River had began to disperse into the maze along with the crowd, however he found himself caught and pausing in wait for the girl whom he'd comforted. To become attached was weakness,but if he were to complete the third goal despite its ludicrous notions then things would be better for him, better then scraping from one home to the next at the very least. To complete it however he'd need a group, more then simply himself and his own powers no matter what confidence he had in them. He tapped his foot impatiently, growling at the lost time that was floating by him in the form of a rushing and maddened crowd, desperate to complete any of the three challenges no matter the cost or the likelihood of their deaths.
Few things were more dangerous then a desperate mob with no hints of predictability, however it seemed he might not have to deal with them. For after everyone had funneled into the maze safe for himself, the girl, and the spectators. A thump resounded across the barren wastelands, one that made his ears stand upright above his hair and his tail flick out of the back of his pants, twitching and curling nervously as his cat-like eyes began to peer into the horizon, past the crowds and The Rabbit woman to the rolling dead hills and all to familiar piles of wastelandic 'sand', and he was not the only one for The Rabbit ignored the girl before him and pricked her long ears in the same direction as River. Something was coming, something big.
Standing atop the hill, a large wolven man clad in black and bronze armour stood growling. A large cleaver hefted over his shoulder and a curved blade resting at his waist next to a twitching claw, he had heard the rumors of The Nameless reforming and reported it to his leader, unfortunately they had decided to saddle out for an assault on the recruitment and he had been picked to give the orders.
His one glowing white eye stared across the large field in between them and their quarry, energy crackling around the rim of his only means of vision, the other eye covered by a pitch-black patch of cloth that curved around behind his twitching white ears. His fur was mottled and patchy in places due to deep scarring, dirt, or dried blood he still hadn't gotten around to fully removing. A weak looking man rushed up beside him, half swallowed by his leather armour and fidgeting before the wolf gave the okay for him to speak.
"The recruits have already entered the maze sir, T-they have The Rabbit and Aizen but the rest of them are just children, maybe teenagers at most. They have a few minor players and guild members with Aizen but they're just as the rumors stated. Completely incapable of fighting us back....sir." The little man fumbled out,before receiving a nod and rushing off back to the safety of the rear guard. This was going to go easier then expected, the wolf too was new to the garden and so The Nameless were simply a group of people that he had been ordered to kill. Something he was going to carry out no matter what the cost.
Besides, even if he were merciful he doubted they could defeat the army he had at his back, whilst small in numbers and barely considered seasoned the warriors behind him were confident and loyal, not to mention they were made almost entirely of mindless black husks who he spared no sympathy for. They were simply shadows made to flesh, warriors birthed from stolen memories and given the tools of their trade, bar the leather clad messenger and a few select officers within the army, the loss of men was completely forgivable and boringly simple to rectify once he returned to his master.
The wolf yawned once and then snarled, raising his cleaver into the air before shoving it forward with a roar that echoed across the empty and silent wastes. Lines of the husks rushed past him, a black river of shadow that bent around him like a solid boulder lodged in the bed of the wastelandic sands below the mass, finally they finished rushing past and headed for the small crowd and rival guild. The sands felt like home, if not only to him, it was a pity he would have to stain them with similar blood with all one hundred of his black husks.
A shadow flitted next to him for a moment as a women dressed in flowing black cloth appeared by his side, shadows dancing in her palm and a large spider climbing around her person with a small swarm in tow of it, followed by a large lion man clad in armour not unfitting a paladin, a massive kite shield by his side, a large hammer held in his opposing hand. Slowly his own group of officers amassed; An elemental of flowing silver, A flower-like warrior with curving purple blades, Something akin to a diseased ridden humanoid rat and an otherwordly fully armoured man wielding no visible weapon. They were a strange and mismatched bunch who had been only days before pieced together from a similar summoning to that which The Black Rabbit had just taken the time to do at the base of what was once a mountain.
With a grunt, a nod and an insane giggle
the small group walked at a brisk pace behind their army, allowing themselves time to judge what they'd be facing, if anything at all. In the background the thumping continued and eventually made itself known as a behemothic golem peaked over the hill they had previously stood upon, the golem had been just in case they required any kind of siege but it would more then likely join the battle at its own pace. Long after the wolf and his group would arrive at the scene to its own disappointing realization.
Rivers eyes widened and he gritted his teeth at the sudden appearance of the horde, a wolven man stood out to him and his sharp teeth bit through his bottom lip, blood dripping down his chin as he watched the plague of warriors,no,shadows, rush across the wastelands towards them and the group of young. Black Rabbit saw them just before he did and immediately pushed past the girl, Aizen suddenly behind her and gesturing to the crowd to take shelter in the booth, the various other guild members that had taken seats in their with him also amongst the crowd to help them in any way they could to be comfortable and more importantly safe inside the booth.
The Maze would suddenly begin to glow yellow, whaning and fading in and out of existence before shattering like illusionary glass, leaving the participants standing even more confused then they ever had been at the third sudden change they'd experienced in such a short amount of time, Rabbit wasted no time on politeness or frivolities and frantically brought the spear microphone to her lips and roared to the startled group as familiar golden portals opened up along a wide line behind the participants.
"All Participants, evacuate back to your worlds! The event has been called off, I repeat, evacuate to your own worlds! We are under attack and for your own safety you must return home!" The message was clear enough, but in case they had any white knights in the group she bit her lip and spoke into the microphone once more despite the obvious and blatant lie "We can handle everything here, step through the portals and leave this place!" she ordered before tearing the microphone from its place between the blades and running off to assist Aizen and the others in making sure those unable to fight were safe.
Before heading to stand at the base of the hill leading up to the mountain, her golden spear in one hand as she spread her legs and got into a fighting position. A yellow rune opening up below her and glowing brightly as Aizen and the various others joined her side, now they had the agonizing job of waiting for the husks to get close enough for an opportune charge.
River however wasn't going to let them do so alone, instead of retreating through the portals he rushed forward and stood by a woman garbed in a somewhat revealing red and gold cloth dress. She emenated a pinkish aura and gave him a serious nod and a nervous smile before bringing her arms in front of her in a cross to prepare her magic, eight pink arms flourishing behind her as she did so. River simply nodded in return and began his own preparations, his breathe coming out as frost and his shardic wings tearing through his back with a loud and painful rip that left him doubled over and groaning, however he had no time to rest and was helped up by a supporting hand from the woman beside him.
Once he stood upright he took the same position as the woman beside him,hoping it would help in some way as small crystals of ice began to prick through his skin and grow across his rapidly cooling body. His fiery red hair and eyes standing out from his now blueish skin, he grunted heavily and swept one hand out across the distant hill that sat around three quarters from where the hoard had begun, large pillars and sharp spines of Ice erupting and growing into a small forest-like crystalline wall between them and their foes.
The action earned him a grateful nod and even an encouraging thumbs up from a few of the guild members as he bent doubled over and huffing, others were too concentrated on preparation and gathering enough mana for the long-lasting fight they were assuredly heading into. However the wall would seem to become useful sooner rather then later at this rate.
The Plague had already reached the half-way point.
