Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ialo sighed as Danni left. After she was gone, he looked around the forest. Everything was silent after that single gunshot. I must have been over-reacting, Ialo realized. It was far away, I suppose I didn't really have to worry about it... He began to stroll through the forest, letting the rain soak him to the bone. It didn't bother him. As a dragon, extreme heat and cold weren't so extreme to him. Blades had a tougher time going through him. Bruises weren't so common. He supposed that's why his primary-school teachers didn't believe him when Ialo told them about regularly getting beat up in the hallway or during lunch. There was nothing to show for it. His right hand twitched.

He slowly brought his arm up and looked at his wrist, as though reading an imaginary wristwatch. Thunder rolled, and a bolt of lightning forked through the sky, actually crashing down right in front of Ialo. Now that heat he could feel. But he was thankful, it lit the air long enough for him to get a good glance and what was causing his pain tonight. It was the usual culprit, a curse that he had never gotten rid of. Oh, he researched into it, but trailed off after a while. It was selfish, really. He began to enjoy the power it gave him, even if he would wake up in the middle of the night, fallen out of bed and half-transformed. It was sheer willpower that kept the curse under control, despite his constant exposure to magic.

Briefly, he wondered if Danni had sensed it, as attuned to dark magic as she was. Alphonse, he knew. The psychic was a major snoop in Ialo's opinion, always picking inside people's heads. Not necessarily a bad thing, but definitely annoying if one had something he preferred to keep to himself. Ialo flicked his wrist, and he felt a familiar sensation as the curse tried to spread. It failed though. As long as Ialo was well in the body and sharp in the mind, the darkness would fail to devour anything but itself. Yet, he still felt a small bit of elation as a gleaming black sword came forth. Hoisting it over his shoulder, Ialo closed his eyes and mulled over various aspects of the day's events as he wandered through the forest, taking the opposite direction Danni had gone. It was almost surreal as he let a little of his instinct take over and guide him to the nearest lifeform. In this case, a group of humans. Little magic affinity as he could tell. They must have been the intruders Kai was talking about. Some of them seemed vaguely familiar, some moreso than others. It was nothing Ialo could pin down right away though. He stopped in mid-stride, patiently waiting in the depths of the forest. For what, he didn't know. For what, he didn't particularly care. He had himself, and for now, that was good enough.

Stealthily as she could be, Athena creeped around. "Hello?" she called out quietly, ears perked for even the slightest sound. "Who's there?" Lighting lit the sky, but did little to help her see more than trees. She bent her knees, ready to bolt, and kept her hands ready to use alchemy or magic or fire... or all three.

Danni heard Athena call out, and knew she was getting close to home. Sure she was wet, freezing, and possibly had a death wish, but she was almost home...Or what she was supposed to consider home now. She reached the edge of the forest, and saw, in the distance, Athena near the school. "Ath-" She didn't get any farther than that, and she felt a black aura moments before she found herself flying through the air, her back crashing into a tree.

Then there were strong, bruising fingers around her neck, and she was lifted off her feet, her toes angling inches above the ground. And she looked into the fanged, blood eyed face of a monster she knew all too well. "Arzol," She said, wincing at his grip. "Shadow Runner. The Demon King has made his decree. You have delved too far into the book of the Ancients, too far to be trusted." He said, his fingers squeezing.

"Oh come on, Arzol, don't lie to me. You all are scared because I got the sword of the Ancients. Now you figure it's time to get rid of me or else I may just kill off your master." She said, and Arzol scowled. "Very well, that may be one of the many reasons we've decided to-" He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence when, having recited a spell mentally, he found himself blown back by a stun spell.

She coughed once, rubbing at her throat, even as Arzol got to his feet. "Very well. You leave me no choice. I'd planned to take care of you by myself, but I see I'll have to bring in the guard. With a snap of his fingers, six more auras appeared behind him, and six new pairs of red eyes appeared in the darkness. When lightning flashed, it revealed, on the edge of a forest, a hooded figure facing off against seven red eyed monsters.

In the blink of an eye, the demons had surrounded her, and she swore mentally. Then they pounced, all at once, and Danni went into action. She used a levetation spell to get above their heads, and plowed one down into the ground. But she was grabbed from behind, and forced on her back. Then suddenly she and Arzol were rolling on the ground, throwing punches and kicking. Like mere humans, she thought.

But then suddenly, she felt herself pulled up, her arms and legs forced apart, spread eagle. And she was floating in the air. A red haze seemed to form around her wrists and ankles, holding her up. "Oh, God dang it." She muttered, even as the demons faced her, smriking, their eyes glinting. Arzol drew out a black blade, running it over his hand. "You'll make a lovely sacrifice, Shadow Runner. It's a shame I couldn't keep you as a pet." He said, and she scowled, spitting down at his face. With a blank look, he wiped the spit from his cheek, and raised the blade.

But then, on a roll of thunder, she heard the faint sound of raised voices. She sensed light auras approaching, and her head whipped to look in the direction of the school. "Danni!!!!!!!" The single name was shouted by several different people, and she could jsut make out the faces in the darkness. There were three of them, soaking wet with the unmistakable energy of a shield charm around them. Cook, Ambrose, and Lia were here, and they were furious.

"Oh, you have friends, Shadow Runner. Isn't that sweet?" Arzol asked, turning his back to her to face the approaching trio. "Well, isn't this a nice surprise. Now you all get to see Shadow Runner act as a sacrifice to the Demon King.

Ambrose stepped forward then, hands wrapped around the hilt of a gleaming sword. "Hands off my baby sister," He warned, and Arzol let out a laugh. "Baby sister, is it? Imagine the demon sorceress being someone's baby sister." At these words, Cook cracked his knuckles, and suddenly his whole body was incased in what looked like rock. And when he spread his palms, bouldres appeared above and dropped down on three of the demons, squashing them. They writhed in pain for a moment before disappearing in a cloud of red smoke.

The cavalry had arrived, and they were pissed.

Suddenly they were around him. No, they had been around him the entire time. The moment Ialo had stepped into the woods, he had been surrounded and was none the wiser. Multiple voices began to bark orders at him from every direction; even from the treetops far above.
"You, on your knees. Now! We have you surrounded. Hey, drop that sword-"
The entire ordeal must have been extraordinarily stressful to the dragon.
"I said drop the ******** sword!" One stepped forward, and bashed Ialo across the face with something. Something hard.

The operative that had struck Ialo began to twitch and spasm violently. Suddenly he was fully visible, wearing a bulky suit of wires and gears; a massive rifle in his hands. The suit seemed to speak.

"Pilot compromised, switching to automaton AI override."
With this, a series of panels and flaps opened in the front of the suit; with considerable force, the suit itself ejected the deceased wearer so as to continue the mission.

"Light him up!"
Gun fire. Gun fire from all directions.

Suit

"High concentration of charged particles in the upper atmosphere, hit your shields!" shouted one. Each operative smashed a button on the left wrist and became enshrouded in a shimmering green energy field.


"Ialo!? Get the hell out of here! What are you doing!?" It was Set, he was racing across the treetops towards him.

((Okay, I'm just gonna jump in here again. I caught up very briefly. If I make a mistake, just let me know, please.))

Lin had been walking around the campus quietly and smoothly. Part of it was her upbringing in Bai Ching, and part of it was because she was an Elf and was made to walk lightly, quickly, and smoothly. People only saw her if she wanted them to see her.

Dusk had finally settled outside. It was beautiful as the twinkling stars started to appear in the sky. However, the peacefulness was soon interrupted when she heard some commotion from the birds flying overhead. They were flying quickly for some reason, and she could feel a sense of urgency coming from them. She focused more and whispers of voices wisped into her mind. Apparently, there was something going on in the nearby woods. Some strangers were there and there was a fight breaking out.

Before she could stop herself, or even realize what was going on, her body started shifting and shrinking. In a few moments, she had light, smooth feathers, a long thin nose, and wings. She was also very very tiny. She had shape shifted into a hummingbird! Good grief! She wished she could get a handle on her new power. But now wasn't the time to fret about such things. She was curious as to what was going on in the forest. Maybe she would get a better idea of what this place was like, as well, by listening in.

So, she lifted her thin wings and started to move them quickly. Surprisingly, she was flying quite easily, and quite quickly! She loved it! She flitted around the ground for awhile, forgetting her current mission briefly. The wind was whipping around her and helping to carry her to different areas.

But then she refocused when she saw the forest before her and quickly flew inside. She kept flying until she saw the small group of people in an area of the forest. She landed on a nearby branch and focused intently on the people below her.

Shintero was walking around the school. Even though it was after dark and students where saposed to be in their dorms sleepin, he wanted to continue exploring and also he had no idea where his dorm was at. After a while he decided to walk out side and what he saw was lia, ambrose and cook running with shields around them. "Whats going o....." His voice trailed off as he saw danni suspended in air and was surrounded by dark figures with red eyes. "Those creatures are going to regret doing that." Shintero casted a spell and from the shadows under him and dragon formed and seemed as if it grew from the shadows. When it was done growing the dragon made of shadows was at least 20 feet tall and shintero was standing on top of it. "Go now my spell so we shall be of aid to the others!!" Instead of jumping forward or taking flight shintero was surprised to find he and the dragon itself fade into the shadows only to reapear moments later behind the group of demons. What less should i expect from my first dark elemental spell Its true it was his first time casting a spell like that for when it comes to elemental magic, the dark element was one of the most dangerous to cast if one should be weak and feable. If Shintero wasnt a powerful elemental magician the spell he just now casted would go on a ramapage destroying everything in its path. The spell roared a most unearthly roar. A roar that would make every hair stand on end. A roar that ment the end for all who stood in the dragons way.