[ This world was...strange, and it is not like Kenos has not had plenty of oddities, and Akua was not...unaccustomed to monster races. After all, one of Praes's most famous generals was a dragon, but the proliferation of it was unusual, as she found herself in a brightly lit, unusual world that made her heart instinctively pound in fear over the thought of perceiving the level of technology that she saw here.

How could she not? This was unlike anything she'd seen, and Kenos was more advanced than what she was familiar with, and yet this was... This was...

She had been so focused on... on everything. The lights, the smells, the sounds that the word Sarkaz she heard over and over again led her only belatedly to look in her reflection in one of these... enormous glass panels, that she noticed the crown of horns atop her head. Her fingers came up to touch at them, remembering the last time she had been so adorned had been when she had let her discord purposefully get out of control, before she flooded Dark with it.

Though the next person who said Sarkaz — derogatory now that she understood something of what it meant — found that their clothes were slowly starting to burn from the ankles, and she leaned forward with a sickly sweet smile. ] Oh? I apologize, fire tends to follow my wake, dear.

Would you like help?

[ The person was nodding, frantically. ] I didn't hear you beg.

[ She looked at her nails, before she shook her head, and watched. Someone uh. Might want to intervene. ]

[ Now this place was... fantastic.

Akua always did have a fondness for those who also studied magic, and this castle seems to nearly thrum with it, particularly once she started thumbing through the books and tomes. She wanted to to further of course, but it was only after several hours that she could tear herself away from the stacks, and stacks, and Stacks of books that surrounded her. It's then that she notices literally anyone else in the room, her fingers curled around books and her expression something rare on the Prasei's face. Excitement. ]

Ah, hopefully you were not waiting for me? I have something of a pet project, looking for the similarities of our different forms of magic.

[ A soft laugh. ] I could not help myself.

[ She stood, and brushed off her dress. ]

But I suppose I should start working toward assisting our cause, so I must not be distracted for long. Would you like to assist?

[ I stood before the beating heart of the Dread Empire and felt like an ant.

Like all those who found their home amongst these worlds, Akua found hers, and knew it before she had even opened her eyes. Her hand lifted to her shard, drifted over it, hesitant and a touch sad, because this tower stood, and she wondered if it would find the same fate as her own? This was a point in time of her world, perhaps, one in the past, but she knew these halls as she had known few other locations.

Once, she had dreamed of commanding this. All of it. Now it stood as a reminder to her past, her failure, and what she had done. That did not mean that there was not some measure of fondness as the heels of her frankly exorbitant outfit that unfurled behind her, she looked like a dark queen in these hallowed halls. ]

Do not stare.

[ She says, to whomever is closest, whomever's eyes start drifting upward toward the paintings. Her lips are curled, as she continues: ] And I recommend you cover your ears upstairs. It is not a pleasant trip.

[ She aims to continue, and you can encounter her here in the foyer — she does not seem to be aiming for the door where she can feel a matched shard lays, but instead upward, into some of the further floors. Perhaps you'll have need of her there, or perhaps here, but she does not seem to be as struck by some of the myriad tortures, but then again. These are just meant to scare. All bark, and only bite for the foolish.

Or the uninitiated. ]

[ As always, Wildcards are welcome! Feel free to ping me, hmu, or trundle over to my plotting post if you want something specific! I'm pretty much up for anything, and can always write you a personal starter if nothing speaks to you! ]