Children of the Moon

[Tell-Tale Heart]

Ives nodded at Alexei's statement. He then traced the man's gaze to the sky. "Is something wrong?" He asked, curious and worried. Nothing was going to go wrong during the celebration if he could help it. He glanced to Alexei and then back to the sky and also noticed that something was amiss. Something was in the sky that should not be there, and Ives certainly didn't like that.

[Mellow]

Alexei sighed, shrugging a bit and leveling his eyes back to Ives, no longer focusing on the sky. His tone of voice seemed a bit grim compared to his previous tone. "It seems apparent to me that there is going to be a bit of a twist to this Carnival of Time," he stated, smirking ever so slightly. "Certainly an interesting new era rearing its head," he added half-heartedly, moving his eyes back up to the sky, his eyes set on whatever was beginning to loom overhead.

[Tell-Tale Heart]

Ives turned back to Alexei. "We did have some twists planned, but I haven't heard about whatever's above us," he stated. He began to shift around nervously. "Why wasn't I informed? I hope this doesn't cause any problems," he added.

[Mellow]

Alexei sighed under his breath lightly, turning away from Ives and slowly moving away from the crowd. "The thing looming above is quite the twist, indeed," he stated in simple affirmation, his heavy step echoing from the brick walls surrounding. He lifted his hand in a gesture of farewell. "Pleasure to meet you, Ives. But now is the time for me to leave." And with that... he was gone, almost vanishing in thin air. But that couldn't have possibly been the case.

 

The masked boy by the base of the tree sighed exasperatedly, tightening his body into a more compact ball, rocking slightly as he fiddled with the assortment of rocks and pebbles by his feet. He lifted his head up silently, running his masked gaze over the four boys running in an endless circle around him. He thought about something for a moment, and whatever it was, it made him sink back down again, lowering his gaze yet again. "Friends, huh? I have no friends..." He stated quietly, his voice trailing off.

[Tell-Tale Heart]

Ives stared at where Alexei had been with a puzzled expression on his face. He shook his head, trying to figure out the impossible event that had just occured. He then returned his attention to the sky. The object was still above the wall of clouds. It was extremely large, but that was the only thing that Ives could be sure of.

[Mellow]

Elsewhere...

 

The hustle and bustle of people frantically running across paved over roads, from stand to stand, trading away their precious valuables for an small assortment of gold pieces, each with the proud Ikana Royal Family name plastered upon each of their faces. One side of the coin bore the face of the benevolent and loved King of Ikana, Igos du Ikana. The other was a lovely depiction of the Ikana Castle in all of its glory. A man with long, black hair tossed a pouch filled with these coins upon one of the stands, this particular stand selling an assortment of weapons and other battle aids. Shields, Potions, Arrows, you name it, this stand had it. As he threw the pouch onto the counter, he gestured to a shield hanging on the back of the stand. The face of the shield was of a reflective, sturdy metal, with a distressed face depicted in the metal by whatever means.

"This should cover that shield easily," the man stated in a deep, raspy voice. The sword merchant looked up, taking the pouch into his hand. He quickly noticed the mask placed upon the buyer's face. The mask was made of a beautiful, high quality gold, in the shape of a beak, of sorts. It was not necessarily the beak of a bird, as it was not nearly detailed enough to be specifically of a bird. It was simply a beak. The eyes of the mask held a deep darkness within, no apparent eyes upon the man, but they were most definitely there, hidden beneath it. "Check the money," the buyer quickly said, various jewels chiming as he moved. "It should cover the price of that shield," he stated again. The merchant quickly undid the bag, having snapped out of the trance he had been put into when he examined the high quality mask. "Yes, yes, right away, sir," the merchant said, his words slightly jumbled from the excitement. "Yes," he stated after dumping the coins onto the counter. "This will definitely cover it. It's yours." A short laugh could be heard from under the mask. "Yes, I had thought so. May I take the shield now?" He asked, waiting patiently for a response. "Yes, of course," the merchant said, taking the shield from the wall and handing it to the masked buyer. The dark haired man quickly turned away, taking the shield into his hands and walking away at a decent pace, his loud footsteps echoing through the marketplace. "Thank you for your business, friend."

[Tell-Tale Heart]

A man with short, faded red hair passed through the crowd. His empty, somewhat melancholy eyes did not bother to glance at anyone. His figure was well covered in long robes and cloaks. His large collar covered most of his jaw. Underneath his cloak, one could hear sounds of objects hitting each other. They were many weapons of various types. He observed the man purchase the shield and chuckled slightly at the strange interaction, though he kept his distance.

[Mellow]

The masked man stopped in the center of the marketplace, gazing blankly forward. He turned his head ever so slightly, indirectly laying his eyes on the red haired man from afar. He turned away quickly, heading for the exit of town, his pace quickening a bit.

[Tell-Tale Heart]

The man who was hidden underneath his many layers of clothes simply noted the masked man and continued walking. He moved smoothly and quickly, weaving in between people unnoticed. Even when it would seem that he would surely bump into one person or another, he wouldn't disturb them at all. He soon vanished among the crowd.