"I believe we are waiting for Samuel." Saviorus replied, standing and crossing his arms. "It wouldn't do for us to leave without our fearless leader now would it?"

Taking up his staff, he snatched the map from Sedran's hands and handed the parchment to Kenyu.

"Try to hold onto it next time." he said smugly, his arrogant grin once again showing itself as he stalked through the doors into the sunlight to wait.

Zak awoke with a start.

"...Hey, what happened? Did I miss the meeting? Oh, drat...I hope it was long and boring, and nothing exciting happened..."

"We'll fill in the details on the long journey there...but I am intrigued by this Magical Barrier...these totems must be very powerful...and very smart of Sarion, keeping out the people most dangerous to him...no mass Magi assaults, and even a single mage could slip through and attempt to kill him." Jude mused aloud. "But it is also disturbing...Mr. Cartographer here claims his maps are accurate, and yet, this Magic Barrier would have thwarted his attempts at surveying the land...so, logic would decree that either the cartographer is lying about his maps, he has the artifact allowing for free passage, or he is working for Sarion..." Jude said, turning his eyes on the map maker. "Please, enlighten us Schooled 'heathens' as to how you managed to make such 'vividly' detailed maps without crossing the barrier."

Before Kenyu could answer, the magical balcony came back down from it's high resting place. Samuel stood on it, looking a little shaken. He walked quickly through the group, and left the room. He found a member of the staff, and talked to him quietly.

"Please inform the High Council that they will need to look for a new Sage of Light. Toron has passed on. I regret that I cannot stay for the funeral, but please pay my respects in my stead."

*Only a few minutes before*

Samuel knocked on Toron's door and entered. Toron was on the floor, having a severe coughing fit.

"Toron!" Samuel ran over and picked the old man up off the ground. As gently as possible, he laid the man down on the bed.

"Toron, what's wrong? What happened?" Toron grabbed Samuel's arm for comfort. When Toron talked, it was slow and forced.

"It was casting the spell on the ruby. In order for the ruby to absorb a spell, the spell must be cast on it. And I'm not a Mage, Samuel. As you know, I'm a Creator. And Creators cannot cast spells without injury. And the one I cast was a very big one." The old man coughed again. Samuel laid Toron's head on the big pillow. He then grabbed the old man's hand.

"What are you saying Toron?"

"I'm going to die, Samuel. Very, very soon."

"No. You can't! You can't die!" Tears began to pour down Samuel's face. Toron forced himself to have his stern face.

"Don't...you..dare. You're the Champion Light Mage. The most powerful Light Mage in this world. And not only that, but I raised you to be strong. You better not cry. Besides, we have more business to take care of, first." Samuel wiped his face and nodded.

"You're right, Toron. Tell me, what is it?" Toron coughed loudly, and then weakly spoke.

"Be prepared. This plan of Sarion's was not a spur-of-the-moment deal. He's been spending years working on this. He has spies and informants everywhere. In almost every city in this world is someone on his payroll. That's the reason it's been so easy for him to take over. He's had people on the inside. And if someone gets in his way, he will not hesitate to kill them."

"What about the Dark Mages downstairs? How can we know that they don't work for Sarion, also?"

"Are you really that dense, my boy? My crystal lets me read minds. Did you honestly think that I'd let ANY of those mages down there be a part of this group before checking their mind? Everyone is fine. The Dark Mages hate Sarion, also. They'll do their jobs." Toron coughed the worse cough he had done yet.

"Samuel, before you leave. I want you to take my spell book. It contains many spells of the...Light School, along with some...history lessons. It's not much, but I want...you to have it. To...remember me...by......." Toron's hand lost its grip, and released. It dropped to the bed, lifeless. Samuel bent his head, and closed his eyes. He said a small prayer, and then stood. He took the spell book from Toron's desk. He placed the book in his bag, and walked through the door.

He took one last look back at Toron. His mentor, his teacher, his father. He then closed the door, and there wasn't a single tear in his eyes.

*Present time*

Samuel walked outside the building, and was followed by the rest of the group. He would leave the naming of the new Sage of Light to the council. Outside, they were meeted by a large group of animals. Samuel then turned to the group.

"This is a special herd that Takin himself bred. There's an animal for each of us. All you do is snap your fingers, and your animal will come to you. Your animal has been specially bred to match your personality, strength, and weight. You should get along just fine." In order to give a visual example, Samuel snapped his fingers. A pure white steed raised its head from grazing, and happily made its way over to Samuel. It rubbed it's muzzle against his head in affection.

"See?"

"To answer your question, fool. Time is on my side. My side and no one elses. Not even the Dark Sage himself calls time's master, he is still bound by it's flow, as are his lands."

(OOC: Are these steeds a myriad of creatures, or just different breeds of horses?)

"But that doesn't answer my question, the magic barrier would still stop you before you could enter his lands. So, either you are lying about the maps, or you have a way to destroy or bypass the barriers. If the latter is true, I don't see why we need to get these artifacts. And, if only you can pass, you are still able to defeat Sarion on your own, so why call us here...troubling questions..." Jude said as he looked over the steeds.

(OOC: Lots of creatures. Whatever animal you think would work well with your kind of character. Except none of them can fly. And no dragons.)

(OOC: I'm going with a horse because.... uh... I have no imagination. And I like horses. heh ^_^ )

Lorelei sighed as the Water Mage and the mapmaker continued to argue. Why does she have to work with these people? Snapping a few times, Lorelei summoned a black horse of her own. It strode over to her proudly, acting as if it was a step above the rest of the animals there. She looked it over for a second, more used to traveling within shadows than riding a horse. After a second, she grasped her staff in her left hand and hoised herself up onto the back of the horse easily. After putting her hood up over her head she glanced down at the rest of them. "Now if we're quite finished discussing how the mapmaker makes his maps, can we get moving so we can get this over with?" She said impatiently, not wanting to work with this motly crew any longer than she had to.

(OOC: Woohoo, I get to be stuck up and evil-ish.)

"I wouldn't call it arguing, I'd call it...interviewing..." Jude said, then snapped. He heard a heavy plodding and saw a giant turtle walk up to him. He looked it over, noting how its spiked shell was bare near the head. It nudged Jude, and he settled comfortably into the groove. "I hope this thing is fast...and somewhat intelligent." Jud mused aloud. The turtle's head snapped back, and it quickly grabbed Jude's staff, then deposited it on its side, where another smaller groove held it in place. "Hmm...might not be too bad..."

An armour clad Risu was going over one of his swords, and at the same time surverying the beasts.

He snapped his fingers. A large lizard trotted over. It was covered in lighter green plates on top of it's dark green scales, had large fangs, and looked to have more powerful hind legs than front.

Risu's eyebrows raised. "Hot damn." There was also a saddle fitted to Risu on it. He unbuckled his massive double handed sword and attached it to the back, and slung his shield over the side, covering the entire flank of the creatue.

He hopped on, and reattached his swords onto the saddle. A dog trotted near the giant lizard. It seemed perfectly content with the small canine. Then Risu abscently said, "Attack."

Before the words finished he yanked the reins back. It's jaws snapped about an inch from the dog which whimpered and sprinted away. Risu looked around. "Bad giant lizard thing that has yet to be named...very bad....that's right."