Jiksolsen pressed up his glasses as he pressed a colored button near him as he smoked a cigar. "I'm so glad you're like that other young man— willing to help an old man as he's trying to make your lives easier." Said the research elder as he rested his eyes. Marcel fixed his gaze on the wrapping around the professor's hand. "Thanks to that wrap you have on, I can see that it's a dangerous line of work, sir." He responded as he made sure to be noticed staring at his wrap. Jiksolsen fixed his eyes to the wrap as he held his hand near his glasses. "Attentive. This takes us right into what you've asked for young man— one of the powers' scouting party picked this material up from a realm housing an herbal society ages ago. We just finished studying it and found out that it has properties which grant the immune system superb otherworldly assistance to those with extended exposure." He informed the crescent-hearted defender. Marcel scratched his chin as he approached the material. "Are we— going to model and sew specialized body suits to go underneath our armor with this cloth, sir?" He questioned with an unsure tone as he felt the uncanny material and held himself back from rubbing it on his face. Jiksolsen slightly pursed his lips while putting away his cigar and trekking to one of his beloved sewing machines. "We will. I learned to love this part of the job when I was working with my late wife and that dastardly handsome chain smoker." He informed his crescent-hearted co-worker. Marcel's brows went low as he rested his hands in his pockets. "Sorry for your loss, sir, my condolences." He replied with a genuineness in his tone. Jiksolsen reached as high up towards his shoulder as he could and patted his co-worker's back. "She wouldn't care about your condolences— she'd care about your determination towards helping our guardians so let's get straight to work!" Said the wrinkled researcher with a spike of an enthusiastic tone near the end. Marcel gave him a thumbs up. The two worked hard the rest of the night shaping the cloth into full suits to go underneath their armored shelling. Marcel woke up hearing an urgent alarm from his communicator sounding off. Aching in his muscles and dizziness making moving feel like a struggle, incapable of keeping himself balanced as he attempted to make it to his feet. He noticed a bottle next to him, he had only a disappointed sigh left in him as he laid on the laboratory's ground. "At least the suit still feels pretty— wonderful!" He thought to himself as he rolled onto his back.
Artus pocketed his communicator with curiosity regarding Marcel's whereabouts in his thoughts. "Shot him a neat but urgent text, so, hopefully the blue undie enjoying genius will decide to come out of the lab for us this time." He informed his siblings as the trio journeyed through the city to the location of reporting. Ember spun a twirled as she walked with her brothers. "Can't give hope to one of those dorks fixed on advancing technologically, Art." She responded as she shrugged, she swiftly took notice that her brothers' gazes were fixed on her, "Alright, that's enough of the attention on me, goons." She had finished returning her gaze away from her brothers. Artus chuckled lightly. "Right, dork difference, that you go on about, history enthusiasts and tech geeks aren't the same." He replied as he enjoyed the sun on his face. Lyle briefly checked his equipment, being sure his weapons were orderly. "Time to get this day saved. Perfect vantage point." He butted in as he pointed it out to his siblings. The siblings spent the next thirty minutes climbing a fifty story building and spotted their target.
The oath's sanguine marksman's eyes widened from shock after beholding the mysterious figure reported by the police force. "That thing standing at what, like— twenty feet?!" Artus commented on the creature while he was placed in awe. Ember shook off everything she felt similarly to her brother. "Fugly. If Nathaniel's vulnerability diary is as accurate as he trusts it to be then— this afternoon farmer on our hands is an organic portal leading our citizens to something pretty close to hell." Ember enlightened her brothers with a worrisome tone as she finished reading the first paragraph. The oath's sangfroid paragon felt the vibration of him receiving a text. "Road closure is finished. The area's evacuated as planned. Relieved as far as that creature continues staring towards the sky. Instead of taking our citizens below." Lyle read to and assured his siblings as the two readied themselves. Artus sighed as he looked towards his fellow officers encouraging a curious crowd to remain calm. "This pocketboy definitely won't be a bash and dash operation, huh, Embs— not that I'm complaining." The oath's sanguine marksman curiously asked his elder sister. Ember let a moment of silence follow as she finished reading the book's page. "I'm not going to acknowledge that, Artus, zip it. That aside, this is the first time one of our missions might be able to be simplified with those two words." The oath's blue-stocking blade replied to her brother before widening his eyes by showing him part of the page she read to herself, leaving him nodding approvingly. Lyle was shown the page soon after his brother. "Nothing more of a cake walk than crushing organs on our way out of guarded labyrinths, sibs." The oath's sangfroid paragon commented while shifting his attention back towards the tall and lanky creature that only moved its head as its body stood as still as a corpse. Ember stood silent for another moment pondering his comment. "Fascinating speculation. Don't worry, I've got any puzzles coming our way. No need to fear them." She gently smiled as she put Nathaniel's gift in her brother's bag.
The Trio leapt into alerted stances as they all heard and felt footsteps approaching behind them. Marcel continued stepping towards the Trio with his blade's handle firmly in his hands. "Catch me up on the details, anyone?" Marcel raised as his eyes shifted between the Trio. Ember heavily sighed as she aimed her eyes the crescent-hearted defender recognized was filled with disappointment. "Mission recap— for the grown man who joined us on this life threatening journey but can't keep his alcohol down; to bring back our missing persons, we have to dive into this living portal to search for this creature's scattered vital organs and shatter them which will allow us and any of its victims no matter their circumstances in the realm to return, much healthier the victim's ever achieved, back to earth." Ember reminded her fellow defenders as they all readied themselves to leap. The crescent-hearted defender moved his hand away from his elbow as he was finished scratching. "Care to elaborate on the circumstance part?" Marcel inquired as he inched to the edge. The oath's sangfroid paragon kept his focus on the monster as he perched on the edge of the roof. "Monsters. Monsterization. Death. Four hours according to the diary before our stories end because of one of these on the list." He informed his latest comrade. Marcel gulped as he looked down and over the edge at the tall, lanky and gray humanoid creature. Artus smirked as he snapped. "On with it then gang— I bet you look good on the dance floor, I don't know if you're looking for romance, I don't know what you're looking for!" The oath's sanguine marksman shouted from the top of his lungs, gaining the creature's attention. It grew much larger before its mouth opened as wide as it grew as it held its arms down to its hips and began, Marcel and the Trio felt powerful pulling. Ember grabbed Artus' hand as everyone flew off their feet and off the edge towards its mouth.
The Trio found themselves falling from a dark sky into a forest with dark trees and dark green leaves. Lyle fell with his arms crossed and a barely noticeable joyful smile until he instantaneously moved safely to a thick tree branch to perch on. He witnessed a sky full of darkened clouds and a bright violet moon. Ember and Artus used their moment of invincibility to survive the fall though Artus fell into a tree as Ember caught herself and elegantly swung through the branches before landing gracefully on the ground as she rested her hands on her hips.
Marcel fell on his belly, almost penetrated by his plummeting blade. "I only fell because I've never been through a portal, especially one with the exit velocity of diarrhea, guys." He informed his team as he dusted himself off and stretched his left shoulder. Artus pointed towards the sword then wiped his eyes after staring unblinkingly towards it. "Glad that I just witnessed the god of fortune blessing you just now 'cus— that thing almost found your head." Said the oath's sanguine marksman with a dumbfounded tone. Marcel finished dusting his knees clean. "Oh— now you have me thinking about the rumor of the fated heir. The sword can't be used against him, no matter the method, intention nor person including himself until the eldritch monster decides on a replacement." The crescent-hearted defender regaled as he saw the stars light up in his audience's eyes.
Lyle surveyed the area and witnessed a place that looked as if it were connected to Europe. "A tear in space— Generil may not be the only place invaded by one of these living portals!" he shouted from up high when he realized his communicator wasn't workable. Brief images of a stranger with green eyes tightly gripping onto a peculiar sword showered Ember's mind. Marcel scratched his chin with his thumb. "Officers striving to survive while having to worry about tears in space while inside of a monster infested forest in the belly of an eldritch monster sounds like the plot of a boring movie." The crescent-hearted defender opined. Artus stopped walking when he noticed his sister frozen in place with her lemon chiffon energy beaming from her eyes. "This hasn't happened to her since— the early days of the lemon chiffon essence lighting up in her, Cel." He informed his confused brother in arms. Ember's gasp was otherworldly compared to any from her before. "A uniformed swordsman— is somewhere in trouble— I think that he's in that sunken building though?" The oath's blue-stocking blade informed her siblings and brother in arms.
With his sword tightly grasped in his dominant hand, decapitation swiftly fell upon the wave of the monsters that resembled the undead which prepared to dine on him. The green-eyed swordsman held his injured hip in his moment of recovery. "We did our best to make it out of here with our lives when it brought us here, Timbo, didn't we?" He thought to himself as his sword fell as his body followed it to the ground and heard vicious roaring approaching from a distance. As he lay on a chunk of fallen debri with his dominant hand resting on his chest and a tear moving like a river down his cheek, he heard a sniper fire then he heard the thud from the bodies of mysterious otherworldly creatures after crashing down beside him. He grabbed hold of all of the strength which the swordsman had to pick up his sword again but he could not cease trembling, he saw three silhouettes and a worried voice approaching before collapsing into unconsciousness. He woke up to a man twice his size bandaging his knee. "Fortunately for this fella, my rule is to rarely leave quarters without alcohol and bandages for our wounds but now we're low on supplies, sibs." He heard from the taller figure patching him though his vision was blurred. "Scent of rotten eggs. Growing stronger by the moment." He heard from a figure who spoke as though he was whispering. "Ya figure if he's here then he might have a platoon with him somewhere?" He heard from another dressed with turquoise tights. "Safe to assume he's alone because they didn't make it— we need to find their camp and pray they've left supplies at least." He heard from the final that sounded obnoxiously confident to him.
The green-eyed swordsman collapsed once again after the four mysterious strangers noticed he was conscious. He woke up again to the sound of groaning and thudding as bodies rained. The green-eyed swordsman mustered what strength and used what willpower he had remaining to keep himself from losing his consciousness once again before having the tree assist him returning to his feet as the mysterious strangers finished defeating the horde. The tall soldier finished sniping a flying undead creature before noticing him awake almost immediately. "Thank goodness that you're alive— I'm Artus Aluin." He introduced himself as reloaded his rifle. The green-eyed swordsman struggled yet eventually calmed himself. "Apprentice European Vanquisher, Aron Birger, troublesome situation. I can hopefully lead you guys to a survivor's village hoarding resources." Said Aron as he found himself aggravated by ringing that he heard in his ears. Lyle, Marcel and Ember regrouped after finishing the enduring monster. Lyle wrapped the injured officer's arm around his shoulder. "Rifles work exceptionally. Art. Stay vigilant." He reminded his brother with the response of a determined nod.
The Gen-oath squadron and the foreign injured officer traveled past crumbling and nigh-collapsed buildings as they traversed through the realm's forest environment. Stealthily avoiding beasts with the sense of hearing that surpassed the healthiest dogs. The injured apprentice Vanquisher pointed towards a distant building as he was on Artus' back. "We managed to fortify ourselves and others unfortunate enough to have managed to stay alive in the thickest and safest building we've found. We zip through the window of the joint and climb through to get into its thick walls. Makes for an excellent defense against the hordes of the grounded creatures. Some flying creatures can mysteriously find their way in sometimes but we easily take care of those few. It should be able to hold you four individually. One at a time." He enlightened Generil's squad. Artus handed Ember a pair of binoculars he kept stored in his bag. "Damn it— the archives of Tomas and Tobias from Sweden. Shame. These living portals will experience hell for fooling with such a beautiful treasure." Ember kept to herself as she shut her eyes and squeezed her fist.
As they ziplined downwards into the fortified survivor stronghold, Artus enjoyed the view of the lightly shaded purple moon shining across the countless trees and lakes as a familiar scent made it to his brother's nose. The oath's sangfroid paragon noticed the scent of rotten eggs had begun growing significantly more noticeable by the moment. "This safehouse has been compromised by the pocketboy's goons." Lyle deduced and noted as he zipped across with their entrance in sight. Artus, Marcel and Ember noticed Lyle unholstering his twin pistols before disappearing from his line which encouraged them to prepare themselves as well. Artus squatted below to the injured vanquisher. "Seems the place is in trouble— any bigger problem that comes up here you know of, Aron?" He asked the injured Vanquisher. The green-eyed Vanquisher coughed with a strain. "… I should be safe?" He replied as he gently rubbed and covered his eyes. The oath's sanguine marksman swiftly noticed the uncertainty in tone. "You don't sound very sure of that answer, Aron." Artus replied as he gently checked the vanquisher's pulse. He sighed and shook his head before reluctantly preparing his trip on the zip line into the complex. The other two were already finished with their trip and witnessed the oath's sangfroid paragon moving carefully towards a door. Lyle opened it as quietly as he could manage, listening for any nearby trouble and saw that it led into a corridor. "I'll move swiftly through the lower floors for any survivors, clues or resources we'll need." He whispered to Marcel and Ember before confidently nodding and instantaneously moving. Artus unhooked his zip line. "There's areas in this world that have some sort of corruptive radiation and apparently we've already been exposed!" He relayed to Marcel and Ember in an urgent tone, giving shock to the duo.
The oath's sangfroid paragon only stepped with a goal of leaving no desk, drawer or cabinet unsuspected and thoroughly searched. Eventually, the four regrouped at the entrance window after an hour of scavenging before deciding to lay the clues that they've gathered on the receptionist's desk. Lyle leaned against a wall near the entrance room's door. "Speculation. Confirmed. Someone wrote about a labyrinth, east of here— hopefully, it houses our first organ." He informed Marcel and his siblings before crossing his arms. Artus exhaled in a relieved manner. "With only a few hours with our sanity and beauty left if we don't get out of this world, this is Lady Luck grinning down on us." He shouted with a slightly ecstatic tone. Marcel turned his gaze towards his brother in arms. "Mind away from women, Artus, we have to stay focused on smashing all of this thing's organs." He reminded the marksman. Artus nodded before he gave an American salute. "Yes sir, understood but you should understand as well as me that everyone has something to keep them moving forward in the face of fear." He replied as he used binoculars to check for any creatures awaiting them in the forest. Ember slightly chuckled as she covered her mouth. "Humor and women?" She commented before she had leapt out of the window entrance.
Lyle, Ember, Artus and Marcel regrouped outside of the stronghold once each had finished their landing. The oath's sangfroid paragon held out the map located in one of the journals that he discovered. "East of here, guys." He reminded his team before halting his steps as he noticed Artus hadn't moved. The oath's sanguine marksman grin began to slowly vanish into an expression of worry as he gazed where he remembered they left the injured Swedish Vanquisher. Lyle recognized the look his brother had in his eyes. "Smart idea. We'll solve this swifter through splitting the work." He opined as he helped his brother remember the journal that he held in his bag. Artus lightly gasped. "Ah, yeah, yeah, right— so, who wants to be dragged along next to me?" He questioned with a gesture in his eyes that made Marcel and Ember reluctant. Ember stepped towards Lyle. "That thing with your eyes and brows is something I'll admit you can do impeccably, Art." She commented before shoving Marcel towards him, "Art's the least athletic of us three, so your flight could help him be agile against large crowds— a flying sniper that doesn't miss, no threat can stop you two. Something of a superb duo!" She finished with an ecstatic tone. Marcel slowly stepped towards the marksman. Lyle and Artus dapped up each other before the squad separated.