Mysteries of Daraku II

Liselle nibbles a bit at her pie a bit more before stopping to reply. "Well to be fair, physical attack doesn't work well against me so Ferro and Yumi were at a bit of a disadvantage in the first place. Dixi probably had the best chance with her skillset if it wasn't for the fact that I found her weakness really fast." She gave a grin to Ferro. "You're welcome, it helps curb that desire for Banana and Nuts." Ferro knew who she meant.

(bed time!)

"And yet I still pushed you back quite a bit!" he argued. He ignored the banana and nuts bit, not really intent on remembering THAT slime.

As the conversation continued, Kathrynne and Jane observed the slime. Kathrynne was clearly surprised that she'd beaten all three of the group she'd fought against, albeit it one at a time. Jane looked tempted to pull out her notebook, but decided against it since they were at the dinner table.

Meanwhile, Victus was beginning to get heavy eyes. He rested his elbow against the table, and held his head in his hand, resting his eyes.

Ferro noticed quickly and decided not to say anything until he was absolutely certain he was completely out.

Dixi noticed Victus as well but she didn't say anything, after all she wasn't aware of their plan.

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After a few deep breaths, Victus's head slipped from his hand, and went face first into his remarkably empty plate, and began to quietly snore.

Jane shifted her face to Adri.
"How long is it likely to last? And how deep is it?" She asked, her tone almost conversational, as if nothing strange had just happened.

"Huh? What happened to him?" Dixi asked surprised.

"Give me a little credit! Enough to pull a memory out!" Adri told Jane, getting up from her seat while Ferro explained the situation to Dixi.

"Pull a memory out? What did we miss while we were sleeping?" She stood up, "Just be careful, playing with memories one never knows..."

Jane nodded, putting down her cutlery to assist. Kathrynne moved to help get Victus out of his seat.
"Where do you want him?" She asked. "And who's help do you need?" She turned to Dixi. "Jane seems to be worried he'll go all sleeper agent on us, or something."

Liselle was unaware of the case with Victus's mental complication should decide to just continue to eat. Yumi looks on with confusion as much as Dixi is hoping that Victus will be OK.

"They can make even sleeping agents?" This made Dixi start thinking about a few things.

"He'll be fine. Jane, just lay him down there and I'll get started right away!" She created a larch couch at the side of the room.

"The second seat is rather skilled at mind manipulation. She worked some of it on Lasciel, though it was much less subtle on her." Jane commented. "And we know nothing of the girl that is seen around Zara. Or her connection to Daraku. Or if she was related to this incident with Victus." Jane explained. "It is certainly not out of the question that she may be, though."

"I see, if we decide to send someone to infiltrate the place, it's going to be dangerous for him or her." She said giving the idea some thoughts.

Once Victus was dumped onto the couch, Adri's hands flashed a deep green as she pressed her palms to Victus's temples. She closed her eyes, focusing entirely on rifling through the Captain's mind.

Memories flashed through Victus's mind.

Children fighting in a playground. One of them a friend, the other someone who Victus does not like. But something is wrong. His friend is clearly bigger and stronger, and the other one is just trying to defend himself. He considers walking away, and leaving them alone, knowing what will come of it. But he can't. He steps between them, telling his friend to stop.

Four years have passed, and Victus is now friends with the other kid. His old friend was removed from the school a couple of years ago. He fell in with the wrong crowd. The class today is on future jobs. Victus declares he's going to be a great guard captain. The rest of the class laughs, as Victus isn't all that big.

His 13th birthday. His uncle, a blacksmith, gives him a wooden sword. He is told that, if he practices, he'll make him a proper sword when he turns 16. It's much too heavy to use, but Victus begins to train with it as soon as he gets it.

By 16, Victus has hit a growth spurt, and the old wooden sword is more like a shortsword to him now. His uncle gives him a large blade, recognisable as the one Victus always has with him. Victus joined the guard that same day.

A few years pass of training in the academy. Mistakes are made, and lessons are learned, but all in all, it was a positive experience. A decade passes, and Victus is offered the chance to become a captain. His dream job, finally his.

A few more years pass, and guardsmen are beginning to disappear. Reports of midara showing up in the abandoned warehouses west of the outpost pique his interest. The warehouse is marked as being owned by an unknown party, but has an address listed.

The house is a rather nice looking detached house, surrounded by a white picket fence. Standing in the yard is a girl sitting on a swinging, dangling her legs. Victus enters the yard in full guard's uniform and approaches the girl.

"Is your mother or father home?" He asked.

"Sorry, but I'm not allowed to talk to strangers." The little girl responded. Something about her seemed a little bit off. Though she looked like a normal little girl, something in her eyes made her seem... older... Much older... Though Victus did not seem to notice.

"Well, I'm Sir Victus DuMort, guard captain." He responded, knelling down so he was on the same level as the girl. "And what's your name?"

"Lily." She responded. "Well... if you are a guard, I guess you can come inside."

Victus gave a nod, and was lead inside the house.

Upon entering, he turned to close the door. As he did, the moment the door went click, his memory began to feel less clear.

"Is something wrong?" asked the girl. Her voice seeming to change in pitch. That was not a child's voice. Victus seemed to be stumbling. "You know where to find them, don't you?" She commented. It was clear that parts of the memory were missing. "That's right. She will probably break you. But you'll serve your purpose." "You will tell me everything that happens. I'll be here. Waiting." "Listen for my word. 'Layil'. You will serve and defend me whenever you hear it." The memory becomes a little clearer for a moment. The girl is standing in the shadows, but her silloutte clearly shows her to be a fully grown woman with a luscious figure. "Maybe you could do with a little... motivation." The memory begins to scream. Rage. Anger. Red. Then it fades.

The next memory begins at night, with Victus charging towards an abandoned warehouse, enraged. There is nothing in between.

After going through his memories, Adri began to search for what might possibly make him into a sleeper agent, intent on ripping it out and keeping the others safe.

The clear part of the memory, with the trigger word 'Layil' seemed to be deeply embedded into his mind, and would be difficult, but not impossible, to extract. It was clearly not an amateur job and, were it not for Victus's mind already being restored, and fighting it off too, Adri didn't think she'd have been able to manage it.

The witch worked her magic, threading strings of Mana throughout his mind. Each and every string-end took to eliminating every single trace of the trigger word from Victus's subconscious.

Adri found that the subconcious had been filled with various commands, on top of the 'Layil' one from the memory, including several that were to trigger were he to recall things, such as what she really looked like, or other vital details about her. Fortunately, Victus did not seem to have recalled anything that was too dangerous, and the memories that could have triggered him seemed to be long gone and irretrievable. Though it would take a couple of minutes, she knew she'd be able to extract the commands, but the memory of the encounter would have to be removed too, otherwise the memory itself could re-establish the commands.

"This could take a while, everyone!" Adri announced as she began to remove every single command slowly and carefully from his mind, ending it off with taking the memory itself away from Victus.

"Did you found anything Adri?"

"That little girl with the head isn't what she seems," Adri stated as she finally managed to finish things, saving Victus from what could have been. "She older than she looks and might just be Zara's equal."

"So we should alse be careful of her is that what you mean?" She asked rasing an eyebrow.

(Btw spent a few hours but that one on the avatar is Dixi on BDO xD)