Welcome to Gaia! ::

A shriek nearly escaped Micaiah's soft lips as the morphs emerged from the bushes; their number as well as their appearance sent a shiver down the girl's spine as she took her fighting stance. She chants the words in her tone quickly defeating two morphs that got hit by the light magic. It seemed to be useless though because as soon as she was rid of those many more swarmed forward.

The escape route was quickly being cut off and the situation was looking dire. It was then that Micaiah recalled the words of her captain, Nino. If you run into trouble, make sure to come and tell us straight away. Those probably weren't the exact words, but that was how the girl had remembered it anyway.

Biting down on her lower lip, Micaiah gave her comrades and the morphs a pained look before turning tail and running towards the captain's room. It grieved her to have to abandon her comrades in such a manner, but she had a duty to preform. She could not have all of FEF Kingdom fall to these villains just because she had refused to leave the fight to tell her superiors.

There was something to be said about bushes rumbling for no reason whatsoever, and even more so when it was at night. However, combining those two factors with the fact that Ayra was wearing skimpier clothes than she'd ever worn for casual means, much less on the battlefield?

She could feel how vulnerable she was already. Almost as if to taunt her, a chilly breeze tickled her bare abdomen, letting her know how truly open she was to a blade or arrow- no matter what hit her at this point, there wasn't much chance of getting out unscathed. Looking about her, with Maln and the others quickly surrounding them, she cursed her lack of attentiveness and drew her sword, knowing it might be her last fight.

She was not like Leaf. Ayra took careful looks around her as she moved offensively towards them, making sure that no one was ready to strike her back as she began to strike at the first morph before her- a woman, it seemed. The brunette morph was an archer of sorts, and seemed out of her element when attacked with a blade like the one she carried.

However, looking back to Micaiah, Ayra quickly realized just what her duty was- not to survive, that was merely secondary- but to assure the light mage's safety as she ran back to Nino.

If she died without getting the message through, and an attack succeeded on a night such as this, the chances were nigh that any of them would survive to greet the morning light.

Armed with renewed vigor and sense of purpose, the swordmaster stared straight into the eyes of the sniper who lifted her bow, daring her to draw the string.

"I don't know what you are, beast, but you're not getting our castle."

The morphs were getting stronger and stronger with each swing. Leaf fought until he had no fight left in him. Leaf swung once and was struck again, knocking him to the ground unconcious. . .

. . . .darn it. . . .Macaiah. . . .

Micaiah gulped in large quantities of air as she scaled one of the staircases in FEF Castle. She was unaccustomed to doing so much running, but the situation certainly called for no less. Thoughts of her companions flashed before her eyes as she reached the door to the captain's room. Tonight was a night that should have gone by without problems, and this was the worse thing that could have happened.

Unceremoniously the silver haired girl swung open the door with enough force that it might have surprised one it did not come flying off its hinges. The force sent her stumbling forward into the room, as well as probably startling her superiors out of their wits. This was no time for niceties though, as her actions proved. The door gave a pained groan as she propped her back against the polished wood. The mage gulped in ragged breaths as she turned her gaze to the three that stood before her.

"We--" she choked slightly before continuing, "We're under attack and by morphs no less!" She couldn't help slumping against the door the news now delivered as she waited for further orders from the Captains of FEF kingdom.

From FEF's stables, a whinny sounded amongst the sounds of battle...A cloaked being was stroking the maw of a bright white creature, bound tightly in thick ropes.

The noble animal thrashed and struggled, a few feathers floating loose from its wings, but for all its efforts it could not break free. The ropes were much too sturdy to be broken by such a beast.

"Now, now," the apparent captor cooed, cold, inhuman, almost synthetic. "We can't have you wearing yourself out when I will be your new rider, dear pegasus..." Though the morph's eyes were shrouded by the cloak and the dark of the night, her teeth, eerily gleaming white, were completely visible.

Synra smiled.

"Let us go, Huey. Your new comrades await..."

Rath gave an insightful look toward Nino, as Micaiah gave her report. "It's okay now... you're safe... " Rath then stood and called for a generic soldier sentry to escort the light mage to the medical wing. "You just focus on resting... we'll handle it... you have no need to worry..." Rath waited for the door to close behind them, before he turned back around to Nino. "What are our orders, Captain...? Morphs or not... we have intruders..."

Rath nodded. "Indeed...." Rath turned to Sain. "Prepare the soldiers. Make sure to leave one division of generic soldiers behind." As Sain departed to assume the tasks he had been given, Rath turned back to Nino. "The crew will be here within 10 minutes..."

Almost as if it were a mere minute, the next thing Nino realized, the available crew had assembled in the meeting hall. Nino sat at the head of a large table, while Rath was on her left and Sain at her right. The moon shown through the window behind her, and cast a shining light upon the young captain, whose face was far from her normal expression of delight.

As Ilyana sat down at the table, after being late from stopping to have a midnight snack, Rath turned to Nino to assure her that all was ready to begin. "We are all present, Nino... Micaiah is is still resting in the medical wing, and Shiva is away from the kingdom on business. And... you know about the others... In any case... please begin..."