The Bad Seed's Fruit

[Alva Calvarona]

[member="Utena Calvarona"]

Yes the origin of the Crinan Energy Blades was very important, and Alva expected that Utena already knew about that from their history studies. After all, it wasn't a big secret by this point what had happened back then. Hearing her sister's comment about what sort of dangers might lie below were disconcerting though as Alva retrieved her equipment and stood at the top of the stairs looking down at the darkness below. She wasn't sure if she felt any signs of life, but she was still improving her senses, and who knew really what sort of projects Nicoleta's fallen apprentice had cooked up. For all she knew there could be a dragon lurking below and she would never see it coming. "I doubt there's a cyborg down there sis, I don't think anyone has had a hand in such technology for practical reasons. . . .but who knows, maybe a dragon does await."

Taking the first step, Alva kept her eyes locked on the stairway as she descended down the dimly lit decline. Her senses extended, feeling the taint of the intentions the name stricken Practitioner had left behind with whatever it was they had aimed to achieve. Each step further was taken slowly, each step with a pause as Crina's second princess continued sensing out her environment seeking out any threat she could, though she could not. Whether it was a lack in her ability, or a well crafted scheme left behind ages ago she wasn't sure. What she was sure of was that the crack of lightning outside as she prepared to face what lay below was unwelcome.

A storm was brewing, and she certainly wasn't a fan of rain. She hoped none would come, though it always left a great place to hide one's tears when pain came.

​Though none came as Alva reached a doorway at the bottom of the stairs. Still she sensed no danger or warnings. Leaving her wondering if the secrecy and other traps above had been enough to leave the fallen apprentice of history confident, or if Nicoleta's former right hand had never believed she could be caught, regardless it hardly mattered as Alva reached out tensely, the moment of truth at hand.

 

[Utena Calvarona]

[member="Alva Calvarona"] [member="Irina Calvarona"]

Or dragon girls,..... Utena thought about it while nodding her head a little and looking into the area. she was guessing cyborgs were off the menu but who knew there could be anything... Especially in a galaxy that seemed to be getting bigger by the day. More places, more world and more mysteries she wanted to explore and Crina was at the heart of it.. or according to the galactic map they had gotten it was in the north-east of it. She was wondering about everything while moving off towards the stairs and some of the rooms to explore. Taking in the sights and holding the blade tightly while Alva reached out to open the door. The traps and danger was actually pretty exciting for her and she wished she was more adept while reaching her hand out and speaking low with a raspy voice while wiggling her hand like a spider. "Why have you awaken me?"

 

[Alva Calvarona]

[member="Utena Calvarona"]

"You're not funny Utena. . . ." Alva paused in her motion to open the door when she heard her sister behind her attempting to make a frightening voice in order to scare her. it didn't work. For one she knew Utena was right behind her, and secondly it still sounded a little like her sister, so it wasn't exactly going to work now was it? It actually was a little annoying at that point Utena had to goof around then. She likely meant well considering how tense things were, but the last thing Alva felt she needed was for her sister to try and scare her when there could be traps about she needed to keep an eye out for. After all if she didn't, then there would two fewer princess on Crina. That would certainly clear up any doubt Irina would ascend the throne, but Alva knew their older sister would never want them to disappear on her.

Taking a final breathe, Alva resolved herself to hesitate no longer and threw open the door, a light coming on in the room beyond it in response to the action, blinding the young woman for a moment until the bright flash subsided and she could see within. And what lay within left her more excited than she had been in a while. What was within was tables strewn with documents and journals, shelves full of what seemed like items and materials for who knows what, and floors and walls covered in shaped runes and symbols etched into different patterns for purposes only the fallen apprentice once knew. However, those would soon become their knowledge as well.

 

[Utena Calvarona]

[member="Alva Calvarona"]

Utena gave a sour face while she spoke. "I'm hilarious and you're going to wind yourself to tight. If you are only looking for the traps you're going to miss the clues." She was looking carefully for both traps and information, anything they might have to try and find. Her thoughts of not getting wound up so tight you missed the small things. Like trip wires or possible small poisoned points on the edges. You don't have to make a large and intricate thing, just bend a small piece of metal where someones hand it going to go and let them prick their palm or finger on it... The poison would usually need to be fast acting of course. Utena looked int the room and was moving more and more keeping her hands from the papers and shelves while she looked on taking the energy blade and with it deactivated using it to prod and check while her eyes scanned around the room more and more.

 

[Alva Calvarona]

[member="Utena Calvarona"]

Alva's displeasure showed on her face, this was super sans serious if you wanted to be silly about saying it but that didn't stop things from being serious. She was trying to figure out what everyone was and yes still keep an eye out for any nasty surprises left about after all this time. However, that didn't stop her from being tense just because Utena could take things a bit more lightly. Too lightly really, Alva wanted to bop her sister on the top of her head for poking at things with an energy sword of all things!!! Honestly the girl was driving her mad! What if she damaged something important to them!? What if she set everything on fire and their expedition was for nothing!

"But if you burn everything down because you poked around with that thing then there will be no clues left to find." Besides if there was a poison it would have easily diluted or evaporated long ago, especially more fast acting types that degraded more quickly. The thunder outside could still be heard even from down in the hideaway basement of the tower, and Alva didn't like it. Maybe it was a good excuse to spend their time for the night checking things out though. Alva believed she would spend it all reading as she picked up one of the journals at a rather lovely wood wrought table strewn with an assortment of papers. Unbinding the edge she sat in the seat, after checking for tacks because of her sister's earlier remarks, and flipped open the pages looking to gloss over what was in the writings first before committing herself to reading through their entirety.

 

[Utena Calvarona]

[member="Alva Calvarona"]

Utena looked at her and kept moving, while she shook her head in some enjoyment. Oh she was making this fun but serious business time... she needed to be serious and searching was a dangerous time. "We'll find it don't worry, if it was all laid out for us to see it wouldn't be as important. Just like when we want to borrow big sis's stuff." She kept moving and searching while trusting nothign dangerous was there so she could start with her hand. Securing the blade before moving around to take a seat. "Just got to get into the good stuff and dig around a bit.

 

[Alva Calvarona]

[member="Utena Calvarona"]

Their sister though didn't normally booby trap everything though. At least not fatally, at least not yet. "I intend to, I just don't know what the good stuff is just yet Utena. A lot of the things we read will probably be information for the rebel war efforts at the time. Anything of value to us as Practitioners might not even be here, but all things considered the information all points to that there ought to be something at least. After all, why would this place be so obscure and hidden if there wasn't something more personally important to Nicoleta's failed apprentice to be found. . . ." Like maybe what she was finding just now. Alva didn't say anything at first as she let herself get more absorbed in the reading, the subject matters in the journal she was holding catching her interest for several minutes until she grabbed another three small bound journals in similar style to the one she was already holding, and then flipped through them to pages corresponding to what she was already reading.

Outside though the storm was raging strong. Strong enough to divert a pair of farmer returning to their home town from a lucrative trip selling their wares in a larger market village. The horrible weather making them change their course for the nearby abandoned town where they hoped to find comfort, and the lights activated for the Practitioner's tower drawing them toward the structure seeking shelter once they arrived in due time.

There would be some time though, plenty for Crina's second princess to finish her readings and convey what she found to her little sister. "Utena I think I found just the thing we were looking for, at least some of it. It seems the failed apprentice had a lot going on here she was working towards before being caught. Quite the . . . . interesting concept. Something I don't think the majority of Practitioners would approve of. This would definitely be forbidden techniques. It looks like she was creating theories about creating her own powerful army with absolute loyalty to her and incredible durability. This even goes so far as to suggest human testing. However, whether or not she actually succeeded in putting this theory into practice I haven't found anything yet. Some of it hints that she did, but if she had I'd wonder why we never noticed it or found anything here. . . . .and I'm not quite sure how we'd go about testing it. i could show you what is all in these texts, but we'd need some materials, most of which she has but I'm not sure. . . .about the human element."

 

[Utena Calvarona]

[member="Alva Calvarona"]

Utena looked on while her sister was reading, her eyes roving over everything a second and third time while she waited to see if Alva found something special. She wanted to be over her shoulder but Alva was alreayd on a hair trigger almost, already stressed and if the ghost zombie behind you didn't get a laugh the only other choice she had was a plastic bottle and tapping her head until she snickered from the scenario. "Oh you found it... that is good though it means this wasn't for nothing, wasn't a waste, wasn't something you needed to be stressed about and you can relax now."

 

[Alva Calvarona]

[member="Utena Calvarona"]

Alva nodded to her sister as she spoke, it certainly was fortunate their trip hadn't been for nothing. There had been a high chance they would find nothing, or that it would have taken ages to find anything at all. The privilege of the force, or magic, along with access to so many record and resources, had made what seemed impossible quite doable actually. Well that and a large amount of luck factored into things as well, considering they could have stumbled into traps, found nothing, or wasted their efforts for who knows how long before they found anything. "Maybe, but still now that we found this I want to make sure it works. Its not exactly something we can wave around either. . . . . ."

The sound of echoing footsteps could be heard suddenly from above them, followed by voices, one quite young while the other sounded old, cutting off Alva's thoughts and filling her with worry once more. Who was here now? No it didn't matter, whoever they were they had to be caught and dealt with now! The last thing she needed was people finding out there was something here worth finding, and she especially didn't need people tying her to studying and planning to practice less than accepted techniques borrowed from the research of someone so hated in Crina's history that their name was no longer known.

Perhaps she had just found subjects to be the human element for the work she was hoping to conduct now.

The unfortunate farmer and his son though, having entered the tower as it appeared to be lit and provided an optimal place for shelter, had no idea what was in store for them. Only confused at the fact the abandoned village appeared to not be quite as abandoned as before, and debating what the mysterious stairway leading to the basement bunker below could be hiding. They never expected as they moved down that they would suddenly be slammed against the walls by an unseen force, knocking the farmer's son unconscious and the farmer himself in a dazed state of concussion.

"Utena, tie them up now. . . . I'm going to prepare the spell and the materials. We'll be finding out if this research works or not now. . . . .and be disposing of unfortunate witnesses as well."

 

[Utena Calvarona]

[member="Alva Calvarona"]

Utena was looking at her sister when she heard the sounds. The moment of celebration became one of tense thought as she wondered if they were going to have to fight. She moved off towards the side of the room waiting for the farmer and his don to come in. Alva getting the drop on them while she watched and wondered what to d before getting the orders. "Okay." Utena got her fiber cord and started tying them up, taking care not to harm them to much but keep it tight so they couldn't get loose and escape or call for help with a gag in their mouth. She looked at the son wondering what exactly was going to happen to him but she didn't think to much on that while backing up and wondering what her sister was going to do.

 

[Alva Calvarona]

[member="Utena Calvarona"]

What Alva was doing, was preparing. Looking through the journals and notes pertinent to setting up the lost ritual that Nicoleta's disgraced and fallen apprentice had worked to develop. Gathering the materials and double checking everything while Utena busied herself with tying down their guests. Crina's second princess didn't even take notice of the progress of her sister's work or how the farmer and his son were faring after their capture. All of her focus and attention were spent on the task of readying the ritual, starting with going about the room and inscribing various runes and scripts on the floor and walls. In truth Alva knew very little about the validity of the magic she was about to perform, but she knew that if it was a technique that actually worked that she and Utena would have to never speak about it. Not when it broke so many laws against dark elements.

It was something she deeply wished to try though, if nothing else than for the sake of exploring the depths of what powers could be achieved and discovered. So as she finished a small ritual circle on the floor, Alva took a glowing crystal off the table from the gathered items she had taken from around the room and set it within it. Then she grabbed the farmer and hauled him so that he was settled on his knees within a larger circle set up just a few feet away from the one with the crystal. In truth it was yet another object stolen by Nicoleta's fallen apprentice, a force crystal once kept at Cosmina Academy just as the lightsaber the woman had stolen had been.

It would be the catalyst for her work.

Alva exchanged no words with her sister before picking up the journal and beginning, following the instructions laid out before her. Reaching out for the magic around her, the rest of the galaxy's "force", and drawing it into herself and guiding it into the ritual runes throughout the room, Alva created a ring of invisible energy that was being inexorably pulled into the central focal point: The Farmer kneeling in his ritual circle hapeless in what was about to happen. Chanting and following the words and steps written down in the journal she held, Alva wove the energy around deeper and deeper into the ritual that was created through the inscriptions the fallen apprentice had conjured up, the runes sparking with energy as they seemed to connect, creating a prison about the farmer as the final markings connected with the circle containing the force crystal.

Once this occurred the farmer would begin to scream as most of the ambient energy gathered suffused the area he was trapped within, and the crystal would begin to wobble and rise uneasily as it was lifted up and began to approach the man. Slowly it began, but in a sudden burst it would lunge forward and pierce the farmer's chest as his son and he both screamed, the farmer's own becoming a tremendous wail growing higher in pitch. Then the gathered materials set about in their own circle behind Alva would be drawn toward the farmer at a rapid pace as he was quickly enveloped by a brilliant blinding glow. A bright flash would ensue as the scream was cut off by a sudden silence.

When the dazzling light faded, there was no farmer left. Rather, a rather feminine figure of energy plated with force infused stone now hovered above the ground in his place. Though it would begin to drift towards Alva until it stood behind her. "I. . .it worked!"

 

[Utena Calvarona]

[member="Alva Calvarona"]

Utena was watching, intently at first and then she was covering her eyes. Her ears could hear it and she didn't want to see... her mind wasn't helping as it slowly and quickly started filling in the gaps or what it thought she was avoiding. The sounds, the smells, the sight of it all wasn't enough until silence. She shot her head up and was looking, almost straining herself to hear something... anything at all. She saw it finally as her mind came into place, realizing what she saw with a stone thing.. It was beautiful in that terrifying way so many things were and they had discovered it that meant they would get to name it as Utena rubbed her hands together more at the thought of it. She jumped up and down a little in place. "Oh this is so exciting."

 

[Alva Calvarona]

[member="Utena Calvarona"]

Alva stared at the being she had just created and couldn't quite believe what had just happened. Had she really just used what amounted to a spell that would surely be labeled as forbidden by the Practitioner community if word of how it worked ever got out? All for the sake of testing it and gaining more power for herself? Yet at the same time she hardly felt like she had done anything wrong, it was. . . . . an awkward feeling. Nonetheless the second princess of Crina knew everything was not done yet. Not until they finished. "You next Utena. . . . .turn the kid into one too, just like I did a second ago. We're not allowed to speak about this either once we return home you understand right? This magic will be our secret. If we make anymore we'll do it here and slip away when we won't be noticed, using prisoners or whatever. First though, finish everything off so we can leave, once you transform him, you can do whatever with the golem once she's your's."

 

[Utena Calvarona]

[member="Alva Calvarona"]

Utena looked at her sister shocked for a moment but she realized something. They were the princesses and they got to choose a great deal of their own morality in the end. She could do this and with n one around to know any better it was near perfect. Their big sis wouldn't scold them... mostly because she was very busy and the people if they found out could be silenced. That was what they had valkyrie squad for as well. "All... Alright." Utena slowly began to focus on it, following the directions and movements to change the child as her sister had done with the man. She let out a breath and immersed herself into the energies and power. She pushed it to transform and change him.