as written by Script, Tiko, Dashmiel, and Lobos...
Elante was crossing the Vestibule with an armful of books that had been delivered that morning from Academia Celestia when hearing the creaking of the doors to the Inner Sanctum gave him pause. Curious as to who had been venturing into the temple's heart so early in the day, he turned to observe as the doors opened, curiosity shifting to concern at the unusual slowness of their movement.
As the first unknown figure stepped into view, the young mage's eyes widened, and he dropped the books to the floor with a clattering. A wave of one hand conjured an arc of luminous golden swords into being around him, blades pointed towards the strangers as they emerged.
"Stop where you are!" he called out, gesturing with his other palm as he did so. The air in front of him rippled as he formed a faintly shimmering translucent barrier in the air between him and them.
Rolando responded with equal swiftness and reflex. As the mage’s conjuration sprang to life so too did he. Something stayed Rolando’s hand though from unsheathing his blade. The man before him was both a stranger, and yet familiar all the same. The clothing, the tilt of his voice and the wave of his hand. His intellect had yet to piece together what his subconscious knew to be familiar, but his instincts told him this man was no agent of the void.
The sound of a single footfall on the stone directly behind Elante, and the scuff of leather against stone was the only warning that one of the intruders now flanked him.
"Do not harm them," Rolando warned, even as Elante voiced his own warning and the pairs words echoed as one.
The mage stiffened at the sudden presence at his back, but when words came instead of a blade, he held his ground and made no aggressive moves.
Asher’s eyes had widened, but the sudden appearance of blades was met with a twist of the wrist, and the rattle of chains sounded. Springing ahead of Aeldric as he noticed Rolando landing ahead, he stood in his comrade’s stead as the shield between friend’s and the threat, whirling both ends of his unusual weapon, the dark skinned man’s face serious.
“Who are you?” He snapped back, eying the golden swords warily.
Aeldric barely had a chance to register Rolando’s initial step, before things went south. Still holding his pendant on his sword arm, and with his allies already prepared to attack if needed, he instead took to trying to think the situation through.
Like Rolando, his subconscious also felt like something that should have been familiar was out of place.
As he raised his pendant before him in the direction of the familiar visage and received no response from it, he also concluded that they were not in the presence of one of the Void’s.
Slowly, so as to not aggravate the situation, he returned it to it’s place around his neck and tilted his head to the side as he regarded their adversary.
“Steady friends…,” he proclaimed as he took a couple of paces forward, stopping beside Asher.
“Y-you’re...a man?” he asked incredulously.
"Might I inquire into the peculiar obviousness of your observation?" Rolando asked Aeldric from behind Elante.
“I - what?” Elante’s readied retort to Asher’s question was derailed by Aeldric’s exclamation, his face a mask of confusion. “You’re the intruders here, who are you?” The swords hung static in the air, but with a subtle twitch of his finger, Elante extended his barrier around to cover his rear.
“I hope I’m forgiven, but sometimes even I wonder about It’s sense of humor,” replied Aeldric to Rolando, his tone flabbergasted. The seeming joke’s punchline only a matter of time away from becoming self-evident.
Catching the spinning blades after yanking their slack in, he lowered the wicked looking edges before taking a closer look at the man, his jaw dropping. “Elan...where did your breasts go?”
Before any further inquiries could be exchanged, phantom forms began to appear within the vestibule drawn by the disturbance of energies throughout the temple. The first to make himself known was a winged figure, coalescing into being in the air above the confused confrontation. Peregrine took a moment to take in the unfolding scene - tense, but seemingly not hostile - before calling out. “What’s going on, Elante?”
He was quickly joined by both Selwyn and Gawyn, the kethrian sorceress and cordelian prince taking up wary stances as they formed in the air at Elante’s side, the former facing back at Rolando and the latter towards Aeldric and Asher. In response to Peregrine’s question, Elante shook his head. “I’m… not entirely sure,” he said, staring in disbelief at Asher upon his question.
Rolando's eyes shifted from Elante to the phantoms, and back again. Peregrine, Selwyn, Gawyn? He knew his history well. Had they failed? Had they joined the other spirits within the Well of Souls? Outwardly he remained a statue of calm reservation as he rejoined his comrades, appearing beside Aedric as swiftly as he had appeared behind Elante moments earlier.
"I don't suppose the Light left you a guidebook?" he inquired of Aeldric.
“If only…” replied Aeldric with a shake of his head. His gaze also shifted to regard the phantom’s, and roamed over Elante once more. Being better versed than his companions on the many facets of the Light, he thought he knew what was going on, though not why this turn of events would have been It’s will.
Once again, his personal wishes had to take a secondary concern in his life, for it was Light’s will that placed them here, and not in the aid of their friends as he’d hoped. A bitter sigh escaped his lips as he addressed everyone.
“I--” he began, but quickly shook his head, stunned as the enormity of what had transpired sunk in. The presence of these manifestations of their historied past could only mean a handful of things, and it pained him to think what they could have achieved in their own home had they not been turned from their purpose.
Gathering himself and standing straight, he began once again. “I am Aeldric Gunnarson, Grandmaster of the Elysian Vanguard, and Light’s Will,” he proclaimed, his statement punctuated by a flare of light from the pendant around his neck.
Rolando opting to follow Aeldric's lead introduced himself as well. "Rolando Alvarado Cabrera Elizondo, Grandmaster of the Elysian Vanguard.”
“Asher Ja’ing, Grandmaster of the Elysian Vanguard,” The Hafirjan native tipped his head slightly.
“Grandmasters..?” Elante’s confusion only deepened, but it was becoming clear that though these were strangers, there was something amiss here far beyond simple deceit. With a baffled shake of his head, the mage waved his hand to dismiss the luminous swords. “I’m Elante Vadrillion, Elder of the Elysian Vanguard. Although you all seem to already know …” he hesitated, eyeing Asher and Aeldric in particular “... a version of me, you’re all strangers to me.”
“Yes...of course we would be…” murmured Aeldric. “As one facet darkens, we are turned to another to continue to shine Light’s will, is that what I’m supposed to understand?” he asked no one in particular.
“Perhaps we should be brought before the Circle of Elders, there’s obviously much to explain. Clearly the Void’s blight has not advanced that far here, but the Light would not have brought us without a reason…,” he trailed off, already lost in his own thoughts.
“The other Elders are away from the temple at present,” another voice cut across the Vestibule as at the far end, the robed figure of Sylvire Nasazura strode into view. “But those of us that remain stand before you.” At her side walked Arrow, the knight’s hand resting on the hilt of his weapon as the two of them approached. Elante flashed the pair of them a relieved smile before turning back to the newcomers. And they weren’t the only ones to be arriving in the Vestibule. A few other faces - some familiar to the newcomers, some not - were responding to the spirits’ detection of unknown presences in the temple, emerging onto the walkways overhead or from the doorways leading deeper into the temple proper.
“Perhaps it would be for the better if we spoke in privacy,” Sylvire continued, before casting a quick glance around the room. “Arrow, Sarael, Akosua, Shelby, and Oriel, accompany Elante and I to speak with these newcomers in the Inner Sanctum,” she instructed, gesturing for the group to proceed back through the doors at their back.