A u r A • H e a r t Z : Introductory Arc ~ [ Lit. O / A ]

Epic battle is Epic!

Hale v Crimson FTW!	40.6%	[ 13 ]
Leonoka v Twins FTW!	18.8%	[ 6 ]
JuCien v Xanas FTW!	28.1%	[ 9 ]
Captains v AlaJi FTW!	3.1%	[ 1 ]
Recruits v AnLance FTW!	6.2%	[ 2 ]
Ocean Team v Juriza FTW!	3.1%	[ 1 ]
Total Votes:			[ 32 ]

[_Passive-x-Entropy_]

I Love You. Forever.
Only Forever?
Forever....

And Ever

INEVITABLE DEGENERATION OF ALL BUT THE MONSTER WITH ITS NAME
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♥ E n t r o p Y ♥
Vectiras [Keeper Camp]
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CAN YOU SEE WHAT I SEE

.......Mattheis. Constantly view, must always be in view, and always within reach. Or, at least, a mere leap away. Not too hard, not that hard. Can leap 200 feet in a single lunge, if I'd like.... Matt must always be protected, must always stay under my guard. Arcane will be overjoyed to watch over the Dreskans, few as they are.

.......Controlled shifters, switching swiftly between forms for warm-ups. Erratics..... Erratics.... They inject their drugs of swirling, shifting rainbows. Glowing blue and pink. And scattered among the ranks, those that are charging with Obsidian Sun, the best drug on the market.... Pure liquid darkness flickering with gold. In my hands.... A case of this stuff in my hands....

.......What to do with it, it's useless to me... Useless... And yet the syringe is full and my arm is bared, the flesh raw from ripping it open over over and over to silence the voices. They're quiet when I'm in physical pain. So quiet, blessedly quiet.

.......They chitter in the back of my head, the brave ones stepping forward to hiss in my ears. Take it, take it takeittakeit... The needle, a pinch as it's under my skin, my so pale abused skin. Press it down, and it goes racing through my veins like a wildfire. I can see.... Can see.... Feathers drifting around the captain, my charge. And other....other things.... I don't....

[Grendel - Void Malign (0:35)]

.......Green. Green ones. Green zeros, circling around my wrists and chest, flashing in front of my eyes, circlets moving faster and faster. Agony, agony..... It hurts it hurts..... Shouldn't have done anything, shouldn't..... Why? What... ITHURTSITHURTSITHURTSITHURTS..... I can hear.... Screaming, screaming, I hear screaming.... All around me.... I recognize my own, but it's not just that....

.......Screaming, and voices. The voices that speak to me, that call to me, and there are....others. Others that I know, others that I don't. It....I.... My eyes are closed. I know they're closed. It hurts.... But not so much anymore. I try to open them, and I can't.... can't... Bones crunching, grinding, howling out in a song that says I can't take much more....

.......What is this? I don't understand.... I can see now. I can see, and it's strange. Colorless. Gray. No speech, no way to scream out.... It comes out in a howling snarl, and confusion reigns. I can't.... I shouldn't. I shouldn't be like this, I shouldn't be able to do this, this is what they described it as.... I shouldn't be able to do this.

.......Shouldn't be this way, shouldn't be this..... BIG. My vision is nearly twice above my normal eyeline.... The Nith.... Below.... I.... Mattheis. Must not let.... They.... THEY CALL ME TO SILENCE THEM. The whispering, the gibbering... It's risen, it's louder, they call me to destroy. Blood blood blood blood blood bloodbloodBloodBLoodBLOodBLOOdBLOODBLOODBLOODBLOODBLOOD

.......Dementia has awoken. Level 1.

[Project Pitchfork - Orange Moon]

.......What now stood on the beach in the place of the pale young man with the black tattooed face was a monstrosity, even by Dreskan standards. The transformation was monstrous, at the very least, in the eyes of all. The end result, a blue-furred wolf, was not too traumatizing, despite being roughly fourteen feet tall.

.......The disturbing part of this was the fact that it HAPPENED. As a first generation shift, it should not be possible. First generations were considered rejects, gifted only with perhaps improved sight and hearing, and the animalistic parts they were known for. But this.... This was beyond any normal shift, a creature of that size, much less a first generation. Even less, a Corpse. But it had happened, that fact was indisputable.

.......If one thought about it, the lethal combination was probably the fact that he used the strongest Shift drug on the market, and with the potential to be a Keeper and the total overload.... Well, it was a recipe for trouble in any case. One just had to hope that this trouble was on their side. Eyes of gray and violet stared down a puzzled snout before the monstrosity let out a body-shaking snarl and it moved to stand protectively next to Mattheis, ripping apart Nith with flashing tooth and claw.

.......He fought not only for the brave Captain, but for the the ones that were lost. The ones that would be lost. And the ones that would make it. Liebe, love... While it would make sense, very little got through to his muddled brain, so all he could think of were those wonderful noises that the dying made.

.......And how he wanted to make more, so much more. Bodies bodies, all over the ground. And there would be a swath of them to the tower, the cerulean wolf, even larger than Kaito's Sukai, blazing on ahead of the trail, tail lashing. Blazing indeed.... Wherever its paws went, a flash of blue flame followed.

.......Should any warrior get too close to the animal death machine, a cacouphany of voices rose in their head, screeching gleefully, howling and gibbering at them until they drifted away once more. Almost instinctually, Entropy kept Mattheis out of this range, and any others learned quickly to stay just far enough out of the way that the chatter was a dull whisper.

.......To the tower, they shrieked. Bloodbloodbloodkillkillkillforthetower. A hissing warsong for those strong enough to stand it, diving into battle, driven by an unseen force. Auras blazing, but none brighter than those who heard Dementia's song.

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Victims - Aren't We All?

[PyroXTech]

I'm tired of running away.
It's time to stand and fight.

The Rogue
Shino Ishida - Worldship Dock Tower: Raine, Adamitte
"Nobody crosses Shino Ishida and gets away with it, I'll make damn sure of that..."

"Throw them in the hold and keep them under strict surveillance. I don't want any slip-ups. Now, to deal with the third nuisance... This shouldn't take too long, don't worry."

Shino didn't even bother to meet the gaze of the man when he glared at the rogue, his pride wasn't even worth another boot into the ribs at this point, so he just continued on biding his time. Without a word he was lifted to his feet and dragged inside the ship, just seeming to simply disappear off the face of the planet as far as the citizens were concerned. He did not hesitate to follow their orders as he was guided through the labyrinth, halting momentarily only when Neera was placed in her cell, but he got the hint to keep walking with a quick smack to the back of his head. Pretty smart for a bunch of retards, breaking us up so we can't cause as much of a problem for them. For all their effort though, it won't spare them their lives. Pity. After almost another minute of walking he was finally shoved into his cell, not bothering to stand himself back up when he dropped onto his side.

As he lay there on the ground he couldn't help but look back on his life before all this started, the relative happiness that he once enjoyed but had to abandon for the sake of his survival, just as he had done so many times before. Happiness seemed so distant to him now, the days where he could run around with the other children without being shunned or outcast because of his appearance were long gone. He began to feel the sorrow, questioning himself what he could have possibly done to deserve the fate he was destined to repeat time and time again. What did I ever do to them? Despair built up inside him as he began to realise that no matter how hard he tried to run and hide, somebody would always track him down and subject him to this punishment. Why does this keep happening to me? Most of all though he felt an uncontrolable hate towards every living thing that forced him into this lifestyle; these thugs, the Keepers and every other pitiful excuse for a human being that neglected him, despised him and abused him for something he wasn't. What right do they have?

Something inside his head began to click, the memories of his past began to fade to darkness as his brain flickered to life, replacing the memories with numerous schematics and images from his time on The Firebird until now. Laying there motionless in his cell, Shino came to realise something that he had been avoiding simply for the fact that he had no desire to change before. He was tired of running. Tired of repeating this cycle time and time again simply because he had no reason to try otherwise. Just plain tired of dealing with these same fools who believe themselves to be superior because they had a string of luck that has been stretched too far for their own good. It was time for him to deal with this problem once and for all, no more running, it was time for him to fight. If he died, so be it, at least he would be free from this horid existance once and for all, but if he survived... Well he would deal with that when the time came.

Outsude the cell he could hear the echoing sounds of footsteps as another man approached, and those of the guard turning to face the approaching man. "So you actually came, huh? Well, I guess I can't stop you now, but you owe me big time for this. You got five minutes, that's all I can give you." The guard chuckled as footsteps announced his departure. "Have fun."

It was silent for a few moments before the door to his cell was opened and a man entered, Shino fiddling with the cuffs to ensure they would slip off when he needed them to. The man stopped so that he loomed over Shino grabbing the white haired boy by the cuff of his shirt and forceable lifting him off the ground, slamming his back against the wall several times to catch his attention. Slowly Shino began to raise his head to meet the eyes of his assailant, not surprised to find the man with the bandaged tounge as the source of aggression. "You son of a b***h. Look what you did to me!" Normally the rogue would have meerly giggled at the lispy, muffled noises coming from the mouth of the thug, but his face held a look of disconcern. Without waiting for a resonse the man pulled back his arm, thrusting it forward into Shino's stomach with enough force to break a bone, dropping the head of the boy from the force of the punch. "I'm going to make you pay for what you did to me." There was another pause as the man waited for a response, but upon hearing none pulled back his arm for a second punch only to realise that the white haired boy was shaking his head, lowering his arm for a moment. "Pitiful. Do you think that before was a fluke, that I somehow miraculously beat you despite the fact that I was weakened, tired and restrained? You're nothing compared to me, just a pitiful creature that doesn't even deserve the existence it was given in the first place. Even without my weapons, my aura and my abilities you have no chance of beating me."

"Shut up you insolent freak! You're nothing but a Shadowsili, what do you know?" Pulling his arm back again he thrust his fist forward for a second time, though he wouldn't get the chance to do it again. Slipping his hands free of the cuffs, Shino caught the forearm of the man under his arm, quickly bringing down his free arm with increadible force into the underside of his elbow. The result was a audible pop as his arm was forced out of the socket, sending the man stumbling back and releasing Shino in his neglegence, the rogue already dashing towards the stunned man. Before he had time to react Shino placed the hooked end of the broken cuff against the back of his neck, hammering down with his fist to force the hook into the section between two of his vertibrae, severing the spinal cord instantly. Pulling the cuff free he quickly went to work removing the cuffs completely, tossing the cursed thing into the corner of his cell and out of the way.

Dragging the deceased man up to the back wall he made a quick search of the body, removing a gun and placing it loosely in one of the holsters for his Hellfire pistols and grabbing several small pieces of metal and jewlery that adorned his body to convert into rings should he need them. As he finished up he heard the footsteps of the guard approaching, throwing himself into the back corner as he drew the pistol, waiting for the man to get close enough for a clean shot as it would already be difficult enough shooting through the bars on his cell.

"Your time's up, time to... Wait. What the hell's going on here?" Noticing the body of the thug he approached the cell cautiously, fixated on his fallen comrade. Turning he noticed the black-clad Shino too late, a bullet striking him right between the eyes and dropping the man before he even had time to reach for his gun.

With both threats eliminated Shino approached the door to his cell, placing his palms up against the metal, closing his eyes as he tried to manipulate the locking mechanisms within it. Though the cell hindered his abilities to manipulate aura and metal effectively, without the cuffs on it was possible, if somewhat slowed by the dulled senses it gave him when it came to alchemy. Surely enough though the lock clicked and the door slid open, allowing Shino to slip out, repeating the process of looting the body of the guard. Sheathing the second pistol he turned towards the nearest exit, taking several steps towards the nearest exit before he stoped himself. Neera... He couldn't leave her here to suffer the fate he was trying to escape, Shadowsili or not he knew what these people were going to do to her and he couldn't just leave knowing he could have saved her from such a horrible fate. Damn. I'm growing soft.

Turning he headed back down the hallway, slowing himself to a slow walk and eventually a full stop as he approached Neera's cell, barely able to make out the guard in the distance. Any attempt to get closer now would lead to his detection and even if he killed the guard somebody was bound to be alerted before Shino could get a shot off. Pulling out the two pistols he pressed the guns together, their forms melding and reshaping until they resembled nothing more than a silverish metal blob. Closing his eyes he began digging up a schematic for a small caliber sniper rifle constantly shifting his hands around the orb as it began to take form, finally settling almost a minute later in his hands, finalizing his work with an impressively large silencer on the end of the barrel to eliminate almost all noise save that created by the bullet itself.

Levelling out the rifle he took aim and pulled of a single shot, watching the guard collapse as the round passed through his temple. With the guard down Shino ran the final distance to Neera's cell, stopping at the bars to look inside, looking down on the Shadowsili girl with a quick gesture to be quiet. In retrospect it was almost pointless as she couldn't speak anyways, but it did not occur to him at the time. "Hold on. I'll get you out of there in a second." Making quick work of the lock on the cell door, Shino entered the cell with the familiar feeling of dulled senses as his abilities faded away, but that didn't matter for now. Standing over Neera he extended his hand to her as an offer to help her up, his expression somewhat sympathetic. "I'm not going to let them hurt you. I don't care if you forgive me or not, I'm going to get you out of here if it kills me."

So move out of my way,
before I have to cut you down.

[Q-Mo]

•xx•xxA ☀ W I L D ☀ B l a z exx•xx•

☀ J a c kxxS a n g u i n e ☀

Freedom, that's whats most important to me.

And with my free choice, I open my eyes, to see my precious things for the first time.

And with that free choice and these opened eyes, I'll live with those things no matter what it takes.

| Location - Adamitte / The City of Raine |

[ OOC: No. He is not dead : P. But you can have your characters think he is. ]

The Guttered Fairy

It was the closest thing you'd get in Raine's magnificent city to a "seedy establishment" and even then, it was still a far cry from it's cousins in less civilized cities and worlds but if you knew the right people; it was the place to look for some... hired help. "Well. Never thought I'd be the one coming in here to hire someone." Jack smirked at the irony of it as his hand fell upon the brass handle of the door, the sounds of moody jazz could be heard from inside as the patrons drowned themselves in drink while awaiting a job no doubt, the mercenary had personal experience with that.

Opening the door to the establishment, the red head saw that nothing had changed; the lighting was still gloomy and crappy jazz still played from a classical vinyl player at the back of the bar... something that the rather unrefined owner believed would lend the bar a little bit more class... which it really didn't. For a moment when he entered, the general chatter of the bar continued with no one looking in his direction, but one after the other; the patrons stopped their own private talks to bring their attention to the man who had grabbed everyone elses' attentions and for good reason too. The Sanguine family name is royalty in some circles, if it was possible, the music would have come to an abrupt stop as well to accompany Jack's entrance but the mercenary would just have to make do with the dramatic pause.

"I'm looking for folks for a job. A big one." Eyebrows were raised, Jack smoothly slid over to the bar where the barkeep handled most business transactions for his "special clients" and casually handed over the card loaded with credits that he had been given by Mr. Blank for payment. Sure, they could track the credits to this bar but it didn't matter, he didn't plan on being here for very long; nor did he plan on running away. "And did I mention big paying?" If people weren't already interested in the prospect of working with the infamous "Kid Sanguine" then their attention was grabbed by the huge sum of credits that appeared on the register as the card was checked. Jack grinned conspiratorially at them all while downing a drink that had been handed to him.

"So then. Which chaps feel like some fireworks? My shout."

--

The worldship dock had been cleared of unneeded personnel, Mr. Blank's company was the only thing present on the fifth dock on the Raine Worldship tower and it's massive guest; The Enfinitus. Two figures made their way across the dock with a box in tow between them, both of them wore the gear worn by Mr. Blank's goons, across the top of the box stamped in big red letters were the words: "WARNING: HIGHLY EXPLOSIVE". As the two men approached, they were hailed by three men guarding the entrance port to the worldship, stopping the three men a short distance away, one of them walked over cautiously.

"Whats this then?" The men carrying the box set it down, "Just what it reads. Check if you want." The guard eyed the men suspiciously before pulling the top off, before he could shout; a flare blast emanated from inside, blinding and deafening the three guards but not the two men delivering package due to their ear pieces and special sun glasses; there was a brief burst of gunfire and then silence. Stepping from the smoke, the two men grinned at eachother, "Pft. Amateurs." In the distance, there was the roar of a worldship engine blasting to full throttle, the two of them nodded wordlessly, reloading their weapons the two mercenaries entered the massive Cruiser.

--

Sitting in the cockpit of the Firehawk, Jack checked the time for the hundredth time that hour with his body twitching with nervous energy; he'd never felt this pumped before a job. Maybe that was because a job had never been as personal as this, the redhead smirked at the thought of what his old man would say... he was breaking the number one Sanguine rule: Nothing personal. Well. "Screw the rules." There was a brief silence and then as if in agreement, came his cue; "They're in." over earpiece he was wearing. The bounty hunter took a long savoring draught of a bottle of clear alcohol and threw it to one side, it was showtime, grasping the ignition lever Jack pulled down from stationary to full throttle in a smooth motion as the engines of The Firehawk roared to life.

| ♪ Breaking Through ♪ |

Rushing into the sky above Raine, Jack instantly received several incoming hails to his ship and promptly ignored all of them. They might think he didn't know what he was doing by flying off like this without permission but he more than certainly did. The sleek red worldship soared through the skies above the city leaving a trail of faint red in the afternoon sky behind it, moving with incredible speed as it rapidly approached the hulking frame of The Enfintus docked at a larger tower.

--

The mercenaries moved efficiently and quickly, taking out another unknowing patrol of guards on their way to the lobby of the cruiser and disabling security cameras as they went along. Something was off though... a massive cruiser like this ought to be much more defended... even with the blueprints and intelligence they had, it just seemed too easy. There were quite a few personnel on board but the cunning mercenaries used their disguises as guards to move through, only using force to silently take down the patrols and cameras and yet; no broadcast had come through the intercoms or through the hacked earpieces the mercenaries wore.

The two of them stopped at the lobby doors, the hallway behind them was clear and still there was nothing through the earpieces or intercom yet. Nodding to eachother, the men drew their weapons and on a silent count of three burst into the lobby and... dropped their weapons. There were men positioned throughout the room with their weapons trained on them, the two of them swore under their breath as even more armed men poured in from all doorways and directions filling the lobby with at least two dozen armed personnel all waiting for the order to turn the mercenaries into leaden pincushions.

"Er. We surrender?"

--

As he approached Jack could visibly see the weaponry mounted on the cruiser slowly revolving to face him, the mercenary knew the slow lock on speed of the weaponry was deceptive compared to it's actual devastating effect on enemy ships despite it's heavy and slow appearance; that would have been a problem, if he had actually intended to get hit by the weapons. Executing a dizzying series of twirls and loops, the Firehawk shook off the lock on systems of the weaponry through the trail of aura traceries it left behind as well as through it's dizzying speed which made manual targeting nigh impossible. Watching the heads up display pulsing on the display screen, Jack waited until the Worldship was in range and turned on the targeting system of his own ship with the flick of a nearby switch. Quickly, different parts of the ship were highlighted in different colors on the display screen, with a few more toggles; a lock onto the ship's lobby was confirmed as the targeted area flashed with a red outline on the display.

"Alright. They're in. Don't miss Sanguine." That was his cue, the mercenary took in a deep breath, "Heh. Who the hell do you think I am?" as if the dazzling speed before was merely a fraction of the worldship's true speed, the Firehawk blasted out of it's evasive movements and closed with The Enfintus, blasts of aura energy lacing the air around it with a deadly hum and suffusing the sky with a red glow as they missed and dissipated into the atmosphere. Shrk! s**t. The ship rocked as a blast tore off the tip of the Firehawk's left wing, causing the ship to spiral in an unstable fashion before Jack managed to regain control of the ship and glancing one more time to the display screen to check everything was in order; let out a shout and slammed the fire button for every single weapons system installed on the Firehawk.

There was a split second pause. Aura weaponry, missiles and even old fashioned machine gun bullets flashed across the orange afternoon sky firing with enough recoil to nearly flip the Firehawk over as it went into an unstable loop to correct itself for a path heading straight over The Enfinitus. The Enfinitus did have shields but the fire concentrated upon a single point and at a range where the majority of it's shields were ineffective or inactive, the attack had a devastating effect on the impact zone: the lobby.

Inside the lobby, the two mercenaries suddenly threw themselves backwards through the lobby doors again and into the entrance hallway; a few shots of weaponry followed them and slammed into the marble floor, biting into the carpet or making holes in the door but there wasn't much chance for anything else as the Firehawk's projectiles tore apart the lobby. Pieces of fine pottery, marble, expensive paintings and even bits of people were displaced all over the smoking lobby as men were blasted from their positions into the air, eachother and otherwise painful positions.

The two mercenaries groaned pushing off the doors ,which had collapsed onto them, and dusting themselves off while getting up. Surveying the wreck before them, the two of them whistled to each other, their attention drawn to above them by a large explosion, through the destroyed walls, as heavily damaged Firehawk took one last shot and burst into flames, crashing into the city below.

[PyroXTech]

.: Lucien Von Kroenen - Guardian Citadel, Krux :.
Team 9-AC: Assassination and Reconissance Specialist

"EVERYONE! LO- !"

Lucien attempted to turn towards Jace, noticing an incoming shell as he spun around, barely giving himself enough time to attempt to throw up his arms. Everything flashed white and silence engulfed him, the Keeper stood there motionless for a few moments, hearing every beat of his heart as it pounded in his chest. Am I dead? No, it's too painless. There's no screaming, no pain. But then... Where am I? Closing his eyes he tried to figure to think what could have possibly happened, why he was suddenly surrounded by white. Is this... aura? Yes, definitely aura, but who has any abilities to project aura like this?

Just as quickly as the white aura had appeared, the mysterious barrier disolved into smoke and dust, leaving him miraculously unharmed despite the devestation that had almost obliterated the area around him. He noticed several others around him with the same confused look on their face and only Jace, at the center of the group, retained an appearance of concern. Jace saved us... but how? His arm radiated an aura completely unlike what I just felt. He is an odd boy, I'll give him that.

"Good luck everyone."

Following Jace's gaze, Lucien noticed the gathering at the beach for the first time, and likewise realized how desperate the situation actually was. Despite the impressive blaze of auras on the beach, the largely unseasoned Militia and rookie Keepers appeared to stand no chance against seemingly endless tide of Nith and the numerous Shadowsili that accompanied them. Damn them, we underestimated the true size of their forces. This doesn't bode well for us. "You're going to need it."

Raisinf his right hand up to his face a black mist enveloped his body as a shriek of pure terror filled the air and rang out over the camp. When the mist cleared Lucien stood just as before, though his face was now hidden behind a featureless white gas mask, leaving only two blackened glass eyeholes through which the Keeper could see out of. Lowering his arm he surveyed the shoreline in the distance, ignoring the drakes as they rushed overhead until he felt a sudden tug as a tail wrapped around his wait and flung him onto the back of one of the creatures. Appearing rather calm depite just being hurled through the air, Lucien took a seating position on the spot where he had landed, directing his attention to the Hyralvine bomber piloting the drake. "You could have at least warned me first."

"Oh quit your whining, you're still alive aren't ya? Besides, it's not like you didn't know I was coming. Now hold on, this is where it get's fun." Lucien shifted his position quickly to grasp onto the underside of the drake as the aerial squad disappeared into the cover of the smoke, glad that he had already activated Nightmare to prevent himself from breathing in a lung full of the dark clouds. Now if this could just work, we might have a chance to even the odds. You better not die on us Jace.

"Such foolishness. What do you hope to achieve by this meaningless act? Shoot them out of the air. If you insist, then I will take matters in my own hands."

"Damn it! Flying's about to get a little rough." Lucien grasped the underside of the drake even tighter as the Hyralvine guided it through a series of barrel rolls and aerial flips to avoid oncoming vines, though the effort was in vain as the deadly vines grew closers, already begining to surround the drake. "You better do something Keeper or we're not going to be living for too much longer!"

With a grunt of approval Lucien released his grip on the draconian beast, launching himself towards the oncoming vines with increadible speed. Two quick flashes of silver emerged from the darkness within his uniform as he landed on one of the giant vines, a deep gash in the shape of an x forming on the vine as it began to wither away from the effects of the poison. Launching himself from the vine with a powerful kick he used the remains of the plant as stepping stones to reach a second vine, running along the massive plant towards the drake only a short distance away, the katar extended from his right sleeve slicing through the plant the entire way. As he approached the end of the vine he leaped towards the drake, the masked Keeper flying through the air towars the beast, though he already knew he would no make the jump alone. As the dying remains of the plant began to collapse Lucien vanished into thin air.

Fearing the loss of the Keeper, the bomber turned around and to his surprise saw Lucien clasping to the beast as if nothing had happened. "Damn. You Keepers sure are an odd bunch, that was some crazy s**t... Whoa, what the hell is going on?"

Turning his head, Lucien could see that ice had begin to encase the vines, even the two Shadowsili that were chasing after Jace were suddenly thrown from their boards by the sudden appearance of the ice. Telosia... I'll have to thank you personally when this is all over. He turned to explain this to the bomber, now focused back on piloting the drake, but before he could open his mouth a blast of crushing aura slammed into them, nearly kncoking the three of them into the ocean below from the sheer force of the impact. "What now? Don't they ever get tired of this s**t!?"

"Hah! Thought you would slip away you cowards? Well then. Are any of you strong enough to be my opponent!?"

The Hyralvine managed to maintain control over the beast, and Lucien looked over the edge of the beast to see the figure of Juriza taunting the oncoming Keepers as he continued to bombard them with waves of aura. "So, you want me to bring you a bit closer? You could probably take him out pretty quick with that s**t you used to kill those weeds." The masked Keepr looked up in surprise for a moment at the bomber's question before he returned his gaze to the Shadowsili below, noticing Athalia and several Hyralvine allies already engaging the large man. "No, we must continue on with our mission here. I must be ready to protect this group should any additional threats arise. Who knows what else these Nith have in store for us?"

[Q-Mo]

•xx•xxT h e ► D i s t a n t ◄ M e m o r yxx•xx•

♦ J a c e § V i s t u s ♦

Once blinded by light.

Once lost in darkness.

But now, I can see clearly. I walk not as a savior.

But as a destroyer. I am the destroyer that saves. I am Jace Vistus.

I am me.

| Location - Vectiras || The Worldeater Tower |

Jace closed his eyes as the signal was given to the shore, grasping tightly onto his rider as all around him, explosions tore through the ocean sending gushing founts of seawater spraying across the air, opening his eyes; he tried to shake out the droplets of water from his face and eyes, blinking rapidly as he tried to make something out through the smoke, steam and spraying water as well as through the stinging salt in his eyes.

And then as suddenly as it had all appeared, it faded away as his skyrider along with several others broke through the curtain of displaced water and smoke left by the explosion. Behind them, several members of their unit broke off to engage the Shadowsili and his platoon of Nith in a battle that already whipped up vicious waves and churning waters below them. Daring to look back for just a few seconds, Jace wished them and the rest of the defenders the best of luck, a sudden shockwave of power that radiated from where the explosions had taken place signaled the Shadowsili's anger and emergence... and judging from it... the people fighting him would need all the luck they could get.

--

| ♪ The Raging Shark ♪ |

Although he had no need to shield himself, Juriza seethed with annoyance as he emerged from the explosion drenched but otherwise unharmed. Such cowardly tactics wouldn't hurt him but they angered him to no end, he'd been told that the white haired boy had been the one who had managed to defeat Xanas, such a boy would have at least lasted a few seconds and given him some entertainment but now here he was; rapidly fading out of reach due to the ploy used by his enemies. Turning, he prepared to pursue them but stopped as a flash of gold streaked across his vision with impressive speed; suddenly interested by the prospect of such a fast moving fighter, Juriza turned to see a great number of his forces sliced and diced by a similar aura signature... the boy was forgotten quickly as the pirate searched eagerly for the warrior who had performed this.

"Surf's up, d**k! You're gonna get the wipeout of your life!" The Shadowsili's aura throbbed as if it shared Juriza's excitement as a group of shark-like creatures and the board rider who moved in a dazzling trail of gold approached him rapidly. "Good! There's quite a few of you. That makes things a little more fair for you." A terrible bloodthirsty grin split across his excited features, making no move to get out of the way of the incoming attackers as they rapidly closed the distance on him but before they reached a range suitable for hand to hand attacks; the pirate drew the massive anchor resting on his back. "Now. Don't die too quickly on me. AHOY!" Bringing the weapon down upon the water, the Shadowsili sent up a crashing wave mixed with his aura causing it to take the form of a massive shark made of water, coming down upon the force charging him with bone-crushing force.

"DAMN IT ALL! That might have been a little too hard! Oh... wait... you're still alive! HERE. I. COME!" Taking off with surprising speed, Juriza sought out the first visible target; an unfortunate water drake who was just reemerging from the water after nearly being crushed by the shockwave, and before the creature could react, struck with a brutal two handed hammerblow that contained enough force to send the creature hurtling down to the ocean floor; killed instantly by the attack as a blast of ocean water emanated from the impact zone. "Too easy! Where's the board girl!?" The pirate surveyed the devastated stretch of water, using his eyes (due to a lack of aura detection ability) to try and spot out the speedy board rider from before.

Maybe she'd last at least a dozen or so seconds with that speed of hers... if she wasn't dead already.

--

| ♪ The Imperious Onslaught ♪ |

The Nith, most notably the Shadowsili, at the shoreline were distracted temporarily by the huge wave of explosions that resounded in the distance allowing the defenders a quick reprieve, Joshua watched as the two leading Shadowsili recovered from being thrown off their disks, the blond man causing a surging forest of monstrous plants to bloom from his aura and catch him and his "servant" before raising them into the air. "Get the boy. That is nothing but a distraction, Xanas and the others will deal with them." The man then turned to face Telosia as he faced him from the shore and looked down imperiously from behind his mask. "Very well then elf, Hiashin Captain... I will return you to the Lifestream if that is your wish."

Directing a hand at Telosia, Alastus summoned a surging growth of mutated aura plants, landing upon what seemed to be the "head" of the body of murderous greenery; a massive flower with petals like teeth. From the Shadowsili's jungle spewed forward a tangle of spiked vines, seemingly aiming for the elf to begin with, but as they crossed the expanse of water, the deadly foliage suddenly veered towards where the Hiashin captain stood with his forces. Alastus smiled underneath his mask, the man while seemingly a competent leader who could inspire courage in his men seemed to have no trace of actual aura powers or a Nexus at all and so, he would die first as a lesson to the rest.

Disappearing in a burst of flames, Haji moved with the tangle of plants but instead of detaching from them to go after Mattheis, he continued on in his burning form until he was nearly in striking range of the Keeper Captain. Suddenly a shape detached itself from the flaming form which rushed forwards to strike Telosia, returning into the shape of a man as it did but still engulfed in flames; above the detached figure of Haji performed a handsign which summoned forth a wall of earth to block Telosia's view of Mattheis and prevent her from helping the Captain in time even if she could get by it.

Back on the shore, two smaller figures, almost unnoticeable in the battle gave small nods and descending from their resting positions above the Nith legions. In the midst of the chaotic battle, almost nobody noticed them except for Joshua. "Master Jace! Run!" A cry in the line of defense on the shore alerted everyone to the presence of the two smaller Shadowsili, a terrible wolf like beast that tore past a militia member who gave a gurgled cry as claws tore across his chest and left as quickly as they struck as the beast bounded across the battlefield carrying a strangle girl on it's back after the Jace doppelganger Joshua had shouted at.

If they got Jace... then their chances of winning would become next to nothing... if it already wasn't.
[ Unfinished. ]

[Hiro Ayami]

High rise, veins of the avenue
Bright eyes and subtle variations of blue
Everywhere is balanced there
like a rainbow above you

Street lights glisten on the boulevard
And cold nights make staying alert so hard
For heaven's sake, keep me awake
so I won't be caught off guard

Clearly I am a passerby but I'll find a place to stay
Dear pacific day, won't you take me away?

╬ ╬
Target Sighted: Vectiras Beach: Ocean Battle

[[Skipped ‘prior to’ filler for action/progressive stuff; will add stuff here later.]

Truth be told, Mav had ignored the majority of both Telosia’s and Matt’s speeches, allowing his distance from the main group to grow as he, nearer to the front lines, stared down the approaching Nith with a few defenders (Keepers and Militia) assigned as perimeter guards. Unlike the others, he didn’t need any moral, or boost thereof, the fact that they were surrounded and faced impending doom was more than enough motivation to survive, and he knew better than most, to fight was to survive. Grabbing for 'Gun' at his side he flung the large handgun straight above him, 'the Twins' clicking into his hands a split second later, arms raised in front of him in a wide shooting position. “Time to die,” he muttered to himself, clicking the firing settings on his handguns into “semi-automatic” and at the same time releasing a burst of energy to slow time around him for a few moments, just as the group he was facing down moved to aim their charged weaponry towards him.

Time stopped around him completely for an instant, gradually beginning to move yet again, each slowed second gaining speed as time restored the distortion. In those few seconds he unloaded the contents of his guns into the Nith in front of him, allowing for the emptied clips of aura charged bullets to fly free before holstering both at his sides. Reaching up with his left hand to take hold the slowly descending Dessert Eagle, now spiraling down, above him he repeated the same action, and while the weapon didn’t actually require bullets and just his pure aura to function, he cleared off the remaining time warp freed Nith easily. Once finished he holstered ‘Gun’ and drew ‘The Twins’ yet again, crossing them in front of himself to slam fresh clips into them which stayed at the ready on either forearm.

Taking the brief reprieve gained from his solo counterstrike he observed the battlefield erupting all around him, taking note of the two larger and rather darker aura’s amongst the Nith (though one quite notably larger than the other). They weren’t like the two earlier, the ones who had taken Hale, yet that still didn’t seem to surprise the gunslinger, just like Keepers gathered in number, it shouldn’t have been too surprising Shadowsili did either, though it certainly meant things were going to get that much more difficult for them.

What was unfortunate was both seemed to be airborne, flying, and in others words, generally out of his immediate reach. What made it worse was the smaller of the two Shadowsili auras seemed to be giving chase to Jace’s group, engaging the vice-Captain’s party and moving further away from the campsite turned battlefield, and towards the tower. The other, however was closer to the sea route previously laid about during their planning sessions, obviously the side from which they’d approached from to begin with, and currently engaging in battle with the forces there. Being none too far off from that skirmish, Mav caught a glimpse of gold in the air, recognizing it upon further scrutiny as the form of, the also airborne, Althalia.

Taking a momentary glance down at his rather plain looking black military boots, and taking a short (and hopefully unnoticeable) hop he scowled; why did it seem like everyone but him could fly? He grit his teeth as he looked towards the distancing forms of other airborne allies, why could they all ******** fly? That was when he saw it, Juriza and what he was riding on, the silver disk, and whatever it was, it seemed to allow him to fly, or at least maintain some sort of form of flight.

Dashing forward he raised his guns in front of himself, taking aim, and while still closing in with some distance to the shore he squeezed the triggers and fired with incredibly deadly accuracy at Juriza’s exposed side. Or at least he thought it was deadly, until he witnessed and remembered the Shadowsili’s ridiculously large aura. The aura infused bullets seemed to slow, smashing into some sort of invisible forced, slowing as the pirate turned to notice Mav and the bullets spiraled, drained of both kinetic and aura energy, in his lower left pectoral and shoulder, barely pressing into his skin to even draw blood.

Despite his surprise (people didn’t just stop bullets with their bare skin and aura’s) Mav didn’t break from his dash, and shifting his focus, raised his aim.

If his body won’t break, let’s try the softer spots...

Akimbo style firing released a four shot burst of bullets yet again, though this time aimed at Juriza’s face, and in particular his eyes. As realization crossed his face at the bullets trajectory, and that the closed in distance actually left the bullets with some force behind them, flashed a grin, raising his free hand to catch the bullets within his fist. Revealing the bullets in an open palm he spun back a bit, bringing a full swing of the broadside of his anchor-like weapon towards Mav, and the second burst of aura infused bullets he’d fired, catching them perfectly and at the same time with enough force and skill to send them hurtling towards the approaching gunslinger, allowing the momentum from the swing to also bring himself to a follow right after the redirected rounds.

“Are you ******** seri-” Mav managed to exclaim before diving into a sideward aerial roll to avoid his own bullets, and narrowly dodge the charging Juriza.

“A damned gunner? Just my luck, you guys aren’t any fun at all,” he complained, hovering in front of Mav, a look of disdain on his face, “Knew you guys were all weakli-” he continued only to be cutoff as an blade comprised of Mav’s concentrated aura flashed in front of his face and he positioned himself a bit further from the Keeper. Eying the pulsing green blade formed around the barrel of Mav’s gun, he seemed amused, “Least you’re lively, wait here, I’ll deal with you after!” he shouted to him, hovering back into the air and away over the water again.

Mav growled, though caught his breath before yelling back, “SCREW YOU! GIMME ONE OF THOSE FLIGHTY DISK THINGS AND FIGHT ME FAIRLY DAMNIT! WHY ARE ALL OF YOU FLYING!?” he followed through his own retort with a quick reload to both guns, firing in vain, considering the distance once again formed between him and the Shadowsili. However, he wasn’t able to focus much longer on the once more airborne man as several Nith appeared in small groups behind him. The emerald aura blades formed over his guns once again, “Screw it, even if you bastards can fly, I’m getting my Captain back.”

This is my:
Reality -

Understanding -

Sensation -

Feelings -

Hope -

Truth -


Understanding everything and nothing
Is this where existence ends?

[.Halcyonia.]

fall into [a light sleep],

........ it encompasses my very being

................ I never carry out my [ p r o m i s e s ] .

........................ so long ago, I threw away my brightness

................................ and like the light from the morning sun, it can never return.

........................................ it lies beside this cold h e a r t, frozen

................................................ so completely mindless that it persists {.forever.} xxx

- - » [location.] The Enfinitus // Worldship Dock Tower - Raine, Adamitte.

. Ν . Σ . Σ . R . Λ .
† . t h e . c a s t a w a y . [ h e a r t ] . †

{{ warning: may contain violence... x wx;;;; }}

Neera shivered at the back of her cell, unable to believe what the guard had told her. Jack, a betrayer...? A betrayer to her? She breathed softly against her knees, hands still placed over her ears. What now? She was back in the very place she'd started. Back in a cell, with no one to trust, where she would surely soon be killed, just as they had tried to do on Symphonia. And now, there was no Jack to save her.

The girl stopped herself, shaking her head back and forth between her hands. No - no! Jack wouldn't lie, he'll come back, he'll come back--

The guard at the front of her cell sank to the floor suddenly. Neera looked up, startled, and clambered to her feet. Slowly, a trail of blood seeped from a bullet hole in the guard's temple. She froze.

What-?

The sound of quick footsteps echoed through the hall, and a silhouette appeared at the front of her cell. Neera's heart quickened, and for a moment, she almost felt relief. For a moment, she could have sworn...

Jack?

"Hold on. I'll get you out of there in a second."

It was Shino. Neera tilted her head slightly to the side, looking at him with a bit of suspicion, and slowly backed away. She slid down against the wall until she was sitting again. In Shino's hands, the lock of the door clicked and unlocked. He approached until he was standing right in front of her, and Neera pressed herself against the wall. There was nowhere to run.

Then, Shino did something that surprised Neera. He extended his hand.

"I'm not going to let them hurt you. I don't care if you forgive me or not, I'm going to get you out of here if it kills me."

Neera stared at his hand, then slowly raised her crimson eyes to his face. His expression, it seems... It looked almost like Jack's expression when he helped her, before. As usual, Neera wished she could understand emotions better.

From the floor, she continued to look at him deeply, as if trying to comprehend what he was thinking. Why? Why are you doing this? Of course, she couldn't ask. And suddenly, she was struck by a thought.

It wasn't just the color of their hair. People treated Shino like they'd treated her. Like someone who was too dangerous to live. Like someone who needed to be caged or exterminated, held down. They didn't give him a chance to explain himself. They mistrusted him without even allowing him the chance to be trusted.

Just like her. Was that why he was helping her?

Neera blinked and slowly, hesitantly, raised her hand towards Shino's. Maybe she was making a mistake of trusting people. After all, she'd trusted Jack, and... Neera swallowed. No. She wouldn't allow herself to think like that. She'd trusted Jack, and she still did. And at the moment, she didn't have any other choice but to trust Shino.

The girl's hand fell softly into Shino's, and she stood, letting him help her up. She nodded. It was time to go.


The halls passed by in a blur. Behind them, Neera could hear the distant clamor of footsteps against the shiny white floor - guards mobilizing. Neera glanced behind them, then quickened her pace to keep up with Shino. She knew she had to keep running, no matter how exhausted she felt. She couldn't stop now.

The labyrinth of hallways seemed to go on forever, but at long last the floor tilted up slightly, and they reached a set of stairs. At the top, Neera followed Shino through a door. A long, dim hallway stretched before them. To the left, the wall had been replaced with a huge glass window. Neera looked out and saw the city of Raine stretched below, worldships lacing through the air as they docked at the spiraling tower.

Suddenly a huge explosion rang out, rocking the ship. The floor shuddered beneath her, and Neera fell to one knee. She put a hand on the window for support and lifted her head slowly as the reverberations subsided. Past her slender fingers and through the thick glass of the window, a ship swirled, tilted, and burst into flames, spinning towards the city of Raine. Even from here, she recognized it, although she didn't want to believe what she saw.

The Firehawk.

[♬]xlithiumx[♬]

Neera couldn't breathe. She shook her head slowly, unbelieving, her eyes wide, her hands pressed against the cold glass. It couldn't be... it can't be... But even as the shattered ship disappeared in an explosion over the city, she knew that it was true.

Jack...

He was gone. He was gone.

Her mind didn't seem to be working right. Neera was suddenly filled with a panic, with a rising fear inside her chest. It was so completely overwhelming that she wanted to scream, wanted to cry out. She opened her mouth, squeezing her eyes shut, and banged her fists against the window, but no more than a stifled gasp escaped from her throat.

Why? Why, why why? She trembled and felt something wet at the corners of her eyes, but was too overwhelmed to pay much attention to it. A small, wheezy noise escaped from her throat, like a sob. She suddenly didn't care if what the guard had said was true - it just didn't matter. It didn't matter... Jack was... was--

The doors on either end of the hallway broke open, and men flooded in, surrounding Neera and Shino, guns raised. Apparently they'd gotten smarter, because their guns now had some sort of nonmetal casing. They'd become more careful.

"Drop your weapons and surrender with your hands up. You've got nowhere to go."

Neera stayed where she was on the floor, still trembling slightly, her breathing erratic. Silver strands hair fell across her face and cast her eyes in shadow as she looked down, apparently not hearing them.

One of the men strode over and grabbed Neera roughly by the arm. "Hey, didn't you hear? Get up!" He yanked her arm, trying to pull her up, but she wouldn't stand. Instead, without turning, her hand gripped the front of his vest. The man froze momentarily, shocked. The air was suddenly heavy. Time seemed to freeze.

A shock of red sprayed through the air, coating the other men in a mist of their comrade's blood. The man who stood next to Neera choked, gurgling as blood spilled from his mouth, his eyes rolling back. He crumpled to the floor, and her hand released him as she stood and turned to face the remaining men.

This was not the Neera that had been there a moment ago.

"Wh-what the... FIRE!!!"

Immediately, bullets rang out as all the uniformed men aimed their guns at Neera and fired. The air was thick with bullets, but behind it all, there was a flicker of dark aura, and a shadow fell across Neera's body. The glass window shattered behind her, the result of stray bullets; the bullets that should have hit her clinked harmlessly to the ground. When the smoke cleared, she was still standing, unharmed.

The Shadowsili's eyes had darkened from their usual light red color - now they were deep crimson, almost black, and completely devoid of emotion. Her expression was empty. At the crown of her head, the soft brown horns had mutated into hard black ones that spiraled into a sharp point. Around her, the air rippled with strange shadows, twisting shapes that blocked out the light around her. A Shadowsili aura.

She raised her hand slowly and flicked her wrist upwards. Immediately, long tendrils of her shadowy aura zoomed forward and pierced several of the men through the abdomen, then retreated as the men fell to the floor. From her left, one of the guards tried again to shoot at Neera. Her aura caught the bullets, and she needed only to look in his direction. His spine cracked audibly as his body bent impossibly and he sank to the floor, his bones twisted into grotesque positions. The room was filled with the screams of dying men.

With swift, detached precision, Neera's Shadowsili powers made quick work of the rest of the men. Gunshot had no effect on her, but they shot anyway, adding to the din of screams. Neera was nonchalant. Her aura pierced them like giant thorns, lifting them from the ground and painting the ceiling with their blood. Others trembled and wobbled, then seemed to explode from the inside-out, leaving them hardly enough time to let out terrified cries. Some didn't even receive that much effort; they simply bent and fell down like broken dolls, expressions blank with shock as their lives escaped them.

Suddenly, after all the noise and screaming, the room was enveloped in silence. The sound of slow dripping plip-plopped from the ceiling. Only Shino and Neera were left standing. A grim wind blew in from the broken window at her back, and Neera turned to face Shino, her face blank. She took a slow step towards him over the slick, red-coated floor, her bare feet leaving bloody footprints as she stepped onto the clean tile. She didn't seem to mind, or even realize, that she was covered in the blood of the guards.

Neera stopped ten feet away from Shino. In the window, the evening sky burned orange and pink, leaving a pale glow of color on her silver strands between streaks of blood-dampened hair.

Without warning, the girl's shadowy aura flashed up and surrounded Shino, ready to strike but restrained momentarily, hesitating for some reason. The pressure of gravity built around him, the air becoming heavy as lead. And then--

Neera's eyes flickered. She wavered. Her knees gave out, and she sank to the floor, unconscious. Gradually, her body reverted, the dark, sharp horns turning back into their previous form. Apparently, exhaustion from use of her abilities had come at just the right moment.


{{ I know, that ending is totally anticlimactic. xDDDD
Pyro, it's up to you now~ * v* Luckily she doesn't weigh very much so he should have no problem carrying her, if he's still inclined to save her after all of that... xDD;;; }}

† † †

n u m b l y, I gather the remnants of my emotions ...................... and, [searching for redemption], I........................

..fall into [a light sleep] ...................... on a { l o n e l y } night

I'm beginning to learn the designs of { s o r r o w } .

......the hiding away of your [warm presence] .......................... makes me { f e a r } the overflowing darkness.

so long ago, I threw away my brightness

and like the light from the morning sun, it can never return.

† † †

[Leonoka]

|| [†]Telosia Lightwing | Junior Captain: Team 9-AC |Beach wreckage, Aedif - Vectiras [†] ||

She kept her eyes on the blonde shadowsili as he was caught by vicious foliage that sprouted from his aura. She glared at him with baleful eyes, if only she could take him out, their chances might become much more favorable.

“Very well then elf, Hiashin Captain… I will return you to the Lifestream if that is your wish,” said the blonde one. His words seeping with callousness and disdain, and, thus, he proceeded to conduct the very act of which he had spoken of, without hesitation.

Vines leapt from his hand towards Telosia, but she was ready, she just need them closer. She narrowed her eyes in determination anxiously awaiting those vines. It was a dangerous gamble, and required a great amount of precise timing, but if she could just land a spell on those vines there might be a chance to cripple the leader. However, to her amazement and distress, the vines suddenly veered away from her and towards Captain Hiashin. Her eye shot over to him and she was about shout out a warning, however, she was cut short by a wall of stone that rose up from the earth and blocked her view. Her eyes grew even wider as she drew her gaze to what was in front of her. She suddenly found herself in a great deal of peril as well, as a furiously burning figure hurtled towards her on the verged of striking.

However, a flash of white broke against her wide-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights look. Nereid had drawn itself up before her and spread out into a disheveled half dome before her, taking the brunt of the blow. Telosia instantly snapped to her senses as she jolted backwards, put forth her hand and uttered a quick string of foreign words. From her palm a torrential cone of freezing winds was released, which chilled or froze anything in its path.

Her nexus crumbled away and reformed itself into an orb as it once again began to float beside her. Before her still stood the dark haired shadowsili that was always at the blonde one’s side. She was unsure about this one. He didn’t seem the talkative type, which made him all the more unsettling and ominous.

She peered up at the blonde man for an instant, and how impiously he looked down on them. It was beginning to tick her off that he thought himself better than them all. She then realigned her sights on her target, gearing her mind for a pure battle mode, but he had already begun to make his move. He burst into flames once again, and once again a fiery copy separated from himself. But then he made another move this time he crackled with electricity, as a buzzing vibrantly yellow form also separated. The two forms then darted off and towards her engaging their target.

This amazed Telosia profoundly, the scale of this shadowsili’s power was immense to be sure. However, there was no time to be amazed or to despair, thus, she took immediate counter active measures. She began to cast the spell that she knew best, the spell that had the capability of tipping the scales in her favor, blizzard. The clouds overhead began to thicken and bunch together in a most unnatural manner, with a great deal of speed. However, just as suddenly as they had began to move, they stopped. Reverting to their places of origin. Telosia, had cut-off the single word spell midway as she was suddenly painfully aware of the her comrades around her, they were too far off to be inside the eye, and if she were to stretch the eye, the spell would not hit its target. It was a reckless and time consuming move, for as her thoughts returned to what was before her, she suddenly found the two copies before her. Each of them were striking in unison, one low the other high. Telosia’s eyes widened. She could feel her heart throbbing uncontrollably, it felt as though it would burst straight out of her chest. Everything proceeded in slower fashion as her eyes recorded what seemed as to be her last moments of life.

Then suddenly out of instinct, she reaffirmed her grip on her staff, and put it before her, but instead of blocking an attack, she uttered a word and disappeared, reappearing between the shadowsili copies and the shadowsili himself. It took just a moment for her to figure out what had just happened, and then she slipped back into her battle mode, and stared down the stoic shadowsili before her. Suddenly an idea popped into her head, and she began to grin, no if only she could get close.

Without a moments hesitation she set her plan into motion as she darted off towards him. The shadowsili made no movements, as the copies emerged into her peripheral vision and then began to close in on her. Again she spoke a single word and disappeared, this time Haji did something. He made a hand sign and a spire of rock began to sprout from the ground jutting forward. Telosia reappeared , just before the spire. Her eyes instantly filled with surprise as the spike of rock shot forth intent on skewering her. She pivoted to the side, rolling out of the way of the spike. When Haji made another hand sign, and a bolt of lightning surged from the skies towards her, Telosia once again teleported, but was met with another bolt of lightning. She continued to teleport about the battlefield, dodging bolts of lightning or the copies that had read her moves. She halted for a moment, breathing heavily as she leaned over resting on her knees. She was given a moments grace from the shadowsili as she caught her breath.

How on earth am I supposed to get to this guy…? She wasn’t even sure at this point if what she had in mind could work. But she had to try. She stood up once again with a final deep breath and then held her staff out before while grasping Nereid in the other hand. She then began to speak several words, as a magic circle appeared at her feet, glowing brightly. The copies readied themselves, as Haji remained unmoved. At the finish of her spell nothing happened, aside from her disappearance. Haji turned an eye to one side as the elf reappeared at his side. The copies were already on top of her and a ring of spikes jutted outward from the ground around Haji. He read my move?! she thought and then shrugged it off as she continued with her plan.

She swung Nereid at Haji with all her might. Haji’s eye widened a slightly as he suddenly realized her intent. One of the copies attempted to move so as to block the attack, but Telosia hurled Nereid the last foot or so right into Haji’s face.

“Nereid! NOW!” she said as she was ran through by one of Haji’s spires. But what happened next was utterly amazing. As soon as Nereid had impacted Haji’s head, it suddenly erupted into a tall pillar of ice, encasing Haji within it. The copies suddenly withered away. Then the whole of the area around the pillar of ice was suddenly frozen, more pillars began to rise from the ground, all differing in height, and on each pillar stood a keeper or an ally.

Telosia lay resting on the spire of earth that had skewered her, her blood running down it, and with it the warmth of her body. Then, lastly the earth spike was covered in ice, and drawn up on a pillar itself. Tendrils of water separated from the pillar and snapped off the part of the spire that held their mistress. Whereupon, they restrained Telosia to the level top of the pillar, and freed the spike from her body. She then sank into the pillar where the she could lay safely for a while and where the powers of her nexus could fixate on healing her injuries. As she sank into the ice, her head fell back and the dwindling light of her sight allowed her to witness that blonde shadowsili.

“Heh, at least you can’t look down on us any more…” then the ice enveloped her, and hardened far beyond that of any natural ice.

[Q-Mo]

•xx•xxT h e ► D i s t a n t ◄ M e m o r yxx•xx•

♦ J a c e § V i s t u s ♦

Once blinded by light.

Once lost in darkness.

But now, I can see clearly. I walk not as a savior.

But as a destroyer. I am the destroyer that saves. I am Jace Vistus.

I am me.

| Location - Vectiras || The Island of Aedif |

[ Take note. This post takes place AFTER Halcy's post. Did some minor character botting, though I think I've been given permission, to get Lucien and June into fighting/protecting Jace. ]

The battle raged on behind them as the remainder of the aerial squad raced across the ocean, the World Eater Tower seeming to loom into infinity as they finally neared the gargantuan structure. "Looks like we're in the cl-... oh s**t." Jace looked up to see what had caused the curse and felt his heart sink, they weren't through yet, seemingly materializing from the tower itself came a small horde of Nith and as they closed in, massive appendages of Nith energy that rushed out to the meet the small attack force.

"You thought... that this tower was a simple undefended structure? Weak intelligence for such weak creatures."

"Dear oh dear that was a bother. We've done our part, the rest is up to you Master Jace." Jace blinked, looking around for a second for the source of the voice before realizing it was Joshua using his uncanny wave manipulation ability to speak to him. After his initial confusion faded, Jace set his jaw in a determined line; nodding to himself, the boy then unzipped his hood allowing it to be thrown back by the blast of the wind before the Nith forces collided with the aerial team in an explosion of smoke, Aura and Nith energy in the sky.

| ♪ To The Tower ♪ |

Seconds later, with a trail of white flames trailing behind them, Jace and his rider emerged along with the rest of the squad following. The shadowsili now crouched, his aura keeping him anchored to the drake, his Nexus activated with the crown of flames resting upon his head and the cloak of aura rushing forwards and enveloping a volley of Nith energy blasts; shielding the drakes from attack before returning to being a passive trail of white blazed across the sky. Ahead, more Nith converged on the group, sending his aura out to shield the group from attack, Jace drew back the curtain of flames to counterattack but before he had the chance, the Nith were cut down and shot to pieces by two riders and their passengers; the boy recognizing the masked figure of Lucien among the two.

"Hold on!" The drake suddenly made a cockscrew through a tangle of Nith tentacles attempting to impale the group, Jace soaring behind the drake; attached by a length of aura wrapped around the saddle of the drake. Rushing through the air, Jace blazed a flaming white trail through the swarm of defense mechanisms, dragging himself back onto his mount to defend it from attack as several from tentacles rushed out from in front. Erecting a barrier of snowy aura in front with one hand while blasting a jagged stream of potent flames from his Nith hand into the rear; Jace incinerated a path through the Nith behind him while slamming into the tower's defenders; the Nith's attacks crashing into the barrier with tremendous force but having no effect as the force of the stream of flames pushed back against them eventually causing them to collapse and dissipate under the pressure of the white blaze.

Suddenly a force rocked his barrier nearly throwing Jace off the drake, before he could even look to see what it was, a sharp pain across his cheek told him. Xanas. "I don't know what you did last time boy... but it won't work... because you're weak... you're weak and the Nith is strong." The pressure on his barrier increased, while he and his drake were still progressing, the barrier managing to drive off the wires slamming into it and trying to slice Jace and his rider, it was only a matter of time before the cloak of flames faltered and they were driven through by razor sharp wires. But then, almost as suddenly as it came, the pressure was lifted, Jace blinked, lowering the barrier, ready to reactivate it if it was a trap, an amazed grin appearing on his face as Lucien flashed by; slicing through the swarm of red wires like they were nothing.

As the masked figure melted away to nothing, no doubt part of his array of Keeper abilities, Jace saw something in the man's bearing or manner and nodded to show that he understood the message. "Hold on. Get us through to the tower no matter what." The rider was silent for a moment, no doubt from confusion, "Isn't that my line? Heh. So serious all of a sudden kid, alright, I'm ready for whatever you've got in mind." Jace gave no reply, instead concentrating as he thrust out both his hands behind him, his aura concentrating itself around the two arms before rushing out in a powerful blast of white flames which instantly sent the drake hurtling through the air at dazzling speeds; leaving fading remnants of white aura behind.

Nith, Xanas, the Tower, everything threw what they had at Jace to try and stop him and his drake, but each time that Jace thought that they were going to be trapped and crushed or torn to pieces; a flash of aura and the glint of steel saved them as the rest of the aerial squad fought a path through the tower's defenses. Wires sliced through the air with deadly intent only to be cut to ribbons, Nith attempted to attack them only to be shot full of holes and deflected, the tower's defenses were dodged and blocked, landing harmlessly away from their marks. One moment, darkness was rushing through everywhere; vivid black and yellow splayed with streaks of red filling his vision and then... nothing but empty air and the tower before him... they were really going to make it.

Then, a few feet away from the tower, a violent force slammed into Jace without warning, causing him to lose control of his flames and to fly off his mount with a cut off cry of surprise as the wind was crushed from his lungs. Sprawling through the air, the boy desperately lashed out, trying to grasp onto something but without success until a mysterious force swept him up in a curtain of feathers and a strange mixed aura like his own. Regaining his sense of balance, Jace found himself staring at bleak white sand seemingly drained of life by the Nith construct that rose upon it. Looking up, he saw the ones responsible for knocking him off his drake, a pair of chilling feminine looking men who were dressed strangely and looked oddly alike and although he already knew it, Jace then looked to his side to affirm that his savior was Leonoka. The Grim Angel.

They were so close... and now only these Shadowsili stood in their way... they couldn't lose now, behind him, everyone had fought and was still fighting to have gotten them this far, they had placed all their bets on him and for him to fail... no he wouldn't... Jace struggled to his feet, shaking from exertion as his helmet of aura lowered itself on his head again, the boy reached up and fastened it downwards, his eyes almost ignoring the twins and setting themselves upon the tower. He couldn't fail.

No. They couldn't fail because without the fire of life, there was nothing.

[.Halcyonia.]

✖✪☛
It's not like I need somebody telling me where I should go at night ................................
Don't worry, you'll find somebody - someone to tell how to live their life ....................... I've had enough of who they want
'Cause you're so perfect, and no one measures up ......................................................... Why would I let them make up my mind and be mislead?
But all by yourself, you're all messed up ......................................................................... I'm sick of you judging me

R . a . i >>>>>>>>>
x [ "So. You got a problem with that?" ] x
☢ ☠ ☢

<<< t-Gen zepto [16th gen.] >>>
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xxxx⇨ G.P.S. tracking// Island of Aedif, Vectiras

- - - - - - - - - - - - ✁ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Your Hale-person is over there," said the girl with the bunny on her hand. "At least, that's where I heard him the last time... b-before the really loud scream."

Rai turned toward the ocean, her face flickering only momentarily but betraying no emotion. Her smile and upbeat casualness were gone, however. Squinting her eyes at the tower across the sea, she stared silently at the twisted black structure that spiraled into the sky and disappeared into the darkness.

Hale...

You ******** idiot.

Rai stood at the shoreline, waves dragging themselves up the sand to touch her feet before sliding back into the dark sea. It was almost disgusting, the way the Nith had come so quickly to this planet and infected everything with that darkness. There wasn't a speck of light in the sky, even though Rai knew it should have been daylight by now. The only lights were those of the campfires behind her - the lights these people made themselves.

The dark waves of the ocean bobbed up and down, creating crystalline crests. Rai half expected some sort of Nith to rise up out of them and squish the little island she was standing on. Was it even worth it, now? Was Hale even still alive?

Rai flexed her bare toes in the sand. Well, who the hell cares if he's alive or not. He wouldn't abandon one of us and we're sure as hell not abandoning him, thought Rai to herself grimly. They had a thing or two to teach those Nith anyway.

In the background, Rai could hear Telosia saying something in her usual overly-peppy voice. Rai continued to stare at the sea blankly, wondering what the plan of attack was. She should probably ask the vice captain that...

But for some reason, she couldn't pull her eyes away from the ocean. Something foreboding had crept into her chest without her noticing, and she didn't want to look away; she felt like she'd be turning her back on the enemy. What was this?

In the meantime, the ocean continued to lap gently on the beach. It was decievingly calming, but the whole thing felt empty. The ocean should have been blue, alive and full of life and light. But this ocean was just... black. Dark and black and cold, like the pit of a deep chasm. Rai shuddered. She wondered what she should be feeling now - trepidation, probably. But instead, she only felt cold and empty. Her stomach kind of hurt and she felt slightly nauseous, too.

Probably that beer she had for breakfast. Maybe.

On the barely-discerible horizon over the ocean, something dark flickered. Rai knew in her gut that it was something bad before her brain fully recognized what it was. Oh shi-

"EVERYONE! LO- !"

"GET DOW--!" The rest of Rai's exclamation was drowned out by the sounds of explosions. Rai launched herself onto the nearest person, which happened to be Trill, and pushed her to the ground. The force of the blast was too strong though, and Rai went rolling away through the sand like a ragdoll in a hurricane.

When the shockwaves subsided, Rai looked up slowly. The smoking, bloody beach was in chaos. Someone was speaking out at them condescendingly. Rai wiped blood from her lip. Her ears were ringing, and her body ached from the tumble.

She looked up at the sky, and her heart sank.

The Nith were everywhere. An endless mass. Thousands of them surrounded Vectiras, clotting the sky. They were closing in slowly. Rai let out a shaky breath and tried to push herself up, but her wrist had twisted in the fall, and with a sharp intake of breath she fell back into the sand.

"Hah! This is the best that the Collective's Guardians can do!? I thought Keepers were going to be a challenge but, they're already shitting themselves before we've even begun!!"

The mechanic perched herself on an elbow and looked up drearily. Through the smoke-clouded sky, Rai attempted to make out where the voice was coming from. Finally, she spotted them. A group of Shadowsili, was it? Who were they?

Things were not looking good for the defenders of Vectiras. They were wholly and utterly outnumbered, and many of their fighters were tired out from the strains of yesterday, many injured. Their captain had been captured, friends had been lost, things had been destroyed...

Was there any way they could possibly win against such a huge force, or were they only kidding themselves?

"Bah... Not a single one of you look like you could last more than five seconds! I'd rather fight your captain but he can't do that right now..."

Rai gritted her teeth and looked up, glaring. She tried to push herself out of the sand again, egged on by the words of the Shadowsili and the thought of Hale, but the power of the Shadowsili's Nexus was pushing her into the ground like a ton of bricks. And she wasn't strong enough to fight it alone.

What was she doing here? She opened her eyes to the dark sky, the swarms of Nith that were descending on the beach. They didn't stand a chance.

What the hell am I doing here?

She was a mechanic, not a fighter. What was she doing here on the battlefield, trying to be someone she wasn't? For no real reason, Rai started to go through her life. Her beginning, her brief memories of her family, the orphan gang, the Nith attack, Krux... All of it, for what? What was the point of her life? What could she possibly do in a situation like this?

“What do you take us for!?... We are KEEPERS!"

I'm not a Keeper, though, I'm just...

Rai could hear cheering in the air behind her, people responding to Telosia's rally cry. Keepers. They were only mortal, too, though. She knew that all too well.

And yet... despite being mortal... they still fought. Suddenly, Rai could hear his voice in her head.

"Don't you think life is important to protect? I think so... in fact, I truly believe it is, and that's why I have to fight. Because losing just one person is too many." Yes, that was exactly what Tristan would've said.

Tch, you goody two-shoes. You never could let me just mope for awhile, could you?. Despite herself, Rai grinned. She gave one more attempt to push herself out of the sand.

She had to help. She had to fight. Fighting against the immense and pulsating aura of the Nith army, Rai pushed herself across the sand, trying to get back to her ship. On her way, she passed Captain Mattheis and his recruits.

"This is to everyone now: That Tower, it stands like a disgusting tyrant, overshadowing us all as it sits upon its unjustly taken throne! So, what do we do with tyrants?"

There were a variety of responses, including a rather crude one made by Althalia (Rai decided she approved of this girl), and then Mattheis called out, "Now - for our fallen comrades, for our loved ones, for everyone important in your lives, show them your resolve!"

Rai hated having to care about other people. But she couldn't just stand by... not after what they'd done to Hale. The girl's fist tightened at the thought. They would pay dearly for that.

Besides, those stupid Nith had damaged her ship and almost killed her. They weren't getting off the hook that easily.

And, somewhere deep inside herself, a little voice told her she cared - about the Keepers she'd traveled with and their silly antics, that ditzy Telosia and the ridiculous Hale she'd known from childhood. She cared about all of it, because it was what Tristan had died for, and she couldn't deny that no matter how much she hated the recklessness of the Keepers and what they'd done to her.

Hale... You just had to go and be heroic and get yourself killed, didn't you? Rai took a deep breath to control her fisted hand from shaking. She swallowed the lump in her throat. First, Tristan. Now Hale. And so many of the others before that. What was left of her childhood was falling apart before her eyes.

Rai wiped a fist across her nose and sniffed angrily. Damn those Nith. They're going to burn in Hell.

Mattheis's battle cry rang out over the field, and Rai watched his troops cheer. "STORM! THE ********! FORTRESS!!!"

Storm the ******** fortress indeed.

<<< t-Gen zepto [16th gen.] >>>
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Show Down
Pendulum
« ► » 2:41 [|||||||||||--------] 5:23

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Rai pulled herself into her ship and lowered the cracked windshield, buckling herself in with the dual straps. The wires connected to her body at her neck clicked into place, and she turned the key. Beneath her, MPV model 147 rumbled to life. She'd had to modify it a few times to get it to power up this morning, but she was back in business. Granted, the MPV 147 wasn't her favorite model to pilot - that one was back on the docks of Krux, safe and sound - but it would get the job done just this once. As long as it held through the battle...

Through the windshield, Rai grinned out at the battlefield. It was time to do some - as the Captain had put it - royal a**-kicking.

Nith poured in from every direction, and Rai launched herself into the battle, tearing through the darkness left and right with the powerful mechanical fingers of her MPV. The controls were a bit roughed from damage, but she managed to handle them with fluidity beneath skillful fingers. After a good warm-up, she decided to try her new weapons. Some of the old features had been too damaged from the fall to bring back completely, so she'd allowed herself some... modifications.

A group of Harbingers gathered up ahead, and Rai flipped a switch on her control board, then pushed a few buttons.

"Say your prayers..." she whispered, wetting her lips as she concentrated. She pressed the launch button, and there was a pause as a long whistle echoed over the battlefield.

BLAM!!

The explosion was like a burst of sunlight against the dark sky. A burst of magenta, teal, and orange sunlight, that was. Mixed in with all the flashing auras, it looked like a fireworks show was happening on the beach. But tonight was a night where there would be no jolly entertainment on Vectiras. This was serious.

Not that Rai was ever serious.

"Hey, FATASS!" yelled Rai, speaking through a microphone over the battlefield. "Yeah, I'm talking about you," she taunted, apparently calling out to one of the jellyfish-like Regenerators hovering over the field. The didn't fight, but they were just as annoying, recycling all that Nith energy. They also couldn't understand a word she said, probably, but Rai didn't mind.

"If you like sucking up energy... SUCK ON THIS!"

The arm of her MPV shifted and reformed as a giant missile launcher, out of which spewed several large canisters that sped off towards the Regenerators. In a few moments, they made impact, and the large tent-like creatures wobbled and tipped, the huge, newly-made holes in their bodies rendering them unstable. One crashed to the ground like a deflated balloon, landing right on top of a legion of bewildered Nith.

"Bullseye."

Despite all the fighting, though, Rai noticed that they were falling back. There were just too many of them... no matter how many they plowed through, more came. The Nith were as endless as the sea.

"Jeez, gimme a break," panted Rai, bracing herself once more as her shields took a hit from a Ravager. She dodged a few more attacks and gritted her teeth, her hands slippery with sweat against the controls. There's just too many.

At her belt, her radio suddenly crackled, and a garbled voice came through. She spared a glance at her dashboard and saw that the signal was coming from Kaito's link. It was a boy's voice.

"Something's wrong, Kaito - I'm not strong enough to fight them! I feel like my energy is so drained... I'm not even sure what's causing it, but I think it might be one of them, since I feel better now..."

Rai checked Kaito's position on the locator and registered his coordinates, then went to check out the surrounding area. It was just as she'd suspected - Lance and Angel. Rai opened communication with Kaito.

"It's the girl known as Angel," she explained. "Her Shadowsili abilities allow her to drain other auras. Stay away from her. I'll distract her, okay? ...don't get killed out there, or Telosia will have no one to ogle over," she added.

Making her way to the Shadowsilis, she quickly singled out Angel and called out to her. "Hey, little girl! Wanna fight?"

Lance growled and launched himself at her, ready to tear her machine apart with his metal-ripping claws, but Rai shot an aura-shell in his direction, pushing him back and stunning him briefly. "No touching, I just got this polished." He didn't seem willing to comply, but at the attack of several other Keepers, he didn't have much of a choice.

"So." She turned towards Angel. "Think you can catch me? Or are you too scared?"

Angel launched a shell of energy at her, finally giving in to Rai's taunts, and Rai jerked her MPV to the side, spinning it away from Lance. All she needed to do was distract this girl so that Kaito could deal with the other one...

The third shell hit her MPV in the shoulder, and a bolt of pain struck through Rai's collarbone. She grimaced and looked up through determined eyes. "You'll have to hit... harder than that!" The right arm of the MPV reformed into a large gun, and Rai flipped a few switches before arming the massive weapon. Then she fired, and a large melon broke apart at Angel's feet.

The winged girl stopped and looked down slowly, then looked back up at Rai. "Yeah, a melon, I know. I ran out of regular ammunition." There was a pause. "Mind if we get on with this?"

Angel zoomed into the air, and Rai fired after her. Aw man, not with the flying...

That complicated things a bit. Repeatedly, Rai fired after the girl, but she flitted through the air and past her bullets. In return, Rai dodged most of the shells thrown at her, but she was growing tired. Normally, the MPV would block out any aura-draining powers. But her MPV was damaged, and there was a crack in the windshield - it wasn't exactly aura-tight anymore.

A shell hit the MPV square in the center of the windshield, and the splinter spread into a larger crack. Rai winced, but the glass held. Dammit...

Meanwhile, the Nith just kept jumping on her from all around, and seemed to be increasing all the time. Rai really wished she knew what the plan was here. She would've felt a lot better knowing there was some sort of method behind this madness. At least, she really hoped they weren't simply throwing their lives into this boiling mass of Nith and leaving their survival to luck.

A long, piercing wolf howl rang out over the field, and when Rai looked up, Angel was gone. Crap, where...?

"Ungh!" A beam of energy hit her from the back, and the MPV shuddered violently and lurched to the side, steaming. Rai shivered from the pain in her left arm and swallowed hard, sweat beading on her forehead. The sensors on the screen flashed red, indicating heavy damage to the main circuitry of the left arm and abdominal sections of the MPV.

Rai growled and turned to face the wall of Ravagers and Harbringers that had launched the attack. The weapon on the mecha's right arm charged and reloaded. Somehow, the melons just weren't going to cut it this time, decided Rai. It was time to switch to the big guns.

They'd picked a fight with the wrong girl.

▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄

you made yourself a bed at the bottom of the blackest hole
and [convinced yourself] that it's not the r e a s o n you don't see the sun anymore

And sepia-colored memories that were imprinted on my eyelids ....................................................................... In a distorted loophole in time
Are now on the other side of the soft light... ........................... The knife that stabbed me in the back gives me [wings]
They're still too far off for me, filthy as I am now . ...................................................................... And I keep looking at the sky
I can't return to that time ever again .................................................... In order to b u r n . u p all of the memories
When we were laughing .................................................................... Running through my entire body

I [lock] myself up, unable to even atone
More than eternally embracing an illusion
In a moment I'd choose f r e e d o m
➳ ♥ •

[.Halcyonia.]

• Ѷεcтϊгαș → ♪
• ϓαηɱεϊ → ♫

♥
If the condemning sound of rain makes you sad,
I will become your gentle shield
Don't ever stop believing
I pray... that a small miracle
Will reflect in your eyes
I won't run away from fate; I'm by your side.
No matter how sad your dreams are, I don't mind
I pray... "believe" and rip up the darkness of the cold memories
♥





★ Ⓨ Ⓐ Ⓝ Ⓜ Ⓔ Ⓘ ★
✿ do you have any fruit juice ? ! ✿

¤·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.☆ [ Island of Aedif, Vectiras ] ☆.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·¤

✫ - ✬ - ✭ - ✮ - ✯ - ✰ - ✱ - ✲ - ✳ - ✴ - ✵ - ⋆

{{ ♬ side by side... let's fight!!! ♬ }}
- - - - - -

"... Ready young master? Your stage awaits little one."

Mei ignited the aura around her, and felt the tingle of power running through her. But instead of her usual fuschia stars racing around her, Jace's white aura swirled over her body. She pulled her helmet down over her face, which now looked exactly like Jace's thanks to her fox demon abilities. In fact, even her voice sounded like Jace's when she responded to Joshua.

"Ready as I'll ever be." She glared out at the Nith. Today, they were going down.

The odds might have seemed impossible to anyone else. But Yanmei believed that nothing was impossible. After all, things had changed so quickly on Aedif over the past few weeks. In such a small amount of time, so much had happened. Once, finding a friend, a brother, a destiny - it had all seemed so far off. But now, it was within her grasp. It was here. Today. Now.

Yanmei fired the white aura around her, lighting up the beach with a bright column of white.

"Well, here I am!" she called out bravely to the screeching hordes of Nith. "I'm the one you want, right?! Well?!" she shouted. "So come... and... GET ME!"

Thanks to Joshua, Mei was not only cloaked with Jace's aura, but was able to use the powers he usually had. As the Nith came forth in attack, she flared her white aura outward and leapt into the air. Moments later, she landed among a stunned group of Nith that had been blinded by the white aura, smashing into them with an Nith arm that looked just like Jace's - and acted just like Jaces, because of Joshua.

"Take THAT!" Mei punched through another Nith, devastating the Harbinger in a swirl of black. She backflipped away and rejoined the group of Keepers she was fighting alongside. At the approach of a swarm of buzzing Syphons, she extended her bright cloak of aura, overpowering the creatures with her Cryasili power.

Jace's aura was unique in that it was a combination of both Shadowili and Cryasili auras. Mei, unused to this, found them somewhat challenging to control, but she'd gotten a bit of practice in the morning before jumping into battle.

"Aright, who's next..." Mei steadied herself, prepared to jump in again. She wasn't the most skilled fighter because, although she was used to using a Nexus, she wasn't used to fighting with one. Or with fighting at all, for that matter. But she was a quick learner, and the urgency of the situation fostered her zeal to adapt.

Amid the din of battle, Joshua's voice called out over the beach. "Master Jace! Run!"

"Huh?" Mei glanced back and froze in shock. Charging through the battleground was a giant, hulking figure, a wolf-like beast that tore through the defenses, cutting down men in its path as if they were made of paper. On its back rode a strange, silent girl with a mask on her face.

"U... uh-oh." She took a step back. Mei's first thought was to transform herself into some sort of animal and just spring away, but she couldn't do that - it would give away the surprise and ruin the plan entirely. Getting to her feet, she began dodging through the battleground, trying to distance herself from the ever-nearing wolf-thing. But it quickly became clear that it was hopeless - there was no way she could outrun something so large and fast.

Finally, Yanmei turned to face them. They were close, now - just a few more seconds...

The white cloak of aura around her lashed outwards into a fiery white barrier, creating a huge wall between Yanmei and the approaching Shadowsili. They met in a clash of auras, and a blinding flash of light burst upon the beach.

Almost immediately though, Mei felt that something was wrong. Her aura almost felt like it was being drained away from her. Was Joshua too far away...?

As the light faded, a young boy and girl stepped out. Mei, feeling the strength of her aura sapping away from her, lowered the power of the white flames and knelt down halfway, panting for breath.

"Come now, what are you doing with that Shadowsili aura? You don't belong among them. Come... with us." He held out his hand.

Mei looked up at him and the strange girl beside him. She wore a mask, and Yanmei could hear her humming. She turned back to the boy. "Go... with you?" She stood back up, fighting the crushing force that seemed to pull the very life from her.

She readjusted her helmet, her eyes blazing from the shadow. "Never."

With a flare of the bright white Aura, Mei extended the Nith arm into a forceful punch. She felt terribly weak, though, and the boy dodged it easily. In the same instant, he partially transformed into a his lycan form, adopting the huge, muscular arms of his previous manifestation. Mei tried to move back, but he grabbed her arm before she could escape and pulled her to the ground, where she landed face-down with a mouthful of dirt.

Spitting to the side, she began to get up, but the boy jumped onto her, trying to pin her down. Mei's white aura flashed out feebly and she barely managed to pull his arms from her shoulders with aura-enfused arms.

Rolling away, Mei stood up shakily, breathing hard. Darnit... This isn't good.

"You will come with us... whether you want to or not!" Suddenly the small Shadowsili girl with wings formed a ball of energy in her hands. Mei jumped back and tried to put up a barrier, but every time she tried, it faltered and died away. The fox-girl's heart fluttered in her chest, panicked. What was happening?

Angel flung the ball of energy towards Yanmei, who tried to jump away but tripped. For a split second, she was sure that she was a goner. She squeezed her eyes shut, preparing for the impact. And then...

Yanmei opened her eyes and felt a cool breeze on her cheeks. "K... Kaito!" She smiled happily at her friend who was now carrying her high above the battlefield, safe from the attacks of Angel and Lance.

[ Taska, you can insert some sort of Kaito response in your post wherever you want~ xD;; ]

"PFFFFT!" shouted Mei down at them, sticking out her tongue and making inappropriate noises as she wiggled her hands on either side of her face. "Take that!"

She calmed down briefly and clambered onto Kaito's back, settling between his wings so that she could ride piggy-back style; it was easier on his arms, that way. It was sort of awkward having to do it in Jace's body, since he was a little big bigger than her. (Actually, Mei hadn't transformed into his full height - she was several inches short, still. But apparently the other Shadowsili hadn't noticed.)

"Something's wrong, Kaito - I'm not strong enough to fight them! said Mei as they circled. "I feel like my energy is so drained... I'm not even sure what's causing it, but I think it might be one of them, since I feel better now..."

Without warning, the small mechanical device on Kaito's belt clicked and beeped to life. "It's the girl known as Angel," spoke Rai's tinny voice from the communicator. "Her Shadowsili abilities allow her to drain other auras. Stay away from her. I'll distract her, okay? ...don't get killed out there, or Telosia will have no one to ogle over." The voice fizzled out into static and then beeped off.

Yanmei blinked, lost to it all.

"... did your belt just talk to you?"

. . .

Angel was successfully distracted, and Mei and Kaito had returned to the ground to battle Lance and the rest of the oncoming Nith. Kaito would pull Yanmei up into the air, and she would use Jace's aura to create surprise attacks from the air as Kaito swept down. When he got tired, she'd fight from the ground for awhile as he distracted their enemies from above. But even working together, it wasn't enough. Gradually, the waves of Nith began to wear them out. Their fighters were constantly being resupplied, while all the Keepers had was those already fighting. They fell back, again and again, retreating further up the beach.

At times, it seemed like a hopeless battle.

But Mei knew the plan, and she kept telling herself this was all part of it. They had to pull back, so that Jace could go towards the tower. Real Jace, Jace who would save Aedif and all of Vectiras... Still, she was getting tired of fighting like this. She kept telling herself she had to hold back, not give everything yet...

"Augh!" Mei stumbled backwards and tripped, tumbling down onto the sand.

It kind of sucked to have to take the beatings, though.

A Harbringer shell had hit her right front and center, breaking through her aura shield. Before she could get up, she felt a pressure on her back, and Lance was suddenly standing before her with one wolf-like foot shoving her shoulder into the ground. He growled audibly, then plucked her from the ground with his massive paw. Mei, dirty and bruised, looked up at his wolfish face. She thought she'd lost him in the crowd for awhile, but maybe not.

"What do you want from me, anyway? Don't you see I'm busy?" said Mei irritably, struggling in his grasp and trying to break away. Jace's aura flared up to fight him away, but he wouldn't relinquish his grip on her collar. He let out a piercing howl, and Mei finally broke away from his grasp. She backed away, and bumped into something.

A chill went down her back, and she turned slowly. She could literally feel the aura seeping out of her. There in front of her was Angel, stolid and humming as usual. Mei felt suddenly lightheaded, and she fell to her knees. This time... it was just too much. She let out a groan, irritated at her weakness in the face of this pressure. Where was Kaito?

"As I said, you will come with us." He pulled Mei to her feet, grasping her arm with his wolf paw - the rest of him had reverted to a human form already.

Suddenly, he stopped. Mei looked up slowly. "You... What is the meaning of this?!"

Mei glanced down. From beneath the hem of her tattered cloak, the dirtied tip of a fox tail poked out. "Oops..." She smiled at her captors. "Weren't expecting a tail, were you?" The two Shadowsili stared at her in wonder. Gradually, "Jace's" form began to shrink. Her eyes changed from grey and red to bright, emerald green. "Guess you picked the wrong one, huh?" Her hair grew long and formed two pigtails, and her grin revealed two slightly pointed canines at the front of her mouth.

"Sorry, you lose!" said Mei, speaking in her normal voice. Fox ears popped out of her hair as she stuck her tongue out at them, happy that the plan had worked. She didn't seem to realize what a dire predicament she was now in.

"Grrrr... you insolent child!!" Lance's hand came down hard across her face. Mei blinked, her face turned to the side. Angel had stopped humming. "This means..." He glanced towards the tower. "Ugh, never mind. We'll despose of you swiftly, then."

Mei gritted her teeth. Standing next to Angel, she could hardly find the strength to summon her Nexus. How would she get out of this one?

Angel formed an orb in her hands, and Lance tossed Mei to the ground, raising a clawed hand. Mei cringed, anticipating the pain.

Just then, a burst of blue feathers erupted over her, fending off both Lance and Angel. Mei lifted a hand to cover her face, then looked up. Kaito? She smiled in relief.

With the two Shadowsili distracted by Kaito, Mei scrambled away to catch her breath. Away from Angel's draining abilities, her aura returned to her quickly, and with a determined grin on her face, she turned back to the battlefield. Clenching her fists, a flurry of white feathers burst out around her as beautiful, fluffy wings shot out from her back, the feathers decorated with light blue tips and flecks of color.

"Hey, LANCE!" called Mei from high above the battlefield, soaring about the beach. "You think you're all that, but two can play at that game!" A moment later, Kaito joined her in the air, and she smiled at him, holding up her hand for a high-five. When he blinked at her, she shook her head and decided to explain later.

Mei looked down on the beach below. It had been a long, hard struggle so far, but now it was time to really crank things up. It would only get harder, but they had to fight - they had to win. For the sake of her home. For the sake of all of Vectiras.

☁ ׺°”˜`”°º× ☁ ׺°”˜`”°º× ☁
there will be sunshine again after the r a i n . . .

☀ ☂ ☁

♥
Breathing calmly, I looked at you
Who had fallen asleep, so exhausted
The sweet, unprotected profile
That no one in the world but me knows
♥

[Mattheis Hiashin]

»......Slicing the sky with this golden board,
.......Piercing the stars with this silver sword,

» We Fly Under A Flag Of Freedom «
The Preposterous Captain ― Souls Collide ― The Tomboyish Daredevil
Hylravine Militia ―― Keeper Team 9-AC
⚔ ♏attheis Ӈiashin III ★ λlthalia §aloshin ⚡
Ravierin Capitol Building, Hylravi/ Ocean Battlefront, Vectiras
(♪) (♫)

((OOC: Setting all NPC speech colors to gray just for this post for the sake of convenience/ease of reading ^^;; Feel free to skip down to Matt's section. >_> ))

.......Through the signals of the ships that managed to escape the Nith ambush above Vectiras and reinforcement ships just outside of it desperately firing everything at the dark barrier to free the innocent island world, word spread quickly down the Life-Stream from ship to ship. Languages and crackled messages were decoded and relayed with haste, and within twelve hours of the crashes and the close of the World Eater barrier, the news reached Dresk, then Hylravi, worlds away.

.......It was about late morning in the Kingdom now, and where the people had expected to wake to further celebrations, vision screens across the cities and countrysides flickered with the horrific (and ironic) news that was quickly becoming exaggerated by journalists and news teams from all over and beyond. The government did what it could to hide the messages, to keep them from spreading any further and causing hysteria - but no matter what, there would always be one person who got the message through, and it would spread like wildfire.

.......Slowly, the festivities stopped, the plays came to a halt, and the protesters rose up from all over with their picket signs and their banners and their slogans. The people realized: They were no longer at peace. The Nith were a reality once again, the Nith were a threat, the Nith looked with indifference toward all, no matter how neutral they may be, and the only ones that hadn't been stalling were the Keepers and Militia. Hylravi itself may not have been a target (yet), but there were Hylravines on board that ship! And though they had denied it in the years past to preserve their peace, just because they wouldn't bother the Nith, that didn't mean that the Nith wouldn't bother them. They realized: Neutrality was not an option.

.......In Ravierin alone, thousands were gathered in the High District, outside of the Royal Palace and the Capitol, some still half-drunk and covered in paint and dressed in costume for the Festival, but their faces displayed no sense of festivity whatsoever. Group leaders - mostly relatives or friends of the Preposterous crewmen and passengers - rallied others and chanted protests for them to follow.

......."Our sons are on that ship!"

......."Prince Mattheis was right!"

......."Neutrality with Nith means death! We want war!"

......."How much longer are we going to ignore the deaths of our brethren?"

.......Inside the building, the gathered members of the Hylravine Parliament, the General and the heads of the Royal military divisions, the General of the Militia, respected Professors, representatives from every Province, and the heads of the Noble Houses were almost equally as chaotic in their assembly, shaking papers and throwing quills at one another and yelling over others just to be heard.

.......The Royal General, an ancient, but muscular black-scaled Drake with white eyes, graying horns, and heavy medals and military décor, tapped his warhammer against the floor thrice to get his attention. With a venomous disgust, he shot his next argument across the room. "Did we not agree that Hylravi would stay neutral until 2141? And now, General Alaishin, you're asking to send the Royal Fleet toward Vectiras, after you sent in your Militia to do Kruxian bidding and fight the Nith - and doom Iaravi? The Nith will surely target our world if we do so!"

......."Kruxian bidding?" Came the low, calm reply. Where only a few voices quieted down to hear the Royal General's roaring defense, the entire assembly stopped their side arguments to listen to the Militia's General. A quiet, young General with a fluid voice and short white hair falling just above his piercing red eyes, Valthes Alaishin was dressed in the standard Star Division Militia uniform and a tattered red cape, and was the only man in the room with enough badges, medals, and tassels to rival that of the Royal General. Ironically, his own calm demanded the same of everyone around him, and he did not need force to silence everyone around him when he needed to speak. "You must be mistaken, General Maldarts - the Militia is organized by the people, for the people. Our first duty is defending said people - but oh, isn't that supposed to be the government's job?" There was a roar of protest, and the opposing General on the other side of the room huffed black plumes of smoke from between his teeth. Maldarts slammed his hammer against the table like a gavel.

......."Well, that's precisely what we're trying to do: we're trying to avoid war to protect the people! But no - you send off your precious Prince and Captains into the Life-Stream and wage petty wars against the Nith with the Keepers when we don't need to!"

......."Then look at the people outside," Valthes replied, with a sweeping motion of his white-gloved hand toward a shattered window through which someone had thrown a brick, "And ask yourself: What is their idea of peace? Shall we fight to preserve a lie and live lives of luxury, of a false sense of peace? Or shall we fight to bring real peace for good?" The assembly erupted once again. Even with the slamming of General Maldarts's hammer and General Alaishin's calm-yet-intense, respect-demanding atmosphere, the shouts from the conflicting parties would not quell until...

......."Shut up. All of you."

.......The amplified voice boomed through the amphitheater-style assembly room as an aging man wearing white, blue, and gold threw a side door open and marched alone into the center of the room. Every member of the assembly bowed low and quieted down - the shining crown upon his brown hair indicated him as King Falstiar, who rested both of his hands on his table, eyes gazing up with weariness. There was a moment of silence before he said, with irritation in his voice, "I need not hear your arguments any more - I can hear your bickering from outside." A few low grunts, and then silence followed as he continued, turning his head toward the Militia side of the assembly. "Knowing you, you've already sent out the rest of the Star Division Militia to Vectiras to break the barrier."

.......Narrowing his eyes, Valthes replied, "The Ridiculous, Ludicrous, and Incongruous have aborted their missions and are joining Keeper reinforcements above Vectiras." As he said this, the floor's vision screen flooded with light and began to display hologram-like images for all to see. A map of the known Collective universe, an enlarged, darkened globe of Vectiras, revolving models of the three nearly-identical Militia ships aforementioned, and streaming images of the commanding Captains in their respective bridges were displayed. "Reports so far, however, indicate that the barrier is impenetrable, even by Kruxian fire." The King nodded solemnly.

......."The last report of the Preposterous, Valthes."

.......Another image showed up, displaying a virtual reenactment of the scene described. "She was last seen by an escaping fightership pilot from another ship; he reported that she had released her escape pods into Vectiras's atmosphere and used Aura Harpoons to drag down a Sky Titan. She is presumed to have crashed with the Nith mothership. All communication cut off after the barrier closed."

......."Then we have to presume that he's dead! That they're all dead! Even if they survived the crash, the Nith would have gotten them by now!"

.......The Militia General glared blood-red daggers at the (to him) nameless representative who cried out that argument. "No one knows what happened beneath that barrier just yet. Until we have proof, or until Vectiras is completely drained of life, we have to assume that they're still alive."

.......The black dragon growled with annoyance, and let out a threatening hiss as he shook his hammer at the white-haired Militia General. "Does your stubbornness know no bounds, Militia man? Give it up, your prize Prince is dea-"

......."I refuse to believe that a Hiashin would die so easily. 'Tis not in their blood."

......."Don't be a fool, Valthes. All are equal in the eyes of the Life-Stream."

.......Having had his time to think (and having stopped listening to their argument by the time the Royal General had cried stubbornness - it was pointless to argue the existence of destiny at this point) Falstiar stepped in, with his voice low and his face... full of regret. "I'm afraid I'll have to agree... with General Valthes." A few gasps and soft murmurs could be heard from all around the room as he said this, and the Royal General stared at his King with his white eyes blazing with fury and confusion; this was not like Falstiar. Before he could ask, the King gave his answer, eyes cast down as he trekked down memory lane: "On that day... Mattheis told me something about the basis of our Kingdom's survival, its ideals, the foundation that make us what we are now. And until today, I ignored his warning." Complete silence fell upon the representatives as they listened intently to his tale.

......."...We both called each other coward kings that day. I, because I believed him to be too unnerved to take the Crown, he because we refused to send in the Army when one of our own cities was assaulted by Nith. He knew from the very beginning that we did not want to accept that our peace was coming to an end - in essence, it was fear. We thought that we could declare neutrality, that we could save ourselves... but no, it can be agreed now that the Nith - the same demons that plagued us during Alitharn's reign and during the Infection - cannot be negotiated with. All that time, he told me, we were abandoning the very ideals which have stood by for generations. In true Hiashin fashion, he said: We could fight, or turn a blind eye to the approaching doom of our world, if not the Collective. The choice was so... very... simple. But I couldn't... decide." Falstiar gritted his teeth and slammed a fist against the desk as he admitted this. It was already enough that he'd come to this epiphany the night before; now that he had to force everyone present to see the truth that he had failed to see until then, it was... painful.

......."Delegates," he began to declare, raising his eyes toward everyone sitting in the elevated seats around him, "Ever since the Keepers arrived years ago and revealed to us the truth of the universe, we have been holding back - and for what reason? Fear, that's what, and while we went and stalled for time, the Militia did not hesitate to help our Kruxian allies as soon as our first worldships were produced! Why should we let men like that die without even trying to save them?" A pause. One of the Admirals opened up her mouth to say something, but was immediately cut off. "Even if no one from the Preposterous survives, at least we can try and save a fellow Collective world! Stubborn as it may be, gentlemen, at least no one can call us cowards for not trying!"

.......The General was taken aback by this, and stared at his King and Commander-in-Chief with horror. "... Your Majesty, you cannot possibly be implying-"

......."I do not imply it, Maldarts - I say it now!"

......."But the Neutrality Act -"

......."Bah! You know what Mattheis would have said?" King Falstiar bared his teeth in a grim smile. "He would have laughed in our faces, and said, word for word: '[********] the Act!'" Many gasped at the King's unusual use of vulgarity as he put great emphasis on the hard 'f'. "As of now, that is nihil! There is a world in danger, and the Nith have attacked a Hylravine ship! We send in the Army immediately!"

.......The once strong-standing Royal General had now shrunk back into his seat. His next words were shaky, and unsure. "We still need to draw up a declaration of war and get a vote and approval..."

.......This time, the King roared at him. "Shut up, Maldarts! You want a vote? Look at the people all over the Kingdom! Now tell those people that we are sending in the Army, or by the Immortals I will demote you!" At this point, although everyone in the assembly knew that such a threat was against their policies and that this was against proper procedures, no one dared question the King's order now... Granted, no one really wanted to question Falstiar in an enraged state - Mattheis, maybe, knowing him to be a considerate and constantly self-questioning young man, but not Falstiar. Still, for the most part, he was right. General Maldarts stood up from his seat, and quickly bowed before leaving the building. Everyone now looked once again to their King, who closed his eyes and knew that, while admitting the truth of his fear hurt, it was good to finally be relieved of its weight. Hylravi was now (un)officially at war. It felt... strangely pleasing. Had it been against any sentient people their declaration might have been questionable... but these were Nith - and the Hylravines knew already of their mindlessness and their destructive potential. There was no point in holding back now - there was no point in holding back in the first place.

......."That child... If he were here, he would be laughing at me right now. I have been a fool. If anyone survives... it has to be him."

APOCALYPTICA
――――| ♪ | It Is You Who Must Survive! | ♪ |――――
DRIVE

.......If anyone survives... it has to be them! Mattheis thought as a burst of a fire spell shot out from his hand at a ground Nith attempting to fire at the aerial strike team. His men moved closely with him; these were the most elite of fighters among his crewmen, and they were prepared to fight and die for their purpose, as was he.

.......He stepped back slightly and almost slipped on the ice as the two Shadowsili rose up on their growing mass of vines and plants, staring down upon the Captains and their accompanying soldiers below. "Very well then elf, Hiashin Captain... I will return you to the Lifestream if that is your wish."

.......How arrogant; Mattheis was not used to being looked down upon or spoken to in such a way. Disgusting Shadowsili b*****d. "Bah! Only if you go first!" Charging forward, Mattheis raised his sword and prepared to take the opening as the mass of Shadowsili flora appeared to go after Telosia... until they suddenly veered toward him. A feint!

.......By only inches he managed to avoid being impaled in the chest by one of the vines; a second and third came directly at him and coiled around his arms and waist, and he nearly dropped his sword as they began to squeeze. With desperate, choked breaths the Captain focused energy at points all around him and cried out a spell in Old Hylravine tongue. "Tavi, oul selik aer Zik!" White sparks ignited into blue flames that joined with the miniature cyclone that formed around his body as he combined fire and wind tunnel spells, creating a flaming spiral that instantly incinerated the killer plants threatening to suffocate him.

.......Still, that was not the end of it. Haji took advantage of this opening to charge at them, splitting into two forms as he threw himself at the two Captains. A handsign, and a wall of earth instantly separated Mattheis from Telosia and his entire team. A hiss from between his gritted teeth followed as another wave of plants rushed at him and as Haji's clones went after Telosia. He could feel Alastus grinning down at him; Mattheis did not need to see his face to know that he was looking upon him with that condescending gaze.

......."Impressive escape, for one without Aura abilities... but you won't be able to stall much longer with such weak magic. Surrender, and I'll return you to the Life-Stream without pain."

.......Mattheis paused for a moment after he literally backhanded a vine with a flaming hand. "Oh, going after the guy without a Nexus? Don't underestimate me!" He was about to throw another fire-based spell when he heard a rumble. Suddenly, the ice below and around him shook and rose up, bringing him, his men, and their otherwordly allies up above the wall and Alastus on great pillars of ice. He slammed his sword into the ice and held on until the quakes finally stopped. When they did, Mattheis watched with a grim smile as the elementalist Shadowsili was encased in a prison of ice, but his face quickly twisted into an expression of horror when he caught sight of his skewered ally. "Telosia!"

.......Much to his relief, however, Nereid immediately began work on separating her from the rock spire and healing her injury as she sank into a diamond-hard ice fortress - she was still alive enough to heal herself. That was good. Mattheis nodded and closed his eyes; the Junior Captain had nearly given her life to immobilize one of the Shadowsili threats before them - now it was their turn to take out the other one. An even trade. Looks like I'll be taking over for you, Junior Captain. Your efforts shall not be in vain.

.......His eyes shot open as he looked down upon Alastus now, who was already sending up more viper-vines their way. Blue sparks crackled around Mattheis and every other nearby Hylravine mage as they sheathed their weapons and raised up their arms to prepare a united rain of fire attacks. "We'll put you in your place!"

......."Know yours." A loud series of cracks and rumbles interrupted Matt's spell, and while the others managed to hurl down fire tunnels and flaming rock at the thick forest of death, they couldn't stop the vines from grabbing a hold of the frozen stalagmite upon which he stood. The vines squeezed and tugged and, with a shatter, they broke the Captain's platform. With a scream, Mattheis fell with crumbling top of the pillar, his lips too frozen with panic to form the words for a levitation spell to save himself as he helplessly freefalled toward the greedy, gaping maw of one of the murderflowers below.

((OOC: Passive, this should hopefully give you something to start off Entropy's next post with. ^^ Hiro, I had to bot Mav a bit, but if you need me to fix something, let me know. ^^ ))

ACE COMBAT 5: THE UNSUNG WAR
――――| ♪ | The Ocean Thunderstorm | ♪ |――――
FIRST FLIGHT

......."SCREW YOU! GIMME ONE OF THOSE FLIGHTY DISK THINGS AND FIGHT ME FAIRLY DAMNIT! WHY ARE ALL OF YOU FLYING!? Screw it, even if you bastards can fly, I’m getting my Captain back."

......."Brace yourself!" A bolt of gold fell from the sky again, this time swooping toward Mav and dragging him with an arm coiled around his waist.

......."Wha-?!" Althalia grinned at Mav from beneath her pulled-up hood, goggles, and soaking-wet hair, despite her struggle to pull Mav up onto the board while still fighting against Juriza's aura pressure.

......."Dude, like, seriously, don't complain~! It's the best I can do for you. Now hold on tight, I could use some of those time-stopping powers and gundudeship of yours."

......."Oh, so I'm a tool now, huh? Where've you been this whole time?"

......."Tch. Picking up some injured water drakes and dropping 'em off by the medics real quick. Look dude, just do your thing, and I'll do mine." The Skyrider grinned slightly at herself as she, in the back of her mind, realized how potentially wrong that could have sounded. Althalia tipped the front of the board upward and accelerated; the extra weight was slowing her down, but she'd have to make do and hope that Mav would be able to make up for it.

......."There you are!" There was a sharp drop in altitude as another pulse of aura pressure pushed down on Althalia's aura, bringing her and her passenger close to sea level. "Hah! How entertaining - I've never fought such a ridiculous-looking pair of Keepers on a board! Such a pity that I have to kill you both - you'd better make this worthwhile!" Juriza raised his anchor once more for another wave attack... and Althalia charged toward him.

......."Mav, hold your breath and don't let go of me! It's about to get crazy!" As the second shark-like wave came at them, Althalia pushed the nose down and activated the turbo boosters, and they both disappeared deep underwater in a duck-dive just before it hit, where at least the force of the wave wouldn't hit them as hard nor as directly. Juriza was once again left to vainly search the oceanscape for the two teenage Keepers - or, more preferably, their dead bodies. He spent several moments searching for them, but he could not hear the whirr of the board's engines nor could find the trailing gold afterimage she normally left behind.

......."Cowardly little board-girl! Where are you hiding?" Where was there to hide when the battlefield was an ocean? Up? On the ice field in the distance? Retreated in their pitiful camp?

..........Below?!

.......Time seemed to slow down suddenly as the surface of the water behind Juriza exploded, with the two Keepers shooting upward as their blades of emerald and board of gold blazed with Aura.

......."Hit 'im, Mav!"

((OOC: And we leave the rest to Mav. ^^ ))

And sailing upon this ship of blackened steel......
You and I fly forever free, never to kneel........«

[backup]

→ location × Vectiras／Aedif ←
.└ sound × Unleashed ┐



.......................× С Я ί Μ Ѕ Ø И ×.............

. . . Death comes swiftly to all who look upon this c u r s e d face . . .

The room was like some twisted version of a throne room with towering columns of black stone holding up the domed ceiling. The only source of light flooded in from the the single, glassless skylight in the center of the long room. Beyond a full night's sky could be seen with glimmering stars and a waning moon. Dark shadows clung like ravenous beasts around the edges, in every corner, where the meager light could reach. Near the back sat a single, onyx throne positioned just far enough back that the light only graced the very bottom leaving the rest shrouded and obscured from full view.

A figure sat there with legs crossed in a seemingly relaxed, bored even, pose. Another man, with unkempt black hair and down turned inky eyes, knelt before the throne with his head lowered nearly to the ground. He seemed to grovel like a servant did before an angry master, like a beaten and sniveling dog. His limps quivered in fear, sweat formed over his brow that had nothing to do with the steamy temperature of the room. When he started to speak the words tripped and tumbled over themselves as if his tongue was weighed down with lead. "S-sire, the battle on Vectiras goes well. The nith are pushing the Keepers back as we speak... However, The... Seer says a Shadowsili, one Jace Vistus, will cause the battle's tides to turn. If something isn't done she says we'll lo-"

"Silence, Gerald," The word was spoke softly, without a hint of malice but it caused the already trembling man to shrink up further as if stricken by an unseen force. "Send him in."

Gerald relaxed ever so slightly. "Very well, Sire. I'll send the world to the others immediately. I'll suspect you already have a Watcher in mind?" Gerald started to rise but a raised hand stopped him. The man on the throne paused, lifted one shadowed hand to his masked face as if in thought.

"No, send him in alone. Without the restraints."

Gerald sputtered, openly gaping in astonishment. "B-but Sire, My Lord! There's no guarantee what will happen if he's left loose. He could destroy the nith or the Shadowsili instead of the Keepers without so much as a blink in remorse. He-he is still unstable, extremely unstable. And there's no telling if he'd even return once he leaves." A snap rung through the room and echoed off the walls hollowly. One moment Gerald was kneeling and the next he was writhing on the cold stone floor in excruciating agony. He clutched at his throat as his mouth popped open and closed with watery gasping noises. Blood started to well over the sides of his mouth and the corners of his eyes to form rivers down his face that were then smeared by his jerky movements. Then it stopped just as quickly as it'd come, leaving Gerald panting on the ground.

"Don't mistake me for a fool and never question my orders again. Now go." Gerald started to crawl away, still too shaken to raise to his feet but too frightened to say in his Master's presence any longer. "GO!" With the barked order from the usually calm figure Gerald sprung to his feet, tripping over himself to reach to doors at the far end of the room.

Once the doors were slammed shut the Master allowed himself to laugh mirthlessly in spite of the foolish Gerald. Soon after, however, the mocking died and his calm demeanor returned in full. With a wave of his hand a full sized, ornate silver mirror materialized in front of the throne. Instead of reflecting the throne room back, however, it showed a darkened and damp cell. In the back another stood, his form shrouded in the shadows of his immense aura energy, chained to the wall like a beast.

"Crimson," The Master spoke. Bloody red eyes that shined of empty hatred, eyes of what could only be called a demon, met silver. Crimson's blank face shifted to that of a murderous snarl, pearly white and point fangs glinting in the low light. "You'll return, you'll have no choice. Whether you realize it or not I posses what you hold most dear over all else. You'll come looking for it... Sooner or later."


............×......................

The clang of battle rung as humans and nith alike fought with bitter savagery and hatred. There were explosions, shouts of anger, rage and pain. Smoke poured into the inky sky throwing the world into a dreamlike haze. The Keepers continued to fight in unmatched desperation but they continued to fall back, losing ground. The salty ocean air was tainted by the sent of blood and steel and fire. Blood was thickest in the air and it overwhelmed all else with it's alluring aroma.

From atop the World Eater Tower on a high balcony a pair of disinterested eyes stared at the whole display as if seeing something different instead. It was the sound of the waves that he heard beyond the battle that caused Crimson's far off expression and the light sent of the water. Within him it rung something familiar. Something so deep within that he couldn't reach it even if he'd had the thought or will to do so. Slowly, tantalizingly, it became clearer, most pristine then just a feeling. An image instead was starting to form in the clouded and turmoil depths of his mind. Just when Crimson thought he had it, just as it started to shift and gain focus, it was gone.

Pain replaced it though he'd dealt with so much of that while under the careful control of the Kaz Kami that it was rarely more then a minor annoyance. He pushed it aside, tried to conjure up that image once more but failed. The swift and rare moment of lucidity became swept away as a movement slipped past the corner of his eye. He turn his head to the left to catch a glimpse of it but it vanished like a ghost. Then something laughed from his right and Crimson's head snapped around, glaring at the image with murderous intent. It was a figure of a boy with white hair, silver eyes and a cut over one eye. At first Crimson just stared, the boy's image was the same as the ocean waves, but then the pain was back with vengeance.

This time it sent Crimson to one knee and agony ripped through his head. He grunted, hands reaching up to grab fists full of inky hair and nearly rip it out. 'Kill him. He's the cause of your pain. Kill him and you'll get it back.' A voice whispered within Crimson's mind like so many times before. In his demented state Crimson didn't try to fight back, didn't try to disagree or comprehend what it meant. He lunged forward with inhuman speed, reaching out towards the one said to be the cause all this. Of everything. Mere inches away, his bare hands just moments from crushing the boy's throat, and something pulled back on his arms and neck.

He was held back by chains, fangs snapping at the boy from behind the half mask that covered his mouth. The figure of Jace laughed at him then, a wicked laugh that caused Crimson's blood to boil. Jace moved around Crimson, tauntingly staying just out of reach, to stand in front of the balcony. It nimbly jumped onto the railing, a Cheshire grin gracing it's features, and the smoke from outside seemed to frame him. It raised one finger to it's lips in a 'shushing' motion before turning. It spread out it's arms wide as if to embrace the destruction and chaos and pain of the world outside. Then it fell forwards to disappear into the darkness far below.

Panic surged in Crimson followed by rage as his quarry got away. He pulled against his bindings, ignoring the minor discomfort as they dug into his skin, as they cut into him. Blood started to well and run down his neck and arms but the burning pain went unnoticed. Then the chains were suddenly released and Crimson surged forward. He hit the railing, looking down for his target that had long since turned back into a meager Clown. Rage building up Crimson let out an furious cry, frustration taking hold. His hands gripped the railing with enough force to crush it into nothingness underneath his palms.

'Kill him. You must kill him.' The voice whispered again and Crimson listened without a single thought. With his weapon in hand Crimson jumped from the balcony to join the battle.



From across the battle ground a immensely powerful aura began to build spreading out like a wild, black fire. From all round it anything that was unfortunate enough to come into contact with the aura was decimated almost instantaneously. With sword in hand Crimson cut down anything that stood in his path regardless to whether it was friend or foe. To Crimson's eyes there was no such thing as an ally. There was only the target and those that stood in his way.

And that target was Jace.

Crimson picked up Jace with his superior eye sight from across the battlefield, locked on to his aura, and memorized it. Once he was a hundred or so yards away Crimson suddenly dropped to one knee and placed the palm of his gloved right hand against the sand. The air around him cracked, all moisture seemed to suddenly evaporate before fire appeared out of no where in a large scale explosion. It circled around Crimson in a ball before shooting outward as an encompassing wave, engulfing all those around.

It wasn't much of an attack and more of a distraction. As it spread the sand around Crimson, where he'd placed his hand, took the blunt of the damage. It started to crystallize, becoming glassy and hard. Then he forced it to rapidly cool and a split second later her created another explosion, more violent then the last but this one stayed focused on the one spot. The glass shattered before the explosion forced it outward in a razor sharp shower of projectiles that cut down nith and human alike.

Along with those shards of glass Crimson released two swords but unlike the glass they were sent towards one specific target. They soared towards Jace at near blinding speed, faster and more deadly then anyone should be able to throw a full sized weapon. It was just another distraction and as they approached Crimson stood back to wait. When they got close enough he suddenly appeared beside Jace in a blur of black light. With the third blade in hand Crimson slashed with his weapon as the other two descended upon the Shadowsili from two other directions.


............× I αм the Єnemy..?×......................

[PyroXTech]

The Rogue
Shino Ishida - The Enfinitus- Worldship Dock Tower: Raine, Adamitte
"Nobody crosses Shino Ishida and gets away with it, I'll make damn sure of that..."

Hand extended he waited rather patiently as Neera began to look at him with fear in her eyes, he hadn't expected her to trust him, but if she didn't hurry the hell up he was going to have to carry her out of this place. He was not looking forward to that experience. Before he could grab her though he was distracted by a sudden noise coming from outside the cell, turning his attention away from the girl to try and locate the source of the noise.

A small communicator, the signal barely picked up by Shino's technopathy due to the restrictions on his aura created by the cell, began to transmit a message. "The male Shadowsili has escaped and killed at least two men in the process. What is the current status of the female Shadowsili?" There was a brief pause before the communicator began transmitting again. "I repeat, what is the status of the other Shadowsili?" Another pause. "Damn, there's breach in security, switch to secondary channels."

His attention was drawn back to Neera as her hand gently rested into his hand, helping the Shadowsili girl to her feet. With a nod she alerted him that she was ready to leave this place, returning the nod with a faint smile, pausing outside the cell only to grab the gun from the holster of the dead guard. The rogue ran only as fast as Neera could manage, looking back periodically to make sure that she was still behind him. Sirens and groups of footsteps ensued, it was only a matter of time until the guards caught up to them, he had to prepare himself the best he could. As he ran he combined the rifle and pistol into a shifting mass of metal, forming two large revolvers that resembled the Hellfire pistols somewhat in appearance, though they lacked the intricate detailing and mechanisms of the originals. Shoved into his old holsters, he made quick work of the jewelry, forming the gold and other precious metals into five small rings on his hands. It wasn't his original equipment, but it was the best he could do for now. It wasn't too much longer until they reached a staircase, carefully slipping the door open to ensure there were no guards on the other side.

After a quick scan he found no threats and slipped through the door, pausing until Neera passed through the door to continue down the corridor. As reassuring that it was to finally see the city once again through the window, he wanted to get out of this damned ship as quickly as he could. About halfway down the hallway an explosion rocked the ship, causing Shino to stumble and nearly fall on his face in the process, turning his head to check on Neera. After seeing she had fallen he walked over to her and tried to help her back up, distracted by the sudden appearance of a familiar Worldship, heavily damaged, struggling to retail control to no avail as it crashed into the city below. Good riddance Mr. Merc. Just wish I could have been the one to send you off. With a grin he looked down towards Neera, though it faded away once he saw her shaking her head at the scene before her eyes.

He couldn't explain it, maybe after so many years of dealing with this s**t he had just expected everybody else to react the same way as him, why was she so upset? Jack had saved her, built up her trust and showed her happiness, only to rip it from her once again for the promise of payment. Then why couldn't she just move on like him? Why did she have to hold on to this man that turned his back on her? For a moment he thought maybe he was going about this all wrong, maybe there was a chance for redemption after all. Just as quickly as the thought entered his head the rogue erased it, there was no time for forgiveness now, all that mattered was survival. There was no way he was going to let either of them die on this ship, Shadowsili or not they deserved a better fate than that. With his head hung he tried to pull Neera away from the window gently as she began screaming and banging her fists on the wondow. "Please Neera, we need to keep going. If we don't keep moving the guards are going to find us."

"Drop your weapons and surrender with your hands up. You've got nowhere to go."

"Damn." As he released his grip on Neera he attempted to disable their weapons with his abilities he found himself unable to control them, the metal casing had been replaced by some sort of plastic or other material that he could not manipulate. Without a word he contemplated removing his revolvers, but resorted to simply putting up his hands, hoping that they did not know that he was carrying any weapons. Shino would be able to deflect the bullets aimed towards him, but Neera was defenseless at this point. Why? So close and that jackass still finds a way to ******** everything up from the afterlife.

"Hey, didn't you hear? Get up!"

Apparently not hearing the man in her fit, Neera had yet to rise and a guard moved closer to lift her up. Shino, feeling a sudden spike of aura took several steps back as Neera grabbed the man by the chest, causing the man to spray blood in all directions. The rogue didn't even hear the order to fire in all of the confusion, subconsciously deflecting a stray bullet here and there as he watched the scene unfold in a combination of awe and terror. Bullets just seemed to bounce off her skin as she began to slaughter the men one by one, when her aura wasn't tearing them to shreds another one her abilities caused the men to nearly explode from the sheer amount of force her abilities applied on their bodies. By the end Shino was nearly covered in blood from the guards, still standing motionless as she turned towards him, walking forward without a look of the slightest concern across her face.

The rogue wished to say something, but no words could come, it had been so long since he had felt... afraid. As her aura surrounded him, the pressure of gravity building around his body, his aura began to spiral rapidly around his right arm, Harbinger beginning to form within his hand. "Stop Neera, I don't want to hurt you!" He felt a sudden flicker in her aura and his Nexus dispersed before it could even activate, Neera dropped to the floor into a state of unconsciousness, too drained by her abilities to continue. Heart still pounding in his chest Shino walked over to the small, bloodied Shadowsili, watching over her for a moment as he tried to make sense of everything. She's a monster... Just like me. With a sigh he picked up her limp body and rested her over his shoulder. Gotta keep moving, just hope she doesn't start freaking out again when she wakes up.

Before continuing on he paused to look out the blood-speckled windows and out over Raine, he realized that without a ship he would have one hell of a time trying to escape these pricks, gathering all of his focus he tried to reach out, just hoping he wasn't to far away. Closing his eyes he forced his technopathy to the limit, but even then he doubted that he would be able to locate his target, transmitting his message none the less, allowing his influence to travel across the Lifestream and out of his control. His eyes snapped back open as Shino retreated back to his body, hoping that his actions had not been in vain. Shifting Neera slightly on his shoulder to ensure she wouldn't fall off as he continued down the hallway in the direction he could only hope would lead to the exit.

His footsteps echoed through the hallways of the Enfinitus as flashbacks of his trip to the cells flashed in his head, retracing his steps to the lobby, years of experience and a small dose of cunning kept him one step ahead of the guards though they were never too far behind. At last he came to a stop at an intersection, closing his eyes as a rush of images flooded his mind. "Just a little bit farther now..." Before he could continue the sounds of footsteps filled the air, from all four corridors guards poured in to surround him, but by now they were smart enough to keep their distance.

"You're surrounded. Give up Shadowsili, there's no way out." Men began to advance slowly towards the white haired pair with their weapons raised.

Shino refused to show any emotion to these peons, looking around once to confirm that it was safe to initiate his plan. "Yes, one part of that statement may be true, but not for much longer." Without any warning the rogue thrust his arms outward and clenched his fists, steel piping and sheets of metal protruding from all sides of the corridor to prevent them from moving any closer to himself, skewering any guard in proximity to the attack. Looking over his shoulder he proceeded to repeat this to the corridor behind him, leaving only the path to the lobby open to him. Footsteps and officers barking orders could be heard on the other side, trying to move around to assist their comrades, but by the time they arrived the battle would be decided.

"Open fire! Kill that b*****d."

Cocking his eyebrow he raised his hand toward the oncoming projectiles, the rounds pausing mid-air momentarily before flying towards the guards, though they were more of a diversion than an actual attack. Shino's face remained emotionless, his aura flaring around him as his hand remained extended in front of him. "Is that all? I had expected more from ones so high and mighty, but I guess that I was too hopeful. Very well, I'll make this quick." Slowly the aura began to condense around his right arm, forming a synthesis of his aura and flesh, a pulsation resembling a heartbeat filling the air as Harbringer formed in its second stage, reverberations from the metal shaking the entire ship as his powers were blindly unleashed. Slamming the bottom of the snath onto the ground once the demonic weapon had fully formed Shino watched as the men stood paralyzed by the sheer amount of power emanating from the white haired boy, the reverberations dying down rapidly now, taking this opportunity to place Neera against a nearby wall before he entered battle. With that out of the way he spun the scythe leisurely in his right hand as he walked towards the guards who, scared for their lives, began pumping round after round into the rogue, though they could only watch as his aura deflected the bullets with seemingly no effort at all.

"Idiots, don't you get it... No matter how many times you try, you will only fail!" Without warning Shino dashed forward, swinging the scythe in an upward arc and pinning the closest guard to the ceiling, forcing him to watch as his blood spilled out onto the floor below as the rogue moved forward to deal with his companions. Thrusting his right arm forward his ripped right through the chest of his next victim, pulping the heart from the sheer force of the impact, spraying those behind him in a shower of bloodied chunks. Ripping his arm back out a sinister grin stretched unnaturally across his face as he move towards the three remaining guards, two attempting to flee despite the orders from the other.

Flying by the stationary man he leaped toward the two demoralized cowards, smashing their heads into the ground, though making sure that they remained alive and conscious for the next part. Pulling back his hand he gathered a sphere of aura in each hand, collected from the two guards, allowing them to grow before he turned them loose on their original owners, the aura exploding violent on contact with their bodies, leaving only bloody stumps to indicate that they had ever been there. Finished with them, he turned to the remaining man, who in surprise had fallen backward and attempted to crawl away. Casually the rogue walked over to him, thrusting his foot into the stomach of the man to turn him onto his back, picking him up by the collar of his shirt. He quickly pinned the man the man against the nearest wall with his aura infused arm, allowing both of them to watch as his aura began absorbing the pathetic bronze light that surrounded the man, his own aura growing dramatically as he did.

"Didn't you say you wanted to kill me? You should watch what you say around people like me peon, you have no idea what I'm capable of." With that his aura engulfed the man, stripping him of every shred of his life energy to feed the ravenous hunger of his Nexus, leaving him little more than an empty husk of his former self. Without recognition of his death of the blood that littered the halls and himself, he found his way back to the resting place of the Shadowsili girl, hoisting her motionless form up onto his left shoulder without much effort. With that done he began strolling down the blood drenched hallway one final time, pausing only to rip the scythe down from the ceiling, forcing the now lifeless body of the guard off the blade with his foot. As he continued his walk towards the exit Harbringer began to disintegrate in his hands as his arm returned to its normal state, his Nexus returning back to its place in his aura for the time being. What a waste of time, at least that man was generous enough to give me enough of his aura to compensate for what I used in that farce.

[Gripheenix]

-Finally, a little peace and quiet.-
-Damn shame I can't enjoy it.-
> The Tired Thief <

Jet Luceid
Last seen: Vectiras.
Exact location: Unverified.

Chapter One:
_________________
< The Caged Wolf >

___________________________
Down a deserted corridor, a faint ring filled the air. It lasted for only a moment, then vanished before resounding again. The pace was consistent, filling the dimly lit, empty halls every three seconds. Every wall was lined with empty rooms, all of them missing a wall, which left them open to the hall that connected them. Empty, tiny, and cramped, there was nothing more than a toilet. Obviously, these 'rooms' were meant to detain. Prison cells. Halls crossed one another, generating a pattern similar to that of a grid, with no more than four cells on each 'block.' What was suspicious, was that the halls were seemingly empty. There was only one figure wandering about, a single guard, who moved in black blurs, from corner to corner. It didn't seem to mind the small, repetitive noise, nor the fact that it was alone. Though, considering the sheer amount of prisoners, which wasn't a whole lot, perhaps one guard was enough.

There was, however, one occupied cell. A small shimmer came to life, and quickly died out soon after. This kept a stable rhythm, remaining in time with the ringing. Inside this single, occupied cell, a small form sat on the floor. His back leaned against the wall, a single leg protruding out before him, while the other was bent, knee held near his chest. The blue pants that this young man wore seemed slightly tattered, as though they had been sliced open. A few dark red lines marring the skin underneath supported the theory. A pair of belts once sat at the top of those pants, one of them clipped along the other, so it would hang down the right leg. They were gone now, likely confiscated, with the gun he carried. Everything else, though, seemed to be in its place. Two scarves, one red, one white, were wrapped around his neck, long enough to run down the wall, and along the floor, reaching the same length as the extended leg. Tied tightly around that very leg, just above the knee, was a matching pair of colored cloths. The frayed ends on them suggested that they may have been, at one point, attached to the other pair. Maybe its purpose, sometime past, was to act as a tourniquet. He didn't remember, nor bother to take it off.

The ringing stopped momentarily, a gloved hand wrapping around the fragile shimmer. Eyes shot up, light blue, nearly a pale grey, staring at the toilet across the room through a couple locks of silver hair. The face that held them within was young, almost innocent, deceptive. In fact, his entire body structure lied to the universe. Beneath the multi-layered, leather jacket, and even past the skin tight, black shirt, within the chest, did not beat the heart of a young man. What sit in that spot, was the heart of a beast. But, there was a problem. Since being thrown into the cage, the beast had remained dormant, unable to lash out, and break free. Something was keeping it at bay, sapping its strength.

A black flash screamed across the open wall, passing from one side to the other. Suddenly, he lowered his face again, releasing the shimmer from the heavy glove. A naked hand, then, proceeded to pluck it from the brown and black, placing it on top of its own thumb. With a single flick, the shimmer rang to life once again, landing in the uncovered palm, only to repeat itself. The object was an ill fated coin. Its last keeper was robbed, and now the one who held it, was held himself. He had to make use of that dreaded toilet, sitting across the room, just as lonely as he was. But, if the ringing ceased, the flash would return, and he dared not turn his back to it. Instead, he would merely wait, flipping the coin into the air, the signal that he was still in his cell, the source of the noise that kept his captors away.

{Flashback Initiated}

It had been a relatively slow day, much like the majority on Krux had been for him. Watching the streets from a perch, high above, he was selecting his daily victim. Most seemed to have rather boring lives, going about each day in the exact same fashion as they had the day before, and the one before that. Apparently, there was some sort of comfort in routine. He couldn't live that way. For starters, his profession, if it could be labeled as such, ensured that he couldn't be in the same spot for too long. Just yesterday, he'd been on the other side of town, liberating a man's wallet from the confining pocket. The money it gave him as thanks paid for lunch, as well as dinner. Actually, he still had a small sum of it left. That was reserved for emergencies, though, as was two percent of every paycheck. He planned to, eventually, save enough to live legitimately. But, there was so much cost to living, he thought that it might take forever to acquire so much. For the time being, he would have to deal with the slings and arrows that civilization seemed to throw at those who took to thievery.

The grey-blue eyes locked on to a target below. It was an older man, no more than forty, who rushed behind a building for a bite to eat. The thief descended, letting the air whip past his face as he aimed himself for the next tallest platform. Correcting himself, he landed on one knee, softly, before bouncing over the building's edge, and onto the ground, directly in front of the hungry victim. Without a second's wait, Somnio, a specially crafted, black and red gun, was against the man's forehead. The thief's other hand reached out, palm upward, begging for something to be placed in it. And something did land in it, a sandwich to be precise. That wasn't exactly what he was asking for, but far be it from him to decline a free lunch. He brought it to his mouth, taking a bite. Meat, cheese, and a bit of greens, everything a good sandwich needed.

"You make this?" he asked the trembling victim, then let the food travel down his throat.

"N-no," was the stuttered reply, "My wife did." The victim was dressed nicely, a dark blue suit, complete with a matching tie. From the looks of it, an expensive brand. The thief had chosen a good target today.

"She makes a good sandwich. Tell her that for me, okay?" The thief lowered his gun, and the man instantly tried to run away. But, that wasn't allowed just yet. A thought raced through the small gunman's mind, and he was suddenly in front of the escapee, barrel affixed to the gentleman's head. "You know, I'm going to need something to wash this down with. Sure, it's tasty, but she does make it with terribly dry bread." He paused, his mouth scrunching to one corner for a second. "When you tell her how much I liked her sandwich, leave that part out."

The victim only nodded, a few tears rolling down his cheeks. It seemed that not everyone was used to their life being endangered. In fact, judging by the fact that fear was a very common reaction, it was apparent that almost no one was accustomed to the idea. It almost made the thief feel bad for doing his job. Almost. It brought more confusion than lamentation.

After a moment, the man responded, "I don't have anything to drink." This was followed by more tears, probably brought by the concept that he was going to be shot for this horrid offense.

"Well, money will do nicely. Why would I take your food, when you can just buy some for me?" A half eaten sandwich in hand, the thief seemed oblivious to the irony of his question. He was handed a wallet, leather, tri-fold. Opening it up, he was treated to a picture of the missus, a rather appealing woman, judging from the face alone. But, she was probably a bit too old for him. Keeping Somnio against the weeping man's forehead, he opened various pockets in disbelief. There wasn't a whole lot of cash, so surely, he'd been hiding it somewhere else. "This is all you have?" Having taken the money that there was, the thief tossed the wallet back. Too afraid to tear his eyes away, the victim let it bounce off his chest, and hit the ground. "With your get up, I thought you'd be a little more... Y'know, rich."

"I'm sorry. Ever since I got a card, I haven't been carrying much on me. Just enough for an occasional snack. Is that not enough?" Without waiting for his answer, the suited man dug through his pockets, retrieving a single coin. "Here. My friend gave this to me this morning. It was supposed to be something to remember him by, but if it'll buy me my life, please take it."

By now, the sandwich was gone, well on its way to being digested. The thief snatched the shining circle, holding it up to his eye for inspection. "Something to remember him by? Did he die, or something?"

"No. He was fired today."

"Well, if that's all it was, then I have no problems taking this from you." He stuffed all of the money into one pocket, and lowered the gun. "You can go now. Thanks for the help." Holstering his weapon, at the rear of his belt, opposite of where the second belt joined, he began wandering off. "By the way, the gun wasn't even lo-" He had been turning, to look at the robbed man, but only met the barrel of a gun. "s**t."

Without a moment's hesitation, he began running, not caring which way he went. He'd heard about this. The police had been trying to crack down on thievery lately, and were posing as wealthy individuals, placed in very vulnerable positions. It was a trap. More than likely, the man would have had a communicator on the whole time, letting the rest of the squad know what had happened. If that was the case, there would be backup, and soon. The thief ducked into an alley, lunging at one side. Leaping toward the wall, he kicked off of it, sending himself to the roof of the opposite building, where he continued his escape, dashing across the top of the city.

A few blocks away, he could see his salvation, a safe place where they wouldn't even bother looking for him. It was a massive worldship, with a conveniently open rear hatch, likely leading into the cargo bay, probably being unloaded. Though, he did note the insignia on the side, claiming it for the Keepers. Therefore, it was quite possible that it was still being loaded, and preparing to embark on a mission. That would be even better. Not only would he get away from his pursuers, but he would go to a different world, with different prospects, new pockets to pick. That ship had become his goal. He would leave Krux behind, and set out for better horizons.

{Flashback Terminated}

Better horizons? If only he'd known just how terribly wrong he'd been in his assumption. The ship was en route for Vectiras, and was shot down upon its entrance to the world. Shrapnel from various blasts had been the culprit behind the cuts in his legs, though, the pain was finally beginning to dull down. When the ship finally collided with the ground, he was knocked out. This cell was what he woke up to. Whoever had put him here, took his weapon, and the ammunition for it. Now, that was some rotten luck, finally having all the silence he wanted, and being unable to sleep because he wanted his possessions back.

It wasn't like he hadn't tried to escape. The empty wall did a damn fine job of making sure he couldn't. It was a force field of some sort, that sent him flying across the tiny room when he'd tried to break through it with a running charge. Not only that, but it seemed that something was keeping him from using his abilities. Even reverting to his true self was out of the question. Indeed, escape seemed impossible.

Somewhere, a door opened, forcing the ringing to stop, as the coin was caught, but not sent back into the air. Were they changing guards? Whatever it was, it was an opportunity. Rushing to his feet, the captive convict shoved the coin in his pocket, and positioned himself before the toilet. He didn't know how much time he'd have to himself, so he would have to make this quick...