Welcome to Gaia! ::

Edlyre could tell that the two groups were now going to part ways. It seemed each were going to return to their own business. He understood why Blada and the others would return. The news that the Hunter x Guardians corps in the area would be of interest to the counsel. However he was on his way in the opposite direction where both his home and other villages were located.

"Indeed. It seems that I will be accompanying them as I am quite interested in what sort of fiends are about in the area." he replied to Blada when she decided to return home. He knew of the village's distrust of the group. Not hostile, but more to be independent. He could understand that they had a tradition of their own and accepting help from others was perhaps not readily done. However, his thirst for knowledge was what guided him and this was a perfect opportunity to exercise it.

“Ahh, so you can speak,” Lloyd teased, tilting his head in an attempt to peer into the notebook of the woman they called Jeeves. “I’m flattered that you’ve decided to tear your eyes away from your notes to come speak with me. To answer your question…honestly, I’m just a soldier. Information like that is usually held onto by the council. But my guess is that the birth rate is a bit higher than the death rate. We’re small, but to me it feels like we’re growing more everyday. And I’ve seen a lot of little ones running around in diapers lately as well.”

Lloyd gave a sly grin as he leaned inward to add his next words. “But with those rotten fiends running around, nobody knows how much longer those kids will have to live.”

He awaited a response from Jeeves, hoping to have possibly rattled the nerves of this studious woman.

Blada raised an eyebrow at the words of the large man, from whom Blada could detect the very slightest bit of provocation. She slowly took a step towards him, as though she was expecting him to leap from his beast and attack her. She reached back and placed her hand on the hilt of the Whimzerst.

“I’m amused. You see, for a moment I thought to myself…this colossus of a man, I’m sure he could decimate a pack of fiends all on his own,” she sneered, taking another gentle step toward the man. “But no, he’s brought his buddies for support. Lots of them, too. March on, you great colossus. Your little friends will back you up and make sure no claws are lodged into your back.”

Fidessa entered the cave hidden away behind the waterfall carefully through the side in order not to get wet. Behind her was mess of blood and guts scattered around the side of the stream of a dozen fiends; it was a wonder how she didn’t get any of her enemy’s blood on her. The cave was a lot deeper than she had remembered, but it had been at least six years since she had been there. It got extremely dark as she ventured further and she had to reply more on her sense of hearing and memory of the place to continue on.

Fidessa reached a point and stopped. It should be right around here somewhere... She thought to herself as she felt along the wall of the cave and dug into little crevices to find something. “Ah! Here.” She muttered as she dug out a bag with a bunch of wrapped up materials inside. “Good, looks like most of it is still usable.” I only need enough to make some light after all. She worked with what she had to light one of the torches until one of them finally lit up. Upon lighting the torch it revealed her surroundings to be a nasty sight of bones and half-eaten carcasses of who knows what. “Thanks for decorating…” Fidessa spat, referring to the demolished fiends from earlier.

Now that she could see, Fidessa continued on further into the cave she had created herself so many years ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if they nested this cave by now… She thought as she went deeper into the depths.

The small cave suddenly opened up into a much large room up ahead of her, but something seemed a bit off. She could hear disgusting sounds ahead of her and she had guessed right. It was definitely now a nest for these fiends and she had walked right into the queen giving birth to new lesser fiends.

“Great.” Fidessa said sarcastically, but was not discouraged enough to turn back. The fiends immediately noticed Fidessa and turned their attention on her as they came to. “Gross, I didn’t think you could get more disgusting looking.” She said, referring to their slimy appearance. The fiend giving birth to the lesser fiends was basically the same looking except over bloated to about five times their size and had a huge mass larger than the rest of its body towards its abdomen where the lesser fiends were spawning.

The newborn fiends were not as hasty as the previous ones, which gave Fidessa time to look around for what she was came for. Across the room was a large rock that seemed a bit out of place. There we go. She thought and slowly walked towards it, but kept an eye on how the fiends would react. They only followed and observed her for now. They shouldn’t do anything until I attack them or their mother. Reaching the rock Fidessa raised here right arm up and then struck the top of the big rock with her palm, releasing a minor shockwave into it, which cracked it into multiple pieces. Pulling the smaller rocks away Fidessa revealed a box about four feet in diameter that looked to be welded together with reinforced steel that she would not be able to just smash through.

The fiends were getting curious and started to approach closer to Fidessa as she was slowly surrounded. Fidessa dug into a space inside her clothing and pulled out a key that looks very similar to the key Hiro was given by Xin during the Axis Mission. She inserted the key into the keyhole on the box and opened it to reveal what looked like a sheathed broadsword, but the hilt looked completely locked up with other metal parts that kept it from being drawn. “I’m glad I was able to get this.” I have something very important to you now, Fyura.

A fiend was now practically over Fidessa’s shoulder now with slime and drool almost landing on her from its dripping mouth. “Sorry, but you’re not really my type.” Fidessa quickly turned around and bashed the fiend in the face with the sword sheath sending the fiend backward. The rest of the fiends screamed and then pounced at Fidessa. Time to bury this place. “Jinsoku.” Fidessa muttered as she clapped her hands together at insane speed and released her signature finisher move.

(( Jinsoku is seen on page 15 and is the 6th post ))

As they made their way to their destination, Edlyre began asking them questions regarding the Hunter x Guardian corps and their responsibilities. Although he had heard about them, most were by word of mouth and most of the time truth was usually twisted out of proportion. What better than to get the information straight from the source? He also began to ask what sort of fiends they had vanquished and about their travels. All this so he could immerse himself in knowledge and satisfy his curiosity.

Certainly there were a variety of individuals that entered the group. What sort of qualifications would one need to join? Did one have to be especially talented or was there a sort of testing that was required. So many questions and so little time. He was sure that they would not appreciate being put under such an interrogation by a total stranger so he had to keep mostly to the basic questions and exercise patience. "What sort of fiends are you expecting to find when we get there?" he asked out of curiosity.

It seemed to Blada that the large man no longer seemed interested in exchanging insults with her, as he gave her few words and turned to continue his trek. She thought very little of what he said to her, but she couldn’t help but feel a bit uncomfortable by his comment about Darkan being in ruins. What did this man know about the fiends that the Darkan council possibly did not? Blada had great faith in her village’s strength, but she also understood very well the dangers of being overconfident. Perhaps, just perhaps, the large man had a very legitimate reason to require back-up.

“Let’s go, Blada. These people don’t seem to want anything to do with us,” Lloyd said, nudging Blada in her side with his elbow.

“Well then the feeling is mutual,” Blada retorted, before heading back towards the direction of Darkan. She took one last look at the Hunter Guardians, just before they faded out of view. She had a strong feeling they would cross paths again at some point.

(( Who are we waiting on? Judging by Kurisutan's post, I was assuming that Edlyre's question had been asked after my characters were already out of earshot. ))

(There, sorry it took so long, just haven't been able to get myself to post.)

Raegar would continue on, the others falling in though Fidessa was not among them. He'd remained silent for the next hour or so, watching the path ahead in case there were signs of Fiends, and though he saw none he couldn't help but feel like they were close. It was still a few hours until they would reach where he last left the trail, but he expected to cross signs of them before then. Fresher, easier to track. Not that it would be difficult given their numbers, but the sooner they found a trail the sooner they'd be able to deal with them.

Being this close he decided it was time to tell them the bit that he knew.

“The group is a mix of breeds, most are twisted versions of normal beasts. Wolves being the most akin appearance for many. These fiends watch the flanks of the group when they move and seem to be their hunters as well. There are others, but without having been able to see most of them, I can only guess. What they are capable of is largely unknown aside from the fact that they're intelligent and organized which is unusual. Because I was unable to learn more of them you are here.” His voice was hard still bothered by the fact he couldn't learn more.

He began steering them toward a nearby farm, it was an easy source of food for the group and it wasn't far off the path from where they were headed, if they could find fresh signs of the fiends. There was a good chance they'd see them there.