Emblem's Burned Down Apartment.

(So sorry for the reply time! Been really busy and I missed this topic =S)

'S-sure...'

Shadow was quite shocked at the information given. Her lurking uneasiness about this whole Emblem thing, plus the need to know about herself, had her feeling pretty unsure. It was a surprise the book had responded to her at all, but the things it was saying were something else.

The dark teen watched as Krious took the book, noticing as he did so the well-suppressed, but still present, pain in his eyes. Obviously Emblem's recorded words brought back some memories he'd rather forget. She could sense some guilt in him too, some sense of responsibility for Emblem's current state. The thought that he could have done something, but he hadn't. Shadow knew that feeling all too well, and she knew it wasn't Krious' fault in the least. She said nothing, though, not wanting to bring up something they didn't need in their current situation.

(( It seems it took me another week before realizing there was any post at all, so no worries. ))

"Thanks."

Krious took the book from her hands and started to put his thoughts behind it. He flipped the page back to number 1, but made sure he wouldn't forget what was just displayed before he did. He made sure to formulate his questions to the letter in his mind and proceeded to imbue the books with his power. His hands enveloped themselves into a blackness and soon the book showed a similar outline.

Who is trying to summon this God Destroyer, surely the Emblem I knew wasn't a sufficient Chaneller of fire magics by himself? How does the Gospel of Mark 5:9 relate to all of this? Finally, what does the scene portraid on this tablet mean?

He wasn't sure the book would know about the tablet next to him, but if it did it might prove helpful. Other then that his questions were rather standard. No matter what answer the book might give them they would take all of this back for further research. The information processing back home would probably help them solve this faster then they could here. This book might prove useful if it contained so much knowlegde in situations other then this one.

(( Lack of inspiration also follows me around everywhere today >.> ))

( Do note that this is before the Maelstrom Event. Ill help you with your lack of inspiration Krious, this is one helluva big read. Had wanted to add pictures, but It took me long enough as it is. Think of pics popping up every now and again next to the lines :P)

The book shook a little as it imbued Krious' power, and black words started to form, slowly but steadily. Apparently, the book had some sort of a sense of humor.

''Such crude magics. Is it modern age that is behind this, or is my cover simply getting old? I had remembered to keep it intact by moisturizing it with knowledge.''

Below that, a little index formed, putting page numbers to every question Krious had and the book could answer. However, amongst the subjects were very some very weird titles, apparently more clear then the others. Some seemed to brighten, others seemed to faint, as if the book was rearranging his knowledge. The ones that stayed were as following, divided in two categories:

Introduction in the Way of Historical Lines:
''The Teachings of Elements in the Old World.''
''Behind The Legend of Pandora's Box''

Giving Question to Answers:
''Mark 5:9 – Nomen mihi Legio est, quia multi sumus And It's Unknown Meaning''
''Emblem's Possessions He Has Told Me About; The Tablet of Godlike Demons.''
''The Infinimagus Initiative, Countering the Demon''

Under that was a faint scribble, seemingly as if the book had added a last moment's note. Again, it struck with a feeling as if it had wanted to be funny, and added some old man's joke.

''Surely you knew that if I didn't know where Emblem was due to my lack of moving ability, you'd know I wouldn't know who was summoning this huge flaming hunk of rock, Mr K. S. Alistair? ..And I believe that you know portrait ends with a -t, not with a -d. Yes, I am a book, and very lonely sometimes.''

The page, apparently sensing Shadow and Krious had read it, flipped and started with the first chapter.

''The Teachings of Elements in the Old World.''

Many philosophies and worldviews have a set of classical elements believed to reflect the simplest essential parts and principles of which anything consists or upon which the constitution and fundamental powers of anything are based. Most frequently, classical elements refer to ancient beliefs inspired by natural observation of the phases of matter. Historians trace the evolution of modern theory pertaining to the chemical elements, as well as chemical compounds and mixtures of natural substances to medieval, Islamic and Greek models.

In popular beliefs, The Greek classical elements (Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Aether) date from pre-Socratic times and persisted throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, deeply influencing European thought and culture. They were right on everything but one;

At first there were four elements. Earth, Water, Air and Fire. The fifth, Aether, stood for the heavenly essence, not found on the earthen sphere. It was where the gods lived, what the gods breathed and incidentally, was one of the Protogenoi, one of the first-born elemental Gods. Other Protogenoi include but are not limited to Tartarus, Chaos, Chronos and Gaia.

Aether had been, according to hidden mythology, jealous not to be considered an element, for he was the element of Gods. He had changed the world, but even now he is hardly remembered. More notable remembrance of the First Four Elements are astrology that divides his zodiac in the four elements. A Libra for instance, is one of the zodiacs believed to be a part of the Air Category. Another pointer to the four Elements was the great wooden cross that the entity Jesus Christ carried to mount Golgota. Every point stood for one element, but some believe Jesus was seen as Aether, the fifth heavenly element. Religious Faith however, deems him both human and divine, which contradicts that Aether is only for Gods where air to breathe is only for humans. The same religious faith also contradicts the idea of multiple Gods.

''Behind The Legend of Pandora's Box''

Everybody has heard of the legend of Pandora's Box. How a woman could not control herself and opened a vat containing all accidents and misfortunes in the world, ending Man's unbothered existence. She had been the wife of Epithemeus, who had made Man together with his brother Prometheus. Prometheus was the one who had stolen Fire form heaven and had given it to man to make his life less miserable. As the mythological story quotes:

''Out of Fire and Water, a woman was made, and she was named to be named Pandora.'' ~ Pandora's Box

Modern beliefs do not know a lot about Pandora. One says she represented all evil attributes of life, others say she had some of both. She had been made to create suffering, but she was given several neutral attributes by the Gods of the Olympos. However, it is my belief that not only all misfortunes were in the vat, but also the Seven sins, named by Monks in the 4th century.

Epilogue to Introduction in the Way of Historical Lines:

I do not reason about Greek Mythology. Stories might be true, might be not. Might have been Metahumans posing as Gods. One thing should be kept in mind thought; There are connections connecting all of history. Whereas Emblem himself is a Libra and therefor an Air entity, his power is that of fire. One could reason that his power was not with him from birth, but was bestowed upon him. Whereas the story of Pandora reasons about Woman being made out of Fire and Water, there is a connection to Emblem again:

Emblem would be Fire, his lost loved one was Water, and both possessed qualities both good and, as inherited into man, bad. Emblem was an Air Zodiac entity, and his loved one an Earth Zodiac entity. Together, they were an intricate mix of the Four Elements listed in Old Times. It is to wonder how much the teachings of the Old World are still present today, and a discussion of another time could be the addition of Light and Darkness into this mix. Whatever it is, Fire is one of the basic Elements, and it's description, in Greek Elemental Classification is that it is hot first and dry second. Japanese Elemental Classification states that it is the Element of Destruction, whereas Some other religious Faith see Fire as Life. These contradictions, Fire and Water and Destruction and Life, have been with Emblem throughout his life. At times he was quite normal, at times he was not. Where his Zodiac was Air, portraying his pursuit for Knowledge and Mental Mobility, his loved one had an Earth Zodiac, portraying Unwavering Resolve and Stability. Alas, we must go on, I digress...

''Mark 5:9 – Nomen mihi Legio est, quia multi sumus And It's Unknown Meaning''

The Gospel of Mark 5:9 States in Latin as it states in the title. The English version would be as such 'My name is Legion, for we are many.'

While in the bible the story goes of a man possessed by Demons (with the unique exception of the Gospel of Matthew who depicts Legion as two fierce men), who would be healed by Jesus, hoarding the Demons into a pig. The story was one to show how much merciful and divine a God the entity Jesus actually was, and there was no sign of the demon any longer.

This latter part can be deemed untrue. While one demon, or some were embedded into a pig, Legion himself had not been eradicated. The Tales of Legion go both back and forward.

Legion is the name of one of the Seven Sin Demons, a raging horde of Hellspawn (or Tartarus/Hades spawn according to Greek beliefs) that came out of the vat, one of the Olympic Gods' devices to punish Prometheus en his brother. Legion was not strong at the beginning, but he turned on his own kin, and used his intricate ability to absorb them and share their power. At times he became so strong he was to be counted as the Eight' Sin. It is unknown to which Sin he aligned, but one thing had become clear soon; Clarity is his enemy, and practicing his arts would mean enriching his strength. Practicing his arts would be something that is repeated throughout history. It is to crave for more and more (at times at the expense of others) until stability of all matter is deemed true. Empires such as the Chinese Empire, the Egyptian Empire, and the later Third Reich have all succumbed to the Sin of Legion.

Public history does not tell of this fact, but I know better. All of these Empires show the signs of what experts call Imperial Overstretch, but there is no point that shows where it went wrong, without some question marks. For example, it is believed that an mixture of lead poisoning from the aquacultural pipes and invasions from Germanic Tribes had taken down the Roman Empire. It is also known the Empire was far greater then any other of that Age, having incorporated many tribes, contradicting the statement that it was a clear invasion. The true reason they perished was because they attracted the demon that would possess and absorb others and stay hidden, but would eventually gather enough souls and power to take the weaken any Empire so that it would succumb easily. Such is the Sin of Legion.

The tale of Legion as described in the Bible, has another version. A version of two men. This is very much a possibility as Legion had in that time, absorbed many a demon and men. He was the one gathering souls to form an army of raging Gauls and Germanic tribes, just for fun, and destroy the Roman Empire. Legion had only one goal: to destroy the world from the inside. In due time, he had managed to absorb his own brother.

Legion's brother was Hellion. The Demon of Fire, the one that had been used to give a term to what some call Hell. He too was a Demon that had escaped from the vat, but he had seen the Earth in more way then one, for his essence had cunningly inhabited the flames that Prometheus had stolen. Hellion's goal was similar to Legion's, but he did differ on one thing. He wanted destruction form the outside. After Legion had absorbed his brother, he noticed his brother was still present. Stronger beings and stronger powers would have their own minds, and from that moment forth, both inside and outside destruction became the primary goal. Legion practiced both, but had failed so far to summon The God Destroyer, only starting the Ice Age.

''Emblem's Possessions He Has Told Me About; The Tablet of Godlike Demons.''

As the book seemed to be growing tired, the explanations were shortening a bit, bit it kept containing enough, as if the book summarized the chapters for Shadow and Krious.

The Tablet, as Emblem has told me, shows exactly what I have just told you. Legion, dominating the scene with his many embedded powers and Hellion, either separated as his own being, or given his own form by Legion for some time, acting as a flaming bodyguard to instill fear. The God of Death, Anubis, smiles wryly as Legion does create death, but cages the souls to nurture his power. It is thought he would grow weak otherwise. Anubis was never targeted though, as it is assumably not so much of a good idea to absorb a being that creates death and takes souls.

''The Infinimagus Initiative, Countering the Demon''

The terrors named Legion and Hellion are as known and as old as time itself. Demons manifest in many ways, but at one time, there was a groups of gifted people who sought to End this. Coincidentally, the same tribe Emblem had visited, and where he had learned to master his given powers, and as he called it himself ''The Emblems he sees.'' The tribe he visited wasn't one to accept everyone into their care, and Emblem had to prove himself, but he was eventually accepted after surviving some tough battles.

The tribe had once sought to destroy the Legion by combining all their powers, to battle all of his. This ancient ritual had cost the life of the entire tribe above a certain age who had shown gifts. It is because of that that the tribe there was no still knew about their past, and gifts were genetically coming back and showing again, but it never could tell Emblem how and why. Doing that would give him more strain then his mind could probably handle at that age. His inability to fluently speak their language had stalled this as well.

The Infinimagus Ritual had worked, and all powers were combined, but as it had no suitable body to return to, it had disappeared, traveling from body to body, empowering it without their understanding, but with a desire to travel and learn to master it. When Emblem got his powers and lit his room on fire, but only burning some items where others stayed unharmed, he had been bestowed by the powers of an Infinimagus.

All that is known is that Legion feared the almost divine power, but knew it was a thing of caliber, not of power. It had great potential, but not everyone was able to master it. It is believed Legion was defeated once by this Infinimagus Initiative, only surviving because a few souls had survived, whereas the rest had been released.

While Emblem himself had not been able to channel the God Destroyer due to him not knowing it, when an Infinimagus dies or relinquishes his power, it flees again and searches for another suitable host. This way, it's power grows. Emblem had always had something with flames, and something feels weird; It is my belief he would have been a normal pyromancer, but the powers gave him magics of every element and boosted it. It's why he's chosen Fire as his main element, possibly boosting it with his Air Zodiac.

With the fainting of letters, the book closed itself. It had wanted to rest. Rest his weary mind and weary pages.

(( Alright I'm finishing this part since there isn't much progress left. ))

After another immense amount of information the book closed itself and wouldn't open no matter how much strength he put into it. This thing was really something else... Krious was somewhat thankfull to it though, as now he had a much clearer understanding of what was going on. The only thing left to do was to secure the evidence, conform the reliability of the information they received and then come up with some sort of plan to stop this all from happening.

"It won't budge..."

Krious turned his attention away from the book and faced Shadow again. She seemed rather intrigued by the book before, it might be a good thing to let her take care of it. He never was one for books in the first place, especially talking ones... Not that he'd seen one before but he definately didn't like the idea of a book having a mind of it's own. Shadow however seemed to have much more experience with books, maybe she could get things out of there that none of them could ever dream of. Now it was time to get back. If the book had anything left to tell it could do so later, since it obviously didn't want to right now.

"We'd better be on our way, we have much work ahead of us. Would you like to take care of the book?"

Krious offered her the book, hoping she'd accept it. He couldn't wait to tell the other what they found out, although a part of him didn't like what was coming at them at all.

Shadow was eager to care for the book, and she almost smiled at Krious as he offered it to her. She supposed he wasn't the book type.

'Thanks.'

Shadow carefully carried the book as she followed Krious out of the apartment. They certainly had a lot to tell the others. And none of it was good.

(I'm good with finishing. Since I have no imagination right now. -.-)

As both heroes left the ruined memorial of Emblem for what it was, the door seemed to close automatically. Whatever had been in there was sealed by some unknown magical force. If any clues were still present in the room, they could not be reached anymore. However, by finding the tablet and finding the book, the Slivers achieved something mentionable today.

(END OF THREAD)