Pain. Pain was all she knew, all she felt, all she remembered. The feeling of icy cold on her back was there too, but it was too closely connected to the pain to see it as something else. Not that it really mattered, not in this condition, not while she roamed through the realm created by her own mind to keep her alive, to keep her from going insane. She hoped that last was true. She had no idea why she knew that this was all fictional, nor could she remember if she was the one who found out, or if she had simply known all along.

In the realm she was in, the only thing she could see was a background of stars in every direction and while she knew she was there and that she could move there, she could not discern her own body, if she even had one. The cold at her back remained, as did the devouring pain, trying to cut her off from her own thoughts. She quickly gazed around at all the stars around her, although she wasn't too sure if she was actually turning around to watch, this world was somewhat confusing, but she supposed that couldn't be helped if you didn't have a body to walk around in. Was she even sure she moving when those stars seemed to come closer? Maybe it was just her concentration on the stars that gave more detail to them. Perhaps she could try to concentrate on one of them, to see how much detail such a thing actually had?

The room featured a beautiful green carpet, decorated with lovely drawings of pairs of exotic birds, with two wonderbirds circling each other in the middle of the carpet. The wooden floor under it creaked now and again, revealing that the building was rather old, although the walls were as new with their soft broken-white grayish mixture of color. She immediately knew which room that was, though it was a bit odd that she remembered the room so well. A crackling fire spread warmth and light from the fire place. It was the only light in the room, casting shadows on the opposite wall, shadows coming from the mattress covered in rose petals lying on the floor in the center of the room. She hoped she wasn't blushing in the outer world.

So the stars were memories. It was strange, but somehow that idea seemed familiar to her, as if she had already had to deal with her memories in such a situation before. But of course, if those stars were her memories, there was no way to be sure except by shifting through them all, and even then she didn't have certainty. This was getting more and more annoying, if these were her memories, then what did her mind hope to accomplish by showing them to her? What was the purpose of these things?

---------------------

The palace shivered under the mighty tremors and explosions brought forth from the battle now raging inside the castle, the clinging of metal echoing through the palace at the same time. Why hadn't everyone retreated yet? The signal had been given much earlier, everyone should've been gone. Except of course Aura, Ryzeth and whoever was still in the throne room with Nix himself. But those two were long overdue from coming to the throne room, and thus it was rather unlikely that any of them survived. If the Kohell managed to take out a real Messenger, then there was surely no hope for the future of Weyard.

While Nix had a plan that would lead the Red Tower to victory here in Tolbi, Remius had said that there were even more clones attacking Weyard and without a doubt the targets were either other Messengers, or high concentrations of adepts, anything that could possibly be a threat. Nix just hoped that his army was not being slaughtered all over the world right now. But his true fear was for his sister, she was a messenger too, and though she was not weak, she was not all powerful either. Given enough of these clones, anyone could fall under their might.

As the psynergy between his hands grew and expanded, the chamber shook again, and all of a sudden a large bang sounded against the wall. Just then Aura and Ryzeth entered through the wooden double doors of the throne room a handful blasts of psynergy following them closely behind. Aura's two wings shimmered brightly due to the psynergetic aura surrounding her. Ryzeth seemed spent from battle, but still managed to cast a serious quake spell just outside the doors, giving Killana and Varox just enough time to give their followers are frosty surprise.The guards, in turn, didn't hesitate to close the doors behind the two, buying Nix another extra minute of time to get ready.

“I'm as good as ready, you had all best go now.” Killana nodded serenely, but the Bond between them betrayed her concern and love for him. Nevertheless she grabbed on to Pako and disappeared in a psynergetic flash. The others did the same with the other guards, disappearing in a very similar manner. Surprisingly enough, everything had gone as planned, that almost never happened, which made Nix nervous. Though nothing had gone wrong yet, there was still a change things could still go horribly wrong, especially if you were counting on psynergy based on luck. But the die had been cast, and there was no turning back now. It could all just succeed, like it was supposed to.

As the Kohell banged on the doors and walls, and even the pillars began to collapse under the constant strain of the shaking floor, Nix finally gathered the last bits of psynergy he needed. Clasping his hands together and then spreading his arms wide, he unleashed the terrible spell he had taken so long to prepare, the Eris Wave. It spread in every direction, mangling walls, displacing bricks, liquifying or vaporising other bricks, some even simple disappeared, became battered and broken or were perforated entirely. And even other received a random impact, while some were sent flying, others were no loose enough to undergo this and thus the wall they were part of cracked under the strain. It was utter chaos. Everything else in the palace would undergo the same faith. But before Nix could warp away, he felt something changing.

His compound psynergy began to fall apart into its constituent psynergies: Mars, Venus, Mercury and Jupiter. Why did this happen? How did this happen? Did someone use another spell against him? No, that was impossible, no-one could do that against the entire wave, it had grown to large for that. Then why? But he couldn't keep thinking about it now, he had to get out, the throne chamber was already crumbling around him, raining down parts from the ceiling and upper floor. But trying to form the psynergy required, he found that he could not cast the spell anymore either, instead small bits of the four elements danced in the air around him for the slightest moment before dissipating.

---------------------------

From the outside of the palace, the view was horrible. While the building collapsed in on itself, bursts of rock, ice and magma erupted from the walls. As the former glory of Tolbi quickly faded into a ruin, the protrusions of rock and ice finally came to a stop, while the magma finally cooled and hardened, creating a sight no-one on Weyard had ever seen before. The combination of elemental formations almost seemed like a work of art. Whatever was left of the Iskuri stood around the remains of the palace, staring in disbelief at the might before them. But at least there were no clones left to fight, the Kohell had lost this battle, although the costs seemed great at first glance.

---------------------------

O²C : Flora isn't blushing on the outside, Kush, just to let you know. There's a reason for that.

This message was edited by Aulis Vaara on Apr 02 2008.

Sturdy metal doors to a sanctum lay useless on the floor blown from there hinges. Two individuals slowly immerged from the shadows within the building. "Not smart to knock so loudly on an enemies front door." Warned Izanov standing on Micheal's left.

Zander ignored the warning and walked forwards headed directly between them, "Don't get in my way." In response both Izanov and Micheal drew the swords lashing out at Zander. Each of the blades rang out as they struck the target. The swords had halted upon contact as if they couldn't penetrate Zander's body. The attackers then took notice of two perfect images of Zander standing perfectly beside them as if they were there the whole time. The quickly turned on the copies trying to cut them down but where caught and forced into submission. They watched as a yet another Zander walked through the doors this one with a blue wing protruding from his back. He then rested his hand on the original. It then flashed as another wing sprouted from Zanders back. He mumbled something under his breath before warping Izanov and Micheal away. His remaining four wings then returned to his back.

OOC: Zero, when you speak of others bringing out their villains...what are you talking about...?
-braces for impact-

And I have no idea for any antagonists among the Kohell.
----------------------

Ryzeth stared at the desolation that had once been Tolbi castle.
"Terrible..." the venus adept whispered.
"It is," Aura agreed, "But on the other hand, the Kohell are gone. We've won."
"If there are many more battles like this, will Weyard be able to hold out?" Ryzeth asked. Aura didn't reply. In spite of their warning from Remius, things had turned out like this. If the Kohell had caught them by surprise...?
She shivered. It was a terrifying thought.
"And Nix..." Nix hadn't joined them. Had he been inside when the palace had collapsed? She couldn't sense anything.
"Ronos, where are you...?"

"Do you see!?" Taro was shouting at the assembled Shades and Radiants, "Even the descendant of Chaos is putting his differences aside to fight against what he knows he must! What we all must if we are to survive!"
Remius frowned at Taro. Severein had been right. He was a moron.
And then something seemed to slip. What had been a delicate balance was now in turmoil.
Remius stopped and put a hand over his face.
"Something wrong?" Taro asked. stopping his tirade abruptly.
"The elements are breaking down," Remius said, "The Advent of Twilight is in full motion now. Soon your luna psynergy will be broken down into Mercury and Jupiter psynergy. And that, into nothing. My own psynergy is breaking down as well. However, I am strong enough that I can manage to keep it in its Chaotic form."
"But what of you, my Steward in Tolbi...?"
Gasps were uttered from the Shade and Radiant audience. Glances were exchanged. Some were frowning, others nodding to themselves.
"Something like psynergy can't just disappear!" Taro spluttered.
"True. Who can say where it goes when the base elements are broken down?" Remius wondered vaguely.
"Enough, enough! Regardless of what is happening in the outside world, we do not use psynergy! We have nothing to fear! The Kohell will be disposed of by Radiants and then we will march-" one Radiant was saying. He never got to finish. Archadia itself shook.
"The Kohell," Remius remarked idly, "I told you they would come. A full-scale strike. Taro, Ghost, Lyn. Come. We have work to do. Fortunately for us, not all the people in this city aren't as stubborn as their leaders. The militia is prepared to fight as are some of the Shades I could convince." Remius started toward the exit to the antechamber, a single black wing bursting out of his shoulder.
"Yes, Severein," Ghost replied, grinning.
"No kidding," Taro grumbled, tapping his own messenger powers, "Somehow I think he and Sev are long-lost twins...they're both assholes."

Severein sneezed.
"Someone talking about me?" the luna adept thought, sparing a grin despite his situation. It was probably Taro. His amusement didn't last, however.
"You're close...I can feel you now..." Severein squinted in the darkness of Purgatory. The ground was an endless expanse of glowing coal that for whatever reason, gave off very little heat.
The luna adept's hair was rough and unkempt. In the year he'd been in Purgatory, he'd been forced to cut his hair either with his sword or with psynergy. Both had proven extremely difficult. He was no barber. Severein laughed again at the thought of what Aura would say when she saw him.
Yes...thoughts of his home, friends, and family always cheered him.
"I'll return to you soon..." Severein promised himself, as he had everyday since he had charged through the rift in Lemuria with Remius to track down Rith.
He was nearby. Their bond echoed loudly in the silence of Purgatory. It had been quiet for some time.
"Ever since they launched their attacks on Weyard, the Shades, and Radiants," Severein thought bitterly. He wished he could be there for Aura and the others. He had done what he could in Purgatory, killing as many clones as he could when he came across them, but it wasn't enough.
"New clones surface like maggots from the rotting corpses of the dead. Will it ever be enough...?"
He and Remius had parted once they learned of the planned attacks. They had agreed that Remius would have to be the one to go back to Weyard. Rith would never trust Remius.
"I hope he'll still trust me..." the luna adept thought grimly. On and on he walked. But the odd thing was, he didn't seem to be getting any closer to Rith...
"I'll get him back..."

OOC: Not really sure what you wanted to do in Tolbi, Aulis, so I left that open to you and decided to advance the plot (bit by bit!) in Archadia. My next post will conclude the battle there as well as set a few things in motion.
And yes. I finally posted.

"And so it falls." Varox comments on the chaos below his gaze as he watched the caslte collapse in on itself. 'He lived up to that title he had.' Babylon chirped as Varox slowly parted his gaze from the destruction. 'What do we do now?' Babylon enquired, unsure of his master's motives. 'Well,' Varox began, but lacked a real answer. 'If all rumours are to be true, Severein will soon return, hoepfully tipping the tide of the conflict. So the role of the messenger's will obviosly be to hold out until he does come.' he finsihed without answering the question. Babylon, as usual impatient, asked more. 'What of us, we're not among the ranks of the messengers.' Babylon held a valid point, and Varox had already considered it. 'True, but all beings need allies. So we shall count ourselves as one of theirs. We're as much a part of this now as any of the messengers, and are able to burden similiar tasks. However, it will demand more than our usual level of power to keep up with them. Understood?' He felt the small Djin swell with pride and was certain of the answer before it was heard. 'Yes, understood! We'll assist the messengers and defend Weyard!'

- - - - -

He found Ryzeth & Aura doing as much the same as everyone else present, observing the fall of Tolbi. "A victory," he said as he approached "But with a heavy price. Fortunately the Kohell will have more to grieve than us, or so I hope." He finished as he joined between them. "I know what face Weyard now, and now I offer my service to you, the messengers, as a ally in the coming darkness. If you'll employ me that is?"

OOC: I'll stick with where I'm going for now.

A trio of lightningbolts illuminated the sky in path between three floating personas and the closest of the faux Messengers. The three were obviously the trio that Raphel had talked about. They had certainly arrived faster than Raphel had hoped, and their initial attacks was also much more efficient than he had thought possible, surely a good sign. The roaring thunder coupled to their lightningbolts was received with a cheer from his own guard. The clone was now dead, a crispy black husk as that of a burned angel, a burned fallen angel. But that was far from victory, there were still over two dozen other Messenger clones out there, bent on destroying all adepts in their sight and able to deal out surrealistic amounts of damage.

In the distance, Raphel could see his army warping into and near the town of Imil, trying to protect it as he had ordered, even though they were simply outmatched by even a handful of these false Messengers. It seemed ridiculous than an army of thousand didn't really stand a chance again even a few of them, but such was harsh reality. Something would certainly need to be done about that, if they survived this, the men should be trained better and harsher than ever before, in order to increase their effectiveness, in order to guarantee the survival of Weyard. Raphel feared the deaths that this training could possibly bring, but that was nothing compared to the extinction of Weyard, it had to be done, and he knew that the Lord of Chaos would come to the same conclusion. He knew him good enough to guarantee at least that.

“Forward, you lazy bastards, I want to reach that town before the Messenger has done all the work. Let's show this bastard what we are made of.” The men actually cheered at Raphel's exhortation, but it definitely got them moving, and fighting. Fireballs and Raphel's fiery arrows filled the sky like an inverted rain, frying anything that got in their way, except of course, those that were stopped by the clones' own defensive spells. The scene should've been disheartening to see, but instead the soldiers did not yield, moving forward across the snowy plain as death rained against their shields from above.

The crackling and swishing sounds of psynergetic attacks were suddenly broken through by another thunderous roar, and another, and another. The trio had strucked fiercely once again as two more winged corpses plummeted to the cold heart earth that had no choice but to receive them. It was by this deed however, that the trio finally got the attention that it deserved, as another three clones flew through the sky to meet them, robbing Raphel and his guard of their valuable airsupport. But Raphel had no choice, he had to press on, he could not stay to help his champions in their hour of need, more was at stake here, and it seemed as though the Messenger on his side was about even with the dozen or so Messengers that he faced.

-------------------------------

As she gazed at the infinite stars around her, she suddenly felt as if someone or something was pulling at her, trying to draw her away from her own contemplations. But where to? Where could her mind go besides to herself? Only one answer came to mind, and though that in itself did not scare her, she was not done here, she could not leave her love to face the chaos that was still to come on his own, she was not ready to embrace death. She resisted with all her might, though she had no idea how she was doing it, nor how the other one was pulling at her, none of this really made any sense. A sudden thought hit her, and she let go, she let herself be drawn out.

What will staying here accomplish? You'll remember things? And then what? The only way to get somewhere familiar, is to go through the unknown. Trust in yourself. That was ultimately it, wasn't it? Trusting yourself, allowing yourself to be taken in the hope that it would actually bring you closer to your goal. That wasn't trust, not even close actually, it was pure gambling, betting yourself, with the weight of Weyard on your shoulders. If you failed, the world would plummet to its end, because support had been removed. This was worse than any other decision she had ever made, and now that it was done, there was no going back, no securities, only risk. Her back still ached with the cold of a thousand winters. That was a good sign at least.

“Cut the bonds, liberate yourself.” The voice sounded serious, but it had to be a joke. Didn't it?
Huh? Who said that? What are you talking about?
“Don't listen to her. She's trying to seperate you from you.” Great, that made even more sense than the last one. And she still had no idea who was talking. As she tried to respond, to ask a question, she found that no words of her own would come out, that she was only left with her thoughts and the uninformed choice she had to make.
Somewhere she felt that time was ticking away and that she had to make her choice as fast as possible to preserve what was left of it. An hourglass appeared in the darkness before her, sand running through it, the time she had left shrunk with every passing moment as more grains of sand made their way to the lower half.
“And how do you know that that is such a bad thing?” A girl appeared to the left of the hourglass, a reasonable distance away from it. She had pitch black hair but otherwise looked exactly like herself, a perfect replica of Flora in every aspect. But she had not been the one that was speaking.
“Because a person should not be seperated from herself, it leads to problems, you know that!” Now it was the black haired Flora that spoke, but while she did so, an identical female, but with white hair appeared across from her, staring at the other tauntingly, as if she was challenging her to a very personal fight. She still couldn't make any sense of what was being said.
“Hah, her wings shattered, her power is fading quickly. She NEEDS to swap out, or she won't survive out there.” That at least made some sense, even if it came from her white haired replica of herself. She did lose her wings upon crashing to the hard ground, but what was this swapping out thing? Then again, if she was really losing her powers, and if this swapping gave her more strength, she was inclined to take the offer, Weyard needed all the strength it could get.
“And possibly alienate her from everything that she was, everything that she is. No-one could ask a person to sacrifice that much, it is a fate worse than death if you ask me.” Could it really be that bad if she took up on the offer? A trio of strings had unnoticably made their way into the scene, disappearing into nowhere in three different directions, but all emmanating for her.
“What is a little self-sacrifice if it helps Weyard to survive?” The white haired one was determined to get her way.
“Strength without a self is the way of the Kohell. And even now their false Messengers are slain at the hands of the real Messengers. Surely you can see that this is not the way to go?” The black haired Flora on the other hand obviously made more valid points.

Aww to hell with this. I'm just going to take the risk. With a mere thought the three strings that represented the bonds broke, cutting her loose, setting her free. It was strange, her sight had faded and only a strange sense of direction remained, origin lay behind her, and a number of possible destination lay scattered about in all directions. But as soon as the bonds had broken, she had understood, the bonds were those of her soul connected to her body, and cutting them had set her body free to search for a new, more powerful body. She had made the wrong decision, the worst mistake of her life.

She wondered about it for a second and then went for it, moving back to origin, back to her own body, reclaiming it for herself, in full consciousness. As her soul returned to her body, she gasped audibly.

-------------------

O²C : I hope this is to everyone's liking. In any case it's probably the most inspired piece I have written in a while.

Sobbing was all that one could hear in that dark and ominous room.

Well, it was what was most prominent, anyway. If one looked past the irritating bawling, then they could hear the faint sounds of beating that accompanied it. The place where this most sinful action was taking place certainly fit what one might imagine in their minds eye. People often associate dank and evil looking places with wicked occurrences, after all. It was so cliché. So cliché, that he felt like bursting into a fit of laughter. It was just like something out of a horror movie. There was no décor in the room. Just a man, and a young girl. The Man was fairly tall, and he loomed over the child, whom was sprawled out upon the floor. The child, in turn, was bound by thick ropes and wearing a sullied white dress. It was covered in mud, and torn in several places, indicating a struggle that she had inevitably lost.

The man was hitting her. Not hard, mind you. This experiment had to be handled with care, after all.

He continued to lightly hit the girl in the same area of her thigh, as the creeping redness began to spread beneath her skin. Once it had become a satisfactory black-purple, he switched his attention to the girls arm. The process repeated, until all four of her limbs were swollen with blood. Internal hemorrhage was such a nasty way to die.

But the thing is, she wasn’t. Dead, I mean.
She had yet to reach the conclusion that all living creatures share.

He stared at the sobbing child, perplexed by the life that she so obviously possessed. He had been so sure that the process would kill her. He had wanted to see if the girl could die of blood loss, without making an unsightly mess. Not that he ever bothered to clean up after his victims, but regardless, it was such an untidy process. There were times when the blood would spray upon his clothes, which vexed him to no end. The nerve of them! They should accept their dying with grace and poise, instead of lashing out at him with waves of red. It was annoying. It really was.
His previous experiments had yielded such results, which is why he attempted a new approach this time around. Hemorrhage with no blood spilt… quite poetic, really. But more importantly-- It saved him the trouble of washing those pesky stains from his clothes. Sigh. It was such a tedious process, and he had grown weary of bleaching his clothes over and over again.

Still nothing. The girl merely yelped and sobbed even harder as the deep red overcame her once ivory skin.

Failure.

Once again, his experiments ended in failure. Normally one would become aggravated, even enraged, by this constant stream of failure-- But the man took his losses with a grain of salt.

Gray Abadon merely shrugged, produced a syringe, and then thrust it into the young girl’s neck. How boring. He had had really high hopes this time around, but it seemed humans were quite a bit sturdier than he had anticipated. He would dismember the body, and then return her to her parents. The girl whimpered slightly, but that was cut off as her body began to convulse violently. In her spastic movements, the nameless child bit through her tongue, and her fit settled down into a mere quiver as a result. So, Death By blood-loss it was. Just as he had originally planned, though, the method was a failure never the less. The blood had projected from the child’s mouth, splattering upon Gray’s shoes. He looked at the red splotches with much distaste, and at that moment, was filled with an intense and inexplicable rage. (Inexplicable to anyone who did not know of his passionate love for fresh and pristine clothes.) He grabbed the child by her red tresses, and pulled her up so the two were now face to face. What little life she had in her trickled down her face, as though trying to delude the blood that was still draining from her mouth.

Oh, such pitiful tears.

Stop your crying, you stupid bitch. The world around you is dying too. So at least you’re not dying alone.

The knife came quickly. So quickly, that even Gray had a hard time realizing he was the one who thrust it into the girl. He looked at it briefly, as though someone else had attempted to finish his game in his stead. Then, with an inhuman growl, he seized the handle and jerked it out of the girl’s spasming body. The process repeated.

Be thankful that you won’t be around to witness the end of the world.


With the conclusion under wraps--The body, neatly cut into several pieces, and wrapped in a lovely cloth.-- Gray tossed the experiments variable aside, and exhaled noisily. The cloth was quite pretty, really. It was a shame to waste it on such a trivial thing. But he would wrap it up nicely with a bow, and as always, return the body to where he had seized it from. This girl in particular had been plying outside, when he approached her, asking for directions to the nearest chapel. She volunteered to take him there. Idiot child--Did your parents not teach you to be wary of strangers? Apparently not, but really, it doesn’t matter anymore. You’re just a corpse in pretty cloth.
As were all the others… Yes, yes, he was reflecting on those failed experiments. He vaguely realized that they had all been failures, but it mattered not, he decided indignantly.

No… This wasn’t murder. He was merely doing these girls a favor. There was very little about his actions that could be considered ‘murder.’—Shame on you silly people for thinking otherwise. These were just kind favors. Not something grotesque and as horrid as that most unfitting word. Murder.

But the first experiment had been just that. A ‘Killing’, for lack of any other word, to fill the void that now existed within him. He wanted to see it again… he wanted to see ‘that’ again, no matter how many meticulous experiments he would be forced to perform. The first experiment seemed vague in his minds eye… he had commit it in a blind rage, so therefore, it didn’t really count at all. He had killed the girl too quickly, her amber eyes not reflecting the least bit of fear. She had not known she would die. The despair had not set in. Failure. The next experiment appeared a bit more clearly within his mind-- He had peeled the layers of skin away, one at a time, to see if he could shred away all seven before the victim died. She went into shock by the fifth Layer, and died rather quickly afterwards. What a waste of time and effort on his part-- He would not construct such a poor test in the future. The rest, as many as there are, resulted in similar failure--He either killed them accidentally, before achieving his intended results, or they went into shock and died on their own.

No, No, No.

It wouldn’t do at all. None of those deaths were fantastic enough. It wasn’t enough to find a girl who resembled his shining light… He had to find a girl who could replicate that most spectacular scene-- The scene where his shining light was overcome by the rising darkness. The only person worth saving--No, the only person who actually deserved to live in this rotting world.-- Dying anyway, at the hands of a hopelessly cruel fate. For what reason? To protect a bunch of worthless lowlife who had clearly underestimated her worth. It nauseated him. It enraged him. It left him with a thirst that could not be quenched. And his throat would remain dry, his body weak and parched… until he could witness that death one more time.

Ah, but what about that one?

Gray pondered for a moment, and only a moment. It was all that was necessary for him to make his decision. A smile snaked across his lips, and that wild look possessed his eyes once more. Why, that could actually work!! With someone as strong as that girl, she would definitely be a prime candidate to reenact that splendid death. Oh, happiness was once again within his grasp. How fortuitous for him.

How should he laugh in a situation like this? Keh keh keh keh? No. That was too crotchety and not nearly menacing enough. ‘Ha ha ha’ was boring and overused. And he would never resort to using those pathetically contrived and evil laughs such as ‘Muhuhuhuhuhu’ or ‘Bwahahahahah.’—Ah, really, so bothersome. Why were such decisions so much harder to make? It never failed to amaze him how easy decisions took so much longer to make than difficult decisions. This little fact of life only convinced him further that humanity was, quite honestly, the most pointless thing in existence. More pointless than a DVD rewinder. Finally, he decided on the mellow and down-to-earth, yet ever so menacing “Hm hm hm”—It made him sound intelligent. As though he were mulling things over.

Hm hm hm. She’ll do, yes, she’ll do. The girl with lovely red hair… the girl who stole my shining light’s place in the world. Yes. I must come up with a truly fantastic death for this particular girl. How dare she? How dare she live while the world around her dies. Truly… every aspect of this world and its people-- Be they adepts, or be they human-- ....Every aspect was, without a doubt, truly and absolutely.....

Moral of this post = It’s always the perverted ladies man that has rotting corpses in his basement.

Light.

“Not only that... there’s a lot f fire and lightning and pain and hurt.” Enzo looked down towards the Red Tower, as they were savagely assaulted by a number of messengers. They were tougher than normal adepts, taking into account the current state of psynergy in Weyard, but it was barely enough... “Heh... I think that, but they are doing perhaps better than me.”

High in the skies, and even higher with each moment that passed, Enzo fought against a dozen or more of the false messengers. The creatures fought fiercely and avoided every attack Enzo directed at them. They moved swiftly and precisely, more than most of the mindless dolls. The Seven-Wings moved in closer while lunging with his naginata, only to find himself flying away to avoid a counter-attack. Enzo moved further towards the sky, turning to his attackers and firing streams of silvery white psynergy. The distorted lines of light just danced around and did not make it to their targets, being pettily reflected. Definitively, not amusing. Enzo just allowed himself to go higher up, before sending down a small orb of silver psynergy. Once it exploded, he knew he would only have enough time to analyze his opponents.

Fifteen, now he could find himself time to count them all, messengers had not traveled down to meet the Red Tower. They circled him, as if acknowledging he was a force to be studied. Or perhaps, which Enzo decided it was a more likely situation, they wanted to show him what he was up against. Only when analyzing the latter possibility did him take his time to feel uneasy.

“That’s a lot of wings you guys got there...” Seven, to say the truth. They were all seven-winged messenger clones. They all leaked sizable streams of psynergy with every flap of their wings. And they all seemed to wither with every passing second. “If a normal clone is frail, these guys... can’t last long.” And so, Enzo noticed something changing... They were not attacking, alright, but they did not seem to care about him anymore either. Those Faux Messengers... were growing in power, but their artificial flesh was degrading rapidly.

“In the army of these creatures... They are both the artillery and ammunition.” Enzo gritted his teeth, unable to believe in himself. But it was the only possible explanation... they did not seem interested in attacking him, but if all fifteen managed to do a kamikaze rush to Imil, considering their power to be growing while they rot, the city would be reduced to craters. “I can’t allow that...”

Enzo stretched one arm, firing a single thin ray of light from his forefinger, piercing the second closest enemy where would have been the heart, were it human. Soon, the clones dispersed, rocketing now downwards and aiming for the battlefield down bellow. The Seventh Messenger swiftly closed distance between him and the closest fiend, chopping its head off. He then continued, throwing down his spear on the others ahead and going for the next one. Upon tearing two of the being’s ethereal wings with psynergy Enzo went for his spear, leaving a sphere of Pluto psynergy behind to finish another messenger as he got hold of it.

Four down... There is no way I’ll... Enzo shook those thoughts away, as he heard the exploding bodies of his opponents behind him. The boy then pummeled the next corpse, attempting to hurl it on its allies. As the False Messenger exploded, one of the others shook violently, as if trying to remain in one piece after being affected by the burst. Enzo only charged, slashing the doll across the chest, and moving forward. It promptly turned into a revolting ball of bluish white, engulfing two of its brethren.

“It doesn’t even matter! I’m still not going to make it.” Enzo barked, flying down as fast as his wings allowed. Was it worth it? What exactly was worth the impossible?

Do you plan to survive?

“I don’t plan to die.”

Then what are you afraid of? You don’t have the right to die anymore.

---

Down, in the battlefield, the Elder of Imil felt his skin become a bloody mix of ashes and ice. Those demons, they could not defeated, if not by a miracle. But there were no more miracles, not one, since the gods had either died or abandoned his beloved city. He knew, now it all depended on the forces of Chaos.

The old man pushed his hand against his ribs in a gesture that he himself did not understand, but did not deny either. Using whatever had left of his strength he sat himself against the nearest wall, watching sadly the slaughter that took place among his people. His head moved numbly, almost in an irrational attempt to seek hope. Yet, all he could see were the death bringers of his kind, floating in the skies as they laid waste on the city. Until... something caught his attention.

Above everything, the people, the warriors, and demons, seven faint silvery blue (perhaps it was purple?) lights scratched the sky. He could feel their power from the ground... it was wild, cruel, and yet... empty. And then? A bright spark of white approached them, touching the one closest to the ground (which was still pretty far off). Soon, the spark merged with the lights, morphing, almost by fatality, a sphere of the brightest silver and white. It grew quickly, almost touching Weyard, blinding those on the ground, engulfing those in air. Humans felt their eyes scream and their skin burn, even if such burns would not threaten their lives. Adepts felt their power peak, their hunger for psynergy being fed for a few moments of splendor. The Elder felt his psynergy once again, and rejoiced. His wounds diminished, but did not close. His sight was in pain, but was not dead. Once the lights finally faded away, no one could say for sure how long they took to do so, no more dots, streams, or sparks remained in the sky. All that remained was a young man, the unconscious Messenger, descending slowly, as if he was carried down to the ground on a sheet of his angel feathers.

-----

OOC: lol, weak post. Sorry for taking so long, Aulis. Please don't hate me i.i.

EDIT: Aulis; would you mind taking Enzo with Raphel, if you are going to move him anytime soon? If not, don't do anything. I'm just taking a ride, so don't do anything you were not gong to do in the first place.

This message was edited by Zero_is_just_cool on Apr 23 2008.

Torches lit the sanctum passage ways leading Zander further into the structure. The stonewalls of the hall spread apart, opening up into a large room. As Zander walked towards the center a ring of flames burst into existance filling the area with a red-orange glow. In the center stood D'mitri's familiar crystalline form beside a crib. "To think he almost had me where he in the palm of his hand." D'mitri said with an indignant tone in his voice, "Take your child, and leave with this: I may be the one started this mess but it would seem I no longer hold all the cards. You and your friends are now caught in between three foes. I suggest you leave quickly I no longer need you, the messengers, or your child." Bewildered by D'mitri's odd behavior and apparent change of heart Zander waisted no time in picking up the child and fading into the air.

At the edge of town Mizu still holding har baby close was crouched beside a building only a short distance from the Teleport array. Then with a sharp blue flash Zander appeared still holding onto the child he had just taken back from D'mitri. "He didn't fight you?" Mizu asked as she stepped forward onto the array. "No. However I think we need to return immediately."

How could this be? Why weren't things like they had been before? Had something gone wrong, or was it meant to go like this? It was probably a consequence of leaving her body, at least that was the first reason she could come up with. Foolish, foolish girl. How could you ever have been so stupid? Had it really been that stupid? No. There had been no choice at the time, it had been breaking out or possibly staying stuck in there forever. But perhaps being stuck in there for a while would have been better than the mess she was in now. How could she get back to reality now, how could she return to being a mighty adept and the shepherd of Weyard? The Messenger of Growth too, if it wasn't too much to ask.

Impulses, perceptions of the world around her did reach her, telling her of the ongoing battle between the handful of surviving Red Tower soldiers and the faux Messengers in the sky above her. Her love, Kushluk, was there too, but he seemed to concerned for her well-being to actually fight back. The fool. He had always been a fool though, but now was not the time to be one. He needed to fight back before all was lost, before the rest of the soldiers were wiped out and he had to face the Messenger clones alone. He would not survive that battle, not because he was not skilled enough, but because he would be too concerned with protecting her. His love. She wanted to tell him to fight, to yell at him for not doing so sooner, but her body still did not respond to any of her commands.

A direct attack bounced of the shields of the Red Tower soldiers, but a short moment later a second beam of searing hot death scorched and melted two of the soldiers before they even realised they were being attacked. She wanted to stretch out her hand and command her psynergy to incinerate the clones far above, to punish them for the deaths they had so easily caused. Her powerlessness made her want to cry, but even that was out of her reach. She could do absolutely nothing and that frustrated her even more than having to watch people die. Recover Kush. Recover and fight back. Fight back and show those inferior Messenger just who they are messing with. Oh that man would certainly feel her anger if she got control over her body back. Especially if she died before then.

----------------

Violently coughing to get some dust out of his throat, Nix tried to pull what was left of himself back together. Nearly every part of his body hurt, his head felt like he had the worst hangover in the history of Weyard and sense all seemed blurred or missing. He couldn't even really move himself, only his right arm would budge. So he tried to lean on it and raise his head, but even that failed right now and he hadn't the slightest clue why. Come on stupid body, work with me here. Like that would help. The next best thing then: psynergy. Although Eris was not really the element he needed now, he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. He tried to focus it next himself, at least what he thought to be next to himself. It failed miserably, his psynegetic abilities seemed gone, at least for the moment.

Eventually his vision seemed to unblur, slowly. It revealed his surroundings a sort of dome consisting of threefold textures on its chaotically random surface. A black hardened surface was most prominent near the ground, seeming as if it had been flowing and then hardened. Second was a rocky underground which seemed to be omnipresent and was obviously the one that had played a part in the shaping of the other two. The third kind of surfaces were randomly positioned spires of ice, creating pointy edges which were the very reason Nix could not move. Luckily none of those had impaled any part of his body, but they were position so that he couldn't really make any significant movements. His situation seemed surrealistic, while nothing really broke the laws of the universe, the laws of luck -good and bad- had certainly been defied here.

Well, all he could do was wait until Killana would bust him out, or until his psynergy returned, either would allow him to leave this place any continue his plans. At least he didn't seem to have been seriously injured, although he couldn't say for certain as his sense of touch didn't tell him anything at this point. But he was fairly certain he would have noticed if he had been seriously injured, if only by noticing his blood somewhere, or having a bad taste in his mouth or a similar smell. Or perhaps he was overconfident because he had always had his senses to tell him when something was wrong and he simply wasn't able to imagine that they wouldn't. My brain wouldn't cooperate as well if I was seriously injured. There, that was proof enough.

-----------------

Why aren't you moving from there? I know you're not injured, beyond some bruises and abrasions. Killana tried not to show her nervousness in front of the handful of soldiers there with her, they would probably not take it so well. Nix' spell seemed to have worked, at least the Messenger clones had all been killed in the Wave, but something must have gone wrong because he hadn't left yet. Was something wrong with his psynergy? She couldn't tell, not even through their bond, and there was no way to find out without involving the soldiers, and she didn't want to do that. They had to remain convinced their Lord of Chaos was untouchable, although she had no idea how long that idea could be maintained. With these new and powerful enemies he would have to fight more often himself, and if many more attacks of similar caliber came, he would certainly get seriously injured sooner or later.

-----------------

A sudden ball of scorching, corroding silver illuminated the sky before and above Raphel and his men, boosting their psynergy. But before they could use the boost, every last faux Messenger was destroyed in the brilliant show of silvery white power. No way could his men ever have taken on that Messenger as he had boasted, no-one could stand a chance against a force like that except maybe another Messenger or the Lord of Chaos himself. As the light finally faded, Raphel and his men hurried onward, dropping their guard as there were no enemies to fight anymore. The last short distance didn't take long to cross and they soon found themselves in the city, along with the rest of the troops of the Red Tower.

“Kenraali.” One of the men started, with his fist on the Mars Lighthouse emblem on his left shoulder. “We hurried as fast as we could, but it looks like the Messenger took care of everything.”
“I can see that, Eversti Virtanen. Make sure you're not late again. Victory will most likely depend on it next time.” Raphel paused for a moment, long enough to give the commander the time to feel shame because of his inability to participate in the battle. “Have you seen the Messenger? Where did he go?”
“I believe he floated down not too far from here, Kenraali Raphel. I would guess it was near the center of town.”
“Stay here. I am going to see if the battle is really over.” Raphel quickly moved to the center of town with only a duo of guards near him, though both fully alert for any possible danger. With his rapid pace, he quickly reached the center of town where the Messenger had indeed decended. A handful of Mercury adepts stood over him, bright glows around them revealed that they were casting psynergy, probably trying to heal the Messenger as well as they could.

One of the elders moved toward Raphel, turning him away from the healing process. “We think that he will be fine, though we cannot restore his strength completely. But that is probably because he is a Messenger.” Raphel glanced at the Messenger over his shoulder, trying to think of anything he could possibly do for the man, but he doubted there was anything. The Imil elder continued to speak. “That is not what I wanted to talk about. Will such an... attack happen again?”
Though Raphel didn't know that they would, he didn't have a doubt in his heart that they had not seen the last of those things. “In all likelyhood, yes, we will see such attacks again and probably even more ferocious ones.”
”Then it seems,” the elder responded, “that we have no choice but to help the Red Tower in its war against these fallen angels. They obviously want us out of the picture, and we cannot allow this.” Yet the old man's voice did not seem convinced of that, or perhaps something else was bothering him. “I fear this may be the end of the Mercury clan, but I suppose there is nothing that can be done about that.”
“I'm afraid not elder. But your aid will never be forgotten. History will always remember us and thus also you.” There was little comfort to be found in history, especially in the face of imminent destruction. While they had won this first battle, it had not gone well at all. Many dead were strewn about in the city of Imil and even the Messenger that had aided them was out. His own men had done little to nothing to even harm the enemy and had instead been forced to cower behind their shields. If they wanted to make a difference, some things would have to change.

---------------------------

O²C : A bit overdue. But here it finally is.

"Kahei, do you mind telling me your plan once more." Varox obsevered Kahei as he massed scores of men in a attempt to form a vaguard fit for battle. The younger man looked at him and scowled. "With our lord gone, the Red Tower must be united in the face of this new enemy. I am going to Imil. Our psyenergy should get us there without trouble and we have ways of teleportation remaining if we should need it." Varox was soon to judge, it didn't seem logical to send Tolbi's remaining warriors off to Imil to locate their commander for the sake of having to march them back.

"Why not just send one to carry the message?" Varox instructed but Kahei laughed. "With thoses things on the prowl, not few men would have the guts or ability to make it to Imil. If I'm to assume they are still watching us, then it's best we travel as the Red Tower should, as a army." Kahei finished and turned to begin direcing his men. "But what if a man with the courage and ability did stand forward?" Varox again continued on a conversation Kahei was keen to end, he knew where it would lead if he continued. "Then I suppose I'll go with him and leave defense of Tolbi in Killana's hands. But, I assume if I do go she'll take it anyhway. So are you sure my old friend?" Kahei mocked the difference of their age, despite it only being of w years as Kahei was younger as Twenty-Two. "I was certain until I learned I must drag you along with me, I must admit I did not enjoy preaching to both you and Raphel before, and I shant now. So let us be going and get it over with. If thing s go as I imagined, Imil should be subdued and Raphel will be awaiting orders. It is from our mouths he shall get them."

It took Kahei no more than few minutes, he stripped of his armour and changed into lighter gear, rallied a man to act as their transport and took one more man that Kahei deemed competant for the task. A man by the name of 'Serna'. Varox met with both Aura & Ryzeth before and asked they try and get in touch with him when possible, he also highlighted that he once heard rumor of another messenger taking refuge in Imil. "Now we leave, mage." On Kahei's order the mae waved his arms and focused on the psyenergy neccesary to transport them to Imil. A moment later Varox felt the ground beneath vanish and be replaced with the cold snow of Imil.

OOC: Try and get things going again.

Taro stepped cautiously over the smoldering ruin of the once grand Radiant capital. The battle was finally over. How long had they fought? One hour? Two? Three? It was hard to tell. The luna adept grit his teeth as he recalled Remius' words earlier.
"It seems they are focusing their attack here," the Eris adept remarked idly as he dismembered a three-winged messenger clone."
"What do you mean, focusing?" Taro demanded.
"They attacked Weyard as well at several locations. Tolbi and Imil are just examples. I imagine they attacked Lemuria; Prox, what's left of it anyway; Vale, and Contigo as well. And in all probabily, the elemental rocks as well." Remius responded, "But don't worry. I gave warning to Aura. She's probably taken care of everything."
"Bastard!" Taro shouted, "Why the hell didn't you stay to help her!?"
"Because she, unlike you, can take care of herself." Remius retorted.
"Shut up. I can take care of myself. Why do you think I'm the only messenger here? Well was, anyway."
"Because Zander is busy with Dmitri, Aura must deal with Nix, Flora and Kushluk are gathering the djinni, Enzo has gone his separate way, and Severein and I were in Purgatory. In other words, you were the only person we could spare. Now enough of this. Keep your eye on the enemy or you'll get blown to pieces."

"I hate him. Him and Severein," Taro muttered bitterly, "Always underestimating me. *bleep* them."
The luna adept took another look around the city. The casualties were light. Bodies hung limply from debris and housing, but they were messenger clone bodies. Blood spattered the streets and walls, painting them in rich, crimson shades, but it was not the blood of Shades or Radiants. It was hard to believe the Shades and Radiants had been unprepared. They had quickly turned the battle around and brought down the clones quickly.
"It may be possible to turn this war around," Taro thought to himself as he continued walking, "Hell, we might even survive to see Weyard's victory."
Ghost and Lyn had lived as well, though Ghost had sustained a minor concussion and Lyn was nursing several injuries she's received while protecting Ghost. Taro sometimes wondered whether or not the two were a couple. It was certainly an odd one if they were. Ghost had to be at least...
"Come to think of it, I don't know how old Ghost is," Taro thought suddenly, "Or Zander...or Severein...or Lyn...or Kush...or Flora...or Nix...okay, I know how old Enzo and Rith are. And Ryzeth and Aura. Uh..." Taro ran a hand through his disheveled hair, "Crap. I have no idea. BUT NOW'S NOT THE TIME!" Taro gave himself a mental slap, "Gotta focus. What now?"

"What now?" Ryzeth asked as she and Aura strolled through what remained of Tolbi.
"Varox is gone and Nix seems to have disappeared. There were tremors all over Weyard. Did you feel the energy spike in Imil?"
Ryzeth nodded, "I think that was Enzo. The psynergy pulsed, but it felt empty."
"Right, and the two psynergy signals elsewhere are Flora and Kush, most likely," Aura responded. "Though Flora's signal is fluctuating oddly. I hope she's alright..."
"I think that for now, we should keep an eye on the Red Tower. I don't know what happened to Nix, but even if he is gone, the Red Tower is not finished."
Ryzeth nodded, "Right."
"...We could probably destroy it if we acted now," Aura spoke almost to herself, "But the Red Tower has gathered nearly every adept on Weyard. Destroying it would mean crushing Weyard's hope."

"What!? Go back to Weyard!?" Taro demanded, staring incredulously at Remius.
"Right. Go back to Weyard and gather the messengers. Whatever task they are doing now must be set aside. We must go on the offensive and we must go as one. How many times must I repeat myself?" Remius asked.
"You want to go on the offensive with THIS?" Taro gestured all around him, "Sure, we kicked their asses, but this is probably only a small detachment, Remius! They're gonna have thousands more, millions more, in Purgatory!"
"The Shades and Radiants were overconfident and unprepared and look at the result. Now imagine a battle where they are prepared and where their strongest are present. Also, the longer we wait, the weaker our psynergy becomes. We must strike a decisive blow as soon as possible," Remius responded.
"He's got a point," Ghost remarked.
"You agree with him?" Taro spluttered.
"Yes, I do. You weren't so hesitant when you led the resistance at Morta Gailis against Tolbi. What's happened, Taro?" Ghost asked.
"This is different..." Taro began, but then broke off, "Maybe you're right. I'm just not ready for this. I still don't completely understand my messenger powers. I can use the power boost, but beyond that..."
"You'll learn in time. No one starts out as masters of their powers," Remius responded, "Now go. Gather what messengers you can and then bring them here. We'll rendezvous with Severein in Purgatory. Hopefully, he will have found Rith by that time as well."

Severein blinked in surprise. Rith's psynergy signal had stopped moving. The luna adept broke into a run. Now was the time to close the ground between them. His long legs carried him uphill, over a mound of the ashen ground to...
Severein stopped and ducked down. Below him was a small camp of Renevants and a guard of five messenger clones. Centered around them was Rith.
"This war is hopeless," one Renevant spoke, "We lost 45% of our messenger clone forces."
"They don't know that, Zyna," another Renevant responded, "Besides. The attack was only meant to incapacitate our foes temporarily. Until we can finish our new weapon."
"I still can't believe this is really the one," one Renevant spoke, poking Rith with a finger.
"Rest assured. This boy is our key to victory," another spoke.
"But Sorek, the Golden Sun no longer resides in him!" the first Renevant spoke.
"It doesn't matter, Daex," the one called Sorek responded, "There is still a residual amount of Alchemy left in the boy. Do you have any idea how much power a residual amount is? In his battle against the messengers, he used approximately 5% of his power. And he fought them on even ground for a good amount of time. When the Golden Sun separated from him, he was left with that same 5% of power."
"Is that what the Circle intends to do? Clone the power of the Golden Sun?" Daex asked.
Sorek nodded, "Our foes have seven messengers. It took seven messengers to bring down the boy. With only ten clones in addition to our current forces, we could easily annihilate the world. Cloning the messengers was only a test, after all. To see if it could be done."
"But cloning the power of the Golden Sun! Cloning Alchemy! It's not psynergy! We can't take the results of the messenger cloning as conclusive enough to try imbuing a clone with Alchemy!" the Renevant called Zyna burst out.
"Getting cold feet?" Sorek asked, grinning maliciously.
"I just think we should run more tests! Do more research! At least take precautions before we try to clone the Golden Sun!" Zyna retorted.
"True, that would be for the best, but time is not on our side. It was not when the Advent of Twilight began ahead of the determined schedule and this boy awoke as the Golden Sun and it still isn't now. We have to hurry."
The conversation fell silent then.

Severein paled. Images of the battle against Rith flashed rapidly through his mind. If the Kohell succeeded in cloning that power...
"I won't let that happen," Severein thought fiercely, "I'll get him back before they get the chance!"

OOC: Cloning Rith = master plan!? Well, you'll just have to wait and see.

Had some terrible writer's block with this post, but I got the main points across.

Also, I'd like to take a head count. Who is actually still in this? Patton (or whatever you want to be called. You're still Patton to me. >=O), I assume you are. And Aulis as well.

...

This isn't very encouraging. x_x

Zero, GP, if you're still doing this, just let me know somehow (PM, post here, whatever.) And does anyone know what's happening with Kush?

OOC: I shun you Ishilar God of whatever junk-food you desire. MY NAME IS PROVINCE! *_*

Remember that! Zero accepted it well...I think.

Yes Province (Hint) is still here and is currently wondering who else is.

“Teijin, Kahei, what are you two doing here?” Raphel said as the two in question climbed the hill atop which Kenraali Raphel's command tent had been set up. He himself just exited the tent with the elders of Imil in tow, who had been negotiating for the survival of the Mercury clan. It was odd how there people wasted so much time with pointless debating, instead of helping to figure out how the Red Tower could be improved to stand a chance against the new threat.
“It's Varox actually, Raphel.” Teijin said first, slightly before Kahei could give the reason for their coming.
“I'm here to take command of the Red Tower, Raphel.”
Raphel was taken aback, he stood paralyzed, unable to speak a word, unable to react to the bold move of Kahei had made.
Anger came first, fierce anger filling up Raphel's heart with loathing. What Kahei was doing was treason, the man would find himself to be dead very quickly if he meant to continue this madness.
“The Lord of Chaos is dead, Raphel. I must hold together as much of the Red Tower as I possibly can.” Kahei's voice was firm and full of confidence, but that didn't mean a thing to Raphel. Nix couldn't be dead, he was far stronger than any Red Tower soldier in service and he was resourceful as well. No, Nix would not allow himself to be killed and thus Raphel had to conclude Kahei was dying.
“You will die for your treachery, Kahei.” Kahei remained calm at the accusation, yet his left hand slowly moved to the smaller of his two weapons, if even so slightly.
“I have seen him die, Raphel. The castle at Tolbi turned into an elemental chaos, nothing of the castle itself remained. He couldn't have survived.” Kahei explained, it even almost sounded like the bastard felt pain at the loss.
“It's true, Raphel. I've seen it happen as well. In some weird way, it was actually very pretty, a fitting funeral for the Lord of Chaos,” inserted Teijin into the conversation.
“If it was truely a chaos of elements, do you not think that that was his own doing? He is the Lord of Chaos after all, and such a strange eruption of elements would surely not occur naturally.”
“Of course he created it,” Kahei countered, “but he had no choice but to sacrifice himself, given the overwhelming opposition he was facing.”
“Have some faith in your Lord, Kahei!” Kahei was no longer the despicable traitor Raphel had thought him to be not so long ago, but the man was still pitiful for having no faith whatsoever.

“Raphel is right, Kahei. You should have some more faith in your Lord.” Killana's voice came from a short distance away, at the bottom of the hill the three of them occupied. Her rapier hung loosely at her side, her face serene, though her eyes slightly reflected the trouble she must have felt inside. After she reached the top of the hill, Killana continued, “Nix is still very much alive, although for now he chooses to remain out of sight. Therefor his being alive remains between us, for now. As consort to the Lord of Chaos, the Red Tower will gets its commands from me. Or rather through me, but the less people know that, the better.” The Teijin and Kahei nodded, as did Raphel himself, but none of them actually replied. “Good now that is settled, how did the battle go on this end, Raphel?”

There was not really much to tell on Raphel's behalf, after all, most of the battle had been fought by the Messenger. There had been little the Red Tower had actually been able to do to aid in the battle, but that could be discussed later. For now, the most important thing was to determine the next course of action. Afterall, it was clear that this new threat was not something to be taken lightly, and thus the Red Tower needed a proper plan of action if it wanted to make any difference at all. “Gather your strongest, Raphel, any one who could possibly defeat one of those Messenger clones on their own. Or in a group of two or three.” Killana commanded, after which she turned to Kahei, “and you can go back to Tolbi, to continue overseeing the training of our recruits there.” Kahei saluted with his right hand in a fist on the emblem on his left shoulder. He was gone in a matter of seconds, without even hesitating. The man had been surprisingly close to commiting treason, but still his loyalty was unquestionable, it was all done for the good of the Red Tower. Killana finally turned to Teijin. “I suppose you're here to stay for now. Very well, you can travel with the Red Tower if you please, but do not get in our way.” Killana strode into the command tent as Raphel hurried to gather the men she had requested.

-------------------

Anger, pain and sadness coursed through Flora as she desperately tried to reach out into the world to make a difference, to fight back against the faux Messengers that still soared overhead. Izumo had pretty much been levelled by now and only a handful of Red Tower soldiers remained of those that had gathered around the two Messengers. There was little left to salvage here, but that didn't matter. Regardless of what happened, Flora still wanted to reach out and make her presence known, to destroy the ones that had caused so much destruction and pain to the people here. If there were even any left besides those around her. And why on Weyard was Kushluk still not fighting back? If he didn't change tactics soon, he would find himself dead, and Flora along with him. Kick some ass, you fool of a Shimazu.

As much as Flora tried to interact with reality, it would not succeed. She could only watch, taste, smell, hear and feel what was going on around her, powerless to interfere. How could a Messenger, with the power of the celestials themselves become so helpless? How could the shepherd of Weyard not have the strength to fight back? Weyard was her strength, if her own energy was depleted, then she could always use Weyard's energy to continue the fight. But that was not the problem. It was not lack of energy or power that held her back, she was rather certain that power was there, but there didn't appear to be any way for her to reach that power.

ENOUGH ! Flora's mind, heart and soul raged with passion. She couldn't sit by and watch people die any longer, she could not see Weyard suffer as it did. If she had to bare to watch much longer, her heart would break and then it was all over. Listen to me, Weyard. I am your shepherd. I am here, so that you might survive. So awaken your protector in your hour of need. Her conciousness seemed to shift as energy flowed through her, waiting for her to send it somewhere. The purest of psynergy composed of all four the base elements, here and there combining to form strains of Sol and Luna. Eris and Pluto seemed to be missing though. Finally able to lash out, she obliterated her adversaries like a wrathful god. Without mercy or compassion, the remaining clones erupted in flashes of the brightest light. As the brightness faded, all that remained were ashes on the verge of being dispersed by the wind.

In the end, the false Messengers had died without a sound, without even so much as a screech. And yet, something was still amiss. Flora had seen the psynergetic glow spread out across the surface of Weyard, albeit faintly, she knew it had not been her own psynergy, it had to have been Weyard because of the elements she had felt surging through her consciousness. Weyard had obeyed her call, but her body had not, she was still limp, still helpless, and she still felt hopelessly lost.

--------------------

One of the soldiers stationed by the command tent pulled on one of the flaps so Raphel could enter. There was a carpet covering the floor inside the tent, and a desk filled with maps and different papers stood in the middle of the tent. Killana sat behind the desk, but she didn't look up when Raphel entered, she didn't even look up when she started speaking.
“You really should've brought a computer here, Raphel. It would've been much more useful than all of these maps.”
Raphel didn't go into it, instead he continued with the matter at hand: “the soldiers you requested are waiting outside, Ensi Haarniska.”
“How many?” She still didn't look up.
“Fifty three.” He had liked to keep the trio out of those that were good enough, but the number was measily enough as it was. Besides, it was all done for the Lord of Chaos, he couldn't possibly hold out anyone, not even himself. “Fifty four if you count me.”
“No, you are needed elsewhere, Raphel.” At that moment, another soldier came waltzing into the tent. The emblem on his Red Tower longcoat bore the wings common to all messengers within the army. The soldier had a young face and short darkbrown hair.
He immediately saluted Raphel and bowed to Killana. “Milady, the other Kenraali have arrived.”
“Let them in.”

The meeting with the other commanders of the Red Tower went surprisingly swiftly, it was pretty much Killana handing out orders and the Kenraali obeying her commands, or promising to obey her commands. It was more of the same as it had always been, receiving updates about the Red Tower's latest conquests and discussing further targets for the Red Tower to conquer. As if the battles with those false Messengers had never even taken place. As the convocation concluded, instead of the Kenraali leaving, more soldiers entered the command tent, each with a strangely detailed round emblem behind the Red Tower on their left shoulder. The emblem was said to be based on a stone found in Mars lighthouse, said to have once been a teleportation stone, though it was never verified. The stone did seem to be known through many legends in different parts of Weyard. Finally, the Kenraali grabbed the shoulder of their respective subordinates, and within the blink of an eye they were gone. The Kenraali were once again spread out over several continents, continuing the Red Tower's conquest. What Raphel's next task was, however, he did not know.

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O²C : The last paragraph is rather terrible. The rest is ok. Decided to cut it off there because it was 10000 characters.

Sorry I didn't draw Varox into it much, Province, but Killana still doesn't like him for fighting her.

A Nix part is also really lacking at this point.

As Varox and Kahei moved through the wreckage of Imil, noticing the dead and near dead as the lay on the street, neither had any question worth asking. Making it a awkward trip as they headed for the village elder's estate. Arriving at the building, it was among the few fortunate which escaped heavy damage in the attack with only shattered windows as proof of the carnage. "Explain to me why you brought me along." Varox asked drearily as Kahei knocked on the door. "Because reprts state there is someone here you should see." The door was opened by a young girl, she looked shaken and weary but smiled and greeted Kahei respectfully but wasn't sure how to greet Varox and simply smiled and led them in. Kahei left his swords at the door, but when he looked at Varox's broadsword slung across his back Varox shook his head. Residing not to argue, they simply followed the girl into the main room. A elder perched on a thatched chair acknowledged them as they entered. "Welcome Red Tower." Varox looked beyond the man to what looks like a body lieing asleep in the next room, but before he could look closer the woman shut the door. It must had been someone of importance and someone in a bad condition.

"Allow me to explain the situation to you young one." He said directly to Varox. "I'm afraid, this is confidential between you," He pointed at Varox. Kahei reluctantly accepted it and left the room. "Now, let me explain some very important factors of this war to you, Varox." He knew his name, but that did not phase him, but what the elder would tell, did have a impact on him.

OOC: Sorry it's short, i might have edit this a few time to fix it. Gotta go sorry.