An Emergency Meeting

[Ryan - Loki]

The somewhat narrow corridor slowly began widen out as the Knights directed the prisoners with the tip of their blades back to the council chambers. It was not needed for Ryan remembered the route perfectly, but nevertheless, the Knights were under strict orders to make sure that these prisoners, or what was left of the original group, were not to escape, and by the determined expression upon their faces it seemed that these orders were some that they most certainly planned on keeping.

“Get moving.” One grunted, giving Ryan a nudge in the back with handle end of his own Reaver.

It was a dishonour! Though Ryan kept his temper for the sake of the group; the last thing they all needed was to make their situation even worse than it currently was. Ryan picked up his pace slightly, quickening his step from a slow walk into a brisk one.

Suddenly light filled the end of the corridor, so much so that Ryan turned his head away from it to allow his eyes to adjust to the abrupt change. The adjustment was instant, almost as if there was no adjustment at all. As he glanced around his memory had proved to be correct. Like before there were six seats above the now willing captives, each seat already seating a familiar occupant. As the small group came to a stop in the middle of the chamber Ryan bowed his head respectfully and waited in silence for the mages to begin, as he was sure they would.

=======================================================

Verechi was the first to do anything, standing up from here seat. When all of the mages had finally stopped talking amongst themselves and had fallen silence, Verechi opened her mouth to speak.

“We have all been called here at this hour to discuss a series event that has occurred no more than thirty minutes ago.”

“An outrage!” Ser-nyskel stood up in a shot as he interrupted in a hiss. His outburst was ignored, and he sat down once more.

“As some of you may be unaware, there was what we can only assume was an explosion within the detention area of the academy. This resulted in a breach and several of the warriors of time escaped and are now unaccounted for.” she paused as several of the mages, ones who had felt the vibrations caused by the explosion but had not known what had caused it, began talking amongst themselves. When it became apparent that they were happy to continue talking Verechi forced a cough to gain their attention. They all slowly stopped conversing and granted her their attention once again.

“Thank you.” she commented somewhat sarcastically. “We have called this meeting to speak to the warriors of time, those who remained within the cell instead of fleeing with their fellow peers.” Verechi looked down at the small group, not in disgust of anger, but with a calm expression. “We aim to ascertain why they chose to remain behind and what we are to do about this concerning turn of events.” Her view crossed the council as she spoke. “Who would like to start?” her eyes had stopped on Ser-nyskel, knowing full well that he would jump at the chance. However, as he opened his mouth and stood up to speak, he was beaten to the chance by Ryan.

“May I?” Ryan asked, as softly as his gruff voice would allow.

“How dare you interrupt Lord Ser-nyskel!” Shaban exclaimed standing and pointing down at Ryan.

Calmly Ryan turned and looked up to face them both. “I did no such thing. There was no one speaking for me to interrupt, so how could I interrupt anyone?” his logic was infallible, and so Shaban sat down once more. Ryan slowly looked around the group as he began speaking. “Lord Mages, first allow me to apologise for the destruction and disruption that has been caused due to us, and for the absence of my comrades.” This was met with a short laugh from Shaban and Ser-nyskel. Ryan ignored it.

“There are…extenuating circumstances about the escape that happened today.” Ryan didn’t know how else to put it. He knew that no matter what he said escape was still escape, and despite the fact that they had all done nothing wrong, they were prisoners. “Many of my comrades believed that being held against their will was a wrong doing and felt that freedom, even if hunted as a fugitive, was better than remaining to suffer whatever fate my have befell them here.”

High lord Estrkin’s expression deepened into a concerned frown; though he remained from speaking, instead it was lord Jeffron of Alchemy who spoke next. “Suffer? But what fate did they believe they would suffer here? We have no intention to do harm by any of you, just observe you.”

“Be that as it may, they had no reason to trust that.” Ryan countered, though as kindly as he could. “What you must understand is that we come from a time where trust was hard to come by unless, of course, it was earned.” Ryan sighed. He needed others to speak, though he didn’t trust anything that Loki or Dramanius had to say. Turning his head around behind him he looked between Agatha and Brandon.

“Perhaps we could also hear from some of the others who remained?” Verechi’s voice was soft. It was almost as if she had read Ryan’s mind and for a moment he feared that she had that ability, though he quickly realised that such an ability would work in their favour if she did; he decided not to dwell on the thought.

“I was thinking the exact same thing.” Ryan confirmed with the nod of his head. It was now someone else’s turn to speak, for now.

[kihaku]

As we were lead down the hallway back the way we came, my thoughts turned from introspection to outward appearances. I wondered what we must look like to these knights who had once believed their prison to be inescapable. Ser-Nyskel, with his darkly tanned skin and beady little eyes, had sealed away our powers and left us to rot in that stone cage. However, through a series of fortunate events, we had found sympathizers within the council in the form of Sulas-Ril, the healer, and Shaban, Ser-Nyskel's Second Summoner. Before, we must have seemed very small to these people.

'The tables have turned, I suppose,' I thought to myself wryly. These powers that had been granted to me by the planet had allowed me to blow an entire stone-and-mortar wall out of a the side of, I was pretty sure, magically-enhanced prison cell. When the knights came, expecting a fight, those of us that remained had kept still and calm. The psychological effect must have been epic, because what kind of people could create such devastation and still remain as cool and collected as a bushel of cucumbers in the shade?

'Bad-ass warriors, that's who.'

When we arrived back in the council chambers, it was a different setting than before. There was scattered conversation, anxious and fervent glances, and all because their precious Warriors of Time were now wild-cards in their own backyard.

The young woman who had earlier introduced herself as Verechi, Second to the Head Honcho In-Charge of The Universe, addressed the situation to her fellow council members and to us as well. I looked around to check who was still left, and realized almost numbly that it was left to Ryan, myself, the girl who had insisted her name was Agatha, and the two hell-spawn Loki and Dramanius. We made a motley bunch, to be sure, but I still felt that, even with our powers once again locked away, there was no way the council would simply dismiss us all over again.

Ryan constructed an eloquent argument with sound reasoning as to why I had so non-chalantly ruined their most trusted high-security cell, which made me feel a little more confident that we would be taken seriously. Nobody except Ser-Nyskel or Shaban had anything to say to the contrary, which gave me pause for thought.

'Those runes were definitely the Gendo summon-thing, which only Shaban could do. Why is he so pro-Nyskel all of a sudden?' It occurred to me then that he was probably saving his life by keeping up the hoax that he believed in what Nyskel had attempted to achieve. It would then be a bad idea to call him out on it, I supposed.

It was then turn for others to speak, and I felt that, because I had caused all the damage, I should at least say something.

"Lords and Ladies of the Council, I am Brandon Haggardy, otherwise known as Prometheus." I stepped forward and had a sudden mental flash of how I must appear to them. Though I didn't cut as striking and noble a figure as the others, my long coat and generally casual attire gave the impression that I was no more special than any other person on the street. Yet, counted among the Warriors of Time, and my abilities still unknown to the council, I too was a wild-card.

"I probably won't sound as refined as my friend Ryan here, so let me lay this out as simply as I can. I've only known the others for a short while, in fact many of us hadn't met one another before being time-locked." I slid my hands in my pants pockets, trying to keep Ryan's caution in mind. "So I can only speak for myself. Still, I've stayed behind as a show of good faith, to become a sort-of liaison between your world and ours. If we had all fled, you would have hunted us down like animals, just as you collared and caged us earlier.

We want to work with you to establish a peace between our strikingly different cultures. You all work together as a team, but the Warriors of Time were all loners and nomads before being frozen. Right now, their minds are set in one mode: 'Fight or flight,' and that is a dangerous corner to put any of us.

Nyskel has our powers locked down, but not so with the others, and I'm guessing that once the connection is lost, you can't re-establish it without confrontation like before. Let us work together as proper sentient beings, and we can minimize destruction on both ends."

I desperately hoped that sounded more conciliatory than it had to my ears.

[Vahn x Dimitri]

What a ruckus these other prisoners had caused over the last hour or so. He couldn't really tell how long it had been, he had just now been pulled out of his cell and kept chained and forced to follow the others into the council chambers. Goodness how he hated this place and how many times he had been here recently. The guards who brought him mentioned that because of the damage to the building he would have to be moved, but until they decided, they wanted him in a place where they could keep an eye on him.

He leaned against a side wall away from the council and away from the door, just so that they would leave him alone, and for the time being, became an observer. His eyes closed, he listened to the words that have been spoken by these people who were being held hostage for the simple fact that the council knew nothing of them. He could understand why he was there, but there was no reason he could see that the council should seek to keep these people hidden away from the rest of the land. He was reminded of something he had read long ago, "People are stupid. They will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true." He had mumbled it loud enough so only the guard closest to him and some of the other "prisoners" could hear him.

The first person who spoke was so eloquent and appealing to the council. Honestly, to him it sounded as though he was trying too hard to get them on his side. For some reason, he just knew that these people managed to survive all this time by some way and he knew that if they really wanted to, they could probably do a lot more damage to this place. Still, he let the first one speak and paid close attention to him. His words, his eloquence, the way he approached their remarks and how he attended to their concerns. This one was honorable and intelligent from what he could see. He also provided some valid points to explain the escape by the ones who left.

The second person who spoke, Prometheus, as he called himself, was a near opposite to the first person. Rash, callous, borderline rude. And as for his final remarks before he closed, he would have considered them more of a threat to the academy, "Nyskel has our powers locked down." Even though he was trying to say that with them they would minimize collateral damage, the way he said it made it sound as though if he had his full powers, this place would be obliterated. He rolled his red eyes and shook his head as he looked over at the council he had become so familiar and hated with.

"You should just let them clean up their own mess." He said it out loud as soon as Prometheus was done, wanting everyone to hear them. "And before you guys start, with the quiet Vahn, you're a different case, and all that other bull, hear me out." He stepped off the wall looked towards the council and began to address them, his hands still chained behind his back.

"You have all been about learning from mistakes and letting people pay their debts. These guys have no debts to you yet you're still holding them here and you are kind enough to strip them of their powers. Then, these guys here are nice enough to stay behind while the others escape and you reward them with another hearing! I bet everyone in this room is so happy right now, even the guards are just so content with their lives at this moment."

He strode up towards them while still keeping a good distance. He began to pace back and forth before them, shaking his head as he continued to speak. "So grant them what this Prometheus guy is hinting at, stop beating around the bush, and give them back their powers and let them go get the other ones who were so willingly defiant of your law."

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

Agatha remained mostly quiet... The seal had done little, the power was still in her, truth be told - technology had a funny way of things... to seal it would be like... locking up someone's soul - it just would not work. Sure, sure, she was in a field that prevented her from affecting anything now outside her own body... but that was more than enough. She was still her.

Calmly, she pointed to Vahn and shook her head.

"The heck is THIS guy..." she said quietly, her face mostly shrouded in darkness from the light by her hair.

"He was in the cell BEFORE we got here..." she said, mostly to Ryan, inquisitively, but sighed and continued.

"I am Agatha..." she said, and looked to Ryan, lifting her head to bare her face at last to the light of the council chamber.

"... and I stayed... because once-upon-a-time I would stand beside a man... and that man stands now before you." Her smile was bright and cheerful, like the rabbity-ish ears that flicked gently, swept back in line with her hair. Her eyes echoed white light, brighter than the illumination of the chamber, but there was little frightening about her - she appeared as simply a normal woman, in a tattered zolan uniform, with black hair and dark skin - Zolan in her beauty, as only Ryan and maybe Prometheus would perhaps appreciate. Her posture was casual, her voice was soft, but carried in the chamber well.

"Of us... Ryan-sama is the one with perhaps the most... quality. I will trust my fate into his hands, as I have before in the past, when he saved the very earth you stand upon... not once, but many times. But how fortunate..." she said, her voice becoming biting as she leveled her glowing gaze at Loki

"That we should be brought in at the same time as that one... Ryan-Sama's Brother, Loki, and his two... friends, if it can be called that." she said, no pleasure in her voice. She meant what she said.

"That man... and his two captains... are none other than lords of the hells, back in our time, second only to the great evil himself... even if... they themselves would likely never either admit to being beneath Lucifer, or to their great... and terrible roles. Loki fancies himself a dark god, the devil himself..." her expression saddened.

"I once lost my path... and I am guilty of sins in that man's name... I was not the architect of my own actions... but if I must remain imprisoned so this... this SERPENT can remain as well... so be it. But lock him up, and throw away the key... for the Dragon and warriors are kind, gentle creatures who would not hurt a fly compared to the devestation and horrors this man would unleash upon your entire world, as he had done in ours. He is not worthy of any mercy, understanding, or kindness of any kind."

[Ryan - Loki]

"You should just let them clean up their own mess."

Ryan instantly turned to look at the owner of the unfamiliar voice. He recognised him from back within the prison, though he was certainly not part of the group he was. Instead of inquiring about him Ryan merely listened to what he had to say. He had already spoken and had left the floor open for further discussion

Several council members flashed the prisoner annoyed glares, but Vahn cut them off, "And before you guys start, with the quiet Vahn, you're a different case, and all that other bull, hear me out."

Verechi turned to confer with the High Mage, then turned her eyes back to Vahn and motioned that he may continue.

"You have all been about learning from mistakes and letting people pay their debts. These guys have no debts to you yet you're still holding them here and you are kind enough to strip them of their powers. Then, these guys here are nice enough to stay behind while the others escape and you reward them with another hearing! I bet everyone in this room is so happy right now, even the guards are just so content with their lives at this moment." Vahn's speech was emphatic, his voice sounded sincere despite being clad in shackles.

"So grant them what this Prometheus guy is hinting at, stop beating around the bush, and give them back their powers and let them go get the other ones who were so willingly defiant of your law."

When he finished, Jeffron was the first to speak.

"And what would be in it for you? Let's be frank, Vahn, an exile like you who only looks out for number one, pleading the case of people he knows nothing about?" He adjusted his glasses, resting them higher on the bridge of his nose.

"It would be a disgrace," Ser-Nyskel put in, his venomous glare going from Jeffron to Vahn, "What message would that send to the world when the Council sends prisoners after criminals?"

Therick, however, did not appear to share Nyskel's opinion.

"I disagree." All of the council focused surprised eyes on the High Lord of the Knights, who had his fingers interlaced and resting on the dias. "The Ryan's words make sense to me, we have done nothing to expect their cooperation, yet they remained behind of their own violition. If anything, they have shown a faith in us that we clearly did not deserve."

Ser-Nysekl's eyes flicked about, trying to compose a proper rebuttal, but he was headed off by Elmelda.

"Lord Therick, I agree whole-heartedly. It pained me to imprison them from the start, and though I agree their actions are regrettable, I feel ours have been no better."

Nyskel's eyes narrowed and, were they able to spit the angry fires he clearly contined, she would have been roasted alive.

"You sniv-"

"It would seem..." the High Mage's words cut through Nyskel's half-formed insult like a samurai through an opponent, even though he spoke no louder than the High Summoner.

"It would seem that we sorely underestimated the Warriors of Time. Not only did they find a way past Skaevu, but they out-ran the Academy Knights to safety. I for one do not intend to underestimate them again." Estrkin paused when Agatha stepped forward, her small form almost comical compared to Ryan, yet she commanded just as much attention.

"I am Agatha..." Estrkin nodded his head in acknowledgement. Her peasant-like appearance did little for her case, but her odd ears caught the attention of several council members.

"... and I stayed... because once-upon-a-time I would stand beside a man... and that man stands now before you." She indicated Ryan, which made several of the council look his way for a moment before returning their attention to Agatha.

"Of us... Ryan-sama is the one with perhaps the most... quality. I will trust my fate into his hands, as I have before in the past, when he saved the very earth you stand upon... not once, but many times."

Elmelda smiled kindly to Agatha, while Sulas-Ril's smirked in Ryan's direction, as if sharing a little victory with him.

"But how fortunate... That we should be brought in at the same time as that one... Ryan-Sama's Brother, Loki, and his two... friends, if it can be called that."

This news that Loki and Ryan were kin gave Sulas-Ril pause, but he had no time to think more of it.

"That man... and his two captains... are none other than lords of the hells, back in our time, second only to the great evil himself... even if... they themselves would likely never either admit to being beneath Lucifer, or to their great... and terrible roles. Loki fancies himself a dark god, the devil himself..." her expression became morose.

Loki did nothing but smirk proudly, despite the fact that he felt he wasn’t being given enough credit. Her words do my evil no justice. he thought. He refrained from voicing his thoughts.

"I once lost my path... and I am guilty of sins in that man's name... I was not the architect of my own actions... but if I must remain imprisoned so this... this SERPENT can remain as well... so be it. But lock him up, and throw away the key... for the Dragon and warriors are kind, gentle creatures who would not hurt a fly compared to the devestation and horrors this man would unleash upon your entire world, as he had done in ours. He is not worthy of any mercy, understanding, or kindness of any kind."

Her impassioned monologue left the council at a loss for words as they mulled over their own reactions. In one fell swoop, everyone had been tossed about and lumped together as good, evil, and puppet, though now the council had no idea what they would do.

"I disagree," Nyskel said unexpectedly, drawing curious stares, "If this body wishes to release the Warriors and use them to retrieve their escaped counterparts, then so be it. However, neither this Loki nor his companion have given us cause to doubt them."

Ryan was cursing Nyskel inside his head for his foolish nature, though he made good point not to show it even slightly in his expression.

"Though it doesn't sit well with me, I agree with Nyskel," Tyser, High Elementalist, said slowly, "To imprison a minority by the heresay of a majority is slap in the face of democracy."

Loki had remained silent up until this point, though he finally felt it was time for him to interject. Striding forward and away from the wall he had been standing against with Dramanius Loki waited until he was within the centre of the circle, just ahead of Ryan but to his right; he made sure to leave enough room for him to be out of touching distant, just to be sure. “I applaud your good senses.” Loki said with two singular claps as he looked between both Nyskel and Tyser.

Ryan could hardly hide his snarl as he looked at the side of Loki. He wasn’t nothing more than to dive across the space between him and thrust his blade through his gut, but he couldn’t. All he could do was allow Loki to speak.

“Evil, well, it’s such a fickle word. Isn’t it?” he began, now looking between all of the council members. “I mean I guess there’s people out there, in this new world, who would call you evil. Right? ” if there was one thing that Loki could do, besides the slaughtering of innocents, it was charm; he most certainly had a serpents tongue. “How do I know? Because when any form of power comes in to play there will always be people who oppose it, who claim it’s evil and needs to be stopped.” he was walking about as he spoke now, interacting with different council members using his eyes. “It was that way a thousand years ago in my time, and it will be that way in another thousand years too.”

Many of the council members were talking amongst themselves now, sharing the odd whisper with each other as they listened to Loki speak. Ryan had seen the nodding of a few heads and instantly feared that Loki’s words were prevailing. It was only now that Ryan understood why Loki and Dramanius had remained while Natas left. Loki was searching for an ally within the council; he would find one in Nyskel, Ryan was sure of it.

“Just because these small few believe me and my, colleague, evil doesn’t mean that we are. Perhaps it is them who are evil?” Loki continued. He paused and turned his head off towards Ryan, waiting for eye contact before smirking. His back was towards the council now, his face completely out of view from their watchful eyes. “Evil is nothing more than a word used by those who want to justify their actions and free themselves from a guilty coconscious.”

It was the final straw, Ryan’s eyes widened in rage towards his estranged brother ; he had to force himself to remain at least somewhat calm. He knew Loki had taken the lead in the battle of wits and words. It would be hard to counter what had been said. “Hush your forked tongue.” Ryan spat uncontrollably. He stepped forward towards Loki, wanting nothing more than to run him through. “If it was not for you then none of us would be here in this predicament right now!”

[kihaku]

After Ryan's monologue and this other prisoner Vahn's interjections, the Council appeared to be swinging our way. I was surprised, because it was far easier than I had originally thought it would be, which forced me to go over what had been said, just in case I missed something.

Ryan had played the part of the facilitator, calmly explaining the situation to the council from our perspective. This was followed by Vahn jumping in. The more I thought about it, the more I agreed with the council dude with the glasses, what was so special about us that made Vahn so eager to have us set free? Was it to set a precedent that the council could set prisoners free if they are put to use? Whatever the reason, I resolved to watch Vahn closely, no matter what happened. Considering he was in the high security cell before we even arrived, the council definitely had a reason to put him there.

Then Agatha, as she called herself, quietly slipped into the debate with words of support for Ryan. It appeared they had a shared history of some kind, which interested me, but I decided those were questions better left for later.

Despite being so raggedy-looking and small, she gave a heated diatribe of her own against the one called Loki, whom everyone seemed to have a problem with.

'This guy just can't catch a break, can he,' I asked myself silently. 'I mean, I realize he caused those problems in the cave...'

It was then I remembered that it was his cronies that had caused all that ruckus a thousand years back, and had been his ghost-apparition-thing that had caused the bomb to go off.

I was snapped back to reality when Ryan snapped at Loki to watch his words, so I could only assume he had been on some platform, talking about how he wasn't really all that bad.

“If it was not for you then none of us would be here in this predicament right now!”

I moved forward to stand by Ryan's left, and I put my right hand on his left shoulder.

"Ryan, dude, chill. He may be a dick, but there's nothing that we can do about it right now, alright?"

I spoke low, so that only Ryan would hear my words. I remember he had said something about being a teacher to royalty or diplomacy, or something like it, but right now my gut told me that freaking out in front the council would be a bad thing. I looked over at Loki, and my eyes showed almost apathy, that I couldn't care less that he even existed.

"Whatever he's done, we can't prove to the Council, so just let it go for now. If they decide to give us all our powers back, and he decides he wants to follow his old modus operandi, we'll let them," I gestured to the council, "deal with his shit. We're the good guys, so we take no responsibility for what either of them do."

I looked at the council, specifically at Verechi, who seemed to hold the most sway over the council beside the Boss Man.

"Which is something else I wanted to bring up. Most of the escapees have a good heart, and we can vouch for them. But him," I pointed at Loki, "him," and at Dramanius, "and a guy with freaky glowing eyes that escaped," by which I felt I had accurately described Natas, "we want it noted we voiced our objections. They follow their own rules, and we want no part in anything they do."

I looked to Agatha, and gave her a nod, which I had hoped would convey that I was on her side.

"We don't need to do anything to prove us right, they'll do it all by themselves."

[Vahn x Dimitri]

It's true that everyone is always in whatever they are for number one, themselves, so the council's question was one that he was expected, but hadn't necessarily thought of an answer for yet. "And what would be in it for you? Let's be frank, Vahn, an exile like you who only looks out for number one, pleading the case of people he knows nothing about?" While he took a second to think, the greatest thing that could have happened in this situation, just did. Someone else spoke! For a while, council members went back and forth actually arguing that he was making sense. Not just one, but two members of the council had actually listened to him. This was definitely a situation that was far different than any other he could have been in, but this was a chance to see if he could find a way out.

Another voice filled the council's chamber, and her voice was something he hadn't heard in a long time. A voice of a genuine heart, defensive yet kind and eagerly speaking the truth so anyone with an open heart and mind could understand. Such sincerity was hard to come by in such corrupt times, and there were two people in this room. If he wasn't sure about this warriors of time crap before, he was now. He paid very close attention as he started to familiarize himself with these people he knew so little about. Lets see what we've got so far.

We have Ryan, honorable and kind, well spoken and formal who was the first to address the council. He seemed like he had a lot of sway in their own time. We have Brandon, aka Prometheus, who was still a bit of a mystery to him by this point. From what he could tell so far, he was probably the one that Vahn could relate to most, using the situation to try to find a way out, but he still wasn't sure. Agatha who was someone genuine and sincere as far as he could tell. There had to have been some major issues in the past that had made her that way because nobody is ever born with such humility. Loki and his lackey Dramanius were the last ones in the equation. Loki, according to Agatha was the evil mastermind and Lord of Hell as she called him and by this point in the analysis, had begun to speak.

“Evil, well, it’s such a fickle word. Isn’t it?” That's all he needed to hear to understand just the kind of person he was. He had used a line just like that when he first had his hearing with the council two years back, and he got out the first time too. It wasn't till last year that he was brought here in chains as he is now. But what an interesting turn of events followed from a single phrase. The once cool and collected Ryan lost his composure, just for a moment. “If it was not for you then none of us would be here in this predicament right now!” This was followed by a moment of silence in which Prometheus stepped towards Ryan and began to whisper something to him, probably in an attempt to calm him down.

Now if there was one thing that would work against them at this point, it would be silence. Since he was still working on a plan to find a way out with them, he needed to keep the council involved and support the case of Ryan, Brandon and Agatha. So while Brandon spoke to Ryan, he would re-address the council. He stepped up in front of the entire group now and towards the council. He cut right in front of Loki as he began to plead with the council. "Are you really going to backslide by letting this guy get away with 'Evil is such a fickle word'? I said something similar my first hearing two years ago and I got off scott free that time, but look where I ended up." He tried to pull his hands apart so that they could hear the chains behind him rattling as he did.

"As for what's in it for me, I could feed you the 'I could care less about me' high and mighty crap, but lets face it, you won't buy it. Things have changed a lot here over the past thousand years and I'd hate for too much collateral damage to happen. Like it or not, this is my home too and I would prefer if it didn't get destroyed in the process of capturing these escapees." He approached Tyser slowly, being that he was most aware of Vahn's capabilities. "You, Tyser, and the Archon who sent me here can vouch for my abilities as an Elementalist. And Therick," Vahn turned towards him and started to head over in his direction, "how many times did I give your top knights trouble with my fighting style? All I'm saying is I can be a highly valuable asset if you decide to let Ryan, Brandon, and Agatha go after the escapees."

He moved away from the council and stood next to Ryan, standing tall and confident. "And, if it pleases the council, you could even have these three keep an eye on me." He awaited the council's response, standing firm with the group.

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

[Agatha doesnt have anything to say, really. Please, continue <3]

[Ryan - Loki]

(OOC: As you will be able to tell from my post I am closing the thread down. Our first site saga since the re-start is upon us and Brandon will be hosting it. Check out the up-coming announcement for further details.)

"Ryan, dude, chill. He may be a dick, but there's nothing that we can do about it right now, alright?” it was at this that Ryan turned and focused his attention on young Brandon. "Whatever he's done, we can't prove to the Council, so just let it go for now. If they decide to give us all our powers back, and he decides he wants to follow his old modus operandi, we'll let them," he gestured off towards the council. "Deal with his shit. We're the good guys, so we take no responsibility for what either of them do."

Ryan couldn’t help but smile, his frown almost instantly fading. It had been the first time that he had smiled since awakening in this strange, new world. “Young master Brandon,” Ryan spoke quietly, so that only Brandon would hear his words. “You speak wisdom far surpassing your physical years. Thank you.” At this Brandon turned to the council, continuing to show just how far his wisdom stretched.

"Which is something else I wanted to bring up. Most of the escapees have a good heart, and we can vouch for them. But him, him," he pointed at both Loki and Dramanius. "And a guy with freaky glowing eyes that escaped, we want it noted we voiced our objections. They follow their own rules, and we want no part in anything they do. We don't need to do anything to prove us right, they'll do it all by themselves."

"Are you really going to backslide by letting this guy get away with 'Evil is such a fickle word'? I said something similar my first hearing two years ago and I got off scott-free that time, but look where I ended up."

Vhan suddenly chimed in with. All attention was now upon him, including a somewhat scowling Loki. This brought the smallest of smirks to the corner of Ryan’s mouth. Ryan didn’t know whether or not they could trust this mysterious Vhan, but at the moment he seemed to be helping their course, and for now that would be enough.

"As for what's in it for me, I could feed you the 'I could care less about me' high and mighty crap, but lets face it, you won't buy it. Things have changed a lot here over the past thousand years and I'd hate for too much collateral damage to happen. Like it or not, this is my home too and I would prefer if it didn't get destroyed in the process of capturing these escapees." Vhan commented as he moved about in front of everyone. "You, Tyser, and the Archon who sent me here can vouch for my abilities as an Elementalist. And Therick, how many times did I give your top knights trouble with my fighting style? All I'm saying is I can be a highly valuable asset if you decide to let Ryan, Brandon, and Agatha go after the escapees. And, if it pleases the council, you could even have these three keep an eye on me."

Ryan now knew what Vhan was attempting, without a shadow of a doubt. He was using their situation, their predicament, to his advantage in an attempt to free himself from the shackles of his imprisonment. Though Vhan was fighting their course for now, would he remain the same if they were all freed? Ryan couldn’t be sure. He would have to keep an awfully close eye on Vhan, if even for the sake of Agatha and Brandon. Ryan was now the eldest of those who had remained behind, possibly even out of the entire group as a whole. He had a responsibility to look out for all of them, which is why he was glad to hear Vhan’s idea.

“May I speak?” Ryan asked, stepping forward. There was a moment’s pause before Verechi nodded.

“Of course you may.”

“Thank you.” Ryan bowed his head in reply, a sign of respect that was custom of his clan, his people who had been long gone even before this confusing turn of events. “I believe that we have all truthfully and eloquently spoken our minds, some far better than even myself,” he turned his head towards Brandon and smiled before returning his view to the council. “But I feel that perhaps the one known as Vhan is right; our actions can speak much louder than perhaps our words ever could.”

There were a few murmurs between the council members, unsure murmurs, but Ryan pressed on. “I know since we awoke in the chamber our time together has been one of mixed emotions and conflicting circumstances. Those who were with us within your prison are good people, I can personally vouch for some of them, but they are not accustomed to the chains and shackles of incarceration. They made a rash decision based on years of experience. Perhaps they made the wrong decision, certainly those of us who remained feel they did – hence why we few remained.” He was extending the olive branch; he just hoped that they received it openly.

“Allow us few to have our powers back and venture out into your world. We will track down our comrades and reason with them. I’m sure that with out cooperation both parties can benefit mutually from each other. After all, we are from a forgotten time and each of us has had different experiences and memories we can share, and you are present in a time we are new to – there is much for us to learn, equally from each other.”

With Ryan’s silences signifying that he had finished speaking the council members turned to each other and began talking. Some spoke loud and clear, not afraid who heard their opinions, though a few spoke in hushed whispers to avoid those within the small group from hearing. All the group could now do was to wait and see if their negotiations would pay off. After a few minutes of solid delegation the High Lord of the council raised a single hand. He had not muttered a single word since the warriors of time had first arrived, though it was clear he held great respect as everyone within the council, even Ser-nyskel, fell silent instantly.

“Thank you all for your kind words. You show kindness that we do not entirely deserve.” His deep yet soft voice boomed out from within his throat. “You are right in that perhaps we have treated you wrongly without a clear reason, and though we had only the best intentions at heart we did not go about it the right way.” his voice radiated wisdom far beyond his youthful years. “Though your friends were no better for escaping in the manor that they did. We are not so different it seems; even after thousands of years we are still capable of making mistakes.

“I believe that perhaps Vhan has stumbled upon a possible solution to this situation – surprisingly.” there was just the slightest hint of humour within his voice as he briefly glimpsed at Vhan. “I do believe that you Ryan, and you Brandon, Agatha and even you Loki, have the charm and negotiating skills to be able to talk your friends around. However,” he paused slightly, as if choosing his words carefully. “There is no certainty that we can trust your words.”

He looked troubled by his own realisation, but a man like him was wise and intelligent, and so a solution revealed itself almost instantaneous. “We have a problem, a problem other than your escaped friends. Actually it is more of an expedition of knowledge and discovery than a problem, but we fear a problem is what it could soon become.” he paused to allow them all to take in what he was saying, for he knew that what he would say next could change all of their lives depending on the outcome.

“We have heard scattered rumours of a man, or so the rumours say, who has been searching the planet for something, something magic related. Now we do not know who this man is, or what he is searching for exactly, but as far as we know he isn’t a member of the magic order and there are very few things less dangerous in this world than an out of control mage.” he spoke with caution, experience, wisdom and even a hint of worry.

“As a sign of goodwill we ask you to search this man out using your unique abilities of old and discover what he is doing before brining him back to us for further questioning. After that you would have proved the truth in your words, and in return we shall grant you all Vhan’s solution and allow you free roam to bring your friends back to us so we can resolve our troubles.” It seemed that the warriors of time were not the only ones who could negotiate.

There was a moment of silence while everyone absorbed everything the high lord mage had spoken, thinking about the many possibilities and problems it brought forward. In the end it was Ryan to first break the silence. “I, on behalf of the rest of us here, accept.” Ryan said. “Anyone would be fools to turn down such a generous offer.”

“I am glad we have come to this agreement.” The high lord smiled, though it only lasted a few brief seconds before fading. “You must leave right away. Speed, as it always is in this situation, is of the essence. May the wind blow in your favour Warriors of Time.”