Kilroos (Rise of the Guardians)

Message from Host: Hey you sexy sons of bitches. This is my first Forum Role-play as a host. This is hopefully going to be an enjoyable experience for everyone who participates and I wish you luck. A warning far in advance, this RP is going to be very dark, grim, and brutal. Every option that I give you might be very clear which is a wrong decision, but then again it might not be. I will try to trick you when you least expect it, which means do not let your guard down, I might be playing as your allies, but there are more enemies than there are friends. If things start to turn sour, and I mean more than how much I want it to go I will type hints in white print so keep highlighting my posts to see if I throw out hints, but more than likely, I won't (sorrynotsorry). Kilroos is a STORY-BOOK rp. Which mean you won't know a lot of things. You learn as you go. What kinda fun is it to know what's around each corner? It'll make you want to post more wanting to know what happens next! This RP may or may not have a good ending, as long as you play your cards right, you might see some sunshine.

So! Without further ado!

WELCOME TO KILROOS!

This is going to be a VERY LONG ROLE PLAY GAME. I have had several months (A year and a half practically)preparing this RP including a world map. If you need any pictures please refer to my STASH.

I have one guide in this RP. They will be helping, giving some insight, because as host, I personally will not be giving clues to puzzles, situations or bosses. I will not tell you what the enemies names are. There will be no insight on what will happen. You will have to gather the small bits and pieces of your cities mentor to be able to receive any kind of clue to progress. However if the confusion progresses your mentor will give A SMALL HINT. I will not be like "OH OH LOOK YOUR MENTOR IS GIVING YOU A HINT!!!!" No, figure it out.

I do not choose favorites, despite all of you being good friends of mine. I will unleash full fury onto your characters. I will be rational however, making sure everyone is tended to, and make sure that everyone has a reason to post/speak their opinion. Alright so here come all the SPOILERS so I don't stretch the page with nonsense.

Rules:

1. Follow the SP Terms and Conditions.
2. You can have foul language, we're (mostly) adults here.
3. Try not to make your post include anything TOO sexual.
4. I am the host of this game/ rp. I can remove you.
5. No God modding or killing off other players characters unless you ask them privately. (This will severely mess up the story if something takes a horrible left turn)
6. Type literate, I mean with grammar usage. dont type lik dis or i will burn u. Unless it's an accent thing for your character, otherwise please state such a thing.(Camila does not apply for obvious reasons <3)
7. Reason why I say type literate is because of this most important rule: THERE WILL BE NO EDITING WHAT SO EVER IN THIS RP. IF YOU REALIZED YOU MESSED UP. YOU DONE GOOFED HARD BRUH. If I see that you have edited, I will not be a happy camper. You don't want a pissed host. No bueno. Muy malo amigos... y amiga. I mean... if you make an error that goes against what your character should know and what you know then I will give grace and allow it, but please put "Haunting has given grace" for your editorial reason.
8. AT LEAST One paragraph per post please, it's not hard but short posts just ruin the flow.
9. Be courteous, no insulting others personally. At least not in the Forum please, keep any problems to the secrecy of your messages. (Refer to rule 2)
10. The rules are bound to constantly change when I please to change them.
11. Have fun.

A little explanation for some of these things.

Personality: I kinda already stated this but other than the obvious personality settings I have for your characters, you can place any kind of other personality traits here to distinguish your character for yourself, I want you to feel for your character and for the mentors I am going to be giving you. You do not have to be 100% goodie goodie two shoes because that shit's bland, amirite? You can be evil if you want, just because you are fighting people named the "Champions" does not mean they are evil. They are just not on your side! Granted if you are caught doing bad things (TRUST ME. ONCE I GET YOUR CHARACTER SHEETS YOU CAN BET YOUR BOOTIES I'MMA USE THAT AGAINST YOU SO HARD! SO WHEN CONFRONTED WITH A CHALLENGE, YOU BEST THINK ABOUT IT.)ahem anyways, once you are caught you are going to have some hefty consequences, so don't get so grabby. You have a mission.

Additional powers: Throughout this RP you will discover your weapons true power, however you are allowed to have plenty of other powers whether they are dark or light magic, so on so forth. Your characters are not 100% good in the eyes of your soon to be forced allies. So you might have to fight your own allies from time to time. Choose wisely what your extra abilities are, but be sure not to make yourself very over powered. I take this seriously, because this is going to be a long rp, and what kinda rp would it be if we didn't have any progression!?
Abilities- This is different from powers. Abilities is like what kind of human nature does your character have that differs them from normal humans? Can they scale a wall faster? Can they get away much better with lying? So on so forth. These do not include lightning bolts coming out yer damn hands kay?
Powers- Lightning coming out yer damn hands bruh. Tell me about it here.

Back-story: This is the creative part. Be wild, don't make a novel for the love of god. You can blend yourself into the world and ask me for any kind of questions because remember, these places are already pre-set to a past. Some characters do not have certain things that others do. Your characters do have to be born in the city they will be protecting, and no they do not have to STAY there, but please remember you are protecting a city, you can't exactly go on some quest or some junk, just keep it a little bit in reason please. For my sake and everyone that does actually want to read your back-story for the love of god DON'T MAKE IT LONG. I CAN'T STESS THAT ENOUGH. Please message me (Skype please) with your back story so I can do a lengthy dissection of it to be sure it will fit the story well enough, or might even give it a little bit more juice! I like juice.

Mentors!

Each of you have Mentors. These people are not meant to be stronger than you, they are meant to give some wiggle room in the story, meaning, they are able to die much more than you are. They will be your support when you think you have no one on your side. Even to those who don't exactly have feelers for characters that aren't theirs these people are going to be that extra help that everyone is going to need in the beginning. They might be your voice of reason, your shield, your friend, or the one that saves your sorry ass.

Their names and pictures

Clear Sea: Cassandra Dwight


Dark Swamps: Q


High Clouds: Leroy Terros


Mist Mountains: Xerxes Gordon


Red Sands: DECEASED Gannon the Wise

Mentor Powers

Cassie: Able to use force fields on herself or someone else, she cannot use multiple shields meaning she can only save herself or someone else. She does have one ultimate move which grants her target a lifetime of good luck, but it drains her completely leaving her as a husk, so... one time deal sort of thing. Cassie can tell the future! The distant future... but still. She is also emotionally stable, and does not give in to temptation by usually being the one to keep her wielder out of trouble. Cassie lacks armor and is can be hurt by sudden attacks.

Q: Able to scale up or down any terrain and can survive extremely high drops. She is one of the fastest assassins in Dark Swamps and is very loyal. She can tell when someone is lying, and that usually helps the Swamp Boss when someone is trying to double cross him/her. Q does not have Much armor and can get cut up pretty badly, she also is very sassy towards the High Clouds with her attitude it will take the longest for her to like them again.

Roy: Able to summon a bow from his bracelet. He has trained his entire life to protect the wielder with the magic he has learned and the bow the High Ruler has given to him. Leroy also knows which animals are deadly and which are pretty easy to kill, he is also a master at creating fires in a life or death situation. Leroy worships the Wielder because the Wielder is the only person in High Clouds to be blessed by the Paralyzed spirit, giving him a spiritual connection to them, knowing when danger is near the wielder. Roy is very soft spoken and will usually never speak above his Wielder. He's a very whipped man but once someone threatens his Wielder he will spill blood.

Xerxes: Able to take practically concussive blows and carry loads of weight, however he gets fatigued faster than the rest of the group leaving them to have to take a few breaks from time to time. He is the hardest hitting mentor and can slice through a boulder, but he struggles by being the slowest. Xerxes is rude and hot headed and usually puts his anger behind his blade to make him swing harder and faster.

Gannon: Able to trek the desert, but not with a group. Gannon knows practically every trail in Kilroos and knows which animals and plants are edible. Gannon is the wisest of the entire group and can heal his team mates rather quickly. Gannon is also an elder which means he cannot travel very much, and will need Xerxes to carry him at times to ensure that they can get at least a little bit further before Xerxes needs a break as well.

A little bit more to help you understand the story.
(Don't have to read this but it does help you and me both.)

Depending on how well you do (Or bad, heh) throughout the rp you will be acquiring upgrades. Now, the pretty obvious upgrade will be when your hunk of an artifact is upgraded, and don't think it's gonna be half way through the rp. It's not. Think of this like a show. The whole plan is to have a build up to the finale. You want to have that suspense THE WHOLE RP. And what kinda fun would it be if you unlock that shit before you even meet your enemies? Nah. You don't get your pieces of metal or rock upgraded until it's time to pop a cap back blue which will be the end. I have a very unfair storyline, not meaning it's going to be leaning in the champions favor, but I am going to be making it feel like there is no hope. There are going to be some things that make you nopescope180 out of here. Don't be a pussy. Kay? Do not doubt your guardians if they ever come into effect (That includes Kevin, Camila.) Please, for the love of god, do not think I am picking favorites. I am most certainly not. I made this story once before and needed to do some heavy updating to make it more flexible. The outcomes are not me picking on you (Some are) BUT the uh... more... feely posts... are most certainly something the group did wrong. I will give at least 3 options to some big problems that arise. I will even give individuals options which means you better not choose something wrong, or it'll be your fault. I don't want anyone to die early, but this rp will play with you. A lot. There will be a "realistic" feel. Please remember all of your weapons and where they are thrown. Remember where people are standing, you might think it won't be a big deal until it's the biggest problem, and they die. Yes, it's that serious. I want you to over think. I want you to panic, it's how you really get into the story. One last warning because I will not remind you. Even the best decision, might be the worst. Oh, I also have a very unhealthy obsession with white haired characters. So... sorry for the amount of white haired characters. Thanks for reading this. I want to make this as fun as possible for everyone. Means a lot to me <3

How to post when confronted with an option

Alright so this is the more technical part, and I'm sorry this is so much shit to read, but I'd like a nice and neat rp. There is only 5 of you, there should be no communication problems, or any edits. "HE/SHE SNIPED ME" will not be an excuse. Please keep in contact and plan things out in IRC so that way there isn't 5 pages of your characters talking to each other, while meanwhile someone is about to die. So! Here is how you are going to post. Once a decision is made in IRC by the group (3/2 votes. If there is 3 votes that option wins. If it is 2/2/1 for when there are 3 options I suggest choosing one or the other. Believe me, I know I put a lot of time into this rp, and splitting the group up will not end very well for your characters or my brain.) you will then have the first person to post, and the post will have the option chosen at the top of their post so that way there can be no edit as to what you've chosen.

In better words: The first person to post has to have the chosen opinion at the top of their post.

AND FINALLY: YOU ALL KNOW THE BACKSTORIES FOR YOUR VILLAGE AND WHO THEY DON'T LIKE, ACT LIKE IT. I will be making the first post for each person in a spoiler. Reason why they are in spoilers is because each intro is going to be about 6 paragraphs long, so it'd be a page stretcher. If you have any questions about anything that happens in the rp please feel free to ask me in IRC. NO OOC CHATTER IN THE FORUM. So now, I give you my year and a half long creation. KILROOS!

Elephant in the room:
This is obviously the remake considering the other was forcefully removed for some reason. I am certain we all know where we left off and can continue at a lovely pace, more so than usual. (Mostly my fault) I apologize on Veir's behalf because he wanted to "See our reaction." Now he knows, I don't give a flying shit about what he does. I will post a PREVIOUSLY ON KILROOS post, along with what I am going to post.

(OOC: I have the last three pages courtesy of our very own Cami, and I will be editting this with the posts momentarily)

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Arch

Zayne looked down with a wide grin on his face, wrapped his arm around Julius and shook him playfully a few times. "You haven't even heard both sides of the story yet! How do you know who is right or wrong just because the cow-woman is getting attacked? If we help her, we make more enemies. The best thing we can do is to stay neutral. It's almost like when you're talking to a girl but you've done things with her best friend, that could cause problems. The best thing to do is either to leave the situation all together or just do them both at the same time!" Zayne rubbed his chin for a minute before coming up with another great idea. "Why don't we follow ole Bessy to her village place and talk to these old bulls?" He had a peculiar twinkle in his eyes as he unhatched another amazing plan. "YEAH!! Then if we make things great for both sides there's going to be more payment for us! They don't call it Freedom Fighting because it's free, ya know."

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Aquila

Julius opened his mouth to retort, but he allowed Zayne to finish and was ashamed to admit that he agreed with the Clear Seas bastard, by helping the centaurs they would make enemies of the minotaurs, though the thing about doing things to a girl's best friend he shrugged off as Clear Seas vulgarity. However, that didn't make them friends as he wrenched himself out of Zayne's little hug. "She's a centaur, not a cow. You should at least have that much respect as to not be so crass."

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Camii

"Hmm... indeed it would be better if we can get to an agreement with them. Everything is better than a war, plus we don't lose anything in trying" Sasha added after hearing everyone's word. She looked at Zayne for a moment, the moment when she and Sophia found him with his mouth full of blood is still on her mind. In fact she can't look at him as the playful kid she met for the first time, she steped slightly behind Roy still holding his hand and looked other way.

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Arch

Zayne looked at Sasha wildly, " that's what I just said you thief!" She had completely stolen his idea and now he couldn't even look at her. It was like that time he was on the roof playing with Cassie and Sasha come up there spying on them. Never again.

He turned back to the cow lady to get another good lion at here and realized how hot she was. "You're really sexy for a cow!" Zayne ran up to ole Bessy and rubber her human belly like a soft pillow, purring the words "you want to let Zayne ride you don't you? You want to take him for a ride to go see old macdonald. Vowels!"

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Aquila

Zayne was taking this too far and Julius marched up to the man. As he drew closer to the flirtatious boy, mist circled around his body and Gairon coiled around his body. The last few steps he took wider, allowing Gairon to expand and soon the 6'3" armor was standing behind Zayne. He grabbed the wielder by the shoulder and commanded, "Zayne, stop with this tomfoolery and heinous acting. Poru, I'm sorry for my fellow teammate's actions, now if you could please lead us to the village." Gairon didn't plan on letting go of Zayne's shoulder as he went to yank the wielder back to the rest of the group and away from the sexually harassed centaur.

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Haunting

The Centaur was highly unphased by the boy constantly calling her a cow, but was oddly disturbed when he said something about riding her. "Don't be so crass human. I'd never let you." Smacking him away with her Lyre she waved the group on to their camp. Moving towards the group of large beasts there was a few they had seen before. Poru called them all to gather. "I've gathered the wielders! They claim they would like a meeting before they choose a side to fight with." Poru waited until all of them had come over to the Centaurs. "I'll be sure to introduce everyone, again if I need to." She started with the triplets. "These are Wen, Beq and Inno the triplets, Trecc the Guard, Chase the Scout, Titan the Wall, Vanguard the Right Hand, and..." Poru paused as their leader made his way out of a tent. His voice rumbled the ground a bit as he spoke to them. "My name is Urick. A leader of my stature can throw his pride away and seek help from those that can give it."

Urick frowned as Poru moved behind him. "The Minotaurs and the Centaurs have been fighting for years, but they invaded our village and kicked us out. We are declaring war and going to run them out of our village. Are you with us? Or against us?"  Inno the eldest triplet sister stood and looked at the group while Titan and Xerxes stared at each other with quite a lot of rage built in them. Trecc moved towards the group. "We are willing to escort your group to Jycer with no more issues. We will also thank you and offer our assistance outside of our grounds. With a certain call we will teach you." Chase moved next to Trecc as did Poru. Poru spoke up to the group. "My lyre comes in handy around animals and lots of others!" Holding up the Lyre she smiled happily to the group.

Your mission is to either travel to the village and see the Minotaurs point of view or to instantly take the Centaurs side, or you can still just as easily say fuck it and walk away from everything. You need to converse with your allies and wielders as to what you think would be the best idea, and why.


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Boomerang

Mahlo dully listened to the conversation between the other wielders, mostly paying attention to the people directly around him. He would have always taken the chance at lashing out at Zayne (Especially since it was clear he improvised his "plan") but the harsh truth was Mahlo's mindset was nearly the same. He wasn't trying to help, he was trying to get an early upper hand in what would likely be a long and daunting battle the wielders were facing.

Eventually the centaur lead them to their stronghold, Mahlo following with Esti quietly sleeping in his arms. He listened to the centaur leader, nodding as he took in all of the information. Promised assistance to Jycer and fuether assistance when they needed it? He partially wanted to get the Minotaur's side of the story, and yet something told him that would result in unnecessary consequences.

"Well," Mahlo said slowly, looking to his fellow "teammates", "its blatantly obvious that this battle can't be prevented. However, i don't like the idea of us all going to see the Minotaur. That might lead to a bloodbath, an ambush."

"Honestly? I think we should trust them and..." he momentarily glanced at Xerxes. He saw the rage that was building, the tension between him and one of the centaurs. For a moment, he wondered if Xerxes could truly be trusted allying with the centaurs...something was off.

He shook off his suspicion and glanced away from the male, "...and go along with them to battle this plague in the village. However, I guess this is a democracy....so POWER to the PEOPLE. what do you guys think?"







Aquila

He stood next to Xerxes, Gairon allowing him to look at the leader of the centaurs with confidence and awe, rather then fear and shyness. He looked at Xerxes, and if looks could kill, Xerxes seems to be trying to massacre Titan, and the centaur the same to his mentor. "He looks like you but with a horse body." Julius whispered to Xerxes, trying to crack a joke, but he wondered if it was a good idea to make such a comparison as soon as the words came out. "Is he the brother of the one from the story you told?" He whispered again, but then he felt funny by having this hushed conversation while they were in front of another party.

He coughed and agreed with Mahlo, "The Minotaurs are very violent and prideful, so even if we do decide to hear their side, if we say no, then we would be in a death pit." Gairon chose his next words carefully, as the same situation could dissolve within the camps of the Centaur if they said no, but their offers made it easy to say yes. "So I don't think we should visit them at all and instead align with the Centaur. Their offers of aid are very beneficial to us and it would also be a healthy long-term relationship." Besides, getting rid of the Minotaur now will make sure they don't come back in the future, sponsored by a more stronger ally instead of being independent.

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Camii

Sasha stood still, looking at the wielders' suggestions. She also noticed how Xerxes didn't really "like" one of the centaurs, hell probably he doesn't wanna help any of these creatures. The girl didn't know anything about wars, tho she'd always speak up her mind and express what she thinks is fair... "Uhm... I- I think it'd be worth the shot if we talk with the minotaurs first... I mean, what if they found us first?, they could've told us that the centaurs were evil creatures that just wanted to start a war or something" she hated to disagree with her friends and gulped as she spoke "I just don't feel comfortable helping only 1 side without knowing all the facts.... nobody is the 'good guy' in a war, is just a bloodbath where innocent people die. I just would like to know what the others have to say about this before we take any action into it, we aren't 100% sure that the centaurs are telling the truth, or at least not the whole story" she said looking at the other wielders, waiting for a sort of response.

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Arch

Zayne was so hurt when Poru denied him a ride. He didn't even want to follow the damn thing back to meet more of these unridable cow-man hybrids.

Faith was soon restored when he saw the triplets. Poru was ugly compared to them and certainly they would be more inclined to help him make his dream a reality. Nervously approaching the three centuar, Zayne held his hand out in friendship. His tail followed behind him sheepishly.

"That whole idea about talking things out was my idea, those guys are just super jealous of me so they're stealing my idea so you guys will like them more than me but I have a tail just like you guys so we should be friends like the ones where the larger friends give the littler friend rides to places."

Zayne wasn't confident with his words, so in one last effort he added, "I'll even let you guys borrow my sister!" He pointed back in the general direction where Esti would be found.

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Haunting

Esti opened her completely black eyes looking at the centaur and gasping loudly. “Ponies!” Q glared at the girl, even though Q knew better that Esti wasn’t around centaurs before, it was rude to speak like that. “Esti, they are Centaurs. Half human half horse.” Chase looked at the small girl with a frown before turning and seeing Zayne speaking to the triplets. “She smells odd… like that boy…” Esti squirmed out of Mahlo’s arms and looked up at him quite concerned. “Are you saying I stink?!” Cassie this time grabbed Esti and held her mouth. “Forgive her, she’s just a child.” Cassie’s voice seemed to run stern once again as the group was giving their opinions. Wen and Beq giggled once Zayne mentioned letting them borrow his sister. Beq spoke up to him and shook his hand. “Sure little friend… I’ll gladly let you ride me.” Wen shoved her sister. “What if I wanted him to ride me?!” Inno wanted nothing to do with him and moved over to the other centaurs. Poru nodded looking at Gairon and then noticed only Sasha really wanted to talk to the minotaurs. Xerxes never broke eye contact with Titan and never even made a move as to what Julius said to him. Gannon took note to what Xerxes was doing and moved over to Sasha. “I haven’t seen minotaurs in several years… I thought they died out…“ A giant red flag. The wielders never truly got to experience the wide open continent other than Gannon whose mission was to explore every corner of the continent on foot. Gannon’s word was true at least that’s what he thought.

Poru clapped her hands together. “Great! So you’ll help us!” Urick nodded and patted Vanguard’s Hindquarters. “Then let’s move out” Vanguard shoved Titan and Titan snorted before turning and following the group. Roy tilted his head whispering to Gannon. “Died out? Are you sure? We shouldn’t say anything… If we’re wrong they will be highly upset. We just made friends… it wouldn’t be wise to make… accusations…” Esti was squirming in Cassie’s ams. “You smell to pretty! Let go!” Cassie rolled her eyes. “You were not courteous to our new friends. You need to be quiet.” Esti whined and it seemed to pull a nerve in Q as she crossed her arms and looked away from the small girl. Roy seemed unnerved now that Gannon had put that information out there and decided to say something as they were moving towards a large hill. At the top seemed to be a large fortress made out of tree logs, it was like they completely moved the trees and cut off all of the green. There was plenty of noise on the other side of the walls. “They’re still there, probably destroying the place.” Roy was now puzzled and looked back at Sasha. “Should we all discuss this matter privately or…” The group had another option. The group had been voted to be with the centaurs against Sasha’s choice, so it was a bit late to change their decision, but now they were handed more information, however it’s not proven to be true. Gannon is wise and has been through the area. Xerxes has fought these beings before and seems to still have beef with the one centaur. Something seems off, as everyone has felt, but what is off? Think you can figure it out? Want to talk with your team members and question the Centaurs with Gannon’s notes, or go in with the Centaur’s blindly hoping that your new friends are right?

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Camii


Sasha heard Gannon and Roy talking about this new info. Sasha's felt like a punch in her stomach, something was definitely wrong. If minotaurs were almost extinct why would they want to war?. The whole "war thing" made her really uncomfortable, starting for the fact that she doesn't know anything about it and secondly because she doesn't really want to kill anyone. "Uhmm... guys are you sure about this?. I still think we should at least talk to them" she said a bit nervous to the group. "I mean... I don't really want to hurt or kill anyone, but there's something off here. I'll still follow your decision if it turns out to be the majority" she finished looking at everyone with a deeply worried look on her face.

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Boomerang

Mahlo caressed his scythe nervously as Esti ran off from his arms and ended up being subsequently carried by Cassie (and scolded)...something that he didn't enjoy as much, given the circumstances. Eventually Mahlo reluctantly followed the centaurs while shaking his head at Zayne. Not only had he neglected to make.a.decision on where they were going, The little fucker knew how to make any situation worse. He was practically flirting with the centaurs, and their sarcasm etched deeply in his brain. The way they talked about Zayne and Esti stinking caused him to raise an eyebrow.

Another circumstance that caused him concern was Gannons sudden revelation that the minotaur had...supposedly died out several years before? What is going on..., he thought to himself.

Mahlo looked up and his sight was encompassed by the fortress made completely of trees, the green completely shaved off and allowing the bare logs to remain. Noise was sounding at the other side, indicating a raucous crowd behind the curtain. Something was definitely going on, but the thought that they were Minotaur was gradually diminishing as they drew closer to the destination.

Sasha's concern began to weigh heavy on the wielder, and a perplexed expression crossed his facial features. There had to be a way to solve this with as minimal bloodshed as possible. As much as he loved bloodshed, he didn't want it to be their blood (except for Zayne).

He turned to the others, allowing the centaurs to move forward a bit before opening his mouth. "Okay," Mahlo said sternly, "change of plans...we split into two groups. One group goes to the other side to speak to the Minotaur, the other stays behind with the centaurs."

Mahlo glanced over at the half breed beasts before looking at them again,"this way," he continued, "If one plan falls through, the other group can come help their brethren. The only question that needs to be answered is....who will be in each group? I'll elect to go talk to Minotaur with Q."





Camii


Sasha's expression turned into a happy one as she looked at Mahlo and heard his plan. "I don't like the idea of spliting up... but that way we will find out the truth behind this, and afterwards we will be sure about our decision", she looked where the minotaurs were and then back to the group "If the minotaurs attack us we'll know that the centaurs were telling the truth, if the centaurs attack us we'll know that they were lying and we would ally with the minotaurs. As Mahlo said, either way we'll find the truth behind this" She stood up and added "I'll go with Mahlo and talk with the minotaurs as well".

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Haunting

The wielders were extremely uneasy as they approached the fortress with the random rabble and several crashes. The well-dressed one spoke up and said that they split up. Esti ripped her hand out of Cassie’s grasp and ran over to Mahlo wrapping her arms around his waist and placing her head on his hip. “I want to stay with Papa Mahlo!” Under his helmet Vanguard raised his eyebrow. “Papa?” Vanguard turned to Urick. “I’ll go with them, we can’t risk losing our leader. Urick nodded. “So be it. The others will stay here.” Roy went to move forward until Urick placed his weapon against the archer’s chest. “That bracelet. You’re a mana archer. You’d do better on the back lines covering them. Stay here.” Roy narrowed his eyes and looked at Sasha. Gannon placed his hand on Roy’s shoulder. “I’ll go with her.” Roy nodded and stepped back as Inno moved Lynn forward. “She seems like a strong frontline. She has an entire metallic arm.” Urick looked at the girl and the others. “As does the two gentlemen in armor, why send in the vibrant colored girl instead of them?” Lynn shoved herself away and back next to Julius. “Because she can make stupid shields.” Lynn crossed her arms and glared at Inno. “I’m not leaving their side.”

Xerxes, Julius, Lynn, Zayne, Cassie, and Roy would stay outside while Sasha, Gannon, Mahlo, Q and little Esti would go inside. Cassie sighed “Esti you can’t go in there wi-“ Esti gripped Mahlo tighter. “No! I am going with PAPA!” Cassie scowled not wanting to deal with this now. “Fine Estrella. Fine.” Cassie seemed highly irritated and looked over at some of the centaur leaving to go with the group inside. Vanguard, Trecc and Inno went with the group around to the other side of the fortress. Vanguard turned looking at Mahlo. “Don’t expect talking to be such a good idea, it’s not like we already tried that.” As the group turned around the corner and out of view of the others there stood a large minotaur. He was battle ridden and full of scars. “What are you doing back here?” Vanguard stood in front of the group. “We’re here… to talk.” The minotaur stood strong. He had a blind left eye and turned his entire head to look at the group. “Where’s the rest of your little pony pals?” Vanguard snorted back. “They wanted to stay behind! We are just doing what they wanted to see if we can ensure our fortress back.” A loud crash was heard and Vanguard actually growled. “In one piece!” The minotaur laughed. “Sure sure!” Pushing open the large wooden door the minotaur left the group inside. Closing the door behind them there were large beasts standing around as the ground was literally flattened. Objects were pushed to the side and there was a monstrous and guttural roar. The minotaur were up on the objects out of the make-shift arena and there stood a rather mutant sized manticore flexing its ripped wings. Esti gripped Mahlo hard and screamed her lungs out.

---------------------------------------- PAGE 31 -----------------------------------------------

Boomerang

It was an interesting chain of events, splitting up into two groups. It was the first time they had truly done something to that effect since they all finally came together. The fact that Sasha was going with him surprised him, but also upset him. He was still only just beginning to get over the fact that she was of High Clouds (as in, he still hated it). On a brighter note, for the first time in days Zayne actually didn't speak up. He stayed silent along with Julius. Mahlo looked over as Esti ripped herself from Cassie's arms and plopped down on the ground, rushing toward him and practically begging to come with her Papa Mahlo.

Mahlo looked down at her, exhaling softly, "That's not a good idea...Its dangerous." However, she didn't seem to care, and eventually Mahlo conceded, lifting her up in his arms. He could protect her at least...Zayne and Cassie wouldn't do much to save her if the centaurs attacked.

Eventually the group left (Mahlo, Q, Esti, Sasha and Gannon), and Mahlo only then realized that the centaurs were going along with him. An uneasy feeling washed over him...they could still be ambushed by the centaurs even at the other side of the wall. Once they made it to the other side, a rather large and scarred up minotaur stood before them, immediately defacing any of Mahlo's suspicions that they had in fact died off. He grumbled, cursing himself for not trusting the centaurs (even though, you know, they hated humans and suddenly want their help. Cuz that's not suspicious at all).

There was palpable tension between the two different species as the minotaur took the group inside. It was then that he took notice of the flattened ground and moved object. There also wasn't just the one minotaur, as a plethora of beasts jumped around and roared, pushing aside objects and creating a makeshift arena. A monstrous being similar to the one Q took Mahlo on flexed its wing, only it was much larger and seemingly mutated beyond repair.

As Mahlo noticed all of these factors, he started to realize that maybe talking to them wasn't an option. Yet, the scarred beast that had led them there was obviously more civilized than the others, leading them to this place without completely slaughtering them. After taking all of the destruction in, he began to walk around, looking for any civilized minotaurs before eventually raising his voice. It was powerful, yet persuasive.

"Attention! We come in peace at this moment," Mahlo said, trying to keep Esti as close as he could, "I am the wielder of the Dark Swamps, Mahlo carnavo Jr.. My mentor Q is beside me, behind me is the mentor of the deceased wielder of Red Sands and the wielder of High Clouds..." he winced, scowling, "is back there...her name is Sasha...something."

Mahlo looked around at the beasts, "we wanted the Minotaur side of the story before we followed anything the centaurs said to us, concerning this war."





Camii

Sasha looked behind at Roy as she started to walk towards the minotaurs' fortress. A chill ran down her spine as the minutes went by and finally someone opened the door. The beast led them inside, with Zayne's little sister with them. Sasha looked around, and noticed that something was wrong.

After a few seconds, a huge manticore appeared in front of them roaring and scaring the poor little girl. Truth is Sasha was terribly scared too, but she managed to keep it to herself. She turned to Mahlo thinking that he'd want to start a battle, already thinking on what to tell him in order to try to talk with the Minotaurs... he was already opening his mouth to speak. This surprised her a lot, and just listened to what he said. Funny enough he had forgotten her last name "I don't remember his either, fair enough" she thought to herself.

When he was done talking, she felt like speaking up as well. Taking a deep breathe she said "Please!, we're not here to battle. We just wanna know your side of the story and hopefully don't start a bloodshed". She looked around, Sasha was probably capable to keep everyone safe with her forcefields, soem roots on the ground will help to keep the beast still for a few seconds as well, of course... that's considering the worst case scenario. It'd be way better if they just decided to talk with them instead.

_________________

Aquila

Julius opened his mouth to chide the guard but he remembered where her hostility is coming from and so stayed quiet. He then felt awkward within his armor as he was called a gentleman. He was lying again and what was stopping him from telling the truth was that he was afraid of their reaction. No matter how understanding his team may be, he was still a child, and in the eyes of the world, that's a sign of vulnerability. He watched the "negotiations" team turn the corner and disappear and wondered if they'd be okay. Except they had Mahlo, and Sasha was also very capable. He was fine with simply sitting here and waiting for them to return. Or so he thought when he heard the scream of the little girl who has what seems a very close relationship with Mahlo. Esti she was called, but the boy shrugged that off as he made his way around the corner to see what was wrong.

_________________

Haunting

Vanguard, Trecc and Inno frowned looking around at all of the carnage to their little fortress. Vanguard had a firm grip on his polearm while Inno had an arrow already loaded in her bow. “I don’t like this Van.” Whispering to her lover he moved forward listening to Mahlo. The minotaur didn’t exactly quiet down. Some snorted and some even listened, but there are some sayings like stubborn as a mule? Yeah just… bull… minotaur. Close enough. They weren’t going to reason but were willing to listen. Gannon was flabbergasted from how many there were. “Hasn’t your species died out? What happened?! Where were you?” One rather monstrous minotaur hulked his way through a crowd and stood much taller than the others. He was a sandy gold color and had horns almost half his body size with plenty of old blood stains covering the protruding bone. The Minotaur hopped down into the arena shaking the ground a bit as the beast sauntered over to them huffing through his nose. “I smell something. A warning.”

Looking down at the cowering girl, he snorted again and she pulled her sword out as the Minotaur laughed the crowd did as well. “Isn’t she just a cute little explosive.” Looking at the man standing in front of her he was the one who spoke up along with the other colorful girl Sasha and Mahlo. “You’re here, to talk?! For them? Those loud mouthed shit trotting underminers?” Vanguard gripped hard enough to hear his knuckles crack, but said nothing. “You aren’t even the only tribe in this Valley and you think you can try and move us out of OUR turf. Years ago this tribe alone moved us out of the Valley because some KING and some HERMIT had a dispute about where we should be placed they feel like they BELONG here! We are not human no, but our rights are we can be where ever we want to live! These Centaur keep having loud evenings after a hunt or even try to steal from us. Believe it or not human, but the Centaurs aren’t herbivores. We are. Would you believe us if we told you that we don’t get nutrition from meat, but will surely grind their bones?” Vanguard placed the tip of his polearm to the Minotaur’s chest as the crowd took it as a challenge. “These are the Wielders of the 5 cities! How dare you threaten them! This is our Fortress!” The minotaur gripped the metal blade and began to bend it. “This is our home now.”

Outside Urick and the others were anxiously waiting and hearing the laughter Chase scoffed. “This is ridiculous! They’re going to slaughter them!” Urick shifted his weight and looked at the fortress as it grew quiet again. “They chose to split up. Hopefully with the Centaur there it’ll be much easier for them to survive.” Beq and Wen were standing next to Zayne and Poru was next to Xerxes Julius and Lynn. Lynn was tapping her foot rapidly. “I don’t like this. Why are they even taking over this place?” Urick ran his hand through his beard like it was a nervous tick. “They fight for land and shelter and ever since a huge fight between the passive mountain hermits and the King of the mist they had to divide the valley for different species. Every year we took creatures from their land and they thought we were trying to steal from them. They also have horrible torture methods and kidnapped some of our kind. The manticore and even a hydra live with the Minotaur in harmony, but they tortured one to no extent. We tried almost every week to try and set it free, but all it does is stay with them, as if it’s a pet.” Lynn scowled almost as if it was just her natural face. “Isn’t your kind a bunch of party animals?” Urick reorted rapidly. “You think stereotyping is relevant to everyone? You have a metal arm, are you sure you’re from this planet?” Chase placed his hand on the leader’s back while Titan stayed quiet all the way until now. “They have something we want. We have something they want, and no one wants to give it up. Both of our species has a hard time coming to a conclusion or ending things. The Minotaur are much denser and love to fight. Much more than us. Your friends are more than likely dead… unless we do something. He turned seeing the large suited man walking towards the building. “You think you’re going to go alone?” Titan even sounded like Xerxes.

_________________

Boomerang

Mahlo watched, listening to Sasha speak while simultaneously glancing around at the various faces. Some snorted and turned away, while others seemed to actually listen. Mahlo knew enough about Minotaurs to know they could not be negotiated with...but up until a few minutes ago he had suspicions as to their very existence. Mahlo held Esti close as the Minotaur dispersed slightly to make way for a much larger, different colored beast. He was much larger (and more intimidating) than the others of his species, hopping down and taunting them.

Mahlo growled under his breath at the mention of Esti, the group of primitive beasts laughing in unison with their probable leader. He began to speak about the tensions between both species, how the centaurs moved the minotaur out of this turf and beginning what would be the inevitable war. The fact that they were herbivores didn't particularly surprise him, seeing as nothing about the world surprised him all that much anymore.

As the golden minotaur stood before him, Mahlo still stood his ground, his free hand instinctively caressing his own scythe. He wasnt at all scared of the beasts...he came here to make a deal, but if bloodshed was necessary, then so be it. Then, one of the centaurs approached the mighty beast, pressing a polearm against his chest. The Minotaur responded by bending it. "Hey, hey, HEY!" Mahlo raised his voice, looking at the both of them, "Tensions are high, but there's no reason to start killing each other right now."

He turned to Vanguard and the other centaurs that followee them. He glanced between the two sides of the war, "it seems to me that you both stepped out of line and caused unnecessary tension. You fight over this piece of land like a kindergartener fights over their favorite toy. Its no wonder you're going to war," he grumbled, "You can split the land, you can both find new land, but this is a very asinine dispute considering everything else that is going on in Kilroos right now."








Camii

Location: Chile
Sasha looked nervously at everyone around her. That golden beast, something she has never seen before... to be honest, she has never seen anything outside high clouds. All of this was new to her, but Mahlo was right, there's no reason that a piece of land is worth a bloodshed. She looked at him and Esti, if things get ugly it'd be better if the centaurs get away with Esti. Talking about centaurs... one of them created some tension...even more.

"We can always get an agreement!. Even if there's a war... if only 1 of you lives it's not gonna be worth it" she said in a more worried tone, she couldn't understand why were they up to sacrifice their own species just for a piece of land. They should at least be whiling to talk things out.

_________________

Arch

Zayne wasn't paying any attention to the politics, he was just trying to dance with the two ponies. "You know you ladies can just pack up all of your stuff and give me rides to wherever I've got to go on this journey. Who knows, maybe we can find you guys your own pet so you don't have to keep trying to take these cow people's stuff." Zayne was too busy petting Poru to even notice his little sister screaming. Mahlo probably had everything under control.

_________________

Aquila

"No Xerxes, I'm not..." Julius paused. His mentor's voice sounded different, and he turned around to see his mistake in the form of Titan glaring at him. "My... ummm..." Whoops "I'm sorry, sir Titan. However I must ask how you all can be so calm after hearing the girl scream." He stood there, and realizing no one was coming with him, he slowly came back and stood next to Xerxes. "I do hope they can handle themselves then."

_________________

Haunting

The blonde Centaur had been strumming her lyre looking at the large wooden fortress no longer paying any mind to Zayne petting her. Her melody was in a minor key as she seemed to be plucking random strings. Lynn crossed her arms as did Roy. Urick stood his ground looking at the place. “Any reason we even split up in the first place? How is this possibly a good idea?” Beq and Wen were rambling on about having a pet with them while Chase moved over to Lynn. His hand touched her shoulder making her look up. “Get your hands off me.” Chase gripped her human shoulder harder and looked down at her with a sly smirk. “You’re feisty. I like that.” Titan seemed to cringe when Julius called him Xerxes. “Don’t call me that Dog’s name.” Xerxes gripped his war axe and glared over at Titan. “If anything… You do the same job I do, but worse.” Titan moved over towards the two and had his own axe in hand. “You might have earned that armor, but you sure as Kilroos don’t fucking deserve it.” Xerxes laughed. “What makes the loser deserve wearing it?” Urick scoffed. “Silence you two. If there is anything wrong, it’s this man’s ancestors and the hermits of the passive mountains. You’ll have your moment to shine Titan.”

Inside, the minotaur leader huffed at Mahlo for raising his voice. “You are calling us underlings?! WEAK?!” Vanguard pulled his weapon back and dropped it to the ground. The word choice Mahlo used wasn’t exactly the best. Q cringed looking at the Minotaur as he got angry but then frowned looking over at the Manticore. The ropes holding it didn’t seem like they were honestly the only thing keeping it in place. The ropes looked weak for the three story Manticore as it huffed and looked at the group. Drooling. Hungry. Esti stood up finally, her dark black eyes were showing her golden eyes as her hair was slowly turning black. “How do I smell worse than a Minotaur… They’re just vertical cows.” The leader snorted and pushed Mahlo aside before looking at the girl seeming a bit different. “Those eyes… what are you?” Esti held her sword now at her side. “My name is Estrella. I don’t know what I am.” The leader turned to Sasha also trying to plea with Mahlo. “And what does a small little girl like you know about anything with war politics? Let alone know if it’s… worth it…”

Outside Titan turned to Julius to answer his question. “How can we be so calm?” Urick looked at Titan and sighed pulling out his weapon. “Poru stop.” Poru plucked one last chord on her Lyre as something Julius saw before was instead of green it was red. A large aura exploded from her Lyre as it covered the fortress and the group outside. “It’s a shame you all couldn’t say goodbye to each other.” Urick continued to speak. Lynn’s shoulder was being gripped to a point where it bled as she went to turn she saw a hunger in Chase’s eyes. “We are done with the Wielders tyranny of our Valley, thinking they can determine our fate like we’re just sheep and you are just shepherds. It’s why Skyline forbids any outsiders in its limits other than royalty, and it’s why you’re seen just as low as we are. Prey.”

Inside the large fortress like building the minotaurs seemed to fade as all of the minotaurs in the back were disgused by Poru’s playing as Centaur warriors. This wasn’t even a fortress. It was a cage. Vanguard Inno and Trecc jumped up into the safe area above the wall and looked down at the group. The ropes seemed to snap as the red aura blasted over the Manticore. It’s three rows of teeth were coated in blood and saliva as it roared one more time. Esti turning and looking at it. Her gold eyes seemed to be staring at the beast gripping her sword just as confidently as she did once she acquired it.

_________________

Boomerang

Of course it was a trap.

There was no other possible way this could go down. Mahlo looked at the "minotaur" as he huffed at him, then flinched a bit when Esti jumped down from his arms. He thought she was asleep. Suddenly the beast pushed the wielder aside, staring at Esti as rage began to form within his eyes. What type of right did HE have to do something so despicable to a man of his stature. He stood upright, hands clenched into fists.

However, before he could do a thing about his rage, the beasts suddenly started to fade away all at once. They slowly transformed into a levy of centaurs, all standing in the background as the "fortress" gave way to a cage. The centaurs that had accompanied them jumped into the bleachers high above them. Simultaneously, Mahlo became painfully aware of the manticore who had been in the background, but was now the only thing within the cage other than his group. Three sets of teeth were bared against them, latered with all types of dry/fresh blood as well as its own saliva. Esti brought out her sword defensively, as if she had done this many times previously. Mahlo growled inwardly, they had been played, betrayed, and now left for dead while the rest of the centaurs watched with ferocioys appetite. He didn't even think about how the others were, there wasn't any time to think of anything aside from the situation at hand.

Suddenly, Mahlos lips curved into a smirk.

Of course it was a trap. But Mahlo Carnavo Jr. Always had a plan when it came to traps.

He looked back and forth. The place reminded him of a coliseum, and the manticore was akin to the lion for the gladiators. The centaurs were watching, awaiting bloodshed.

"Sasha..," he demanded, "forcefield, NOW!"

Suddenly, he threw the poles to the side upon his back. They embedded themselves within the wood of the coliseum on either side, creating an entire sphere of influence for the arena. He lifted his hands into the air, and the snapping and twisting of wood and stone could be heard in the background. His smirk turned devilish, his eyes glowering with a malevolent flame.

Then, he brought his hands together. The entire foundation of the bleacher's snapped into pieces as it was pulled toward the center, subsequently causing the entire sides of the arena to shudder and inevitably fall, rendering the centaurs helpless as they would either fall on their asses on the ground below or go flying toward the manticore from the G-force of his influence. Sasha's forcefield was a way of preventing any debris from hitting them.
Of course it was a trap.

There was no other possible way this could go down. Mahlo looked at the "minotaur" as he huffed at him, then flinched a bit when Esti jumped down from his arms. He thought she was asleep. Suddenly the beast pushed the wielder aside, staring at Esti as rage began to form within his eyes. What type of right did HE have to do something so despicable to a man of his stature. He stood upright, hands clenched into fists.

However, before he could do a thing about his rage, the beasts suddenly started to fade away all at once. They slowly transformed into a levy of centaurs, all standing in the background as the "fortress" gave way to a cage. The centaurs that had accompanied them jumped into the bleachers high above them. Simultaneously, Mahlo became painfully aware of the manticore who had been in the background, but was now the only thing within the cage other than his group. Three sets of teeth were bared against them, latered with all types of dry/fresh blood as well as its own saliva. Esti brought out her sword defensively, as if she had done this many times previously. Mahlo growled inwardly, they had been played, betrayed, and now left for dead while the rest of the centaurs watched with ferocioys appetite. He didn't even think about how the others were, there wasn't any time to think of anything aside from the situation at hand.

Suddenly, Mahlos lips curved into a smirk.

Of course it was a trap. But Mahlo Carnavo Jr. Always had a plan when it came to traps.

He looked back and forth. The place reminded him of a coliseum, and the manticore was akin to the lion for the gladiators. The centaurs were watching, awaiting bloodshed.

"Sasha..," he demanded, "forcefield, NOW!"

Suddenly, he threw the poles to the side upon his back. They embedded themselves within the wood of the coliseum on either side, creating an entire sphere of influence for the arena. He lifted his hands into the air, and the snapping and twisting of wood and stone could be heard in the background. His smirk turned devilish, his eyes glowering with a malevolent flame.

Then, he brought his hands together. The entire foundation of the bleacher's snapped into pieces as it was pulled toward the center, subsequently causing the entire sides of the arena to shudder and inevitably fall, rendering the centaurs helpless as they would either fall on their asses on the ground below or go flying toward the manticore from the G-force of his influence. Sasha's forcefield was a way of preventing any debris from hitting them.

It was a trap, and Mahlo created his own.
It was a trap, and Mahlo created his own.






Camii

Sasha's hwart beats were speeding up. The situation wasn't good and it won't get any better. She looked around her, when suddenly all the minotaurs began to dissapear. She immediately realised it was all an illusion, betrayed by the centaurs and left to die by the gigantic monster.

She thought immediately in a way to get out of that cage, she thoght of Mahlo's poles, but before she could tell him she realised that he had a plan. His eyes were practically on fire as a smirk grew on his face. Then he commanded her forcefields. Sasha's sky-blue hair and eye glowed with great intensity. She lifted both hands into the air and placed a barrier in front of them to block the debris, then she looked at the manticore and the centaurs. Not thinking it twice, she changed the shape of the forcefield and made a sort of cage for the centaurs and the manticore. That should keep all of them inside, the beast being hungry will probably ignore them and focus on the easy pray it has on front of him. She was... killing them right?... she felt something weird in her stomach, but she left that feeling aside for now. Mahlo's and Esti's safety were her priority for now.

Leaving a gap between the cage and the collapsed wall, with her arms still in the air holding the forcefield ip with all her strenght Sasha yelled "Let's get out now!!, we gotta regroup!" She started to slowly walk around her forcefield, with the beast and centaurs inside, focused completly on what she was doing.

_________________

Arch

Zayne knew when a deal was busted, and while everyone's attention was on Xerxes and Lynn the agile hero flipped himself onto the back of Poru. As Zayne landed with his chest against Poru's human back, he spoke sensually in her ear, "You should've just let me inside you." Zayne's arms were wrapped around Poru's waist. Each hand held firm a dagger of cold steel against the skin on Poru's abdomen.

Speaking to the group of horse dood's, Zayne demanded, "Bring me my sister and let me leave with her and my Cassie. You can keep the others for entertainment or food. Mahlo is into butt stuff so I'm sure that'll come in handy for some of you guys." Zayne pressed himself deeper against Poru and kissed her neck.

_________________

Aquila

Julius grit his teeth, so that's why the scream didn't bother them. They were now stuck inside a dome, caught in a trap against a tribe of centaurs. Julius wanted to get his weapon but Lynn was in a terrible position, she was surrounded by Chase and Urick. Xerxes was by Titan, and Zayne and Roy were by Poru and Beq. Chase's long lance wasn't the threat, it was his grip on Lynn's shoulder and Urick with his war ax so close by. Then Zayne was on Poru's back and it made the situation even more tense. Julius decided to focus on Chase's and Urick's reaction, he trusted Xerxes on handling Titan and Roy could hopefully fight off Beq. He needs to take the window of opportunity of Zayne's distraction to get near Lynn.

Gairon pulled the large lance off his back and gripping it tightly, took a heavy step forward and chucked the massive weapon at Urick before trucking in after, his shield in front of him like a battering ram as he stormed towards Chase, he needed to close the distance and destroy the effectiveness of his lance. He really felt the urge to clock Chase in the face, one for hurting Lynn, and another for his snide comment.

_________________

Haunting

The debris had knocked the Centaurs down to the ground as the seat were ripped from underneath them. They landed less than graceful but practically alright and unscratched. Inno landed awkwardly and her foot seemed to crack. The Manticore had the debris fly around it but wouldn’t entirely worry about the logs for the time being as it charged the centaurs in the forcefield. Esti had dropped her sword and squatted holding her head as her crying turned into warped screaming with her breath flowing out from her mouth. The small girl was losing her mind from being so highly flustered. She wasn't moving and would need to be carried out. Inno began to shoot arrows constantly at the manticore as it struggled to make it's way to them.


Feeling someone hop onto her back Poru grunted a moment and felt the man get close to her human back as she gripped her Lyre about to play another chord. The cold steel made her jump and get goosebumps as she frowned lowering her lyre. His words and his body language made her shift her weight around as his hands did whatever they liked. She listened to his command as she turned over to watch Julius lunge his lance at Urick. “SIR watch out!” Urick seemed to move as Wen pushed him and took the hit. She ripped the lance out of her body and turned to look at Julius charging Chase. Wen seemed to wobble and then fell to her knees in a lot of pain. Chase pulled his sharp fingers out of her shoulder, he licked them looking at the suited man come charging at him. Titan pummeled Julius to the ground and literally trampled him. Titan actually didn’t intend on hitting Julius but Xerxes was attempting to fight him and was gripping his hind quarters ripping at his flesh trying to get a good swing with his axe.

Urick seemed to look around before feeling an arrow strike him right in the throat. Roy stood firm as Beq scowled reaching onto her back and launched an arrow right into Roy’s throat as well. Beq smirked as he fell to the ground choking on his own blood. Lynn looked at Roy as she spun around to Julius. “I’ll help Roy!” Urick gripped her by her robotic arm and swung her hard away from Roy while Poru seemed to step in place. “Fine. I’ll take you to her.” Poru started to walk towards the fortress. Cassie was torn around watching Zayne and then turning around. It was chaos as she turned and flung a shield onto Julius as he was hit by Titan.


Gannon was by Esti's side as the other three were fighting off the manticore. The elderly man turned as Q gripped the girl and picked up her sword. "Let's go out the door we came in." Once the group made it to the door they realized it was locked tight.

_________________

Camii


Sasha felt a bit nervous, but quite confident of her forcefields. Now that the manticore was distracted by the centaurs they had to get out, the door seemed locked and Sasha looked around, she remembered the roots she saw earlier and she turned to them. "Here!!" She yelled at her friends as she stretched her arms once more towards the roots, this time her pink hair and eye glowed the roots started to grow again with a pinkish tone. Sasha, controlling it with her arms made a sort of bridge, easy to climb towards the top of the wall leading outside. Sasha felt something was wrong and she wanted to go back with Roy as soon as possible.

She was already used to climb vines, so it took her a few seconds to get at the top "C'mmon!!" She said to the group with her. Once up there, she made the vines make a sort of stairs that touched the ground. She slide down through the vines and looked in the distance. They were indeed fighting, the girl felt like a punch on her stomach, she was deeply worried. Sasha got on her feet again and started to run towards the group

------------------------------------------------- PAGE 32 -----------------------------------------------


Boomerang

Mahlo watched as his plan came to light, a levy of debris and varying centaurs flying around the manticore. Sasha did as she was told but took it a step further, keeping the centaurs and manticore within the same cage. The manticore immediately charged at the centaurs, eating some while Inno shot hopelessly at the manticore's thick skin. Mahlo put his hands out, the poles returning to him as he placed them in the rightful holsters on his back. He took note of Esti, his face contorting into one of genuine concern as she screamed, her breath once more becoming visible. She was obviously flustered, and it was effecting her in a variety of ways. He would have to look her over when it was all over.

Mahlo turned as Q ran with Esti in her arms, rushing toward the door they had come through. It was locked (obviously) but Sasha had her own plans. The roots had given them a way to climb and get down from the arena. Sasha was the first to go, however Mahlo allowed Q and Esti to go before him...he inevitably decided Gannon would climb last (sorry breh).

Once he made it to the top of the wall, it was clear that something else was going on at the top of the hill, and he knew it was bad although he couldn't make it out exactly. He stood at the top of the wall, turning back one more time and turning to the destructive manticore.

His mother once brought him home a manticore. She thought it would make a good pet. "If they're trained right, they're great pets!" She had told him with a grin.

That manticore was the reason for half the scars upon his torso, and one small mark on his face.

He scoffed toward the manticore below. Good riddance to the damn thing.

He turned back, climbed down to the ground and rushed forward to the top of the hill. He didn't care about saving the others, but those damn centaurs would pay for their traitorous actions.






Arch

Zayne gazed upon Cassie with relief that she wasn't injured. Nudging Poru, Zayne commanded, "Drop your instrument, witch, and open the doors! If my little has so much as a scratch on her it will not be a pretty death for you or your people." Zayne tightened himself against the Centaur to further emphasize his point... Well one of them. He had no intentions of killing Poru. With the right training and discipline she could become a valuable asset to the team. Or Zayne just liked the idea of having a pet he could ride around.

_________________

Aquila

Julius grit his teeth, he missed Ulrick, but that was shoved to be the least of his worries as Titan stampeded into him, t-boning him during his charge at Chase. The suit hit the ground with a heavy thud but the boy within swayed about, the magic holding him aloft much like a constant cushion of gelatin, filling in the space so that such accidents wouldn't end up with him having a faceful of his suit's metal. Julius stared with horror at the incoming hooves of the giant centaur, they would easily dent or even maybe punch through the suit's steel and no amount of the boy's magic would save him from the hoof then going through him. However, someone else's magic was more than enough to save the knight as the hoof stopped inches away from the boy, pressing down on a force field.

Julius needed to do something while the force field was still there so he quickly stretched his hand out towards where he last saw his spear land, having been chucked on the ground by Wen, and commanded, "??????????!" Attracting the lance back to his hand where once he grabbed ahold of it he would sweep at Titan's legs.

_________________

Haunting

Poru was almost half way there as she dropped her Lyre into the grass. Zayne’s grip on her made her scowl, wrinkling her precious face. Q had dropped down behind Sasha as the multicolored hair girl went running towards the battlefield directly past Poru. Q held onto Esti tightly and jogged over to Zayne and Poru putting his sister down next to the rather smallish centaur. Q turned back to look at Mahlo who should’ve followed with Gannon lagging behind a bit. He was old. Not so much of a runner. Physical activity or anything really. Gannon took notice of the Lyre she dropped. “I know that Lyre… my powers come from the origins of that Lyre… Where did you get that?” Poru had her hands in the air and simply looked down at the man as he tried to question her.

Roy was holding his neck and slowly starting to lay down. Blood was leaving his mouth profusely as he went to grab his bow and get another arrow. Wen was also down having a lance go through her horse chest and she simply laid there before turning snarling at Roy attempting to hit Urick again. Cassie took the shield off of Julius as she turned around again seeing Roy. “Roy whoa!” Cassie turned to him and knelt down to his right side and put pressure on his neck as he screamed out in pain. “Hold on!” Chase swung his lance at Lynn where her left arm easily swung her polearm clashing loudly against his. Her right arm was out of commission right now as she felt her muscles tighten as she swung her human body, and her armor instantly shifted into view and onto her slender body. Lynn screamed as she went to grip her polearm with her human hand and cringe under her armor. Xerxes was swung off of Titan as Titan was still moving away from Julius. The centaur was quite far away from the armored boy, but Urick was standing right by him looking down at him on the ground. “How strong of an opponent are you?” Urick boomed.

Inside the cage once Sasha got on the other side of the wall her forcefield was shattered by the Manticore as it was pushing against it. The large beast then was pushing against the destroyed structure that was the only physical thing keeping him in now. The Centaurs easily made it down through the logs as the manticore scratched up the wood to try and get to them. It was only a matter of time now.

_________________

Camii

Sasha started to look around, everyone was in the middle of a fight. Tho she was only lookimg for Roy and wach second that passed made her worries even worse. Then, near from her position she saw him. Laying on the ground with blood all over his neck and mouth, her eyes widened and saw Cassie trying to keep pressure on the wound. Sasha didn't yell or anything, she ran as fast as possible towards him. Ignoring things around until she got nexr to him.

She immediately placed both of her hands around his neck, as she looked at his desperated expresion. He could barely breathe... it broke the girl's heart to see him like that. With all her strenght she focused on healing him as fast as possible. She whispered to him "I'm sorry... I'll never leave you again...". As she healed her mentor's wound, she looked in front of her how all the centaurs were fighting against the wielders. A fire began to grow inside her, a feeling that she has never experienced before... it was anger, a thirst for revenge that she needed to satisfy. She turned to Cassie and said with her eyes still on the fight in front of her "Cassie... when I'm done please watch after him, I'm gonna join the fight..."

_________________

Boomerang

Once Mahlo left the fortress, he turned to the sight at hand, and he was almost immediately met with a copious amount of bloodshed and screaming. Some from the centaurs, and some from his own teammates.

The first thing he noticed was Roy on the ground, blood pooling from his neck and mouth as Cassie and Sasha both ran at him. He then took notice of Wen, who had been disposed of, Titan fighting with Xerxes, and Urick looking down at Julius with a scornful expression. There was also the aspect of Poru and Zayne, but he didn't care all that much about that. Poru seemed like the centaur that least desired all of the bloodshed, so keeping Zayne company wouldn't hurt anything

Glancing at everything once more, he began to contemplate taking Q and Esti and simply walking away. He would finish this mission on his own...and he wouldn't have to deal with all of these problems. Although, he eventually concluded that doing something like that wouldn't leave himself and his mentor with the largest advantage. The fact that he could feel the presence of the other centaurs and the Manticore as they would soon be at his position helped nothing of the sort. He grimaced, there was simply too many forces at once; they had to be readily disposed of.

As Urick was looking down at Julius, he probably wouldn't notice the sharpened pole coming at the correct trajectory to penetrate his heart and end his life, since he was staring at the man. If he did notice,however, he would have to move fast to prevent anything from happening to him. Mahlo snarled in his direction about a hundred feet away. He wanted him to die before anyone else. He was their leader.

Taking notice of the centaurs that would eventually be coming at him, the wielder turned over his shoulder and thrust his scythe outward. The scythe would spin around akin to a boomerang, making a long arc through the remaining centaurs, looking to behead all of them. If one were to grab it, he would force the scythe back to his grip, taking the centaur with him and leading to imminent death. However, he still kept a keen eye on Urick and the others in the front, since he had no intention to die from one of them either.

He tried to make sure Q and Esti were close to him, glancing between both forces, "Stay back. You gotta protect that little girl, her brother sure won't."








Arch

Zayne turned his head in excitement at his little sister and sheathed his daggers, "Esteeeeee!!" He rolled off of Poru to launch his sister up into his arms for a big ole' bear hug. "I knew you'd protect Q!" Smiling widely at his sister he sat her on the back of Poru and spoke unto the Centaur, "I don't want bloodshed on either side. You can help us settle this dispute before things get even more out of hand." Zayne brushed his hands in a comforting manner through Poru's hair. "You and Esti will keep each other safe as well as Cassie. Convince your people to stop this." Zayne found himself staring at Cassie for a few moments before resuming business.

In one swift motion, Zayne turned and pushed the tip of his sword against Mahlo's adam's apple. His hair color began to brighten as his eyes filled with a gold color. His voice was stern with a slightly delayed echo behind it, "don't you EVER accuse me of not being able to protect my family." Zayne's voice deepened as his veins flooded with golden ichor. "You will heed my words and watch your tongue, boy, or find your head removed from shoulders." Zayne nicked Mahlo's throat as he swung his sword back into it's sheath. As his color was reverting to normal, Zayne leaped over Poru and quickly made his way over to Lynn and Chase.

Zayne jumped and grabbed onto Chase' human body allowing his weight to pull him off balance. Letting go and landing on his feet, Zayne held his twin daggers to a point at Chase. "Enough. Both of you. Blood won't solve your problems this day, Horse-man. Let us find peace, or risk sealing the fate of you and your people."

_________________

Boomerang

Mahlo felt the sword suddenly be brought to his adams apple, pressed against his throat, and he stare d into the menacing eyes of Zayne as his eyes filled with gold and his hair color suddenly took a change. His voice started to echo as he tried his very best to intimidate the wielder, however it was left to be in vain as he simply snarled at the male. He nicked his throat, allowing a shred of crimson red blood to trickle from his opened skin as he sheathed his sword. He glanced from Zayne to his bleeding neck.

And it was in that very moment that Zayne had gone too far.

Esti, Q, and the battle didn't matter anymore. He was suddenly met with a wave of rage and fury. The moment that Zayne turned to do what he was going to do, he wasn't able to complete his task as a sudden burst of speed occurred from Mahlo as his other pole went soaring between Zayne's shoulder blades at a place where it would go through his heart. He half knew that the male would dodge, but it was another form of warning to the wielder to never mess with Mahlo, no matter the circumstance.







Haunting

Urick was surrounded by a veil of silence before a pole had pierced his human heart. The body falling like a massive tree right towards Julius. The leader had fallen. Almost too easily. Blood leaked from every inch of Urick's body from hack and slash marks on his human and horse body. Every single Centaur froze no matter what anyone said and watched him go to fall onto the armored boy. Xerxes got off of Titan and ran towards Julius using every muscle in his body to force the body of the leader away from him. Xerxes turned to see Lynn in her beautiful armor. Blood dripping from her hands as she seemed to hold it close. Was that her blood? Who assisted in Urick's death?

Esti ran over to her brother as he called out her name. "Brudder!" Her voice seemed scared as she hugged him tightly before being put down. Sasha had run by them to Roy who was on the ground struggling to even hang on. Sasha couldn't heal Roy's wound while the arrow was still lodged in his neck. His time was but gone. Looking up at her panicking he couldn't help but smile. Blood was coating his beautiful blonde hair as his struggling was slowing. His pain was so immense that Cassie began to tear up once Sasha came over. "You need to get the arrow out first Sasha!" Cassie didn't want to be the one to do such a thing to Roy as Gannon trotted over placing his hand on Roy's head. "You have no time child. Roy is almost lost." Gannon tried to dispel the pain for Roy as the high elf choked on his royal blood.

Bursting through the cage walls was the Manticore screeching from behind the group. Esti sat on Poru's back as the centaur woman bent down and grabbed her Lyre one more time sighing before turning to see Zayne and Mahlo getting into a quarrel.

_________________

Camii

Apparently Sasha is stupid enough to don't take the arrow off from a bleeding wound behore starting to heal. Taking the arrow out, she started to the the exact same thing she was doing. This time she made sure the wound started to get closed, she wouldn't step away until Roy's wound on his neck, considering all layers of his skin the epidermis, dermis, and subcutis. She looked at one of the centaurs, now a bit more calmed now that Roy just needed some rest. She stood up and glanced at Titan. She felt rage growing inside her, she just wanted to do one thing... turning to the manticore, "YOU!!" she yelled at the monster, no fear in her eyes "You'll pay for this". Sasha stretched her hands towards the beast her sky-blue hair and eye glowing intensely. Then the manticore got surrounded by a forcefield the size of his body, she looked at it directly in the eyes as she steped closer to it. Then, slowly, Sasha started to put her hands toghether, really slowly... the forcefield begn to shrink in size, soon it was too small for the centaur to even move. It was at that point when Sasha pushed even harder not taking her eyes out of the centaur, the forcefield began to shrink even more, and more. Hoping that the manticore bones crack one per one. Sasha won't stop shrinking the forcefield until it looks just like a baby's food.

_________________

Arch

Zayne used his tail to grab Mahlo's pole and twirl it around so he could grab it with both hands. He held it up to his face to closer examine it before softly speaking a few words unheard by anyone else. Black veins grew across the pole from where Zayne's hands were. He turned to face Mahlo and threw the pole at him. His skin around his face was pale and his veins were black in his eyes and hands. "Go ahead, touch it! Your body will absorb the poison from my curse and begin to slowly rot from the inside like Goliath." As his color was reverting to normal, Zayne leaped over Poru and quickly made his way over to Lynn and Chase.

Zayne jumped and grabbed onto Chase' human body allowing his weight to pull him off balance. Letting go and landing on his feet, Zayne held his twin daggers to a point at Chase. "Enough. Both of you. Blood won't solve your problems this day, Horse-man. Let us find peace, or risk sealing the fate of you and your people."

_________________

Boomerang

Join date: 2014-12-08
Oh, it was great what he did to the pole. Made some big old veins around his weapon like nobody's business and threw it at him. He noted his pale face, and chuckled to himself ever so slightly. He looked like he was getting a little annoyed.

His smirk growing, He stepped back from the pole, allowing it to stab into the grass. He then looked to Urick, about a hundred feet before him, who's pole had stabbed into both his heart and the grass. He turned back to Zayne, this time allowing him to jump over Poru's back and landing on top of Chase as he pointed both blades in his direction.

Suddenly, Mahlo put his hands up. a rumbling was heard within the earth, and a gargantuan shard of earth went straight through Chase's body in an attempt to stab Zayne with its very point at his chest area.








Aquila

Gairon stood up, his job done by someone else. He looked at the impending chaos and with a growl walked up to Mahlo, placing his hand on the wielder's shoulder. "Mahlo stop this foolishness! This death match is a lose-lose situation. If you kill him then it will ruin us and the same for if he kills you." The knight used his grip on the man's shoulder to move him to the side so he could grab the pole. Mahlo seems to require them both planted in the ground so that he could manipulate the ground in between the two poles. Obsidian has a weak magnetivity but it would be enough that he wouldn't have to physically touch the material and the poison but he could wrench it out of the ground.

_________________

Camii

(you know what, screw it, keep fighting.)


_________________

Arch

Zayne had put a curse on Mahlo's pole, rendering it as useless as Urick. The swamp rat couldn't use his magic sticks to manipulate anything until Zayne removed the curse. Even still, he saw Mahlo try to manipulate the area regardless which only provoked Zayne further. Turning to Lynn, Zayne groaned "I'll be right back, don't die."

Zayne walked right past Chase and even pat him on the back as he walked by. One after the other Zayne threw both of his twin daggers at Mahlo and followed up on them by charging at Mahlo with the intentions of running right through the kid.

------------------------------------------------------ PAGE 33 -----------------------------------------------------------

Re: Rise of the Champions (Kilroos) on Mon Aug 24, 2015 3:38 am
Boomerang

Mahlo's smirk transformed into a deep scowl as a fire ignited within his sea green pupils. He looked back and forth at both of his poles, but nothing was working. It took a moment, but he suddenly realized that whatever Zayne had done had also put a negative effect on his magical prowess. In the meantime, Julius had suddenly come into the fray, placing a hand on his shoulder and telling him enough was enough. He looked over his shoulder at Julius and stared right into the eyes of the armored man, "You try and stop yourself when a man tries to flirt with your mentor and then puts a sword to your throat," He said with malice, shrugging the man's shoulder off of him.

He snarled to himself, then his rageful glare was turned in the Clear Seas wielder's direction. He knew that Julius was right. Maybe they should stop now before either of them (Most likely Zayne, in his own bias opinion) Would get hurt. It would probably be better if things stopped here while it was only a slight disturbance to the team. He was going to stop right then and go back to grilling the centaurs.

Then, He saw Zayne walk away from Chase and move to charge at him, simultaneously throwing his twin daggers one by one in Mahlo's direction.

Concluding that his poles were obsolete (At least for the moment), he brought his hand out. At the same time, he pushed Julius aside. The man didn't need his armor dented in this dispute. By now, his beloved scythe would already be on its way back to his hand, but he speedened the process slightly, allowing the weaponry to fly into his grasp at just the right moment for his to swing it in the direction of the daggers, batting them away as they appeared one after another in front of him. He continued the momentum from the swing, spinning around once, just enough time for Zayne to get closer to him. Mahlo would finish his spin with his scythe still out, hopefully lodging the blade within Zayne's side as he got close to him. "ENOUGH!" He said.






Aquila

Julius chuckled to himself, Zayne could flirt with Xerxes, not a good idea though. Mahlo's stubbornness and hardheadedness annoyed him however and with a scowl he simply backed off. Let the cards fall where they may. He turned to see Sasha dealing with the rest of the centaurs and decided to go join her. He stampeded forward, chucking his spear ahead of him to impale one of the beasts and as he drew closer, he would bring the spear back and lead into a sweep to mow down anyone coming close.

_________________

Arch

Zayne just wanted to talk, and Now Mahlo is swinging his shit all around like it wasn't anyone's business. Zayne came sliding in right between Mahlo's legs, grabbing hold of his ankles so his momentum would cause Mahlo to fall face first into the ground. Rolling over onto all fours, Zayne quickly stood himself up to have a hearty laugh at Mahlo. "You're going to have to be much quicker than that, Mud-Muck." It was hard for Zayne to take someone serious who was blindly aggressive. He even gave Q a wink and blew a kiss at her for good measure.

_________________

Boomerang

The hilarious thing is that Zayne thought Mahlo would fall.

As Zayne slid in between his legs and grabbed at his ankles, Mahlo's swing upon the scythe had been stopped upon realization that it had cut through nothing but sheer air. As Zayne grabbed his ankles, Mahlo stumbled a little bit due to used momentum, resorting to gathering his footing for a moment. However, Mahlo didn't just fall. He had been trained by assassins all of his life, he knew how to balance himself without being swept off of his feet. He allowed Zayne to get out from underneath him, however.

Once Zayne stood up and began to laugh at the stumbling Mahlo, the man turned on his heels just as he winked at Q and glared at his opponent with a malevolent twinkle in his eye, "I haven't even gotten started yet," He replied softly, "But I guess you win this round, Zayne. By the way, here, catch."

He tossed his scythe over in Zayne's direction. It wasn't a menacing gesture, or at least it didn't seem like it. He didn't even aim the blade at him.







Arch

"Oh come on! It would have been a lot cooler if you face planted the ground!"

Zayne stopped making gestures towards Q when Mahlo mentioned Zayne winning this round. Mahlo was too confident in his abilities and Zayne was more than happy to teach him the same thing his father had taught him time and time again. Catching the scythe with both hands, Zayne looked through Mahlo and stated, "My Uncle has one of these and his is way cooler than yours. I wonder what kind of curse I can put on this." Zayne's eyes stayed locked on Mahlo as his skin grew cold and deathly once more.

_________________

Boomerang

He scowled at Zayne's comment, however it fizzled away as Zayne caught the base of the scythe in his two hands. Mahlo smirked inwardly, however on the outside maintained a stoic expression. Just as the scythe hit his hands the weight would become physically unbearable, and he might have a hard time saying what he wanted to say. It quickly became so unbearable that he would tumble to the ground onto his own face as the scythe stayed firmly against the ground. The scythe itself was like an upgraded version of Thor's hammer; only Mahlo himself could hold it, nobody else could handle its weight, not even Zayne

Mahlo put his hand out, and the scythe thrust itself back in the wielder's hand as Zayne's face met ground. He was still expressionless, looking down at the man while keeping his distance, "Looks like you're the one who faceplanted~," he said, then proceeded to turn around and walk back to Q and Esti where the group would figure out their next move.







Arch

Join date: 2015-04-28
The weight of the scythe caught Zayne off guard as it quickly pulled his upper body downward while he back peddled. His hands were almost caught between the scythe and the ground, but he moved them out of the way to absorb most of the impact with his face. As Mahlo drew his scythe back, Zayne hurled his body at the Dark Swamps wielder. His skin burst in a cloud of black smoke as he landed on top of Mahlo. Zayne was twice Mahlo's size, and much larger than he was previously due to his healthy eating habits. His fur was tipped with a blonde color while his eyes were full of a gold color rather than black. Barring his teeth at Mahlo's face and slowly pushing his massive jaw against the wielders throat, Zayne vibrated in a soft growl. With one swift motion, he licked Mahlo from his chin all the way up to his hairline, covering most of his face in kitty spit. Zayne spoke the words, "I win", as he brought his head down to make eye contact with his prey.

He was in control, for now.

_________________


Haunting

The manticore was being crushed by a girl being run by her emotions. Unstable as she was experienced in the outside world. Roy looked at Sasha and her rage. The blonde high elf laid there as she had healed his life threatening wound. Staring at what would be his own child he couldn't help but feel sorrow as he stared up at her fury induced attacks. The manticore was an enemy of course, but there was nothing worse than becoming a pile of bone and blood against something that can't be controlled other than by the one controlling it. Roy watched Sasha crush the manticore as it screamed out in pain from the force field practically destroying it's every being. It attempted to dig its way out from the force field until laying still. The terrified screams stopping. Roy looked up at the girl with such shock it was almost unbarring for him. "Sasha... Why?"

Esti paid no mind and jumped up and down on Poru holding the Centaur's hair and saying: "My own pony my own pony!" Poru sighed as Inno and Vanguard were now missing. Urick Dead, and Wen bleeding out. The babbling from Zayne and Mahlo was actually quite comical for Xerxes before there was talk towards Julius. "Julius. Let them be. Please." Obsidian has literally no magnetic pull. None. Julius would not be able to manipulate any of them. Chase was unharmed from the pole since Zayne had rendered it useless for at least the moment. Beq had actually run off into the forest as Chase went to follow her. Trecc was more or less dead and what was left was Titan who had his arms crossed looking at his dead leader. "Hmph." Chase didn't take long to follow after Beq as the group seemed to argue amongst themselves. The fighting was too much for Q. It was something her Wielder had started and she felt that she didn't need to interfere. Looking at Zayne wink at her she smiled for a bit until Zayne finally seemed to get into the fight a bit too much as she saw Zayne turn into that thing once more. Running out she moved Mahlo out of the way and got completely licked by Zayne, not expecting that one bit. She had her eyes closed and froze completely.

Gannon had made it back over to the group looking at them all just tired and battered. "This is why I travelled alone." Lynn crossed her arms as she came back out of her armor and moved over to Titan. "So are you gonna run or what?" Titan looked down at the small girl who literally had the titanium balls of a bull and removed his helmet placing it on her head. "I'm going rogue. I'm tired of living under someone's rule. I want to live free. Finally free. Urick was a horrid leader and we were all sheep in a plot we knew wouldn't work for the wielder's. Poru is just as innocent. She was more than likely the victim of our group. I'm assuming the black and green shade horse was a champion. I saw her assist the small girl over there and went to Jycer city. I'd be careful. She had some man that controlled the very shadows around him on her back. He had a terrible vibe to him." Lynn paused as the sweaty helmet sat on her rather small head. "Thanks. I guess. I'm sure our king will gladly lift a territory ban. I'm not too sure how the hermits do with that stuff, but we more than likely will run into one soon since Jycer is the second biggest marketing area around Kilroos." Titan nodded and looked at Xerxes. "I apologize for any of this... I'm glad the Swamps ended his life just as fast as it took over mine. Please take care. Keep that armor clean for me." Xerxes' scowl turned into a nod of appreciation.

Cassie stood silently watching the fight between the two transpire and also the manticore get crushed to death by a small girl with no remorse. "Well that ends that. Goes to show how much our wielders power is much more substantial than any other beings. Besides the Champions I suppose. She frowned. "It's almost like they're herding us." Listening to Titan, she pursed her rather rose colored lips hearing how the centaurs followed willingly to Urick's plans despite them all knowing trying to kill the wielders would never in any world happen. Cassie was frustrated and used some of the clear sea ties to pull her long dirty blonde hair into a pony tail. Her soft dark green eyes fell onto Esti bouncing on the centaur and she made her way over to her and raised her arms to her. "Hey, I'm sorry I was rude earlier. I wasn't exactly myself." Esti looked down at Cassie and crossed her arms. "No!" Cassie lowered her arms as her smile faded. "I don't want to be alone Estrella..." Esti blinked oddly and laid her entire back onto Poru's horse back looking at Cassie. "Alone? But look at all these people. They're with you." Cassie just looked at the small girl's innocence. "Is everyone ready to go?" Roy got himself up and nodded. "Sure. We can make camp up passed here. It's already passed sunset. We have some food." Gannon nodded. "We can rest by some trees for tonight. Tomorrow we can greet the royal family of Jycer."

_________________

Camii

Sasha let the beast go only when it stopped moving. She steped back a bit as she laid down what was left of it. She started to feel a bit tired, and stumbled backwards but manahed to keep her balance. Roy's voice made her turn, tiredness on her eyes she looked up to him. He spoke to her but she took a while to respond, as if she was trying to understand what she had done "...w-why...". She looked back at the beast, it wasn't exactly something nice to watch, in fact it was disgusting. The brightness in her eyes had faded away while she was crushing the manticore. It slowly came back, along with the realisation of what she has done. She got confused... and slightly scared, she has always been able to keep it toghether, even if her enemies are monsters 20 feet taller than her, even if they're a nightmare itself brought to life, she would be scared but able to act leaving her emotions aside. But just like when Goliath "ate" zayne, seeing her mentor... her dad, bleeding out to death in a painful way, made her snap completly. Anger is the complete opossite of hapiness, it was also a feeling she has never experienced or knew about, how was she supossed to control it?.

She looked back at Roy once more and slowly steped near him and huged him tightly, "I... don't know..." anguish began to overwhelm her "I don't want to feel this anymore, what is it?, why can't I control it like my other feelings?" she said to him. Tightening her grip on Roy she buried her face on his chest amd said loud enough for him to hear (and understand) "I just didn't want you to die..." she started to sob, tho not loudly.

_________________

Arch

When Zayne looked down he realized he was on top of Q, not Mahlo. The deception was over-whelming as his kitty face looked back and forth at Q and Mahlo quizzically. Zayne grumbled for a moment, let out a long sigh, and lowered his body on top of Q's. Zayne was draped over Q like a blanket, with his chin resting on Q's chest looking up to her. His paws were slumped over her shoulders to ensure that she couldn't move. His big eyes were staring straight into hers. Whiskers brushed against Q's neck as he began to nudge her chin with his nose.

While Q was entertaining, Zayne really desired to see Cassandra. He gently lifted himself off of his prey and walked over to his little fishy. Cassie's hand was greeted from behind with the top of Zayne's head as he nudged her palm flat between his ears. Zayne sat down and rubbed himself against his guardian's leg. He looked up once to greet her eyes, and hopefully she would understand that everything was okay. For now.

_________________

Boomerang

It seemed like absolutely nothing Mahlo did would stop Zayne. No matter his tricks, his intelligence, and his bolstering power, Mahlo couldn't get the job done. He was never able to get the job done, he seemed to always avert the things that are impossible avert, overcome the impossible challenges, and most importantly, embarrass him via watching Q SMILE at him. Mahlo winced as he thought of that smile she gave him from his gesture, as he was fighting her own god damn wielder. Mahlo saw as Q came toward the battle, and he silently scolded her in the process. He had planned to do something with his scythe, maybe end the bastard's life before he could even get within his vicinity. But once he saw Q in his peripheral vision, he had to stop himself. He watched as the panther came down onto him, but before he could react Q had shoved him away.

Mahlo staggered and almost fell to the ground, but was then forced to stand upright and watch as the panther ran his tongue along Q's face, covering her in his saliva, marking his territory on her. He watched as she simply lied down on top of his figure, with absolutely nothing he could ever do about it. He would always manage to find a way, it would never work in his favor. As he watched his scythe on the ground, an accursed pole in the earth, and Q being defiled, something happened to him.

He didn't get angry. In fact, all of the rage left his eyes. It was replaced with a stone, interchangeable cold gaze. He simply broke. All of his pride, all of his motive, and all of his attitude...it slipped away.

His face turned expressionless, his body slumping. He didn't move to grab the scythe or the poles when Zayne would inevitably get off of him. He simply turned to the group, and to the wreckage that they and the centaurs both left in the wake of battle. Zayne and Mahlo had caused the most damage to the nature around them, but he didn't seem to care.

Mahlo saw everything around him. The centaurs walking off, Sasha in tears and breaking down, and even Esti, on her back atop of Poru. None of it seemed to phase him anymore. He had his back turned to Zayne and Q, even after he had gotten off of him. He nodded simply at Roy's request. It was a good idea to camp, but he didn't feel like speaking up.

He winced only slightly, looking down at the ground at his weapons scattered everywhere. He had been broken.








Haunting

Roy held Sasha as she came and began to hug him tightly. Looking down at her he seemed disappointed in her as he looked over at the pile of bones. "You felt rage." He held her close to console his daughter. Exhaling for a solid 5 seconds Roy closed his bright green eyes before letting go of her. "You're going to need to learn how to suppress that feeling and use it when you need it because that..." He made her look at the heap on the hillside. "That could've been anyone." Turning, Roy noticed Mahlo nod to his plan as Titan finally walked off from the group. Roy turned back to Sasha and held her close swaying side to side as he got to her level. "Shh." As he finally got to calm her down he grinned softly before getting onto one knee and holding his arms back as if suggesting a piggy back ride.

Q felt the weight of Zayne lay down on her as she leaned up straining a bit. His body and paws kept her down as she looked down into his golden eyes. Those same eyes Esti had. "Hm.." His whiskers tickled her, and she laid back down trying to show it didn't bother her, even though she held back a smile. Again. Once Zayne got off her she made sure to stand quickly and wobbled slightly before looking for her Wielder. "Mahlo?" She then spotted him and walked over despite him with his back to her. "I couldn't... Let him hurt you in that form. I like you in one piece sir." She still felt how cold he was to her as she held her hands in front of herself and looking down. She felt bad as if she should have jumped in sooner. Q now seemed like a puppy put in time out as she went over to retrieve the poles from the ground and Urick's body. She came back after wiping them off and holding them out to him. She even began to bow her head to him again like she did once they started trusting each other. Her hands trembled.

Cassie was still standing by Poru as Zayne made his way over to her. Cassie felt his soft fur under her hand as she smiled softly down at him scratching his head. Looking down at his eyes she kneeled down and poked her finger tip on his nose. "I'm proud of you. Holding that form for such a time without doing anything Rash. Good Boy." Standing she turned to Roy. "It's time to go make camp before the sun sets.

The group made their way up the hill to the trees. A nice open and dry area were they could rest for the night. Gannon swirled up around the area and little glowing sprites formed hovering over the area to give them vision in the dark surroundings as the sun fell. The sprites danced around as everyone seemed to settle down. Lynn was with Xerxes and Julius, and Poru had Esti on her back as the centaur went to lay down next to a tree with the small girl. Esti got off and nuzzled her very own pony, completely fixated on Poru. Q was standing by Xerxes helping him unload the food onto the ground. Cassie sat down by a stump and placed her hand on her ankle sighing. Her shoes were certainly not made for walking.

_________________

Camii

Sasha heard Roy's explanation, "rage.... is certainly something I don't like to feel." she thought to herself as she continued to listen Roy, "I- I'd never hurt my friends!" she said completly sure about it. Which was probably true, even with anger Sasha wouldn't hurt those around her, as in her friends...

Sasha felt sad tho... the look Roy gave her, it was dissapointment. There goes another thing she has never felt, remorse. She let him down, apparently her actions were completly wrong "I'll... I'll keep it toghether next time..." she got on Roy's back and said huging his neck "Only if you promise me you'll stay safe, I don't know what I'd' do if you...." she looked as his clothes and skin, still with blood... it was something she would never want to see again. Sasha will always rather to take the hit for him if necessary, even if it results into death. Roy is her only hope left to have a normal life after this 'mission'.

She looked around as she rested her hear on Roy's back. She noticed that Mahlo and Zayne finally stoped fighting, but something was wrong... Mahlo did look... sad... "weird" she mumbled to herself. The girl is used to see him always in a pride-stance of some sort, but this time he looked completly down. "Roy... I'll talk to Q later. You should also do it" she rubed her head on his back a few times "Gotta keep your promises" she said with a smile as she slowly closed her eyes while on his back. Not to sleep, but to rest a little bit.

_________________

Boomerang

Mahlo could hear Q behind him. The shakiness in her voice, how she apologized to him as much as she could. She was ashamed, apologetic, and concerned. Everything he had expected her to do. He could hear the trembling in her voice, and it caused him to wince. Although, even with all of this, he didn't respond.

Eventually, time began to pass through the heap of death and scattered equipment, and Mahlo placed his scythe at the holster on his side. Q brought him his poles, and Mahlo looked at her, at first unable to think of what to say. He forced a faint smile to crease his lips as he felt her trembling hands, clasping the poles and putting them on his back. "Well...thank you," he said simply. He tried to make sure she knew it was okay. It wasn't her fault that Zayne attracted her.

Mahlo turned forward as the group began to move to camp somewhere. He followed them to the camping area and looked around at the environment. He glanced over at Esti as she rested on Poru happily, and at Q as she unloaded food with Xerxes. He sat down in the grass at the edge of camp. He looked down at the ground, allowing his sun bleached bangs to fall in front of his face. He placed his scythe at the grass, staring at it.

Whatever had happened back there, it startled him. He had changed dramatically over the course of a few hours. He didn't know how, but he definitely knew why. He couldn't defeat Zayne. He couldn't get the job done.






Arch

Zayne ran up the hill and around trees. He even chased after his tail for a little bit and practiced climbing trees as a gigantic jungle cat. Laying on a thick branch, Zayne watched everyone in the group go on with their lives by setting up camp. A little bit of time passed and Zayne hopped out of his tree to be where he belonged. As he walked past Q he made sure to rub himself up against her leg once more and brush her exposed skin with his soft tail. Making his way over to Cassie, Zayne noticed she was rubbing her ankle with a dissatisfied expression on her face. As he nuzzled his head against Cassie's injured leg, Zayne began to purr. "I'm really happy that you're out here with me." The light in his eyes and fur had begun to fade, but he was still in complete control of his actions as he slumped into the ground between Cassie's legs and got more comfortable.

Zayne had no lust for Q, or else she would already be defiled and left to the buzzards.


----------------------------------------------- PAGE 34 ----------------------------------------------

Aquila

Julius breathed, concentrating on his armor as he let it go. However before he did it he changed to make it shrink like he did when he first brought his armor out. He shivered at the chill of steel on his skin and stared out of the eye slits in his helmet. It was peculiar to stare through the slits rather than how he usually did through the chest and looked over to Lynn. "Hey Lynn," He started, his voice was really loud in the helmet and he dissolved the armor, rubbing his ears, dulling the shrill. "Hey Lynn," he restarted, "because we bring the armor back using magic, do you think it's possible to modify the armor through magic? Like add spikes or blades?"

"Now now miss Sasha. I can't go making promises I can't keep." Roy smiled looking back at the young girl. As the group finally settled he listened to his daughter. "Hmm. I suppose. Maybe when the time is right. Now seems a little... sudden..." As the group settled down Roy rotated Sasha to be in front of him and sat down on the ground holding her close. Roy didn't care about sleeping on the ground as he simply nuzzled against a tree and held onto Sasha. "I'll be sleeping if you need me." Gannon shortly made his way over and grumbled something about a stick up his ass and sat down relatively close to Roy, closing his eyes as well.

Q didn't know the magnitude of a smile would get her wielder so grossly upset that she was contemplating why he wouldn't accept her apology right away. His grin was probably the first thing Mahlo has ever lied to Q about and it didn't sit well with her. Why was he like this so sudden, how could something so quick from Zayne result in Mahlo turning against Q. Feeling the soft fur of Zayne Q watched him, but made no motion as to approve of him rubbing against her. She kept quiet. Helping Xerxes was the last physical thing she did before sitting down away from Mahlo. Pulling her knees close, the dark elf placed her arms across them and laid her head down. Q stared at a small inch worm on a dead leaf moving her mouth around thinking and analyzing everything that happened. She even had her body move from time to time to show that she was still awake. Her bright gray eyes shifted from one thing to another once her inch worm was gone. Huffing, she couldn't focus and then simply closed her eyes unable to get her mind off what was truly troubling her.

Cassie sat on the ground next to the stump and noticed Zayne coming over to her, and her frown turned to a quirky smile. His purring made her smile wider as she ran her hand up his head and scratched around his neck and ears. "I'm quite excited to be out of that water prison too Zayne. Shame it's on some terrible terms. Oof- " Zayne then plopped in between her legs and she giggled moving her hands through his fur more and looked at the small sprites Gannon had made to create a little bit of light. "I wouldn't have left there without being told to." Casse mumbled as she played with Zayne's ear watching him flick it each time she touched it a certain way. Esti rolled off of Poru who stood and held her Lyre falling asleep and the small monocolored hair girl flopped next to Cassie and Zayne nuzzling them. "Pony got boring."

Lynn was calmly helping Xerxes until her king called to her casually. "Yes sir?" She smirked as she watched him pull his armor out of the way and she almost even giggled, but her smile faded as he spoke on. "Well, to do that adds plenty of... difficulties. In the use of alchemy, you have to have something of equal value to give before getting something. Same thing really applies with magic. Once you put your armor into the other... plane... you didn't have spikes. If anything you can have Xerxes have a go and give ya some spikes or accessories when we reach a town worthy of a blacksmithing joint to create them." Lynn stretched a bit and tilted her head. "You don't really want to add a lot of unnecessary weight onto your suit. It'll create drag, or just tire you much quicker." Sitting down she patted the ground for her king to sit next to her to sleep. Xerxes placed the bag on the ground for Julius to sit on instead of the ground. "We will need to eat the food in the morning. Otherwise some might catch wind of our food. Not good."

Mahlo felt Q's presence as she sat a few feet away from her, keeping herself scarce from him due to his condition. It was obvious that she was confused, unable to see what was going on within Mahlo's head. He had accepted her apology, that much was true, but he was unable t oshow it in his usual way, at least, not consciously. The man continued to sit, staring at the scythe on the grass as if trying to forget that Q had put her head down on the grass, and was probably upset. The whole situation caused Mahlo to grimace.

Eventually, Mahlo lied his head on the grass softly, once again noticing the distance from his mentor as her head was turned away from him. Almost out of instinct he got closer to Q, cutting the few feet distance they had. As the wielder closed his eyes and fell asleep, his body once again drew closer to Q's warmth, going as far as to softly place his arm over her body in a rather protective manner. With his mentor now close to him again, Mahlo was able to sleep much more peacefully than the reckless slumber he would have experienced otherwise. His unconscious body was telling her what his conscious self couldn't:

She had already been forgiven.

Zayne booped his wet nose against Esti's face as she sat down next to him and Cassie. Zayne's attention was taken by one of Gannon's sprites. His tail was rubbing itself against Cassie's thigh while Zayne innocently watched the little sprite move around. A loud grumble from his stomach broke Zayne's trance. "You two rest, I'm going to get food!" As the mighty cat walked to the edge of camp, the thought of coming back to Cassie made him happy before he took off into the distance.

Zayne was out playing in the woods and exploring away from camp while he could still voluntarily hold his cat form. He chased after butterflies and climbed trees until his body was tired, completely forgetting about wanting food. With heavy eyes, Zayne slumped down and rolled against a massive oak tree in the middle of the forest. As the mighty cat laid against the tree, Zayne realized he couold no longer hear or even smell the group back where they made camp. Planning on resting his eyes for just a moment, the sounds of the forest quickly lulled Zayne to sleep.

Sasha simply heard Roy's reply. She was worried about him, "Sure he's a great archer and probably good in hand-to-hand combat too" she thought to herself, "but if he gets injured... he'll most likely..." she shook her head at the thought. She simply stayed with him, she heard the others complain about the ground and an idea poped on her little head.

Using her powers, Sasha made some really big leaves grow underneath everyone trying to sleep, these were soft pinkish leaves and one after another they came up making a sort of improvised bed for everyone. She made a few more for the part of the group that will eventually go to sleep later.

Sasha thought about sleeping, but just by resting next to Roy she recovered some energies. At least for today she won't sleep, she'll watch after everyone else. They've been getting attacked by the champions quite often... at least every night "If they have intentions to come...I'll make sure is not by surprise at least...". With that thought, Sasha made a thin forcefield around the area keeping the group inside. Then she just lied next to Roy on the soft leaves looking at the sky. "So pretty..." she thought enjoying the view.

Cassie and Esti slept soundly as the leaf bed made by Sasha rose them up off the ground. Q seemed to feel something around her waist. Jerking a moment she looked down and noticed Mahlo had placed his arm around her waist. Q had blushed wildly and Sasha even gave them a large leaf bed to lay on, which made the gray color on Q's face turn a bright red. "Dammit..." Q raised her arm now unable to know what to do with it. The cute spooning swamp pair laid quietly as Q never went to sleep. She had a growing headache and seemed to look at Sasha staying awake. Her eyes narrowed. Q was able to see in the dark, hence the Dark Elf trait. Roy was already asleep before he even got leaf bed of his own. Eventually Lynn sat next to Xerxes and seemed to zone out as well. Q looked at Mahlo's hand ever so gently laying on her skin as she crossed her one leg in front of the other. "Tch..." Q couldn't help but slide softly out from under his grasp. Looking down at him she stared for a moment or two until blushing again. That shit would've been creepy had he woken up. Q didn't want him to think of her as... that type.

Looking around she waved slightly at Sasha who was laying next to Roy. Her finger went up to her mouth as to keep the girl quiet, pointing directly to Mahlo. Q then did some weird looking signals looking as if Mahlo would wake up, she'd cut off the small girls head. Figuratively of course. Q walked over and grabbed herself an apple and noticed Zayne had gone missing, and a faint force field was now placed over the group. Q sighed and twirled her finger as if to say she wanted to look for Zayne. Gripping her second largest blade she held it in her hand and tried her hardest to look for the large house cat. Q smirked and gripped her blade closely before everything faded into a frown. Why did she smile? It wasn't that funny to her... she didn't want to. She could have sworn! Why would she laugh at something so poorly directed at her Wielder. Her Mahlo. Sucking her teeth she whispered out softly. "Zayne, get back to camp, we have food there. I even helped Xerxes unload some!" Q was a bit irritable as she tried to catch a glance of the dark cat form.

Zayne was too sleepy to have an itty bitty kitty dream. In fact, the only thing he heard in his sleep was the sound of Q's voice, and even still he was convinced that it was all just a dream. He could practically see her walking up to the tree he was resting against, and Q had no idea how close Zayne was to her. A moment passed and Zayne's ears perked up, now awoken from Q's voice. Her voice was soft and innocent, and for a moment Zayne had trouble telling if it was Q or Cassie that was coming to find him. It was definitely Q because Cassie had a very distinct scent to her. Zayne came out from behind his tree once Q was practically next to it. The giant cat pounced onto Q and knocked her over onto her back. Zayne was on top of Q as he rubbed his soft kitty face against hers innocently. His voice purred, "I'm surprised to see you out here, Elfie. I figured you didn't like me because of the things I've done to you." Zayne released a heavy sigh and continued, "I act differently sometimes, but that's be-". The light in the young wielders eyes had been extinguished and filled with darkness upon seeing Q. His body quickly reverted back into his human figure, except his skin was pale. The young master spoke with a voice not of his own, and commanded, "Oh Elfie, it's a shame that you've wandered out here all alone. Zayne isn't powerful enough to resist me, and Annabeth is... preoccupied with more pressing affairs. It's a shame, Zayne's feelings for you and that other creature that is." Zayne's hands brushed against Q's face as his lips locked against hers. Her savory taste pleased the young master before he commanded her once more, "Now be a good little elf and hold your tongue. I don't plan on releasing control until this poor excuse for a wielder has learned his lesson. Try to make this easier on the both of you and enjoy yourself."

The evil spirit within Zayne had gained complete control of his body to teach Zayne a lesson through Q. Zayne kept the two concealed deep within the shadows through the use of his sinister magic, and forced Q to please both the young master and herself through the use of charm spells. Before their time came to an end, Zayne removed one of Q's scorpion ear rings and placed it within a pouch on his vest.

Zayne awoke from his own trance on top of Q. His head rest upon her chest while his hands gently held onto Q's shoulders. Not knowing what to say, Zayne mumbled whatever words he could, "I uhm, uh, like your ears."

Sasha waved back at Q, she looked at her approach the girl apparently she didn't want Mahlo to wake up. Not like she's going to scream into his ear. Sasha noded and noticed that Q wanted to go outside the forcefield, she frowned and hesitated for a few seconds before leaving a small opening on her blue field for her to go outside. As she saw her going outside getting lost in the dark Sasha started to worry. "The point of a forcefield is to stay inside y'know...." she thought as if she was talking to Q, she sighed quietly and slowly got up from the leaves. Being as quiet as possible, she steped out her forcefield. Making sure she was still controlling it as to not let it fade, Sasha's blue hair glowing helped her to see in the night, not too far for sure but it helped.

"Q!, where are you?" she said loud enough for her to hear, she slowly steped into the forest and saw some footsteps, probably Q's... as Sasha continued to follow she heard some weird noises. She slowly steped closer to the source, more and more worried about her friend. "eh- Q?.." she said one last time as she noticed something behind a tree, someone saying "Oh elfie, it's a shame you've wondered around alone", Sasha now quickly steped out looking at the noise's source, she only saw Zayne on top of Q, his mouth near her neck. A flashback came to her mind with Zayne's mouth full of blood, eating a girl's neck. She panicked and quickly used her telekinesis to throw Zayne away from Q. Holding him against a tree nearby she also made a forcefield, a thin one for her and Q. Sasha yelled at him "What are you doing!!?", she turned to Q  "Are you okay??"

Q sighed narrowing her eyes. Where the hell was he? The moment she thought such a thing she literally had him on top of her. Good lord he was heavy in this form. Feeling his cheek brush against hers she winced slightly not wanting any kitty germs on her face. “Yeah well, just because I don’t like you doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be safe. You need to get back to the gr—“ Q fell quiet as Zayne’s voice altered. Her face seemed to contort into confusion. “Annabeth? Wha… who’s that? Who the fuck are y—“ Q was silenced by Zayne’s mouth as her expression grew surprised and then a bit sour. Kissing Zayne wasn’t on her agenda of to do. Q however was not strong physically enough to get the man off her. Groaning into his mouth, she still tried to get him off. As he released his mouth and told her to be quiet Q snarled. “I’ll fucking kill you.”

Surrounded by Zayne’s own dark shield Q twitched only slightly trying to not break. The young dark elf was crushed by what happened. She hardly even felt him take her earring as she swallowed hard. Her pride, and the tight knot in her throat. Tears ran down her face before she even heard his voice. Something about her ears. He was back to normal. Q wanted to demolish the man that so effortlessly got such affection from her but knew that wasn’t him in control, it still was no excuse. “Get—“ Q was getting cut off all night tonight as Sasha practically blast him off the elf. Q laid there putting her clothes on shakily. She almost thought it was Mahlo and was about to lose her mind. If Mahlo had caught them Q would probably end up killing herself from the grief. Exhaling hard from relief she looked at the duo colored hair girl with tears running down her face. This was a completely different Q that Sasha saw. “It… wasn’t his fault Sasha.” Q sat up fixing herself as she stood up slowly. Her legs wobbled as she began getting unimaginably angry, frustrated and confused but not with anyone. Just herself. “Sasha let him go. This was my fault.” Q winced feeling sharp pains in her pelvis before looking over at Zayne. “Just get the fuck back to camp Zayne.” Glancing at Sasha, Q turned and walked back to the whole area with her allies and sat next to Mahlo on the little leaf bed. Q huddled to herself and ate the tears she wanted to shed.

"Your fault?!!" she tightened the grip on Zayne, "It was this monster's fault!, look what he did to you!". Q was convinced that the whole situation was her fault... she turned back to the camp. Sasha allowed her to enter through the forcefield and closed it again. Turning to Zayne she yelled at him. "What is wrong with you!" she started to get angry, it was clearly seen on her tone "You murder innocent girls and eat them like if it was nothing, and now you rape your teammates?" she frowned as she looked at him in complete disgust, not sure if she should treat him as an ally anymore.

wasn't his fault... Zayne had no desire to resist Sasha, or even Q. Standing up, Zayne pulled his trousers up and fastened his belt so he wouldn't scare Sasha anymore than he already had. "She knows I had no control." Zayne stared at the ground between his toes. With a deep breath, he looked right through Sasha, "Please, don't try to fight me. She got what she wanted but that doesn't mean she won't hurt you too..." Thinking for a moment more, Zayne finally added, "Go tend to Q's broken spirit, and speak of this to no one. Sasha, if Cassandra finds out and it wasn't my lips that told her, I will kill you."

Sasha wasn't scared at all... just angry. Tho she released him from the tree, and replied "You better start to take control on yourself.." she looked at him right back as he said the last thing. "I'll tell whoever I desire... you monster". She said to him, disgust on her tone. Then Sasha turned back and steped inside the forcefield. Glanced at Q and frowned, then to Roy... she'd tell him... not now, Sasha'll allow him to rest. Probably... she'll tell Cassandra later, he needs control..

Zayne watched Sasha leave and sighed. He didn't want to have to hurt the wee little girl, but it wasn't her position to go tell on him. After gathering up the rest of his belongings, Zayne sought out some water to clean his... delicates. He held Q's scorpion ear ring in his hand and looked down at it with a sad expression.

Time had passed and the young hero made his way back to the encampment. Zayne's first stop was to Q. He had picked her flowers. Well, his idea of flowers. They were dandelions. He even tied them together with a little string. He placed the little bouquet of flowers on her lap and opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but couldn't. He swallowed hard and walked over to where Cassie was sleeping. He lied down next to Cassandra, wrapped one arm over her and placed his hand on her tummy. He didn't plan on telling Sasha how he entered her forcefield. It would probably just make her even angrier with him.

Q felt lost and eventually laid down next to Mahlo. She seemed rather unnerved and then took note that Sasha came in and went to sit down next to Roy. She kind of figured. It was late and needed to get some sleep. Turning her head to Mahlo she looked at the hand he had on her and then wondered what impulse made Zayne do such a thing, and just as she thought of him he came in through the force field and back into the group. He instantly walked up to Q with some dandelions in his hand. Taking them she blinked and looked up at him as he tried to form words, ultimately failing. Q already forgave him for what he did. She could tell that wasn't him, even the voice said it wasn't. She'd have to prod at his brain later in the day.

Cassie yawned and felt Zayne cuddle back up next to her and she held his hand with her own laying sweetly close to Esti who took up practically the entire leaf. Q wiped the tears from her eyes and placed the flowers on the ground. She didn't smile, but she understood he was sorry. Just like how Mahlo forgave her without really saying anything, her gut sunk. She didn't want Mahlo finding about what the shitstain just happened and he never will. He can't... Looking over at Zayne he noticed Cassie holding Zayne's hand making Q look at Mahlo's, wanting the same thing, but he was her wielder. She didn't know if he even liked her in that way. Q laid down and placed Mahlo's hand next to him and away from her. Q slowly, but surely drifted to sleep.

The sun had broken through the horizon of the valley with some trees blocking the bright ray of light. Xerxes was the first awake. He shook Lynn harshly as she helped him pack up tiny portions of food for everyone. Xerxes packed the rest into the largest sack he had. Looking over he spoke for his king to hear. "Time to wake up king Julius." Roy woke up to Xerxes' deep and bass filled voice and patted Gannon on the shoulder. Gannon blinked himself awake before stretching as Roy turned looking at the young girl who was still awake. "You better rest on our way there missy. We're going to be meeting a princess." Q was fast asleep with her arm hanging off her bed. Esti was already hanging upside down on a branch looking at the two. "Yay! Wake up time! Wakie wakie Zayney wayney!" She snickered as Cassie woke up as well, sitting up.

Sasha looked at Roy, she yawned. "Hii there..." taking a look at Zayne she sighed deeply and said to her mentor. "Roy... something bad happened at night." only loud enough for him to hear, she stood up and took him by the arm. Steping away pretending she was just walking around, she continued "uhm...I don't know why but.. Zayne did really bad things to Q, when she went off to look for him. I followed and..." she took a deep breathe and explained to him what Zayne did to the elf, in a rather worried tone. She then explained how she heard her saying that it wasn't his fault and simply walked back to the camp.

"I don't trust him anymore... he's dangerous, to everyone. Cassie needs to either tie him up to her watching over him 24/7 or... I'm not gonna be able to sleep at night." She looked at the boy from the distance again "Do you have any idea of why does he do that?, it looks more like an enemy than an ally to me..."

The moment that Q had gone away, Mahlo's peaceful sleep had crumbled and turned into a fit of nightmares that would meet nobody's imagination. As Q laid down next to him again, he moved back and forth restlessly, grunting.

He was standing in a field of nothing, the grasses swaying back and forth from an unknown wind that didn't seem to hit him. His scythe, hidden knives and poles were all gone, leaving him virtually defenseless in his suit. He looked around at the darkness that covered him, frantically searching for someone, or a reason for being here. Then, as he looked forward, a lithe figure stood before him.

It was Q. She was standing straight up, smiling in his direction with those beautiful eyes. The smile she gave him warmed his heart, reminding him of the good things in life that he seemed to forget. She had a blush on her face, as if happy to see him. Then, he saw an arm slither around her waist. The figure of Zayne appeared next to her, that same smug smirk on his expression. Mahlo growled inwardly, and Q turned to Zayne with that same, warm smile. It was then that his body felt cold. Hollow. She was giving him that smile, now....

He cringed, looking down at the ground for a moment. However, something grabbed his chin, forcing him to look forward again. There the two of them were, embraced, lips on one another, and Q seemed to barely resist him at all. Mahlo gasped, stumbling back a bit.

A familiar voice with a heavy italian accent spoke into his ear, "That piece of ass ain't for you, Carnavo. You a wielder, you don't need no woman fuckin' with your head. 'sides, she ain't gon' do nothing but break ya heart."

"Shut the fuck up," He replied, only now he was holding back a tear that had begun to well in his eyes. His presence seemed to disappear, however a colder one replaced it. The image distorted, changing into the both of them, on the ground, making love while Zayne was on top. Q's resisted his attempts at first, but eventually she simply didn't do anything, as if she had begun to give up on stopping him.

Another voice from behind. This one, much lower in volume, however much more venomous in tone, "There I was...strolling through the forest...And I saw this pretty little picture."

The terrible picture went into static and fizzled away, being replaced now by the figure of the same hooded man that was by Valkyrie's side. The only thing that could be seen in the dark was his smile that went from ear to ear, his fangs bared. "Who the fuck are you?" Mahlo growled. He instinctively reached for his scythe, which wasn't there. He grimaced.

"Me? Oh..." He scoffed, his words like a lullaby in his ear, even as he was distant, "You'll find out soon, Dark Swamps wielder. You'll all find out soon. Continue to fall into my trap, I'll be waiting."

There was a brief silence, and then suddenly the man was right on top of him. His cold breath in his face. Run.

****

Mahlo awoke with a start and a moderately loud yell, sweat running down his face. He clutched the leaf bed underneath him, his heart rate at an increase. He looked back and forth frantically, then breathed in a heavy sigh of relief. The morning had come, and the sun was now beginning to bear down on him. His scythe was back by his side, as well as his mentor, although she was asleep. He narrowed his eyes. That was...unusual. She was always the one to wake him up.

For now, he decided to shrug it off, rubbing his sea green eyes. He wasn't feeling too much better than the day before. He let out another sigh, this one of frustration, as he placed his shoulder on Q. If she hadn't awoken from his startled yell, he would shake her back and forth and calmly say, "Quinn...It's time to get up. We gotta head out to Jycer soon." He almost never said her full name, but somehow, to him, it fit. As if she needed to hear it.

As he looked to the others slowly awakening from their slumbers, Mahlo wiped a mixture of sweat and tears from his face, shaking his head as if to shake off the bad vibes from his psyche. He would turn to Q again to make sure she was awake, and then blinked a few times. He stood there for a moment, perplexed as she glanced at the side of her face.

"Q..." He started slowly, tilting his head, "Where's your earring?"

Zayne made a whining noise like he always did, signifying that it was in fact not time to wake up. Sitting up next to Cassandra, Zayne tossed a little stick at his sister. He didn't have to worry about hitting her, because he never hit anything. Sort of. Cassie looked really pretty in sunlight which made Zayne smile and nudge her shoulder with his.

After he stood up, Zayne walked over to the big ole sack of food before it was completely put up and grabbed himself some fruits. He walked with a slight, yet noticeable limp in his step. He stopped by Q and handed her an apple first, before pulling something out of one of his pouches. "I know you're not a vegetarian or anything, so I got you some meat!" He handed Q a dead bird that he had caught last night, smiled innocently, and limp/walked back over to Cassie. Zayne offered Cassie some of the fruit he had before placing it on the leaf so he could observe her foots. "It's not still bothering you, is it?"

Roy fixed up Sasha’s hair as she said hello to him. “Good morning, sunshine.” He then listen to her sigh and his smile seemed to vanish. “Something bad? Did you have a night mare?” Roy had assumed what Sasha was going to tell him, and sadly he was right. He was walking around with Sasha and narrowed his eyes once she explained before stopping her short, not exactly wanting to hear the rest of the story. “She thought it was her fault? I know she usually takes the blame, but I don’t know enough about Zayne to know that is completely true.” Roy turned his head to look at the girl and sighed as well. “I can’t say he isn’t dangerous, but there is clearly something wrong with him in the head. “He is an ally, just uh… slightly messed up one. I can honestly say I think of Mahlo more of an Ally than Zayne which is really saying something, at least from the High Clouds perspective. “I don’t have a clue why’d he’d do that… Did you ask him?”

Q’s eyes had opened sharply to her Wielder yelling as she kept them open as if now paralyzed. She didn’t move as she felt him move around. He began to shake her as she now blinked a few times until hearing him call her Quinn. Her pupils became pin holes. Jycer. Right. Right. They were going to the city of Jycer today. Q closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before stretching and laying on her back groaning slightly. Sitting up the dark elf stretched and narrowed her eyes at the sun beaming into her eyes. “Goodness it’s bright out this morning.” She then turned to Mahlo as he asked her where her earring was. “What?” She felt which ear it was and looked around on the grass. “I don’t know!” Q began to look for it by rolling off the leaf and whined. “I made that earring…” She pouted and swished the tall grass around. “Tch… typical. The one time we sleep outside.” She sighed. Standing up she turned seeing Zayne coming towards her holding an apple out to her. Taking the apple she looked at it before he dropped the dead bird into her hand as well and she instantly dropped them both shaking her hand around. “Was that supposed to be funny?” Bending down Q grabbed the apple and looked at the bird as she stood back up.

Cassie slowly woke up stretching her entire body sitting up and looking at Zayne asking her if she was better. “Oh, yeah! I just had to rest a bit. These shoes aren’t the best. I might buy some at Jycer.” Esti giggled at Zayne as he tried to throw a stick at her. “Missed me monkey butt!” The small girl dropped and ran over to Poru who was still sleeping standing up. Esti slammed into Poru and startled her jerking her awake. “Holy- Whoa, whoa!” Poru looked down at Esti who was holding the Centaur’s leg. “We’re going for a ride pony!” Poru sighed and narrowed her eyes as she held her hand out. Esti squealed and gripped her hand pulling her up onto her back. “Yay! Yay!” Poru smiled only slightly. Cassie got up and watched Zayne come back over. “You gave her a dead bird?” Cassie snickered. “I’m sure she’d need to eat something much larger with those hips she has.” Cassie smirked at Q and waved as if she hadn’t said a word about the Elf. Moving over she grabbed the bag of food for her and Zayne and hopped a bit ready to go.

By this time the group was ready to move out. Everyone got their individual bags of dried fruits and preserved others. Xerxes had his hand on Lynn’s shoulder, and his other hand on Julius’. “Shouldn’t be too long. The path to Jycer is actually really beautiful. Gannon nodded. “They usually have plenty of engravings, but their cityscape is pretty confusing. The gravitational pull to Jycer is low considering the other two planets gravity. Obsesionante is the most neutral, gravity speaking.” Gannon looked back at the other two planets before looking at the smallest one. “The library has more… information about them then I know. Only Royals are allowed in the Library.” Gannon turned back and smiled at Julius. “Not Wielder Royals either there sport.” The old man giggled as they made their way to the rather beautiful path they were beginning to see made in the ground.

"You'd be surprised by how much she can fit..." Zayne stopped himself to chew it over with his apple, "... in her tiny belly..." Taking Cassie's hand in his, Zayne walked with his guardian down the road to Jycer. Zayne couldn't help glancing over at Q every few minutes to make sure she wasn't dying or anything, which was peculiar considering Zayne's hit it and quit it nature. "So Cass, what do you plan on doing after we finish our journey?"

"I actually look at the dark swamps as friends... after all... is the high clouds' fault that most of them are mean... even like that, for what I've seen so far, they're good people". She looked at Zayne as Roy asked her about the question... "I- I didn't ask him... I actually don't want to either... also," she continued after taking a small peek on Cassie, "I need to tell Cassandra about this, Zayne threatened me about it but I honestly can't care less. She needs to know what happened to her wielder. She must pay more attention to what he does, maybe next time it's me the one affected by his current 'mental-state' ". She looked at everyone getting ready to go. Sasha stood next to Roy and kept walking.

Mahlo watched as Q searched frantically over the earring, eventually giving up with a loud exhale. A faint smile crossed his lips, "It'll turn up eventually," He replied softly before watching Zayne move over to the duo. He cringed at the sight of him, noticing his limp but not thinking about what it meant. As he handed Q an apple, he had thought that it was an unusually nice gesture that he normally didn't commit.

Then he saw the dead bird.

Deep down, Mahlo wanted to punch Zayne in the face. He wanted to throw him across the area for insulting Q that way. She didn't deserve something like a dead bird found somewhere in the grass. She deserved much better. However, unable to voice these emotions, he simply exhaled jaggedly, running a hand through his bleach blonde hair.

"Zayne, just shut up," Mahlo said dismissively as he walked away, then turned to Q. He went to say something, however he closed his mouth, kicking the dead bird away, no care as to where it went. He began to pack anything they needed, including food and water for the road. Oddly enough, Mahlo was a little excited to go to Jycer. He figured some questions would be answered once they got there.

Or maybe more questions would surface