Welcome to Gaia! ::

you did what was best for the world, Jeremiah, you have nothing to be sorry about, be proud, because i'll always be with you...*disappears behind a wall of fire*

End of Ryan

As Cyrus struggled to get up after being hit by a powerful blast of pure evil energy, he could do nothing but watch in horror as the duel between the brothers came to a climax. He turned to Kasumi and shook his head, signaling that now was not the best time. He feebly got up and walked over to Jeremiah "W...what happened!? What did this to Kane!?" He spotted a small glint over on the ground nearby, and found the jewel Kane had embedded in his forehead. "Could this...coudl this have been what possessed Kane!?" He felt a surge of power, but quickly fought it off. He pulled out some soft cloth annointed by holy water and wrapped the jewel inside, feeling the immense power luminating from the jewel "Jeremiah, you shoudl be getting to school, as you are already late....and I must get to wrok before my boss rips my head off for being late" He lifted Jeremiah onto his shoudler and kicked off, then flew to the portal. He let Jeremiah down and bowed "I am goign to deliver this jewel to Tallie, he may be able to figure otu what it is......I will see you this afternoon hopefully, keep your chin up till then" He steeped through the portal and headed off to work

"I am going to do some recon..."

Ral twisted his body and swam in the direction they had come from the ambush. He noticed a few distorted images of Haut soldiers while he was underwater. He lowered his depth till he was hugging the swamp floor to keep from being noticed. he noticed a mangrove and swam in. He surfaced just enough to see what the soldiers were doing and the hear what they were saying.

"THOSE DAMN ORLIGONIANS! They will pay for all the casualties..."
"Heh, dont worry our main force will deal with them. The poisons are powerful, but a force of one thousand men should be enough to destroy a village. On the outskirts at least."
"I still wish I could find one to take on right now... Id kill it!"

Ral manuvered out of the mangrove with increadable stealth and surfaced behind the one who wanted to fight. The other Hauts face distorted with fear.

"So... You wish to die, Haut scum."

The Haut turned and drew his sword but it was to late Rals fangs were buried in an artery in his arm. Ral injected his venom, which is equivilent to the venom of a Puff Adder. He released the Haut, who by this time was freaking out. The Haut fell over and the other tried to hell him get away. Ral gripped his halberd and buried it in the mobile Hauts head leaving the poisoned one to answer questions.

"Now... scum you will tell me where you main force is goin to strike."
"Yeah, right... Im not gonna tell a slave like you nothin'!"
"That is unless you want my venom to eat through you flesh. You wont have an arm in 10 minutes. Then you wont have lungs, then a heart or brain."
"AHHH! No matter how much pain you inflict I wont tell you nothin'!"
"Everything has a breaking point."

He slashed open the mans leg with the axe blade on the halberd and hit him in the back of the head with the butt. The blood trickled from the mans mouth. The joints on his arm began to bubble and his upper arm turned blood red, as the flesh around the artery began to die and decompose. A horid stink came from his arm.

"GAH!!"

The man let out a peircing scream as the venom started to eat at his bones and muscels. Ral struck him again this time across the face.

"Shut up vermin! Tell me where they are heading!"

"Your in no place to insult me vermin! Scum!"

Ral hit him in the stomache with the butt of his halberd.

"WHAT VILLAGE?!"

The soldier passed out as he watched his arm fester and rot.

"Pathetic vermin, a rat would make a better soldier."

Ral walked back into the water leaving the soldier to die a horible painful death. He swam back to his party and had them surface.

"We must get back to the the village. They are planning on attacking with one thousand men. We must reinforce our villages. As of this moment, I am dismissing you. You will go back to your villages and fight."

Without a word they all broke into a run toward their villages. Rall headed back to the main company.

Vain: Listen up! While there is little peace in this area i will train you a bit. 10 of you stand right in front of me. I train with full contact. You may have an elemantal resistance against my spells, but my physical strength is another story.

::10 of the best of my troops stood foward. I then jumped backagainst the wall luanched foward at the soldiers. I took the by suprise with two daggers that were on the side of my pants. 3 of them charged at me and I clotheslined 2 of them and hook kicked the other::

Vain: C'mon, I aint even trying! If 10 of you cant even begin to give me a tiny drop of sweat then you will NEVER win this war. That's all for now, your boring me.
------
Kasumi's P.O.V.
-----

Kasumi: HEY! Where's he going... I have to find some one fast...

"Oh, don't get me wrong milady, I never meant you harm, I simply wished to know the reason behind all of this."

Kasumi: I have to find someone! oh, where did Cyrus go...

::She starts to wonder around, not know where she is::

Ral caught up to the rest of the unit.

"SIR!"

He yelled out as he reached the battered and nearly decimated unit. The survivors turned to him and glared menacingly at him.

"What happened...?"
"Your intel was faulty. We found the reinforcements you were talking about across the swamp."
"Crap... I thought we had more time..."

Another came up as the other walked away.

"YOU KNEW?!"
"I just found out. I found and interogated a stragler."
"Well its to late. Everyone else is dead. We tried to stop them and killed a large number of them and retreated."
"How many were there?"
"About 800 Haut soldiers."
"Thats not even half of the original force... Many must have died in the poison. They were aiming to attack any villages they got a chance too."
"We know... Brace yourself. You are the sole survivor of your clan."
"What-"
"They destroyed your village! Thats where the soldiers died your village guard was galiant they killed about 700 Haut. The ground below your below the burned trees and rubble of your village. They wouldnt have killed so many had it been located on the ground instead of in the highest trees in your territory."

The Orligonian regular turned and continued his march to the next village. Ral stood in shock as truth cut it's scars. He turned in the direction of his village and walked fast but not yet jogging toward his home.

Ral finally stood on a tall hill overlooking his late village. Bodies littered the ground and floated in the swamp. The stench of rapid decay filled the air. The massive main anchor tree had been burned out and had fallen onto and crushed soldiers and trees alike. Only ash and debris was left of the village. A seige ladder was broken and splintered beneath a few other burned trees. The water was red with the blood of the fallen and an eirie beam of lighted shined down from the gaping hole in the canopy. The magnitude of the battle hadnt hit him until this moment. He turned his back to the stew of blood, flesh and wood. The blood stained the mossy roots that protruded from the ground. Large insects and scavengers were eating the corpses. A large carnivourous stag like beetle, measuring two feet tall lumbered toward a corpse by it and started to devour it.

They all died... The Haut are monsters...

He started to walk slowly down a path observing the Haut soldiers who died from the poisonous atmosphere. He looked down at a larger body. The body had holes from decomposition and the body tissue had turned purple. He continued up the trail and spotted a larger gap in the bodies. He walked a few more feet and stopped. Very few dead lined the trail from then on.

"The poisons are cutting through them and killing them like the animals they truely are. This is proff the poisons are getting stronger. Soon even we, may have trouble living here if this war does not end. Our first main outlying village has fallen, and with this we dwindle in number but only strengthens our resolve..."