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Amara whirled around at the light, stuffing Maeve into a pocket in her trenchcoat. "What the..." she trailed off as she saw that the light-bearer had a phoenix as well. One that Dax hadn't told her about, and one he was obviously trying to kill to hide his mistake. "DAX!" she screamed furiously, grabbing him by the throat. "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you here and now," she hissed, drawing her sword and placing the edge at his throat, ignoring the fire barrier that sprung up, almost singing her hair.
~~~
"Shiro? Hotaru?" Aiya gasped as she followed them at a sprint into the forest, Shreya bouncing around on her shoulder. Do you sense Hotaru anywhere?
Yeah, and... Shreya trailed off. Bad eggs! she hissed.
Huh?
I don't have time to explain! Just follow Shiro and you'll see!
"I don't even know where the heck he is," Aiya muttered.
There! A flash of blue light guided her way. She ran into the grove just as the fire barrier sprang up, but it was enough time to glimpse the demon on the other side.
"Amara...." she whispered. Is that what you meant by bad eggs?
"Shiro, what's going on?" she demanded.

Amara released Dax slowly. "What do you mean..." She looked at her opponents for the first time, really looked. A slow smile curved across her lips. "I'll spare you for now," she said to Dax. "I have more important matters to deal with."
Ignoring both the fire barrier and the fact that Tee was attacking another phoenix, she walked straight through the flames without wincing; after all, fire magic was Amara's favorite form of magic, and she'd trained herself inside volcanoes to prepare for battle against her twin.
"Hello, sis."

Tee jumped forward under Hotaru. Her wing was clipped in her dive and she was sent a few inches to the side. She scrambled up with a fierce look in her eyes. She snorted, or as close to a small bird can get to snorting, at Hotaru. "What do you know about honor? Because of you Dax was alomst harmed. You and that human." Tee opened her mouth and let a jet of flame burst out towards Hotaru.

Nothing wants to go right today, does it? Dax thought. He stepped back and to the side as Shiro's staff whizzed past. That was too close. he thought. He drew back his dagger and sliced at Shiro with a barrage of attacks.

The flame around Hotaru soon dissipated and she then noticed that a jet of flame was charging her way. She opened her own mouth and sent a jet of flame of her own toward Tee. "You and your demon are slowly giving us a bad name. He stole phoenix eggs for a reason unknown to me, but that is a terrible crime in our own world. You must have realized that," Hotaru telepathically said to her as the two jets collided. An explosion ensued as they collided, sending sparks and bits of fire everwhere onto the dead roots of the trees. Soon, a full-fledged fire started, causing the branches of the trees to become ablaze in a burning glory.

"Now look what you've done!" Hotaru said scurring away from a fiery branch that nearly fell on top of her.

Meanwhile, Shiro leaped back, away from the first barrage of Dax's attack and said, "Vuttyat Dwudg! [Barrier Flash!]" and the entire Mythril Staff released a white aura. He quickly jerked it down level with his ankles and flung his arm upward with the Mythril Staff in hand. A white translucient wall faded into view inches behind the Mythril Staff. Dax's dagger sliced into it, but was forced to a stop as it pierced it and it fell to peices and faded in puffs of smoke on the ground. He continued this each time Dax tried to slice at his form until the dagger grazed the top of his left hand and he was forced to stop. Crimson liquids splashed on the barren ground and he backed away. A blazing branch fell to the ground inches away from his side and he yelled in surprise.

He considered retreating since he was only human and no match for a demon, and he ran toward Hotaru. As he did he pushed the enemy phoenix away with his foot and scooped up his feathery friend.

"No! I was winning!" she protested, trying to squirm out of his hands.

"Well, I wasn't!" he replied and then skidded to a halt in front of Aiya and what looked like her twin sister.

"Aiya, we have to go!" he said, pointing upward to the burning tree tops. "We'll be burnt to a crisp!"

Shiro stared around at the fires lower and then slowly put themselves out. However, there was something strange about the speed at which they ceased. He could feel Hotaru's uncertainty wash over him, as did his, and he was sure that Hotaru was aware of the oddness of what just happened. He stared around at the barren forest for a moment and then turned back toward a new presense of magic energy. There were quite a few new ones by now, but this one seemed closer than the other ones. He turned to see someone else in the clearing. In his hands was another phoenix egg.

A low hissing sound came from Hotaru's throat. "That egg is not yet tainted. We must save it from the fate of becoming a bad egg!" she exclaimed and wriggled from his grasp and sped toward the stranger, occasionally lifting off the ground for a few moments.

He cursed and ran after her. "Stop doing that! You're going to get us both killed!" he yelled telepathically and Hotaru seemed to ignore him.

Hotaru stopped and glared up at the stranger and Shiro continued to try to catch up. Hotaru's speed was becoming greater. "He's...neither living nor dead..." Hotaru said, backing away a bit.

Aiya heard Shiro call, but she simply shook her head. "I've got to end this here and now," she whispered, feeling Shreya shivering from her perch in Aiya's jacket, where she'd hidden as soon as Amara stepped out of the flames. Fingering her throwing stars, she called out, "It's been a long time, Amara. What've you been up to?"
~~~
Amara shrugged. "Oh, the usual... training... being evil," she added, just to see Aiya's reaction, and was gratified to see her twin scowl. "You know, Aiya," she continued, slipping her sword out of her sheath, "you should have killed me that night. Because now, I'm stronger. And I'm sure as hell going to kill you."
~~~
Aiya drew four of her throwing stars in the same moment that Amara ran towards her brandishing the sword. However, she never got the chance. She's gotten faster, at least, Aiya thought, gasping with pain as Amara bent her arm backwards forcing her to drop the throwing stars.
"You're a disgrace to demonkind," Amara hissed. "I was looking forward to a lot more fun than this. So, I won't kill you... yet. I'll just break your arm."
It was then that Shreya decided to act. Shrieking in a piercing voice, she burst out of Aiya's coat and raked Amara's face, allowing Aiya to free herself, then fluttered back to Aiya's shoulder, hissing at Amara. She's got a phoenix too! Shreya warned. Oh, great, Aiya thought, sighing.
~~~
Amara yowled with surprise and jumped back from Shreya's furious attack, too surprised to strike. Maeve! Why didn't you tell me she had a phoenix?
You didn't ask, Maeve replied grumpily from Amara's coat pocket. Now pipe down. I'm trying to sleep. I was just born a few minutes ago, you know.
Amara ground her teeth with frustration, but nothing showed on her face as she turned back to Aiya, casually wiping a few spots of blood from her face. "Well, I won't make that mistake again," she said calmly, drawing her sword once more. "Let's try this again, shall we? I don't think you'll be so lucky this time."
~~~
It was like magic. One moment Amara was there, then she was at Aiya's back. "I win," Amara whispered to Aiya, and plunged the sword into her back.
Well, Aiya thought with a sort of detached surprise, she did it after all. The demon collapsed into the snow, a stream of red snaking out from underneath her as Shreya chirped uselessly, trapped underneath her. But Aiya wasn't finished quite yet. Flaren sin pares an yse meth... she whispered.
Aiya heard her twin's voice as if from a distance, even though Amara was standing right over her. "Oh, don't worry, you won't die from that wound," Amara said, smiling mirthlessly. "It's dishonorable to kill people from behind, don't you think, sis?" She raised her sword for the killing stroke.
...y shu paren neh! Aiya screamed, freeing power from one of her earrings. A blast of freezing cold wind... then silence. Aiya cautiously raised her head.
Encased in a solid block of ice, Amara was temporarily frozen in a silent scream of fury. Aiya knew it wouldn't hold her sister for long, but long enough. She rolled over with a grunt of pain, freeing Shreya, then lay in the snow, too exhausted to move.
((sorry for the essay... but I wanted to make it one post. In case you were wondering what kind of spell it was, it's the opposite of the one she used to make her place warm..... she just took the cold air from her surroundings and then used the power stored in her earring to amplify it. ))

Kaias backed away a step and hissed at the white illumination. By the time he had regained his senses the pheonix and its master had retreated to where two identicle looking women were fighting.
He was not sure if he should leave or not, an egg was in his hand and none of what happened here concerned him. However there was still one more egg in the sack that he could claim for himself. And he curious about who the owner of this sack was what they were intending to do with the eggs ...
Seeing that the best course of action that fulfilled his current interests was to stay where he was and protect both the egg he claimed and the one one the sack, he stayed and drew his sword.
His blade made a loud metallic ring as it was drawn from its sheath. Being an item of necromantic magic, the blade was always ice cold, a visible light mist was eminating from the blade.
Kaias stood ready to attack, he kept his field up around him, using any other spell would only be taxing on his magical power.

(I'm a bad person! gonk Sorry for not posting. I've been busy with an extremely addictive computer game. But I'm back now, and hopefully will not play it as much. But I make no promises. ninja

And now we return you to your featured presentation)

A bad name? Tee mentally hissed at Hotaru, The last of our kind were poached to near extinction. I will not let our kind be hunted like that again! As the flames colided the flame licked the branches hungrily. Look what I've done? Tee asked accusingly, Look what you've done! This is all your fault, and Dax was hurt because of you! Tee stood her ground as small branches fell around her, being licked and eaten by the flames happily.

Dax snarled as Hotaru blocked his attacks. Dax looked around as the fire started and just as quickly was put out. The necromantic energy gave him a tingling feeling in his spine. It was like his... But still different. He twisted towards Kaias and felt the wave of dark energy. But mostly he noticed the necromancer holding the pheonix egg. Dax wasn't about to lose another egg. He pulled back his dagger and let fly. Not at Kaias, but at the bag containing the final egg. It speared through the neck of the bag and pinned itself into a dead tree. Dax sprinted towards it, scooping up Tee expertly as he did. He dashed towards the bag with Tee safely tucked away on his person.

He gripped the handle of the dagger and looked around with narrowed eyes. His eyes scanned over Shiro, the block of ice encasing Amara, Aiya, Kaias, and their pheonixes. Dax counted. Five people including himself...and the egg in the bag... Where were the other four eggs? He figured he should probably help out Amara first. Otherwise, she would probably try to slit his throat again. He ran towards the enormous chunk of cold, prepared for attack from any of the others around him.