Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Right!"

Grinning, he waved his arm to the side, gesturing Thomas on. Kael took up his sword, expecting something more like a military charge, a full on wall of bodies to come surging for him and make the battle just that short. Most of the shades seemed to be held back- or holding back- however, and he didn't have much choice but to let them. Running into it would have been suicide, and left Thomas open. What else. Athan. Rage, the other ones.

Kael turned to look for them and took a moment to catch the big guy. Tall as Athan was, the shades weren't tiny, and his dark armor didn't stick out so well amongst them. It was mostly the large objects moving around and fighting that got his eye. But speaking of large objects-

Hell.

His head followed the rumble to a mass of shadow flesh charging across the room and the hair on his neck went up like a curtain. ******** the hardplace. The charging rook was more like a train than a rock, and that left Kael ******** enough without any help. His brain went into the natural panic mammals were supposed to use to get out of the way when something massive came out of nowhere tearing up ground. No. Thomas, behind him, he couldn't run. Trying to bring back how he dealt with something like that he backed up-

And much like a toddler in the middle of a football game, watched rather helplessly as defensive lineman Golem Number Y hauled some of it's own gargantuan a** and took it down with a rumbling he was glad to be safely clear of. Right. Fighting. What else was going on.

Rage was still missing somewhere- day-glo-green shouldn't have been so damn hard to spot even in a panicked glance across a cavern.

Athan. Standing, fighting, holding up.

Somewhere, shouting, the knights voice, the shadelord robed in red was still facing off with him. Still too far.

Shades. Still not coming his way in waves. Then it was just the rook-

Oh bite me. Of course.

He'd caught a bit of the flying words, but the rest shot from his mind again as the brute freed itself and seemed to hear him thinking about where his sword should be going next and got itself all excited. Never failed, he was like some kind of twisted catnip for shadow crafted horrors as far as he could tell. If only it'd been ladies that he could bring running with just a thought of where he'd like his sword to go he'd have had himself a much more agreeable set of problems right ******** you-"

In a clumsy tumble, but no less massive for it, the rook rolled his way and the swordsman leaned to get out of the way, sword back and ready. His sides took a silent cue and went up in flames together, and his body slowed just enough to scream in protest.

Not fast enough to circle it. Not fast enough to clear the fist. But he did swing fast enough, bringing the Vagrant Soul straight into the oncoming arm.

"-toooounghff!"

What was left of the punch caught him and sent Kael for a clumsy stumble of his own. His shoulder screamed into his mind in a way that said something wasn't quite right, eliciting a sharp groan- which was good. If it had been taken out of commission that would have been more like a bomb siren, and better yet, it meant he could breath. Last time he'd been clobbered too clean by one of them his breast plate had turned into a big steel fist squeezing his ribcage over his lungs.

But it put his mind somewhere he didn't want it.

Shade, incoming.

Power button, jam it in. Reboot.

He back tracked clumsily, quickly regaining his feet for it.

Name, password. Enter. Loading.

What the hell was it next? The legs, right? How the hell did he get at them now though, as he was defensively brandishing his sword about and trying to fight off a shade significantly larger than himself while already pushed to the defensive, and unable to give it enough ground to charge Thomas. ********. ******** silence.


The entire cavern.

Kael didn't question it. He recovered, loped, caught sight of no other shades, the rook distracted. He cut for the injured arm, working on the lemonade philosophy again. In an ironic parallel to the scene playing out beyond his battle-tightened cone of sight between the much more mysterious knight and shade, he took for it's moment of weakness as aggression ceased, and thrust for whatever passed for its heart.

As many times as he could find opening for, until it fell.

Only then did the sheer impact of the silence really hit him. Kael's stomach churned, and in a sickening dire sort of curiosity he loosened his hands around his sword, dropping into a fighting stance again only out of reflex as he caught the jaw-grinding second act to the real fight, across the floor.

As he finally got a real good idea, soaking up the words in confusion and tossing them together like little parts of some deceptively complex jigsaw, figuring out just what it was that he was watching going on, what their fight was, what had demolished the stadium a year ago as tournament festivities closed and the security lowered guns and let hell in.

As he set his red eyes set on the crimson glow of the suddenly quietly frightening figure. Saw it grip Athan, saw it raise a sword to plunge down into him, and exhaled,

"Alpha."

While the music may have deafened the driver from the outside world, the outside world was very much aware of the sounds within. Or at least that was the case for the person on the roof of the cabin. The blond rocked his head back and forth to the beat of the music as he sat on the roof.

Stephen Lasanti had been traveling the desert for a while, and had procured a ride out unexpectedly. The man had been going on foot, and was expecting to have to hike out as well. It was awful nice of Titan to give him a ride.

Of course the big guy didn't exactly explain the passenger accommodations beforehand. At least he could store his 'luggage' in the cabin while he rode up top.

At any rate, the long haired lad was rocking out to the music as they traveled along. He had a walkie-talkie clipped to his belt, ready to signal Titan if anything happened. Which wasn't something he expected to happen.

I mean, how often does something big happen in the desert, right?

...yeah, Sutii didn't expect this ride to end without some sort of action.

This kind of trip never went smoothly.

Unbeknownst to our intrepid trio of adventurers, they were being watched. And no, not 'The Hills have Eyes' style, but a much less creepy style of watching, with a pair of old and much repaired binoculars from several dunes over, the twin lenses focused on the front end of the long steel train.

" Puuuurrrrfect."

The voice was rough and scratchy, life in the sands, eating sandwichs of sand and other such things, would do that to you, and the owner of the voice certainly looked the part. Tanned strips of clothe covered what would be bare on a thin body, bits of tanned skin visible in gaps between clothe. Loose brown pants and boots covered up the rest of the exposed skin.

Whoever this creature was, whatever they were, they were not rich in any sense of the term. And neither were its' compatriots, gathered in the valley between dunes below him. Each was dressed in a mottley assortment of clothing that looked to have been scrounged out of the goodwill or lost and found bin. They huddled around the remains of campfires, small and crudely made tents, and the rugged assortment of what could loosely be described as vehicles.

Motorcycles made from scrap parts, Trucks made from frames and random crap one would find in landfills and dump yards, and even one dubious helicopter that would be lucky to leave the ground. people clambered in and out and ontop of these vehicles, stripping parts off of what must have once been a fairly good looking sand crawler but was now only so many unused parts.

The guard, previously mentioned, began sliding down the dune he perched upon, shouting and howling for everyone to get mobile, the language little more than a series of howls and yips that sent the ramshackle camp into frenzied motion, people running to hop into truck beds or latch onto the sides of motorcycles, the wide tires on said vehicles able to support more than one passenger. As with their vehicles, each man, or woman it was hard to tell under the clothes, carried some form of home made armament. Guns could be seen, along with a ragged assortment of melee weapons.

Engines roared to sudden life as the armada of vehicles began to move, sand spewing in geysers as wheels spun in the soft sand before shooting off.

But this was all behind the Tunnel Snake, and Titan lowered his music for amoment to talk to his passengers above,

" How're you two doin' up there?" He shouted into the walky talky, his ears somewhat deafened by the music he had shut down moments ago.

Dame pulled out his ear-buds, seeing the light flash on the Walky, and listened to Stephen respond to Titan.

He held the walky up to his mouth, "Yeah, I have to agree. This just is too easy. We need to..." Dame quieted down as he stood up, looking from left to right, and out in front of him. He'd just gotten an odd feeling, as though... He looked behind him, and the moving ground... at those things moving in from behind them.

He was usually well aware of his surroundings, but had figured that the desert would leave enough open space to be lax. But... he'd obviously guessed wrong.

"...Uh... We need to.... Iunno. I just got a weird feeling. How well does this thing handle under pressure, Titan?" Dame inquired, place a foot on his bag to keep it from blowing away. Metal could be heard shifting around inside of it. He motioned towards Stephen - something told him they'd be making good on the "guard" part of this ride finally.

Ruby noticed a bigger shade, one equipped with shield and sword, thrusting itself in front of its brethren to guard against the monk's assault. But as Ruby's fists punched wildly, the man held back no relent.

"Let's see if you can really stop my punches!"

WATATATATATA!

Fist after fist struck into the shield placed before him. At first, he felt a large amount of bluntness, one that fit that design and purpose of it being a shield. The more his fists hit, the less Ruby's confidence became in thinking that this was a waste of time and energy. He could just as easily divert his tactics and go for something more helpful. However, he didn't expect the hardness to suddenly become as soft as mud. His fists were suddenly punching through the dark matter, tenderizing it as if it was flesh and bone. What was once a shield was just another part of the being's body as the powerful knuckles drove through and finally impacted into the main body.

WATATATATATATATA!

For a few moments, the fists drummed against its body until the final punch struck the thing back, leaving some space and time to breath between them both. Ruby couldn't hide the fact that he felt pretty great with that rush, and was well ready to try that again. But the glowing presence of an energy attack coming from the one shade that he originally targeted was a sign that it was time to get out of the way. With a sudden dive to the left, he barely avoided the casted energy bolt as it ripped through the air between them, scathing cloth. The monk tumbled along the ground then finally came to a stop, his left hand revealing his gripped beads as he prepared to use his building spiritual energy to go for another one of his abilities.

As much as he wanted to return the favor in his own type of projectiles, Ruby's eyes caught something out of the corner of his eyes. The sudden calm of the group of monsters was contagious and scary. Looking more, he could see that the cause of all of their halted actions, in that everything was suddenly centered on this one distinct being attacking one of his party members. But it was more stranger than that. It seemed like they were suddenly talking, as if familiar with one another. Ruby had no idea what was going on. He was just a monk who was here to do what he can to help people here and there. He didn't have any high hopes or agendas such as saving the world. As long as he could help a little here and there, he was fine. It relieved his conscious that was built up from his years in a monastery, while allowing him to enjoy a carefree life in the way that he wanted to live it, not what his elders told him to live it. Ruby just wasn't that type of self-sacrificing monk.

Sakura...she wore the same clothing as that guy who came in here with them. Ruby knew of many strange things in this world, so he had an assumption that the man was capable of changing between a male and female, Gemini style. Maybe this female version was the man's sister, and that she had decided to come out for a while to help. It made sense in what the monk knew of the world and its mythologies, so it seemed normal. Then again, he was going to question it to satisfy his curiosity.

As Sakura coughed up a storm of blood, a hand settled itself onto her right shoulder. Ruby's left hand, still holding the beads around the wrist, was glowing in a bright blue color.

"Stay still," he said to her. He was bestowing onto her restorative energy. It wasn't as potent as a white mage's sudden magic words of prayer, but it was a good temporary soother to wounds and other minor cuts. The healing process wasn't fast, either, so the pain wasn't going to go away that fast. However, at least she would feel less hurtful than before as the blood clotting process is hastened and his energy aids in slowing any injuries to a halt.

"While we're at it, mind explaining to me a few things. Like one, what are you? And two, what is exactly going on? I feel like I'm in a play that I have no script for."

Stephen could begin to hear the roar of engines coming from behind the Tunnel Snake, and immediately eased himself to his feet. He wasn't exactly pleased to see what he saw, but he wasn't particularly surprised.

"Heads up, sparky, 'cause we've got some bogeys on our six."

The man shifted his weight so as to keep his balance and waited for the enemies to approach. From the looks of some of that equipment, they were planning on boarding the Tunnel Snake whilst it was in motion.

It would have been pretty kick a** if they weren't on the other team.

So he stood there at the ready, and waited for "sparky" to get himself ready for the boarding party that they were about to crash.

Athan remained incredibly silent throughout the entire ordeal following his own speech. Any other time he would have been completely overwhelmed with rage, wholly incapable of even the most basic of reasoning.

But years of experience, both in defeat and victory, had steadily tempered Athan's anger into a quiet determination. He didn't back down from Alpha's stare, and he didn't so much as flinch when the shadelord produced the orb. This was not the first time he had experienced a 'dream', and until everything came to a head Athan severely doubted it would be the last. But when the dream ended, when Athan realized what had happened to Ezra after his ancestor had left the city. Something about the swordsman's resolve seemed shaken.

His attention immediately shifted from Alpha back towards the knight, and much like had been witnessed during Athan and Alpha's standoff, the Arm awoke, forgotten matter sweeping over the natural flesh on his left hand and forearm, shifting the armor there, becoming far more menacing in appearance as Athan's soul acted without conscious direction.

"All of that posturing."

Athan's shaken look was replaced by something far more familiar. Anger.

"You'd sacrifice millions for the fifty-fifty chance of saving twice as many. Don't you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?!"

Alpha moved, Athan was forced to redirect his attention, buying the knight some time to try and explain away his actions. As for Athan, he watched Alpha begin to fade away in complete silence. There was no point in trying to stop him. Even if Athan were able to get a hand on Alpha, there were far too many shades present to keep fighting indefinitely.

Besides, if the dream accomplished only one thing for Alpha, it was that it shifted a lot of Athan's immediate focus away from the shadelord. Maybe Alpha knew Athan better than Athan gave him credit for. There was nothing the swordsman hated more than being used.

The heart of darkness. I'll see you there.



"You were using us this whole time."

Athan's head bowed, and he visibly shook with anger. All those dreams that had led him to believe Ezra was honorable, worth emulating. The screech brought him back to the real world, delivering lucidity when it was needed the most.

"You dedicated your entire life, thousands of years, to what? This 'judgment' of yours? WAKE UP!"

His left hand was tightly balled into a fist, his voice, along with the rest of his body, was shaking with rage by this point. The restraint that had been tempered by years of training and adventuring was being tested, and it was quickly losing the battle.

"All those years of living and you still haven't developed any perspective. You're just as cold as Alpha, but you have the audacity to use your 'duty' as an excuse for what you've done."

Athan stepped forward, picking up the Rook's Destroyer in stride. The bottom half of the weapon remained firmly on the ground, a sign of the restraint Athan was showing as he started to approach the knight. It took everything he could to keep from charging right there, part of him holding to the hope that Ezra had another reason for his betrayal.

"The only thing that matters is stopping Alpha, but you're so caught up in the past that you can't see past that. There's no such thing as fate, no infallible third party that's capable of deciding who lives or who dies."

Athan began picking up his pace, lifting the sword up so that only the very tip sparked along the cave floor. Perhaps it was a mistake, but Athan was oblivious to the shades' charge. The knight, Ezra, was his sole focus.

"There's always a choice, Ezra. Whether it's for a world or for an individual. Everybody here had a choice leading up to this moment. Including you."

He paused for a brief moment as he started to bring his left hand across his body to help heft his sword, taking a moment to stare at his left hand, just now noticing that his own brand of Judgment had taken place.

"Heh."

It was funny. The duty he had been charged with was hardly a duty at all. He was supposed to tip the scales, either save the world or condemn it through his actions. Was this the right thing to do? Would fighting Ezra doom the world?

Athan never was very good with looking more than five steps ahead.

Sorry for dragging you guys into this...

The situation was beyond hopeless. An army of shades and a fallen Anima Knight stood between the adventurers and survival. If they made it out alive, he'd have to make it up to them all somehow.

Thomas. Keep everyone else safe. Don't worry about me.

Athan broke into a run, both hands on his sword, the power of the Arm making the giant weapon feel as though it were easily half its normal weight. Athan didn't wait for Ezra to make a move, he brought the weapon forward, heaved it over his head, and then brought it straight down to cleave into Ezra's skull. He had seen in visions Ezra's impossible defense, witnessed just how skilled he was, but none of that mattered now. There was too much at stake for him to back down.

Hopefully all of his companions felt the same way.

Sand Shot up in low bursts around the tires of the bikes and trucks where the bullets smacked into the sand. The bandits didn't even seem to notice, the crash of gunfire lost to the hard winds as the makeshift vehicles pulled up further along the Tunnel Snake, their attention now very much on the two 'guards' at the front.

Mouths moving the bandits shouted things to one another as best they could, Trucks becoming sudden flurries of activity as odd pintle mounted turrets were twisted and set, grappling hooks and spear like objects put into the barrells of the odd guns as men wearing goggles set themselves behind the sights.

Their intent was rather clear, this was the boarding attempt. Luckily for the defenders they were not that far away, the next car down infact.