Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had been a quiet walk to the Temple, which Jessie had spent lost in his thoughts. The recruits, walking in front of him, chattered - a few were talking about Stephanie and her sudden illness. The Captain frowned as he listened to their concern. It was worrying. It was bad enough an experienced trainee like Coline pushing herself so hard, but Steff, so fresh and new... she could kill herself. She'd been so light when he'd picked her up, and so sorry that she'd fallen.

Please can I come back later today?

She'd asked that. She'd actually asked, through all her pain, if she could come back. But why? What was she trying to prove? Maybe he needed to sit her down and explain to her the dangers of her conduct. Then again, that hadn't really worked with Coline, had it? ...Then again, she was a completely different matter.

All at once, as they cleared the ridge overlooking the Temple, the world shook. Many of his pupils screamed, and a couple fell to the ground. He was shaken himself, as an explosion the likes of which he hadn't heard in years rang through the air, deafening his sensitive ears. He cried out and put his hands to them, as many of the others did. He was one of the first to look up, and see the huge cloud springing up from the other side of the Temple, and the massive shards of glass from all the shattered windows littered on the grass.

Something dreadful had happened.

His students were groaning on the ground. His own heart was thundering, nerves shaken. While some hands searched for their friends, a few pairs of eyes turned to him.

He stared back for a moment, before taking a deep breath. "Stay out here!" he barked, sprinting down the path on slightly wobbly legs. Naturally, they might have tried to go and take a look at the source of the disturbance - that was dangerous. They needed to keep out of harm's way, and if any of them disobeyed him their lives were in his hands.

The doors were open to welcome visitors and he flew through them. The crowd inside were all on the ground - many were crying. The brown-haired acolyte who had approached him before had struggled to her feet and was attempting to comfort a few distraught youngsters.

"Sir-!" she cried as he passed.

"Get everyone out!" he commanded, turning for only a moment, and she nodded, bug-eyed, at his back.

There were no signs of damage so far, so... oh, no. It couldn't be, could it? He raced through the practise hall, a grim realisation having struck him. This must be Panda's fault. However, even that couldn't have prepared him for what he was to see.

"Ussta yah..."

Panda's study was gone. The entire corridor was gone. Just gone. Just... gone. It was an entirely surreal sight, as if you looked up through the smoke the third floor was visible, tipping precariously over the site. He could hear the sound of running water even through the slight ringing in his ears - the pipes for the communal bathrooms above had burst. The wall of the library and the row of practise rooms had remained intact... then, as he stepped carefully forward, peering through the black smoke, he saw something that made his thundering heart stop.

"Cressa...!" he shouted, darting forward to fall down beside the woman. Her black form, curled up on the ground with her sword lying beside her, was the only thing intact in the carnage that used to be Panda's study. "What have you done?!"

Cressa had been groaning to herself even before he approached. "Uhhhh... I... can't see..." she sobbed, shaking. Carefully, he took her quivering shoulders and rolled her onto her back, before pulling her torso up onto his lap.

"Cressa! Cressa! Can you hear me?"

She'd given a small yelp as he began to move her, but now, through her fuddled mind, flashes of him made their way. So strong was their bond - or, rather, her bond to him. "Jessie...!" the sorceress breathed, reaching back up to clasp awkwardly at the front of his robes. "I can't see!"

"Can you hear?"

In response, she began to sob outright, crying out his name a few more times. "I'm here...! It's okay!"

"It was an accident..." she moaned, "I didn't mean... HE started it!"

"Cressa, what happened?" he urged, reaching inside her robes and fumbling around for the items he knew were there. "Where IS Panda?"

A small voice drifted through the darkness, breathy from running all the way from the basement. "Oh my god..." it said, unwittingly echoing the words of the first at the scene.

"Oh my god!" it repeated, louder. A note of hysteria lifted the end, brewing to a full-blown scream. "What... what happened here?!"

Footsteps began to echo, her high-heeled ones amongst them. Spells were muttered, and several small breezes began to sweep through the place, joining the efforts of the fresh air from the wide, open space that now dominated the back half of the Temple.

Jessie managed to find the colour he wanted, and hastily unscrewed it. "Come on, up you get..." he mumbled, dragging Cressa up to a vertical position with his spare hand.

Lorika, hearing his voice, tapped several steps forward, her tone one of confusion. "Jessie! What - what are you - ?" He was rapidly becoming visible through the smoke - he, and the shape in his lap. She was betraying increasing distress with every new query. "What happened? Who is that? Where's Panda?!"

Ignoring the Priestess' hysterical cries, the Captain placed the bottle of pale yellow liquid to Cressa's lips. "Cressa, pull yourself together!"

"Ugh...!" she groaned, allowing the first mouthful to dribble back out. He gritted his teeth and supported her chin, helping her to drink like an orphaned lamb.

"Jessie! Answer me!" she pleaded, stepping forward another few feet. Now able to fully see the situation, her wide expression turned to a frown, not recognising the person in his arms. "Just what do you think you're doing?!"

"Please, give me a moment!" he snapped, applying a sluice of clear healing potion to her injured hand. He then placed his hand under her chin again, and forced her to swallow a gulp for good measure.

The energy potion seemed to have done its trick. Cressa gave one last shudder as the mouthful of new potion made its way down her throat, her tears drying on her cheeks, and her head snapped round to the side, mind coming back to her. "...Where IS he?" she mumbled, "He had a shield up, too..."

Jessie glanced at her in horror. His face fell. "You've been dueling..." he whispered, shaking his head in disbelief. "Oh, Cressa! Why do you have to-?!"

Lorika's voice has risen to a screech, but what was more shocking was, suddenly, how close Lorika had come behind him. "Captain Hawk, if you do not answer me this moment I shall hold you personally responsible for all damages!"

"Me?!" he replied, incredulous, turning his head around sharply to face her. "I only just got here! If you haven't noticed, I'm trying to tend to my friend's injuries!"

"YOUR FRIEND?" she screeched, illiciting a wince from the drow, his ears just beginning to recover properly. He'd never seen Lorika so irate, her green hair flying dishevelled around her face and her fists clenched. When he looked at her again she'd bent to him aggressively, totally livid. "Also at the scene of the crime! How can you assume we will just believe you when the truth is so obvious?! Do you think we humans are stupid?!"

The Captain stared at her as she took a breath, unable to believe what he was hearing. "...Excuse me?!" he spluttered eventually, keeping his voice low. A glance beyond the looming woman revealed that others had begun to gather - the mages who had cleared the air, and a handful of his posted guards. "Lorika, you're taking this completely out of-"

"You've been missing the past two days, and now I find you with an outside conspirator in the middle of a BOMB SITE! What am I supposed to think?!" she spat at him, straightening up as Cressa finally lifted herself off his lap and turned to face her curiously. The two women's eyes met, and Lorika's expression stiffened at the coldness in the woman's green eyes.

"I've been with Coline up until a few hours ago. You can ask her yourself. I have been planning nothing. I didn't even know Cressa would be coming here." Jessie explained calmly, getting to his feet. Cressa was quick to follow him, spending a few moments dusting herself off before turning around properly. Lorika now found herself facing down two drow, one of whom towered over her by what she estimated to be at least a foot.

The Priestess shifted her gaze between the two of them. The new woman she didn't trust - but she wasn't afraid of Jessie. "And you expect me to believe that?" she hissed, lowering her voice to match his. "All that you've done is reject your duties, argue with me-"

"YOU'RE the one arguing with ME!" he corrected, but she was having none of it, and spoke over him, her voice raising again.

"A prisoner ESCAPED yesterday, Jessie! Where were you when our acolytes were in danger? Where were the guards that YOU had appointed?"

Jessie began to reply, but she held up her hand, disallowing it. "No, let me quote you from the LAST time we had an argument like this - 'I am not a bodyguard.' Isn't that right?"

The Captain's eyebrow raised in surprise. "I - said that?" he queried, to himself rather than to Lorika, totally bemused. After a moment, he shook his head as if to clear it, raising his hand for silence as she began to go off at him again, just as she had done. "You're blowing this completely out of proportion!"

Lorika cut him off again, taking a few steps back and raising her voice as if addressing an entire crowd - and by now, quite a crowd had gathered behind her. Very well, then, that she turned right around, gesturing everywhere at once. "Oh no, Captain Hawk!" she shouted, as behind her back he raised a hand to his temples, "It has already been BLOWN out of proportion!"

Turning back to him, her open hand turned to a point of accusation. "You have horrendously endangered the lives of our followers CONSISTENTLY and on MANY occassions!"

"So this is the little priestess-doll."

Lorika stiffened and turned her head slightly to the right, to meet the cold, narrow eyes that penetrated her. Cressa, despite her stature, had been lurking behind her mate like a shadow since the priestess had last dropped her gaze. A few bystanders, indeed, appeared startled to hear her speak, and glanced at each other.

"And you are?" Lorika returned insolently, causing Jessie to scowl at her. He'd never seen her behave so abhorrently in all the months he'd known her, so undignified and superior. Then again, perhaps somewhere amongst all the accusations his sense of tremendous scale of this calamity had become impaired.

"The woman who just blew up your precious Temple, b***h!" she objected, pushing past him and advancing on the smaller woman, who took a step back, but never broke her gaze. "Jessie had nothing to do with this!" No hint of her usual wicked smile was on her face.

Lorika's eyes widened at the woman, and she took another couple of steps back. "You -" she gasped, her eyes flickering for a moment with fear under the cold glare of the towering woman. She stepped backwards again, and then, only now succeeding in breaking her gaze, screamed for assistance. "Guards! Seize her!"

"What?!" Jessie cried, gaze flicking to the men against the wall. He dashed forwards and in front of Cressa, who backed off, stony-faced, as the four present drew their tridents and advanced. Holding out his arms like a silken shield for the retreating woman, the Captain barked his own command.

"NO! Stay your weapons!"

The guards, obeying their captain without hesitation, became at ease once again. They were immediately rebuked by a furious shriek.

"What are you doing?!" The High Priestess commanded, "I order that you take her into custody!"

"No, wait!" was the immediate reply. The guards had barely managed to lift their weapons halfway. "You mustn't provoke her! It's too dangerous!"

The guards now glanced at each other, tridents poised, obviously completely at a loss of which of their leaders to obey. Lorika was looking at Jessie in a way that she hadn't before. It was incredulous. Yet also... triumphant.

Cressa's quiet voice broke through the electric tension. "They can seize me if they want," she shrugged; her voice sober, not mocking, "I'd like to see them try."

The guards were unnerved by this, but it was Jessie who voiced his worry, rounding on her in the middle of the wrecked room. "Cressa, if you-"

"Defending a criminal..." Lorika began. Quiet, but it was enough to make the captain stop and look at her. She raised her voice, so that all those gathered on the southern wall could hear. "Defending the person who has destroyed all of our work in one go! The person who has..."

She halted abruptly, cutting her own head off just as she was gathering steam. Her chest heaved with her own breath, as it had done all the time. It rose and fell thrice, and then stopped altogether.

A likelihood that she hadn't properly considered until now hit her like a train. She clapped her hands to her mouth. "Panda!"

Jessie glanced at Cressa, who didn't even blink. An acolyte nearest to Lorika caught her implication and whispered it to her friend, horrified. Soon enough, the rest of the crowd had gotten the gist.

"They're murderers!" cried a boy near the practise rooms. "They've murdered the Professor!"

Jessie wheeled around at the source of the voice as his shout elicited gasps, and a couple of the acolytes balked as his eye fell on them, suddenly fearful of him as they hadn't been for months. He grimaced, and turned back round to Lorika, unable to bring himself to search any further. Cressa, however, was the first to speak again as the crowd tittered, though she spoke only loud enough for the Priestess to hear. This must have been the only time in her life she was passing up an opportunity for showmanship, in preference of the truth. "He CAN'T be dead. You don't understand what's gone on here, silly little girl."

"Do not speak, murderer!" she shouted, her head snapping to the guards, "I command that you arrest her!"

Jessie found his voice again, springing towards her in a threatening, black sweep of a movement. "I command that you WAIT!" he echoed, spitting it in her face this time - hope that she would understand long gone, but hope that she might listen still burning away.

Lorika, however, didn't step back as she had done from Cressa. She allowed him to get right up to her face, staring petulantly up into his single eye. She'd resolved herself not to be threatened by him. "Guards, do you take orders from an treasoner?!"

"Treasoner?!" he hissed, "I'm NOT working against you, Lorika! Why can't you see that?!"

"Erm," said the guard in the center, causing them to both snap their faces in his direction, each a picture of fury. The guards were all standing side by side, braced but not threatening, looking confused rather than concerned. They'd managed to advance just two steps from where Jessie had initially stopped them, and their quarry stood five yards or so in front, her arms crossed around her bosom and eyeing the squabbling couple to her right as they argued over her fate. "Begging your pardon, Miss, but the Captain... hasn't done anything..."

This elicited a shout of laughter from the Priestess, which caused the guard to jump. "If only you knew!" she cried, pushing herself alway from the taller man with a few clicks of her heels on the dusty, rubbled floor, "This man you see before you is a murderer, a crime lord! His record is as long as his arm!"

The Captain's face, had it not been the definition of ashen already, would have turned the same colour.

"Lorika," he breathed, "If you say one more word..."

It seemed the roles of the two women standing within a few yards of one another had been reversed. Lorika was now the showman, and she raised her hand and her voice, counting off the charges with gusto. "Eight counts first degree murder, ten counts aiding murder, seventeen accessory," she didn't pause but for small breath, reeling them all off in one long stream. Somehow, it made them all the more horrifying. "Twenty-two voluntary manslaughter, seven unlawful killings during a duel, thirty-two extortion, at least six proven robberies of national treasures, smuggling-"

"You memorised all of this?" the criminal in question said quietly, cutting her off. The Captain, and his fellow, seemed to have turned to stone. He'd folded his arms and was watching her, jaw clenched. "Hm. How pathetic."

She explained, with a superiority that made his expression curl with disgust. "The Overseer requested it of me."

"I feel a weight of guilt upon my heart that I was the one who planted the idea in their heads. If we had not taken you in-"

Jessie laughed bitterly, white teeth exposing themselves. "Taken me in?! Is that what you call those letters begging for my aid? I wanted nothing to do with your organisation, nothing to do with the Overseer OR the Sentinel," he demanded, voice raised, "You dragged me into your conflict, and I-"

"Then why did you come, hm?" she asked. He fell silent immediately. "A quick redemption, is that what you wanted? A few months of service are nothing to you. What fools we were. How we should have realised what our folly would cause. A leopard cannot change its spots."

"I refuse to repeat myself again -" the drow hissed, "I have NOT been plotting against you! Is this what you call a quick redemption?" he said, louder, glancing round disdainfully at the silent, gripped crowd, making his voice even clearer as they hung on his words, "Ever since I arrived, you and your fellows have been nothing but rude, unpleasant and mistrusting. I would have thought after the time we'd spent together you would have reconsidered your judgements by now, but I see now that you're either too stupid or too prejudiced to manage it!"

He then returned solely to the priestess, taking a handful of steps towards her, hateful gaze hidden from the rest by his hair. His low, acerbic voice, however, must have betrayed the dark emotion that burned within. "And do NOT presume to know anything about my life! You know NOTHING about me prior to the Order! You cannot understand the circumstances which have led me to-"

"Don't you give me that, like you can pretend you're a good person at heart!" she hissed, bringing herself right up to his face this time around.

"He IS a good person at heart!" Cressa suddenly shouted, unable to hold her tongue any longer. Her own face twisted with anger, she took a few steps forward, only to stop as the guards shuffled and raised their weapons. She turned her fury on them, disdainful, "Oh, don't be such idiots! I'm not going to ******** bite her!"

"Like YOU are, I suppose!" Lorika retorted, even as the drow turned her attention away to rebuke the men.

"Like YOU are," Jessie bit back, defending his friend.

Lorika turned her face back up to him, features terse.

"How dare you?"

"At least I have the decency not to resort to airing a person's private life in front of a crowd of onlookers!" he answered, with meaning.

"Well, perhaps your life has been kept private too long," she informed him, before raising her voice again, "I think your students have a right to know that their teacher is a thieving, murdering, black-hearted and evil pi-"

The sound of skin on skin echoed through the derelict halls. The crowd drew a collective gasp as the priestess leaned to her side, clutching her right cheek, now burning with the sting of a well-placed slap.

"NOW will you listen?" he asked, hand back at his side. It hadn't been enough to hurt her, he was sure. If only it could make her question herself for a moment, it would have done its job.

He knew when her eyes returned to his, however, that it had failed. Even worse, it had condemned them.

"Seize them!" she shrieked, retreating, "Seize them both!"

Jessie looked to the guards, who, after a moment of uncertaity, raised their weapons. "Oh, don't be so ridiculous," he seethed, raising his hand to massage irritably at his temples for a few moments, before gesticulating with it, "Pull yourselves together!"

As their slow advance continued, however, he knew that his hold on them had shattered. He wasn't their captain anymore. A sharp pang greeted this realisation, and he began to back away, expression unreadable. Behind him, Cressa kicked the ashes and recovered her blade, protected from the explosion by its own enchantments. One of a kind, that sword. It still gleamed despite having lain under dust and debris.

"" she said, placing a hand on his shoulder as he glid gracefully back. His eye was darting back and forth along the line of guards he himself had appointed, more carefully after the armoury incident, appraising them each in turn. ""

"" the priestess yelled, now in a safe position behind the advancing line.

Cressa's eyes flashed. "" she mocked, irate. The sword shook in her hand. "this means? ******** YOUR FILTHY, PUS-LEAKING-!>"

"What are you waiting for?! Take them to the cells!" the other woman commanded, hands on her hips. One of the guards glanced over his shoulder, and then at his companions, as if wondering whether or not they could really do this job at all. It was the captain, after all...

"" Cressa assured quietly, as if reading the frightened guard's thoughts. Perhaps she was. ""

"" Jessie whispered back. His face was taut. ""

((is unfortunately affected by Lorika's uber-post))




[occuring slightly before uber-post]
Xeiashi sighed. How long had he been up here, reading alone? He thought back. Last he remembered, he was in his hut, setting down the Practice Hall's books in favor of his own. Some time after, again on the roof, he had to turn away from a stiff, chilly breeze. How long ago that happened, he couldn't recall. It couldn't have been more than a few minutes ago, for he had recently turned off of that page. He looked around briefly before shunning the clear, blue sky for the bipolar black-and-whiteness of a book.

Half a second, perhaps less. Not enough time to close a book. Hardly even enough time to blink. Certainly not enough time to cast a spell, probably the only thing that would save him now. Xeiashi would have liked to do many things, strangely revolving around 'save the book,' but he could do nothing.

In that half second, perhaps less, he went from reading contentedly to flipping through the air. The very air around him shook with an astonishingly powerful blast of some kind, though he couldn't hear a thing. Trees became green blurs that mixed with blue sky-streaks and eventually it all became one gray mass. A blast wave...and my eardrums have been blown out, he realized abstractly as the gray became complete black.

[@ start of uber post, if anyone cares]
Moments later, he came to. He was still airborne, hopelessly flipping above the green-blur island that soon became a green-blur-speck amongst the sea's great blue blur. As he noticed this, he also became aware that it was difficult to breathe. His robes were choking him, caught and held across his throat by his flight. He struggled with them as he realized that he could use two hands. The book, previously in his hand, was gone; likely mangled into oblivion by the forces that were going to kill him. A final tug of his frail arms tore the lethal fabric, saving his all-too-vulnerable throat.

He had no time at all to appreciate this before he hit the water.

Mere instants ago, Xeiashi was wrestling with the wind for control of his life. Now, the wind had tagged out, to be replaced by the sea. No longer would his throat ail him, for now it was his lungs screaming in protest. No other thought existed but up, so up went the drowning Xeiashi.

Another few seconds showed that resistance was futile. He was just too deep to save himself. In this deadly moment of calm, he remembered a useless fact. Water has oxygen in it...water has OXYGEN IN IT! Newly triumphant, he began shattering the bonds of the water, transforming it into lifesaving Oxygen gas and explosive Hydrogen gas.

The former, he began sucking into his lungs as he hacked to expel the buildup of carbon dioxide. Some of the former was also smashed into the Hydrogen, making a small explosion as the oxygen combined explosively with the reactive gas. The power of these repeated explosions provided Xeiashi with the energy to dismantle more water, starting a cycle that enabled him to cling to life. The whole time, his feet kicked weakly as he becan his ascent anew.

An unknown amount of time later, Xeiashi breached the surface and began the long journey...home, yes, for it was home now.

[Alchemic Transmutation]

((hooray! I managed to use it for its intended purpose, survival!))

((Holy crap! The epicness! THE EPICNESS!!!!
EDIT: THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED lol =D))

Alexi looked around the infirmary and noticed a boy sitting in a corner. She walked over to him."Hey, are you all right?" she asked him.
The boy turned around. Alexi noticed that he resembled a cat. He didn't say anything but she saw that his hand was bleeding pretty badly.
"Oh my Gosh!" she said, startled. "Are you okay? Here let me help..." She took out a small white cloth from her pocket and began dabbing it onto the wound. The cloth soaked up some of the blood.
Total watched Alexi's every move, admiring her a bit. He was surprised at his friend's sudden nurturing attitude.
Just then Alexi saw something interesting. A crystal seemed to be embedded in the boy's hand. She wasn't sure whether to touch it or not.
"What happened to you?" she asked. But then someone burst into the room.

((I'm putting the post that I had here previously in another post after. If I need to edit that, I will. =D))

((odd but cool! perhaps I'll imagine how that works tomorrow -no sarcasm intended-))

((I know I could guess 03o))

((Aww darn...looks like the dirty connotation will forever mar Alexi's trident...maybe I should think of a new weapon for her XD))