containers on the inside of the building that where high enough for him to reach one of the broken windows, carefully he did and looked outside, analyzing the situation he was in, three goons in the front, holding machine guns and pointing them at the entrance, two more in the roof of the buildings nearby, sniper rifles in hand scanning the area, and well, he could not really say if there was anyone on the sides of the building, but these five at least, seemed like a very good challenge for Shadow.

“They are better prepared than I thought” He said as he slowly climbed out of the window, without the Ispen’s Mirror in his hold, his ability to sneak around had returned, he could once more become the best at what he did. His body almost looked like a leaking liquid through the window, he climbed to the roof of the building on the outside and moved through the shadows, heading towards where one of the snipers stood. He smirked, he liked this kind of goons, he loved secrecy and skill, and while not his weapon of choice, he certainly preferred snipers to machine guns. This guy seemed to have been the lucky one, as Shadow would give him a chance to survive, ultimately, it would be the goons choice though.

“You have two options...” Shadow whispered before stabbing the sniper on its side, avoiding any contact with vital organs, but making sure his dagger was covered in poison, his free hand covered his mouth for a few seconds until the poison had ran through his body, if the goon tried to speak, he would find himself unable to muster any sound from his mouth, the pain of moving even a finger would prevent him from firing the weapon he held in his hand “...you either die a painful, horrible dead...or...” Shadow grinned, he acted as if he was a parent scolding a child and set his hand on top of the goon’s head “You join me, you swear allegiance to me, do that, and I’ll save your life. You have until the slaughter is over to decide” With that, the shadow moved away, leaving the goon in pain behind.

Up until this point, he had been able to move without a lot of problems, the machine gun brutes were stupid enough to head inside the building, giving a much more ample space to move towards the next sniper in place, it seemed he wasn’t too bright either, as his gun pointed mostly to the building the brutes were investigating. Shadow simply moved with care towards him as well, coming in from behind and repeating the process he had done to the previous sniper, however, his speech was a different one this time.

“You are a chosen one, two options are given to you though...dead...or obedience...” the dagger pierced through his back, letting the poison flow inside his body, giving him just enough time to move down towards the abandoned building once more, here is where the fun would begin.

Shadow’s plans were spoiled though, as skillful as he was, he had not known how old this building was, and as he tried to climb up the rafters, one of them gave up, crashing down on the ground and alerting the brutes of his presence, it didn’t matter how fast he was this time, against three machine guns he couldn’t possible dodge them all, the fun part had been spoiled and for the first time in a very, very long time, he was forced to hide.

EXP: 83

- Two Goons given the option to join Shadow or die.

Level : 9 Posts : 9

Current Event: Treno, City of Shadows
Current BGM:

“The day they came, I saw an artifact of great value, I could not wait ‘til I placed my hands on it...but they came, and my play toy had to wait” Arianna’s Diary, Page 165

She watches as the events unfold, her eyes blink at Shadow, blushing and getting giddy as she listens to the Genome in the room, his threats, his posture, somehow everything about him sends shockwaves through her mind, what an interesting specimen indeed. Emotionless, yet cruel and vindictive, he is so cruel and she cannot explain why. She wants to test, to experience what it would be to be in his shoes. She wants that knowledge and that, adventure. But, he needs to be alive for that and, those criminals are here, threatening to kill him...again.
She blinks once more, the criminals enter the building, and Shadow is not with them, where is he? She wonders for a moment, as she hears a scream coming her way “You! Get down here or get killed!” She turns her head and looks at the man yelling those words, her labcoat covering her as her hair drops down, she sulks and turns to looking at him, with a pout, scared eyes and a fragile look on her face, and she steps down from the window, acting innocent and weak.

“Are you some sort of...playmate for this asshole? Move!!” The man shouts at her, he grabs his machine gun and threatens to hit Arianna with it, the back of the machine gun is heading towards her cheek, but seconds before it hits....BOOOOOOOM!

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!” She shouts, her face turning into a deprived maniac, with a laughter that could be heard even to the inside of the building, it echoes louder than the raft that had fallen from Shadow’s climbing attempt, her eyes open wide as she brings out Omnistick! And starts firing away, one after the other, the magical bullets from her shotgun find their new home on the man’s chest, pushing him further and further behind until he hits a wall. She grins as the blood is splattered across the old concrete and the life escapes from the man’s body. She knees, and...Sobs...her expression changes to that of anger and...Sadness? So many emotions in such a short amount of time, what a waste.

She gets up, loads her shotgun once more and starts walking towards the front of the building, Shadow seems in trouble and, she remembers. She had someone she could...”control” or contact, but, did it work still? Did that thing had come to this...world...or whatever had happened? She would try, she stops for a second and turns her bionic eye on, the readings start going crazy and she has no idea how to fix it, at least not during duress and without the proper tools.

“Come on...work, work!” She shouts as she sends some commands through the eye, towards wherever the Iblis was, if it worked, she would not know and she is not going to try anymore. She walks towards the entrance, her body glows as if a magical aura had been covering her for some time now, the goons are shooting their machine guns and Shadow has gotten cover. Oh, this is going to be fun.

“YOU DO NOT FIRE AT MY PRECIOUS SPECIMEN!” She shouts, the bullets from the gun hit her body, but somehow, the impacts do not seem as strong as they should, the thin layer of magic appears to be reducing the damage she’s taking and...She does it again. She points her gun at the assailants, the shotgun fires a blast of light, which divides itself into three beams of magical energy, the brutes seem perplexed at what has happened and, seconds after they feel themselves been pierced by the energy shot at them. They are dead, not a single sound comes from them and Arianna smiles, and she crosses her hands behind her back, looking at Shadow.

“Sorry, I should not have intervened but...I am interested on yo-...that mirror you got” She says, she cannot show her hand just yet, but before she can further explain, a man from behind bludgeons her with a bat on her back, it sends her flying forward, hitting the case Shadow hid the mirror on, three more brutes come in, closing in onto her defenseless self, oh what could a damsel in distress do now. She grins, a dark, scary, mean grin, she knows what’s about to happen and, thankfully, she has the best seats in town.

EXP: 75

Posts : 105

K138Y had used her new found ability to follow the wi-fi signal that had activated an unknown program in her. The result was her holographic arrival through Arianna's cyborg eye projecting herself into the middle of a gunfight. The bullets flew through her, they would continue to do so unless she physically interacted with another inanimate object. Her form would be filled with static like a TV that wasn't working properly. She took in little of the situation and instead confronted Arianna, who was now the clear culprit of the mysterious program that had cut off and overloaded her mana drive.

"What --the worldly hell Arian--! I trusted you with ac--ess to every part of my --ody and you plant me with some sort of malfu--ning program!?" The static imagry seemed to be accompanied by a regular cut out of audio. "I dem--" The cutoff this time was accompanied with a piercing high pitched noise like when mic malfunctions or the noises a computer makes during a dial-up connection. K138Y didn't seem to notice and continued talking through the several second noise. "--igher you for free wor-- i- -ink you would just rob me o-- Just shut me dow-- all together!" Clearly she was quite upset.

WCXP:21
Total: 21

Level : 7 Posts : 12

Current Event:
Current BGM:

What in the seven hells was she doing here? Shadow was not particularly afraid of Arianna, but the Cetran made him feel...uneasy to say the least. It had been proven on his journeys before that the Scientist was a little bit...out of her mind, Shadow might be an emotionless, scheming killer, but there was nothing on his story that made him appear crazy, unbalanced or...Arianna like. The moment she stepped out from the Shadows, how she managed to stay away from his sight was a complete mystery to him, was the moment Shadow’s expression changed. Being a Genome, he couldn’t express emotion or feel them at least, but he had picked up on the social cues given by humans.

“What are you doing here Arianna...the mirror you say?” Shadow spoke as Arianna explained her intents, it seemed the powers of the Mirror had lured the scientists to his lair, however, they were not completely free just yet. The two snipers still had some time to make their decisions, the goons where dead, but it appeared another one had escaped their onslaught. Shadow looked ahead, noticing a man crawling away for his life, he was undamaged, even though Arianna’s weapon was rather...interesting.

Shadow rushed towards him and caught up at the entrance to the abandoned building, he could feel his fear, his body trembling and every inch of bravery he had was missing from his body. Shadow placed his blades at his throat and whispered onto the goon’s ear.

“You will tell your boss, and whoever else you can...that there will be a change of reign in this town...I AM the owner of this Town now...and, if they refuse, they will face a faith worse than death, after that, return to me so I can save your life...or don’t and die” His dagger sunk onto the side of the man, once more, being sure to avoid any vital organs and let his poison do the job, it would be painful, but his movement would not be impaired and he would be able to deliver his message.

“Now...woman, explain yourself if you do not want to be killed!” Shadow shouted, in what would be described as angrily for a Genome, his daggers pointed at the mad scientists, ready to strike if that’s the path she wanted to take. As soon as he did though, the remaining windows burst in, glass shattered across the floor and they found themselves surrounded, Shadow was tired, his patience was done and he had sent his message already, he did not have to hold back anymore.

“One second...” He whispered to Arianna, his patience obviously tested as a vein in his forehead was apparent, the goons slowly approached to their spot, walking ever so slowly with their guns aimed at the him and Arianna, two seconds later though, he resembled a shadow, an incorporeal body, though still damageable, the burst of bullets began, the echoing sounds of machine guns broke any remaining glass around, but that was not enough to cover the screams each and every one of them would let out.

The first to fall was a tall goon, muscly and obviously on ‘roids, Shadow was very, very tired, his first dagger sunk into his shoulder, making him drop the machine gun to the ground, the second one stabbed him through his stomach, and ripped upwards, making his guts spill to the ground, allowing him to remain alive for a few seconds, enough for his eyes to see his guts coming out.

The second was less gory, Shadow leaped up into the rafters, avoiding most of the bullets coming his way and then flew downwards, his daggers piercing through the goon’s chest and then sliding to the right and left, opening the chest in a wide motion and revealing the goon’s still beating heart, soon after though, it stopped, becoming nothing else but a vessel for an organ harvesting.

The last few goons still alive where less showy, slit throats and simple stabs where more than enough, however, the lair he had picked was now covered in blood, the crimson color that was shown was something out of a horror movie, but there was no monster here, there was no alien, there was just a man, a genome, standing at the center of it all, his bloody dagger dripping, his eyes emotionless and blue, and hope that his message had been heard.

EXP: 73

Level : 9 Posts : 9

Current Event: Treno, City of Shadows
Current BGM:

“The idea of travelling across the world was enticing, but his...it scared me. I could tell he was not a normal man, but even though I was scared...my curiosity was stronger” Fragment of Arianna Milatovich’s Diary Page 356

She giggles as Shadow confronts her, it’s so...interesting the way he reacts towards her advances, though he then flips, an angered man towards the thugs coming his way, her mind isn’t normal, she cares not for violence, if it’s used for progress of science and discovery. However, Shadow’s violence is somewhat different, it’s driven by revenge and hate, by an intense “feeling” of power and ownership. This man is something dangerous, but she’s not swayed from her position, she watches as the killing starts, inside, she feels fear and disgusts for what’s going on, but outside, she smiles and giggles, her eyes squint at the squirting blood and she simply stands there, with her hands crossed behind her back.

“Oh...it’s working?” She whispers to herself as K138Y makes an appearance on her eye, the static covers most of what she’s saying and Arianna doesn’t bothers to see what her message was, the scrambled message is lost in the air waves, but at least she knows K138Y is here and her device is working, though she has no idea what she’s done, though she realizes her mistake, her signal can be traced.

“Oh...tee hee...silly me! Oh well!” She skips towards the man at the center of the blood pool, a wide smile on her face as she reaches Shadow and smirks, knowing that he’s looking for allies, or more like, followers or pets. She leans forward and looks at him, a smile drawn on her face.

“I’ll follow you...I’m pretty sure my scientific mind will come favorably on your endeavors, mon amie” She says with an accent, just what the hell was she doing with that, she didn’t know “...that mirror of yours, can I see it? I might be able to do something useful out if it” She grins, that mirror could have some secrets, secrets that she was willing to explore.

EXP: 50

Admin Posts : 229

Current Event:Breaking the Bad
BGM:

And the terrible union of science and assassination was born, what criminal enterprise would spawn from these two? Well that was yet to be seen. None the less for the moment there was an echo of peace, nothing to do between the two but look on at the mirror. To Shadow it was little more than the means to an end, and more recently an arcane annoyance and curiosity. To Arianna though, her mind being the 'special' kind of crazy that it was...just might be able to figure out and use whatever power the mirror had for herself.

Active Event: Fruuuiiittss oofff SCCIIIIIEENNNNCCEEE
Object: Ispen's Mirror
Description: Ispen's mirror isn't literally a mirror, rather its more of a fragment of reflective glass much like one would see if you broke an actual mirror. The fragment contains within it the same enchantment that haunts Ispen's Castle, the fragment distorts reality for whoever holds it things literally becoming the reverse of what they should be. People who run, run at the speed of walking. People who are incredibly strong now find themselves hitting like pansies. What use can Ari find for this object? We shall see!

Level : 7 Posts : 12

Current Event:
Current BGM:

So, the battle was done and the pool of blood laid before him, the girl skips toward him gleefully, as if the horrors of death and dismemberment were nothing to her, her face shows happiness, her lips curl into a smile and her feet are bathing in blood, yet, she says she will follow him? Willingly? Just what on earth did this girl had in her mind? For Shadow, this was mind boggling, he couldn’t really think of a reason why she would want to join him, but he would take her, her mind was special, she was a god damn genius and apparently, very strong. He had not forgotten how she had “improved” him with that eye of his, and he was not about to reject any kind of help.

“The mirror? Ipsen’s Mirror?” Shadow asked, that thing had brought him some discomfort by having to suck at what he was best, but if someone could find a useful use for that thing, it was her. He turned around, his feet making a splashing sound every time he pushed forward, his feet slapping the blood beneath him, they would need to do something about this sooner or later, if this abandoned place would serve as their “headquarters”. He took the mirror and walked back to Arianna, for some reason he knew she would not take the thing and run off and, even if she did, he could just hunt her down if he needed.

“Here, a warning though, that thing might make you stupid...it has some odd reverse effect...” He said, Shadow wasn’t particularly smart, so he didn’t really know how to explain what it did, but Arianna, well, she would have to figure something out.

“Now, before you do anything else...” Shadow stopped “How in the world did you find me? How did you get here?” Everything about her right now was a mystery, it was not that he was mad about her finding him, he had been careless on purpose outside of the auction house, but this place had changed, he had no idea what was going on, but his goal was the same, this Gaia, there was something different, but at the same time, it was the same.

EXP: 37

Level : 9 Posts : 9

Current Event: Treno, City of Shadows
Current BGM:
“When he gave me the mirror, I was enticed by my beauty, I had never seen myself before in this light, but that mirror, its properties were even more than I thought they would be” Ipsen’s Research, Page 7

The girl giggles as she sees Shadow walk away from her, she doesn’t moves but looks around, the nastiness of the place is not appropriate for scientific research, no, that would not work at all. She pouts, her lips curl downwards as she frowns and lifts her hands up, on her palms, and around them, gusts of wind start to arrive, Shadow would feel the strength of the winds pushing against him and suddenly, she thrusts her hands down against the floor, the wind crashes down onto the ground and starts to expand, pushing away the blood to the edges of building, her hands shift, they become heavy with magic and the ground shakes the moment her hands contact the ground, cracks start appearing on the ground where the blood had moved and then...it drains.

“Better, research needs to be done on sterile conditions if possible...but this will do” She smiles at him, he hands cross behind her back as she lifts one of her feet cutely, smiling as Shadow comes back with the Ipsen’s Mirror. She takes it, and instantly feels something odd about it, but pays not much attention to it just yet, Shadow’s voice mesmerizes her and his questions are valid. She blinks.

“Eeh...now that you mention...I’m not sure” She blinks again, her right index finger moves up to her lips and she tries to think, how did she get here, exactly? “I remember opening my eyes...and I saw a city, a fountain and some people moving around...yes, I remember that” She keeps thinking, her mind making an effort, what had happened? Oh yes! The Blight, Manifest ZERO was in her possession before...before she arrived here.

“Then I saw you...being very careless to be honest, so I followed you, but these thugs were mean and rude...they pushed me aside and I got mad...and...and...” She blinks and giggles “...Tee hee! So I killed them! You see, I killed them!” She giggles once more and takes the mirror, looking at Shadow and then tilting her head cutely “I’m pretty sure we are in a different Gaia...how or why...I intend to discover as we travel” She smiles at him, sitting down and putting down the mirror.

“Now...let’s see what this does...exactly” She starts to touch the thing...poke at it...she takes out her tools, microscope and all...and she soon realizes what it sort of does. Her brain, it starts messing up, she feels the magic running through her body, it tingles, her eyes close, she sees the planet, she sees the energy, she sees the flow of things and...It hits her. It affects the brain, it affects perception, the magic flows into the very catharsis the neurons create are being affected by the magic from the mirror, she thinks right, but the “answer” is left, she thinks “up” and the response goes down, she knows, or at least, she has discover some of the effects.

“I see...” Arianna smirks, she drowns herself in the Ipsen’s Mirror magic, her hands touch it, she holds it to her chest, allowing the magic to flow through her, the very biology of her body changes, every inch of her body, every cell in it, every flowing blood white and red blood cell in her body gets bombarded with the magic of Ipsen’s, she knows how she can use it...or at least, she thinks she does. If the biology changes, if it affects perception to a point where the opposite becomes true, then, just maybe, she can enhance her own body, she can create something out of nothing, simply by allowing her mind to work upon the magic provided by Ipsen’s Mirror.

“If I think weak...I should be strong” She whispers, her brain thinks it, “I am weak”, and the magic reacts, it overflows her cells, her neurons begin to work and the magic flows through her veins, “I am weak” She thinks again, she grows strong, or at least she thinks she does. But, if it’s a biological change, it might be dangerous, she hasn’t done any testing, but what the hell, and that’s part of the fun in being a scientist, isn’t it?

“I think I did it, Shadow...-Sama!” She smiles and giggles, though she once more sinks into the Mirror’s Magic, she’s drunk with knowledge, with curiosity, this artifact is amazing, and then she tries it. The Manifest ZERO is with her still, hidden within her lab coat, she takes it out, the vial in her hand, but not opening the container. “Let’s see....” She moves the mirror towards the container, attempting to see a reaction from either, the mirror or The Blight, she giggles and looks at Shadow with a smile.

“Think it would be a bad idea if I open this thing and pour it on the mirror?” She giggles, looking at him with a smile, she has learned the properties of the mirror and the reason it affects humans as it does, the magic of Ipsen’s Mirror flows through her veins now, what effect it would have on her was still a mystery though and, hopefully, it would not kill her.

EXP: 89

Admin Posts : 229

Current Event:Breaking the Bad
BGM:

Fruits of Science:

Mirror World
Description: Arianna's limited study of Ispen's mirror has given her a new grasp on reality bending properties. Whenever she has the "reflect" status cast on her it will change to 'Ispen Reflect' which causes the reversal of more than just magic. With 'Ispen Reflect' a single target spell ability will hit all targets, one that hits all targets will just hit one.Damage inflicted on her will instead be healed, and any healing she does will instead inflict damage. This lasts for 3 rounds.

----

There was a strange reaction from Ispen's mirror when the blight of Manifest ZERO drew close, there was a reflection on the mirror that did not belong to either Arianna or Shadow. Then a blackness began to spread throughout the mirror, consuming it, and as the two stared into the shard of eternity, it would be as if they were drawn into it....before they knew it.....they were no longer in Treno.

A blink, that's all it would take and both of them would be somewhere else, the area was a castle, a strange looking upside down sort of castle.A voice would ring throughout the area..." We who guard the keys to eternity...beckon thee....present thy soul at the mirror and we shalt judge your worth". There was a pair of stairs that seemed to go...down?....up?....the place was all very confusing....

[A Mirrored World]
Arianna's experimentation has led to Shadow and her being trapped within the mirror. Find your way to the main antechamber of the 'castle' and face this guardian.

Level : 7 Posts : 12

Current Event:
Current BGM:

Shadow just watched as the Cetran girl did her experiments on the Mirror, he wasn’t overly worried as the thugs were gone and, even if more came, with Arianna here they could probably kill them once more and increase the blood pool currently draining from the abandoned building they were at. His eyes stared at her as she started to seemingly understand the properties of the mirror and he thought they would be done with this pretty soon, he was thinking of paying a visit to one of the crime heads of Treno, after all, if they would not come to him, he would go to them and start taking some heads.

“You should be done with that soon right?” Shadow asked, he wasn’t a very patient individual, but then, he saw something he wish he hadn’t. The girl took out a container, the same one he had seen before somewhere else, in Midgar to be precise. That container had The Blight within it, the very thing that Shadow thought was as (or even more) dangerous than himself, and she was handling it recklessly, putting it close to the magical mirror of wonders, as if that thing needing something else to attach itself to.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Shadow was on his way to stop Arianna when something happened, the reflection on the Mirror was something pulled straight out of a horror movie, Shadow though, didn’t flinch, he knew he was screwed but this was nothing else but another challenge for him, then the mirror was gone and blackness surrounded him and Arianna, he looked around and all he could see was a very, very strange room, an upside down castle, stairs that went....who knows where and voices that talked about judgment.

“Well, if they are going to judge me, I’m pretty much screwed” He smirked and looked over at Arianna, shaking his head, though being wary, he wasn’t afraid of Arianna...but the girl was certainly nuts.

EXP: 32

Level : 9 Posts : 9

Current Event: Treno, City of Shadows
Current BGM:

“And then it happened, the darkness engulfed us both taking us from Treno, my experiment hadn’t been well thought, and The Blight thought it would be funny to send us to nowhere” Diary of Arianna Milatovich Page 356

“Whoooooops! I made a small miscalculation!” She giggles while being engulfed by the darkness coming from the mirror, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to expose The Blight to a magical object, it appeared the properties of whatever The Blight was had a rather powerful effect on other magical objects, shocker huh? She smiles though, that’s part of being a scientist, making mistakes, observations, all for the sake of knowledge and curiosity, her curiosity had been satisfied and she could move on from the effects of a Blight/Ipsen’s Mirror blend. She hears the voices and blinks, judged? Judged for what? That was crazy talk!

“Well, if we are, you can just...I don’t know, slit their throats and move on...can’t you?” She winks at Shadow, and then looks around the place, the stairs are going...somewhere and it really is their only option at this point, she looks at Shadow and signals him to move forward along with her, taking the stairs is their best option to get out of this place...within the mirror.

“This is confusing...” She said as they walked....up the stairs but headed down...and then, another set of them was visible, it was as if they were inside a cube...where gravity had no effect. She blinks, trying to figure out a way to move through this strangely formed reality, she tells Shadow to wait, while she moves ahead and takes a set of stairs that seem to go...down, however, she comes right above Shadow, upside down but not falling down, she strokes her chin and looks down at him.

“Well...any ideas? I think that castle might have some useful information if we are able to reach it...but this place is weird’ She giggles, waiting for Shadow to lead by example

EXP: 33

Level : 7 Posts : 12

Current Event:
Current BGM:

Shadow looked at Arianna and narrowed his eyes, he wasn’t happy at all at being trapped at this place, his plans would have to be put on hold to simple get out of a situation he had no control over, all because of the little scientist’s curious mind, it had brought them here but apparently, it could not take them out.

He look up, to were Arianna had popped up after taking the stairs somewhere, once more he had no idea what to do and his speed would probably not help at all, though it was worth a try. “I will find a way” He told her as his body turned into the resemblance of a shade, not completely though, and he felt faster and nimbler, he rushed through the stairs into a weird looking hall, stairs coming and going, turning and switching, heck there were even pictures of people mocking him, or at least that’s what it looked to him.

“Tch...” He complained and kept running, every time he ran through a set of stairs, he would see Arianna on the other side, up, down, left, right, even in diagonal, every single stair he took lead to the same place, the beginning of a rather obnoxious, annoying maze. In the end, he became enraged and after the fiftieth time he ended up in that room he knelt down, slammed his fist against the stair and let out a loud roar.

“God damn it Arianna! This place is impossible to get out from!” He was frustrated to say the least, but in his frustration he found a moment of clarity, Ipsen’s Mirror did the opposite of what he wanted, what if this place did the same? What if by trying to find the exit, it was giving you the entrance? What if by trying to go down, you would actually go up? It kind of made sense to Shadow, but he was not absolutely sure it would work, consulting with Arianna would be his best bet at this moment and he would actually try doing so.

“Arianna, you made some research on that Mirror, right?” He started as he got on his feet, looked at her and stroked his chin “What if...this place has the same magical properties the Mirror has, giving us the opposite directions and intents we are trying to achieve. We want to find the exit, it shows us the entrance, we want to go down, it leads us up...does it makes sense to you?”

Shadow asked, with a rather lost look on his face, he seemed to have run out of ideas and this was the best one he could come up with, hopefully, the scientist’s little mind would be better suited for this kind of problems than his did, or else they would be stuck here for a longer time and that would completely destroy what he had in mind for Treno, oh how he longed for those stupid, power hungry morons to get a visit from the Reaper, sooner or later, sooner or later it would be the case.

EXP: 51

Level : 9 Posts : 9

Current Event: Treno, City of Shadows
Current BGM:

“Being lost was...fun. The place was bonkers, but my mind was stimulated in more ways than I could think of...yes, it was fun and strange...and...It lead me to that event...” Fragment of Arianna Milatovich Diary Page 365

“That makes sense...considering the magical properties of the Mirror, it affects our brain neurons, so if we want to find the exit, subconsciously, our brain sends the signal to our body to find the entrance instead, so that might be why we aren’t finding a way out of this place, yes” She explains with a smile on her face, her fingers stroke her chin as well and stares at Shadow, frowning and waiting, the silence starts, it’s awkward and neither of them moves, she then giggles and skips towards Shadow, taking the stairs, but wishing to be somewhere else, needless to say, she ends up next to Shadow, her theory had been proven right.

“Alrighty-o! Time to prove my theory once more, Mr. Shadow!” She says cheerfully as she grabs Shadow’s arm, pulling him with her through the maze of stairs, stopping once in a while to think, re-think and organize her ideas that drifted into the oblivion of The Blight that she carried, the darkness within it and the Planet, When was the last time he had spoken to it? Heard it? She stops and puts her finger to her lip, Shadow probably wondering what’s wrong or why they had stopped so suddenly, she smiles and remembers, wasn’t it when it told her to destroy The Blight? Maybe, but how could she destroy it? It went against everything she believed a scientist stood for. Anyways, she shrugs and continues, pulling Shadow with her and going through new rooms every time, Shadow’s idea and her vivid mind seem to be able to dissolve Ipsen’s magic, at least until now.

“Look! Over there!” She points as the exit has finally appeared before them, they walk past the last door, and leave behind the freaky little stairs, she jumps and kicks, and takes out her gun and starts firing all over the place, the magical beams coming from her shotgun, and sometimes bullets as well, starts to fly in every direction, it looks like the magic of Ipsen’s place affects objects as well, she doesn’t realizes it at all and simply skips across the exit, heading to what seemed to be the antechamber of the Castle.

EXP: 40

Admin Posts : 229

Current Event:Breaking the Bad
BGM:

The final room would beckon you all forward, the room was like a giant sphere the center was a pedestal. In front of the pedestal lay three huge mirrors that spanned from the floor to the roof reflecting both you two and each other, one mirror was however different from the rest in that it had a large crack on the bottom left corner, the crack and missing piece of glass seemed to be an exact fit for the Ispen's Mirror.

Now it was quite obvious at this point just what whoever ha called yo wanted you to do, slide the mirror into the slot so that the giant mirror would once again be whole. Yet one had to remember..this was a magical artifact that even a SLIVER of screwed up reality. Clearly the three mirrors worked in tandem to do SOMETHING and with that much power...the effects of an intact artifact at this point were unknown.

In the center pedestal there were writings, an ancient and unknowable language. Right now it was either time to investigate further or slide the mirror into place...

[Choice Event]

Slide the mirror into place
Investigate the room further
[Special] Arianna, use Planet Tongue to invoke the aid of Gaia