Veterans and Virgins : Snowblind Souls

[Traci Thirteen]

Players: Zatanna and Traci 13
Location(s): Respective Homes / Tibet
Plot Summary: Zatanna and Traci team up for some good good lovin! magic crusading and eventually.. discover friendship.

Human Beings are a paradoxical lot. A person, singular is calm contemplative and focused solely on survival. People, plural are panicky, fearful stupid. Put a man into a fearful situation and odds are he's going to try his best to get out of it alive... put people into a fearful situation and by god they're going to die en mass.. unless someone takes charge. Turning the page she smiled and reached down to her drink. It was a beautiful day in the slums... around 80 degrees in the shade... and wonderful jogging weather. She was wearing something petite and black. A Floral black beach bandeau and bikini bottoms. Her black and white chucks near the feet of her chair. The Parks and Recreation department had turned Ramsett Park's main lake into something of a beach attraction and people had come out to show their support. Traci included. It was nice to get some time off from being a charmed one too. Though her phone was resting in her shoes, so to put them on she'd have to check it. Leroy was laying on his back, roasting his underbelly and musing on the bad taste in the air. Traci waved him off and enjoyed her beach time. What could possibly go wrong?

She had a beach chair resting on top of a dune and from there she could see everything happening around her. Families playing, people coming in for dates and romantic encounters. Nothing over the line or even remotely devious about this. Maybe she could relax. Taking another sip from her lemonade she heard feet crunching into sand near her. Glancing over her shoulder she saw some poor bum, dressed in the darkest rags and a look of pure agony etched into his face. A nice gent, slightly over weight but definitely in pain. He glanced down at Traci and took a step back, aghast. The first... of the fallen. Closing her book she placed it down on her chair and stood up, looking over at the man. Easy... you're 'drunk'. Go take a dunk in the beach. She could smell it on him... the gasoline.

He was a man possessed, repeating the phrase over and over before he reached down into his coat and grabbed onto something solid. Traci took a step forward and reached a hand out to the man. Look.. you're having a bad trip. Either you calm down, or I'll be forced to lose one of my chucks in your ribcage. He pulled out a lighter and flicked it open. I am the first of the fallen... He placed the flame onto his shirt and lit himself a blaze. Traci sighed and grabbed a towel from her bag. The fun was over. She spun around him and tackled him, driving him towards the water with the towel as a buffer. She dove into the water, the man in her arms. When she climbed out, dragging his burnt body behind her, he reached up and grabbed her by the neck. Strong grip.. She grabbed his arm and raised her other, mumbling a spell under her breath.

The man pulled her ear close to his mouth and whispered, ... but I shall not be the last. His body fell lifeless, crashing into the wet sand as the other people on the beach murmured and slinked away from Traci, leaving a few burnt strands of hair in her hands. She took a few steps back, hesitating for only a moment until she went back to her bag and packed up. Diving into her bag, she got dressed over her beach gear. She didn't bring anything 'business related'.. who would? Black and white shirt with the word "Zero" Written on the front. Cigarette leg jeans with white fringe and gold buttons/zipper etc, and her converses. Right.. Well let's get to it. Picking Leroy up, she placed him on her shoulder and turned around before blinking away from the beach. She landed in her den and placed the hairs in one of her 'pre-made' scrying circles.

She had expected to be searching for hours, but the feedback hit her like a kryptonian fist to the jaw. Tibet. Whatever that man was fighting, whatever magical essence had control over him.. it was based in tibet. Traci rose from her trance, grabbed her fuzzy coat, some boots and her cell phone before orbing off to the great white wonder... magic field trip, sounded like fun.

[Zatanna]

Zatanna wasn't new to the whole magical biz. She knew more about the mystic community than people thought, and acted as the general "guardian" of those fantastical creatures that couldn't defend themselves. So, logically, when Zee saw a man shuffling numbly toward her from a back alley while she was walking to the nearest coffee shop, she thought: Undead, possessed, or he made the mistake of eating at Earl's Pizzeria. Zatanna knew better than to coax the creep out into the open foot traffic by staying put, so she slipped smoothly out of the throng and into the alleyway.

Several whispered backwards phrases, and the sorceress ensured that no innocents would be able to eavesdrop, or see what was about to happen. Zatanna hated necromanced corpses. Above all other dark magic, that was the grossest, most over-the-line, and not-to-mention odorous practices. Therefor, when Zee noticed no decaying flesh, dead eyes, or the scent of death, she determined that - thank heaven - this man was possessed. Zatanna's mind reeled while the mass of hobbling rags drew nearer and nearer.

Evidently the possessed individual was seeking the Mistress of Magic out, and the reasons for that were endless. Zatanna didn't think any of the more A-list magical criminals (Circe or Faust, for example) would do something so rudimentary against her, but you never knew for sure. Either the mindless man was coming to her explicitly as per their master or mistress's instructions, or he had just found the biggest concentration of magic in the nearby vicinity: Zee, that is. Zatanna raised a hand scornfully, and uttered a standard incantation to banish possessions.

Nothing. In fact, there was a definitive sound of something fizzling out afterwards. The Mistress of Magic's eyes widened in controlled surprise. The possessed man was now almost near enough to touch her, which she really didn't want to happen. Zatanna cast out her hand, and as if a thunderbolt had smote the woman, she vanished in a swirl of white, glowing vapor to appear at the other end of the alley. The possessed man teetered, moaned, and turned toward her like a drunken hound on a scent. "The second is come," the man whimpered in a hoarse cackle of glee.

Zatanna poured power into her words, using them to assert her will over the mind of the poor unfortunate soul that had now fallen, and was crawling toward her like an animal. "Who sent you? Who is your master?" The sheer commanding tone of the demands caused the grimy brick walls on either side of the alley to shiver in attempted compliance. Meanwhile, the man groping on the ground was smiling up at Zee through blackened teeth and a curtain of greasy bangs. "We are the Fallen, and we are your doom."

The princess of prestidigitation was used to grand death threats of the sort enough to not look fearful on the outside. Indeed, Zatanna wasn't genuinely afraid. Her expression creased into a tart scowl, even as her stomach felt like it was being filled with ice water. Zee opened her mouth to strike the man dumb. She could preform more powerful rituals on him to return him to his normal state, and uncover who was behind this. It was just then that the possessed man did something quite unexpected. He produced with frightening speed from the tattered pockets of his trench coat a bejeweled dagger.

"Wha-? No! Pots!" Zatanna's spell worked, but too late. The blade of the knife dug deep into the man's rib cage even as he froze. One last moment, malicious light gleamed in his clouded eyes, then his skin blackened, flaked, and he disintegrated on the spot. Zatanna paused for a moment, struck dumb by the unexpected turn of events. Shock turned to foaming fury at herself, and whoever was behind this for taking an innocent life. She strode forward and crouched at the edge of the pile of ash. Her hand glowed with a mint green light, and Zee waved it experimentally over the substance.

Typical. The poison laced in the dagger was meant not only to terminate the possessed, but to render his remains void of any way of tracing the source. Then Zatanna's brow furrowed. She held out her palm, and as if from its own accord the dagger in question leaped from the ashen pile, and into her grasp. Zee scrutinized the design critically, even as the blade of the weapon turned to mist and dissipated. No matter, the sorceress still had the hilt, and that was good enough for scrying.

Zatanna knew that it was a trap. There was no other explanation. A messenger sent designed to enrage and bait her, leaving evidence that was perfect for scrying? The Mistress of Magic didn't care. Tracking down a crazed enchanter wasn't how Zee wanted to spend her afternoon - that iced caramel coffee sounded so good right then - but she wasn't about to let this go. Zatanna wished herself back to her apartment in San Francisco, and completed a rudimentary scrying technique. Honestly, the sorceress had expected to have to go all-out to trace the magic signature.

The location came readily... Like it was meant to be found. "Tibet, is it?" Zatanna pressed her lips together. Magically transporting herself into a definite trap, in a land that she wasn't particularly familiar, all alone. She could have sent a message to Doctor Fate, or Deadman. Maybe even stopped by Madame Xanadu's for a little bit of psychic wisdom. Zee was used to working alone, though, and she had handled much worse than a no-name possessor. "Oh, well. Tibet it is."

And the Princess of Prestidigitation was gone in another ethereal plume of soft, pale smoke.

[Traci Thirteen]

I'm just asking you to look after him for 8... 9 hours tops... Well because I'm going to Tibet and he's a LIZARD. Cold blooded animals don't do well in freezing climates. You don't even have to feed him, Leroy is 100 times smarter than most people you'll meet, he can handle himself... oh.. oh fine, thank you. Thanks Dad... yeah.. like 10 hours. Alright. She held Leroy in both hands before smiling and blinking him off to her dad's house. She had been in the middle of a blizzard for five minutes before she realized just how woefully unprepared she was at realizing the situation she had gotten herself into. Sure she could whip up a spell to protect her from the elements, but whatever force was taking up residence here... it had out a pretty powerful deterrent field. Pyrite Crystals around the perimiter or just a massive sapper somewhere.. she wasn't feeling too hot on overzealous usage of her skills.

She kept moving through the snow, the strands of hair in her hands swirling in her palm. She was using them to pull her towards the... is that.. is that a... She wiped some frost from her goggles and squinted deep into the snow as one dark figure moved prominently against the tundra. Yeti? She glanced around for a moment before pulling out her cellphone and trying to snap a picture. As soon as her finger graced the camera button, a stinging blaze lashed at her back. Barreling head first into the snow, she rolled into a crouching position and threw her hands up in self defense. More raggedy bastards... a lot more of them. Oh... wow. Hordes of them. Hundreds upon hundreds of dark, wretched souls... shambling towards her, invoking multiple mystic arts and demonic rites as they advanced. Something was horribly wrong here. Each of her senses were overloaded with the sheer sense of wrong that this moment invoked. She rose from her crouched position and clapped her hands together.

If she was going to make it out of here safe and sound, then she was going to have to fight her way through the rest of these savages. 'Fallen...' 'The Fallen...' 'THE FALLEN' They kept chanting it as they approached. Over and over and over.. they marched towards her, the hordes only seeming to grow larger and larger until Traci had run out of breath from casting too many spells in succession. She was backed up against an icy boulder until it washed over all of them. A magical source appeared out of nowhere. Immensely more powerful than Traci had ever managed to attain and whatever had brought it here, had completely called the hordes away from Traci. They no longer had any interest in her... and while she was thankful that she wasn't going to meet her doom at the hands of magic hungry beings.. she felt a bit snubbed in that she was beef jerky to someone elses filet mignon. Clutching the strands of hair, she turned and kept going towards her destination. Whoever had shown up would definitely have the skill to take on these crazies, and with them as bait, Traci could stop the plague. It was a win/win.

Traipsing through the mystic snowfilled hills and valleys, she eventually came to her destination. A temple, whipped and abused by both the sands of time and the harsh winter climate, yet standing immensely strong despite it all. As she approached, she could feel waves and waves of ambient energy just swirling around her. This place was old... the magic that sustained it was even older. As soon as she crossed the threshold from snowy dunes to actual stone pathwways, she realized just how powerful the old magic was. As soon as her foot stepped down on the stone, the snow stopped. The wind no longer howled and screamed and she could no longer feel the cold. In fact, she instantly started sweating. Palm Tree's were abundant, running water fell down from the temple and lapped in pools around the pathways and the sun beat down on her, forcing her to discard her more winter based cloths in favor of the summer attire she had been wearing at the beach. Dumping her gear right on the mystic barrier, she kept moving towards the temple.

Mystic reality altering, crazed human summoning temple in the middle of Tibet. I'm in Shangri-la... I'm in.. I am actually, currently in.. Shangri-La. She glanced around her location and smiled. This was actually.. really boring. No sure, inside the temple there would be some sort of... Who knows what she wanted.. it just wasn't this. She strode forward towards the temple with confidence, until yet again, she was knocked onto her ass from an unseen attack. This time however, as soon as she touched the ground she yelled, Huo! Hi! Two bursts of fire escaped from her palms and collided with the opposing force, revealing just what kind of skullduggery she was getting into. A massive... 10 foot tall, furry yeti... with curled horns on his heads, writhing around in pain and trying to claw her eyes out. Traci ran at the beast and threw both of her palms out, releasing a wave of force which knocked the beast from the temple boundaries into the howling snow, which put him out and knocked him out. She was getting better at this critical thinking thing every day.

Turning the beast over, she dragged him back inside the boundaries wherein she patted him down for any clues, both magical and natural. The only thing she could find on him was a journal. A human, leatherbound journal filled to the brim with excited and copious notes... all written in Italian. Great. Nepalese Yeti who can read and write Italian. Fate just ran out of good adventures weeks ago, didn't she... She pocketed the journal and made her way into the temple. Answers, and possibly a better script, were waiting inside.

[Zatanna]

Zatanna had been more places than she cared to think about over the course of her magical career. From thousands of once-forgotten magical strongholds, or mystical pockets of the earth to hundreds of alternate dimensions, and even backwards and forwards in time on several occasion. It was, therefor, safe to assume that Zee had been in Tibet before. That was why she came prepared. Not in the sense that most would assume, either. Zatanna didn't materialize on the snowy hills in a parka, with fur boots and a muff.

No, on the contrary. Zatanna was wearing her full-on magician outfit complete with fishnets and knee-high, black leather heels. The Mistress of Magic didn't wear a top hat, and left her black tresses to tumble down her back, but she held in one hand a black, white-tipped wand. A cape hung from Zee's shoulders that was black outwardly, but crimson on the inside that whipped in the wind. That cape, and the spells wove into the fabric was all that Zatanna needed to fend against any oppressive climate.

The sorceress paused on the ice-capped crest of a hill that she was on. The wind was blowing hard, and it carried so much snow that Zee could only make out twenty yards before everything was lost to white. Beyond the physical atmosphere, Zatanna's magical senses went immediately on high alert. The source of her scrying spell was near at hand, and it was within a fortress of ancient magic up ahead. Moreover, and nearer at hand, the Mistress of Magic felt possessed spirits in legion, peppered around a bundle of purer energy to Zatanna's right.

The sorceress knew immediately that the spells she layered herself with to prevent being found out were gone. Whipped away by the lashing winds. The possessed army came toward her like moths to a flame. Zatanna widened her stance, and raised the gloved hand not sporting her wand. "Gnigrup semalf, emoc ot em!" A mystic symbol flared in the air above Zee, and ignited with a rich, golden flame that made the cold air sizzle. Shapes came like the swelling of a tsunami out of the white.

Zatanna loosed bolt after bolt of magical energy from her wand tip to take out enemies at mid-range. Meanwhile, any that came too near were consumed by a bolt of flame that extended from the boiling insignia shining above her. Soon enough, Zee thinned the throng enough that she could work a clever little spell. With a flip of her cape, Zatanna's body shattered into a whirlwind of snowflakes that glittered faintly, leaving behind a perfect illusion of her, still standing at the top of the hill.

Soon enough the possessed would crash over Zatanna's double, and pass through it without knowing what had happened. The curtain of glowing snow passed over the crowd, and once it got far enough away, Zee reappeared in a whip of fabric again. She took a moment to make sure that she wasn't being followed, and then trudged on dutifully. Heels in snow? Bad idea. Magical heels in snow? Piece of cake. Zatanna came nearer to her goal with every footfall, and with startling abruptness, a vast ruin emerged from the snow.

Shangri-la.

Zee passed through the frozen waste, and into the baking sanctuary of the temple grounds. For a while, she just basked in the ancient magic that filled the place, and the fresh, warm air. Zatanna had seen countless ruins, but those that now surrounded her were among the most picturesque. Hardly after letting the existence of the temple settle in, Zee's eyes fell on the hairy mass of... Was it really? ... Yes, a Yeti. Zatanna blinked, and walked up alongside the unconscious creature. A short investigation later, and Zee inhaled sharply.

With all of the magic around her, Zatanna hadn't caught onto the brief glow that she'd first felt to her right upon appearing in the snow. Here it was, though. The foreign magic - much more modern, much more derived from civilization than the ancient stock of the temple - had been used to incapacitate the Yeti. Pity, too, Zee thought, I speak Yettish. Maybe I could have got him to help. Yetis were kind to those who meant no harm, they were just notoriously proud.

[Traci Thirteen]

Now the temple was a lot more fun than she could ever expect. It was all still going on in here, lost in a dimension of time in which time had no sway. Tree's were growing still, water was running freely.. there were birds flying around, perching in the palms and eating from the... glowing blue fruit that hung from the plants. She stepped into a large chamber in which the jungle like setting inside the temple was evident. Stone steps and platforms all around, eventually culminating in the back where a dark pathway was lit by a few flames which led deeper into the temple. She had to assume that this place didn't follow the same building conventions that logic employed... It could go on for miles.. planets even. Raising her hand, she muttered an old chant and pulled one of the blue fruit from the trees and into her hand. Practically surging with Magical Energies... it was almost hypnotizing, the way the energy swirled around inside, the way it seemed to hum with a life all it's own. Whatever was growing these had definitely imbibed them with something powerful... it made her want to reach down and take a bite...

A loud moaning from deeper in the temple stopped her from ripping into the fruit. She pocketed the glowing blue bugger and stepped down into the center. The moaning did nothing but grow louder and more frequent, the closer she got to the source. Not to mention... the fruit in her pocket kept glowing brighter and brighter the nearer she got. Not to mention..that mystical presence she sensed earlier had now become more prevalent.. it was nearby.. actually screw nearby, it was in the temple boundaries. The fruit didn't know what to do with itself, it started vibrating and pulsing and growing. She had an idea about these fruits and these trees... and if it was true then she was going to have a bad time the longer she stayed in the temple. She had to make one of those executive decisions that people kept talking about. She could move deeper into the temple, try and outrun the presence behind her, because now she was effectively trapped in a room that siphoned magical energy with her goal in front of her and a massive power behind her.. Fate must've heard that jibe she uttered earlier. She pulled the fruit out of her pocket and bit into it's soft flesh. What happened next... she was woefully unprepared for.

As the nectar of the fruit made it's way down her throat, she felt like her heart was imploding. She fell to her knees and grasped at the air as if it could save her from her fate. She fell down onto her hands and coughed up the fruit as both her eyes and her veins began glowing blue. As painful as the fire in her soul now was, it was an interesting pain. She could feel the energies of the fruit buffing her powers, whatever magic this place had siphoned from her was now returning with gusto. She could feel the magical energies of Shangri-la buffing her own distinct abilities. The melding was violently painful, and it did waste far too much time, but it was well worth it. She was energized again, she felt true power at her hands once more. She also became painfully aware of the being that summoned the energies, the prime rib to her beef jerky... and boy was it an amazing discovery. She rose from her crouched position and turned to look at one of her closest friend's sister. The fishnets were the obvious giveaway, not to mention how similar her magic felt to Zach's now that Traci could actually stop and listen to it.

Wow... I mean.. woow. I don't know if you remember me, or if Zach talks about me at all or... wow. With every word a blue vapor escaped from her mouth and partially from her eyes. She was talking to Zatanna Zatara, The Princess of Prestidigitation and one of the most famous homo magi in current existence. It was safe to say she was fangirling. I guess you're following the same lead that I am eh? Do you... Do you want to go after it together? I already have a pretty good idea as to what's going on... plus I have this... uhh.. this journal. She dug in her pocket and pulled out the journal, stepping towards Zatanna with it aloft, she failed to realize how the fruits and trees began glowing the closer she got to them, she was now in sync with the magic of this place and no matter how odd it was... it felt good to be drawing strength from this place. Urban Magic at it's finest... hope too much of it wasn't bad for her.

[Zatanna]

Zatanna strayed near the entrance to Shangri-la long enough to make sure that the Yeti would be alright. The spells that had incapacitated the bookish creature were just potent enough to knock it out for the duration, and with that realization Zee was content to move forward. The temple grounds looked like paradise out of ancient myth. The sheer number of various birds that milled in the palms, or floated in the glittering pools intrigued Zatanna, and she was fairly certain that a large majority of them were extinct throughout the rest of the world.

The path that the sorceress took twisted through a small courtyard, and met the bottom of a steep stair. Zatanna reached the top and found a wide avenue that went under a long arch of stone. On the other end was the inside of the temple itself - or at least a part of it. Zee guessed that the path to whatever force had possessed so many people would take her through several structures, and out into the open between them. The Mistress of Magic just hoped that the ancient dark conjurer behind this wasn't too far underground. Not your luck, Zatara, she thought.

Zatanna strode through the brief tunnel and came out in a grand chamber composed of stone platforms, stairs, palms, torches and even dark chasms that ran between certain areas of the floor. The opposite end of the room, on a platform level with that of the entrance, was a corridor lined with braziers that carried on. Zee didn't get to inspect the room itself much. Her eyes almost immediately fell on that entity of modern magic that she had sensed. A girl trying to scramble to her feet, even as her veins and eyes shone with blue light.

By the girl's hand was one of the round azure fruits that the palms bore with a sound bite out of it. Zatanna's mouth broke open slightly. She had hardly been aware of the atmosphere of the temple. Now that she saw the fruit, and connected that the girl had eaten it, Zee inspected the atmosphere of Shangri-la more closely. Yep. Just like most ancient, forgotten magical ruins like this, it drew on the mystic energies of those that strayed within it to fuel itself. Zatanna had spells layered around her to prevent such a thing, and her control of her magic was tempered by experience so that rarely could it be sapped.

This girl, on the other hand... Wait... She knew this girl!

"Zach tends not to talk about anyone other than himself," Zatanna said as she pressed on, and began descending the flight of crumbling stone stairs that dropped to where the girl was. The vapor that came from her mouth with each syllable helped Zee to be less worried about her having eaten the fruit. Obviously nothing bad was happening... Maybe the young woman hadn't made a mistake by eating it? Her magic was definitely a different make than Zatanna's own... "But there aren't many new faces in the magical community, so I know who you are."

"And you obviously know who I am," Zee acknowledged, "but how about we start from the beginning?" Zatanna's mind was reeling behind her look of ease, and charismatic handling of the conversation. How had Traci Thirteen found her way to Shangri-la? Could it be that she had had a similar experience with "the Fallen" as Zee had in San Francisco? More importantly, why did Traci come alone? She knew Zatanna's cousin, Zachary Zatara, and beyond that other superheroes. Was she really so sure of herself that she'd come without any backup?

Zatanna's mind flitted briefly to the unconscious Yeti at the entrance of Shangri-la's parameters. Maybe Traci wasn't as helpless as Zee might have believed, but the situation was still fraught with danger. From the looks of it, eating that fruit had helped the girl's magic to settle and attune to the ancient forces of the ruins, but it could have just as easily killed her. Zatanna ignored the fact that she had made just as frivolous gambles when she was younger. "I'm Zatanna Zatara. It's nice to meet you, Traci."

At least Miss Thirteen wasn't the kind of young mystic that she wanted to go it alone and prove herself. Traci quite easily assumed that they were going to combine forces. Zatanna thought about asking her to return to the States. This was too dangerous, even for the Princess of Prestidigitation. If Zatanna were in Traci's situation, though, she knew how she'd want to be treated. So, Zee reached out and took the offered journal. "I guess so, and I could use a little company," her eyes twinkled as she glanced at Traci over the sheafs of parchment.

"This says," Zatanna's brow crinkled as she translated it, "that a dark force has taken root at the heart of the temples. The Yeti that wrote this was driven from his home there by it, and has been living at the edge of Shangri-la until he could find a way to stop it." Zee flipped to the back page and saw several lines of Italian that were composed in a kind of riddle. For now, she'd ignore it, but in the meantime Zatanna pocketed the journal.

[Traci Thirteen]

Now that was just cool. She was known. Known by the Homo Magi Representative. She knew she was here on a mission and she had things to focus on.. but she was allowed to gush if only a little bit. She didn't even seem phased by all of this. No urgency in her voice, no overt sense of confusion. She took it all in stride and kept the wave moving without any alarm... and she couldn't have been much older than Traci. She had 10 years on her max... did 10 years really make such a difference? Oh... The Beginning? Well that was an easy one. I'm not too sure how it happened to be honest. I was in Metropolis, minding my own business with my familiar when one of those 'fallen' characters appeared out of nowhere and tried to do me in. I non-lethal him and when I try to get some info, he turns into dust and leaves me with some hairs to scry with. I go home and look em up.. and like a minute later I'm off to.. here. Where more of those lovely beings are waiting for me.

Oh right... she hadn't even introduced herself. Traci Thirteen, it's an honor. Honor? Oh that one had slipped out.. and she could only hope that it would be promptly ignored. Pulling the fruit out of her pocket again, she twirled it around on her finger. Don't know if this is plot relevant, but these fruits are stealing ambient magical energy.. and the way I figure it, it's stealing energy from everywhere around the temple and feeding it downstairs to whoever keeps... moaning and groaning down there. And whatever's not getting completely absorbed is getting sent into those fallen lot, making an army of.. whatever those ReDead are. She could assume that Zatanna had already met up with hordes of the Gibdos. She had made it here after all.

At the mention of their team up, she smiled and the remaining vapor escaped. Her veins and eyes returned to normal and a shiver went through her body. Oh she was back and better than ezra. Apparently Miss Zatara could read Italian as well. This entire mission just got a hundred percent easier. She turned around and stared down the pathway before them, towards the alleged 'dark force'. Now that I have my senses back, I can sort of see the aura of whatever creature is taking up residence down there, and it's old. I wouldn't say as old as the temple... but she's old, and she's pissed. She? According to whatever senses she was attuning into.. it was definitely a woman. Oh wait... Wait that Yeti was a good guy? Her heart dropped a bit as she felt remorse for knocking him out so casually. Do you know how to say 'Sorry' in Italian?

Whatever the response would've been, she couldn't hear it over the impossibly loud roar that came deep from inside the temple. Traci pressed her palms together and pulled them apart, drawing her magical staff from the pocket dimension her mother had bestowed to her. This was definitely going to go fubar really fast. She began walking towards the back of the temple as the roaring began to die down. She was awake apparently.. ohh and she was pissed. Any.. any ideas as to what we're about to go up against? She might have to text her dad... make him watch Leroy a bit longer.

Deeper in the temple however, merely a few hundred meters from the central chamber, a large bulbous chrysalid covered in melted together bodies of the fallen, rested, slowly pulsing. Then seemingly out of nowhere, a roar emanated from the pile of rotting flesh and dark energy. The bodies began splitting and disintegrating as the chrysalid split open, bursting forth the rising form of a woman. As bare as the moment she was born, hair matted down by the liquefied flesh and blood of her fallen soldiers, arms spread wide as magical energies were pulled from every corner of the temple and swept into her form, filling her with life. As soon as it seemed she were about to burst, she unleashed a sharp gasp and the area around her was blown backwards, a shockwave of pure energy escaping from her. Morgana of the Elder Folk was reborn once again. A new time, a new world, a new body. She finally opened her eyes and smiled as she became informed of the area around her, and her two magical visitors.

Joy. The Magician and The Sun. Come to visit their High Priestess. She strode from the room, summoning a scarlet cloak to wear over her bare form as she made way towards a room suitable to serve as her chambers.