I DO Hidden: theme The chapel was packed. There was no empty pew. Every neck within that closed space was craning towards the back of the room, down the endless aisle where a white satin carpet laid still. Iván swallowed air, awkwardly waiting for what was to come. He didn't really seem comfortable but he still attempted to smile at any stray gaze that fell on him. From where he stood, overthinking, over-imagining, over-reminiscing, he could see everyone who generously graced this event with their presence: from his Witch Ops comrades in Haru, Bradwynne, Janet Reilly, Rias, and even the Grand Witch Majolica, whose tears of joy were being wiped off her face by one of her witch frogs, to his fellow chefs and staff at the Curry House in Maeve Lox, Darko Ljubicic, and a still shirtless Jasper. Even the queen of Falderen, D'vangelline de Falder, and the king of Astorea, Astor Balthas, were there. As his eyes continued going through the crowd, the guests, all dressed in their best, he was interrupted, his attention grabbed by @Corvella, finally standing, strong and beautiful, at the end of the room, a glow of her own in her gorgeous white dress. Iván couldn't help but grin from ear to ear, entranced by this woman, no longer just his partner in Witch Ops but also mere-seconds-to-be his partner in everything else. On Zeus' arm, Corvella walked the gauntlet of this world's most intrusive admiration, one step at a time, the most beautiful she had ever been, the most beautiful she will ever be. There was no question that the crowd was dazzled by her, bewitched by her, mesmerized and captivated. Iván himself could do nothing else but keep his eyes on Corvella, a stupid smile still on his face, until she finally took her place beside him at the altar. The minister seemed equally amused at the sight of them, of Iván especially, "You should take off your mask..." "Oh, uhm, what?" Iván turned to the minister, the priest, as if he was just regaining his mind from having been trapped in an illusion, though the same priest seemingly didn't hear him. Instead, the priest focused on everyone else present, and Iván quickly forgot what he had said, his full attention on his beautiful bride. "You look really beautiful." He took both her hands, each one in one of his, and savored the way they felt. This was the happiest he had ever been, the happiest he could remember himself ever being. The priest droned on and on as part of the proceedings, but Iván paid him no attention. It was as if his mind, his body, his soul was chained to Corvella, to her very presence, in a way that he considered magical and miraculous. Just a few days ago, he was so sure that he was asexual, and now? Now he was getting married to the most beautiful woman he has ever laid eyes on. As he continued staring lovingly at her, he spotted Alphabet Chocolate standing from afar but behind his bride, closer to the wall. Despite the distance, he could hear what she was saying, through her gritted teeth and confused grin, "What the hot dog on a stick is going on?" His wedding was going on, silly. His and Corvella's wedding. They've been planning this for months now, the pair of them, as they continued to see each other, ever since that mission... Wait, what was that mission again? Hmm. No matter. It's not that important. It's in the past. What he should be focusing on is his present, this present, his wedding to Corvella, and his future with her, a bright future filled with all the love and warmth in the world, everything he would ever need. He was one lucky, stinky, masked illusionist dude.
She never thought this day would finally come. It's like counting your hairs, one by one until you realized there's no point in doing it. Behind the veil was none other than Corvella, dressed for her one day for a lifetime. Upon hearing her bridesmaid uttering the words "It's time," the woman gazed at her reflection for the last time before letting Zeus, her father figure of Lion's Pride to guide her to the chapel. Hidden: Here comes the bride Walking and walking, walking down the aisle slowly in a beautifully crafted wedding dress, she could see the faces of everyone present in the happiest day of her live. Upon passing each row of pews, every single of them rose up to look at the bride, looking most beautiful than she ever was. Among them are her comrades, the Witch Ops, Astorean nobles, and even the King Astor and Queen D'vangeline seated in the front row. She swore she spotted Janet giving her a thumb up among the audiences clapping at her. Raising her head, Corvella could see the figure that was @Iván Carl, her man and the only, waiting for her patiently on the other side of the room. She made sure that she looked beautiful and fitting, not for herself, but for her soon to-be-husband. Finally reunited with her lover and soulmate, they took each other's hands as the light-haired bride looked towards the chapel windows. Today is indeed a beautiful day. "You look really beautiful." It might sounded like a normal compliment, but hearing it from Iván's mouth, the words felt like magic that touched her heart. She smiled, her fingers playfully tapped on his hands 'I know'. Albeit not opening her red lips, Iván could understand from her emerald eyes that she could say the same with the man behind his red mask, enveloped in his black suit, that he also looked gorgeous. Yeah, there's absolutely nothing weird with the way he dressed. After all, he's all she ever wanted in the whole world, not a perfect prince charming; that one only belonged in a fairytale illusion. But what to call her love story, if not a fairytale? It's like fate entwined their souls on that mission.... ... What mission? She couldn't remember it, so it must be not that important. Time seems to go really fast when you fall in love. It was only days, or weeks, or months, was it? Why there's doubt in her heart now? Hasn't she accepted the future with the red-masked man in her embrace already? "Welcome, family, friends and loved ones. We are gathered here on this beautiful day, to celebrate the wedding of Corvella and Iván Carl. You have come here from nearby and from land far away to share in this sacred promise now they make to one another, to offer your love and support to their union, and to allow Corvella and Iván to start their married life together surrounded by the people dearest and most important to them...." The priest began to recite the commitment ceremony, but all of it was drowned as Corvella's eyes met with Iván's behind the red mask. It's like time stopped and that they have all the time in the world, to reminisce about the day they fell in love. That one day, where their fateful tale of love began.
SUCH BURNING PASSION Hidden: theme If only he could stop time, then they could have all the opportunities in the world to take things slow, maybe even take a second to reminisce about this day, how this day came about, the day they both fell, the day he thought would be the beginning of something new, a fateful day to start a new tale, but as luck would have it, this day was determined to mock him. Such was the fate of one lucky, stinky, masked illusionist dude. No... Not today. Not this day. Each step the Bound Prince took propelled himself forward with such furious force. He was determined to keep moving. Staying in one place wasn't an option. Not this time. On any given day, the strong smell of sulfur surrounding him was the cursed fault of the red mask he wore, previously the face of a deadly predator from the Spire, a world underneath a world, previously unexplored, and thanks to their expedition's failure, still somewhat unexplored. Unfortunately, today of all days, that strong smell of sulfur around him wasn't just his fault. It wasn't just from his mask. It was from all around them. The strong stone walls did their best to endure the very flames of hell, and it seemed that they, most of them anyway, would survive the destruction that their own lord had prepared for them. Iván, on the other hand, wouldn't be so lucky. Not if he, they, didn't find a way out of there. And fast. I will not fall today. We will not fall today. "@Corvella? Where are you?" If Iván hadn't been wearing his mask, or his goggles, or his exaggerated turtleneck, he would have been coughing from all the smoke. Fortunately, he was always wearing his mask. And his goggles. And that exaggerated turtleneck. Titan didn't have the same accoutrements to keep her breathing normal. Corvella was a powerful knight, Iván has seen her in action after all, even fought beside her, so his admiration of her skills was logical, but she wasn't a miracle worker. At least not yet. All this smoke, all this fire, trapping them between stone walls, could be the end of them both, masked illusionist and guardian knight. This day could very well be their last day. This day could very well be the day they'd fall. And to think, this day was supposed to be his day of triumph, their day of victory, not just for himself, but for each and every one that has suffered because of this very castle, because of its owner's maniacal thirst for blasphemy, for pain, for flamboyant destruction. This day was supposed to be a good day. This day was supposed to be another win for the Witch Ops.
Like a miracle, one second of gaze was able to bring them back to where it all started. "Iván." She spoke. Not getting any response, she decided to shout louder "Iván?" There's no sign of her partner, not when they are this close to death's door. The knight could feel the heat of flames, slowly conducting into the parts of her steel armor. She crawled, trying to get her bearings of where she is. The heat, combined with the lack of oxygen and the smoke in the air prevented her and thinking straight. But one thing was clear that there's no exit in sight. Corvella had tried to contact the remaining Witch Ops to no avail; the castle had been provided with the means of preventing magic streams. "Where are you?" The light-haired woman was sure that she had heard a voice through the stone wall. "Iván!" She coughed, an indication that she had inhaled too much smoke from the hellish fire. This however, triggered her berserker instinct, giving her the overwhelming strength she needed just for a moment. In just a split second, Titan burst through the formation of stone wall separating them into piles of rubble, revealing the knight with glowing blue veins all over her skin surfaces. Finally feeling a short moment of oxygen flowing through the opening, she took a long intake of breath. There's too much smoke going into her eyes already, but despite not being able to open her eyes she was sure she reunited with the red-masked illusionist @Iván Carl. "Bound Prince, we have to get out of here quick. The trap was designed to consume this place into nothing. We can either bomb or punch our way through the weaker walls." Corvella extended her left arm for Iván to help her find the way, as she's visually impaired. "Guide me, please." This mission was not supposed to go this way. He is impossibly way too prepared for their combined assault. There's still a slim chance that they would survive through this together, as it looks like someone forgot what their powers combined could do to his trap castle.
Iván didn’t have to look longer than necessary for @Corvella. He didn’t need to waste any more time looking for her, which was truly a blessing, as the entire place was fast becoming their fiery grave. All he needed was a split second, a split second for something, someone, to burst through those stone walls, a split second for something, someone, to appear through all that smoke, all that rubble, a split second for something, someone, to call his name. The masked illusionist was quick to come to his partner’s aid, catching her before she fell to the ground, exhausted from having resorted to her berserker instinct to be found, overwhelmed by all the heat and the smoke. “I’m here, Titan,” Iván carefully took her arm, the one closest to his body, and put it around his neck, placing his arm, the one closest to her body, around her waist, and slowly, carefully, helped her up. “I’m here. I got you.” Iván struggled with Corvella’s armor for a bit, feeling both the weight and the heat wrestling with his own efforts to get somewhere, anywhere that wasn’t where they were. He looked around them as he led himself and his partner away from the aftermath of her destruction, a tiny struggle compared to the bigger destruction looming in the horizon. Unfortunately, he could find no windows they could jump through. Unfortunate indeed. “I tried to contact Majolica and the others, but no dice…” Something was definitely interfering with that connection, perhaps even limiting the others’ surveillance of their status. This was not what he had in mind when he accepted this mission. This was not the kind of risk he thought they had to contend with, though to be fair, he should have expected as much when the Grand Witch beckoned them, just the two of them, Bound Prince and Titan, behind closed doors. “Time to earn your keep, familiar,” Iván quickly summoned something that resembled a crystallized flying ant before taking something from inside his coat. It was one of those makeshift bombs he had used to impress the Grand Witch during his initiation, their initiation. “Place this on the farthest wall you can find, a wall that stands between us and a safer place, and then take refuge from a distance. This goes boom, so don’t be near it when it goes boom, okay?” The familiar nodded, seemingly understanding the masked illusionist’s words as clear as crystal, before flying off towards purple god knows where with the bomb in tow. Iván grabbed Corvella tightly and followed the familiar, hoping that the plan would work. Sure enough, the familiar did what it was told, and in a matter of minutes, it successfully found a wall that could be cleared. It placed the bomb against it and flew towards a safer distance. Grabbing Corvella by the waist, Iván made sure to use his back to defend the two of them from any debris that could fly their way once the explosion occurred. He held her with both arms, safely burying her face against his neck. He could withstand a stone to his head, right? Worst case scenario was Corvella carrying him outside if he got knocked out because of a stray stone to his head. Maybe she something with her to prevent that. If only they had more time. If only the heat and smoke wasn’t suffocating him. If only he had an actual shield instead of his own back. Iván inhaled as deep as he could. He forced his eyes shut and subconsciously tightened every muscle in his body. That last part probably wouldn’t do much against flying stones but it was all that he had. As soon as he stopped his breathing, the wall behind him exploded, sending debris flying towards them. You’ll be safe. I’ve got you, Corvy.
The Titan of Witch Ops briefly lost consciousness, before the loud explosion woke her up, prompting her to instinctively raise her shield behind Iván's back to cover him from the ensuing blast. Some stone debris could be felt rapidly hitting the shield, but Iván's embrace was unmoved. The dust from the explosion settled, and as Corvella sensed fresh air around her, she opened her eyes. It's still teary, but at least this way she can use her investigation mode. The bomb opened a massive hole in the castle wall, where there's path to outside in clear sight. Corvella weakly pointed to the way out with her left hand "There..." They only had to walk feet away before they could get out from here safely. Arm to arm, they walked, making their way towards the apparent safe path outside while avoiding flames. Unfortunately for them, it looks like the castle was specifically designed that the one, crucial wall they blasted was the main support wall, causing the whole stone building to rumble. "We have to run for it!" She alerted her partner, ushering him to move quickly. The ceiling began to crumble, pieces of stone falling everywhere and the fire spread even faster. Why does this has to happen now? Few steps left, and they would be safe. Loud, thunderous crumbling sound echoed in the background as the whole castle started to undo itself into pile of rubble. They had only to jump to make it safely outside, but a falling stray piece of stone knocked both of them off balance, as they watched the ceiling gave up holding the whole building to the gravity, making its way to crushing both of them. Pushing Iván below her, Corvella knelt above him, putting both of her arms upwards to hold the shield. Once again, the berserk power did a miracle; the dark knight's skin is fully enveloped in glowing blue veins, hopefully enough to support a whole floor above them. "I.. will protect.." Corvella's back arched as the countless stones fell on her shield, trying her best to get crushed under the massive weight to protect the man below her. It was a miracle indeed, as the collapsing apparently stopped when it looked like Titan could not handle any more weight above her. She launched a powerful upwards punch with her shield, clearing the rubble above them. "Come on, let's get out of here..." Panting heavily, she helped @Iván Carl to get up, before collapsing herself due to overexerting her strength. There's not much to worry about, since the path is already clear. They just have to move forward to not get roasted alive.
Iván held his breath for as long as he could but was surprised to feel himself, his back specifically, unharmed. He had anticipated debris from the explosion of the wall behind him to come flying at them, at him. He expected to feel pain on his back, which he had opted to use as a makeshift shield to keep his partner safe, maybe even a headache or two before falling unconscious courtesy of a flying block of stone as the worst case scenario, but he never expected to feel nothing, especially with the way his ears were ringing. Opening one eye at a time, he was caught off-guard when he realized @Corvella had his back. Literally. With her shield. He ended up staring at her for a few more seconds before a smile found its way on his lips. He couldn’t keep smiling any longer than a minute or less, though. They couldn’t stay there, stay still, for much longer. “We should go,” the masked illusionist deadpanned before following the berserker knight’s suggested direction. Together, they made their way out of there. Well, at least they tried. Before they could escape this hellish trap, everything began to fell apart at the seams, so to speak, and Titan’s screaming didn’t bestow the Bound Prince with a speed boost. Instead, he found himself underneath her as she pushed herself to the limit, using what was left of her strength to save him, the two of them, from the raining pieces of stone that had been the ceiling just minutes ago. “Hot,” Iván felt the heat emanating from Corvella’s armor, and instinctively kept distance between her and any exposed flesh he had. He winced as countless stones pressed against her mettle, empathizing with her efforts. Titan was called Titan for a reason, however, and no amount of rubble would be able to stop her. At least not today. Exhaustion, however, was a different beast altogether. “Looks like it’s my turn,” Iván picked himself and Corvella up, wincing at how hot her armor was getting. The caster had never been near this kind of armor before and was a little unprepared in terms of handling it, especially when it came to how much heat it was absorbing. Corvella was probably used to how hot it got in there and didn’t mind. Not that she had a choice, being a knight, and it quickly dawned on Iván that he didn’t really have one either. “Familiar, to me.” The masked illusionist grimaced as he beckoned his crystallized ant queen, which quickly flew towards him. In quick succession, Iván had the familiar carry Corvella outside, the ant queen basically functioning as a makeshift jet pack, except with wings instead of a jet, while he ran after them. He knew he wasn’t as physically strong as Titan. He didn’t have the sufficient upper body strength, or any strength for that matter, to carry her outside, out of there, on his own. But his familiar did, thank purple god. Iván wasn’t sure if it was because his familiar had taken the form of the ant queen, considering ants had this thing that allowed them to carry things twice their size. Or was it thrice? It did not matter. What mattered was, finally, they were outside, the two of them, safe as two agents on a dangerous mission could be. The ant queen carefully placed Corvella down on the soft, grassy ground before dissipating into thin air. Iván’s energy, his mana, had finally caught up to them, and he could do nothing else but lie down beside Titan. The Bound Prince panted and panted, trying his best to catch up to his breathing, to calm his breathing down. The few clouds floating lazily overhead helped. He closed his eyes, savoring their respite, their salvation, from certain doom, “Well, that was exciting.”
Corvella certainly did not expect to survive after blacking out in the flaming ruins of the caste, but they actually survived the whole ordeal. She finally woke up not long after she was laid on the grassy field, or maybe too long, she doesn't know and doesn't care. For now, it was a miracle that they both are still alive. The night felt like it has been up for too long as she looked up into the dark sky, her sweaty body gave up on moving as she tried to get up. Noticing her partner laying beside her, unknown if he's conscious enough to hold a conversation, the exhausted knight snapped her finger to try and gain Iván's attention. "Iván, you there?" Realizing that she herself was not at the best condition to talk a lot, she cut the conversation fast. "... Cannot give pursuit at this state. Need to recover and reassess strategy." Her eyes quickly closed and time passed quickly. She did not recollect if she got up first or if it was the Bound Prince that woke her up, the confrontation was so exhausting that it would be normal if she needed more energy to remember all the events happened. First thing she noticed was the flashing on the upper left side of her UI, indicating from all that resting, she only had 1% of EN remaining. Ugh, that wouldn't certainly recover very soon. Don't forget to add the list of status effects she had accumulated overnight : Severe Dehydration that prevents HP recovery, Muscle Atrophy that prevents EN recovery, and of course Third-degree burn, which actually doesn't look the slightest as the real life counterpart but still feel overly uncomfortable regardless. How convenient that the status effects complemented each other to make her significantly weaker, unfit for combat. "Remind me to buy leather clothing later, I should wear at least something on the inside of my armor to not get burned this bad." She sighed. Despite all the problems, they still managed to travel to the closest fishing village in Dunnstads. "I know the owner of the tavern here. Well, to be honest, I know a lot of tavern owner everywhere. I'm sure he'll give a good deal for a couple of room and food–" Corvella stopped as she checked the gold sack strapped on her waist. "–Forget buying leather undergarments, there's even barely enough for a meal. Here." She showed the badly burnt sack to @Iván Carl, with dried, melted, burnt gold everywhere. Some gold coins did survive the hellish flame trap though. Sighing while facepalming, she waited for the man's response while sitting in the corner. "I mean we could always sell my armor. They should worth a lot of gold coins." Corvella noted with unsure expression on her face.
"I'm here," Iván groaned as he shook his head, propping himself up on the grassy field. He turned to @Corvella, only to find her once again unconscious. Or was she just resting her eyes? He sighed, looking her over. Maybe she needed the rest? Of course, she needed to take her time. What happened back there was not meant to happen. They were not supposed to get caught off-guard like that. Titan was perhaps the strongest of the Witch Ops in terms of physicality but what she went through tonight was more than enough to force her to at least take a breather. She did all the work, too, to be fair, saving the Bound Prince's life. His best idea was to shield her with his body? That was stupid. Granted that they were under pressure, but he should have been able to have thought better than that. Grace under pressure, something like that. Iván found himself watching Corvella far longer than he actually did. His eyes were on her unconscious form but his mind was elsewhere. Should he help her take that armor off? Maybe all that heat had rendered her unconscious. He put a hand on her shoulder plate and immediately regretted it, wincing as the heat forced his hand to instinctively fly back. Crap. What do I do? What else could he do? He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. An idea came to him quicker than expected. Iván put a hand inside his coat and took something out of it, a vial of ant juice. Normally, the rancid stench worked to knock people out cold, and if his memory served him correctly, Iván knew from research studies that it was mostly uncertain if smells can wake people up. That was, of course, unless you don't count ammonium carbonate, smelling salts. Through his tinkering ability, Iván had stumbled upon a version of smelling salts that he could concoct with help from his ant juice. Well, it was more precisely a derivative of his ant juice that functions more like smelling salts. It only took him a few seconds to whip it up and place it carefully under Corvella's nose. Another few seconds and she was awake. He carefully stashed his concoction back in his coat, safe where it should be, and made sure to give Titan enough space so she can breathe in enough air as she made sense of her surroundings. "Are you okay? Are you feeling better? I'm sorry, I had to wake you up. Your armor's pretty hot, I wasn't sure if you should be sleeping in it." Iván grinned at the idea of Titan wearing leather instead of armor. That could be quite deceptive, considering her namesake, and maybe counterproductive, considering what she pride herself as. Corvella seemed to Iván someone who actually liked wearing heavy armor, perhaps because she liked helping people, protecting them, acting as their shield. It was a role one could play in this world, and perhaps also in the other world, but it was a role Iván could never see himself in. If tonight had taught him anything, it was that he wasn't enough to protect himself. What more if he decided to protect others? "Don't worry about it. It's on me," Iván put a hand up, gesturing for Corvella to keep her gold, whatever's left of it anyway, before taking out a sack of his own from inside his coat. He shook it so the sound would reveal what was inside. "One good thing about being a tinkerer, and maybe specifically, studying under a master tinkerer... Fireproof sacks of gold." He pushed himself up, back to his feet, and extended a hand to his partner, a grin on his face, which was, unfortunately, hidden by his mask "You can keep that armor for another day. Unless you need to get it fixed?" Iván made a mental note to make more of these fireproof sacks for the Witch Ops. If he had known something like this would happen to them, he would already snatched another prototype from Lightning Ironworks for Corvella. Creating these sacks wasn't really that hard. Finding enough materials to make one, however, now that's just punishment. It was a rare kind of leather, a strange kind of magic, and an expensive form of crafting that needed to come together just to make one of these things. A week or so of tinkering would simply be a walk in the park. "We should probably get something to eat," Iván was a little iffy about taking a few hours off. Their target has gotten himself a few hours of a head start, maybe even a few miles of a head start, but they were both exhausted, burnt, and hungry. Continuing on their mission like that would only serve to overwork themselves, give their target more of an advantage, and dig their own graves. They needed respite. "...and maybe some sleep."
RESPITE Hidden: theme And here they are in The Tiny Goblin inn, a really weird name for a perfectly normal looking tavern. The usual tavern owner greeted Corvella like she has been in this place a lot. "One room like always?" She quickly replied while pointed to Iván behind her, "Actually, two rooms this time." After getting another keeper to set the rooms, the owner cleaned a table for them both. "First, let's grab something to eat before we discuss what to do in private. Can't risk him getting the drop on us again." She tapped her fingers on the table, thinking what to order. "One grilled giant crab, please." Corvella shouted before turning to Iván, grinning. "Giant crabs are a delicacy in Dunnstads. Besides, you might get inspiration for a new curry recipe." She sat down, waiting for the food to come. There's no way that they're going to disclose their mission on a public place. Maybe later in the one of the rooms. One of the waiters came to them with the large plate of grilled giant crab, complete with brown sauce poured all over it. He did not only just brought the order though, as he informed that the small rooms are all booked and all that's left is a big room. The woman asked "At least it's twin bed, right?" The waiter and the tavern owner just stared on each other awkwardly in silence, causing Corvella to sigh. "As long as there's discount, then. Yeah, let's think about that later. Now that food's here, let's fill our stomach." She proceeded to chow down on the meal with such an appetite that matches someone that had not eaten for one week straight. Between munching crab meat and drinking mead, they exchanged small talks. Mostly about crab, curry, and crab curry. Suddenly the curry house came to her mind, but they can't go back until their job is done. After paying for the meal with @Iván Carl's gold (with a pretty hefty discount) Corvella grabbed the key and went to the room upstairs. Pulling a bit burnt dossier from behind her armor and slammed it on the round table in the middle of the room. "Let's get back to business." She opened the file and reviewed the mission. "Barbarossa, a flamboyant serial killer on the loose. Uses a very unconventional method of killing. The fact that he already prepared a trap for us, after we followed him into his own castle in stealth proved he's smarter that we thought." The light-haired woman sat on the edge of a bed, taking off her metal greaves and grips, exposing wounded, reddened skin on her hands and legs. "We managed to wound his leg in a confrontation, so there's very low probability that he had already escaped Dunnstads. The same can be applied to me, however. So I propose that we stay around here for a while, gathering more information on Barbarossa. How about that?" She asked the opinion of her partner.
Tiny Goblin Inn? Majolica would not approve of this place. Madison Freebird would know. The tavern wasn’t as weird as Iván expected it to be, though. Names can really be misleading. He raised an eyebrow when the owner suggested for him and @Corvella to take one room together, a smile quickly forming when he realized that the same owner noted his presence with Titan’s and added the word “always” to the question. Perhaps the owner simply meant to double check if Corvella, who probably got rooms in this place alone, was still in the mood to get another room for one, considering she had a companion. A different thought planted itself in Iván’s head, however, though it only survived for a few seconds or so. There were far more important things it had to focus on. “Crabs?” Iván knew about giant crabs being the delicacy in Dunnstads, being a restaurateur himself, so to speak, but he never thought they’d have the time to indulge in such a delicious moment. They might have lost the hunt, but this? This was definitely a victory in itself. If Iván could just procure a sustainable supply of these things, they’d be an every-day fare in his Curry House. Dunnstads Giant Crab Curry would be a big seller, he believed. Before they could dig in, however, they were met by some bad news regarding their rooms. From two separate rooms, they were forced to share one, with every other room fully booked. Perhaps it was fate. Perhaps it was destiny. Perhaps they just arrived on a busy day, night, with everyone turning to such a well-known tavern for rooms for the night. Must be a really famous place. He shuddered at the thought that some of the room occupants might actually be tiny goblins. Nope. Majolica would most definitely not like that. As they made their way to their room, Iván made a mental note to find a way to thank Corvella later. He narrowed his eyes as a terrible thought appeared in his head, inspired by a grinning tavern hand who was eyeballing their pair. Nope. Not that kind of thanks. He discreetly spooked the same hand with an illusion spell, making the poor boy see a sinister face instead of his mask one, though the latter would’ve done the job, to be fair. “Hmm,” Iván sighed as he kept his eyes on Titan’s dossier. “He’s been really careful, meticulous… We should’ve expected he’d have some sort of contingency, escape plan, for when he gets found out.” The masked illusionist narrowed his eyes at the sight of Corvella’s wounds. “Still, his options for escape are very limited as of this moment. He doesn’t know who’s found him, how we found him, and disappearing in the middle of the night would simply aggravate everyone suspicions about him.” “That, and fleeing in the middle of the night like some sort of cockroach is the opposite of flamboyant. Not his M.O.,” Iván grinned as he took off his mask and slithered out of his clothes. Well, most of them, anyway. He still had some loose clothes underneath all that light armor. Figurative light armor, of course. Iván was more of a caster than a knight in almost all aspects. With some sort of salve in one hand, he casually approached Corvella, eyes still on her wounds, “May I?” He waited for her consent out of real-world experience if anything. Should she refuse, he’d simply nod and smile and put the salve away. Should she allow him, that salve would ease her pain and in no time erase her wounds with ease. “I believe we can afford to say here for a while, yes.”
What Bound Prince pointed out made sense. Barbarossa was known to deliberately leave clues and also love putting on a show before killing his victims. Still drowned in questions, Iván distracted her, offering to put some kind of salve on her skin. It might be the first time that she saw Iván's face, actually, this might be the first time someone even get to see his face, due to him always have been behind that red mask everywhere. To her surprise, the face behind it wasn't that bad like she expected. Rather, it's quite attractive. Of course, why would someone make a character with unattractive face in a VRMMO? A migraine struck the side of her head after that thought. Smiling lightly and nodding to Iván, Corvella let the man apply the salve to her burned skin. When the salve made contact, it stung for a moment, causing her to lightly grunt. It soon soothed the skin though, or was it Iván's touch? Nobody would expect that the stinky tinkerer has such gentle touch. He doesn't seem to be that stinky, when she thought about it now. Or was it because she spent time around him that her nose is already accustomed to the sulfur and blood smell? Why is she thinking about this? Focus on the mission. "Uh, yeah, so..." She muttered to Iván after he had finished applying the salve "I do think that's very strange. Perhaps we would need more clue on why he acted this way, maybe we should take a look at the burned castle later in the evening, or ask people around." Corvella opened her palm menu, checking her UI and noticing that it's missing. Wait, it was there before they went into the castle. Why is it missing now? This isn't some Titanius' doing again, is it? While pondering about her missing UI, suddenly a headache attacked, prompting her to climb back into the bed. "I need to rest for a while... If you don't mind. My body and my mind hurts... very bad." After waiting for Iván's approval, she smiled before falling helplessly into the bed, lying asleep still in her jet-black metal armor. The status effect recovery was accelerated, but sleep should help it even more. If only she could log out and let her character rest. She could, but why didn't she? That's perfectly fine, nothing wrong with that. What's logging out, anyway?
"We could do that," Iván thought it was brilliant, the idea to look for clues. Whatever remained of the castle should be fine. Unless of course Barbarossa left more traps, though with Titan and Bound Prince now made aware that their target was well aware of them hunting him, probably not that aware of their identities however, any surprises he had planned for them wouldn't be as surprising as he'd like. Iván and @Corvella now had reason to be extra careful. Going back there to look for any clues as to where Barbarossa would be headed wouldn't be that dangerous. As soon as he finished applying the salve on her partner's skin, Iván put it away. He swallowed air. Something strange was happening to him, rather he was feeling something strange. Touching Corvella's exposed flesh shouldn't have been that big of a deal. He wasn't that kind of guy, of person, but somehow, someway, he felt a little hot and embarrassed throughout. Thankfully, he was able to maintain his composure. What was that, though? He spent a few more seconds staring at Corvella before she brought him back to where he stood, "Oh, yes, of course. Resting should help." It took him a few more seconds before he realized something was amiss. Corvella didn't log out. Instead, she decided to sleep right then and there. Could she not access her UI as well? Iván's third death at the hands, or rather tentacles, of Titanius made his UI unresponsive. Currently, he could not make use of his palm menu, his investigation mode, and his handy assist mode. Wait, didn't he try to contact Majolica and the others a few hours ago? How could he if... Iván's train of thought was interrupted by a migraine of sorts. It was so painful, he had to take a step back. He shook his head and a few moments later it was gone, and along with it, his concerns regarding his UI. He yawned, fatigue finally catching up to him. Corvella was already sleeping on the bed. Should he join her? Or should he find elsewhere to sleep? I could sleep on the floor. Or on the chair. Wouldn't be that big of a difference. Another headache struck him, though this time it was too powerful to ignore. He passed out where he stood, falling unconscious and into bed, right next to Corvella.
How much time has passed she fell asleep? Her body felt weak, very weak. Every part of it moved like a cranky mechanism. There's this warm air blowing into her face, though. Trying to find what was causing this disturbance, she moved her hand to grab into whatever was in front of her face. Hmm? Is this a head? Deciding to open her eyes to see what's really bothering her, only to be met with face of a particular man right in front of her. Like, only few inches away. Wait, wait, wait a minute. It's Iván, it actually is him. Corvella's brain froze for a moment, unsure how to react to this sudden realization. Blinking rapidly, she was making sure that she was really awake and this is not some kind of weird dream or illusion. Then, she slowly removed her hand from his face to not wake him up to this awkward situation. Slowly moving on the bed, she got up and sat on the edge of the bed, looking around once again to see if this is real. She's still wearing her heavy armor, that's good. Nothing happened, everything is just fine, they just slept. No, it's not fine at all! They slept in the same bed! What the hell was he thinking? She went up and looked outside of the window to throw her mind off somewhere. It's already evening, the sky's began to adapt the orange color, meaning they should move out to investigate soon. The knight went into the bathroom to clear her face. Looking at herself in the mirror, she wondered why her face got all red just from that situation. Was she blushing? No! That couldn't be! It must be the fever, the fever she got from recovering her wounds! That should be it! Corvella went back near the bed to wake the usually-masked-man. Looks like he's still fast asleep. Sitting beside him, she could hear the sound of his breathing. One could tell that he's very exhausted from the previous encounter. She felt bad for acting like she's the only one in need for rest. Decided to slowly try to wake Iván up to not shock him, she put her hand on his arm to shake it in a slow motion while whispering "Iván, wake up. We have to find clues about Barbarossa." Pretending that there's nothing of interest happened just now.
Hmm? Where am I? Iván looked around him. He saw nothing but white. There were no trees, no buildings, no single living creature in sight. There was just a lot of white. Everything was white. It took him a few seconds before he realized the very ground he stood on was also white. He felt nausea rising up from deep within him. Was he floating? No, he was standing upright. Standing on what, though? What’s going on? The Bound Prince instinctively put both hands around his eyes and immediately realized that he was wearing his stinky red mask, formerly the face of a dangerous but cuddly predator from down in the Spire. He could’ve sworn he took it off a few hours ago. Wait, has it only been a few hours since the… What was the last thing that happened before he woke up in all this white? He suddenly couldn’t remember. “Darling!” That voice… It’s familiar. Before he could fully turn towards her direction, Iván felt @Corvella’s massive hug almost causing him to fall over. Thankfully, he didn’t. He just stood there, staring at her, hands floating near her back, unable to close the hug. Corvella? Her face had been buried in his chest but only for a little while. She slowly turned to face him, to look him in his eyes. She was smiling, the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. Iván felt something warm deep within him. He couldn’t help but smile. She looked so beautiful, the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on. Blink. A flash of light. Was it white? It was too fast for him to notice. He instinctively turned to his right, looking for something, then to his left, as if his eyes were hot on the trail of something so fast, a blur, something that was but no longer. “Do you want to hold her?” Corvella’s voice drew his attention back to her, to where she stood, still within his incomplete embrace, only she was holding something in her arms now, someone. “She has your eyes.” Corvella carefully positioned the baby so Iván could see her face. He was filled with glee, excitement, love. Was this how first-time parents felt? It was a glorious feeling. One that he would never forget. One that he may never be able to feel again. Wait… She has no eyes? She has no face! Iván instinctively took a step back, fear and doubt filling him. What was happening? Why was Corvella here? When did they get married? When did they make a baby? WHY DOES THE BABY NOT HAVE A FACE?! He felt his heart race, his pulse go fast, faster than normal. This wasn’t normal. Nothing was normal. He felt like he had to get out of there, to go somewhere, but where? There was nothing out there for him but white. There were no buildings, no trees, no direction, no time, no space… What was he even standing on? There was only him. And Corvella. And their faceless baby. Iván turned to them again, warily this time, but before he could speak, Corvella cut him off, “Is there something wrong, Iván?” She looked scared, alarmed, far from the Titan he knew. She said his name again. Just his name. And again. And again. The last time also telling him to wake up to do something. Clues? Barba-who? Iván grunted hazily, as he started to wake up. Slowly, weakly, propping himself on the bed, he let out a massive yawn, stretching his arms overhead, and lazily scratched the side of his face. Corvella sat next to him, looking as she always does. So why did it feel like something was amiss then? Why did it feel like she was hiding something from him? Wait, did she fall asleep in her armor? That's probably it. “Good morning, gorgeous… Had a nice sleep? I’m hungry.” He flashed her a boyish grin. A few seconds of silence later, his stomach made its demands clear.
