"He was murdered son....Buy Tywin. He stormed in with the rest of his kids and they gassed the whole castle...." Rorek stood still when he heard that his friend and mentor was dead, and it seemed he went into shock. Sera was silent as well. She didn't really knew Alex, but from the short time she spent with him she viewed him as an uncle. Mira walked up and hugged her son from behind, trying to comfort him.

"He's...he's gone..." Anne spoke into Zane's shoulder. "I'm going to find him Zane. I'm going to find him and I'm going to...I'm going to..." she couldn't even finish. The crying continued as she wept into Zane's shoulder still.

He rubbed her back, and his tattoo flashed dark from under his sleeve. "Try and calm down Anne, going after him now would be a mistake. Believe me when I say that I want nothing more then to kill this bastard."

"I...I know. I know." She said. She finally took her head out of his shoulder and wiped her eyes with her arm. Her makeup was all a mess now. Everyone was still in their party attire. Then, the red armoured samurai walked over to the group. He looked around and saw everyone there. "You're....you're back!!!" He let out. [spoiler]for Cthulu![/spoiler]

Lyn stood up and her dress formed into her normal battle attire as she tied her hair back into a ponytail. "Anne, we'll avenge him. Just wait. Like Zane said, rushing in is a terrible idea unless we're trying to get ourselves killed."

"R-right. Thanks, Lyn." Anne thanked her. She tried to smile, but it was weak at best. "Pardon me for intruding." Tesuto butted in. "But...you're all back?! How did this happen?" The samurai asked. He seemed very surprised to see the group.

Royal rose up to his feet, being the first to acknowledge the Samurai as his green eyes looked over at the gatekeeper. "Yes. We're back. How long were we gone?" Royal said, bluntly almost, cutting right to the chase

"Sensei Royal..." Tesuto began. "You...you have all been missing for a month." He said. [spoiler]for orn[/spoiler]

"...A-A month...?" Arianna stammered out, staring in disbelief at Tesuto. Isaac leaned against her, breathing heavily as flashbacks ran through his mind. At the time of the encounter with the Coldbournes, he was calculating and relying on trickery. Now, he was...almost scared.

Hak looked at them. "A month? Geez, I'm losing valuable time." Haknir got up and looked around, then looked at everyone and spoke, "well I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting this settled as soon as possible." He walked over to one of Sandello's men standing by the gate and told him to grab his gear for him. He wouldn't wait much longer, especially after being gassed and watching someone die. He didn't know the Coldbournes too well, but he had a newfound hatred for them.

Ite looks upwards from his prone position on the floor. "Dude, what weird dream. What the hell even was that?" Ite looked about, and seeing the tears stream from those around him. "Oh. So Alex is... and Zane doesn't have..." He bolts upwards and goes to look for some lab equipment.

"Yes. They had a good plan, that is for sure." Tesuto said as he looked at Hak and Ite's leave. "I suppose those two will go and do their own thing. We'll call them over once I take you all to see [i]Sensei Falk.[/i]" Tesuto said as he turned around and walked towards the complex. The group followed him, but hold on a moment. Did he say "Sensei Falk?"

"More time bullshit huh, thought we were don't with this mess.... Mira, take the kids back to the house." "Dad, you can't be serious...." Sera said "Don't argue with me, you'll have your time to fight later." His kids sighed in annoyance but knew better then to go against him, and so they left with Mira. Zane sighed as he followed Tesuto, and he flashed briefly as he changed back into his normal attire. "Sensei Falk huh....thought he was busy ruling his kingdom."

"Who's Sensei Falk?" Lyn had began to follow closely behind Tesuto.

"My father." Anne clarified. "He was a sensei here for many months. Things got err...complicated. To say the least. He stopped. But...now I suppose he's back on? He hasn't had to manage the Twilit people for some time now. Mainly just the average social call." Anne spoke dryly. It must have been due to her recent outburst. That being said she was holding on at the moment. "Ah. Yes. Well, with the Coldbourne empire taking over nearly sixty percent of Tatakai's military power as well as nearing thirty five percent of its land, he decided if was time for him to come back on as a sensei. With Sensei Zane as well as sensei royal gone, it seemed logical." Tesuto said. "Sixty percent?!" The group entered into the courtyard of the dojo and took a left turn towards the Starbucks area. "Yes. They've been able to buy most of that military power as well. They've enslaved entire cities and have free labour, that has reduced their spending significantly. But Sensei Falk can tell you the rest when we get to him." The group entered courtyard A1, where it seemed to have had some work done. There was a large table in the centre of the plaza, and it had a massive map of Tatakai laid out on it. There were a few people that walked around doing some business or another, such as Cannon. There was also Falk, his light blue skin, black hair and all looked up from the table to see the group that had entered. "Holy crap." He let out as he ran from the table. Anne, also ran to him. "D-dad!" She said as she hugged her father, and he held her in his arms. She began to sob again, but she had already let out so much that there were no tears. "There, there." Falk whispered to her. He tried to calm her down. He rubbed her hair and continued to comfort her. "Tywin...He..." "I know honey...I know. Don't relive it, alright? Don't relive that moment. You can't let it drag you down no matter what." Falk said to her. She stepped back a small step, and looked up at her father who smiled at her. "I'm...so glad your home, Anne. You have no idea." Falk said to her. "Ya. About that...it's been a month?" "Ya! It has! We really should be talking about that right now." Falk said as he brought his daughter over to the table. He looked at the rest of the group. "So? How did you all do it? How'd you escape? I've had men looking for you for the last month!" He exclaimed. He assumed that the group had been captured and they had escaped some how.

"Falk, its...well, certainly a pleasure to meet you once more, although the circumstances are...terrible." While Isaac was relieving the terrible night that only felt like hours ago, Arianna had taken control of the conversation, as she spoke to Falk with such a dignified, calm tone. She sighed, before attempting to explain. "After Alex...Y'know...the Coldbournes revealed themselves. Their father, Tywinn...he tried rallying some of us. Isaac had the idea to try and trick them into accepting him, and...well, it didn't work at all. Afterwards, we were blinded by light, and...we ended up at the Dojo. I don't know what happened at all, but...it felt like seconds, not a month.."

"White light...?" Falk asked her skeptically. "That seems...strange to say the least. I don't know of a spell that could throw you a month into the future. What do you think, Roy?" Falk asked the Sensei. [spoiler]For Roy[/spoiler]

"Hm?" Royal mumbled something as he snapped back to reality and looked at Falk. "Time magic is the clear explanation... ' He commented, before drifting off and mumbling

"Ya. Well, this is definitely a problem then. We have no idea what this damn family is capable of..." Falk said as he turned to the table. "C'mon everyone, gather around the table. We need to talk about what's happened this month."

[u]Standing up from his silence, Bjorn steps out towards the table. Looking towards Falk, his grin expression reflects the seriousness of the issue.[/u] "[i]I myself am relatively new to the Dojo due to my search for my father, but from what I have seen... this is not a threat to be taken lightly. These people made it impossible to move in my armor, and that does not bode well with me. I feel as if we should do as much research as we can on these "Coldbornes", and do our best to avenge our fallen ally and friend, Alex. He knew my father, and that is enough for me.[/i]"

"There's no time to waste then." Falk said as he pointed at the map. "So, over the last month the infinite corporation was turned into what is now called the "Coldbourne Empire." Its main leaders are of course, the Coldbourne family members. That makes Felix, Diana, Faolin, Cain, Lilly and Tywin at the head. Since their takeover, they not only gained the companies wealth through Alex's death, which Diana somehow worked out." "I couldn't possibly see how she could manage doing that...." Anne put sarcastically. "Ya. The court case lasted a day before each member of the family was a multi-millionaire. So, with that money they began to spend it. A large portion of the infinite corporation tried to abandon the empire, but those who tried were killed. Not only that, but it seems that about thirty percent of the army has tracking chips that explode if someone isn't following orders. More on that later. Now, each family member is in a different part of the world right now, and I've been able to find each of them. Making a move was a different situation entirely though. Many are heavily guarded and are in populated areas, which makes the possibility of civilian casualties too high." "So where are they?" Anne asked. Falk pointed down on the map and trailed his finger between destinations. "Well," he began. "Felix has conquered the Celtic isles. The soldiers that didn't join the empire, were left on the isles. We haven't had any contact with the isles since." He moved his finger off the isles and towards the south west portion of the map. "In the Kakusa grove, Diana could be pulling some strings here. She is establishing a connection with the Tokage clan, a group of majora worshippers. They are also known for their skilled infiltration and stealth skills. Which could be a leading factor in the increase of disappearances all over Tatakai. They are like a secret police of the empire, basically, so everyone is afraid to speak out against the C.E." Falk then moved his finger to the Shi-Canyon in the south east. "This is where the Coldbournes largest operation is found. Faolin invaded the Shi Canyon and took the capital of York Town. He's enslaved the entire damn population and the empire is using them as a workforce to build up their army as well as their finances. There is a small rebellion there from what we hear of, and we've been trying to get in contact with them. To no avail, unfortunately." Falk moved his finger back to the mid west, the Tatakoi plains. "Then, we have Cain." Falk said. "Ya. He protected Isaac back at the castle. He seemed hesitant." Anne said. "Really? Tell that to his astronomical body count. Felix and Faolin took armies where they were going, Cain took the Tatakoi plains single handedly." Falk explained. He didn't seem to like any of these family members, that much was clear. "Then, Lilly. She's rumoured to be kept up in the Ko-Rudo mountains, in a place called North Peak. Rumour has it she took the small city herself with a detachment of able bodied warriors... And not a single person was killed." Falk moved his to the middle of the Ko-Rudo mountains and pointed it at a castle. "Then, castle Coldbourne. Where the king himself stays."

"So five places to go, with five of us. Have you already decided where each of us is going?"

"Well. That's up to you all." Falk said to them. Then he looked to Zane. "Good intuition, by the way." "Now. I will agree that only a small amount of you can make your way to each location. The Coldbournes know us, and if too many of us show up in one location they could attack or even KILL you. They've already tried to take the dojo, but we held them back. They've been throwing grunts at us for the last month in an attempt to whittle us down. If too many of us are out there, there won't be enough people here to defend. So while some of you are out and about, the rest will stay here and help with the defences." "But why don't we call for outside help? Many of us here have connections, dad!" Anne asked. "And that's another reason we have been so screwed. The Coldbournes have access to a massively large magic weapon that can turn the stratosphere into a blizzard. No one can make their way through or land, which means no outside help. We're on our own."