Welcome to Gaia! ::

She blinked a few tmes as sh heard the words leaving Ryudo's mouth, she could have sworn he was going nuts. A small smile formed on her lips as she begin to wipe away some of the fallen tears. Now, she just felt silly on tearing up like that. But there had been so many emotions that had been flying, that someone was bound to snap.

As Ryudo asked about any last things, she simply remained quiet. Her mind was still rather shooken up to the fact that this was the same man who almost killed her once, and was now telling her to wipe her tears. Ryudo, was diffinately an interestilng being.

Ryudo glanced over to Dame.

We can find you something in Angara.

He turned to Silver and took note of his preparedness.

IF thats all, we should be ready to eat, sleep for a couple hours, and then head out soon.

I'm sorry to interrupt, but dinner is served!

Vargus smiled and placed a large pot of stew on the small table, along with five bowels and a ladel. She then began to fill each one and place a spoon after each filling.

Everything went wonderfully until Silver's stew ended up on his head, and Ryudo chuckled. Everyone laughed, and had a wonderful meal together. After they were all stuffed to the max with Vargus' delectible cooking, everyone was ordered into bed where they slept for a few hours.



The next morning Ryudo and Vargus stood on the outskirts of the Dark City, far beyond the view of the watchtowers and anyone else. Damrius, Silver Moonblade, and Madison were also gathered there, making ready to head out on their journey.

Alright. Stand back while Kobayashi and I get ready. We don't need any injuries before we cross... I hope all of you used the lavatory...

That said, Ryudo turned back and faced the open ocean. Silence enveloped the surrounding area as dark shadow energy began to swirl around his feet. Suddenly, the energy shot outward and upward, encasing Ryudo in a dark black pillar of energy that crackled with dark blue and purple light. After the initial shock of the pillar had passed, it recoiled back onto Ryudo and a dark dome of energy appeared around his form.

Powerful wind whipped up as a second blast of bright violet energy erupted into the morning air and Vargus was enveloped in a shroud of brilliant light. The pillar of energy spun around and streamers of energy whipped about and then converged inwards as a form of bright white light began to take shape. Two magnificent wings sprouted out from the light, followed by a tail, a large back, graceful limbs, and finally, the beautiful and striking form of an absolutely amazing creature came into view. Its scales seemed to glisten as if made of a precious jewel, and seemed to shine like an opal. The energy pulsed away to reveal the full creature to be seen, and a faint aura of shifting colors could be seen around the georgeous creature. This was Vargus Kobayashi, the Aurora Dragon. She turned to look at Silver, Madi, and Dame with soft, kind violt eyes.

Another thud of energy was felt and two massive black wings tore through the black dome surrounding Ryudo. A long powerful tail snapped out next, and as the dome erupted away, the full body of Ryudo Kazamaru, the Shadow Dragon could be seen. He was twice as big as Vargus with a whopping sixty foot wingspan compared to Vargus' thirty, and was nearly the same length. His eyed were the same color as his human eyes, blood red, and he too turned to look towards the rest of the band.

Silver, Damrius, you ride with me. Madison will ride with Kobayashi.

With that said, both of the creatures lowered their necks to allow their riders to get aboard and move to their backs.

You guys will ride up top for most of the ride, but when things get bumpy, you'll have to move to a safer place. The winds around the continent are powerful, so we'll make sure you're sheltered from them before we head into the storms.

After everyone had saddled up, the group headed into the sky with powerful thrusts of their wings. Next stop, Angara, the Continent of Dragons...

Fa had been focusing on the walls for hours now. Over this time he had learned which wall he would be able to manipulate the best and had also managed to move everything into it's place. This had produced a dark glossy black patch on the wall which was roughly big enough for him to fit through. The patch was not perfect and around it were many vains of the same dark mineral.

Fa then took a deep breath and focused on the wall. He slowly pushed it outward creating an archway which he could easiely walk through. As soon as he was sure that the arch was strudy he stood up from the crosslegged position that he had taken on the floor and walked through his newly created door, into the outside world, or at least into the dungeons of the Dark Tower.

He looked around himself at what he could see, basicly a hallway with many heavy wooden doors lining the wall in front of him. Nothing interesting to see. Fa seeing there was nothing there, truned to his right and started on his way down the hallway.

Lilith rose to her feet, finding herself suddenly in Lament, when a moment ago she had just woken up in Leviathan. She had been sent here by magical means, obviously. Maybe He was getting impatient already.

Straightening her dark robes, the priestess looked around at her surroundings, finding herself to be in the middle-class section of the Dark City. She moved out of the street, lest she be ran over by something, and strolled down the sidewalk, looking for a posted map of the city or a guide who can tell her where the closest cemetary was. She found a board at the train station, a map posted for visitors to find their way around, along with scheduled times of departing and arriving trains. She found a cemetary marked on the map, but it was in the Underground.

Lilith bounded in the direction the cemetary was located, heading down into the Underground. A fitting place for a shrine to Death, away from the sunlight and cast in darkness. Were she any other priestess, she might have stopped along the way to help out the poor and desperate individuals sleeping in the streets and alleys, homeless and dirty, without a copper to their name. The way she saw it, though, death would have been a better fate. Death would take them sooner or later anyhow.

Lilith came upon a small cemetary, unguarded and long neglected from the looks of it. This displeased the priestess, one of whose duties included tending to the graves of the dead and ensuring they maintained a peaceful rest. Whoever was in charge of this dump should be skinned alive, then reanimated after bleeding to death, and forever serve as the cemetary's groundskeeper. Not a bad idea, she thought to herself.

She entered through the cemetary's gates, looking around. There looked to be only one building present, made of stone. It was likely a mausoleum, probably leading down into a crypt below it. It was there she found an old man, sleeping against some stacked wooden coffins behind the building. She gave him a nudge with the toe of her boot, startling and nearly giving him a heart attack when he opened his eyes and saw a dark-skinned elf looking down at him.

"Ah! Drow! Leave me be!" he cried, throwing his hands up as if it would help to ward off any attack.

Lilith hated being called drow, despite it being in her blood. She have the old man a swift kick.

"I am only half drow," she said with a sneer, "and I am not going to hurt you, unless you don't answer my questions. Are you in charge of this place?"

The old man, shaking and sniveling, nodded his head.

"You sure take real good care of it," Lilith said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Nobody cares for the dead," the old man said, gazing up at her, "The cemetary is only upkept by any donations we receive, mainly by the rich who have family buried here, but it's not much."

"Well, today's your lucky day then, old man," Lilith smiled, bending at the waist to look closer at him. "The Dark Eternal comes with gifts and blessings. This cemetary will be restored to it's former glory, and made into a shrine to the dark lord."

"Dark... Eternal?" the old man asked, not familiar with the name.

"He is the one who lords over the dead now." Lilith pulled out her amulet, showing the dragon skull and sickle to him. "Will you bind yourself to Him and serve Him until your dying days, and then an eternity afterwhich?"

"What? Bind myself to an evil god? You're mad, elf! Get away from me! Leave this place!" He fell back on his hands and feet, scuttling away from her.

Lilith stood up straight, frowning. "I was afraid you'd say that. No matter. In the end, we all serve Him one way or another." She raised her amulet and spoke a word of power. A crimson beam of energy shot out of the amulet and enveloped the old man, stripping his skin away. He wailed in pain, until his heart gave up on him and he fell quiet.

Lilith knelt next to the blood corpse, taking a black gem from a pouch pocket and placing it inside the old man's gaping mouth. She whispered words to a spell, and a moment later the body would shudder with life, and rise of it's own accord. She quickly enthralled it, standing before the zombie.

"From now on, you will be my groundskeeper," Lilith ordered. "I expect this place to be clean always. Pick up any trash you see and pull out the weeds. First, though, you're going to need something to cover yourself with. Wait inside the mausoleum until I return."

Fa had though long and hard about it what he could do to get out of the Tower without being noticed or at least without drawing to much attention. Finally he came to a conclution. Fa focused on the floor and began to cause a dark glossy patch of stone to appear under the gaurds' feet.

As soon as he had enough amassed there he caused it to suddenly leap up and incase the guard's. He made sure in was tight to their bodies so that they would not be able to move thier hands. He then continued around the corner and up a flight of stairs that were their. As he passed the two glossy black cases he could hear muffled yelling from inside. As much as he wanted to get out of here he hoped that some would find these poor people and let them out before they sufficated.

"I know what you are thinking Fa, but wouldn't it just be better if they sufficated in their?" asks Ruhin.

"Well I supose you may be right. Well maybe we can get out of here before they sufficate. Then it would be ok for someone to find them." Replyed Fa.

Every time he came to a corner he would listen for a guard and if their was one their he would manuipulate the floor the same way. Eventually through this method he would find his way out of the dungeons of the Dark Tower. He would come up one last stairway and find he way to a large metal door. The door was locked, and it was rather sturdy, too. Fa sat on the steps next to the door and thought again. This would be troublesome, but he would find a way through the door.

Two massive black slugs had been moving, burrowing slowly deep underneath the dark plains south of Latent. There was no excessive earth shaking from these beasts, and any shaking they produced would seem no different then the earth quakes caused by the volcano's to the north. These slugs would be underneath the city proper within a few hour, burrowing deeper even then the city underground, using their acid to soften the volcanic soil underneath the city underground. There was much granite like bedrock that prevented their stealth movement, but they simply followed the relatively softer volcanic soil as they continued toward the sheild generators underneath the city, their main target.

In the air, a squadron of thirty-two watchers flew over the city, no bigger than the usual insects in the night sky, they would not seem of much consequence to the city gaurds.

The same creature that had served as an emmisary to Latent stood far outside the perimeter of watchtowers that kept the city alerted about any strange activity within ten miles. He was to the east of the city by eleven miles, his eyes glowing red as he scanned the area with vision like a snake, detecting the heat of a gaurd detachment in the nearest tower. Behind him were two slugs, but these were different from before, there was a strip of thin metal on the surface of each one, and they made no attempt to move or verbalize.

"Is it time?" came a voice from behind.

A loin like creature flexed its massive jowls, which contained two saber sized incisors. Its claws crushed the rocky soil beneath it, and its eyes glowed red. The beast's torso was hollow, an open ribcage revealed itself until the back end once more became flesh. Inside the hollow was a soft beating organ that sent a glowing red liquid through translucent veins.

"The first two slugs will soon be in position," the creature said, its slug bottom releasing a sticky liquid, "Master will give the word when we are to advance."

Three hundred undead loins surrounded the city, hiding in the shadows of night outside the defense perimeter. To the west, a stone golem blended into a large rock formation.

"We MOVE!" screamed the creature.

And as if on cue the slugs wailed, a peircing sound intended to drive mortals mad with despair. Then they moved, thirty kilometers per hour, one toward the north gate, the other to the south.

The watchers descended over the watch tower, attaching themselves to the back of any available gaurd's neck. The infected gaurd would turn on his comrades until the watcher detached and left him for dead. The loins moved in, huffing it at speeds close to 50 kilometers an hour an jumping at the towers, scaling the stone in short order, their goal was to kill any gaurds before an alarm could be sent.

The golem was actually disguised within the perimeter, left their by the master himself. It waited for its order, not yet ready to grumble into life.