Welcome to Gaia! ::

Shavas gazed across the crowd, nervously fussing with her copper ringlets, and smoothing her skirts, she was quickly thinking of a plan, she hadnt seen any of these people in months, and many knew her for who she really was, she could only hope they'd believe her cover story. "well here goes..." She murmered softly, pursing her lips. She turned around to scrutinize her young daughter, who stood there staring at her with wide eyes. She had dressed the girl herself in a pretty satin gown of emerald silk, piling her fiery locks on top of her head with a golden clip. and adding a little lip rouge, and coal lining around her pretty eyes, so like her mothers. "Well darling are you ready?" She purred, taking her hand, and towing her into the ballroom.

Freya gazed at her mother wonderingly, the brisk woman had appeared at her grandmother's house a few months back, and taken her away from the only home she had ever known. She was in awe of her, and terrified of her. Her mother was like a serpant, always waiting to strike, she couldnt decide if she was happy her mother had taken her under her wing. Anything Freya wanted was hers, immediatley. But on the condition that she did whatever Shavas wanted, when she wanted it, no questions asked, or else! Last night her mom had come into her room, and sat on the end of her bed, she had tucked her in, and kissed her forehead. Just before she left, she informed Freya, that she was to accompany her to the ball the next night, once again no questions asked, and she was to be on her best behavior. Now here they were, Shavas looking magnificent in a black dress that whispered as she moved, and emphasised her curvy figure. She had painted her lips a startling red, but it looked good on her, and drew attention away from her pale, and sunken cheeks, tinged with a bit of blusher. When her mother took her hand and led her into the mob, she followed meekly, blushing furiously at the curious gazes of the courtiers. To her horrer, Shavas drew her to the front of the large room, and pushed her into a plush armchair, next to some strangers, and ordered her to stay put. When Freya opened her mouth to argue Shavas shot daggers with her eyes, whirled on her heel, and dissapeared into the crowd.

Tsuki, however, had gotten lucky. Very Lucky. A startled Auren fell over, even though he had blended in perfectly with the shadows. With that, the next horde of Demons came.

"s**t! Not again!" Auren's arms were getting tired, and he had abandoned all finesse a long time ago. The demons came and died, spraying out their life's fluid at his feet. Auren sighed, and looked at the battered girl, and sighed.

"Do NOT EVER do that again. EVER! If it weren't for the fact that I fell over, you'd be dead."

She was indignant, irked, displeased, and annoyed. Who was he to tell her what to do?!

"Well excuse me for knowing that the door that was open and letting all these blasted demons in was down a bunch of stairs in this wing! By the time I realized that it was probably useless becuase the door was doubtless destroyed, I'd gotten to the 5th bloody floor! So, I started my way back up and I was doing just fine until that stupid plant burned my ankles!"

She glared at him and moved forward. The demon population had gone mysteriously down...though she could sense an odd kind of power up ahead and knew the demons were probably up there.

"So, where are you heading then? Back that way is useless. It's best to just evacuate like the announcement said...speaking of which...where did it go? It's usually blaring in emergencies..."

Shavas pinched, elbowed, and clawed her way through the thinning crowd, finally growling in exasperation she ripped off her bodice, and skirts, letting the now useless garment flutter to the side, she wore a loose cotton tunic, and breeches. she palmed her wrist knifes, and waved them at the people serving as a barrior, smiling thinly when they screeched and crashed into each other trying to get out of the way. only a few remained where they were standing, and stared her down. Two men, and a woman, all disguised as courtiers, but she knew better, their muscled rippled under the thin material of their flamboyant costumes, and already at the prospect of a fight their eyes were glazing over, and turning red. She threw her dagger into the heart of the woman, nodding satisfaction as she screamed, such an un-godly noise it sent involuntary shivers up her spine as the woman exploded, splattering Shavas, and the terrified pedestrians with bits of flesh, and blood. After getting over their daze, the two remaining demons engaged her in combat, Shavas held her own stubbornly but the demons were larger than her, and faster. Her eyes darted to and fro looking for an opening, and advantage, she had to end this this quick, because her strength was failing her. finally glimpsing what she was looking for she striked, killing first one, than the other demons, and ran, She could sense Tsuki, her life force was draining, and Shavas wouldnt permit her to leave this world alone. Reaching out with a rope of her power she Tsukis spirit to her body, and followed the invisible line of power to her friend. The sight was horrible, Tsuki bled from humerous cuts, and was fighting with all she had. Shavas roared in fury, and plundged into the defense of her friend.

Freya sensed a change in the atmosphere, the crowd was thinning rapidly, and her mother was no where to be found. After the last few agonizing hours of sitting and talking to the pompous men, and woman who clustered near her, she was getting desperate, and finally excused her self to the older gentleman who was her newest companion. The man looked dissapointed, his eyes had strayed along her body numerous times, and had been obviously trying to get her to leave with him, despite their vast age difference. She may have been sixteen, and around marriageable age, but she certaintly wasnt interested in any men old enough to be her grandfather for heavens sake. Her mothers wrath would be worth getting away from this guy. She stood up, staggering a little (she had been sitting for a while) and tottered away.
Now she knew somthing was wrong. She had just passed a grup of people clustered around an oily burn on the tiles, and spattered with what looked a lot like blood. She scanned the crowd for the familiar features of her mother, suddenly frantic. Her breath came quicker, she needed to get out of the room, she went up to the nearest door, and pushed it open, stumbling into what looked like a sort of antechamber. She walked over to the nearest window and flung it open breathin deeply to calm herself. She was bieng crazy. There was no danger here, except the wrath of her mother, which was eminent when she found her daughter had left her assigned position, but she coukdnt have really expected her to sit there forever. Maybe if she went back her mum wouldnt notice spinning around she screamed, blood covered the left wall of the chamber and three gaudily dressed corpses littered the floor, looking like rag dolls, and one small enough to be a doll. How she missed this when she came in she would never know, but a sharp crack to her head sent her eyes rolling back into her head aas she sank into oblivion.

Houka watched the room as the girl walked in seemingly oblivious to the bodies just to her left; she saw her fling open a window and take in a huge breath of air, then turn and scream. She also watched as the girl was knocked unconcious by a demoness. She must have been a high-class demoness because she had a humanoid form whereas all the other demons Houka had seen thus far had been mutated forms of whatever animal species they related to. Pressing another seemingly innocent block in the wall, she ran up the stairs that were revealed, they were the quickest way to the antechamber...

"I have no idea really, all I know is that there are demons, and well, they're dying. One way or another, it dosen't matter to me. I'm just getting tired. My body count must number in the hundreds alone." With one last grunt, Auren impaled the Demon trying to claw its way through his armor unsucessfully.

Auren never missed a thing, moved to cover Shavas. With an inhuman growl of his own, he moved into to carve a path of death through the last pack of demons.

Sensing a quiet moment... Auren glanced at Shavas and looked at her wound. "Lemme look at that, I'm not carrying anything that can be used for a bandage other then a sweaty silk shirt, but I don't think you want that near your skin."

((Goin' to bed, someone drive Auren for meh. Don't Ice Auren yet, I'll worry about that...))

She followed Tsuki diligently, shaking her head slightly at Auren, "Dont worry about it, Ive had worse, I can hold out for a bit...Its just Im a bit worried about Freya, I left her in the midst of things, I hope she's alright." Once the wall was sealed behind them she paused to tear stripd of cloth from her tunic, binding her midsection tightly, and overlapping the cloth over her wound. She winced as a burning filled her side. "Besides Auren, If I bound myself with silk Id be pulling fibers out of the would for weeks, I dont think my healer would be to happy with me." She tapped Tsuki on the shoulder "So, whats going on here, why is this place overflowing with demons, ooh wait till I get my hands on the King, how dare he allow such a lapse in security!"