Welcome to Gaia! ::

Baikasu was suddenly engulfed in the Void. "Aw, s**t." He says, as he reappears at an end of a long hall. "Test time, I presume?" He then started to look around the room. He loked behindhimself, and saw a wall with strange symbols around a spherical crevas, which he believed was Melbane or Draconian. He then turned aroud to see a waist high pedistal a meter from him, down the hall. He walked up to it, and upon further inspection, he saw that there was a small, round, metallic ball in the center of the pedistal. "What's this?" He went to pick it up, but at the moment he touched the metalic ball, he was suddenly given a sudden -and very strong- electrical shock. He recoiled in pain."DAMNIT, that hurt! What's with that thing?" As he recoverd, he then went to look at the other end of the hall. It was about 50 meters long, with writing on the walls, unreadable by the mercenary.

Macnor, am I supposed to be able to read this? hat re they, anyway? Instructions?
Can't tell you. It's you're test, not mine. I'm forbidden to help you.
GREAT. I've got to solve a puzzle, apparently.
He went to the other end of the room, and looked at the wall. Ther was another small, spherical crevas in the exact middle of the wall, with symbols around it. He then turned around and saw another pedistal with another small metalic ball in the center.

Baikasu then says,"Don't tell me that al I have to do is put the spheres in the wall? That's easy!" He then took the sphere from the pedistal, thus getting a VERY strong shock. He dropped it."DAMN! This one does the ame thing. Looks like it's not gonna be as easy as I thought." He then picked it up, muscles tense with pain. He then slowly walked to the wall, then inserted the sphere in the crevas.
Nothing happened.
He then ran to the other side, while still in tremendus pain, and did the same thing. As soon as he inserted the sphere in the wall, he collapsed in a heap, to exausted to go on for a few minutes. He then took out a flask from his jacket, took a drink, and got up."MUCH better. Unfortunatly, I've got none left." I'll have to rely on the two potions I have left. I'll have to make my healing liquid as soon as we get to the next town. Hopefully they've got the ingrediants I need. He then put his flask back in his jacket, then get up."Why isn't anything happening?" As soon as he said that, however, the symbols around the crevases glowed a bright red, and a bolt of lightning suddenly struck his head."OW! DAMNIT!" The spheres were then sent back to their pedistals.
"No! no no no no NO! Don't tell me that I need to bring them across the room?! DAMNIT!... Someone hates me, I know it... Oh, well. Let's get this over with..." With great mental pain, he went back to the end he started in and took the sphere. Then, with the same pain as before, he went walked over to the opposite wall, stopping about every 2 meters to rest. He finally reached the wall, and put the sphere in the wall. The symbols glowed yellow, and fadded. Then the sphere started to -and continued to- glowed yellow. He then felt a little better than he was."That's wierd. Oh, well. Here goes everything." He then takes the sphere from the pedistal, and brings it to the other wall. This time, the energy from the sphere only did about 3/4 the pain as before. When he put the shere in the wall, the symbols glowed yellow, dissappeared, then the sphere glowed yellow. The wal suddenly started to glow, then dissappered, reveilibng a hallway perpendicular to the long hall he was in. He turned around and saw that the sphere at the other end was back in it's pedistal. He walked up to the wall, and saw that ther were some symbols written on it, but not around any crevas."That's weird. Now, these symbols seem familiar, somehow." He then turned around, to see that the metalic sphere now gloed a slight blue. He picked it up, expecting to feel pain like before, but was then shocked to hear a voice in his head, instead.
Possession shall allow entry.
WHAT? Who is this? What do you mean? Damnit, answer me!
...
"Well, I suspect that it has something to do with this sphere... Oh, hell. Fine, I'll take it." He then puts it in his jacket pocket, then leaves the room.

*Looks around the empty hallway, having been busy when the others were telleported away.*

... Well ********.

*Calls into the Imp's home* Up for a game of cards? Seems the others went poof.

*Following an affirmative response, Tanasha went back into the room to wait.*

*Daewyn struggled to find the missing key. She ran Terra's words over and over in her head, trying to find any clues as to how she could be free of this prison, but none showed themselves. As another shockwave ran through the earth Daewyn could feel more of her joints pop out of place. She screamed a scream of rage and pain that sent a shockwave radiating out from the point where she was trapped. Exasperated and in more pain than she had ever cared to go through, she quite trying to reason with the earth around her and mentally demanded of it.*

LET ME GO!!!

*To her surprise, the earth obeyed, shifting around her. She was so startled at the change that she began to drop rapidly through the bedrock before she regained her composure and stopped herself.*

So that was the missing key. The "doorway" was getting the earth to respect and trust me. I guess the "key" was to boss it around a bit. Well then, lets see what I can get it to do for me...

*The first object of her attention was her aching joints that had been pulled beyond what they could bear. She mentally ordered the rocks around her to push them back into place. The rocks obeyed at once. The jolt hurt at first, but began feeling better immediately.

Daewyn remembered to mentally thank the earth for helping her out before having it form a small orb around her so she could take stock of what was going on. She rummaged through her bag and downed a potion, grimmacing slightly at the taste before placing the vial back in her bag.

She then sat cross-legged on the ground and fused her consciousness with the earth around her. She got a feel for the size and shape of the temple. Not to her great surprise she discovered she was several thousand feet below the main level of the temple. She could sense various life-forms walking through different rooms of the temple. Apparently the party had split up for some reason. Daewyn wondered slightly at this before her attention was drawn persistantly to a sole room several hundred feet below her. The room was strange in that there were no tunnels connecting it to the rest of the temple. It was utterly cut off from the rest of the rooms. She could also sense a power that felt somewhat familiar. Daewyn didn't sit there long before she dropped gently through the earth and emerged in the room.

In the center of the room was a small mount of rocks from which the strange power was radiating. As Daewyn began to move cautiously towards it, the pile began to move. It was only then Daewyn realized what it was she was facing. The rock creature began to rush at her.*

Die, usurper! boomed the massive golem's gravelly voice.

Xachta watched from the amulet, uneasy about its bearer's resolution. It was in a better position than many of the other guardians, having not been closely bonded with its bearer as of yet; Nida's death would cause Xachta little trouble. But Xachta had a feeling that Nida was its best bet, if only that she was agile, young, moderately uneducated, and self-deprecating. The spirit would likely never have the luck to find another mortal with such perfect qualities for its purposes. And besides, there was the symbolism inherent in using one of the Halcion descendents...

The girl moved into the darkened portion of the hallway. Xachta noted that she used her spear to tap the way ahead of her, not just the floor but also the walls and ceiling. This slowed her progress considerably, but at least she didn't faceplant when the path turned ninety degrees. This leg was shorter, opening into a wide chamber only perhaps ten yards away. The chamber appeared to be lit with green lanterns hanging suspended from ropes. Xachta knew better.

It listened to her mind plod along as she evaluated the new situation. Though she was terribly slow about it, she eventually determined that the lanterns were, in fact, the antennae-tips of gargantuan versions of the light-bugs in the initial room; the smallest of them was about the size of a large dog, with most of them large enough to take on a bear and hold their own. There were perhaps twenty in all.

I hate bugs, came the girl's unnecessary thought. Xachta knew this. Xachta was painfully aware of all the girl's faults and foibles.

She noticed that there was a hallway directly across the chamber, one too small for any but the smallest of the bugs to enter. The guardian predicted, and its prediction was correct: she was planning on making a dash for it, hoping that she would be able to avoid all the creatures and praying that if any managed to follow, she would be able to outrun or kill them.

No. She is wrong. She will destroy them all.

The ******** she will. She's gonna run her scared little a** away, that's what she's gonna do.

Xachta wouldn't have that. Its former bearers and all their progeny must be eliminated. No evidence of its failures could survive.

She will destroy them, else she will not be able to leave! This chamber is her test, her destiny! A bit of a white lie. Survival was her test; this chamber was Xachta's test, and Xachta planned to succeed, using any and all tools available.

After a long pause, the girl dropped her pack to the ground and began feeling through it in the dim light. Her thoughts were rushing this way and that. Xachta couldn't make sense of them. What is she doing?! Kill them!

If that's what Xachta wants, then that's what Xachta gets. But this bearer isn't gonna do it Xachta's way, oh no. Nida found what she was looking for, and Xachta detected: her dancing robes. The girl could dance without them, but she needed the robes as a crutch to learn new techniques, and her Forest Suite dances would be useless in this underground temple.

She will die! Xachta railed angrily. She has resources at her disposal which she casts aside in favor of the unknown! If she failed, another indication of the spirit's lack of worth would exist. That was an unacceptable situation.

Nida refused to listen. In relative silence, she stripped off her traveling gear, shivering in the cool, damp air while she stowed it in her pack. The robes took a long minute to put on, arrange, and cinch. The girl looked absolutely ridiculous.

Xachta nearly lost its temper and took her over. But that would be a failure on Xachta's part. That could not happen. It was forced to watch as its bearer made fools of them both.

-----

Nida let her thoughts drift, let music from her past float into her head. A somber piece done in low, muddy bass-line strums on what might have been cousin to a lyre, accompanied by hand-cymbals and iron drums, nearly flashed past, but she felt its double-measure rhythm and latched on. It matched the scenery, and it also matched the octet organization which was used to signify open caverns in the previous room. It would do.

She ran it through her mind a few times to get it right. Adjusting would be difficult. She would have to teach her body to feel the deep thrums without the benefit of instrumentation; she woud have to ride the waves of sound into her surroundings, except that these sounds were at the bottom of her tonal range and therefore not easily grasped. And, of course, the bugs themselves would provide plenty of distraction.

Her robes whispered as she tentatively worked through a short warm-up. She hadn't had time to stretch properly or otherwise prepare before the ogre battle, and the aches were beginning to set in already. This would be a temporary fix. The real torture would come tomorrow, assuming she lived through today.

The prelude ended, and the first movement began.

All eighteen of the bugs (she had padded her earlier estimate) were absolutely stunned when a small meal leaped into the room, clad in silk robes, sucking in her breath audibly. None of them moved until she landed in a kneeling position, the sleeves of her robes fluttering down beside her. The larger ones hop-skipped forward, antennae quivering; the smallest two launched in fear, wings opening-- the proportions of the creatures meant that their wings were useless, but instinct prevailed-- and clung to the nearest wall.

Nida could see them clearly now; they were shaped like grasshoppers, or more accurately katydids. Their joints were tipped with savage barbs. They had two sets of mouthparts: prehensile fangs, now beginning to ooze venom in anticipation, and a massive set of crushing mandibles behind. Four dominant and six secondary eyes encircled their heads. They were mottled green and stone-grey, though the smaller ones were more the former. Nida tried to hold down her bile at the up-close view.

One of the larger bugs moved in for the kill, but Nida was faster, leaping impossibly high, her legs already empowered by the open stone around them. The old song she had first clung to faded from her head, or more accurately faded into another, much older; this song reverberated through her bones, shaking her in mid-flight, causing deep aches in her teeth and eardrums. The Dusk Requiem superceded the octet piece, and Nida's power came to fruition.

-----

Xachta was, to put it bluntly, astonished. It hadn't realized the depth of the girl's abilities. Then again, they weren't really her abilities; she was drawing on her environment. A good explanation for why Xachta hadn't seen such raw, unmitigated energy in its previous forays into the girl.

The stones of the cavern responded to the Requiem's call, raining down from the ceiling to crush two of the larger bugs. The younger ones flitted at her, their fangs clumsily clawing for a strike, but Nida dropped under the force of gravity, and they overshot their mark. Unfortunately for them, they slammed into a group of miner spirits which had gathered to enjoy the dance. The spirits angrily turned the full force of their spiritual mining headlamps on the two insectoids, flash-frying them into ash.

But Xachta could sense the girl's weariness, an exhaustion so deep that Nida herself had far underestimated it. Without intervention, the Requiem would end prematurely, and Nida would be lucky to be crushed by her own dance rather than fall prey to Xachta's misshapen bearers.

Your failure is imminent! I will not be disappointed when you become one of these creatures in death; my estimates of your considerable lack of skill will merely be confirmed. Xachta will spend its remaining time with you praying for a more capable bearer. Your chance has run its course. The test is as good as over.

Xachta knew the girl, knew her intimately; there was no question that this path was the correct one. The only variable was the time it would take the girl to attempt to override Xachta and use the amulet herself. Xachta gambled that Nida was angry enough. It prepared itself to spend its remaining time with her praying that it was right.

*Daewyn took a defensive stance as her thoughts raced on how to kill this thing. She was pretty sure that she was supposed to use her new-found power to destroy it, but the question was how. Eventually she tried the only thing that came to mind. She focused on the earthen ceiling above the golem, pulling down boulder-sized chunks of rock from the ceiling above the creature, but taking care not to get herself collapsed in the bargain. The boulders knocked the creature to the ground, and where it once stood, preparing to charge at her an even larger heap of rocks lay.

Daewyn smiled. That had been easier than she anticipated. She took a look around the room to see what else was there, when just as she was skirting the pile of rubble an arm shot out of it and sent her slamming into the wall on the far side of the room. Daewyn was taken completely by surprise and therefore wasn't quick enough to cushion her impact. She took a deep breath and hissed it out quickly from the pain. The pile of rubble had wasted no time after its initial attack in rising to it's full height, now double what it was before.*

"....damn."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Terra observed silently as Daewyn was thrown across the room. Not being allowed to intervene until Daewyn called on her power, she had to watch Daewyn learn the hard way not to turn her back on a downed foe. The child had discovered how to use the power of the amulet to its full potential, but what she still lacked could cost her this battle: experience.*

It was almost a shock to Nida when she realized that she'd been breathing poison gas ever since she was knocked unconscious, but she realized she shouldn't have been surprised. So far as she could tell, every square nanometer of her body, down to the intracellular level, had been affected by her summoning of the amulet's power. She even felt heavier from the added mass of the ooze. Or maybe that was just exhaustion... she hadn't had real sleep since Xachta's arrival in her life, and she'd stabbed at several monsters in the past few days... not to mention the mental torment, and the exercise of absorbing so much new information.

Don't give up on it now, gar-ul. Xachta promises you a night of pure noninterference when we make it through this.

How nice of it! A whole night without it ripping my brain to shreds! And what's with this "we" crap all of a sudden? Now I'm your buddy or something?

Xachta roiled in her brain momentarily, obviously angered. Nida paid it little mind. She was trying to focus on the last hurdle: the final wall of the end chamber. Inspection had revealed that it was actually a door, meant to slide into the floor-- there was air flowing from tiny cracks in the corners it formed with the other walls. But the only clue as to how to open it was a recess in the wall, perhaps a yard by six inches open and six inches deep, with a hemispherical dip in its center. The purpose was easy to divine: put something in and make the door drop. But nothing had worked so far, including an eye she'd carefully popped out of a bug's head.

Shall it provide assistance? Or will she show a spark of intuition?

Nida sighed inwardly. She didn't have the energy to snipe right now. She had to figure this out.

Okay... if the amulets run on at least a rough parity, then maybe I'm supposed to be able to do what some of the others can do... Daewyn can dig through earth and surround herself with vines-- I don't imagine I can accomplish the former, and the latter is awfully similar to this crap I've got all over me. ... Have I even seen anyone else do anything with their amulets? Just a lot of weapon use and spells, really. Well, Sir Asinine did dip into my mind back in the corridor... but that wouldn't help me here, and I don't think I can do that anyway.

She was growing frustrated. She leaned against a wall and snorted, expanding a bubble of goo at her nostril.

Wait-- Naoko does that Void thing... she controls its direction and intensity, and she wraps it around herself like this crap--

It took a little practice, but Nida quickly learned to condense and expand the gunk on her hands. She couldn't fling it about psychokinetically or anything, but if she could consolidate it-- her robes might not be ruined after all!

Considerably brightened by this possibility, she spent a few minutes painstakingly working the venomous sludge out of her clothes, hair, and skin, forming a dense ball in her right hand. She left the stuff on her eyes and ears. It seemed to be beneficial to her senses.

Placing the ball in the hemispherical depression was indeed the key to the puzzle. The door dropped (an uncontrolled drop; Nida wondered if the mechanism had been damaged), and Nida stepped through to the other side. She recognized it immediately: the mandala chamber. There was a dais in the center, and the mandala was replicated in exquisite detail in painted carvings on its surface.

"First place; last one in's a rotten egg," she giggled as she stood on her symbol. "C'mon, guys; I'm ready to get out of here."

Xachta's thoughts showed a bit of strain. She has completed her taskses, yes, but it's not over yet... Terra must make it through her own test, and her failure could be the death of us all. If she has any sense, then the gar-ul will start praying as hard as she can.

As Baikasu walks away from the door from his testing room, a big boulder from the ceiling fall down and blocks the door, thus slightly startling him and making him allmost fall flat on his face. "s**t, that was close."
Told you.
Yeah, yeah.
He walked to the end of the hall, and then a large stone slab from the wall on the left of him fell down away from him, thus opening up another hall. "Woah! Nice! Beats having to waste grenades." He then climbs through the wall, where, upon entering, suddenly sealed itself up. The hall turned pitch black.
"s**t. I can't see. Where is that..." He looks in his jacket for his flashlight. He attempts to turn it on, ut it won't work. "What the hell? I JUST charged it! Damnit!" Now how am I supposed to see anythi- Good god,s, why the hell am I so ******** stupid?! With that, he took out his sword and called upon his element to make his sword glow, thus illuminating about 2 meters around him. "Now, what to do... I guess I'll start heading in this direction." He started down the hall, allmost falling down "bottomless" pits that he didn't see along the way. When he got to the end, he got to a door where light was coming through the cracks. "Oooookaaaaay. This is weird. Oh, well. No point in staying here." He opened the door, and entered the room. There ere two metal spheres on rods right next to a door on the opposite end of the room. He walked up to them, and touched one of them. Felt nothing. He touched the other one. Same result. He tried touching both at once, and, after a VERY strong current had finished severly shocking him, the door opened, he collapsed, and looked up, while still in a heap.

The room looked... well, go look at Nida's post to find out what it looked like. ANYway, Baikasu sees Nida standing there, and then he tries to stand u, but the current caused his legs to become temporaraly paralized, along with most the rest of his body. "Uh, little help?"

*After a few quick swipes of his spear and an Aero spell, Bryce lands in front of the collapsed Abyss Worm*

"That was too easy..."

*Bryce glances around the room*

"Well, there's no exit here....wait a sec. I can feel the wind nearby..."

*Bryce looks toward the source of the wind*

"Ahh...exactly! That makes sense!"

*Bryce moves the Abyss Worm aside and hops down the hole it crawled out of. He lands in a room filled with mists.*

Well, Narya...I wonder what I'm supposed to do here?

We shall see, shan't we.

*Closing his eyes, Bryce concentrates on the power of his amulet to form a breeze to blow away the mists.*

Easy enough.

Hmmm...

What is it?

Look ahead.

*As Bryce looks forward, he notices a gap of at least thirty feet in front of him, and beyond that, a hallway.*

"This should be interesting."

*Daewyn picks herself up off the ground and faces the 20 ft. giant. Her muscles are screaming at her for the abuse they've been putting up with lately. They still hadn't healed from being torn by the shockwaves, and that last knock into the wall hadn't helped matters. She tried to ignore her body's protests as best she could and began to rummage quickly through her bag as the monster came barrelling at her again. A ghost of a smile played on her lips as her fingers grazed over what she had been searching for.*

"Take this!"

*Daewyn tossed a cluster bomb she had made at the rocky giant and dove into the earth to avoid the blast. Soon after she felt a loud explosion send shockwaves through the stone around her, but she had cushioned herself from that.*

*BOOM!!*

Hearing Baikasu's voice, Nida whipped her head around. "Hey! Tell me, O tell me you've got six or seven potions on you!" She wasn't sure how long the venom cast would hold her rib; certainly not long enough for it to heal naturally.

But then, someone stepped out of the shadows-- and seconds later, the woman who was accusing the party of blowing up towns (Nida still hadn't rolled that one over in her mind; she didn't want to deal with the case that it might be true) entered casually, like she hadn't been tested at all. Yet she was a bearer, too, right? Or was that a hoax?

Xachta no longer found it necessary to speak to Nida's mind; the new level of connectivity meant that the girl could read the guardian's thoughts as well as Xachta could normally read hers. So the confirmation that Tanasha did indeed bear one of the amulets was instantaneous. But that didn't explain how she'd gotten away without being tested. Or at least, without showing any effects from it.

How long have i been out...

Ive been out as long as you have dont ask me

*BOOM!!*

[lucavi turns and looks at the nearby temple]

The codex ... its in that temple ... the fools inside are going to bury it.

[Inside the temple... Several large stone slab dominated the darkened room, heavy ironed shackles secured to their surfaces. Blood water and other oily substances soiled every surface of the chamber. Vials of bubbling liquid sat on shelves next to piles of tarnished blades and saws. Dirty bottles filled the bookcases, containingall manner of foul creatures and organs. The walls were covered with numerous layers of paper, each filled with insensible diagrams and scratchy words. Several cages were scattered around the room, and the room, and the pitiful creatures within filled the air with tortured cries. Thick iron bars designated one corner of the room as a holding cell, and dirty straw were strewn throughout. A bloated eye in a jar blinked, looking at the muttering overweight figure of Weezelaf the unclean, the mutttering rat like figure sitting at a workbench and scribbling madly on a parchment.

A large rat climbed to the leg of the workbench, and sat on its hindlegs gazing up at Weezelaf. He looked at it for a moment before one of his three arms shot out, grabbing the creature as it turned to leap away. ]

...little rat-rat, what are you doing here? Spy. hmm? Like pretty stones. hmm? Nasty, nosy, little friend...

[Holding the rat in one hand. Weezelaf grabbed the creatures head in another, squeezing its jaws open painfully as it continued to struggle. Lifting the lid of a small lead encased box with his third hand. Weezelaf produced a small black sphere. Still holding the rat's jaw open, he roughly shoved the sphere into its mouth. Pushing theglowing stone firmly down the rat's throat, he changed the grip on the creatureto hold its mouth closed. It mmediately began to writhe and squirm uncontrollably., and a feral grin stretched in Weezelaf's face as he witnessed the beginning of change.

Bones cracked as the rat's body underwent sudden mutation. Malformed bony protrusions burst through the skin of the rat's back, pushing out of its spine. As Weezelaf held it firmly in his hands, several large lumps appeared on te rat's body. One eye of the rat began to swell unnaturally, and it turned to a foul milky color. Red splotches appeared in the pale eye as blood vessels burst. One of the bulges on the rat's body erupted abruptly, and a surprise giggle escaped from Weezelaf's throat.

A bell sounded from the labratory, and Weezelaflooked up from his fun. He hurled the body of the rat dismissively to the floor, where its bloated form began to crawl away leaving a trail of pus and foulness. From out of the darkness beneath the bench, several misshapen creatures leapt upon the fallen creature, devouring it in the blink of an eye before retreating to the gloom.

Again the bell rang. He approched the the immense door. Producing a large ring of keys Weezelaf unlocked the heavy door just as the bell rang again. As the door opened a figure of a man wearing a golden armor with a white tunic appeaers standing in the hall. A grin appeares in the rats grotesque face for finding a new "experiment".]

Oh s**t...

[lucavi looks down at the small malformed fuzzy creature standing before him.]

Shut your eyes, the mere sight of him makes me gag.

You like pretty pretty stones..

[lucavi starts walking towards the labyrinth from which he came]

Boko!!!

[The rat screached and a huge rat like ogre, decayed and deformed comes crashing out of the room. With the intent of devouring the knight.]

[lucavi unsheaths his sword and takes a stance...]

[In an instant the ogre froze, alook of shock and horror fixed to his face. The brute's mouth moved slowly but no sound escaped. the hulking brute toppeled face forward and fell face down into the dust that covered the floor. Out of his back protruded a dagger. Out of the shadows of the wall came a figure with a seemingly familiar golden armor with a red tunic.]

Miss me?

Baikasu takes out his five-seven, aims it at the intruders head, and fires two shots into the guys head at point blank range. He then pushes him away, and aims the gun at the stranger. The body falls to the floor, and then Baikasu drops to the floor again, still not feeling well due to the test. He puts his gun away, and says, "Oh, he wasn't part of the test, was he?! DAMNIT! DAMNIT! Damnit, does anyone have a potion or first aid?!"

"SSSSsssss...foolish girl, you can never defeat me with that weapon...SSSSsssssSSS...."

Although those words were bold, they could not supress the fears that the former Mistress of Void was feeling. There was something odd about Naoko that she could see was different from her own daughter. Something....unhuman.

"(I call upon the light and darkness,)" Naoko began to say. Her voice sounded as if two people were talking inside her. Her own katana hummed eagerly at her chant.

"(Make way for the living and rest the souls of the dead)"

The former Mistress of Void's eyes widened in shock. Impossible!!

More blue flames shot out from the torches.

"(I call upon thus, Natake, to take away this disturbed soul back to its place!)"

Naoko let go of her katana and it ripped straight for the real image of her grandmother. The look-a-like Naoko's eyes widened in shock as the weapon stabbed through her chest, letting out a scream that echoed down the halls of Halconia. Even the people outside looked up from their tasks at the sound.

As the body of her grandmother began to melt away, Naoko took a couple of deep breaths with her eyes wide open. She slowly sunk to the ground and curled up into a ball, finally letting the tears fall down her cheeks.

Those screams...they reminded too much of her home.

The following is NPCing for Phey:

"WAAAAHHH!!!"

Phey ducked down beneath the pillar of fire, taking out her gun in the process. She was expecting something coming out of those weird drawings, but nothing like...THIS.

Just...wait...what the hell's going on here??

Calm down, Phey, her guardian advised her. Remember that you cannot be injured by those flames..

"B-b-but..."

Behind!

She swiftly turned around to face her adversary, firing her guns in the process at the winged flame creature behind her.

Only, it wasn't behind her anymore.

"What??"

Hmph, useless.

It hovered above her, waiting to strike down at its prey, but was too slow. Phey had quickly rolled away.

"Oh, no, the same technique won't work on me twice, buddy."

Her eyes narrowed into thin slits, and she summoned with all her might the fire that burned within her body into the bullets. Her guns glowed a dark red from its power. The fire creature stared at her in shock, frozen in place.

And she fired.

*Wipes the splattered brains off her arm, and kicks the largers fragments off into a corner before starting the process of looting the corpse, The Imp helping Tanasha find everything of value so they can divvy it up later.*

Well, that was rather... Unusual, excessive and violent ... Oh, wait, it's the baby-throat ********, nevermind.

: surprised utside of the temple, a man in green runs around with 2 cactuars::

::the three run into the distance and disappear::

"Well, we're almost all here. That's good."

*He glanced around at the others, and realized that there were a couple of new faces*

Interesting...we keep gaining more amulet holders...

Yes. The numbers are increasing...I don't know if that's for better or worse.

We shall see.

*As the golum finished reforming itself Daewyn's attention kept being drawn to the stone she couldn't feel. It was just then that she realized something she should have known all along.*

He....he's made of earth! That means that I can....

*A wide grin split Daewyn's face as the realization hit home.*

"I think you're the one that should bow before me!"

*Daewyn concentrates on the stone that composes the golum's body, forcing it to lay prostrate on the ground before her. It was a struggle, the golum obviously has some power over the earth itself and was trying to release himself from her will, but it was too late. Daewyn smiled.*

"I'm the bearer of the earth amulet now, and I'm not a usurper. It's not my fault you failed."

*With no more to say, Daewyn concentrated hard and literally pulled the golum's body to pieces, lining the walls of the chamber with his former body. The stone in the center fell to the ground. As it did so, the odd presence left it and she could feel it like she could the rest of the earth. This stone contained a lot of power, she realized. She picked it up and looked at it. It was a rich brown color, flecked here and there with sparks of green light. Daewyn placed it in her bag and closed her eyes. Everyone left in the temple had gathered into one room and were standing in a circle. Daewyn began to travel up to the room where the others had gathered. On her way Terra spoke to her.*

I want you to know that I'm very proud of you. I was afraid you wouldn't succeed, but you did. There is now not much more I can teach you, but I will be your companion as long as you hold my amulet.

Thank you Terra, that means a lot to me.

*Daewyn emerged from the floor of the large room in the center of her symbol in the middle and looked around at everyone.*

"I did it!"

*She grins and holds up the stone that she found*

"Hey Naoko. do you know what this is?"

"Thank Heavens your okay Daewyn!"

*Bryce looked relieved as Daewyn emerged from the earth in front of him*

"Looks like you passed your test. Good job. We knew you would."

That one has a lot of power.

I know. She has much potential.

Somehow, that power is familiar...

I agree...but I can't place it.

NPCing as Shuichi:

He couldn't believe it. The person...his trial is a mirror??

It's not an ordinary mirror, Shuu. Auubi explained to him.

"No duh, I got that..." he mumbled, gripping his spell book tightly. No reflection shined back at him, only the background of his surroundings.

Then he felt that Anubi had disappeared. He looked around frantically for a second, not sure of what was going on.

"So, you made it," a voice said. "I'm surprised, actually, after all that you've gone through."

Shuichi sharply turned back around. "Who's there?"

And his eyes widened in shock. His reflection was staring back at him, but the person looking back at him didn't seem to be him...somehow.

"What the..."

"Who am I? I'm you," the reflection spoke. "Or rather...I USED to be you."

More mirrors shot up around the room. Shuichi glanced around nervously, trying to calm himself. Things were just getting weirder and weirder.

And Auubi couldn't help him.

Focus, c'mon....just focus, Shu! he told himself. That thing's not you...it's just---

"A reflection."

Shuichi blinked in surprised. Wait a sec, how can he--

"Read your mind? It's quite simple. We both had the same amulet." his reflection replied. His eyes glowed a dark violet.

"But now...you must show your true power. I'm not like the others, you know. I don't seek revenge."

"Wha? Then what do you seek?"

"The truth. Face it, Shuichi. Face what you have to go against in here and the other temples. YOUR temple, especially."

"....My fears."

The reflection laughed. "Oh good, he gets it!"

His reflection looked up somewhere as if he had heard something. "It seems like she's done." He turned back to him. "Well, what are you waiting for? Finish me off."

"What? That easily?!?" Shuichi exclaimed.

"I've been waiting for so long for someone who actually understood Auubi as you did," the former Gravity bearer said. "And like I said. I'm not like the others. I seek only peace, being trapped in this cursed temple for so many centuries. Just end it now."

Shuichi scratched his head, a bit confused. "Um...okay..."

The mirrors around him began to shatter as the ground shook some more. Shuichi looked around, confused, but the former Gravity bearer just smiled.

"So...it has come..."

And he disappeared.

Nida grinned broadly when Daewyn arose through the floor. Xachta's worries had been translated to her through their connection; it was subtle, yet strong enough that Nida had caught herself equating Daewyn and Terra as if they were the same entity.

Now that the temple's tests had apparently been vanquished, Nida slipped her spear into its usual place between her pack and her back. That done, she went about clearing her eyes and ears of the Xachta snot.

Okay... now how do I sever this connection?

Oh, but it's had such fun with the girl! Perhaps she should leave it intact, yes, and Xachta can talk to her all the time...

Never seemed to stop you before. Nida sneered internally. The temple is over; now get back in your rock.

Reluctantly, Xachta withdrew, leaving behind a bevy of the standard images of Nida enshrouded in blood, shattered ribs punching through the skin of her chest, a leg twisted into horribly wrong contortions, chunks of head missing... but Nida was sadly growing used to that stuff by now.

Replications? Nida was confused. She had expected some sort of party after the temple's completion. Perhaps a reward of some sort. But no... more weirdness. And she did want to know more about the townspeople... but what did she need to learn? Why she and they were so similar, of course... but with the langugae barrier, that might be a problem. Had Naoko meant that there was something else to learn?

She reads too deeply into the leader's words. Action is necessary now. Xachta's communication took on a focused edge Nida hadn't felt before. We must protect this town, and that means that you need to think with the back of your brain instead of the front.

Nida gave a sharp nod toward Naoko; a second too late, as the dragoness's teleport carried the subparty away. But she had an idea of what to do. Turning
to the party, she spoke. "I'm going to try to gather the Halcons to a central area. Shu, new girl, new guy--" she pointed to Shuichi, Tanasha, and Lucavi, in turn-- "see what you guys can do to help with crowd control. No, belay that. New people run crowd control; Shu, if you've got anything in that spellbook of yours, or if your pet puppy can do anything force-field-wise, get on it."

"Right," Shu said, eyes widening a little-- perhaps Nida hadn't struck him as a take-charge kind of girl.

"Dragoon boy, you're gonna be my interpreter with that nifty illusion thing you do. Let's find a visible spot and get everyone's attention with something big." Nida turned to Phey. "Phey, you can... um..."

"Don't worry about me," Phey interjected, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "I'll find something to do."

The girl who had run to Naoko before, the young priestess, trembled with anxiety. Another priestess ran up to lead her away, but Nida caught her eyes and held them as the two withdrew... yes, there would be questions answered after this was resolved.

*Nods, planning on doing something along those lines anyway as she and the imp start directing people to what appears to be the safest location.*

Aff, keep the civies calm and the bad-guys away. And if you have a force-field then make sure you can move it after it is up... It would not do a damned bit of good if we got trapped under 12,000 tons of rock.

*turns to Nida*
the names Lucavi...
and im not here to babysit these people but ill see what i can do
[disappears into the crowd]

NPC Layla:
"(Why are these people taking us away from the temple? We need to be able to pray there!)" Layla was shouting at her guardian priestess.

"(You can't, Layla! It's too dangerous to be in the temple right now!)" her guardian priestess replied, pullling her away from what was their only shrine.

"(But we must help the dragons, don't we? Isn't that what our job is for?)"

Layla once again managed to break away from another hold and ran towards the dragon guardians left who were murmuring a chant to keep the barrier up.

"(Layla, come back here!)"

She had almost reached the dragons. Her desire to save her brother burned more
eagerly than ever before, and she wouldn't let anybody stop her....

NPC Kato:
Exhausted, Kato fell down to one knee, breathing heavily as the Earth began to heal him. He couldn't use this powers to his full extent or else endanger the city below, and Dante knew that quite well.

Damn him... he growled.

"It's useless, Kato," Dante told him, once again hovering above the ground. "Why don't you just give up and leave this place to make your life easier?"

"Why do you intend to destroy all of us for?" Kato retorted back. Fire still burned in his eyes.

Before the former would attack, a dark shadow enveloped the area until nothing else could be seen. Kato and Dante looked around in confusion, their battle interrupted.

Do you really think that you can disrupt the city that easily, brother? came Naoko's voice from the Void.

Terra I can't see anything. How am I supposed to battle when I can't see?

Don't worry about that. You can feel where they walk upon the ground right? Well focus and you can tell who is who. Other than that, you're just going to have to get through this with a little ingenuity and a lot of luck. By the way, you might want to put on that armor before getting into battle.

Oh, right.

*Daewyn focused and wrapped hte vine armor protecttively around her, then dove into the earth and focused. After a while she could recognize the tread of Bryce's feet. She travelled towards him and emerged from the earth right behind him*

Hey Bryce, can you tell where the others are? I can't see a thing...

I can understand sending us in the Void, but separating us? Oh, well. I guess even Naoko still needs to practice. Hey, Macnor?
What is it?
Could you make a bright beam of light emit from the amulet?
I'm not a damned flashlight, Baikasu.
Just do it, okay? I think it would make sense to find either Kelwyn, Kato, Naoko, or Bryce before finding Dante. I wouldn't want to be stuck fighting him alone.
SIGH, fine. Go look for them.
The amulet started to glow a bright yellow, and then sent out a VERY bright Beam of light.
Thanks.
Baikasu then looked around for anything other than total darkness. After about 5 minutes, he finally shined the light on Bryuce and Daewyn. They were about 10o yards aaway. He started running towrds them. "Hey, guys. I've been loking for you. Where's Naoko?"

They're finally here. Good.

"Okay. We need a plan before we rush in there and get our butts kicked by Dante."

That would be wise.

"Our priority is to get Kato out of there, then do as much damage to Dante as possible."

*Bryce looks from Daewyn to Baikasu*

"I think Baikasu and I should go for an all-out offensive while Daewyn gets Kato out, because Dante can only be affected by his elements (wind/lightning). What do you think?"

*Daewyn nodded at this suggestion.*

Sounds like a good plan to me. Just one question: Where is Kato? And can I leave the void of my own free will? If not, Kato and I won't be safe no matter where I go.

"Hmm...didn't Naoko say that the Void held the outside world's attributes too? That would mean that they were connected in some way."

*He closes his eyes for a moment to think*

"Why don't you ask Naoko through Terra when we get close enough to them? You'll be in the earth, anyway, and Baikasu and I should have started our assault by then. That could work."

"Damnit, why lightning? Oh, well. Guys, there's something people need to know about me." Bryuce asks, "What is it?" Baikasu replies with, "I may be able to cause a bolt more powerful than Thundaga, but there's a drawback. I don't know how and I don't know why, but somehow i've been cursed. Depending on the amount of usage of my powers, I'm injured. If I cast something about 5x as powerful as Shu's most powerful of spells, I have a chance of killing myself. I WILL need to pull back a little in this fight because of that. I won't be able to use my element as much as you, Bryuce, so I'll be relying on my sword, guns, and grenadees. Hopefully my brain will help a little, too. But remember: If I collapse, use a hi-potion or something, because I used up all my stuff in that test of mine. Keep that in mind. I would have told you and the rest right after the temple, but seeing as I'm going up against Dante again, I think it's wise to let someone in on it."That said, he took out his sword, charged it with lightning, made a slight grunting sound due to the pain, and said, "Let's kick some a**!"

"Naoko..."

She smiled down at him for a fleeting moment. "Hey, long time no see."

Kato just shook his head and sighed, bringing up the strength to pull himself back up. He could hear talking in the background and glanced at Naoko curiously while Dante continued to watch them, waiting for the perfect chance to strike.

"Oh...just friends..." she replied.

For that small second of conversation, Naoko realized that her brother had disappeared into his own element. She and Kato looked around cautiously, knowing that wind was too light to be able to sense.

"Can you still use your element?" she asked her friend.

"...Somewhat. But it's so dark in here..." He let his eyes shift to the Earth, letting the dark green element take control of his eyesight. Kato could see four people from afar and another shadow behind them. "s**t..he multiplied?"

"Let me handle that. Just go ahead and stay where you are."

Before Kato could answer, Naoko had already slipped back into the Void.

NPC as Layla:

Just a little bit more...

Layla had managed to sneak back into the temple, but her biggest obstacle was trying to open the gate to the core room. It was mainly opened by the elder priests and priestess', not a young apprentice like herself.

"(Layla, Layla!)"

"(I'm not going to let them get killed...)" she murmured to herself, trying to remember where the key to open the gate was. Sweat dripped down her cheeks from the smothering heat the temple suddenly gained. No more air had breezed through it ever since the keystone was taken out.

"(Well, you should worry about yourself, little Layla,)" a voice called above her.

Layla's eyes widened in a mixture of shock and fear. She remembered that voice....

"(No...)"

"Baikasu, don't worry about it. I have a backup plan if all else fails."

I don't want to use it, though.

You know you'll have to...eventually.

Yes. But the later, the better.

If it means the difference between the life or death of your friends, then you'll have to use it.

I know...

"Let's go. Daewyn, go find Kato. Baikasu, let's look for Dante."

Nida is NPCing as Shuichi and Gwyn here biggrin

Gwyn

Getting up to the high vantage point was no problem for a dragoon. With an easy motion, Gwyn grabbed Nida around her waist, bent his legs, and lifted off. Perfect aim, and with no excess air currents to worry about, a perfect landing.

Now to work on that illusion. Oh, man... this is like public speaking. I hate public speaking! I mean, you'd think I wouldn't mind it, given that I don't really have trouble with small groups... but all these people, and I have to make them all look at me... just like that recurring nightmare, where I'm naked and everyone's looking at me.

Kain couldn't resist. He tried, oh how he tried, but it was just too promising an opportunity.

In the crowd below, mothers quickly clapped protective hands over their children's eyes. Some of the young teenagers laughed despite the tension and fear of the moment. Murmurs and whispers raced everywhere. Sure enough, the illusion grabbed everyone's attention and brought them running to look. After all, when a twelve-foot hologram of a naked dragoon appears, slowly rotating, over the central courtyard, it's hard not to be inexorably drawn to the site.

Gwyn sank to the surface of the dome, covering his face with his hands and grinding his teeth. I will never. Ever. Forgive you for this.

Shu

"Make way, make way, move it, people!" Shu shoved through the throng, followed by the faithful amuletized Fang. Upon reaching the center of the courtyard, he nodded to his companion.

Okay... you'd better be ready to take control of these things. I'm going to make three plates. You'll need to pay attention to all of them at once.

I'll try, was Shu's only response. He steeled himself, took a deep breath.

Three hemispheres of distortion appeared high overhead, sheltering the giant rotating naked Gwyn image (which, blessedly, was beginning to dissipate). Each was perhaps ten feet across. Immediately, they began sliding toward the ground, following the surface of an unseen dome.

Shuichi reached out with his mind, felt the energies. He instinctively reached out both hands and "caught" two of the shields, bringing them back toward the uppermost point of the imaginary dome. The third was still slipping toward the ground, though; it might disappear if it touched. Shu quickly thrust out a leg and "caught" the third shield in like manner.

Oh, crap... what have I gotten myself into?

As the roof began falling, Shu struggled to maintain his balance. He swung his arms this way and that, successfully deflecting the largest rocks-- thankfully, the debris was all relatively small so far, about the size of a man's head-- and only letting pebbles and dust go by. Unfortunately, a particularly wild swing sent him spinning. He was going down; that was inevitable. So he focused all his strength on making sure he went down butt-first, with the three important limbs never pointing below street level. Nearly sprained his ankle in the process, but he managed to succeed. Only the promise of a seriously aching tailbone kept the satisfied grin from his face.

Lying on his back, he continued to block the falling rocks, praying that it would be over soon.

*Looks at Nida's odd facepaint as she runs by, not thinking much of it until she heard the screaming inside that was anything but Nida's voice.*

Ah, ********.

*Pulls a pair of NV goggles from her pack and walks into the temple, hugging the shadows as she slowly sneaks-up on where the screams were comming from, trying to pick-out which is the echo and which is the source as she readies her combat knife for a quick, silent kill.*

"Damnit! That means that wre all stuck here while we wait here for him to destroy the town from inside?! ******** b*****d! Well, what do we do now? It's not like we can go back in, can we?"

Naoko winced as she heard Xachta's scream echo in her head. Yep, she could still hear some conversation between the guardian spirits.

"(Naoko, what's wrong?)" Kato asked her.

She rubbed the sides of her temples as if some massive migraine was about to come through. "Ugh...stupid, stupid spell..."

"Huh?" Bryce asked.

Each of their amulets began to glow brightly as if responding to Xachta's call. Naoko glanced down at hers, deep in thought.

There's no WAY we can come back in there now, can we? she asked Daemon.

...Rahxe should know. He opened the seal.

"(I know only how to enter the seal, not open it,)" Rahxe replied. "(Once the soul of the temple has been taken out of its home, the seal to the town itself is closed, even to us dragons.)"

"Well, that's just great..." Naoko murmured.

"What are we going to do??" Daewyn asked her.

Kato glanced at the young teenager and then back at Naoko. "(Can't you teleport us in?)"

"I've exhausted most of my powers," Naoko murmured again. Her weariness could be clearly seen in her eyes despite being hidden under her long locks of hair.

NPC Dante:

Dante let the smile fall from his lips as soon as he noticed the change within Nida.

"Poison bearer...interesting," he replied, calling upon his element to lift Layla up to the ceiling and eventually imprisoning her in an invisible prison. "You've even managed to succeed in withstanding her poison while sharing the same mind."

He let his eyes shift to the Wind and called upon his own guardian.

"Let us see who will withstand the pressure, no?" two voices came out of his mouth. One his own, the other much deeper, more sinister than most...

Layla continued to watch from her prison above, her eyes widening at every minute. She could see...she could see that second form behind him...

...And it was someone that the prophecies always had warned about: Crypt Kepper Wyvern.

"'Her poison'? Excuse us? We are an it, and he would do well to remember that." They were trying to buy just a few seconds of time. The vew behind their eyes had shifted, drawing on the amulet's perceptive powers to provide a fly-on-the-wall view of the room. The change was prompted by the entry of the new girl-- somehow she had managed to get through the seal, or perhaps had never left the seal, and was now attempting to stay hidden in hopes of springing an ambush. Bully for her. They would try to make it easier for her.

He is more maneuverable than we. Much faster. He cannot hide from us, oh no, but he can outrun us. But he is not invulnerable, and he does not think as quickly as he moves, we hope. A plan began forming in their mind. Just below the juncture of their shoulder blades, in the center of their back, the pores of their skin began oozing goo. It would stay a dark, flattened dome hidden beneath their robes until the moment came, but with an idle thought the goo would snap into a tight, hard ball, ready to be used as its masters wished. Cheap and dirty pseudomateria, but it would have to do.

They loosened up, bending their knees, shaking out their shoulders and arms, as an experienced streetfighter in preparation for a match. Dante's embracing of his guardian appeared not to affect them; their expression was measuredly disinterested. They brought the spear up and gripped it in both hands-- then, in a seamless segue from pre-battle warmup, they planted both boots hard on the ground and launched into the Dusk Requiem. Hopefully the maneuver would catch him at least a little by surprise. Hopefully it wouldn't kill their ally, creeping ever nearer her goal in the shadows.

*Has managed to slip unaware behind dante, realizing that he's one of those absurdly powerful freaks, she decides it's safer to do her best to insure he dies than to try and escape. She leaps silently from the shadows, careful to make sure that her own shadow would be cast outside his view as her hand smack the back ofhis neck, and her combat knife whips around and severes all but his spinal colom, continuing the motion to cut through the space between two vertibret. She finishes the manuver by using her other hand to force his noggin to the ground, bringing her knee down on it with the force of her jump.*

Nida's explanation of Tanasha's post (above): [just because... blaugh ]

((OOC: Now, before the clamor starts, I'd like to do a deconstructive analysis of T-boss's post to make sure everything's clear. Confusion is the norm in this thread. ))

((The most obvious interrupt event occurs in the opening clause: "Has managed to slip unaware behind dante". Depending upon Dante's abilities, this may or may not be feasible. Xachta's capabilities mean that Nida/Xachta detected Tanasha automatically, but this is in balance with Xachta's other abilities, which are pathetically minimal compared to the Phenomenal Cosmic Powers of the other amulets. Dante's detection capabilities are somewhat unprecedented. Granted, he can see in Void, but that has not been demonstrated to inherently grant superior extra-Void detection abilites.))

((The next interrupt point: "She leaps silently from the shadows". Silence is normally nigh-impossible in such a setting and with such gear as Tanasha is assumed to be loaded with. However, this action takes place after Nida/Xachta has begun the Dusk Requiem. The scrape of boots on rock is likely to be missed in the calamitous result of the dance.))

((The most fruitful interrupt point, in my opinion, arrives here: "...careful to make sure that her own shadow would be cast outside his view as her hand smack the back ofhis neck, and her combat knife whips around and severes all but his spinal colom, continuing the motion to cut through the space between two vertibret". This entire action, as T-boss noted, takes less than a second to complete. However, as inferred from Dante's previous appearances and secondarily confirmed by Nida/Xachta's observation in the preceding post, Dante is a speedy little b*****d. [It must herein be noted that Shaolin was able to accurately attack and hit Dante with water-elemental hurled weapons; the circumstances required further ingenuity to actually damage Dante, but there is precedent for connecting with an attack.]))

((The final interrupt point is a corollary point to the above: "She finishes the manuver by using her other hand to force his noggin to the ground, bringing her knee down on it with the force of the jump". This action apparently occurs semi-simultaneously with the throat-slash; it is assumed to begin during the bladework and complete immediately after the slash. Using this as an interrupt point would require that the above interrupt point was advantaged exclusively as a blocking maneuver. It's the least workable of the noted interrupts, as the position this places Dante in does not provide any real opportunity to alter Tanasha's attack pattern disruptively.))

((Nida's Anti-Munch Rating for Tanasha's post: It's All Gravy!))

((This message brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Anti-Munch Project. If you or someone you love has a problem with munchkinism, please call the number on your screen, or PM Tanasha or Nida.))

NPC Dante:

Her knife and attack had caught him by surprise, too absorbed with the one enemy before him. His body had literally fallen motionless as Tanasha executed her technique but she could see the sinister smile lying underneath the dark mop of hair of his. A dark aura, more like tentacles, began to emerge from the open wound behind Dante's back, surrounding Tanasha and lifting her up in the air. She tried to move with the dark tentacles enwrapped around her body, but somehow her entire body was paralyzed.

And within that same second, she was tossed across the room, her body slamming into the stone wall, crumbling it. A dark pool of blood began to encircle around her still form.

Nida/Xachta, in the process of her Dusk Requiem, stopped, frozen. Not even Xachta could tell what was going on with the Melbane.

"Hahahaha, oh, wow, what a wake up call!" the two voices replied again, sinister smile still plastered on his face. The wounds in his back began to heal itself within minutes, and Dante stood up again once more. His amber eyes still glowed brightly, but the hint of pupils began to take form within them.

"I should have taken things more seriously."

Layla looked above in her prison, horrified. The hyroglyphics in the core room once explained of a creature of the dark world sealed in Halconia for the sole purpose of rising again when Hell returns....and the final battle. The Halconian dragons and priestess' of the temple were to guard the temple like a hawk, especially the tomb where within lies the creature sealed within the temple. The only description of the creature were its catlike amber eyes, able to possess a Melbane and able to destroy those who got in its way.

The young priestess hugged her knees, helplessly looking on as one line of the prophecy kept on repeating itself in her head.

And there lies within our kin, a traitor, who will let evil possess him to gain revenge, and thus attempts to destroy our world at the final gathering.

Layla bit her lip and slowly took out her necklace, her only comfort in a battle that she was stuck in the middle in. Halconia's symbol glowed red upon her touch, foretelling the inevitable. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as the battle continued below her, whispering a song of hope.

*Daewyn looked down at the symbol again*

Our medium? So you want us to focus our energies on that then?

*She looked at Kato*

Can you speak the common tongue? Do you know what she's talking about?

"Sounds good. Let's give it a shot."

Ready Narya?

Sure.

Let's save that priestess.

Tanasha's aim was good. But somehow, the bullets just stopped hitting after the first seven or so. That tentacle-aura s**t burst free after the first few shots, but by the time the ammo hail worked its way up from his collarbone to his upper lip, there appeared to be no visible effect. The black aura became an ever-thin haze around him, blurring his outline, rendering all but the most major features indistinct. Dante cackled out something, probably a menacing witticism, but apparently he'd forgotten to account for the volume of the SMG, and was subsequently drowned out.

Nida/Xachta saw what was going on-- or didn't see, rather-- quite clearly. While Tanasha would have to look for the stone chips her bullets were striking out of the wall, Nida and Xachta could catch quick glimpses of the incredibly rapid dodges Dante was executing. Eat your heart out, Keanu; this kid was barely getting warmed up, and he was easily breaking the speed of sound. Not that the poison spirit or its bearer knew to listen for the sonic booms which were conspicuously absent, but they did know enough about the way things worked to know that Dante should have been catching fire if he was moving that rapidly. Even protected by Haste magic.

The aura! We sees it, yes. We do not understand, but we sees it.

The vague figure superimposed on the blurry Dante... a lot of that blur was apparently from the aura. Two quick nictations-- a jaunt through magnetic resonance, then heavy spectral-- displayed their proper visual formats, but the aura remained the same. Something far out of Xachta's league. An uneasy knot began forming in the pit of their stomach. Dante, apparently, was the least of their worries.

Suddenly, he disappeared.

And reappeared standing behind Tanasha, so fast he was almost literally in two places at once. A hand flashed down to grip the woman's gun. "What did that wall ever do to you?" he jeered.

It would be Nida and Xachta's only opportunity. So long as the new girl was keeping Dante busy, they could focus on trying to get to Layla. With a mental directive, the second pseudomateria flew from their wrist, arcing upward and stretching out laterally, resembling an amoeba whose pseudopodia were intent upon seeking out the girl trapped on the ceiling.

Layla recoiled from the sight, but she understood its intention; she forced down her revulsion as the viscous mass began insinuating itself into the air prison. The goal was to break the airflow just enough to allow Layla to drop, at which point Nida and Xachta could nab her and run like hell. Unfortunately, that required Tanasha to be Dante's plaything for a bit longer. Well, sacrifices must be made. It wasn't like they didn't care. Just that they couldn't afford to care at the moment.

Quicker, dammit! Get her out of there!

*Pointes off to the side, away from Nida*

Look! An octogenarian zombie for you to ********!

*Does what most people would consider stupid, and snaps her off-hand on the gun, turning it upwards in her direction with FAR more strength than anyone would expect, and blasting it directly into Dante's wrist with her off-thumb on the trigger. If he jerked back, he'd lose his grip on the weapon, and give her a clear shot at his head and torso, while should he dodge it, he would still lose his grip since even if he moved his hand the trajectories of the bullets in the gun would change with the barrel, resulting hin him taking some tendon-severing round at point blank range, making his hand worthless. If he jerked back then she'd still have a clear shot at his head and torso. This, however, was merely a loud and flashy distraction from her combat knife slashing at HIS femoral artery.*

Just like you did your grandparents!

What the hell does this guy think he is? NOBODY touches my weapons but me! Eskimos had 217 words for snow... He will need about 500 for pain.

"Roger that." Baikasu then closed his eyes, then thought towards Macnor, Um, Macnor? Could you?
Alright, I'll help. Just don't kill yourself.
I won't, as long as the new girl doesn't call me a Village-Destroying, Baby-Throat ******** again.
After the inner dialogue, Baikasu and Macnor focus their excess energy on the symbol in the dirt.

Once again, defying all odds, physics, and sense, Dante wasn't there.

Well, a chunk of him still was-- the blood splattered on the wall behind where he had stood evidenced that he hadn't escaped unscathed-- but when he reappeared instantaneously across the room, he showed no visible injury. That black aura s**t was flying everywhere now. If one could somehow see through to where it emanated from his body, one would find gaping wounds beneath... but the wounds didn't seem to bother him in the least. As a matter of fact, they were healing so fast it was like a Curaga spell in time-lapse.

"And just what do you think you're doing, little girl?" came that disconcerting dual voice. Nida/Xachta's gambit had been discovered. Dante's face twisted into a leer.

"No time!" they spat. Their pseudomateria had just managed to find a probable angle through the wind prison. They couldn't allow Dante to interfere now. So without sparing the time to think, they leaped, spear at the ready-- and at the moment of their leap, put a little something extra into the mix: the ever-present ooze sprayed from their every opening, wrapping around their body in a layer four inches thick. A portentious act, as it turned out. Dante's aura-tentacles lashed out to pierce them, but the ooze deflected most of the force. They were slowed, but their spear snuck through. Not a pierce. A mere nick, a papercut in terms of lethal damage. But the Sleep magic with which the broad blade was imbued had a small chance of working.

Layla shoved against her prison, trying to reach purchase within the poisonous mass wriggling towards her. She'd seen what that same substance had done to Tanasha's wounded leg and inferred that it would protect her. As the ooze began seeping up her arm, she prayed that she had inferred correctly. She sang louder. If the ooze enveloped her entire body, she wouldn't have much longer to sing.

There wasn't that much time left.

Naoko continued to whisper the spell of protection, while keeping an eye on how the others were doing. Their guardian's auras had encircled around their bodies as the glowing symbol on the ground began to create a light around it.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, listening to the battle between Halconian dragon and shadow. Her fingers tingled upon the contact of bodies slamming against the barrier, but she maintained her focus. In the back of her mind, she could feel Daemon watching her, sending some of his energy for the reserves that she lacked. It was enough to keep the barrier up as she felt light strike through her body. It wasn't painful, but it felt a bit different. Much like a Curaga spell, but a bit harsher upon touch. The hair in the back of her neck rose, and she opened her eyes.

Layla's singing grew louder, more urgent.

The rift's open?

NPC Layla:

A hand snatched her throat before she could even begin to accomplish the song. Dante's amber-like eyes seemed to pierce through her own when she managed to open them, trying to breath.

"Do you possibly think that I'll let you do that, little one?" the dual voices growled at her.

The dark aura was immense. Layla couldn't help but cringe as Wyvern's spirit touched her skin. Powerful and evil, it was.

"Dammit!" Nida/Xachta cursed from below them.

Layla tried to pry the hand off, but Dante's grip was ice cold, and she could barely breathe. Tears began to water her eyes upon lack of air.

"I'm not letting you have them come in to get in the way," Dante's own voice spoke out, using his other hand to solidly punch Layla in the gut, knocking her unconscious. He gently lifted up the necklace around her neck, crushing it with his bare hands, and destroying the rift that was created. A bullet whizzed passed his head, and he merely glanced down upon its owner.

"Hmph, useless," he muttered more to himself than to anyone else, letting his eyes shift back to normal. The amulet in his pocket glowed once as its guardian spirit faded back to his prison.

"It was fun, ladies, but you're wasting my time," he replied.

"What? Then what was that battle for, b*****d??" Nida/Xachta exclaimed, her getting her spear ready for another attack. Tanasha had fallen back down to one knee, slowly getting out more ammo.

Dante chuckled. "Merely trying to get a taste of what your skills were. Unfortunately, though, this little bird here was trying to get help. Such a distraction."

He made two quick gestures with his free arm and disappeared before Tanasha could fire off more rounds behind him.

Another scream, another shock.

"Aggh!!"

Naoko fell backwards upon the disturbance, only to be caught by Kato from behind. Her body felt as if she had been electrocuted by ten-fold and didn't even bother to stand, letting her friend be her support.

"Naoko? Naoko, what happened?!?"

It seemed the others had suddenly broke their concentration as well. The light around them had disappeared.

Naoko could only shake her head, muttering the only word for a discovered plan. "Damn..."