Re: Coaxing the Punished (Faye)

[Faye]

"One can never be too careful." she replied to the dragonborn. After a few minutes, it began to pulse a light blue. The color bled through the dark room, creating waves of hypnotic designs that swirled upon the walls. "It is ready." the sorceress placed one gloved hand over Dirge's and the other over her knight's. "Clear your minds." she looked to each of them. "Focus on the destination." the queen closed her eyes, and began her incantation, one she spoke so quickly and with words so indistinguishable that they couldn't have possibly been in the English language.

As the last word passed her lips, the blue light of the onyx orb began to grow. Faye felt the familiar sensation of her body losing its tangible form, each limb fading away into a dense mist. This only lasted for a moment, and when the woman was able to open her eyes again, they were met with the familiar scene of Malazon's prison. "Are you both well? No missing fingers or toes, I hope?" she sounded as serious as a heart attack, but really she was only teasing.

Why most would associate dungeons with darkness, this place was quite the opposite. In fact, it was almost too bright. "Holy. Light manifested into its most concentrated form. I have seen no other magic that makes the Heartless squirm as it does. Though I am sure it is nothing compared to the Keyblade." she began walking down the well lit hall, her hand tracing the bricks along the way. "It causes them great agony, and I hope that it may even increase the time it takes for them to reform..." she sighed. "And it may and it may not. 'Tis not something I have had no time to research myself. I have left that to the schools. It is in no way a new spell... there are outsiders that can use it as easily as they can breathe. You could say we of this world are rediscovering it." Faye glanced back over her shoulder. "Forgive my rambling. You know how much I enjoy discussing these matters."

[Dirge]

The queen, sassy as usual, had made sure that he'd keep hold of that orb. He felt a little peeved that she thought him a clumsy oaf, but then again there was a time when he was anything but graceful, when Dirge had first attempted to utilize his newfound abilities as a dragon. More than likely, she was referring to that embarrassing year and a half. His mind was thankfully distracted from that when the iridescent lights, hypnotic in nature, started to bleed its way into the room.When told to clear his mind, the dragonborn had closed his eyes and breathed in and out with a controlled manner. That process allowed him to focus on the prison in which the Heartless mage lied. Whatever the hell he was, Dirge would be able to get yet another look at him. Since his capture, he'd only seen him about once in his lifetime.

The method of getting to that prison, though, had Dirge feeling queasy. That had to have been the first time he felt his body manipulated in that form of magical manner. Sure, being shrunk down a few feet was something different, it wasn't in the same vein as his body literally fading into magical essence. Thankfully it was near instantaneous and when it was all over, the man felt at better rest than ever. Though, he couldn't resist doing what he did next. "Lady Faye... I think my tail is gone." He said in a concerned tone, though, he was of course joking. His tail came out fine and he just chuckled.

After their merry making was all said and done, Dirge was revealed the prison. A grossly incandescent light, the body of the element had made up the hall. The dragon followed behind his queen and listened to her speak. Light was the creatures weakness? "Do you think that within time, the schools would have created a sure-fire way to eliminate the Heartless through that spell, or would we still require the usage of that key-like weapon?" He asked curiously. It was also shocking to hear that there were others who easily utilized spells akin to what they were researching. The prospect of that made Dirge feel as though they had fallen behind on a potential golden age of knowledge, due to the political and military strife caused by Malazon. "Do not apologize, my queen. You know that I enjoy learning new, complex things... Even if I do not fully understand them. But if they're being explained and taught by you, well, there's really no way I could lose interest."

[Faye]

"Well, then I suppose I'll just turn you right back into a human then. A dragon man certainly cannot be without his tail." Faye would quickly retort with a glimmer of mischief in her eyes.

As they continued walking down the seemingly endless corridor, the queen took one of the torches of holy from the wall and handed it to Dirge to examine. It was a magnificent flame of white and gold, and caused extreme to seemingly no pain depending on the the heart's element. Most did find some measure of pain upon contact. Even Faye felt uncomfortable sticking her whole hand in it, thought it was nothing compared to some wicked mages who came out with their skin nearly melting off their bones.

"I hope that we may find salvation from the darkness in that spell. Does it come from our hearts or a higher being? Some have theorized it comes from Kingdom Hearts itself. A silver of essence that is the true light. As much as I wished that were true, there is little evidence to give that theory credit. As of now, the Keyblade seems to be the only way to truly destroy the Heartless." the queen clenched her fists. "If only I were strong enough to wield it's power and protect my people..."

Finally, they came to what appeared to a piece of crystalized glass that blocked the end of the hallway. Faye placed her hand upon it and it changed the surface into a sheer gold. Very briskly, she began drawing the runes from her tome with her fingers, changing the color of the glass with each one she finished. It appeared that each one represented a number of primary elements, the last of which could have possibly represented the light due to its golden design. Suddenly, the glass shattered, and the shards hovered in the air as if frozen in time. They reflected the light of torches, making it area nearly as blinding as the sun. The sorceress stepped through, the shards being brushed aside and leaving her unharmed. The same went for the dragoon who followed after her.

The next area was a large room, just as bright and dazzling as the corridor, but the floor was different. The tiles were of all varying colors with intricate symbols of the Zodiac inlaid upon them. On the far side of the room there was a picture of what appeared to be a lion above the next door. Faye stood there, placing a finger to her chin as she tried to recall the correct pattern. On each side of the room was an orb reflecting a beam of light. The only one that appeared to be active was the one shining a ray directly into the wall. The ceiling was high enough to fly over the ground with ease, but unfortunately that would not open the door at the end... and would incinerate you the moment you landed in front of it without completing the puzzle.

"Oh, yes. This was one of my favorite puzzles. You have to go through the corresponding colors and their symbols all while directing the light into the correct pattern of the randomly generated astrological sign! It's different every time I come. This time it looks like we're doing the Leo. Oh, and if we get it wrong there is the possibly of getting incinerated on the spot. You both are welcome to turn back if this is too intimidating." she said with a hint of smugness in her voice. It was something she was very proud of.

[Dirge]

Dirge WANTED to say something concerning him being transformed back into a human, if he had lacked his tail, but decided to save the joke for a more appropriate situation. Rather, what truly had his attention at the moment, was that white and gold flame. Torches dotted the expanse of the hallway, which seemed to just go on. Lady Faye had retrieved one of them and handed it to him to observe. That torch was held carefully into his hands and he stared deeply into the white and gold coloration of the flame. There was this sense of salvation within it, to which it prompted the dragonborn to take his free hand and place it into the flame. Needlessly to say, the flame began to seer his claw. "Gah!"

He quickly retreated his hand, to look at it momentarily, only to find shock. His hand had been cured from the curse and the human hand wasn't harmed in the slightest. Those orange, reptilian eyes widened with pure astonishment and when he peered at the working limb, he wondered if the curse stricken on him was truly something meant for malevolent purposes. This thought didn't last for much longer, however, as jet-black scales started to encroach and envelope his hand once again. The steel-shredding claws came back within a moment's time and there it was, once again. Dirge turned his eyes over to the queen and smirked lightly. "That's all you get for free..." He mumbled.

"My lady, it seems the power is very selective and elusive. I don't see how you don't have the strength to wield its power, because look at all you've done for your people. It only makes sense that a proper leader deserves a proper weapon to further that dream. A world free from Heartless? Shouldn't their be more of these wielders of the Keyblade or is this a sign of the end times...?" The dragon asked and turned his eyes away from his ruler. A bit of fear set into his heart, followed by a healthy bit of rage. To hell with the Keyblade, he thought, due to the fact that it hasn't chosen a single citizen to help in the kingdom's plight to staunch the flow of darkness. For the last 20 years and years before even then, they had a problem with wicked eyes and wicked hearts, to which something as powerful and liberating as a Keyblade, could have prevented the fall of the kingdom initially. Dirge stared into the holy light, mentally demanding that it reveal to them its secrets, but all he got in return was a form of rejection. A soft sigh left his lips.

The trio finally came to a new door of sorts, which was made purely of glass. Short work was made of it when the queen placed her hand onto the surface and performed her magics. There was always this bit of awe the man felt whenever he watched the queen at work. She was graceful and precise with everything she did. That made him hold a lot of respect for her. Anyways, the glass had frozen in space, much to the wonder of the dragonborn who attempted to sneak his way past, only to have his large frame brush aside the glass anyways. At least it didn't harm him. Their next arrival was a large room, with what appeared to have been different symbols and simple, yet intricately designed room that still held the bright motif. A puzzle room of sorts that Lady Faye explained to be one of her favorite types of puzzles. A complicated one apparently (at least to Dirge it was complicated) that apparently gave the queen the gall to ask if they wanted to back out, if it was too intimidating.

"With you at our side, Lady Faye, what is there to be intimidated by? We both know you wouldn't let us get incinerated. We're too important." Was his equally smug retort to that.

[Faye]

(I apologize for the delay)

Faye let out a little sassy hmph at Dirge's comment as she approached a small pedestal at the edge of the tiled floor. Two hand held mirrors rested on a crimson velvet pillow, lined with gems of every color. Picking one up, Faye gazed into her reflection. Dirge's words... what he had said about the Keyblade had her wondering. Though she had remained silent, his concerns were shared by her. What if this was a sign of the end times? What if they had truly been forsaken? The queen did not want to believe that, yet there was so much evidence presented that that was the case. There were so few wielders just as Dirge had said. The sultan of Agrabah was said to have one, but that was just talk. Faye had not had any dealings with Eno Vale personally and could not confirm that.

"My Lady?" Xander asked, growing concerned as his queen grew oddly silent.

The sorceress blinked, causing the tame curls of her hair to bounce around as she gave a light shake of her head. "I was just reminding myself the details of the trial." she lied, burying her troubled thoughts. Picking up the second mirror, she turned to her two knights. "We shall bounce the light around while stepping only--let me reiterate--only on the Leo squares of varying colors. What makes it tricky, however, is the fact we need to step on the corresponding colors of the rainbow in order. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. While doing this," she pointed to the many tiny mirrors lined around the walls. "We shall be reflecting beams of light until registered with the correct mirror. The mirrors on the wall are enchanted and will hold the correct ray to create the astrology sign." she then drew attention to the two big orbs of light. "That is the source of the light that will have to be directed every now and then and you may have to switch from one side to the other. I will let you two decide whether you want to control the orbs or join me on the floor with the second mirror."

The dragoon folded his arms over his chest. "Considering the tiles require complete accuracy and some measure of grace, it may not be wise for you to work the floor with those *ahem*.... clunky feet of yours, dragonborn." Xander gave Dirge a sidelong glance.

[Dirge]

Even the Dragonborn had expressed some form of concern when Faye had began to space out. Maybe he said the wrong thing at the wrong time? It was a pretty bleak thing to bring up in the middle of their current quest and Dirge had begun to open his mouth to say something, only for Xander to have spoken out before him. The queen, tough as nails, deflected the concern and claimed she had fortified her mental state for the puzzle. Someone like Dirge, who essentially was a knight and then a country stranded dragon, mental games of this nature seriously rubbed him the wrong way. He tried to stay as educated as possible, but he loathed having to train his mind in that manner. A soft grumble came to his lips, after the woman explained how things worked once again.

Though, he really showed displeasure about the whole thing, when the dragoon had opened his mouth and had something to say about his feet. Sure, they were big and clunky, but that didn't mean he forgot his fluidity and grace as a knight. Oh, how he wanted to grill the man in a figurative sense, but just grunted and rolled his orange eyes. Ignoring him, he would instead steal his suggestion and run it by the queen. "To make this easier on all of us, Lady Faye, how about I handle something that doesn't require me being precise on my feet? Wouldn't want to up stage the young dragoon and his dainty dancer-like figure after all." Okay, so maybe ignoring him and not causing a verbal fight was something that he couldn't avoid.

[Faye]

Xander frowned at the cursed man. Dainty dancer-like figure? Well, okay that wasn't a lie, but it was obviously supposed to serve as an insult. Being tall and slim was a Dracovain trait that appeared almost in every male, and Xander was no exception. It was necessary to help them preform the difficult acrobatics they had mastered. Dragoons needed to be light to travel and manipulate the wind. That had been his family's philosophy. Dirge was the opposite of him in a lot of ways. So far the only thing he noticed they shared strongly in common was their care for the queen. Though he remained silent, he was steaming under his armor, and his tight lipped expression could not be hidden by his helm.

"That is an accurate observation, Dirge. Let's get started, shall we?" Faye said as she stepped on the first colored tile and then began leaping to where she would need to be for the first beam. Xander followed his queen in suit, jumping effortlessly from one tile to the next until the sorceress landed on a green square where he stopped. "We'll do the bottom line first since it is the longest and easiest place to start. Move more towards the right there, Xander. Up against the wall." the dragooon followed the instructions and waited patiently for his next order. "Good. Now, we just need a beam of light from the crystal there. Dirge?"

[Dirge]

Seems as though Dirge had won out with that little back and forth, between he and Xander. Thus, being used to direct the light wasn't all that bad in the end, but he had to take the situation extremely serious, due to the nature of the blasted puzzle. He took his spot at the light, remembering that he had to correctly follow the pattern that involved Leo, one of the many zodiac signs. That was easy enough on his part, so he didn't feel too worried about the thing. All he had to do was wait and watch.... And even then, that caused his heart to beat a mile a minute, simply for the fact he watched the queen make her moves toward the squares. The man prayed for both of them to be safe.

He released his deep breath, however, when Faye had instructed up to beam the light from the orb. "On it, my lady." From there, he directed the light over to the picture of the lion and started to recreate the pattern of the Leo sign.

[Faye]

Faye watched carefully as Dirge recreated the picture, causing beams of light to appear among the titles that she and Xander would have to direct. The first ray was put into place which was simple enough. It was one straight line that went from one side of the map to the other. The rest would grow slightly more complicated from there. Usually, she did this puzzle by herself and she had to admit it was less troublesome having help. Sure, It would be far easier not to put herself through these trials and leave these traps in place for intruders alone, but she was paranoid of others entering by other means. If she had a magic button that only allowed her direct entrance into Malazon's chamber... if someone were able to figure that out and reverse engineer the spell or enchantment... she wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Was going this way and only this way inconvenient? Very much so, but it gave her more comfort testing and going through these traps herself--knowing the difficulties a would be criminal would face if they tried to enter here. Without the key words and instructions she personally knew it would be impossible to get through here without her knowledge. Or so she thought.

"Xander take care not to stand in the way of the beams."

"Right, my lady. I would not wish to block the pattern."

"Mhm, yes, and if you stand in it long enough it will melt your armor to your bones."

"Oh. That would be most unfortunate." Xander began to double check before jumping so that he wouldn't find himself between a burning light and a hard place.

Leaping from one colored tile to the next, the sorceress and her knight redirected the light with their mirrors, slowly creating the starry symbol one could see in the night sky. They made sure to keep up with Dirge as he made his own picture on the wall. Faye knew it could be annoying to lock the lines into place on the picture without being able to backtrack. The Dragonborn seemed to be doing quite well though. There was a click as the incorrect tiles deactivated and the door to the next room disappeared in a display of colored stars. The picture on the wall changed into that of the Taurus symbol, resetting the puzzle for the next round.

"That went smoothly. Well done." Faye said, handing her mirror to Xander where he returned them to their velvet pillow. "See? 'Twas not so bad." she turned to Dirge, a small smile on her lips. Seems like she was smiling a lot today. Much more than usual. She wondered why. It was almost like an affliction when the cursed man was around.

[Dirge]

It was quite annoying to be recreating patterns of astrological signs upon the grand wall, of the puzzle room. He never liked doing these sort of things, but his knowledge of these patterns helped them all out greatly. Being a dragon that dwelt in a cave, one could grow bored and decide to count the stars, making the patterns as they appeared whenever the rotation of the world was aligned correctly. Strangely enough, the Dragonborn was a curious man even in his age and studied the lands, skies and sea, on his free time. Through this, he managed to become more attuned to the earth and the aspects beyond it. "Aye, it wasn't that bad, but doesn't mean I like it anymore..."

He was a disgruntled dragon, especially when he saw the patterns change again. A light groan would be heard from his little perch, but he'd deal with it. That smile Faye gave him was enough to melt his icy heart towards the puzzle. A light huff came from him in the puff of black soot, followed by him smiling back. The queen always looked her best when she smiled and it was because of that, that Dirge couldn't allow her to visit that Heartless thing on her own. He had to protect her and her smile. "Taurus is up next! Just give me the signal as per usual!" The afflicted man had called over to them. At least the damn brain challenger was made easier with the incorrect tiles disappearing...

[Faye]

They pushed on, finishing the next astrological sign from one to the next until all the tiles on the floor lost their colors and reverted back to the cold grey of the stone. The tiny symbols around the door were all lit up and the final door opened. The last of the signs they had completed had been Aquarius, one of the more difficult of the star patterns. There was a moment she thought she was going to have to start over. To make such a blunder in front of her knights would have been humiliating. There was nothing she hated more than making a mistake. The sorceress was a perfectionist and always had been since she was young. Thankfully, she was able to make a correction by disguising her fault with another line and blending it into one beam. Xander didn't seem to notice, but Dirge had the high ground and it would have been easy for him to see her little blunder. Just the thought caused the queen to bite the inside of her cheek.

Faye wiped the light beads of sweat that had collected on her forehead. It felt like she had been hopping and jumping around for quite a while now. Hopefully she didn't look too worse for wear. She could see a warm rosemary scented bath in her near future... just a few more areas and they would reach the prison.

"There. We can continue on." she stepped through the open doorway and into a new tunnel. Torches of holy fire silently came to life as Faye passed by them, and yet no matter how many lights came on, the deeper they went the darker the hall seemed to become. This change brought Faye to such a quick halt that Xander--with all his agility--nearly bumped right into her. This brought Wysteria--who had served pretty much as Faye's scarf and nothing else while she dozed--out of her slumber, letting out a growl of protest.

"Hm? Is there aught amiss, my queen?" Xander asked, squinting his eyes from behind his helm. He too was noticing the change.

There was an air of unease around the queen as she spoke. "This darkness is not natural. 'Tis choking... suffocating--pressing down upon us." she viewed the torches along the wall, their flames burning fiercely... and all in vain. How could this be? She had walked this path many times before in the past and it had been nearly blinding. "How do your eyes fair, Dirge? Surely, they are better than ours." Conjuring up her own globe of Holy, the darkness recoiled, though not as much as she would have hoped. What was the meaning of this?

[Dirge]

Ah yes, he sure did see her little mistake from his vantage point. He'd make sure to tease the queen about it later, when it was just the two of them. Until then, it was super serious mode after this whole thing was done. Faye seemed to grow a bit fatigued, he could smell her sweat from where he was, but that was likely because he focused more on her rather than Xander. Then again, the dragoon probably wasn't all that exhausted from jumping around, since his entire fighting style hinged on graceful leaps and the like. Dirge would inquire later, they had much more pressing matters to attend to, now that the puzzles had all been solved.

The Dragonborn joined the both of them a moment later, his orange reptilian eyes shifted over to the woman as it seemed her presence ignited the flames. He hadn't said anything yet, because unlike them, Dirge was on-edge from the beginning. His steps continued at their same pace, up until the cursed man had to stop at her behest. The flames which burned so intensely that they turned him human momentarily, had ceased to burn away this darkness? The queen was right, none of this was natural. Smoke began to billow from the gaps between his fangs, as he growled, casting his eyes forward and staring deep into the dark abyss. "I can't see much of anything... This shouldn't be happening, right...? Could it be that...?"

No, he wanted to have the same amount of faith in Marigold's contraption much like how Faye did, but he was having a hard time doing so with how something like this could happen. Dirge let out another hostile growl again, determined to prevent any harm coming to his companions. The dragon closed his eyes for a moment and attempted to extend his pyrokinesis to the rest of the torches (those already active). Concentrating, he focused on increasing their intensity so that they burned brighter. Should their be something or someone ahead, with their dark nature, they wouldn't be able to resist a bolstered Holy flame, if Dirge was even able to tame such a flame.

[Faye]

The fires of the Dragonborn appeared to help somewhat at first, only for the holy flames to diminish once more. Even the ball of holy in the queen's hand was starting to grow dim. A bolt of fear struck Faye's heart; and without any warning, she took off into the darkness at a dead run. Her tiny sphere of Holy was the only true guidance he had, but the dragoon fled off after her without hesitation. The tunnel began to decline into an increasingly steep slope, and her fancy heels slid against the damp tiles every now and then; still, she did not slow pace. So many horrific scenarios were going through her mind. What if the barrier had been broken? What if this damned darkness was from him? What if he was lurking in the shadows at this very moment. Faye skidded to a stop, squinting through the dim light to see that she had arrived at the spiral staircase. Good, they were on track. Just a little further now.

While the others were catching up, she took this moment to calm herself. Impossible. There is no way he could have escaped. I saw the machine. I know what it can do. Malazon could never do this on his own. she gazed down the staircase, swirling into the abyss below. The darkness would only get worse. It always did. Perhaps she was jumping to conclusions, but it was hard not to when seeing all of this. What if he had help? No! No, that cannot be. This dungeon has been enchanted with the most powerful of magics. No outside force could barge its way in here. It's not possible. she tried to convince herself. digging her nails into the wall until it started to chip away.

[Dirge]

"Lady Faye!" Dirge called out when she the queen had sprinted off. Her ball of Holy light had started to quickly diminish within the darkness. A loud growl escaped his lips as he turned his attention over to Xander. "Let's go. Hurry!" And with that, the dragonborn had taken off with great speed of his own.

Thanks to his height and body structure, it wouldn't have been much longer for Dirge to have caught up to the woman. A little flustered from her sudden break in composure, the heart in his chest had begun to beat a mile a minute, almost as if he and her heartbeat had temporarily synchronized. That was around the same time he began to feel a bit of dread wash over the surrounding area. All that thickened darkness hadn't settled the dragon's nerves either, for this was his first trip here and with Faye acting so desperately, it could only mean this wasn't apart of the plan.

Seeing her distress and the way how she started to dig her nails into the wall, the cursed man walked up beside her, then placed a hand at her shoulder. It was firm, reassuring and he turned his best smile over to her. "It's not lady-like for a queen to chip her nails on the wall, nor to nearly trip over her heels. Come, let's continue further and see what's causing this abnormality."

Despite his own worry, he had to remain calm for Faye's sake.

[Faye]

The sorceress heard Dirge approach, but did not lift her head until he placed a claw on her shoulder, a gentle yet firm touch. She always wondered how he controlled that kind of raw power, and if he ever had trouble with differentiating from the two forces. He could easily crush every bone in her body, she had no doubt of that.

The clusters of stone she had dug out of the wall was tossed into the black hole before her, releasing a haunting echo that circled around the stairway. An eerie and yet reassuring sound. That meant that there was still solid ground below and not some twisted gateway of darkness waiting for them. Faye let out a soft growl, cursing herself for her own weakness. There was no need for these fears to cloud her mind. Normally, she would remain level headed, however, this was different. No matter how much she denied it, Faye feared Malazon. The dark elf disturbed her to the very core.

Meeting his eyes, she nodded, briefly touching his scaly hand before straightening herself up. Wysteria let out a whine, and the sorceress placed her hand on the fairy dragon's head. She always became antsy when Faye was distressed, and she couldn't help but feel guilty for making her little companion feel that way. "Shh..." she cooed, staring down the hall as she heard Xander approach. He emerged from the shadows with spear drawn as he had prepared for the worst. The man breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that all was well and good.

"You gave me quite a fright, your majesty. Please, we must stay together." Xander said. "Especially with this evil surrounding us."

"Forgive me. I... I acted irrationally. Faye said before taking a deep breath. "Watch your step." the queen held her sphere up as she began to descend down the stairs. "Keep your eyes open for a violet rune. We will need to find it if we are to move on. It may be a bit tricky. It likes to hide." It only seemed to get darker as they moved, but there was just enough light that they would still be able to see where they were going. It was a very long staircase as if they were traveling down into the heart of the earth. Xander had forced his way up front, insisting that Faye would be safer if she remained between Dirge and himself. If there was danger lurking in the darkness, the dragoon would rather he be the first target seen rather than his queen. He wasn't allowing Faye any say in the matter, which irked her, yet she could not deny the logic of it either.

The stairs would feel unending to those who had never descended them before, moving deeper and deeper underground. The stone that had been earlier indicted that the bottom was not that far and yet the stone steps continued one after the other. Faye kept her head low, scanning over each step she touched and counting quietly to herself. "It should be here somewhere." she mumbled. "It attempts to blend in to the stone, but there is always a faint glow to be seen."

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