Welcome to Gaia! ::

As is his shinobi stylized wanton disregard for personal privacy, he ahems quietly...

" Ma'am.....I apologize for being ...away. Has anything of memorable Note happened in my absence?"

Aura looked up from her boarding psychotic need to sharpen these things to see Fu. When had he popped up? She shook her head for a moment and managed a smile at the familiar face. "No need to apologize." Aura sighed for a moment. "Things of late...several shadow battle...several changes in people, several new faces. But I think most importantly is that there's a case of a shadow copy of Saradin."

"And I can talk, thanks to a spirit bond." Eclipse said to the old friend then followed that up with a bark.

"That too."

Aura set aside her sais and stood from the bed. "Well, the best you can do is look at his sword, Soulforge. Our Saradin is always seen with it and I know when he weilds it, it's surrounded with blue flame. 'Shadow Saradin' if you will, seems to conviently not have it when one asks to see it. Other than that, I don't know." She crossed her arms and sighed again. "Extremely hard to tell actually."

"He smells different..."

"Not everyone has your nose."

Vik grabbed some leftover pasta and walked over to the table. He scooped up a spoonful, chewed, and swallowed. "This tastes fine. But it looks like no one touched it."

((Ultima Citadel, Mobile Capital and Imperial Palace of the Alliance of the Dark Scar-a few days earlier))

Advisor Sharu glided along the hallway towards his master's throne room. He found the door locked. "This better be worth my energy." He said as he changed himself into a spider and crawled through the keyhole. "I keep my door locked for a reason Sharu." Dark clouds wrapped themselves around the spider and when they cleared, in it's place stood a man. I guess you could call him a man. His whole body was made of shadows and he appeared to be wearing a cloak. "It better be good. I haven't gotten a decent soul to eat around here for ages. Reducing myself to that size took a lot out of me. Now why did you call me here?"
"I needed an update on the search for the fire sigil."
"Balmung believes he's found the location. He'll let us know first thing tomorrow. Is that all?"
"No. I've been thinking, Vik is proving useless to me so far. Let's take him out of the picture, shall we?"
"You mean kill him?"
"We could. We only have four more crystals left to discover before we can give rebirth to the Zeus Empire. We can conquer those Laputans by force."
"What about his little friends?"
"We can't let them get in the way either. Find the nearest agent in the area and send them to Archaic Manor."
"Agent? Lieutenant Zeke couldn't handle them. I doubt mere agents can."
"Zeke was a fool. I only gave him such a high rank because he had knowledge about Laputa, which proved to be useful. Now, the closest agents in the area."
"Well, the closest agent we have is in the Shadow plane."
"And he is?"
Sharu whispered something in his ear.
"He'll do fine." he said with a wicked smile. "You are no longer needed Sharu. Good day."
Sharu bowed and exited the room.

((The Mansion-present))

A dark cloud formed in front of the mansion. From it, a man shadow walked out and stood there, looking at the mansion. From his cloak, he removed an ancient looking mask. It was jet black and resembled a Chameleon. He carefully placed it on his face and walked inside.

"Damn it..." Were the first words that parted his lips. This was exactly what he was afraid of. "What if I hadn't been me?" Of course he meant the other him, who could be lurking anywhere. "What if I had caught you off guard and you were hurt? So many what ifs..." He sighed and tried to relax himself, looking less agitated. "Evening Aurahkah, how's the rest of your day been?"

Faces swam before her eyes. She saw Khenu and Bastet. Tears poured down Bastet's face. This was bad. Bastet didn't cry. She felt...like she was floating. She flew over the mansion and watched the events happening below. She saw herself grab Khenu's hand and walk towards him. She saw herself hit the ground in what had to have been a faint. Then she saw Saradin come out and pick her up, carry her in, and put her to bed. Nailah felt the voices screaming at her. She didn't want to wake up. It hurt too much. She turned her face into her pillow and screamed, "NO!"

Bolting up she looked around. Her head felt like someone had taken a hammer and continually bashed it. Her throat was dry as cotton adn she desperately needed somehting to drink. She looked down and saw she was still in the same outfit she had on...yesterday? She didn't even know for sure. Rasui was nowhere to be seen either.

Nailah groaned and stood up. She made her way to her door and cautiously opened it, walking outside. Her head pounding, she leaned against the wall for support. Bastet. She had to find Bastet and make sure she was alright. And Khenu. The little empath didn't understand what was happening. He didn't feel any pain either. Nailah intended to have him trained long before that happened. She would train with Saradin adn then she would train him. THere was no reason the sweet little boy shoudl have to go through the same hell she had.

"Obviously not very well." He almost pleaded to her honestly. "I'm stuck at what to do. All roads seem to be dead ends on this one." Saradin bent to the floor and lifted up the small glowing ball that Eclipse had beckoned he take. "I'm causing trouble. You will of course argue that it doesnt matter, but as long as I'm here, I' produce a threat."

Nailah wandered into the Great Hall on her way to the kitchen. She desperately needed water. And then a nice glass of wine. Maybe that would help her headache. After all she knew better than to use her magic. Last time she did, she almost passed out the pain had been so bad. Empath senses and magic just didn't mix. She groaned and pushed her hands through her hair. She had to get something in her throat.