The Hollow Mountain (Amarius' end Part I)

Amarius stood in the halls of an ancient castle built inside a mountain in western Europe. The old dusty halls extended deep into the mountain. This was once a place of powerful magic, before it was long forgotten by the mages and druids who called it home. Even in his time, this place had been a myth, and so had the secrets  it held. He had always believed it to be real, and that was why he'd spent so much time in the mountains. Alexai, Hanna and her perfect humans, the sinners, all had been side projects leading up to this point.

All this time he'd been looking for the Hollow mountain known as the Stone, where a sword had been sealed. Oh, he could appreciate how similar the idea had been to the prophecy of king Arthur, but the sword kept her was no mere piece of steel. The sword kept in this stone was Callandor, and it would be his. However he lacked the means to get through the seals, one could only be undone by a mage who did not possess dark magic, and the other could only be bypassed by a person who possessed spiritual powers.

Bella was his way past that safeguard, but he needed a decently powerful mage here too. He had a few Ideas how to get what he needed, possibly by causing a bloodbath to draw someone out but.

-one day later-

Amarius watched her from a distance. Strong, dangerous, bloodthirsty. Annabell. They'd met before. Or a version of himself atleast. She was freinds with Yuri, making her a dangerous target, but he didn't intend on killing her. He was going to hire her, or borrow her if she refused.

Amarius made his move, appearing beside her with a smile. "Hello Again, Annabell." He said. "Your remember me, right? Well I have an offer for you, one i'd prefere you didn't refuse. I'm willing to offer you a ludicrous amount of money to help me with something, if your willing. Even better there will probably be allot of blood involved. You like that kind of thing, right?"

Annabell was eating ice cream when Amarius appeared beside her. Her eyes lit up and waved, but otherwise did nothing but listen. When the dark mage was done, she spoke up. "You bet I love blood. And I am a merc currently not on contract. But even I have some, albeit very few, limits. Civilians aren't involved, are they? Gotta give me a few more details than that. Otherwise I am very interested. The Coalition can't do too much to me...mercs gotta eat after all, and I ain't picky."

If all it had to do was a mountain and its traps, then Annabell would certainly agree.

~1 day later~

Annabell looked at the castle built into the mountain and looked at the entrance...where there was a...female and younger version of Yuri? With a ghost of the original Alexei behind her. "Finally found it huh? I could have saved you a lot of time if you had just asked. Callandor is pretty overrated though. Has some nice tricks, but otherwise isn't special. But whatever floats your boat. Is it cool if I just chill and observe you getting it?"

The battle mage looked at Amarius with an eyebrow raised. She didn't care much for antique weapons or magic weapons in general. But then again, this was Amarius, who knew what this Callandor can do. Alexei seemed to not be too impressed with it, whatever it was. But he apparently knew enough about it...somehow.

(ooc: sorry not sorry, they're not gonna be an integral part in it at all.)

"Excellent. Come along then. How about we get some dinner and talk. I know a lovely restaurant on the other side of town where we can talk."

1 day later.

Amarius sensed the presense of the dark mage long before they crested the rise and seen them by eye. Alexai spoke. [color:fadb= black]"Alexai. Your looking ghostly. Does that mean I can borrow your body in the future? Yuri ruined my last good zombie." He said. "Well, Its not about the destination its about the Journey. I had allot of fun looking for this place." He replied with a laugh. "Thats exactly what I expected to hear from somebody who doesn't understand the potential of Callandor. "

Amarius smiled. "Anyway its not about the sword. But I don't wan't to ruin the surprise. Now, Annabell I need you to go and fetch my little girl. She's currently in Cairo. Your going to have to take her by force, and make a mess. I want to get the coalition's attention. Don't kill her though. Anyone else is fair game."

Alexei chuckled. "I'm afraid the Espada King and the Captain Commander of the Gotei 13 made sure there wasn't much left. Otherwise that would be a very entertaining prospect. And I guess we'll see just how much I do or don't understand. Cute that you think that though."

Annabell was tuning out at this point. Until her name was called. Grinning, she left without a word. She was sure this was gonna piss off Kai to no end...and that was always fun to do.

~1 day later~

The close range mage jumped off the plane, sending straight down onto the Cairo headquarters for the Coalition. Raising a magical sphere around her, she was a cannonball. The lady crushed a guard on the roof before landing on the first floor. From there, she just started swinging and dodging and fighting, killing and maiming as many soldiers as possible until Bella showed up. "Ah! There you are! Amarius has me on contract to get you. You can come peacefully, or I can knock your ass out and take you to him by force...your choice." Cracking her knuckles and neck, she waited for the other's reply. She said that on purpose...as everything within the walls were recorded. They'd know why she was attacking them and who sent her. Just saying the dark mage's name would warrant their extreme interest...