Shadow and Flame [MIDNA]

[SERAPHINA HERODOR]

Just what she needed. A scare. A few accusations. And that imbecile of a chancellor breathing down her neck AGAIN about the evils of technology. 'It was a sign from Din herself, she caused the eruption to warn us of the evils you are spreading through the mountain.' She'd almost charred the messenger delivering the news of his condemnation to a cinder before remembering that that would raise some questions. She instead turned her energies to discovering the true cause.

She had been searching the various caverns overlooking the vast lava floes beneath her for several days now. Nothing. No outward cause, nor symptom. As if it were simply a natural eruption. Something she believed was improbably, though not impossible. She became increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress, until eventually, she came across a chamber, sealed by a rockfall. She smiled, before shattering the blockage, repeatedly blasting it with pyroclastic energies.

She entered the chamber, three other such rockfalls were blocking off bridges that were symmetrical, each one at right angles to the ones next to it. Unusual. Impossible to be a coincidence, surely? The raised platform of rock was suspended over a large 'well' of lava. And she could feel something. Something unnatural. Magical. Evil. It swelled, pulsed, in time with some unheard, illogical rhythm. Scarring lined the walls, perfectly symmetrical, like the bridges. Something had occurred here. Whether directly here, or whether it was simply over-flowing into the lava from elsewhere, she could not tell. But it was here.

As was another.

A shadow flitted about the chamber, which illuminated only by Seraphina's inner fire, and by the lava beneath her. Or they. Clearly not a natural shadow, as there was nothing to be cast from in the vicinity. A hand went up, flames bursting into life, a seething ball of fire in Seraphina's outstretched palm, licking at her fingers harmlessly. Her eyes flicked left and right, watching for it again.

[red]Who's there? Show yourself![/red]

[Midna]

Seraphina wasn't the only one with problems on her hands. The problems just seem to keep piling up, and the solutions were no where to be found. She had to admit she wasn't at all that happy with the Gorons accusing her people but they were just going to have to get over themselves, because it wasn't their fault or their issues to meddle with. Midna was not surprised with the foreseen prophecy, but it still didn't stop her from being disappointed. It left the Twilight Sovereign quite puzzled that so much had happened than she could fathom. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to begin a hot debate over the deeds done in the past, and keep her head focused in the present.

Damn, it's hot as balls in here, she grumbled mentally. Despite her grunting Midna was actually curious about what happened here, and as to why there was blame being placed on her people. It would do the twili injustice if she didn't at least find some clues or anything close to it. Hell, she was trying to be optimistic by thinking it maybe linked to who may hold her Fused Shadow. This was just being optimistic.

And luck would have it someone else had the very same intent as she. The woman was a little slow to notice, but she had been stalking her for quite some time. Following her straight to the point of interest really. When Seraphina finally noticed something was off, the Sovereign couldn't help but giggle mischievously confirming the Champion's suspicions that she was - indeed - not alone.

"Oh my~ Don't get all fired up over nothing, Sparky," she joked. Bad pun, but her jokes would show some lax for the time being. Lifting herself from the surface, Midna ascended in front of the pyromaniac, her hands crossed over her chest. A supercilious smirk upon her dark lips.

[SERAPHINA HERODOR]

Eyes narrowed behind red-tinted goggles, glaring at the figure that materialised from the shadow that had crawled slick along the floor before her. Beautiful? Check. Blue? Check. Condescending? Check. Alarm bells in head? Quadruple check. She turned to face her, staring her down, fire still dancing in her hand, looking at the near impish grin upon her face. Despite the relatively non-hostile expression, she didn't generally trust anything that appeared out of the ground, at least, not right away.

[red]Generally, I consider blue-skinned women appearing from shadows on the ground something. Don't know about where you come from, but here, that's a pretty big deal. About as big a deal as a woman holding fire in her hands.[/red]

She lowered her hand slightly, but did not extinguish the flame, it dimmed slightly, but she still watched the newcomer carefully. Would be just typical that she'd finally finished her work, only to be turned to carrion by a shadow-emerging-blue-skinned-impish-grinning woman. How inconvenient that would be.

[red]Before I put this out, who are you? And what exactly are you doing here?[/red]

She took a step to her right, occupying the centre ground in front of the strange, yet oddly still Hylian-ish looking woman. Two fairly odd, but crucial discoveries in one day. Always a good way to go in her line of business.

[Midna]

Midna had to admit she was quite enjoying all of the color facial expressions people got when she appeared before them. However she didn't have time to be playing games like she used to, and as much as she wanted to screw around a bit with the human woman who dared ignited a flame in her hands, Midna didn't need her hands or her time tied down from her purposes. Especially with being in the mines as it was, a normal person would probably wouldn't have last long in here, however normalcy was a bit overrated for indifferent leaders. The closer one approached the light, the greater their shadows shall appear.

"Then I suppose you can tell, that by following the same leads as you, I can assure you I come in peace," she half-teased, half spoke truthfully to Seraphina. Carmine eyes flickered brightly watching as the woman lowered her hand, but the fire did not perish. The fiery woman was certainly fiery~ She really wanted to give her a run around, but her thoughts were put in a state of business before play. So she'd save the pestering, and further annoyances for another time.

"Midna is what I am called," she stated simple, "Consider me a private investigator of sorts. A little bird told me of what happened here, and I personally wanted to see for myself the damage done. Blames are being put on the wrong people." Midna wasn't entirely positive, but she had a feeling that perhaps this woman could relate to her intents in one fashion or another. Or perhaps she could be wrong, but she was willing to put her bets she wasn't off the mark entirely. Her twilit eyes burned with injustice wanting to find reason before approaching the people of Hyrule, and bringing it to their attention that they were fools running around like cuccos with their heads chopped off. Chaos was encroaching all around, and little to no effort was being made to investigating the heart of it all.

If there was such a thing then Midna didn't see it going on with the Light dwellers. Now she wasn't saying every single one of them are ignorant fools, but a good some were.

[SERAPHINA HERODOR]

Seraphina listened to this... Midna for the duration of her speaking, taking her words on board. So, she was also looking for the cause of the eruption? Clearly, she agreed that the blame was being laid in the wrong places. These... Dark Interlopers whoever they were, were the official blame, but people like Dreysir were breathing down Seraphina's neck too, for the 'blasphemy she had wrought had angered the Goddess Din.' She clenched her fist around the fireball, which flickered out, a brief flare of flames gouting out from her fist.

[red]Then it seems we share a purpose, Midna. Seraphina. I too feel the blame is being cast in the wrong place. This is my most conclusive piece of evidence.[/red]

She gestured to the chamber, noting the grooving upon the cavern walls.

[red]Can you feel that? The hum of darker arts? It chills me to the bone, and as you can see, that requires some considerable effort. Also, note the place. It's perfectly symmetrical. This place is a focal point. Whatever has been occurring in Hyrule, trace energies have run rampant in here.[/red]

She looked at the walls, trying to figure out exactly what this all meant. It was a lot to take in. And at such a time! Calamity after calamity seemed to be wreaking havoc upon the land, upon its people. Just when she'd come back, all hell had broken loose. And naturally, that cast suspicion on her, at least in CERTAIN circles...

[Midna]

It was quite clear that this Seraphina had quite a temper on her. The Twilight Princess was half-tempted to take the Human Champion on a joyride to see how many buttons she could push, but this was neither the time or place for messing around. At the moment, it was 'srsbsns' time.

Midna was relieved to hear that they had common grounds to share, thus there wouldn't be any hostilities between them. That didn't mean she gave her trust entirely to the human... at least, not yet. It was quite difficult these days to figure out who was really on your side or not. Nonetheless, the princess would not stop now since she's engaged in following Seraphina to find crucial evidence to clear the Twili's name.

"Indeed," she agreed. She listened carefully to her explanation as she observed the room. Whatever went down here, there was no doubt traces of malicious intent within the slivers of dark magic that permeated throughout the room. It was enough to send chills down Midna's spine as well. Though she swallowed her discomfort before turning her attention back over to Seraphina. A sardonic smile graced her lips noticing the internal struggle that she could probably take a good guess as to what was going on in her ticking mind.

"Looks like you've seen better days," she teased softly. "Back to the point at hand, someone or some group are obviously up to no good if it involves not only stacked up calamity, and using false accusations. There is malicious intent with these recent events." When she gets her hands on whoever was responsible for this, she'll make them regret the day they sullied the Twili's name. Midna would be damned before she allows her precious tribe fall victims to hate crimes against things that they haven't done.

[SERAPHINA HERODOR]

This... Midna was a most unusual person. She clearly was of some importance, hence the air of superiority that seemed to radiate from her, as did the poise, grace and mannerisms that she carried about her like a cloak, and yet, like Seraphina herself, seemed to entirely shatter the mould of 'proper dignitary'. Where Seraphina was fiery, unpredictable and exploratory, Midna was mischievous, sharp and witty. She smiled, pleased that she wasn't dealing with yet another brainless fop who spent more time going over formality than actually addressing the issue at hand. Speaking of which, Midna raised a point. It was not only the actual event, but the circumstances that would surround the event. She nodded once, before taking her hand away from the markings the still made her skin crawl, her blood run cold.

[red]True enough. While I hate to admit it, the fact that it happened so close to my experimentation will point many fingers directly at me. As for you Midna, I would agree with you, if I but knew exactly who you are, and more precisely, what you are, if you pardon the phrase.[/red]

She tried, if a little bluntly to excise the information out of Midna, hopefully her direct and frank manner would ease much of this strange being's worries. While Seraphina was... Unconventional at best, she was certainly no stranger to the intrigues of politics and speechcraft. It was just that more often than not she would lose her temper and set fire to something. Strange how passionate speech and roaring inferno seemed to follow her around like a lost puppy...

[red]The energies harnessed here must have been... Phenomenal... The scarring is so... Precise... As though carved by an inhumanly large scalpel. Whoever caused this was no raving cultist or deranged sorceror. This was someone very powerful, and very calculating. To think... If I could bring but a fraction of this power into my work, without the malicious nature of darker magic of course...[/red]

She trailed off, running her fingers in awe along the pristine incisions made into the walls. Power thrummed under her very finger tips, and she shuddered at the feeling. It was a dark, seductive call, was dark magic. One that buried itself deep within all. It was merely a question of resolve. And Seraphina, dedicated to the merging of science and magic, had contemplated many a time what it would be like to channel such power into her creations, but had always kept it to theory, to prove a point that it could be done. And yet, the thought still gnawed at her...

[Midna]

There was certainly more factors that added to the common grounds between these two women investigating what occurred so swiftly, and precisely. Midna also acknowledged how 'off the rails' for a lack of a better word to describe the pyromancer's refined yet raw power. Refine as in her mannerisms showed more of her what she knew, and how to behave, yet raw as in her emotions were strong, unyielding - and passionate like the flames itself. It was a perfect balance between light, and darkness or in this case, shadow, and flame.

"I am known as a Twili, denizen of the Twilight Realm, a descendent of the Dark Interlopers of many years ago," she explained as her arms laid beside her on both sides, "I've been told that the Gorons proclaim it was one of my people that caused this destruction. However there is a flaw in such accusations~" Midna raised up her hand in a form of a gesture to argue the statement further more to the point. Her carmine eyes flickered brightly as her smile turned rather venomous. "The calamity struck the same time I opened the portal from my realm, and into this plane. There's no way for it to be mortally possible for a single - let alone a group of twili to wreck havoc that fast before we made our arrival into this world."

Midna was quite amused with the aspirations Seraphina exerted. She was an innovative mover in technology as the princess has been informed in the past. Fascinating~ Perhaps she would learn a thing or two on something strange, and new - away from the traditional and politically correct etiquette of the realm structured by magic, and thrones. Examining the carves, the design, and the atmosphere as the human champion did, but all she could feel at the moment was pure spite of it all.

[Holy crap. No excuse, I'm so sorry!! TwT]