The girl did not reply, neither reacted, the impact upon her was enormous, as she was being assaulted by her own feeling of guilt. She just continued shivering all time. Elean looked at the newcomer and asked... "Another participant no?, are you also willing to reshape the truth of this world?.."
"Another participant no?, are you also willing to reshape the truth of this world?.." Josh didn’t respond straight away to the question, mainly because he was too focused on the girl and wiping the drying blood from her lips and face. The question hit him a moment or two after it was posed. Puzzled by it, he stood and look at the man. “I don’t understand your meaning. Participate in what? The beating of this defenceless girl? No thank you. As for the truth of this world, as I see it the world is what I make it and truth is diverse, different from man to man.” He turned back to the girl, unsure of why he felt so concerned for her. He didn’t know her, had never seen her until today, but he couldn’t shake the feelings that washed over him.
“I don’t understand your meaning. Participate in what? The beating of this defenceless girl? No thank you. As for the truth of this world, as I see it the world is what I make it and truth is diverse, different from man to man.” Elean smiled "Precisely, the Scarlet Nocturne will allow us to imprint our world as that truth... You could even create a reality were nothing bad happens to that cute murdered you know?..." The girl continued shivering, but she reacted this time. However an unexpected reaction. A rejection She pushed away the boy that came to her and then crawled backwars, as if she were to be rejecting everything in front of her.. She then turned her back to all of them, her blue dress now dirtied wavered revealing three distinctive marks on the back of it. Those were marks of sewing, small parts of the dress were sewed with a very experienced hand. Slowly one of the stitch teared apart, making a strange gold thread to fell on the floor below her. Nadia didn't pay attention, or perhaps she didn't give importance to it. She just tried to run away to one of the doors, however the sound of a trumpet and a black hole formed in front of her. Slowly the figure of Angelo raised from the hole stopping the running Nadia. The incredible big man grabbed the head of the girl with just one hand.. "We don't want you to take a walk dear. You're the special guest of the party did you forgot?" said the man with his deep tone. He then lowered his tone and said to her "Besides, you also want to reshape the world to your own... am I right?" The girl didn't reply with words, but with fear. Yet the words of Angelo reached to her.
Jaharra watched everything with a critical eye, crouched in a shadow as her assistants lay unconscious beside her. Her eyes practically glowed, and she had to resist the dark being within her as it clawed for release. A snarling, angry animal that was the very reason for her talent. But the moment that the girl had tried to run she stood up, approaching with her katanas spinning lazilly in her hands. "I don't see why we would want to change the world anyways. It is fine, albeit awful at times. But fine nonetheless." Then, the swords spun faster, and one darted out to stab into the ground near Angelo's foot. Jaharra allowed a wolfish grin to come to her face as the beast grew stronger, making fangs poke through her gums and cause them to bleed. Claws too, poked out of her fingertips, replacing the nails as her hair turned a bit ragged. Not a full change. No, not yet. The beast was still just under her control. But it was only one step away from breaking loose. "Let her go." she growled.
The interruption of Jaharra timed in a such perfect way that caused Elean to get excited about it. "Hey, hey. We already gave the instructions and we were about to do a bit of fighting. You're just so good at this. I mean, you even surprised Angelo!!!" It wasn't a lie, the man step back and released the girl out of surprise. Nadia fell to the floor with a dry sound, she was about to run again, however Angelo quickly played his trumpet again, creating a black circle beneath him and Nadia, then both were sucked into the circle only to be released in the stage close to Maria, Vasco and Elean. "She isn't bad..." said Angelo still sweating. Elean however stood up smiling and said "Well, anything has a limit, we just have to find it, that's all..." With a quick move the man produced his revolver and aimed at Jaharra, without the intention to cause a fatal wound, yet to rend her inactive. "So you're not interested into playing God a bit? seems the Scarlet thinks otherwise..." And then he pulled the trigger...
CLANG! The bullet split neatly in half, each piece rushing past either side of Jaharra's face as she glared at Elean, her other katana up in a defensive stance. "Don't toy with me, mouse." she purred, and her eyes changed to a deep amber, pupils narrowing to slits as she grinned, revealing crooked yellow fangs. Giggling like a child, she vanished in a blur through the shadows, streaking towards the stage. Leaping before anyone could so much as blink, she was upon them, hacking and slashing as the beast within escaped. Her body was that fo a human, no one could deny it, but a shadow had placed itself over her form. That of a huge black panther. And it was on the hunt.
Avalyn Avalyn rubbed her forehead, blinking away stars and pretty colors. Embarrassment flooded through her as Fritz's words finally set in. What had she been thinking? She'd only been trying to help, but...it was the stupid carpet's fault! If it wouldn't have been so darn stubborn, she would have flown with ease, sticking a perfect landing. If it would have cooperated, then there would have been no problems at all. If it it would have only been a nice curtain, or sweet scarf, then Fritz would have been so impressed. Everything would have turned out just fine! Stupid carpet... Lost in her jumbled thoughts, Avalyn shrieked when a gunshot sounded. Quickly she landed on the floor and covered her head, expecting there to be another. But all she heard was muffled voices. Bringing herself to her feet once more, she dusted off her ruffled coat and looked towards the stage. What she saw made her face drain of all color. "What the..." she breathed. Her eyes locked onto the shadowed figure as it gave chase, pouncing on the men. "What...what's happening?!" Avalyn yelled and stumbled backwards, tumbling right into Fritz.
Fritz didn't even turn around as he held up the back of his hand in front of Avalyn's face. It wasn't hard but enough to get her to stop babbling. "Calm down and don't ask obvious questions." He spoke in an annoyed tone. "They are obviously fighting." Fritz placed his hand on Avalyn's head pushed her down on her knees. It may have seemed like a cruel act as forceful as it seemed but he was doing it as a gesture of protection. Fritz's eyes drifted to Jaharra and Josh. His face turning red. "Hey!" He yelled at the woman attacking Elean. "Are you some sort of moron? This guy says we can make our dreams come true and your trying to kill him!?"
The beast born out of the mind of Jaharra infuriated faced the philharmonic members. It's unknown if it was it's target or just a random choice, but Elean got sliced by the blade right on his chest. An horizontal line drew on his body tearing apart clothe, skin, muscle and perhaps even bone... Blood spread from the wound covering the body of the ferocious warrior... Then the body of Elean fell to the ground.... slowly melting with it... dissapearing completely... also the blood that flew dissapeared completely from any surface or body. And the body of the man showed again without any wound, right behind Jaharra, aiming his revolver carefully this time without shooting however... "Vasco... this is your turn no?..." said the man with a tone that reflected how much used to this he was. Vasco assented and then raising a pair of brushes he quickly drew a figure on the floor of the stage. Then with a small tremor the 2D design emerged from the floor on a 3D form... It was a strange design, resembling a statue with the face of something alike to an angel... But on instead of arms, it wore something similar to massive blades... And instead of wings, something that resembled guns and cannons were attached to it's back. It didn't had any support, it floated in the air. Then the guns readied and aimed at Jaharra, without waiting the weapons fired at her mercilessly. Elean smiled and spoke to all those on the hall... "C'mon, join the fray... is true that we played fair by revealing how things are gonna be... Still this is a competence.... So we are actuall trying to eliminate opponents.." Meanwhile, outside the concert hall, from the scarlet gap in the sky a pilar of scarlet light slowly descended... That was the elevator... waiting for the first participant to reshape an event of the world....
The beast let out a terrible scream as bullets and blades alike sank into its shoulders and chest, blood spattering the floor. But it brought up the single blade it still held, snatching up a dagger from its boot. A wicked grin covered its face, and its second attribute was activated. Blood-red runes began to glow on Jaharra's arms and neck, spreading down her legs and up her face. Fury. Speed. Strength. Shadow. Rage. Her hair grew out longer, no longer neat and lank as it had been, but spiked up like a mane. The panther roared, ghostly blue eyes focusing on the strange creation before it. But that was not its true target. Dissipating in a cloud of darkness, Jaharra re-animated right behind Vasco, but it only seemed that way. She had just moved so fast that the naked eye could no longer track her. With a menacing hiss, she brought up the blades towards the man's shoulders, aiming to cut him into three peices. "World has enough sin. Change it and Hell will awaken!" she snarled.
Vasco could not avoid such strike at a speed that defied logic itself.. Hence the blood flew from his body, as a signal that the attack worked.... But as soon as his body and blood dissapeared just like Elean... it was revealed how the attack indeed failed... And Vasco was now on the opposite position lying in the floor, his face reflecting fear... .....Yet is true the attack connected.... but is also true that it failed.... The doll slashed fiercely against Jaharra with it's massive blade, tearing and breaking apart any obstacle in the way.. Angelo played his trumpet, creating a black circle right behind Jaharra... A circle made to restrain and control anything within it... It was impossible for the beast to leave it.
I watched as everything had unfolded before my eyes, I quickly ducked behind some seats, this was my chance, I could escape with Nadia... I could easily just slip outside by myself but I couldn't just leave her behind with such people that wouldn't hesitate to rip out her guts and feed them to her, I opened my book and began writing inside of it... "Just need a simple diversion, nothing too grand nor big, it needs to be something that would be able to disorient them for a while, a power outage... yeah that would work, the theater would be pitch black, I just need to get close to Nadia and an exit, grab her, and then leave..." I thought, wisps of black began to come from the book as soon as I was finished writing it, to preserve the illusion until I needed it, I quickly slammed the book shut and then got up, doing my best to avoid any gunfire from the stage.
And then all was envolved into darkness... "Lights went out?... " said a voice, probably Vasco.. "That can't be..." replied Maria "Is this a trick?......" asked Elean confused... Nadia considered for a moment to use the darkness to get away.... yet she quickly discarded that option And then a gunfire resonated through the darkness and a body collapsed
At the sound of another gunshot, she jumped up from her spot on the ground. The gruesome fighting had been quite enough, but now black covered her vision. Avalyn's breath quickened as her anxiety set in. "Fritz? Fritz! Where are you?" she shouted, hands outstretched as she moved forward in the darkness. "I know this is an obvious question, but what happened now? Why can't I see? This isn't right, not at all!" She took a few more stumbled steps in the void, desperately flailing her arms in the hope that she'd find somebody close.
Frieder had gotten tired of waiting outside of the art exposition, waiting for someone to let him in. The sky had been blue when he fell asleep, but when he awoke, it was a terrifying shade of scarlet. Frieder decided that there was something up in this art exposition. It is time to get inside. In a short amount of time, a key was produced from clay. Frieder's hands were able to produce such an item in no time at all. He let himself into the exposition and was shocked to see the battle that ensued inside. Frieder walks to the rows of seats and tries to find someone to ask about this battle. Surely it is just part of tonight's entertainment. There were no people just sitting though. "Hey, I am so sorry to interrupt. Really good job, guys! Where is the audience? I thought that a lot of people would be watching... I am not trying to be disrespectful- oh no! I hurt your feelings, didn't I?" He smacks his face gently. "Stupid Frieder!" he mutters. "Is it too late to show you my art? I understand if you are busy and all... I slept in a little late." Awaiting an answer, Frieder nervously slides his right foot's toes across the floor in a circular motion, looking at the ground.
"Fritz? Fritz! Where are you?" she shouted, hands outstretched as she moved forward in the darkness. "I know this is an obvious question, but what happened now? Why can't I see? This isn't right, not at all!" There was no response from Fritz and in fact he was no longer by her side. Which left Avalyn in the darkness screaming his name.
Arthur Behind the Mask Not this song... Why was it this song... Why? WHY?! He had heard it before, long ago, before everything changed. On the other side of a hazy dream he recalled the memory, so clear and obscure at the same time. Each peak and crescendo, each change from piano to forte, every measure, beat and stanza. The tempo, the meter, the groupings of triplets and eighths, wholes and halfs, every sustain and rest and key change. He knew this song, and hated, with every fiber of his being. But he couldn't move, the melody had him. But then it stopped, and it stopped short, incomplete, and he felt the crack spread out like a pane of glass being hit with a rock. One more blow and it would shatter. He couldn't let it shatter, not again. The Face That Stopped Them was on his face in a moment, and he was dropping from the rafters holding on to a rigging rope that pulled a counterweight sailing into the sky on the other side of the great opera hall. Everything was dark, but Arthur was used to darkness. He landed with a swirl of his black coat and a flutter in the artificial dark. "You made a crack! Why would you make a crack?!" he shouted at the conductor. "You don't understand what you've done, now we're all broken again!"
Jesse Young Jesse quietly watched the events unfold before him, all the while maintaining a cocked eyebrow as he involuntarily glanced at the entranced audience, slumping unnaturally over each other. He simply didn't understand how they had eaten up the song so readily; honestly, Jesse didn't care for it. Not nearly enough bass and the beat was far to soft. He couldn't even bring himself to tap his foot, let alone be immersed. Well, as fun as this is,I'd better get going. I've got a show tonight. He stretched and yawned, then stood to begin his awkward climb to the exit from the middle of his row. Then the entire auditorium went dark. "Oh for the love of-" And with that, Jesse slumped back into his seat.
The beast screamed with rage as it was halted by something it could no longer see, but it just managed to bring up its blades before the puppet could slice into her, detecting that only because the blade had whistled as it cut through the air. Forced to remain still and pinned, Jaharra's legs shook beneath the strain of keeping the thing at bay. Slowly forcing her knees to bend and her body to lower, sweat streamed down her face and neck. "You made a crack! Why would you make a crack?!" he shouted at the conductor. "You don't understand what you've done, now we're all broken again!" Strangely, that made the creature start to weep with rage, but trapped as it was, it was slowly being crushed. It was hopeless.
Kantra Tagomi Kantra had witnessed the performance of the philharmonic and the brutal beating that Elean endured. As a rule, Kantra did not involve herself in the affairs of others, but as she watched the others dissolve into pandemonium and battle a giant doll-statue-thing, her resolve softened. The implications of the Scarlet Nocturne, the fact that the veyr fabric of reality could be altered by anyone present, was enough to urge Kantra to take action. If she just stood by and let event unfold, then she would be just as bad as her mother when her father beat her with a bamboo stick. Kantra was determined not to become her mother. "Are you okay?" Kantra called to Jaharra, who was slumped against a wall, exhausted. Kantra wore a plain black dress with red borders, her bob hair framing her delicate features. Her face betrayed nothing, but her black eyes were menacing as she took in the doll statue. From a small purse encrusted with fake diamonds, Kantra pulled out a thick sheet of paper. Her elegant fingers moved faster than the eye could follow as she folded the paper into intricate shapes. The result was a crouching tiger with pointed ears and a lashing tail. Kantra bent down and placed her creation on the floor and stepped back, her eyes never leaving the doll statue. "Guard," Kantra whispered. The origami tiger shivered and grew, sprouting orange and black fur and lethal claws and teeth. A real tiger stood in the middle of the floor, snarling ferociously at the doll. Kantra didn't know if the monster would attack her or Jaharra (it looked like it was nearly defeated) but she wasn't taking any chances.
As soon as the darkness enveloped the whole room, I ran over to where I saw Nadia and grabbed her arm. "C'mon!" I whispered, I pulled her up and began running toward the entrance of the concert hall, remembering anything that had fallen in the way of the path that could trip us up and avoiding it as best as I could, after reaching the doors I quickly threw open the doors and shut them behind me, I looked at Nadia. "Are you alright?" I asked, still not stopping, I knew that I couldn't get too far away from the illusion otherwise it'll break, especially when it came to illusions that affected a whole room, so for all I knew the illusion was already broken.
Confusion enveloped the concert hall dwell into darkness. The doll fighting Jaharra being now confronted by something like a tiger.. The voice that came from nowhere resonated throught the concert hall. And a single gunshot that echoed on the whole hall... Then the illusion of darkness slowly dissipated revealing the scenary. As soon as light came back Elean quickly seeked around the room for the owner of the voice... yet he stopped as soon as his eyes caught the sight of blood close to him... A body fell to the ground, pierced by a bullet, the blood took a detour and flew through the hole in the body traveling to the floor. The body belonged to a tall man with a long black hair and a deep voice, a man named Angelo. The impact was enough for him to dissipate his expression... Elean was atonished, after all this wasn't something that he could had predicted, neither a part of his plan.. The left arm of Nadia was forcefully grabbed by another one... Yet she struggled and rejected the other arm.. Once light came back, her body was revealed slowly walking to the VIP seats, and on her right arm a revolver stood releasing a bit of smoke, thus revealing that it was the origin of the bullet... Elean was shocked.... She never considered that the girl would be hiding a revolver inside her clothes... The man realized that his act was something that could be considered by many as terrorism.... but is something he was prepared for... Yet he was still shocked... After all... The sweet girl called Nadia was carrying a revolver within her all the time... Angelo breathed heavily, the wound was painful, yet it was a luck that it didn't pierce any vital organ within him... Still... The sweet girl called Nadia shoot without hesitation using the darkness as advantage If one analyze this event more carefully, is easy to guess certain matter within the pyschology of Nadia. The sweet girl called Nadia didn't thought twice before attempting to kill someone.... More than that, she didn't give importance to the fact that it was impossible to aim inside this darkness, in other words.. "She didn't worry of whoever would receive the bullet at all...." But this last statement was a mistake... She waved her head nervously as soon as the light came back... And with a nervous tone she whispered... "I-I missed...." However light existed now, she raised the revolver once again, without thinking twice, this time helped by the light she carefully moved the cannon of the gun right in the direction in the one Vasco was... And then another gunfire echoed on the room.... She wasn't a girl experienced with weapons, in fact her aiming was very klutz, yet she didn't care about that instead.... "The sweet girl called Nadia was ready to kill without hesitation, even if she was unnable to do it correctly" But the bullet didn't reach the man... instead a strong dry metallic sound drew the attention of everyone there... The quick reaction of Maria plus a possible expertise on the field saved the life of Vasco... She quickly shoot on a perpendicular direction to Nadia's aim. Her precision and timing was almost unnatural, her own bullet clashed against the bulled of Nadia, stopping it on mid air... But this wasn't of importance to the sweet girl, she shoot once again... However this time Vasco reacted, putting his doll on the way of the bullet... Elean didn't act.. He knew the girl was despicable.. He knew that she was the worst scum.. Even more than them... He even considered that she would kill again if needed... or even if not needed... But what atonished him was the quick reaction of the girl, and moreover, how mechanical her act was... As if she were to be no more than a robot designed to kill...
Arthur The light came back, and no one had seen through his mask yet. But there was a sweet looking little girl, striding forward like a robot with a gun. The others were trying to stop her, the one's who had played the song... Everyone was broken, just like him, only they didn't know it yet... All and everything was broken... And broken things needed to be fixed or thrown away. Arthur was not a fixer. He stepped between the girl and her destination, still with The Face That Stopped Them on, counting on it to keep her from looking at him, forcing her to turn away. "I am Arthur," he said as he pulled a long thin blade from a scabbard that had been hidden till now by his coat. "You are broken, and cannot be fixed," he exclaimed, and then rushed forward with the point of his blade out, aiming for her heart. Beneath the masks he wore, a tear ran down his cheek.
Kantra Tagomi Kantra saw the man use his doll to divert a bullet. She also saw another woman stop the first bullet with another bullet, an impossibly skillful act of marksmanship. Before Kantra could puzzle out what her Art must be (because only someone who had Expression could possibly do that), a man stalked up to Nadia and pulled out a sword. Fromt he side of his head, he looked like he wore a red mask. Kantra didn't know what his reason were to hurt the girl, or why Nadia had shot at someone in the first place, but Kantra didn't care. She coudln't stand idly by while a little girl got murdered. She had already started interfering, so why stop now? "Guard her, hurry!" Kantra commanded her tiger. The beast growled deep in its throat and bounded toward the masked man with the thin sword. It hurtled its body through the air straight at him from the side, its deadly claws extended in front of it. The man would have no choice but to move, or be pummeled over and devoured. In the meantime, Kantra took out another piece of paper and started folding in the same super-fast way as before.
