General

A Conversation Between the Black Mage and his Advisor

A giant castle that remains untouched by any wandering adventurer lies shrouded in the darkness. A plump, wary individual approaches its gloomy front gates to meet two guardians clad in hooded black robes. The visitor distinguishes hisself by displaying a violet jewel that hung from his neck. The guardians nodded and allowed him to enter.

The strange man weaved his way to the front door. The giant barrier adhered to his presence indicating that he was without a doubt welcome to come inside. Thunderous footsteps of a creature that wore eerie glowing eyes lunged towards the man no longer than ten seconds as he entered. The creature that was nearly twice the visitor's size stared him down, but the man did not show one ounce of fear. On the contrary, he embraced the round monster with enthusiasm. The creature returned the hug while lifting the shorty off of the ground.

"Pinky!" The equally round man exclaimed. "Why you're looking healthier than ever, I see! Is your master in by any chance?"

Space distorted behind the duo in response to the man's question. An incredible oval displayed a giant room, where a tall, grim figure sat on a throne, eyeing everyone down. The figure motioned his finger in a way that invited the man to enter the portal that was created. The pink pet put the man down and rushed through the portal ahead of him. The visitor decided to dust himself off before following.
The man took immediate residence in a small chair next to the pink creature who lied beside him. The large circular area beneath them slowly rose up to the summoner's level.

"I am here equipped with my world report, oh Mighty Mage of Darkness," the visitor started.

"There is a mild concern I would like to discuss with you, my trustworthy advisor," the Black Mage replied. "But I will hear your report first."

The advisor displayed an exaggerated cheesy grin before pulling out paperwork from his small tuxedo. He cleared his throat and began.

"The modifications to our Dimensional Mirror system (Powered by Pinky) was met with a well-received response from the masses. As a result, the amount of third and fourth stage inviduals have increased significantly. In addition, the Grand Opening of the new [i]Monster Park[/i] attraction was met with an alarming traffic rate. Why if I did not instruct May to limit the ticket distrubution, I would have had some difficult times ahead."

The terrifying eyes of the Black Mage squinted before he replied, "Yes... about that Monster Park... the other day, I sent one of my lackeys to observe that idea of your's. That lackey has stumbled upon an item that warrants a mild concern.."

A cloud of dust shrouded the advisor's lap, eventually generating a paper envelope. The recipient broke a sweat as if he knew its contents before opening it.

"T-This..." the shaken man stammered.

"You always had a habit of pulling stunts," the Black Mage continued. "But what can you accomplish with this?"

"Oh Mighty Mage, I swear this was not my doing!" The advisor shouted in his defense. "I had no intention of showing those pictures to the public, let alone duplicate them! The original copy was stolen from right under my nose!"

"...Do you at least have a suspect?"

The advisor removed his odd top hat in hopes to counter the heat that he generated. He frowned in response to the question.

"I am nearly certain that I am aware of the culprit... You see, in the later stages of the old Monster Carnival, I began to notice that an unfamiliar breed of adventurers began to run the show. I stopped one of them to congratulate his sound victory, and his response was: [i]"Oh my God, Dual Blades are so awesome!"[/i] I investigated the situation further only to discover that an outcast rogue by the name of [b]Lady Syl[/b] was the mastermind. After some minor difficulties I started seeing this person, hoping to find a weakness and I thought I was successful. She holds a grudge against an old friend of her's, who happens to be Kerning City's current Dark Lord. The last time I chatted with her, it was a lengthy discussion at my place. The goal I had in mind was to strongly convince her that she should exact revenge on the Dark Lord for the unforgivable deeds that she accused him for. By the time we were done, I was almost sure that my influence was going to produce some interesting results... Hours later, I noticed that my treasured photos were gone..."

The Black Mage gave a subtle hum before responding "To shorten the story, your own carelessness has caused your plans to backfire..."

"Yes," the advisor replied dejectedly while the Pink creature nudged his legs with equally sad eyes. "I'm certain that Syl sensed deception upon seeing them and scattered copies all over Monster Park in attempts to blow my cover. I begged for the adventurers to return those envelopes without opening them, but of course there were several hardheaded noobs who would not obey little old me!"

"...Noobs?" the Black Mage questioned while tilting his head.

"Ah, that's common adventurer lingo, oh Mighty Mage! It is a term to address a stupid individual. You have to pick up current trends and terms in order to communicate with those kids or nothing will ever get through to them."

"Putting that aside," said the Black Mage. "It is safe to assume that among all the... noobs... a select few will begin to catch on to the master plan. I may soon decide to dispatch Akyrum in hopes to even things out."

The advisor's eyes widened. "Do you really want to send out one of your top dogs over something like this? If I'm not mistaken, Akyrum operates best by your side!"

"The notion requires more thought, I admit. That is where you come in. Keep the world reports coming consistently and accurately. I only intend on making intelligent decisions so more information will be needed for the days ahead."

The unnatural grin returned to the advisor before he responded, "I will not let you down again."
[/endboredom]