Welcome to Gaia! ::

Through The Door, and back into the castle, the swordmaster in the castle guard tumbled, with the light tome in hand. He arose and presented it to his gruesomely smiling leader. The mission was a success. Now... the plan could commence. They dispersed.

Soaring through the villages in Learania, like a violent wind, Abel and a group of the corrupted castle guard unleashed great havoc. The villagers that had remained ran for their lives or tried to hide. Houses were set aflame. Screams could be heard all around. A few children cried in the streets and huddled against the closest wall, in desperation. The last thing one would expect from the sight would be to see people having fun while fighting innocent people. Unfortunately, people saw the last thing they expected to see.

Some local constabulary retaliated against the invaders, but were no match for most of the elite castle guard, let alone their commander. Abel laughed at their feeble attempts to fell him and the guard. They fell upon their weapons like water upon rock. It had not only been a sneak attack, but also a powerful one. And they were just getting started.

The two cavaliers under Ghis' command were in the vicinity, when the attack came, and after seeing that they stood no chance, decided to retreat and report to their commander. Same of the castle guard started to pursue them, but were halted by Abel. A menacing grin slyly attached itself onto his face. "Let them be... they'll fulfill their part of our plan." He chuckled to himself as he watched the cavaliers ride off, until they were out of sight. The wind began to blow ominously and it's whistles could almost be interpreted as laughter. Things were definitely going to get heated in the near future.

The tactician stepped out of the house, iron sword held tightly in her grip. Her heart pounded rapidly against her chest, though she told herself to remain calm. She looked to her left and to her right before her eyes focused forward once more.

Whatever appeared as her enemy, she would stop it. For her friends, her daughter... and for everyone else.
Watch me. She thought, her eyes flickering up to the sky for a moment before keeping her gaze forward.

As Alihi moved out, she could be aware of the sound of footsteps.

Several pairs of footsteps, actually. Ghis and the archers trailed behind, showing every intent on accompanying her.

Ghis wasn't certain what he'd do in this case. He'd supposed he could strike to kill and ask questions later, but... the castle guard, however unscrupulous they may have been, weren't bad guys. But this was going to be a melee. They wouldn't be able to simply knock them all out in the hopes of saving them. For the sake of peace, some WOULD have to die.

Ghis trudged on, a Steel Axe in his right hand and a Steel Lance in his left. Dual-wielding was a bit tricky, but it always meant he could drop one weapon in favor of another if he faced a tougher opponent.

As for the others...

Most had been left behind on the grounds that they'd get pulverized. The archers could strike from a distance and came along for that reason. Ghis had hoped Charice and her Mage friend could come along for air strikes, but she'd been unwilling, unsure that her Pegasus would want her back.

It was a pleasant surprise, therefore, to see the two of them flying once more on that same Pegasus, scouting ahead.

Charice wasn't sure what had changed the mind of her steed. Maybe, like it had been for her, Aphrodite, her Pegasus, had just needed time to get over the near-death experience as well. Or maybe she'd just needed to prove she could handle what could happen in battle. Once she'd calmed down, Aphrodite could put it in the past. Besides, this time they weren't facing a big, scary Hawk King. This time, at least, they could actually rule the sky.
...Assuming there were no big, scary archers.

Ganon stepped outside, his eye narrowed to a slit, still tuning up his violin, testing a few notes on it. "Miss Alihi," he murmured softly. "I would ask you to direct me. I will do what I can." He drew the bow across the strings slowly, and seemed satisfied. He passed the violin back to his tail and strapped it to his back while he slid the bow into a little pocket alongside it, then began to tune his mandolin.


Steely Dan grinned to himself as he swung his enormous Killing Edge upward, tearing it out of the stomach of the village barber. Slowly he reached down and took the scissors out of the barber's hand before they got too much blood on them. The General hmmed softly and reached into the man's jacket, rummaging until he found the barber's silver cigar case. "Aha, there we are," he murmured, taking out a fat cigar and snipping off the end with the scissors. Both the case and scissors were dropped as Steely Dan chewed on the other end of the cigar, making his way down the street until he found a burning building. Ah, good stuff. A quick light, and he was on his way, puffing off the cigar and starting down the street toward the next intact building.

It was, fortunately, a bar, and after swiping a bottle of whiskey, he took a few pulls off it and passed it to Chickenwire on the way out.

Chickenwire grinned at his new acquisition and took a drink. "'Ey, chief, hol' up." He tore a strip off the shirt of a nearby body and poured some whiskey on it, then stuffed it in the bottle. "Lemme jus'..." He grinned, holding out the bottle as the Captain lit the rag off his cigar. Chickenwire tossed the bottle into the bar, grinning widely, and they walked off, laughing.

Thirty seconds later, explosions rocked the bar, and then a fireball erupted into the air, high enough to be seen from Fefga's. The cloud of black, acrid smoke that followed began to spread to cover the entire block the bar was on.

Ephraim too noticed the sudden blast and immediatly looked at Alihi, before he could say anymore, the noble was already following straight behind her. "Of course" agreeing to helping them, but the questoin 'were they unharmed' jumped into mind and he questioned the villager's safety. Now joined by Ganon, they can only hope that a majority of them are unharmed.

Ganon nodded, and then looked up sharply at the rising smoke. A quiet curse passed under the bard's breath, and he set off after Alihi at a run, which quickly put him ahead of her, forcing him to pause and let her catch up. No sense in arriving one at a time, after all. A horse-drawn cart coming up the path swerved off the road and took off into the woods as Ganon's arrival decidedly spooked the horses-- horses and pegasi hated him, for whatever reason. "S-sorry!" he called. "I, uh, I have to run, but sorry!" he added, in response to a fading string of curses from the driver.

Ganon looked back around the bend, then started dashing down to Eyris once again.

The closer they got toward the village gates, the more uneasy Ephraim had felt. It wasn't that he was unconfident, but rather the fact of an ambush happening, as if that explosion or whatever had caused that smoke was luring them in. He tried to ignore the feeling but he couldn't and he had to speak up "Alihi, I'm not sure if you have the same eerie feeling as me but something isn't right..." and it really didn't feel right but the noble hoped it was just his mind playing games with him.

((Aaaaah, hafta cut post short, I actually had somethign llonger but with phones ringing off the hook I can't post that long X_X;;; ))

Things were happening a bit too quickly for Alihi's comfort. Really, she had things happen quickly, but at least she had a bit of a clue of what to expect! She didn't give Chad her approval, but she didn't give him her disapproval, either. She was going to complain about how there needed to be some people back at the manor, but that was quickly pushed aside by the urgency of the current situation. Just get to the village... She told herself as she watched Ganon pass her. She started to run faster as well, only one goal in mind.

Then, the noble spoke. The tactician looked to Ephraim and gave him a small nod. "You're right... something seems off here. Why aren't we meeting anything? We're probably running right into their hands." She stated simply, her gaze focused forward as she continued to get closer and closer to the village and its gates.

If she cared at all about what she just said, it didn't show.