Welcome to Gaia! ::

((You know a golden weapon would just kind of...Bend and squish on contact right?))

Marley pointed out the food containers "Bacon, eggs, and there's a loaf of bread on the counter there...You make sure and treat that sword righ-- actually, why don't you just watch your back?" Marley went back to his room while Archer began cooking, putting belongings into a large bag; everyone seemed to be leaving, perhaps it would be best for Marley to do the same..But not with them, he would finally be making his second run into the celestial world..


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Khastur paused for awhile before speaking again to Issildia "We are just in our cause Issildia, if we just keep moving ahead and do all we can to get to Reinsen-- the gods will look out for us. Perhaps we should split up when we get near...Archer, the rest, and I will make a distraction with whatever reinforcements we can find against their armies-- and you do what you do best...Assassinate."

Khastur turned his nose up to the air, a warm scent invading his nostrils. Khastur waved to the cabin, "Let's go back in, can't turn down that invitation, eh?"

Sin Twitched in his meditation, as the same memory floated through his sub-concious and certainly didn't help out his mood. He continued to sit there trying to meditate as another memory came into view. The inner hall of the temple formed and Sin could see himself walking down the corridor rubbing his arm and muttering as he was covered in brusies and had a fairly large black eye. He walked down the hall and suddenly looked up as voices echoed down and Sin headed to where the sound came from. Standing outside the door he listend in on the Monkoto elder talking with someone he couldn't see.

"I know what we must do... I still do not agree with what you are telling me... But the blood pact was signed and we have no choice... you shall have the aid from our four best fighters... I will offer no more, the blood pact may force us to fight with you... but we will not abondon our ideals for the sake of your war..."

The other man responded and Sin could see his elder sigh and shake his head as a door slowly slammed shut and silence filled the room. Sitting down in his chair he slammed his fist onto the table and shouted.

"SIN! GET IN HERE!"

Jumping slightly sin stepped into the room and stood before the temple monk. Sighing again the monk looked up at Sin and shook his head. Pulling out a parchment he wrote a few things in in and handed it to him

"I assume that you overheard at least part of the conversation.... no matter... it is time for you to go on a journy and leave the temple... Sin you must find this woman here and.... kill her..."


Suddenly Sin's eyes snapped open and he slowly pulled out the partchment looking at the picture of Issildia and the words 'find her'. Sighing he stood up and put the picture back in his pocket. Heading outside he looked about for her hopeing to talk before anything else happend.

Sin stopped once he got outside and smacked his head in frustration. Muttering to himself he headed over to the woods and walked up to a tree, jumping up into the tree he climbed quickly up to the top poping his head out from the top and looking around. He sighed and felt the wind on his hair and looked up into the sky mutting under his breath.

"yeah... go up to Issilida, who has openly stated that she would kill me if I betrayed her... and tell her the big thing I was fogetting that I have to kill her.... gah!"

He sighed and shook his head looking over the forest and thinking about what he could do.

"Not tell her? no... that would be just putting it off until I finally slip and say something stupid... Tell her...." He shudderd "No definatly not.... I can't leave cuz they would most definatly try to hunt me down because I know to much... GAH! THIS SUCKS!"

((well I have nothing that can't wait until the next night 3nodding ))

((Have at it ^^))

(( I'm rooting for that. *grin*))

The blood stained sun rose early the following morn, stripping the earth bare of shadow and revealing the grim details of the nightly battle that had threatened to breach the gates of Faltora.
The once green hills that surrounded the proud city, now held the bloody tinge of a gruesome battle-scape. The corpses of both friend and foe littered the dusty earth, forever changing the lands that surround the city into a graveyard.
Carriorn birds circled overhead, casting long shadows across the parched grass as they scouted for their next meal, all the while runners from both sides rushed out to fetch their dead before nature choose to reclaim those that had passed beyond this realm.

The larovia forces remained vast, even though a fraction of the army had traveled to Meradea under the command of none other than Reinsen Nevar. And the larovians had also lost many during the most recent battle that had taken place during the night, when the scant few that still bore the banner of Keirdon has silently slipped out of the city during the dark of the new moon and killed quite a number of larovian's in their sleep. Though they had been dealt with in due course, and nearly all of those foolish souls had been banished from the realm of the living.

Amazingly through all this, Nicholas Remos the king of Keirdon still lived. He stood now in the main plaza of Faltora, aiding in barricading the main gates with anything and everything that could be spared. His once pale hair and flawless features were now covered in the grime of war, and he now wore an eleborate set of armor that had lost its silver luster from all the blood stains spead across it's surface.

"Nicholas!" cried out a female voice from some distance behind he and the soldiers that were working to stack a cumbersome log against the gates.
Lord Remos wiped the sweat from his brow as he turned away from the soldiers. "What is amiss Lizzera? You know I have little time for trivialities."
The former queen of Anier, of whom many had presumed dead, frowned at his response. "I have come to ask on behalf of those that remain of my people...if you or any of your men have heard any news of any other survivors."
"I don't have time for this Lady Matier." uttered Nicholas with impatience; a trait that he had recently acquired of late.

Lizzera's calm gaze was interrupted and turned to that of anger, "Answer me Nicholas! It is the least you can do after all that transpired; Anier may still be standing if Keirdon had decided to lend us aid!"
The ancient Nazuren bowed his head in guilt and defeat before he looked up at Lizzera; without a word he used the gifts granted to those of his race to make contact with her mind in order to speak with her privately.
"There are very few reasons that Nevar would go to Meradea himself to lay siege to that city. If it is anything I have learned about that man...it is that he always has more than one reason to committing to an action." Nicholas uttered darkly to her in his mental voice.

"You can't mean..." muttered Lizzera to herself.

"That's impossible...she can't be alive...after all this time..." Lizzera's voice then faded off before she spoke again. "Could others be with her? Alastor? Demitri? any of the others?"

Nicholas then withdrew the tendril of thought from her mind and voiced his next comment out loud.
"You must remember milady...these are nothing more than rumors...I would not become hopeful in this matter until these stories can be proven true. So until then, they are nothing more than a fool's hope."

"We are going to need more than a fool's hope to survive this Nicholas."

"I know milady...I know..."


~~~~~~~~~~

The Larovian encampment at Meradea was already preparing for departure some time before the sun rose. The acrid scent of ash saturated the air around Meradea. The once beautiful city was now a blackened corpse; the buildings gutted, and the streets littered with the remains of former citizens. Children roamed the streets calling for their parents, the bitter tears of realization covering the faces of the older citizens knowing well the hard times that now lay ahead of them.
The survivors of the incident had been allowed to live, but they were being left to survive on their own, which in some instances was a far darker fate than had been dealt those that were already dead.

Less than an hour after sunrise the larovian army had prepared for departure. Already ranks had been arranged and the soldiers stood at ready to begin the tiresome march back to Faltora to finish off the failing city.

Reinsen Nevar stood atop a grassy rise that over-looked the mass of soldiers. He was once again wearing the ebony and silver armor that he had worn during the night that Meradea had been attack.
His icy blue gaze drifted over the soldiers and came to rest on Zeno and Grevious who stood at the back of the formation. With a subtle flick of his left hand, he signaled for them to take their leave and begin their assignment.
With that Reinsen mounted the ebony destrier to his right and gave the signal for the army to move out. With a thunderous stamp of booted feet moving in synch the larovian army was off to join up with the forces as Faltora.


~~~~~~~~~~


Issildia stood within the threshold of the cabin and watched as the sun rose over the horizon, the dappled light filtering though the trees. A feeling of dread passed through her as she reflected on what lay ahead of them. A near impossible feat, that held nothing more than a fool's hope for victory. She could only hope that the weapons that Marley had forged would be enough to at least destroy Reinsen. It was an old saying that if you cut off the head then body will die, perhaps this would apply to the larovian war machine that Reinsen Nevar had so carefully crafted throughout the centuries.
Even so, the details did not matter at that time, because they simply did not have them. Until they made it to Faltora they would not know exactly what they were dealing with.
Fool's hope may be all that they had...but it would have to do...


(((Hell yes! 1,077 words!)))

Grevious started walking along with the formation as soon as Reinsen gave the word to go. Most of the time he spent after her woke up but before they left was spent watching Zeno fly circles around the camp. As soon as Reinsen signaled to go he knew that Zeno would fly off in his preditable anti-social behavior, but Grevious cared little for what the The Azerian did but he knew that loseing him a few moments after they were told to leave certainly wouldn't please Reinsen.

Crouching down Grevious closed his eyes for a moment and felt the cool air around him before suddenly takeing off down the pathway under Zeno's flight path. His speed allowed him to easily keep pace with his flying counter part and Grevious could probly even have outpaced him as well if nessary. As he ran over the gound every single footstep he took seemed to leave a small amount of frost on the ground cold enough that when he passed by a puddle it would actully freeze. His body also did something strange as it seemed like cold mist was comeing off of him as he ran, leaving a trail behind him that quickly dissperced into the air once he passed.