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And then Freya died.

Good thing she was unconscious, too.

There was a point in time when you realised that trying to stay conscious was a very bad decision. For Zar this moment was right about when he registered the wall of flame roaring towards him and realised he could do nothing at all about it. There wasn’t even the time or strength to scream, to make any sort of sound, simply agony, searing burning agony. When your wings were made of paper, fire held a very special terror. His fear could no more hold up against the assault than a dandelion in a hurricane. It was the most terrible few moments he’d ever experienced.

And then there was blackness.

((Dissapating))

More than anything it had been from a last-minute burst of synthetic adrenaline and resisting the sudden onset of bleeding-heart-syndrome that had Before's golem managing to lift the net just so. It wouldn't be enough to really free the trapped creature but Before thought the gesture would be appreciated. He hoped.

Just as Caelius arrived and ordered them all to return without any of their captives, Before leaned in close and whispered to Pepin "Gotta go... I wasn't good enough to be of any use..."

Silly Before... do NOT show any sympathy to them! YOU KNOW THE PENALTY!!!

I do! And I'm only doing this because... well... she went all BSoD on us! What'll she do to our machines? Deus is low-tech enough as it is! W-we shouldn't... risk her BSoD-ing everything techy!" he rationalized, even if he had no real proof that the netted creature was capable of such things. Better safe than sorry, yeah? > 3>

"Next time... just run? Please?" he pleaded before leaving.

((exiting))

If Herryk had been conscious, he would have just... walked away.

Without looking back.

Because cool guys don't run away from explosions.

But he wasn't conscious... so that kind of sucked.

((Exit))

A weak little growl came from the wisp, as he heard Roch not too far away. Jove struggled fiercely against his own weakness, managing to push himself up onto his elbows, tail hanging limply, his head barely able to raise itself. It was pure willpower keeping the little ghost up. Every second was a fight against falling over, succumbing to the exhaustion, and Jove was determined not to lose that battle as well!

And then suddenly everything was engulfed in fire. There was an instant of unbearable heat before the agony hit, and once again he was like that little pup on the battlefield, running towards his brother only to get burned up by those fierce blue flames. The memory of Ren and Gabrian completely alight was as fresh in his mind as if it were yesterday, the events replaying in front of him as one by one his fellow students went up in the fire. He could smell it, the burning heat in the air, and the smell of crisping skin, and burning hair. The sounds of screams barely reached his ears over the crackling roar. It was exactly as it had been except... this was home.

And this time there was no escape for anyone. They had all been rendered too weak, too helpless, on the very grounds of the place they had come to become stronger. How could any of them fight this enemy and come out victorious?

Jove finally fell back to the ground, paralysed by the burning pain that devoured everything, from vegetation, to flesh, to even the ghostly essence of his own body. And although his thoughts seemed to stretch out in horror, imprinted by the fright and pain, it was mere seconds before he lost consciousness and dissipated.

((Exiting~))

The state of limbo, that feeling of falling asleep but still being awake was a fickle one. Damien heard the garbled words but it sounded like nothing more that gibberish, without the ability or desire to comprehend it. Sleep was coming but the works of the dark furred creature still echoed in his minds from weeks past.

That the cage was still waiting for him, that it was their future.

Even as the hound broke apart piece by piece, it did nothing to save him from the horrible dream that refused to be forgotten.

((exit via dissipation))