Maero let go of the pump handle, his arms shaking and coated in a sheen of sweat from the work. He was sweating heavily under his cloak due to the heat of the fire, but he ignored, choosing to keep the cloak and hood on and hiding him. He was impressed it hadn't fallen back and shone his face while he worked. As he heard the scream and watched Lyon dash off, he instinctively reached for his rifle, only to remember that it was currently inside the building. It would take him too long to get to at this point, but he couldn't simply charge the creature down. It's size alone showed that it would make an easy match for him.

He looked about the gathered villagers and soldiers, hoping that one of them would have what he needed. Just because he preferred a rifle didn't make him the ranger he truly was. At last, he spotted it. An ash bow, strung, lying on the ground next to a half-full quiver. He dashed over, grabbed them from the ground, and slung them over his shoulder. Knowing he'd never have a clear shot form the ground, he found a house with a large pile of firewood beside it. Nimble as the furred creatures he hunted, he lept up onto the wood and from there, to the roof.

"Now this is a good place for me. High, safe, and most of all, with a shot as clear as an open sky." He pulled the bow from his shoulders, letting the quiver rest upright against his leg. He drew four arrows and nocked one, holding the others for later shots. He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, making sure he wasn't shaky. Within moments, he was relaxed and ready.

In one smooth motion, he pulled back on the string and lifted the bow to his face, sighting down the arrow-shaft until the blue beast was lined up. He lifted the bow a little higher, and slightly left to compensate for the breeze, before closing his eyes and letting go. The arrow whizzed away and the bowstring made a noise like a lute's lowest note. It was a damn good bow.

In the woods

“Now you’ve done it.”

“Me?!” Huffing loudly, Caster eyed their enemies wearily and mumbled disappointedly, “It wasn’t like they were going to let us ago anyways…”

“Listen I have an idea. It may or may not work, but regardless you can follow me and live or stay and have fun with your other friends.” Laaka whispered.

She looked back in time to see him remove an object from his pouch and her eyes widen in horror, “What are yo—“

“You want your gem. Then take it!” He threw it. That idiot threw away something worth more than her life. What was he thinking?!

“The gem!” Jonard yelled and just about everyone in the vicinity lunged in the direction of that object while Laaka took his chance. Caster stood motionless for a moment, her jaw hanging open in shock, before the sound of swords clashing against each other. He was leaving her. She was going to kill him, bring him back and kill him again. Grabbing her back, Caster followed suit as fast as her legs could carry her. “Are you still there, Caster?”

Soon she caught up, her lungs were on fire but her anger overpowered the pain. She walked up to him with a finger pointed at him, “You…” She breathed before edging closer, “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!” She jabbed him in the shoulder, “All those months of planning…gone! For you to just…give it back to them, like nothing…!” She fell to her knees and banged her head lightly against the dirt, “I can’t believe this is happening…why me…!?” She whined as her anger began to lessen. “I have to get it back…I have too..”

Laaka just ignored Caster as she immediately assumed that he had actually given them the original gem back. That wasn’t something he was going to do, especially after he discovered that it seemed to hold quite a significant power or value. Laaka watched as Caster fell to the ground and began to bang her head against the ground lightly; apparently this gem was worth more than her life and his combined.

“You won’t be able to fight them all and get it back. They will probably end up killing you.” He explained as he moved and crouched down next to her. “Besides going after them would be a useless task. They don’t even have the gem.”

Laaka figured that would be enough to entice Caster into questioning him further so to add to the pull he moved up and away from her once again placing his back to her and only a couple feet away. He was beginning to enjoy playing with his new found friend that he had now saved twice. “Would you like to know why?” Laaka asked looking over his shoulder unable to hide the grin as it crossed his face.

Hilrandra

In the woods

“You won’t be able to fight them all and get it back. They will probably end up killing you.” He explained as he moved and crouched down next to her. “Besides going after them would be a useless task. They don’t even have the gem.”

"They probably sho--Wait, what?" Looking up, Caster could almost see the grin form on his face. It almost made her want to wipe that smirk off his face but then she'd never find out what nonsense he was speaking about if she did that. With his back turned to her, Caster bit her lower lip impatiently as he continued, "Would you like to know why?" with that same grin on his face.

"I'm hoping I wont regret asking." Tilting her head to the side, Caster spoke, "Surely you have a very good reason for this...Surely."




"Hmph!" Rannyn turned and stood with her chin held high. She always had so much spunk. "We don't need him! Why, we can take matters fine all by ourselves. We'll make it so boring for the elite that he will be crawling back."

Returning her smile, Leo spoke gently, "You know you'll miss him..."

"I will miss him, yes, but he has risen to new heights, Leo. We shall manage on our own. Maybe one day, if we perform well enough, we shall join him."

"Hmm..."

"However, until then, we must continue to serve as ordinary soldiers. Ones equipped without magic, without technology...no, nothing but the blades in our hands and the brains within our skulls. However..."

"What?"

"...I am not so sure how you have done so well with that brain-" she raised a hand to tap his head with two outstretched fingers, "-tucked away behind such a thick skull!"

"H-hey! Ow! You're one to talk!" As he rubbed his head, chuckling, Leo caught sight of the time flashing brightly from the tower ahead, "We're to meet with Commander Rogers soon." Standing a bit straighter, Leo headed towards the tower, "At the Main gate in twenty! They're setting up the patrol roasters and you don't want to be late, Rannyn. Least you be stuck with the grave shift!" He waved her off, knowing they'd meet again soon.

Hilrandra

The Crooked Hinge

"Excuse me!"

Meredith turned slightly towards the new comer as he scolded her, lightly. "You've got yourself quite the crew." was all she managed to say.

Sometime later...

"Are you sure it's around here?" Marlo whined as they pressed on. He had been complaining like a child for the past hour and a half as they walked on, grinding on their nerves. With his back slouched, head down and muddied clothes, no one would have expected this man to be a captain let alone a pirate.

"How far is this place?" He nagged, unaware that the crew had stopped, walked straight into the backside of Meredith. With a loud omph, she staggered forward and he fell backwards. "Oooooowwww..." Rubbing his backside, Marlo stood up, his complaints silenced with a simple look.

"She said to look for a black door..." Meredith whispered, eyes looking around. "There." With a loud knock, Meredith stood before the door and wondered why a Princess would walk these parts in her lifetime. A few moments passed before the door creaked open, revealing a man with a shadowy nature. Yes, what was the Princess doing here...

"The hell do you want?" He croaked, his eyes flickering back and forth between the group. He seemed anything but pleased to be disturbed and with everything in her, she was hoping Marlo would just keep his mouth shut. "We are here to see Essie." With a gesture to those behind her, Meredith continued, "We are her companions and she has asked us to seek her out here if she failed to meet up with us first."

With a stony face, the man moved to the side and allowed them in. He lead them to the back room, opened the door and within seconds, Meredith's sword was unsheathed. "If you value your life, you will release the Princess. Now." She placed the point of her blade behind Tony, while Marlo was shoved to the side by the stone man.

Trigotia, Hilrandra

The strange creature and the boy struggled briefly, as she attempted to rip his neck into pieces. He was pleading which made her laugh. She always enjoyed the fear in the eyes of her prey, right before she took that light out. So close...

CRACK!

A solid object hit her on the side and she went sprawling to the side, she screamed horribly as the side of her arm felt the tingles of fire. Gripping it tightly in a vain attempt to relieve the pain, the monster looked up to see who dared harm her. She saw him as her prey fled the scene. He would be found, later.

Standing up as straight as possible, the creature took a step closer towards Lyon with rage craved into her face, "You will pay for this..." Her voice sounded like like a howl then words at this point. "I will make sure you feel my teeth tear you to shreds you to pieces.." Lifting her arm, the monster went to swing.

A loud scream emerged from her as she held her left eye and staggered back violently. What looked like blood seeped from her fingers as an arrow prodded out. The creature proceeded to run from the scene, leaving a trail of blood and fallen branches behind.

Flendora, a tiny village filled with beautiful mansions and a large farms.

He'd been asleep for the past three hours in a vain attempt to do any actual work. The young lad had never been much for farming or well, labor in general. He had dreams of the outside world filled with women, money and a house or two well, maybe a castle. Charlie was always known as, "The golden haired boy with his heads in the sky." This of course what lead trouble his way. So it wasn't a much of a surprise when he heard the creak of a door opening and even less surprising when he dove into a pile of hay in some vain attempt to hide. But what did surprise him was this strange girl who had...ears like a cat. He couldn't help but look in fascination or stop the words from coming out, "I've never...seen anyone like y-you...!" He stuttered and jumped out of the hay like a jack in the box.

To say that Saken was shocked would be a grossed understatement. The crap in her hands spilled out as she jerked backwards at the stuttering proclamation of the boy, mismatched orbs twinkling in anger at the fact that she had been caught- although, she doubted he’d be one to scream for the other’s to come and snag her up and drag her off. Instead, he was more in shock, even appearing to be in hiding himself. The neko felt her lips twitch upwards into a grin as a wicked idea formed in her head, cat ears pressing to the short hair on her skull, the golden piercing glittering against the dark fur.

“Of course you haven’t,” she purred out, creeping closer to the boy, fluttering her dark lashes, tail swishing behind her. “I’m a lesser –Goddess-, one of those ones that you -people- don’t pray too!” Her voice was filled with anger, cheeks darkening to a light pink hue as she gritted her teeth, flashing delicate, cat-fangs at the poor, unsuspecting boy. “So I’ve come here to… Sort of, cause… A few… Things,” she continued to purr out, eyes glittering dangerously as she crouched before the boy.


“So be good, and pretend this never happened?”

She hoped it would work, her head cocked to the side as she studied him with those glittering orbs, one green and the other a peculiar red-gold. She hoped that those eyes, along with her ears, and tail, would convince the poor, ignorant bastard that she was what she said, or at least it would cause him to pass the fuck out so that she could get on with setting the barn on fire and slipping off to the mansion to get her hands on some shinnies.