The Emperors Crown

[FallenFeather]

"But, but. I don't have any money any more. I can't even get into my house because I lost my keys! How am I supposed to get home if I can't get in!?" Rue took a deep breath and looked away from him. "I'm sorry... I'm just a little panicked right now. I don't know what to think."

[skyline339]

Suppressing the strange voice in his head, he smiles at her. "Here let me help you then, come with me."

Placing his leather jacket around her shoulders. "Come back with me to the museum maybe we can find your belongings together."

[FallenFeather]

Rue looked back up at him in surprise, pulling his jacket closer. "You really think it'll still be there? I would have looked, but I got bustled out by the crowd. I was afraid of being crushed. You don't think someone would have stolen it do you?" She looked up at him with hopeful eyes, believing that she will be able to find her belongings easily.

[skyline339]

"Well really there is only one way to find out." He said happily as he held out his hand. This is the right thing to do but deep down he wants to take the crown back to his own house to begin his research. The little gadgets in his pockets began wiring and vibrating. Magic was beginning to appear in the world once again.

[FallenFeather]

Rue blushed and took the offered hand. She looked away as he led her back to the museum. "Do... do you believe it was the crown that caused that?" she asked quietly.

[skyline339]

Finally as they had arrived back at the museum, he looked around at the wreckage. "I don't know what to believe, if it was the crown or if it was just by chance. The part which confuses me the most, is no other building on the street has obtained any damage, except by falling rubble." He said look all around.

Walking over towards the entrance way, and slowly and carefully walking inside, he began looking around. The law enforcement has come by yet, which seems peculiar, he noted to himself. "Well where did you fall, that's a good place to start looking."

[FallenFeather]

Rue wandered in, looking around. Rubble littered the floor, but it was otherwise empty. No one was around, which was weird considering the museum didn't only have the crown on display. She followed him to the room. Where was security? All these other relics and antiques were unguarded. "I... right by the case is where I got stuck under someone. Maybe it's under some rocks?"

[Hunter Phoenix]

Name: Hunter Phoenix
Age: 32

Hunter had stood on a ledge the whole time, watching the spectacle of the crown being moved, the accident and the mysterious woman that had acted all distressed. He had to keep a close eye on these three individuals, he had been sent to keep a close eye on the crown and to make sure it reached its destination and he would do everything within his power to make sure it stayed the course it was meant to travel.

Jumping down off of the ledge, he dropped many feet and landed on the pavement, falling into a roll and stood up, acting like nothing had happened, he walked casually over to the museum so that he could keep an eye on the people and the crown as well, something was happening, it was something he hadn't anticipated, so he was curious and weary.

[skyline339]

Alane slowly bent over, pushing different chunks of rubble aside. He scanned around the room, odd, he noted. "It seemed as though some of the artifacts had changed since this morning, many of the paintings displayed a single man dressed as an emperor. Standing back up to his full height, pulls out the crown. Looking at it, and seeing his reflection in the jewels encrusted within, he entered almost a trance. The crown began to vibrate within his hands, as the jewels began to light up. In shock, Alane opens up his hands and lets the crown fall.

In what seems to be almost slow motion, the crown falls towards the ground. The moment the crown was about to touch the ground, everything around the two of them froze. The old clocks in the room that were ticking proudly fell instantly silent, as the hands quit moving. A weird eerie feeling washed over him, but only for a moment, as he stared at the crown. The desire to take the crown, to touch it, hold it, wear it, began to over take himself. His body was screaming at him, "STOP, DON'T TOUCH IT" But all he could do was reach forwards. His hand neared the crown, as the lights emitted from the jewels began to crown. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the women he was with. His brain noted that nothing happened to her ether. But just as the thoughts came, they had left, all he could think about was the crown. His hand neared it, getting ready to grasp it.....

[FallenFeather]

Rue started sifting through the rubble, looking for her seemingly lost belongings. Of course she hadn't lost anything, it was just a ploy to get the man alone and away from public eye. Rue always kept her things either strapped around her, or hidden in secret spots around the city. She owned many apartments and other sorts of buildings around the town, none in the same name of course. They were all for her to hide in if things got hot.

But all of a sudden, time seemed to stand still. There seemed to be no sound, as if someone had put things on mute. Even the hands on the clock seemed to not move. Something was wrong. Rue looked around the museum, searching for Wickerbot. And she found him, staring at the crown on the ground. It was almost as if he was arguing with himself. Slowly, almost as if in slow motion, he started to reach for the crown. Rue's eyes widened as she noticed her opportunity. Grabbing her skirts in one hand, the woman rushed to the ground, scooping it up with her gloved hand. Before the man realized it was gone, she had pocketed it in her skirts. All of a sudden, Rue seemed dizzy and felt a massive headache coming along. It seemed like everything was overly bright, like someone had turned the sun on max.

[Hunter Phoenix]

When the woman had whisked up the crown in her skirts, he struck.

Running from the place he had been hidden, he took the chance to take a container out of his pocket and unfold it while the woman was disorientated, kicking the crown out of the skirts he scooped it up into the container and closed the lid. Then he made to leave before anyone knew what was happening.

[FallenFeather]

The second the crown was out of her possession, the cloudiness disappeared. She felt the weight leave her pockets. Rue glanced around the otherwise empty museum and spotted him. Grabbing his arm, she spun him around. "I beg your pardon, but that does not belong to you! I'll have you return it right this instance," she demanded of the stranger. Whether she was pretending to return it to Wickerbot or not was up in the air however. Rue kept the stranger's arm in a death grip, refusing to let him go, fingernails digging into his skin.

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter was stopped by a sharp grip on his arm and nails bit into his arm, he didn't struggle, instead he turned to see who it was and was surprised to see that it was the woman that had held the crown moments before.

"Actually my dear, I am a guardian of the crown, I make sure it stays on its correct path back to its true owner, you have no business with it what so ever, now if you'll excuse me, I have a plan to follow"

He span his arm around until she let go and then he headed towards the exit again, not seeing the need to get violent with anyone.

[FallenFeather]

Rue grabbed his arm again as he continued to walk out. "Forgive me if I don't believe you, but I don't believe you. Who gives you the right to claim guardianship?"

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter sighed, released himself from her grip again and took his left arm out of his jacket sleeve, pulling up his shirt sleeve with the hand that had the contained crown in it, he revealed the mark of Minos, the ancient sorceror who had owned the crown and would one day return to claim it.

"Believe it or not, I'm the real deal, I won't get physical unless I have too, so I suggest you get yourself a new target thief, stop going after this..."

He shook the crown in her face

"...and maybe you will live to see the return of the great Minos, a man so powerful, you wouldn't last more than a millisecond against anything he throws at this world"

Hunter then shoved his arm back into its sleeve and turned, feeling thoroughly annoyed. He turned back and looked at the professor.

"By the way Professor Wickerbot, thank you for starting the journey for the crown, if you're lucky, you may get to see its full power soon"

With that he turned and headed towards the exit, hoping the thief had gotten the message.

[skyline339]

Coming back to his senses Alane, looks onward and sees the new person. "You know of the emperor, Minos. The emperor who is said to have not even existed."

It wasn't until he managed to find the crown, that people actually started to believe he was crazy. Alane was so convinced that this emperor had once existed even for a short reign. But trying to find any proof, that was the challenge. It was almost as if every document, statue and monument of the emperor had been completely destroyed. The reason he was really so interested in this story, was that in the old history, there was a very strange gap. A 10 year period where it was like their civilization went completely blank. Many of the neighboring countries mentioned strange things about a weird and powerful emperor.

Seeing the man take away the only thing he had been able to track down, infuriated him. Quickly walking over and grabbing him now. "That crown is mine. I wont let you or anyone else take that from me. It is a valuable piece of history from a time, which many believe did not even happen." He said grabbing onto the man hard.

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter tried to shake the man off but couldn't manage it.

"Fine then, you want this crown, you want to see it in action, you come with me, your little friend can as well if she so wishes, but the thief, if she comes along, she has to stay well away from me and the crown, got it?"

He was not in the mood to be tested and would soon resort to violence if he was pushed too far.

"Now will you let go already, I am not in the mood to be man handled"