Weapon of Choice: A pair of gray and muddy brown gauntlets with absurdly long claws, and similarly-designed greaves with a spiked heel as though ripped from a beast, that reach over halfway up her forearms and shins. With the gloves on, she can dematerialize and reform their claws at will.

Element: Air

Spells

Flight | Unlike psychics and birds, Shion doesn't levitate or flap her wings. Instead, she propels herself with bursts of air, granting her high mobility.

Chill Armor | Shion's main form of protection is a nearly invisible protective shell made of constant air flow that covers her limbs and vitals like a cushion. In addition to giving her her only reliable defensive ability, each strike releases an outward burst.

Aegis | Expanding her armor to encompass a short-range area of effect, it can be described as an immovable object. A repellant to all, even the air inside is highly limited, so Shion can only keep it up for a brief time.

sʏʟᴘʜ | A spell that grants a variety of passive traits, changing her ability to fight as well as who seems to be in control of her body. Shion drops her protective shell, becoming significantly lighter and faster—making it look as though she can defy gravity without any assistance—and can use the most subtle movements in the air to move as naturally as if she were born with it.

Appearance

Standing at 5'7, Shion sports wide, steely green eyes, framed by shaggy copper hair that reaches her hips. She can brush it straight and cut it down to size, but locks of hair are always sticking out, like a fire flowing the wrong way. This is offset by her otherwise modest faint pink cheeks and small lips. Adding to a well-toned figure from years of physical training, her skin is only barely tanned, thanks in part to liberal use of sunscreen. Unfortunately, though, it's quite difficult for her to lie on her stomach, considering most of her training is invested in her legs.

Under the effects of Sylph, the outer half of her hair lightens, becoming an almost pinkish white in stark contrast to its original darker shades. At the same time, the lower half of her irises turn a glittering lavender. During Sylph's activity a tattoo appears on Shion's back in the shape of two pairs of wings, slowly fading after Sylph wears off.

Personality

Shion's personality is nothing if not abrasive. She has a matter-of-fact way of speaking, and doesn't much care that others may not take it well. Otherwise she's quite friendly, and even helpful should she find her skills filling the need. She does her best not to show it, but Shion also obsesses over cute things, a trait she shares with her sister. She has trouble expressing her emotions in earnest, and a long-standing sibling rivalry has given her a drive to take any and every chance she has to improve. Taught kickboxing from a young age, Shion very much likes when violence can solve a problem, and often punctuates her compliments with taunts or backhanded insults.

While Shion can return to normal just as easily as she initiates the spell, she takes an apparent 180 whenever she uses Sylph. Sylph is liberation personified, and her strikes are few and decisive. With a whimsical smile, childish desires and an uncanny ability to read into the eyes of just about anyone, Sylph is a dangerous and sadistic presence who plays with people's hearts as easily as she plays with her food. Despite the change in tone, Sylph retains Shion's penchant for solving her problems with violence, and doesn't enjoy things getting in her way. And for some reason, Sylph doesn't like being called Shion.

History

Shion was born to Jonathan and Amber Kavanagh; one an explosive fire mage from Oregon, the other a practiced aeromancer out of Britain, and close allies in their time on the Isles. Shion had an older sister, as well, Diana—one gaining their father's magic, and the other their mom's. Growing up together in their father's hometown, the sisters were constantly competing with each other—who could eat the most; run the fastest; make a bigger explosion. Normal sibling stuff.

Although proficient with their magic, they were only taught by their parents and extended family, given the chance to blend in with the rest of humanity when they were still kids. When the two came of age to learn how to control their magic and protect themselves, they took after Jon's idea of "protection", both wholeheartedly taking up kickboxing while they learned to use their magic.

After Diana left for Vale, Shion was left to her lonesome at home for three years. She took up quite a few regular activities to keep herself occupied, taking a serious liking to fighting games and putting her physical prowess to use in track and field. Mages' blood running through her, Shion naturally skyrocketed to being one of the top students in her school, and only hoped to keep getting better.

Still, Shion managed to practice with her magic as much as ever, often visiting her cousin, Soren, to work with him as well. With his and Amber's help, Shion unlearned much of her father's love for violence, taking her cousin's protective Aegis spell for herself. Soren also taught her what he'd learned in how to focus and accurately direct her magic. It was around this time she had inexplicably been possessed by a massive increase in power. For a brief moment four gigantic, sparkling white wings manifested behind her, and much of her form had changed drastically. This changed person introduced herself as Sylph only shortly before relinquishing Shion's unconscious body. She has since learned to call upon just a part of this possession on demand, and though the side effects are both increasing and unavoidable she remains conscious throughout Sylph's activity.

In the year before she left for Vale, Shion inherited her father's ether gear, had them reforged to fit by a popular ethersmith in South Carolina with a passion for his craft, and was taught how to store them without losing their form upon reconstruction. She was eager to put the power she'd only been able to use in the privacy of her home to use when she received an invitation to the school.

Weapon of Choice: Lily wields a pair of shortswords, straight blades two and a half feet long with the ends cut flat, rather than curved inward, and lacking crossguards. Lauren carries a glaive, the shaft five feet and the blade two more.

Elements: Darkness ☆ Water/Ice

Spells ★ Lauren

Sovereign | Lauren has a unique ability to exert some level of control over every known element, and after a delay can understand and replicate the spells used by other mages at reduced effectiveness. Although he can do so quite easily, he's partial to using his old water- and ice-based spells the most.

Oracle's Eye | Through his right eye, Lauren can clearly visualize the flow of magic and ether, and see the vulnerable cracks in an etherspawn's material shell. With Sovereign, he can share his vision with nearby mages. As a side effect, the right eye of everyone affected gains a glowing gold ring around the iris.

Wormhole | Leaving cloudy black marks of his magic on a flat surface, contact allows nearly instantaneous travel to any other active marks or even directly through the connected structure. Others are able to use these portals freely until their disappearance. He can sustain similar marks without needing to leave them on a surface, allowing him to personally return to them no matter their location on a whim.

Shroud | A spell that spreads a thick black substance, eliminating all of the light and sound in the area like a smokescreen and indiscriminately blinding everything caught inside. His Oracle's Eye can negate the negative effects, giving Lauren and his allies an avenue to navigate and fight in the fog.

Spells ☆ Lily

Shatter | Linking her shortswords, ice expands around the blades until they reach the size of a kite shield. Striking the shield will break it and release crystals in a wide area, rapidly freezing whatever they touch.

Blade Flux | Manifesting blades of water on the outer edge of her swords, they extend her melee range and leave water in the wounds they inflict. The water can be flash frozen from a distance and the ice expanded for heavy damage to the body.

Cascade | Lily fires off a jet of water in any direction, soaking the first thing in its path and shoving it back with excessive force. It doesn't deal much damage on its own, but if she connects with one of her shortswords afterwards, she can freeze and detonate all of it.

Frost Step | In addition to walking on water, Lily can freeze anything under her feet, enabling her to walk and skate on anything.

Appearance

Lauren and Lily share a lithe frame, held up to 5'4" and 5'5", respectively. Between them, they also have the same fair skin tone, and straight black hair draped down to their shoulder blades. Complementing pale pink lips and a button nose on each face, the twins have distinctly large eyes. Lauren's eyes are a greyish blue, and Lily's a jade green. It's very easy to confuse Lauren with Lily, and vice versa, if you aren't looking at their eyes or chests, and even then it might still leave some confusion.

Completely leaving their sex aside, the twins swap their wardrobe all the time. Everything in their closet is fair game. Having a doppelgänger, they say, is great for seeing what looks best.

Personality

As expected, the twins are more than willing to share everything and prefer to stick together, having spent their entire lives that way, and they share a few similar traits. Both are known to be active and quite bubbly; it's very easy to make friends with them. However, Lily is much more exploratory and ready to find new things to do, while Lauren tends to keep to himself, letting his sister and others give him things to talk about. The two of them often exchange minute signals in conversation, and it's difficult to know what either of them are really thinking about, albeit for completely different reasons.

With others around, Lily is the more social, bringing up conversation or taking the fun with her wherever she may be. This isn't to say Lauren is the more timid of the two, though he certainly acts the part—he's just careful where his sister isn't. Should they be separated, Lauren is the one who can stay focused, able to calmly read his way through situations and respond in kind. Without him around, Lily can often lose track of her train of thought, and suffers from a degree of anxiety unless their separation was pre-planned. She acts as though her discomfort is for her brother's sake, and on some level it is; however, it's really mostly for her own knowing they can't get each other out of trouble, and Lily's the only one who puts herself in danger. So, the two try to keep each other close.

In the field, Lily is an active frontliner, good at dealing upfront damage and keeping attention. Her attack patterns are simplistic, and while apparently scatterbrained she has unparalleled spatial awareness, able to accurately keep track of multiple people and targets in a wide area. Lauren uses his abilities to disable and act as supportive fire, taking more opportunistic attacks and using his weapon primarily to stay at a distance. His specialty lies in pinpointing weaknesses, giving others direction when they need it.

History

Magic has been in Lauren and Lily's family only since their mother discovered she could use it in her teens. Becoming a practiced air mage out of Missouri, Gwen Fera married her high school sweetheart and made her living as a nurse, occasionally using her gift to assist when she wouldn't be caught, and more so as it evolved to suit her work. Their father, Travis, was an English professor at a local university, and had nothing to do with magic until he met Gwen. Even after he was initiated, Travis never really understood magic, and didn't even try until they moved with their newborn twins to Kesselburg, a village of mages near the Rockies.

After the twins were born, much of Gwen's abilities went to keeping them from sustaining heavy injuries as Lauren and Lily learned of their own. Rather than air magic, however, the two discovered that they had a proficiency in water magic. Soon enough, they were invited to attend Trinity Academy in Colorado, a three-year middle school where they could practice and learn at an accelerated pace. There, they improved on their magic abilities along with learning the same subjects as normal schools. Their magic evolved at the Academy, competing in various subjects and applications with nearly a hundred other young mages. They also learned how to use ether-based weaponry. Lily picked up a pair of shortswords; her brother, a bladed polearm over two feet taller than him at the time. Aside from magic, the twins joined their school's soccer team, and learned how to play instruments. Lily played percussion, and Lauren took up the saxophone.

Less than a year in, Lauren's magical aptitude started to rapidly deteriorate, until it was gone entirely an agonizing month later. It took another three months for even a hint of his ability to return, and it took even longer to adapt. When he finally did, Lauren found himself able to replicate nearly any spell his sister, classmates and teacher could pull off, or even empower any spells they used, and his own repertoire was extended by his new element. Manipulation of shadows and deception became his reality. By the time they finished their second year, Lauren had learned the skills of many of his classmates, developed ones they could never match, and their class was supervised on an up close and personal look at the Liminal Isles via Trinity Academy's portal stone.

Unfortunately, their tour was cut short by an attack from a Cheshire—a large felid etherspawn, with a spiky coat of muddy brown fur over a bony frame, obscenely long and bloodied claws, a masquerade mask over its face and a penchant for stealth. Incredibly quick, it took both of the accompanying instructors to protect and fight back while the students retreated, but even then they weren't much of a match when it could camouflage itself, repeatedly trying to attack the children. Where the students and—though competent combatants—their supervisors struggled to see and keep up with the Cheshire, Lauren seemed to be able to follow it effortlessly. At first, he could only vocalize its movements, but it didn't take long for him to share what he saw with the rest of his class. In no time, the beast was on the back foot, and was promptly eliminated.

Once they graduated along with the other Trinity students, they were invited to a secondary school to continue their education: Vale.

Weapon of Choice: While she uses it only sparingly, Diana carries at all times a claymore a foot shorter than her, sheathed over her back. She much prefers her fists and her magic.

Element: Fire/Lightning

Spells

ɪɢɴɪᴛɪᴏɴ | A trio of empowering stances Diana has mastered over the years. Each enhances different attributes, and Diana can seamlessly transition between them without any loss in efficiency.


ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴀ ᴡɪsʜ Starfall | Dropping from high in the sky, Diana covers herself in electricity and flames so hot they burn blue and white. She strikes down with a grand explosion like a falling star, and where she lands, lightning follows.

Foxfire | A series of nine orbs of fire that typically lay strung around her wrist. She can shape them as she pleases, and turn them into solid material and back. They act as restraints, explosives and can carry people and large objects.

Thundercaller | Diana can not only create bolts of lightning from herself, but bring it down from the sky above or... well, anywhere.

Sword & Shield | Flames spray out from the edges of her sword, increasing the cutting power and allowing her to use it as a shield, as if she wouldn't do it anyway.

Cinder Reign | Channeling her magic to create a physical body, she can summon the familiars on which she bases her Ignition. Like Ignition, the beasts summoned look, feel and act like their real counterparts. Her familiars either become a small number of foxes able to relay information over long distances, a pair of tigers as vicious as her, or simply a giant phoenix capable of transporting an entire team.

Explosion | Explosion.

Appearance

Often tying her wavy, waist-length auburn hair into a raised ponytail or twintails, Diana might look a little taller than she is at 5'4", but don't be fooled. She's done growing. Speaking of things that make her self-conscious, gymnastics wasn't kind to her chest. Thanks to her mother's cream-colored skin and amber eyes, coupled with her slender form, at least she looks pretty. Sadly, Diana's recognizable by her resting jerk face, almost always ready to tell someone off. Less sadly, this face can very easily be replaced by one of tenderness, a big sister at her core.

She much prefers clothing that give her freedom of movement, and tends to wear things that are just a little too big for her. Her shirts often fall off one of her shoulders, and her jeans usually have enough room for another pair of legs. She does have a few properly-sized outfits that accentuate what few assets she has, but she doesn't wear them as much. She also has a pair of rimless reading glasses, although she wears them on occasion around school.

As a permanent manifestation of her Foxfire magic, while inactive the orbs take the shape of a bracelet on her left wrist, like burning fires trapped in transparent balls.

Under the effects of one of her Ignition stances, Diana takes on features of various animals; although their primary fur color is the same as her hair, they look, feel and act like the real thing. Granted by Trickster, she grows large, pointed fox ears, as well as nine large, bushy tails tipped white. Under Pantera, she gains small and rounded ears, as well as a single 3-foot long tail with black stripes laid throughout. With Phoenix, angelic feathered auburn wings with white tips spread out to well over thrice Diana's armspan, embers falling and fading away as she flies.

Personality

Stature aside, Diana is a natural leader; an amicable person, a realistic thinker, and a commanding presence. She's more than willing to put everyone else before herself, and expects nothing in return. On the other hand, she always looks to pay someone back if she thinks she owes them for just about anything. Well, it's easy to call her friendly and generous, but Diana has a dangerously short fuse. Getting on her nerves is a death wish, and making fun of her height or bust are the quickest ways to make that wish come true.

She's a perfectionist who moves at her own pace, ignoring people for no reason and answering them when they give up. The only time she slows down is when she picks up a book or a drink. She's partial to green tea, and likes to make it herself. The pace can be interrupted, however, by anything adorable, and she will happily obsess over it.

She keeps a collection of stuffed animals, namely of foxes and big cats, and they're littered throughout her room. She's fiercely protective of them, as much as she is her little sister.

History

Originally from Britain, Diana's mother, Amber Fairchild moved to Oregon to be with fellow mage Jon Kavanagh, taking up residence by the coast and making a living running a pizza place. Inheriting a hint of her accent and his ferocity, Diana and younger sister Shion were trained to control their magic as soon as they started showing their ability to use it. Diana developed Jon's powerful proficiency in pyromancy, and Shion Amber's air magic. Despite the difference, they were taught together, and learned quick. They constantly found things to compete over, which only fueled their growth, and kept them on good terms with each other.

They were given the chance to live normally for a while in public, going to a local elementary school and middle school while training with their magic in the privacy of their home. Once the sisters started learning kickboxing to defend themselves without magic, when Diana was around 7 years old, she took up gymnastics at the same time, and later got into reading and cooking to wind down. Shortly after she turned 11, her abilities evolved, giving her access to lightning magic. She also started teaching herself how to summon familiars, and began to integrate them heavily into her repertoire.

Scouted at 15 by Vale, she was immediately introduced to using weapons for the first time. Although she'd forgone them in favor of her fists and her rapidly increasing mastery of magic, she started carrying a sword around... to use as a shield. In her second year, notably further along in her training than many other students the same age, she was brought on as a tutor for an earth mage who'd just discovered his powers named Morgan.

She was immediately overcome by supernatural levels of cuteness. Unfortunately he'd feared Diana's power at the time, believing it to be an inherently dangerous element, but was at least curious in the beasts she could conjure up. Eventually, their warmth and hers convinced Morgan to trust her, and they became nearly as close as Diana was to her little sister.

Between fighting on the Isles, and continuing her regular schooling, all of her spare time was dedicated to mentoring him, aside from the travel time between Vale and his home. The next two years, up until he was invited to Vale himself, were spent teaching him how to use his magic. Alongside his own spells, she was happy to teach him how to adapt hers, as well. When they weren't practicing, she liked to make him wear her clothes, and teach him how to cook as she learned from her own mother.

Weapon of Choice: Emilia carries two chakrams that she carries around on her left wrist like bracelets.

Element: Twilight

Spells

^{Shadow Cloth} ≒ _{Scattered Feathers} | Able to create a clothlike material out of thin air, Emilia can use it to cover herself from the sun, act as an ethereal third arm, and enable flight, among other things.

^{Spectrum Assault} ≒ _{Tangled Shadows} | Emilia launches multiple missiles of hardlight into the sky and directs them anywhere she wants. They leave behind a trail until they land, and the shadows of the trail ensnare anything that crosses them.

^Ricochet ≒ _Gate | Throwing one of her chakram out, it can bounce off surfaces indefinitely, propelled at extremely high speed and followed by fading rainbow-colored trails. It can be redirected when it makes contact with shadows to hit from multiple directions, and wherever she decides to stop it she can use her other chakram as a portal. This is more useful for others than it is herself.

^{Carnival Eclipse} ≒ _{Wave Motion Cannon} | Throwing one of her chakram into the sky, it blankets the area in the light of a sunset, distorting time and slowing all etherspawn caught inside. Once the field is dispelled, all of the damage dealt by any mages from the inside take effect in an instant. Alternatively, she can focus a targeting beam through her chakrams in front of her. After she's ready, she releases a massive burst of rainbow lights in a single direction, either concussive or able to tear through solid objects like butter.

Appearance

Emilia always looked a lot more like her mother, but apparently her genes took it a bit extreme and decided to make her so white people thought her Japanese dad was her stepfather. She got teased for it by a few meaner kids when she was young, but Emi knew better, and that's not important at all.

As if frozen in time, Emilia looks almost the exact same as she did when she turned twelve, even four years later. A thin and tiny girl only 4'7" with porcelain skin, her waist-length hair is snow white to match. Delicate all the way from the top of her head to the tips of her slender fingers and toes, her wide red eyes tinged blue are almost always shaded by a large sunhat or umbrella to just let her see properly.

Emi enjoys the long dresses and cloaks she wears to cover herself up, liking white, light blue and black colors over others, and comfy sneakers. She adores wide sleeves and loose skirts so she can swing her arms and spin around for fun.

Personality

Energetic and friendly, Emi's only desire is to make people happy. Easy to hurt, and even easier to cheer up, she has simple interests and expresses herself as much. She likes frozen yogurt, fluffy animals and trying whatever new thing comes her way. She's creative and quick-witted, too. For the things she does, she usually finds a way to do it better next time. Although, she might not immediately remember next time.

On the inside is a mess of scattered thoughts and multiple levels of intense deliberation about everything and nothing. Counting steps, picking out individual instruments in a song, or obsessing over a game on every turn, these extremely focused and singular thoughts can fly off into multiple tangents until they run full circle for no reason whatsoever.

Emilia is restless and impatient, always looking for more to occupy her thoughts. Always looking to put her train of thought on a single track. When she can't, she paces or vigorously clings to someone bigger than her. When she finds something, or if it comes to her, she wants to know and do more until it stops being interesting (or gets too complicated). After she's done she cleans up her mess, and moves on to the next thing like the one before never happened.

While she primarily speaks English, Emilia's father used Japanese very heavily at home (and encouraged her mother to do so as well), so she learned both from a young age. She often uses both interchangeably when she speaks for memorization and thought categorization.

History

The only child of two fire mages out of Washington working in an organization named the Dangerous Entity Research Program, Emi was born into unfriendly territory off the bat.

They didn't answer to any governing bodies, and nothing they learned became common knowledge among mages like other research did. The Dangerous Entity Research Program was established and managed by a small team of ten to study etherspawn in an isolated environment, as well as providing a haven for the mages who worked there. Their headquarters stationed on an artificial island near the Liminal Isles, Kou and Alexa Tachibana were Herders—two of four. Their entire livelihood was dragging etherspawn, kicking and screaming if necessary, back to D.E.R.P. H.Q., where they contained and studied the monsters with as little interference as possible.

At least, that was their livelihood until Emilia was born.

The new parents were placed on leave and returned to eastern Washington to raise their child. She was born without any complications in late May, even after the two were exposed to the Isles for so long. It seemed like the stars aligned until Emi was found to be hypersensitive to sunlight. It wasn't much on its own, yet with this kind of weakness they didn't want their daughter having anything to do with the Isles or magic. Unfortunately they didn't have much of a choice when she started showing off her ability to use fire magic at five years old to help her mother cook.

She promptly lost her ability to use magic only a few months later, and it was replaced by darkness magic shortly after her sixth birthday. Early compared to the few other cases through the past fifty years, but not unheard of. Her parents couldn't do much to teach her things applicable to her new element, but they did their best to give her some structure. Thankfully, Emilia took to controlling it very comfortably, already hiding herself from sunlight regularly as she did, but found it even more worth learning when she used it to create cloth-like hats from thin air whenever she forgot hers, and stretch the shadows to provide her shade where there was none.

Emi liked being special like this. She didn't have to stand out like she was doing just by existing. She could have her fun in secret, little things that put her on par with everyone else. She started looking into the potential of her new element gratefully, teaching herself how to move through the shade just as easily as she walked, and turning her shadow cloth into fully functional wings. Those spells that made her life a little easier and a little more fun eventually became second nature to her, and nobody was wise to her tricks.

Through her parents' efforts and the help of her magic and some smart clothing choices, Emilia was able to go through elementary school about as normally as any of her classmates. However, she still had to miss out on most of the fun outdoor recess and after-school activities, instead playing video games with her friends and board games with her teachers. She took a liking to strategy games in particular since it kept her head busy.

A more alarming abnormality reared its ugly head around the time Emilia was about to turn twelve, finishing a year ahead in middle school. She'd managed to lose her magical ability again. This time side effects included (but were not limited to): coma, crying parents, get well letters from everyone at school, flowers from everyone at school, and making Emi immortal.

Emilia woke up three months after her fourteenth birthday in D.E.R.P.'s clinic, almost entirely unchanged from the day she fell asleep. A delayed result of the high levels of ether exposure after conception, her parents' coworkers at D.E.R.P. postulated, a sort of born reliance that helped her recover when she went through continued exposure in the clinic. This was the only explanation they had for a week or so, until one night when Emi exhibited control over light magic, creating hardlight limbs much in the way she made her shadow clothes. She did not, however, gain the ability to tolerate sunlight.

While her parents went back to work, Emilia remained on D.E.R.P. Island with them where she was home schooled. The facility gave her ample room and material to work with in developing her new magic as well, including providing real targets in the captured spawn. She was taught to weaponize her light, given chakrams she could carry around like bracelets. At the same time, she was studied by the team to understand why she stopped growing, on top of experiencing an as-of-yet unseen loss of magic. They never did manage to figure it out.

In the midst of learning her new powers for the third time, Emi's darkness magic re-emerged, quietly cloaking her from the sun with clothlike shadows as instinctively as it was those few years ago. The element reintegrated itself into her new light spells, and soon enough the members of D.E.R.P. concluded it to be the cause of all the strange happenings. They still have yet to find if another mage is in a similar situation, as mages inherently age more slowly and more gracefully than normal humans.

Two years after she'd awakened Emi received a letter from Vale, inviting her to develop her powers further with peers on her level. Kou and Alexa still weren't fond of the idea, but they also knew Emi was more than able to keep herself out of danger with all the work she'd put into developing her magic. If anything, it wasn't the etherspawn they were worried about. It was the teenagers. But they reluctantly let their baby go, knowing they could keep an eye on the school's activities through their headquarters on the artificial island.

Weapon: Switch Axe

Stella's weapon is one with two forms, recommended to her by a classmate early on. The first is its Axe Form, a large battleaxe with a notably longer and thinner blade on the back side. It uses the much wider front-facing edge for extremely powerful swings, carrying enough momentum that it drags Stella along with it despite her ability to carry it as though it were light as a feather.

The second is its Sword Form, connecting the two blades into a single great sword. Swings are much faster and more stable in exchange for a loss of raw impact. Stella can switch between them as she pleases, simultaneously keeping an etherspawn at bay while weaving together an endless combination of attacks.

Spells

Gravity | Stella can stand and move on any solid material as if it were regular ground, regardless of direction, and can bring others with her as long as they keep contact with her.

Fuzzy Cuffs | Releases chains of super-durable yarn to ensnare and secure anything she likes. Good for bondage, hanging things up, and idly batting around.

Gene Theft | By making contact with an animal or etherspawn, Stella stores a piece of its unique genetic or magical signature. She can replicate and shapeshift into it freely and perfectly, and even modify it to her own liking, while retaining her self-awareness and abilities. In addition to its form, Stella also mimics some of its mannerisms, allowing her to fully adjust to the animal or person's body type and capabilities on the fly.

Blitz | Using a mage's ether signature within a short time after acquiring it, Stella can temporarily imbue her switch axe's Sword Form with their elemental affinity and unique spell repertoire, increasing its power and providing effects normally unavailable to her.

Appearance

No matter if the world is falling down around her, or monsters are dropping like flies, Stella will look her best! Wide, lustrous sky blue eyes stand out amongst light skin barely blushed pink. Silky brown hair lay straight and docile down to her breast, typically obediently tied around itself in some way, and settles over her slim stature, and lithe hands that look to need a careful touch so as not to break just by greeting. Mostly wearing fashionable dresses and coats that look personally tailored for her, rarely is Stella seen in overly casual clothes outside of her own room.

Her first form granted by her magic, and one in which she spends many hours of her days, is that of a fluffy Siberian cat with a large and bushy tail. Along with long white fur with faded gray and brown undercoats that bleed through in faint stripes, Stella in her cat form sports large, upturned blue eyes, and white lynx-like tufts on the tips of her ears. She also gives herself a cute red ribbon around her neck, a silver bell attached.

Personality

Stella is an amicable and caring girl with a natural composure that's difficult to disrupt. Even if she's bursting with enthusiasm, she's still calm and easygoing, and loves to feel like she's useful. Whether it's a shoulder to cry on or maybe just a good ol' cuddle puddle, Stella's there to help in her own kind way. She even has a sort of sixth sense that lets her know just when someone needs her attention and affections, to which she'll happily oblige before they knew they needed her.

Expressing herself with quiet actions and sweet smiles, she carries herself with a demure grace, but Stella does have an adventurous and playful side. A bit of a fearless girl, she loves high places, and she's always looking for things to do with people she likes in particular. However, Stella gets very anxious when she's alone or feels like she's being ignored, and can be disconcertingly pessimistic if someone doesn't come by to pat her head.

History

Coming out of a well-off family from a mage town in the Midwest, Stella actually didn't get to see her parents all that much early in her childhood. They'd used their magic to travel the world and develop their powers further, leaving the little heroine to the company of a family friend, and a fluffy little kitten named Celeste. It was after her own powers emerged at six years old that they started to bring her along on their journey. (Of course, the cat joined them.)

As they walked the world, Stella's powers grew as she did, learning from and being schooled by her parents at every stop. Whenever they returned home, she was taught more by the townspeople. She discovered a special connection with Celeste, one where they could understand each other effortlessly, and it slowly extended to any animals she met.

However, simple understanding wasn't enough for Stella. She wanted to share in their experiences, as well. Thankfully, it came just as easily to her as breathing. Stella felt her mind sort through massive stores of information that should have been foreign to her, collected over the past few years on her adventures. Her body responded to the magic, turning into a cat nearly the exact same as her lifelong companion. Her clothes, her phone, her bag and about a hundred pounds dissipated into ether, leaving only the fluffy fifteen pound cat containing it. Despite keeping all of her mental faculties intact, all of Celeste's instincts came naturally to her, as did the form's physical intricacies itself, and it quickly became her favorite among the many animals' shapeshifting data her mind had kept hidden from her. (A snow leopard came close, looking a good bit like a bigger and only slightly less cuddly version of her pet cat.)

When Stella was invited to Vale, a year after Celeste passed away at the age of fourteen, she adopted her favored cat shift as often as her original, becoming the school's second "cat mage". The first, a third-year at the time named Audric, used more conventional magic and his imagination to achieve similar transformations, and as a result had more fantastical beasts at his disposal. Even though they've never met in their original shape, the two quickly became friends, even if only in their feline forms. Many never realize that Stella and the friendly, off-grey cat are one and the same.

Element: Fire/Lightning

Weapon of Choice

Cerise carries two weapons. The first is a recurve bow that she started using fairly recently that she makes from the wrappings on her arms. She can use and make others as a result of rigorous training, but she prefers the bow by far.

Spells

Augment: Little Red Monster

When in close combat, Cerise infuses her magic into her own body. Her strength skyrockets, and she turns her own hands and arms into blades of various kinds.

Wolf

A violent beast by some metrics, and a lovable pet by others, Wolf is made without the assistance of any elemental magic, making it as strong, if not stronger, than even ether-based weapons. It benefits from Cerise's devour, increasing that strength further. As tall on four legs as Cerise is on two, and far more ferocious, it primarily acts of its own accord until given directions. Its innate purpose is to protect its owner, but it's often indiscriminate about what or whom to protect her from, and ruthless in doing so.

Blazing Swords

A wide-range strengthening spell, ether in the form of embers radiates from Cerise, becoming infused into nearby mages and disabling her ability to Augment. Even if they leave its radius, their magic and normal physical abilities remain greatly empowered for a short time before rapidly declining back to their normal levels.

Extreme Hide & Seek

The most entertaining thing to come out of her elemental magic, Cerise manipulates EM waves around her body to defy gravity, and let her move comfortably on any surface and orientation, or just hover.

Appearance

A modestly-dressed lass standing 5'5", only two things don't change on a day to day basis in her outfit. First is the scarlet cape Cerise wears, or some variant thereof. She's not gone without for the better part of a decade, so she's frequently called Red. Partly affectionate, partly a joke, but it stuck, and she ran with it. She usually wears colors and clothes that complement it. The other is a selection of ribbons and bandages that she wears around her forearms, and their color dictates that of her weapons.

Personality

Cerise portrays herself an elegant, graceful young lady, with maybe only the slightest hint of nervousness. She always worries that even amongst mages, her particular aptitude is seen as an abnormality, but finds it difficult to keep it under wraps when it's all she's got going for her. Her natural elemental ability is noticeably subpar to a degree that she hardly even uses it, and when pushed, most of her tutors have likened her to etherspawn more than a human. To assuage her fears, she's incredibly well-mannered, and avoids or quickly settles confrontations whenever possible.

Should she find herself in combat (or maybe just playing games) she takes quite a turn, for better or worse. She's much more carefree in how she speaks and acts, feeling much less of a social burden (a lot like when she's alone in her room), keeping only a philosophy of good enough not being enough. Cerise is fearless and relentless, finding a weakness and exploiting it without worry of injuring herself in the process. She likes reading a good book before bed, watching movies, and long walks on the beach climbing trees. However, she doesn't much enjoy getting her clothes dirty, so she's willing to take steps to prevent that, and she really doesn't like watching people get hurt.

History

Cerise was born of a single mother, fire mage and Vale alumna named Alyssa in Toronto. Abandoned by the father after having revealed both her magical abilities and pregnancy, Alyssa left in a matter of weeks with her then-unborn daughter to Ridgeton, where she could be raised amongst more like-minded people and mages. She wanted to give Cerise the chance to grow up without fearing a power often seen as solely destructive, but unfortunately gave her worries of a different kind: incompetence.

Once Cerise discovered her magic, sharing the same element as her mother, it was evident that she had a lower ability than the young mages around her, unrelated to her age. As with all of Ridgeton's kids, however small the number may have been, they had half a day of primary school, then magic training so they don't break everything. It wasn't like any other magelings really noticed that Cerise was putting in more effort to get the same effect, but she knew that elemental prowess came more naturally for them. Although, it was more than enough for Alyssa to teach her some practical skills at home, and despite the gap her hard work was rewarded with sparks of electricity at age eight.

It was much easier finding a use for her new lightning magic, too, playing no-holds-barred children's games like Hide & Seek with her friends in town after school. Just another one of the ways they learned to use their magic combatively and recreationally. Alyssa, a bit of a teacher's pet, had soon enlisted the help of some of Vale's teachers and students that were more proficient than her in the use of ether itself; a way to make up for Cerise's lackluster elemental control after she expressed a desire to grow up and fight with strong magic like the high schoolers did. It wasn't unusual. The same sentiment was shared by most of Ridgeton's few kids over the years, being so close to the nation's capital of otherworldly beast hunting.

Among the tutors was a water mage and third-year student named Ava, who excelled in on-the-fly manipulation of her equipment. It was around this time that Cerise started learning about fashion (from her), and at Ava's insistence first donned the cape that garnered her the moniker of a fairy tale. What she learned, on the other hand, was far off. Ava was strict, but effective—taught her to control herself, and gave her the mindset of nothing being off-limits. Of course, this childish Cerise took Ava's instructions rather literally, and even surprised the latter by creating a sword from her own body when she was disarmed in a practice duel. She believed that Ava started viewing her attempts at greatness more seriously at that point, and the scope of her practice expanded. Ava also showed her how to make a bandage-like wrapping that Cerise started wearing on her arms for the future, which changed how her blade appeared when she used it. Something about "aesthetic", and Cerise happened to like the look of a white weapon herself.

Within the two years that Ava had left at the school, then ten year old Cerise became a model student and a refined young lady in her dedication to mastering the element-less magic she was actually good at, teaching herself how to break down spells and absorb them in the blink of an eye, though she still enjoyed playing games with her friends and watching movies with her mother. She attended Ava's graduation, as well, and felt as if she were family. Even after Ava returned home for good, Cerise got continued visits from the high school's teachers, and a few of its equally exceptional students, to learn more about magic in general instead of attending Vale early. Through their help, Wolf was born, an ever-present beast who seems to materialize itself on occasion. Cerise then spent much of her practice hours refining the details of what she was already good at, instead of testing her luck branching out any further.

For the longest time, she'd also wanted to use ranged weaponry, but always felt options meant for her stature were a few sizes too small. So, when she finally hit her growth spurt half a year to fifteen, she was eager to finally start using the bow she designed and feel comfortable doing it. Plus, it gave her the excuse of working with her Wolf more (and perhaps more than was healthy). She waited until she was confident in her ability to use both well, finally attending Vale shortly before her sixteenth birthday.

Element: Water/Lightning

Weapon of Choice

Brandon uses a shield, though at first it's nothing but a silver-colored bracer that covers most of his left forearm. When he uses his magic through it, it projects a variety of electrical shields as he needs them. A companion item.

Spells

Arc Lightning

Brandon's strikes and spells leave targets charged with his electricity. When struck again, the electric charge is chained to things nearby as a bolt of lightning.

Magnetic

Releases an electromagnetic pulse in all directions, marking anything affected by Arc Lightning. Upon recall, everything marked gets pulled violently back toward Brandon, and met with an explosive electric burst.

Bulletproof ※ Dragon's Skin

When Brandon battles, his body gradually changes into one resembling a half-dragon, increasing his durability and stamina over time, as well as the strength of his spells. The more he bleeds, the more beatings he takes, the harder he fights until only he remains standing.

Conduit

Brandon transforms into a ball of lightning for an instant, bolting between two points, and shocking everything in his path with the static trail.

Appearance

A pretty boy by any other name, Brandon's friendly steel eyes often precede the cheeky grin he gets whenever a fight is mentioned. His confident gait at 5'10" is able to effortlessly keep pace with others just by walking with them, pale brown hair lazily bouncing with each step. He takes a few minutes a week to trim it, just to keep it out of his face. Rarely does a single day go by without a cut or bruise somewhere on his body, either; by the next it's healed, and another one's shown up somewhere else. But those cuts aren't all for nothing.

First go his eyes, pupils slit like a cat's, scleras blue and irises turned a glowing gold. Next are the various pitch black spikes, only an inch long and wide at most, that sprout from his forearms and shins. Alongside them, matte azure scales grow down his cheeks and over his neck, followed by the same growth across his outer arms, legs and back until there's as much scale as skin, and short nail-like claws take over his hands and feet. Electricity visibly courses through every gap in the shell, giving off an eerie light and flowing into everything Brandon lays his draconic hands on.

Personality

Standing out over anything else about him, Brandon loves a fight—or, more accurately, he loves getting hurt. Embracing his dragon side with fervor that knows no bounds, he'll take any excuse to get into a friendly brawl. He'll chat up a nice girl, hoping to get slapped when he asks for their number, or even pleasantly disappointed and actually getting their number. Not that he'll provoke someone for the sake of giving/taking a beating; he's a nice and helpful guy. He just really, really likes fighting. It's one of the ways he bonds with people. Besides his unparalleled masochism and a never-give-in attitude, Brandon enjoys playing video games of all kinds, and he's particularly dedicated to his little sister, Vanessa. Feeling like her best and sometimes only friend, and able to share in her experience, he makes it a point to take time for her whenever she wants or needs the company.

History

Deep in the Bermuda Triangle lies an island surrounded by hurricanes and thunderstorms, and a portal to the Isles, called Stormhold. Little is known about the place, and nobody who visits is allowed to tell more—at least if they don't want to anger the local dragon. How they manage to stay in a modern society, connect to the outside world, or even just their state of affairs are matters kept to the eyes and ears of only foreigners who've proven trustworthy.

A prominent feature of Stormhold, however, that anyone can see for themselves, is the development of their magic. They don't abide by the natural growth of elements. Water and air mages alike gain the power of lightning, and nature mages grow crops able to withstand the end of the world. Rumor has it that even mages who simply tour the island find their own abilities changed. But that's just a rumor.

Filled with a high concentration of ether that only mages could brave, the islanders claim the storms—and Stormhold's guardian spirit—were there before them. Incorporeal, but present all the same, the beast behind the island's weather makes contact with Stormhold citizens through its blessings: aspects of its being and magic imbued into choice young mages at birth. The islanders believe it to have some sort of meaning, but they have no idea what. Maybe it's just its way of connecting to the mages, or protecting its territory like any etherspawn of the Liminal Isles, but speculation is all they have to go on.

Siblings Brandon and Vanessa were among these children, the former granted the spirit's impenetrable skin. Growing up, he sought out increasingly dangerous activities, from fighting to flirting, in his efforts to find his limits—and he was never satisfied duking it out with only one opponent at a time. As a result, his magic developed extremely quickly compared to the kids he sparred with, and by the time he was 12 Brandon was already working with the local guard, culling the etherspawn that managed to appear in the magic-rich environment of the island. Aside from constantly getting himself hurt, Brandon still excelled in school. Or, at least, he didn't suck at studying, getting a solid B average in his classes. He didn't want to waste any more time studying than he needed to; that cut into his time playing games or entertaining Vanessa.

For his abilities, it was only natural for him to attend Vale and expand his horizons. He opted against it at first, content with working at home, but was happy to go when his little sister accepted the same offer a few years later.

Appearance

Soft skin; squishy cheeks; and silky brown, near-auburn hair are immediate features of Vanessa's on display, her clothes usually chosen with modesty in mind. However, most people don't see her without some sort of blindfold on, concealing her colorful blue eyes with a band of black or white—and occasionally a color better matching her outfit. She's not blind, but she forces herself to wear it nonetheless, and adapted well enough to having it that it's actually quite comfortable.

When she takes on her dragon form, Vanessa's eyes are almost the same as her brother's, a golden cat's eye with misty flecks, and the white changed into a reflective blue. But that's where the similarities end. Vanessa produces no pointy protrusions, and the scales that grow on her body have a fogged-over golden center, appearing additionally between her collar and breast. They don't extend entirely over her hands and feet, either, acting more like armored sleeves and leggings than powerful claws.

Personality

A mostly asocial butterfly, this dragon spends her free time practicing her magic, playing video games in her room, or watching YouTube videos, movies and TV shows in the dark. She wants to be lazy, let her hair down and say whatever she wants. So, much of this is done alone or with her older brother, the one person she can speak freely around; though she'd happily take a chance to make casual friends and go out once in a while. Vanessa loves meeting others who can share in her interests, and loves even more to talk about them; but she has understandable difficulty in keeping any consistent attachments, and she can't hold conversations for long, much less do typically girly things like gossip about that cute blond boy in the class over.

Unfortunately, Vanessa is someone who's required to choose her words carefully, rather than by her own volition. She avoids saying things impulsively as much as possible, like requests and even commands in jest, knowing at least one person would try to fulfill it without question, and looking for opinions is little more than an echo chamber unless she makes a demand she doesn't want to. Believing herself comparable to a succubus or siren, Vanessa hates the lack of control she has over her birthright, and while she can't suppress it entirely, she's resolved to restrict herself to keep it from working in full.

History

Where her brother acquired the dragon's impervious skin, Vanessa was given its hypnotic voice and eyes, entrancing others like a demon. Things were given to her almost any time she asked; she was let off for obvious or serious mistakes without a second thought; and she seemed to attract people and animals to her without even realizing it. At the time the sole exception was her brother, and while it felt pretty cool, everything was much too easy, and it kind of scared her. Stormhold's leaders gave her the context she needed when she was six, one an elderly woman who was immune to her words—she'd gouged her own eyes out after gaining the same power in her early twenties.

The woman spent some time with Vanessa, teaching her some of the ins and outs of her special ability. Learning ways to inhibit its effect, Vanessa soon settled on much less extreme measures, choosing to don a blindfold whenever she left the house. It was either that or never speak again, she thought, and that just didn't sound fun. She adjusted quickly—being young and malleable, Vanessa picked up a few different ways to read the world with her magic before she was eight. It wasn't perfect (in more ways than one), and certainly no substitute for being able to see the world as intended, but serviceable, and some days she even preferred the blindfold.

As time passed, Vanessa had slowly gotten proficient at reading people as she did her surroundings. Started avoiding attachments, worried about her language like a child who was scolded for cursing. She met very few others who could naturally ignore the mesmer behind her voice, and her older brother was the only person she fully trusted. Any time he did something with or for her she knew it was of his own accord—helping her with schoolwork, playing games with her in the living room, or even just more mundane shopping that he didn't particularly care about when she got interested. Maybe it was some kind of brotherly duty of his, she didn't know; almost anyone else, she could have looked them in the eye and demanded honesty, but Brandon would laugh at her for still trying or pull pranks to mess with her and make her laugh.

When Brandon joined the guard, Vanessa got more time to herself. It was a little lonely, making so few friends, so she got to taking her elemental magic seriously. She worked on her social skills, too, of course, but she still found friendships unreliable with only one or two exceptions, and often kept to herself, enjoying written and digital media more than personal interaction. For her magic, she practiced using her dad's sword, a bladeless hilt that responded to the wielder's element. When her brother was free, Brandon seemed perfectly happy helping her more, even if much of his participation was being target practice. He liked being reminded he could bleed, he said.

Once in a while, the thought came back to mind as to why Brandon had always gone along with her requests, always making time for her in the middle of studying, fighting, having fun and more fighting. He even turned down an invitation to Vale. Brandon said it was so he could keep helping at home—he certainly was helpful, but she knew when he wasn't telling the whole story. So, when she got her own invitation to the school a couple years later, Vanessa was eager to accept, knowing she wouldn't be going alone; nor did she want to, and all the same she wasn't about to let her brother pass up a golden opportunity so easily.

Element: Water/Lightning

Weapon of Choice

Vanessa carries with her a hilt, and water and lightning gather at the guard to create a fully-functioning knife or sword. A companion item.

Spells

Sweep

When Vanessa swings her sword, additional blades of water are released that fly a short distance before evaporating into a light mist.

Mirage Blade

Vanessa's body and sword become a cloud of mist, spreading out and wildly slicing through everything in her reach.

Resonance ※ Dragon's Kiss

Much like her brother, Vanessa's magic turns her into a half-dragon as she fights. Unlike Brandon, however, she has control over this change, and her transformation grants no physical benefit. Instead, she possesses a mesmer in her eyes and voice that synchronizes with listener's hearts and minds. It calms, angers, attracts and subjugates with the authority of a Ruler, whether she wants it to or not.

Perfect Dodge

In her dragon state, Vanessa can temporarily split into a number of mist bodies to avoid attacks, with time just enough to retaliate or reposition before it goes on cooldown.

Element: Earth/Nature

History

Camilla's life started in Seattle, born daughter to a pair of earth mages and little sister to a hyperactive boy named Rainier. He was happy to have a sibling to play with, and she stuck to him like glue before she learned to walk. And when Rain's magic surfaced, he used it to create marionettes of dirt and stone, performing the things in children's stories as best he could to entertain Milly. She turned five a few weeks before her own magic appeared, with Rain promising to help their parents teach her, as well. An unfortunate accident with a drunk driver in the local park led to the siblings sharing a hospital room, and when Milly woke up the next day, her brother was nowhere to be found.

Milly was more than a little broken from losing him. The scars and scrapes on her body were gone within a week, but she'd started spending most of her free time in her family's garden instead of playing with friends, and it was another year before she took to her mage blood. With her parents' encouraging, and to her own surprise, it turned out she was a natural; simple as her attempt at creating a wall was, Milly constructed one as tall as her father before she even moved her hand.

Coming up on eight years old, Camilla managed to recover from her nightmares, and opened up again. She'd been using her magic liberally at home, as well, and developing it faster than her parents—both former students of Asteria Mages' High School—could keep up; in school, she scribbled her ideas in her notebooks, and put them to practice at home when she was done playing. Milly was able to create multiple marionettes her own size, and her magic slowly expanded in scope, helping to tend the flowers in their garden. Her growth was somewhat startling to them—more so when Milly inexplicably passed out one autumn evening. She slept for a week straight, waking up in her room with her parents at her side. She didn't really understand why her mom and dad were so frantic over her waking up. Regardless, parents Holly and Sam had already called in some assistance. Not from their normal doctor, either; some kind of professional from a place called D.E.R.P. (Milly giggled when she first heard the name.)

After a rigorous physical and magical examination that didn't seem entirely necessary, the D.E.R.P. engineer spent the night and the better half of the next day in his makeshift lab with Camilla nearby for most of it. On the third day he emerged not resurrected, but with the fruits of his labor: a suppressant to her excessive magical power. With explicit instructions to never lose nor remove it, Camilla was given a silver anklet shaped like a pair of intertwined vines, accented by the face of a fox—a design choice she thought was cute. Expectedly, her abilities took more than a few steps back, but for the next four years she spent occasional weekends and vacations at the headquarters of the Dangerous Entity Research Program to record her progress. In the process, she made friends with one of the workers' children, a white-haired dark mage two years her senior.

At the engineer's recommendation, then nearly fourteen years old, Camilla attended her first year of high school at Asteria, considered the less strenuous school between Vale and itself. There, she took classes to further her underutilized nature element, among others, and learned to literally grow and dye her own clothes. It was no replacement for what friends she left behind, but Milly tried to get chummy with more kids like her, and was able to use her magic at her leisure. Not that that stopped some older students from taking time out of their day to tease her and her freshmen ilk as their own seniors once did to them. Little pranks, like a water bucket on top of a cracked door, or "clumsy" tripping using whatever discreet magic they could pull off.

They stopped messing with Milly in particular after a swimming class in late March. While teachers were informed (albeit vaguely) of just how necessary her anklet remain in her possession, only a few close students were even aware she wasn't supposed to take it off. A cheeky sophomore thought to make Milly panic about "losing" it, and snuck the anklet off her in the water. She felt lucky to not have passed out at the time, but it was little more than setting her hand on the pool's tiled edge that missing that precious thing started taking effect. The earth growled as Camilla's magic flowed through the stone, then the dirt below, creating a fissure beneath the water that sucked it all away in a matter of seconds, and the anklet was returned to her before all of the students evacuated what remained of the pool. Kristen Vale and her observation team were quick to respond to the surge, visiting Asteria High personally to speak with the principal and have Milly transferred to Vale the next school year.