Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Flight

[Mercakete]

Norbert had been expecting to come to the minefield relatively soon, given how Rizen seemed to have suddenly grown more wary a short while ago. She was acting like she smelled something. More recently, he, himself, had picked up a scent, and hurried his pace as he informed the others that he smelled blood. Sure enough, ahead lay carnage. The rider was somewhat surprised at the number of bandits Fizza had taken down by herself, and not only because of how tough the numbers must've made the fight, but also that there were that many stragglers in the first place. The woman looked a little worse for wear, too, and understandably so.

At first, he'd paused at the sight, though only momentarily. Now, he hurried towards Fizza, hoping the others -- or at least the guy with the healing rod -- would follow suit. "Hey, are you alright?"

Rizen kept pace with her rider fairly easily. Silly humans couldn't run right.

[Phoenix]

The Pride Pain

"Ever had to lose a fight for the greater good?" Fizza looked up at Norbert with the beginnings of a faint pitiful smile, "... it's something like that."

"Holy ..." the guard captain was taken aback by the small massacre. Fizza hadn't gotten off unscathed, clearly, but it looked like she'd prevented any of them from making it back to warn Carlos. They would have to inquire about that to be absolutely certain, but for the moment, it seemed like their surprise attack might still be good to go. "Medic," he called back toward the trailing patrolmen.

Too bad the healer couldn't patch up her wounded pride, Fizza thought to herself.

[Mercakete]

Bert grimaced at her answer. Thinking about it, he hadn't, actually, as far as he could tell. Generally, his losses weren't on purpose. In fact, he couldn't recall a time when he'd backed down in a fight at all, even if it may have happened sometime. Generally, he pressed on as hard as he could until he passed out or won, whichever came first.

Well, regardless, it sounded like a medic was on the way, so Norbert took a brief look around again. "So, this is all of them, huh? I didn't think there were this many after us before."

[Phoenix]

A Doomed Rendezvous

"There were only two stragglers," Fizza explained as the healer made his way to the front, "The rest of these men were heading somewhere else when they linked up. I might have asked them about it before the fight started, but you know ... in the moment. I had to make sure none of them wised up and ran away, even if it meant fighting like a trainee." Even if they hadn't scattered, and had all run in the same general direction, the minefield was likely close by, and chasing them through it would be extremely hazardous, if only because one of their bodies might trigger a landmine as they toppled over, or even set one off deliberately as a warning to their allies.

"How did you take down so many by yourself?" the healer asked as he looked her over. She was bruised but most were minor, especially the one on her cheek. She was bleeding a little from somewhere on her head, more noticeably now that the blood had trickled down passed her hairline and onto the upper part of her left cheek, but with her thick head of hair and bandana, it was hard to be certain exactly where she'd been struck.

"Knives," Fizza groaned her overly obvious and simple answer as she waited to be treated.

Edited September 24, 2015 by Phoenix

[CobyTheGoober]

Intro to my character

It has been several days since Rolo arrived at Ursaea and left his hometown to embark on a journey. But due to poor management of his money, he was now left with empty pockets, and a hungry stomach. Now walking through the crowds of people, he had many thoughts rolling around in his mind, most of those thoughts were about stealing and or begging the people of this city for money. But he just decided to go with the former, as that was what he was best at.

Not wanting to be seen stealing from people (as he would probably get in trouble if he was seen) he decided to go somewhere less busy.

Arriving at what seemed to be a gate that was not as heavily guarded as the others, he decided that this was the perfect spot, to steal from people. His first "target" was a women with a blond hair, and a red dress, riding a horse.

He decided to wait for her to get far enough from the gates, to start his pick pocketing.

[Nanami Touko]

Gliding along with the group, Eva had to set Sasha down when Fizza came into view. She was horribly bruised, and didn't look happy, not in the slightest. Sasha down, and moving towards the group, she didn't have to ask what happened, at least, as Norbert got right to it. She could only nod. She knew the feeling, even if it had been a while. "Do you think they'll send more when their men don't come back?" she asked, wondering if Fizza would be alright in time for the assault. She glanced back at Jam, then glance at Angelica in front of her, and sighed. This was really going to be risky...

[Toogee]

The flight had not been terribly bad for Jam, seated to face the other end of the wyvern. Though they hadn't encountered any ballista, it was a good practice run for the dancer to keep herself balanced. The landing allowed her to rest her arms for a bit. Jam peeked back to see Fizza being treated amidst the circle of bodies. That part seemed to be more or less taken care of.

Jam hadn't seen Eva this worried in a while (at all?). She was usually the headstrong one, the first to rush into battle. When Eva glanced back, Jam gave a thumbs up to reassure her that she had things handled on her end.

[Mercakete]

Norbert was surprised when the wyvern landed, and as it began getting closer, Rizen began trying to pull away. She whinnied in protest when Norbert gripped her lead with both hands in an attempt to keep her from bolting and shot the wyvern rider a glare over his shoulder. "What're you still doing here?! I thought you were going to be looking for ballistae!"

Any further points were just impractical to point out at the moment with Rizen acting up as she was, but that was just another point in and of itself. If Eva had basically just been flying overhead, then all she was doing was marking where their forces were for the bandits to see before Sonya could distract them, but that was just the obvious one. The other one was that for him to be able to tell that the minefield was nearby, Rizen couldn't be stuck reacting to a wyvern. Even as it stood, he'd have to get the pegasus calm again before she'd be any use at detecting the minefield. Risking loosening his grip, Norbert waved an arm at the wyvern rider. "Get back in the air! We'll walk right into those mines if I can't calm her down!"

[Nanami Touko]

Eva ignored Bert. His lack of a trained horse wasn't her problem.

She sighed at Jam's thumbs up, giving her a nod, and a small smile. "Don't mind me. It's not me I'm worried about, it's the rest of you. Never had to put anyone else in danger on top of this stupid lizard, only myself, so... Having passengers around for the ride makes me nervous. If I get hit and we go down, I'll be taking people with me." She let out a nervous laugh, to compound it all. "I'll stay focused, but... I might look like this, for a bit."

[Phoenix]

Requiescant In Pace

"Does it matter?" Fizza countered as the healer began to address her more obvious injuries, "we've got an hour left at most before Sonya's little diversion begins. I don't think they'll start worrying about their men too much before then, not when they've got to cross terrain like this, and a minefield, to get to and from their little hideout."

"We should get moving soon, then," the guard captain said. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. Sonya had buried the bodies of the bandits during their encounter. There were seven dead this time by the guard captain's count, though he had overlooked the eighth, who was lying inconspicuously behind a nearby tree. Maybe they could spare the time to at least bury them. He had mixed feelings about it, and not just because they were the enemy; there was Sonya's imposed schedule to consider, as well, and he had no idea how long it would take them to get themselves sorted once they were past the mines. "There is the question of what to do with them, though," he motioned at the bodies.

It was difficult keeping track of the time without a pocket watch or a clear view of the sun, but they likely did have a little less than an hour before Sonya enacted her part of the plan. They would have to be ready by then, so whether it was a good idea to bury these men, Shadrak wasn't certain, but principle had him leaning toward burying them, hurriedly, but burying them just the same. He could just imagine Siv objecting to the guard captain's suggestion straight away. It was still curious that the fallen apparently found burials so distasteful.

What to Do

With the commander's own official version of a promise in hand, Greta's spirits were lifted, though there wasn't much to do, now. Going back to meet up with the others would defeat the purpose of coming to Ursaea so early, so she decided to try to find some way to pass the time that wouldn't cost much, if any coin. Ursaea wasn't a city with much going for it in the way of tourist attractions or other places of interest, and the next Ascension Festival was still a long ways off. She supposed she could head down to the market, ask around, and take some notes for herself. If there was one thing Ursaea did have going for it, it was its economic relevance. Being the most heavily populated settlement in an otherwise scarce region only contributed to that.

Luca wasn't sure where he was being led, but judging by Greta's footsteps and posture, she wasn't nervous anymore, so that was good. Perhaps he wouldn't have to trample anyone in defense of himself and the wandering female, after all.

[spoiler=OoC]Note: Fizza's first line in this post was in response to Eva's initial question, nothing after that.

Edited September 26, 2015 by Phoenix

[Ether]

"If it'd make you feel better, I can go on my own, Eva." Angelica noted to the rider absentmindedly, mostly paying attention to what was happening with Fizza below. The woman had nerve, the adept had to give her that, after all, Angelica herself likely would have dropped the act well before being beat up to that degree... although, she also had more apparent ranged capability than the assassin. A simple difference in styles, it seemed.

[Nanami Touko]

Fizza'a point made sense. "I guess you're right, with things happening so soon. As much as it pained you to do so, you made the best choice." Even the woman's tone seemed hurt, even if she didn't seem the worst off, physically. The captain brought the bodies up, and Eva really didn't think they had any time for them, but... Well, Sonya had buried them earlier. It was the humane thing to do, rather than leave them for the crows. "Do we have time to do anything, captain? I don't mind helping if you think we do. Digging holes isn't the hardest thing I've ever done."

Angelica piped up just a bit, Eva glancing down. "You could, but that'd leave me and Jam without any protection from the ballistae... As much as I'll worry, we need your wind magic to make it through with less problems."

[Mercakete]

"Hey! Didn't you hear me?!" Norbert called over. This was ridiculous. How was he supposed to do his job if that wyvern kept getting in the way? This is why pegasi and wyverns don't mix! Grr-- why'd she have to come along?! He had half a mind to just head off to Kigen without the rest of the group then and there he was so frustrated, nevermind the bandits. As far as he was concerned -- Weyland's instructions or not -- he was better off alone. If she wouldn't let him do his job, then she could just take over and alert the Ursaeans to the mines herself.

But no... No, maybe she really hadn't heard him, and it still didn't occur to her that wyverns were the natural predators of equines...no matter how many people had already told her that. Now, thinking about that, her was even more frustrated with the woman. Either she was really that stupid -- which he could try to overlook, as she wouldn't know any better -- or she just didn't care and was going to do whatever she wanted regardless of what it cost other people -- which he could hardly stand the thought of. Ok, calm down and give her a change to answer. Maybe it's something else.

[Nanami Touko]

Eva continued to ignore him. If his horse was having trouble, maybe he should've trained it better, like Lumi's.

[Toogee]

She sighed at Jam's thumbs up, giving her a nod, and a small smile. "Don't mind me. It's not me I'm worried about, it's the rest of you. Never had to put anyone else in danger on top of this stupid lizard, only myself, so... Having passengers around for the ride makes me nervous. If I get hit and we go down, I'll be taking people with me." She let out a nervous laugh, to compound it all. "I'll stay focused, but... I might look like this, for a bit."

"Well, we're here to make sure you don't have to worry about getting hit," Jam replied with a wink. "Just get us to those ballista so no one else has to worry about it. If anything, we should leave before Norbert's ride pisses himself."

[spoiler=Take Flight!]

Edited September 27, 2015 by Toogee

[Mercakete]

Ok, at this point, he was pretty sure she was ignoring him. Then again, if she really hadn't heard him these last two times... Was she going deaf or something? Bah, forget about trying to give that woman the benefit of the doubt! There's being polite and then there's being a doormat! I'll apologize later if I was wrong.

There was nothing for standing around and waiting for a self-centered idiot to think about what's best for everyone else, so the rider turned his attention to the guard captain. "Rizen's not going to calm down until I put some distance between us and that blasted lizard, so I'm going to see if I can scout ahead. Don't bother waiting for me either if you decide to get going again; since Eva's so set on being grounded, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to let her wyvern alert you all to any upcoming minefields."

If anyone disagreed with his plan, now was the time to speak. He wasn't planning on giving them much time to object.

[Phoenix]

Somewhere In the Mountains

Fizza shrugged. She figured she'd done the right thing, as far as ensuring that the plan wasn't blown out of the water before its execution by a pair of swift-footed stragglers. The whole plan could still easily fall through, though, especially if internal conflicts sprang up at the wrong time. She still ached even though her bruises were beginning to disappear, but that was to be expected. Now he was focusing on her head, trying to find the spot where the bleeding was coming from. "Pretty close to the part," she guided him a little.

"That should be fine," the guard captain nodded at Norbert, "while you're off scouting we'll see if we can lay these men to rest. We'll catch up with you if we finish before you get back."

"Like we brought shovels," Doran irritably commented. The captain supposed someone had to raise some sort of issue, though at least it was a new and somewhat good one, and not just the time argument, rehashed.

[Mercakete]

Well, at least there was that. Norbert gave the captain a nod of his own before mounting up and getting Rizen into a canter and disappearing into the foliage. She was more than happy to comply with getting away from the thing with the teeth and for now, that was all she cared about. Her rider, however, kept his eyes and ears alert for anything that might hint at bandit activity. Now that he had something else to focus on, he may as well try to pick out some sign of commonly-used routes. If they were trying to get flying mounts, then that meant they didn't have them already, or at least not in abundance, so if they did have other sites of interest nearby, then they would have gone there on foot, and probably frequently.

[Ether]

"I suppose that's fair enough... I must admit, I'm still almost in shock... Eva, of all people, not rushing headlong into certain death with a hearty guffaw and a war cry... we've not already been shot down and I've conked my head on a quarry stone, have we?" Angelica replied... closer to taunted, rather, sticking her tongue out playfully at the wyvern rider, her face set in a smirk.

[CobyTheGoober]

As the woman in the red dress started to head off away from the gate, Rolo knew that this was his best chance.

Thinking that Rolo saw a pouch somewhere on the woman's belt, his plan of action was to rush over to her and try to swipe what's out of the pouch.

"All right... here I go!" Rolo then sprinted at full force toward the woman; hoping that he could at least steal something of worth

[CobyTheGoober]

As the woman in the red dress started to head off away from the gate, Rolo knew that this was his best chance.

Thinking that Rolo saw a pouch somewhere on the woman's belt, his plan of action was to rush over to her and try to swipe what's out of the pouch.

"All right... here I go!" Rolo then sprinted at full force toward the woman; hoping that he could at least steal something of worth

[Phoenix]

Assisting the Dead

Shadrak watched Norbert leave, and once he was out of sight, he noticed the patrolmen starting to gather up the bodies. They didn't have any shovels or massive dragon claws to aid them in digging the relatively shallow graves they would need to bury all of these men, and the time it would take to accomplish that with lesser tools was staggering. It wouldn't do to tire himself out when he might have to enter the fray once the fighting started, but he didn't see this burial plan panning out without some form of magic involved.

"Captain," Shadrak reluctantly approached the man, "Maybe I should help them bury the dead." Sensing the guard captain was about to answer reflexively, without really comprehending what Shadrak really meant, the druid quickly elaborated. "I mean I'll use dark magic to help dig the holes. That's the only way I see us getting this done quickly enough to not have to leave the job unfinished."

"Ah," the captain nodded his understanding. "Don't wear yourself out. We're short on magic as it is." The mercenaries didn't have to help in the battle; that wasn't a part of the agreement, but since Sonya involved herself, it seemed as though the scouting party had become another part of their fighting force ... a grossly undisciplined part. The guard captain wasn't sure if any of that would hold true all the way up to the confrontation with the bandits, and their leader, Carlos Lich, but for now, he knew it would be unwise to let one of their mages waste all of their energy here, in a situation like this.

"Ugh, if I knew everyone was going to want to waste time trying to bury these little minions, I would have just crippled them, instead," Fizza frowned.

Sounds of a Little Human

Luca caught the sound of hurried footsteps, which was usually a sign that some human was in a hurry, either to get away from something, or to reach someone. He didn't care which it was, but he was still curious. His ear swiveled to the side, trying to focus in on the noise while Greta was lost in thought. He then turned his head slightly to see exactly who was coming toward them. It was a small human, smaller than usual, at least, though now the lightness of the footsteps made sense. He wasn't sure what the smaller human wanted, but as long as he wasn't messing around with Nadya's saddlebags, he felt no need to bite or kick him.

Stay On Target

Haythem still didn't see anything below the treetops, not since the previous clearing, so it was unlikely they were close to their destination, yet. Still, he was flying low, so that if they passed up their allies, they would know and could quickly send up a signal of some kind, or send one of the fliers up to meet them. Either way, it seemed foolproof enough, as long as they didn't find a ballistician first, or something to that effect.

[spoiler=Innocence]

Nori couldn't remember how long he'd been trudging along the dirt road, but the stench of death and embers still hung in the air, even all the way out here. He hadn't yet realized that the various smells were coming from his own singed and tattered clothes. Sougenichi, his home village, was a village located just south of Kigen's capital, Kayoyama. Before it became a popular place of trade, it was considered little more than a convenient rest stop on the way to the capital. Now the large village was burning to the ground five kilometers behind him, and Nori, a ten year old boy who'd never left the place at any point in his life, was tired, wary, and almost broken by what he'd witnessed only a short while ago.

Nori's parents, older siblings, and even some of his friends had all been killed trying to escape the slaughter, but as far as the boy knew, he was the only one to escape from their large house at the very edges of the village. If there were other survivors from elsewhere in the village, he hadn't seen them yet. He supposed that made sense. The capital wasn't that far away, even someone his age could eventually make the trip there on foot, but his house had been located at the southern end of the village, and there was no hope of making it through the carnage to the northern entrance. Going around the village was nearly as dangerous, considering the tenacity and relentlessness of the monstrosities attacking his home. He would have only been giving them more time to hunt him down, he'd decided in his initial haste to escape.

As Nori walked the long endless road, he never bothered to look up, despite the sound of thunder growing closer and closer. Instead, he thought back to his final moments with his family, before they began dying one by one. They had hidden inside the house at their father's request, but once the fires started, they knew they would have to find some way to flee. The creatures that came for them were like nothing he'd ever seen or heard of. These were demons of a different sort, and more terrifying than anything his siblings had ever tried to frighten him with. The ones his father and siblings had always spoken of were winged twisted reflections of humanity, but the murderous beings Nori witnessed were ghostly in appearance, an impossible mingling of black smoke and armor, lacking flesh of any kind, impossible to kill. The creatures capitalized on their overwhelming advantage and fell on anyone they found with reckless abandon. No one could harm them, and any who stood their ground or even hesitated to run was immediately struck down. That was how his father and eldest brother had died, but their sacrifice had bought the rest of them time to escape the house.

The thunder was growing even louder, to the point where Nori felt the urge to cover his ears. Still, he didn't bother looking up, not when the only thing to see was storm clouds and a road that stretched on for miles with no end in sight. The next time the thunder came, however, it shook the ground. The resulting lightning caused such a brilliant flash, that even staring down at his bare and worn feet, Nori was blinded by the intense light. His gaze shot out to the distance to try and see where the bolt had landed. The yellow hue of the lightning was all the proof Nori needed to know that it wasn't natural lightning, but a thunder spell of tremendous power. He was surprised to see a smoldering, sunken patch of earth only ten meters in front of him. Beyond that, he could see more thunder spells flying bursting forth in all directions. They were all coming from the same source, a source Nori was surprised he hadn't noticed sooner. It was a gigantic, massive darkness floating in the sky like a writhing sphere of pure malice. Dark magic flowed up from it, reaching up into the sky, as if trying to seize the dark clouds above. Even more poured down from the bottom of the sphere, spilling onto the land below ... and blocking off the very road Nori was on. The dark blockade was still several kilometers away, but turning back was certain death, and his way forward was cut off. He could try to go around the darkness, heading through the untamed wilderness to do so, but there were other threats out there besides the monsters in his village and this giant swirling shadow.

The thunder spells had ceased, though Nori had been so taken aback by the shadowy mass itself that he hadn't noticed until long afterward. The sphere began to expand, stretching outward and becoming thinner around its borders until he could almost peer into its core. As the sphere expanded, the dark magic reaching up from its top, and pouring down from its bottom ceased to flow, but the darkness that had originated from them hung in the sky and covered the land, still. The sphere quickly spread out into an unstable, oily ring, and Nori was horrified to see what was at the center. It was a dragon, and not just any dragon. This wingless, almost serpentine dragon was one he'd seen numerous times growing up. He'd read about this dragon and its kin in books, heard about it in stories, seen hundreds upon hundreds of works of art inspired by it. Judging by the thunder and lightning, this dragon could be none other than the thunder dragon, The Thunder Dragon, the only one that his people paid any heed to. If it really was Rai-Ryu, then this was historic, catastrophic event he was now burdened with bearing witness to. Nori reached out with his hand pleadingly as the dragon hung there in the air, suspended by an unseen force, as the lingering darkness swirled about him like a translucent cage. <"No."> Could the ghostly figures that had destroyed Sougenichi be connected to the shadows imprisoning Rai-Ryu?

Abandoning all thoughts of his own safety, Nori broke into a painful sprint, stumbling every so often as his already worn feet caught the sharper edges of the many rocks littering the road. <"Leave him alone,"> he shouted at the darkness, flailing his arms and trying to somehow affect the situation. For a moment, Nori feared what was happening now had somehow been in response to him. The ring of shadow surrounding Rai-Ryu began to flow up and around him in a large dome shape. The excess energy gathered into a thick and unsettling mass at the very top of the faint dome and began to become thicker and thicker until it formed the shape of a dragon's head. The head was almost as large as the dome, and far, far larger than Rai-Ryu. The head was massive enough to take Rai-Ryu's entire body into his mouth with ease. The mere sight of the disembodied head was enough to halt Nori's pace. It both disgusted and terrified him. As the dragon head opened its eyes, red light erupted forth, obscuring any details in its eyes that the boy might have been able to pick out. <"F-fight it,"> Nori choked out as he stumbled back.

Regardless of what he made of the dragon head's initial appearance, Nori knew that when the abomination slowly turned to face him, that it had somehow heard him. He was at least three kilometers away from this monstrosity and it had still noticed him, a small, insignificant boy, out here, alone on the this cursed road. The dragon smiled at him briefly, a long, mischievous smile that made Nori shiver. What was going to happen now that the dragon head had noticed him, he wondered? He was on the verge of panicking, but he didn't have anywhere to run, now.

As Nori looked over his shoulder, and back up the road leading to Sougenichi, he felt a disturbance in the air just in front of him. There was nothing behind him but endless road stretching upward toward the mountains, but when he turned back around to see what the disturbance was, he saw the unthinkable. The dragon head's attention was no longer on him, but one of the same demonic creatures from his village had materialized out of thin air and was now towering over him. Nori fell back and held up his arms to shield himself, but the creature immediately reached past them and seized him by the neck, hoisting him off the ground with an outstretched arm, complete with a painfully sharp set of clawed fingers. This was it, Nori thought as the heavily armored specter began to crush the life out of him. This was the end. Before he could even fully register what was happening, he felt an intense sharp pain explode outward from his neck in all directions ... and then ... everything was swallowed up in darkness.

[spoiler=Hope]

The pain wasn't there anymore, Nori thought to himself. He knew he wasn't dead. His father had told him that death was a lot like a sleep you could never wake up from. If that was true, then this wasn't death, because Nori felt as if he was waking up from a bad dream. He could even feel his limbs, and his neck, though, as he'd noted previously, the pain was gone. He also felt as if he was beneath a blanket and wearing something on his head. There was an entirely new sensation, as well, one that immediately put him on edge. There was something in his stomach, writhing and squirming around wildly. Nori's hand instinctively grasped at his chest as he felt the movements start to move up higher and higher. It was starting to get really uncomfortable now.

It was at this point that Nori realized ... someone was holding him down. Reason gave way to panic, and he tried to wrestle free, even as his right arm was seized and forced back down to his sides. He still couldn't see anything. It was like there was something covering his eyes. The strange movement in his body was moving up rapidly, quickly approaching his throat. Nori continued to struggle, kicking and screaming until his gag reflex cut him off. It also made much of his body seize up long enough for whatever was inside him to make its way up into his mouth. For a brief instant, he felt the breath of someone gently pass over his nose and cheeks. Then the creature? whatever it was that had been inside him, seemed to float out of his mouth, leaving only a bit of tasteless slime in his mouth and throat.

For a moment, Nori didn't move; he was still being held down, albeit very gently at this point, but the situation he'd found himself in was simply too alien for him to properly process what had just happened. Once he felt the grip on his hands disappear, however, instinct took over and Nori reached up and ripped off what was covering his head and eyes. He quickly shot up into a seated position and that was when he saw the one who had been holding him down. It was a woman, though she was wearing a dark brown cloak and he couldn't make out much more than her face. She didn't look Kigenese, though, not exactly. From the surroundings, they were outside, somewhere, away from the main road, though not in the wilderness, proper, probably in a clearing, somewhere.

As the woman leaned in toward him, Nori could make out a few more of her features. The most startling, was her eyes. They were beautiful, but unnatural. They weren't eyes any human would possess. They were a burning gold-orange color that almost shined beneath her hood. She had a complexion slightly darker than his own, a soft tan, and long black hair with subtle blue highlights. The elusive context of the situation, combined with the woman's appearance left Nori confused arguing silently with his instincts. It seemed as though she was the one that saved his life, but he wasn't stupid ... the slight bulge beneath her cloak that he was just now noticing, her beautiful glowing eyes; these were the traits of a demon. She could try to conceal her wings, but an observant individual, even a child like himself, could still pick them out if they were paying attention. Worst still, there was probably no one around that could protect him from whatever she had in store for him, next.

<"What is your name?"> the demonic figure asked, as she leaned back, sitting straight beside him.

<"N-nori,"> the boy said, and then he realized that the slime in his mouth was starting to leak into his throat, choking him, slightly. As he began a brief coughing fit, he saw glimpses of the woman smiling. He didn't know what to think.

<"Best to simply swallow, Nori. It's a parting gift,"> she explained, <"Are you in any pain?"> Nori simply shook his head, still unsure whether or not to swallow or spit out the last remnants of this so called 'parting gift.' <"Wonderful. I'm glad there wasn't any lasting damage. It's just a shame there's nothing I can do about any mental trauma you endured. I'm also afraid I may be adding to it in a moment ..."> Nori braced himself as the woman began to remove her cloak. First, her hood came down, and then it fell from her shoulders. Her wings had been pressed, seemingly tightly against her shoulders, but rose back up to roughly head height once the cloak was off. <"I am Freyya Devlinos, a princess of Corvus.">

Nori was scared, but held his ground. Surely if she wanted to hurt him, she wouldn't have bothered waiting, and if she truly wanted him dead, she likely wouldn't have healed him in the first place. Still, his entire life he'd heard stories of the demons and their insistence on killing or enslaving every last human they came across, and that far outweighed this particular demon, Freyya's, benevolence. Besides, the stories explained her behavior well enough ... she was going to turn him into a slave. That was the only thing that made any sense.

<"Princess,"> came a voice from somewhere nearby. Nori didn't understand the language. <"The boy lives. We must leave, now, before the army arrives. Leave him with the dragon or take him with us ... please ...">

Freyya shook her head as she looked to someone that was just out of Nori's field of view. Then she started speaking the strange language, too. <"We're not leaving. I know it's risky ... that will likely be the story of my entire life ... still, I want the Kigenese to know what we've done here.">

<"They will not care about you saving a single child when an entire village has been destroyed,"> the other voice protested. Nori tried to turn and face him, but he was weaker than he'd first realized, and the effort of simply turning in place left him a little fatigued. The other voice was coming from a tall man ... another demon. This one wasn't in disguise like Freyya had been. There were several others, as well, all male, and muscular. Nori feared any one of them could easily tear his head clean from his shoulders if they so chose. They were just as intimidating and devious looking as his father and siblings had warned. <"They will attack us on sight. You can't be here when they arrive.">

<"I'm not talking about the boy,"> Freyya shook her head a second time, <"I'm talking about the dragon. I'm taking him over there where we can wait for the army.">

<"Princess, please,"> the fallen male pleaded, clinching his fists as desperation took hold.

<"You're free to flee if you want,"> Freyya grinned slightly, <"I didn't want any of you to come along in the first place."> She tossed the other fallen her cloak, and then, without any warning, reached down and scooped Nori up into her arms. <"I was going to sneak into the capital at first, as you well know, but now that one of their gods is lying helpless in this wasteland, I see a better way to begin our talks.">

<"This is too dangerous. Nothing you say will convince them to listen to us.">

<"Then go,"> Freyya glared at him, <"If the vassals of both sides are expecting foul play, then the talks are doomed to end in pointless violence. Leave me in peace. Perhaps then my plan will have some hope of succeeding.">

<"What's going on?"> Nori asked, holding onto Freyya, despite his fears.

She smiled weakly at him. <"Your dragon god is still alive. I made certain of that,"> she told him in his own language, letting the other subject drop for the moment, <"I'm going to take you to see him, now. We'll wait with him where it's safe until the army arrives. I'm sure he'll be happy to meet you, Nori.">

Nori's face lit up in excitement. Rai-Ryu was still alive. He didn't know why, but Freyya had made sure that he survived his battle against the shadows and the monstrous dragon head. Demon or not, he was far less wary of her, now, though he would have still preferred to keep the others at a distance. <"I want to go see him,"> Nori nodded at her, hoping to see one of his nation's heroes as well as getting away from the other demons in the area.

[spoiler=Answers and Aid]

Freyya's guards, to her slight disappointment, didn't leave in the end. If they couldn't get over their fears, they would be more of a hindrance to her than protection. For now, she focused on her charges, Nori, and Rai-Ryu. She had actually treated Nori, first, but had flown over to Rai-Ryu, leaving the child with her guards so that she could ensure the dragon's survival. She preferred humans to dragons, but Rai-Ryu was still her top priority, which was why she was relieved to see that his injuries, while numerous, weren't that serious. When she returned to Nori, she was annoyed to see that her guards had tied a cloth over his head to cover his eyes, as if they should hide who and what they were from a mere child. Being discovered by the Kigenese was all a part of her plan. She just wanted this to happen on her own terms.

<"So this is the child you mentioned,"> came Rai-Ryu's thundering voice. Even speaking softly, at this short distance, his massive lungs caused his voice to carry far, with a deep sound that was unmistakably male, and aged. Freyya found his big whisker obscured grin amusing to look at. As Freyya set Nori down, he turned to face the legendary being lying in front of them. Rai-Ryu eyed him thoughtfully for a moment, and then his gaze moved back to Freyya. <"Thank you for saving him, Princess.">

<"It was my pleasure,"> she bowed her head, <"however, there is something I would ask of you, Thunder God.">

<"Hmph, god,"> Rai-Ryu huffed at the words, <"I am no longer even a vasilus thanks to Obelisk and his shenanigans. What do you want of me, Princess? I do intend to repay you for going out of your way to help this one.">

Nori stared back and forth between the two of them, understanding the words, but not all of the meaning behind them. The only things he was sure of for the moment were that Freyya wanted some kind of favor and Rai-Ryu was happy to oblige her, despite her being a demon. The other demons guarding her weren't far behind her, he noted.

<"I would like you to mediate for me,"> Freyya said plainly, <"The Kigenese soldiers are going to want to cut my escorts and me down as soon as they see us, but I'd like you to encourage them to listen to what I have to say, first. We'll fight them if that's what they truly want, but I didn't come all the way from Tartarus just to fight at the doorstep of the capital. I came here to speak with their leaders and make a proposal, one removed from most of the current conflicts.">

<"A Fallen diplomat,"> Rai-Ryu squinted, a little suspicious but also amused, <"I was under the impression that there were only the admonitors.">

<"I suppose that's true, but there's something I want, and that my people need,"> Freyya said, her tone becoming more serious, <"If we don't get it, my brother is going to have a very difficult time keeping his people in line after our Sovereign falls and Obelisk abandons us.">

<"Abandons you,"> the dragon repeated the words with great interest, <"Please, Princess, explain the whole situation to me ... what is Obelisk trying to do? What is your Sovereign trying to do? What is all of this death and destruction supposed to accomplish?"> Nori wanted to know, too. Fortunately, or perhaps, unfortunately for him, Freyya wasn't one to censor herself for the sake of a child. Life was hard, brutal, and unfair, and sooner or later, everyone was going to die, so she saw little need for protecting the tattered remains of Nori's innocence.

<"As you wish,"> she replied with a nod, <"where to begin ...">

Edited November 7, 2015 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

Yes, it looked like they were going the right way, and not just because of the bandits Fizza had taken down. The woods Norbert had lived in before were similar to these. So, it wasn't too hard for him to tell that right now, though it may not have looked like it to someone who wasn't used to this kind of terrain, that they were more or less on a path leading...well, somewhere. His guess was to the bandits' hideout. The trees weren't as close to one another along this way, and there weren't as many clusters of bushes -- leafy or thorny.

He didn't see the "path" fork off anywhere. Bert had slowed Rizen to a walk. They were far enough from the others now that the pegasus was beginning to relax. Her rider figured that the more familiar smells and sounds of the woods was also helping her. The usual wildlife was evident: birds, bugs, and forest rodents, though not in particular abundance. It wasn't surprising. After all, Norbert himself was a relatively large mammal, let alone Rizen, so the smaller creatures would naturally stay a safe distance away.

The rider was keeping an eye out for anything that might stand out when Rizen suddenly stopped her even steps, pulling her head back and giving it a small shake and a soft snort. Though Norbert was a little surprised, he figured he had some idea as to what it could be. Quietly, he murmured to his pegasus, "Smell something, Riz?"

As if in response, the mare snorted again and gave her head another shake before beginning to veer off to the left. She only managed to take a couple steps before Norbert stopped her with a light pull to her reins. She shook her head and gave a stubborn whinny in protest. When her rider slipped off of her back, though, she began watching him. What sort of trouble was this human going to get into now? The smell wasn't strong, but it sure wasn't pleasant and her instincts were telling her that she didn't want to be anywhere near it. Yet here he was, looking in the smell's direction like he was trying to figure something out. She already told him -- they should go some other way to wait out the predators that were with the other humans.

[Nanami Touko]

"Joke all you want. If I was going into this alone I wouldn't have a problem with it, but, if I was going into this alone I wouldn't make it, so I'll have to deal with my anxiety... In the meantime," she said, shimmying her wyvern over to the soldiers. "Do you lot want Sasha to dig you something? We don't have shovels, but he can probably claw out the ground faster than the rest of you, since we don't have a dragon, anymore." It wasn't like Sasha couldn't dig something out. It would still take him a bit, but it'd be far faster than shovel-less soldiers.

[Phoenix]

Wyvern Claws

"That's not going to be too much effort for him, is it?" the guard captain answered the question with one of his own. Having no experience with wyverns, he wasn't sure of their stamina. It was one of only two fliers they could actually make use of, so he was feeling almost as cautious about the idea as having Shadrak help with his magic.

Movement

"There's nothing around for miles but trees," Haythem groaned, nearly slipping into rexian in his frustration. His timing couldn't have possibly been any worse, he realized, as he saw movement below. He couldn't make out what was disturbing the trees, but whatever was causing it, it appeared to be moving at break neck speed, leaving swirling winds in its wake that rustled the treetops long after it past. It was as if an imaginary blade was carving a path right through the forest below them. "What is that? Some kind of magic?"

"It's heading the same way we are," Amon noted, "let's follow it for now ... but not too closely."

"Good call," Haythem nodded, "Are you thinking this might have something to do with that arrow we found back at the clearing?"

"I'm almost positive."

[spoiler=Three Hundred Thousand]

Nori hadn't expected to learn what the creatures that annihilated Sougenichi Village were, much less comprehend such an explanation, but Freyya was thorough. Rai-Ryu seemed to be familiar with the various events she had begun her explanation with, but Nori was in no way familiar with Fallen history, not where Kigen wasn't involved in some way. She explained a short and gruesome story that she called 'The Massacre of Night.' It was a brief period in which all of Tartarus was shrouded in darkness, and a dark goddess, Nyx, rained down her fury on their people. Approximately three hundred thousand fallen lost their lives before Nyx relented. Rai-Ryu was also familiar with this story, but what Freyya had explained afterward surprised them both equally.

The creatures that had attacked Nori's village were those same fallen killed in the Massacre of Night, thousands of years ago. Obelisk had bound their disembodied spirits to himself, and fostered their hatred over the millennia, with the goal of unleashing them on the world ahead of Valdimarr's incursion. Their anguish and murderous intent came from several thousand years of restraint and festering hatred. They no longer held any capacity for compassion or mercy. They would even attack other fallen if Obelisk released his control over them. They were all but mindless, rotted from the inside out, irredeemable souls capable of only death and destruction. That seemed to be just the way Obelisk wanted them.

<"Obelisk is planning to use this army to keep their attention until those spatial gates are completed ... then the real nightmare begins,"> Rai-Ryu summarized. <"Strange, though ... a simple diversion can't be their ultimate purpose if they were created thousands of years ago.">

Freyya frowned. <"We could only hope his plans are that simple, but there is obviously more that I'm not privy to. All I know with any certainty is that whether Valdimarr's campaign against the humans succeeds, Obelisk is going to abandon us.">

A hint of suspicion showed on Rai-Ryu's face. He was unsure if Freyya was upset about the situation as a whole or the loss of their cruel, sadistic, and hopelessly twisted god. <"Tell me, Princess, would you prefer Obelisk remain as your guardian? Your dark god?">

<"I would prefer it if someone ... anyone with real power, stand with us. There's really no other way our people can survive."> After a brief silence, she continued. <"We're not very adept at keeping secrets and our culture reinforces that flaw ... which is why I know that there is a god that's interested in us ... but it's the one I'm the most wary of, right now.">

She didn't have to tell Rai-Ryu which god it was; that was simple enough to deduce on his own. The God of Wrath wanted the fallen completely eradicated, so he wasn't the one she was talking about. The Goddess of Mercy might have had some interest in redeeming the fallen, putting them back in the same standing as the avians, but Rai-Ryu doubted she would act on something like that while there was such a massive slaughter in the works. Even she was willing to see that punishments were meted out for such gross offenses. The Goddess of Nature, he felt, would find the fallen somewhat interesting, perhaps even entertaining, but nothing more. The God of Truth, however, was another matter entirely. By mortal standards, he was Obelisk's father, and the fallen, Obelisk's charges. There may have been more going on that the former vasilus wasn't aware of, but Truth was the only god with a relevant connection to the fallen.

Nori had heard of the four major gods of the northern religions, but he held only the flimsiest understanding of them. Wrath was a punisher that rained down harsh punishment, if not complete annihilation, on those it befit, though only very rarely. The last time it happened, the world was set back hundreds of years technologically. It was so long ago, however, that it might as well just be an interesting tale and nothing more. Mercy was a forgiver and savior of sorts, saving those who still had the potential to be redeemed and preventing Wrath from destroying everyone. She too hadn't done anything like this since ancient times. Nature was a goddess of the world, and had some sort of connection to the dragons. He was tempted to ask Rai-Ryu if that was true, since, being a dragon as well as a god, he might actually know the answer to that question. Lastly there was Truth, a god he knew next to nothing about. Thinking about it now, he supposed Truth was a god that despised lies and misinformation, but that was just a child's guess.

Rai-Ryu understood Freyya's wariness with regard to Truth. He was capable of seeing far into the future, and reviewing countless outcomes, but never seemed to act on what he saw, instead letting everything, no matter how overwhelmingly catastrophic, come to pass. He wasn't a god that was likely to protect them from their divine enemies, such as the vasili. Only Truth's exemplars shared in anything with him directly, and save for those who were still alive and nearing the end of their lives, the exemplars of Truth, like most exemplars in general, were gone, living in another world. <"He is a reclusive god,"> Rai-Ryu admitted, breaking the silence, <"... still, he is the only one of the four possessing real power that I can see standing by your kind, Princess.">

<"What would be expected of us in return, I wonder?"> Freyya's gaze fell as she contemplated the endless possibilities.