Across the Plains of Aelora

The morning air was chill as the party exited the city. The gate was far along the wall to the west of their position, and it was there that the voidlings still gathered - not the breach in the wall that Sylvire led them through now. It was dark still, and no light was provided by torch or magic, to avoid alerting the creatures to their presence.

Before them, the Plains of Amarathia extended far to the north, disappearing into hills somewhere beyond their limited line of sight in this darkness. The shadowy shapes of trees to the east and north-east were their destination - once they were within cover, the journey would be a lot less dangerous.

Now that they were outside the city, Ciela directed Talos to lead the way whilst she walked with Sylvire. The two continued to exchange hushed whispers as they walked. The rest of the group formed a tight line two or three wide, wariness almost tangible in the air. The silence was eerie.

Sylvire and Ciela walked near the back of the group, with the wary form of Aliana forming a rearguard, bardic magic granting her clear vision through the darkness in case they were followed. Natalie also cautiously kept watch of the darkness at the bard's side, her gaze occasionally turning forward from time to time.

Directly ahead of the two leaders walked Raedan, his arms crossed and fingers restless. The close proximity of the voidling horde left him wishing that it were safe to hold magic ready without potentially alerting them.

Elante's expression reflected the unease that Raedan felt. The younger mage was glad to be on the move again, but couldn't help but think that they were risking a lot on 'not being noticed'. Walking a short distance ahead of Sylvire and the other party's leader - Ciela, if he remembered correctly, he gave a cursory glance backwards. As though he could see anything in this gloom. He could barely make out the figures at either end of the party, let alone any black creatures lurking in ambush.

In contrast, Kirae was perfectly cheerful (as ever). Walking towards the middle of the group, the sylvari seemed blissfully unaware of the danger lurking nearby - or at least blissfully uncaring. A contributing factor to this may have been the golem she rode upon, sturdy and imposing even with her slight figure upon it. With its feet carefully cushioned with what looked suspiciously like flesh, the noise of the lumbering creature was minimised, and the added protection that it provided was certainly valuable.

Beside Kirae's golem, Aren walked with an amused expression upon his face. The elf's eyes were on the 'shoes' that the creation was equipped with, and he shook his head with a suppressed chuckle. He'd only known this girl for less than a day, and she already baffled him.

Just ahead of Kirae and Aren walked Amber and Brent, side by side. The pair exchanged brief conversation now and then, but every word, no matter how softly spoken seemed deafening in the ominous silence and the pair quickly fell silent. Conversation would better wait until they reached the cover of the forest.

Arrow walked near the head of the group, the yellow glow of the sword of truth concealed within its sheathe. He didn't need an artefact to tell him that this was a dangerous situation. He had been reluctant to bring Kirae with them, even after her protests against Brent, but had refrained from saying anything. Whilst leaving her with Alair, Kento and Samuel might have given him peace of mind, he doubted she would have cooperated.

And after all, she had saved his life once already. He supposed that was proof enough that she could handle herself.

Just behind the warrior walked Parlina and Rynhart side-by-side. Unusually quiet and contemplative, the druid kept her gaze focused straight beyond Arrow and into the shadowy darkness ahead. The hand that kept reaching back to check that the Javelin was still upon her back, however, suggested that the druid's attentions were not on the road before them, but what had been left behind.

Marxan walked near the front of the group, senses on full alert. While he controlled the earth, he could feel the vibrations if anyone or anything walked near him. In his mind he could already sense the footsteps of the rest of the group; however his attention was directed forwards and to the sides. The rear was hopefully guarded well enough. Right now he'd be focusing on trying to find vibrations from the side or to the front which meant someone might try a frontal assault or a flank. The latter was more likely but it was best to guard against the former as well.

Unlike most situations where he expected combat he was not covered in a layer of rock in case the sounds made by it would alert their enemy. Still, he was ready in case of attack. He wished that he could be around Whisper to keep an eye on her but his talents would be best served where he was now. He did look behind him to try and find Whisper though, out of habit even though he could barely see the other members of the group. Marxan would find that Whisper was only a short way back from him, having drifted her way up the line until she found herself walking in the company of Arrow. With her silvery white locks of hair, Whisper stood out from the rest of the group even in the dark gloom of the predawn hours. He sighed and returned back to his senses, confident that Whisper wasn't up to anything suspicious for the moment.

At the very front of the group, Emma and Talos strode side by side. Despite their differences, the two had a respectful understanding between them, accentuated since their joint effort in the flight from the swarm the previous day. By no means did Talos approve any further of Emma's methods, and by no means did Emma care to treat Talos' attitude as anything bar ignorance, but there was at least, an understanding. The two mages were a formidable front-line for any potential attacker.

The silence was broken as Sylvire's head snapped up "I sense something." she said, frowning, "I can't tell wh-"

"On alert!" Arrow's louder call from the front interrupted Sylvire, as the yellow glow of his sword turned a violent red, "Eyes to our flanks!"

Watchful eyes turned to the side of the party would detect nothing in the darkness, however - no voidlings charged towards them. There was no movement. Tension hung over the party thick as soup, waiting for something to happen.

When it happened, it wasn't something that any of them had been expecting.

A crack of amethyst energy appeared in the air to the center of the line, crackling ominously and widening quickly. Where many of the inexperienced Patronus remained uncertain, the Aelorans reacted instantly. “Warpers! Scatter!” cried out Amber's voice, sharp and without hesitation.

Even as those near to the crack of light began to react to Amber's shout, the line was torn open into a gaping hole, from which dived a horrific creature. With jaws formed seemingly of a cluster of toothed tentacles, and a lithe body covered in spines and scales, it resembled a twisted and mutated wyrm - draconic wings folded on its back as it dived from the air above towards those at the center of the line. The elephant-sized creature shot straight towards the largest target - Kirae's golem.

Even under the best of circumstances, a large fleshy construct took time to get into motion, and the suddenness of the strike from the void-wyrm made for far from an ideal situation. The wyrm slammed into the golem, even as the more mobile members of the party leapt into motion and with a shriek, Kirae was jarred from her perch upon the minion, landing into a roll on the ground to hastily regain her feet.

In an instant, Aren was beside her, grabbing her arm and pulling her forwards "Get clear!" he yelled, "Where there's one, there's always-"

As if on cue, another tear of light chose this moment to appear only metres from where the pair stood. "Dive!" Aren yelled, shoving Kirae aside and making to leap after her.

It was not to be, however. With a nightmarish roar, the void creature pounced out of the rip in the air, and in a single foul snap, caught the young elf up in its tentacled mouth, jerking him from the ground like a ragdoll and whipping its head from side to side, jets of black fire bursting over and around him.

Kirae had landed only inches clear of the wyrm-thing's massive claw, and now pulled herself to her feet with a shout as Aren was caught. The necromancer's eyes erupted with green light as she gathered her magic, and torrents of black insects shot from her fingers into the side of the beast that held the man.

It was clear that this did not make the attacking creature happy. Aren was tossed from its mouth to land in a broken heap towards the back of the group, and its tail lashed around at the small girl, spiked tip swinging like a mace.

Even as it swung, another slash of light had appeared in the air further forwards, and a third wyrm leaped from the air to land amidst the retreating Patronus and Aelorans, fire gushing from its jaws to totally obscure the happenings in the middle from view. The first attacker had tired of mauling the undead golem, and turned its attentions to engaging the rear section of the group.

With no help available from the split-off sections of the group, Kirae threw herself backwards to try and evade the wyrm's tail. She escaped with a glancing blow, golden blood splashing as the deadly spines cut across her ribcage and sent her tumbling backwards. Knowing that if she let the pain from the injury slow her down, she was a dead woman, the sylvari valiantly regained her feet, gathering her magic to begin the process of spawning herself a protective wall of minions even as she backpedalled away. "I require assistance!" she shouted, not knowing whether anyone else could hear her over the roars of the attacking creatures.

The wyrm had no intention of giving Kirae a chance to arm herself. With a bone-chilling cry, it pounced forwards, black flame gushing from its maw to envelop the small girl entirely in a cone of heat and soul-draining energy.

Tiny arms were brought up in a vain attempt to shield herself, and Kirae was swallowed by the fire. When the smoke cleared, she lay motionless on the ground, charred and quite literally wilting.

Twang. Amber's aid came too late as her arrow embedded itself into the neck of the wyrm, drawing its attention away from the fallen form of the young necromancer. The woman backpedaled as the wyrm turned on her, but even in the dark, her limp betrayed the wound inflicted by a fragment of bone that had lodged itself in her lower calf when Kirae's golem had been destroyed.

The momentary distraction provided Brent an opportunity to retrieve the fallen form of Kirae which the burly soldier readily seized. In the dark he couldn't assess the severity of the sylvari's injuries, but he had seen her go down and he knew her condition was grim.

Marxan reacted quickly to the situation. As Amber's shout rang out and the wyrms began to appear, he dived into the ground. The earth seemed to swallow him up whole before he came out a few moments later covered in his rocky armour right as the other two wyrms made their appearance. The darkness made it hard for him to see the other two wyrms although he could sense one still moving around near the middle of the group. Unfortunately one of the wyrms flew in near the front of group, forcing his immediate attention there, where he was closest.

Normally in situations like this he would have created a stone wall for shielding but that wouldn't have worked because the wyrm could have just flown over it, rendering it useless. So his only option was for long range. Large boulders as tall as he was rose up from the ground and were launched up at the wyrm to try and knock it back down to the ground.

The rocks would never reach their target, however, as a gaping rend in the air appeared for a second time in their path. The boulders disappeared into it even as the wyrm itself soared into the opposite side, vanishing from view and showing no signs of re-emerging.

Marxan stared at the spot in the sky where the wyrm vanished, puzzled. In an attempt to locate the wyrm again he expanded his senses as far as they could go to try and find it.

He found something, although it wasn't the wyrm.

What this was a large amount of vibrations. Whatever was making them, they were coming in fast and weren't bothering with stealth too heavily if he could pick up their noise over the battlefield chaos. He turned to Emma and Talos at the front and said "Emma, Talos, we've got something coming in fast! I don't know for sure what it is, maybe another group of voidlings, but whatever it is we don't have a lot of time before it arrives!"

To the rear of the group, Sylvire reacted to the assault with violent vigor, barking commands out to her allies, "Elante, Natalie push the closest wyrm back - the archer needs aid! Aliana, keep your eyes on our flanks and rear, we can't afford a pincer assault! I have the center wyrm, Brent needs time to get Kirae clear!"

Vision was hard, but elven eyes could make out the goings-on in the centre. A jolt of lightning seared from Sylvire's staff to strike the center wyrm in the flank, causing it to shriek in pain and turn away from the forward party to face the rear group.

It was then that Ciela grabbed Sylvire's arm "We can't fight them here!" she shouted, "We have maybe seconds before the swarm is drawn by the commotion, we have to retreat back to the city!"

"Too late!" The shout that interrupted Ciela came from Aliana, the bard had her bow drawn and her eyes narrowed into the darkness, "They're already coming. They've blocked our route back to the city, and more are coming from the south east."

Ciela cursed, "To the thicket, then, further onto the plains! We need a line we can hold long enough to find a break in the swarm!"

Unnerved, Sylvire's instruction brought Natalie from surveyance to reaction. Just as the creature retaliated to Amber with more of its weakening black fire a translucent, oval-shaped shield took form around the injured archer. Her concentration was focused completely on making sure the shield held throughout the assault, placing faith in her companion's ability to deter even a wyrm.

Elante had barely recovered from the shock of the initial attack when Sylvire's shout snapped him to attention. His focus locked onto the wyrm that had just taken flight from Kirae's felled golem, and the artefacts on his arms lit up. A burst of flame shot from his fist as he threw it out, balling towards the flying creature with a radiant glow. However, once again a rift tore open, this time to swallow up his fireball and a moment later, the wyrm itself.

Warily, Elante took a step backwards, eyes darting from side to side to try and catch any potential reappearance from the wyrm. The mage turned at Ciela's shout, giving Sylvire a questioning glance - waiting for her confirmation before following the Aeloran leader's instruction.

As the first signs of battle had erupted with the shouts from the center, Arrow had turned in shock to see the wyrms dive from their portals. Bow now drawn, the archer could only pray that those now obscured from his vision were alright.

But there - Marxan had struck at the wyrm in between them, and vision was restored as it warped away. He could make out one body, clearly dead from the amount of blood pooling around them, and another three figures caught in the immediate fray - one in the grip of another.

It seemed as though those to the rear were going to the aid of the figure to the back, and so it was to - Brent, he could just about make out - that Arrow's aid went, sweeping his hand out to form a rudimentary shield around the man, to prevent him being blindsided by another wyrm. A curse escaped beneath his breath as he made out the frail form of Kirae as the injured passenger. Not five minutes out of the city, and already he was responsible for the wounding of the girl in action.

Whilst chaos erupted around her, Emma turned to face the fray with a disciplined calmness. Her eyes assessed the situation even as her senses registered Aren's life blinking out, bringing a scowl to her face. "We fall back," she said, "Back!" she repeated, louder, "Make for the forest, the swarms are coming in fast from the south - it's our only chance!"

Talos looked as if to question her - they both knew full well that Ciela and Sylvire wouldn't make it past the wyrms between the two sides of the group in time to escape the incoming swarms - but Emma interrupted. "Now! The others will find another way to survive! If we try to reach them, it's suicide for all of us - the swarms will reach us too quickly! MOVE!"

With a grim nod, Talos turned - the other Aelorans, Nihm and Lianna not far behind - and the flight began. Emma paused to grab Arrow's arm, "That means you too, soldier boy, rally your people and follow me!" she yelled, turning then to join the others in the race for the trees.

Arrow's eyes flicked from Emma back to the group cut off by the wyrms. Sylvire, Elante, Natalie and Aliana, along with some of the other Aelorans. If any of their group could survive being split off, it would be them. Emma was right - there was no way to regroup in time. "Patronus!" he shouted, "With me! Retreat to the forest!"

Marxan spared a brief moment or two to search for Whisper in the chaos but with all the interference he wasn't able to pinpoint the location. The vibrations of the incoming swarm were drowning out any attempt he might have made to precisely locate her. Sighing, he followed Arrow and the others as they raced for the trees. He stopped briefly to take another look back at the battle. Then he shook his head and continued onwards.

Narruk, with his axe raised, looked about the mess before him, surveying the battlefield. Those wyrms were trouble, though, so was everything else. He was ready to fight, and indeed, he did not doubt dealing with the wyrms was possible, but it would be foolish with everything going on. There was a call to retreat, and he did just so, looking after the others to make sure they had made it safely before him. He turned his back, faced toward the trees. Only one option, it seemed.

The purple rift that tore open in front of Narruk signified the return of the missing wyrm, but Narruk's hulking form stood little chance of getting out of the way in time. With a thunderous and bone chilling roar, the beast collided with Narruk and took him to the ground.

The Oasis warrior paused, and as he turned to run, already too late, he felt the impact of the giant wyrm crushing into him. A million cracks signified the breaking of the external skeleton, and as the wyrm passed over the body it had crushed, it revealed the corpse. Shards of what looked like bark scattered around him, and the thin bones that he did have jutted out of the body at odd ends. There was no chance of survival. He must have died upon impact.

"NO!" Arrow's yell of horror was drowned out almost entirely by the roar of the wyrm, and he slowed as if to stop - but he quickly realised that Narruk was already dead. Gritting his teeth and shouldering the mental shield that soldiers who knew death well were familiar with, he turned away and continued running.

The retreat had been called, but it fell on deaf ears when it came to Parlina, who had seen the wyrm appear once again before Narruk. Stubbornness overrode good sense as the little druid half-turned to dash towards the inhuman behemoth, even as the creature barrelled through him. Her cry of defiance punctuated a run in the very wrong direction.

She didn't make it more than a step though as a hard grip seized her elbow. Rynhart's eyes hardened as he spoke what he knew to be truth. “It's too late, there's nothing we can do now!” He half pulled, half pushed her onward towards the forest line.

There was a look backwards as the little druid half-stumbled into a run, this time in the correct direction. Parlina felt tears sting at her eyes, the pain of loss resurfacing even as she turned away to be caught up in the momentum of the retreat.

"What now?! What now, we sit here and we wait as our allies are torn ashred?! Blasted hells, I will not wait idly by like a coward!"

The outburst of angry yelling within the thicket that the remaining Patronus and Aelorans had retreated to came from, as might have been expected, the fiery haired bard, Aliana. Bristling with discontent, the woman clutched at her shortswords, breathing heavily.

To the far side of the sealed-off clearing, the trees walled off by stone and vines called by Elante's artefact and Ciela's magic, Ciela herself sighed with frustration. "It is not cowardice to refuse to stride foolishly into certain death, bard." the ranger growled, "My allies are out there too. We cannot do anything for them by dying. If they have any chance of survival, it is in their hands now."

Sylvire placed a hand upon Aliana's shoulder, "She is right, Aliana. When we are able to leave here we can seek out survivors. Until then we must wait. We cannot know their fate, the callstones could be unresponsive for any number of reasons."

Turning to face the others, Ciela shook her head, "This mission is over." she said, "I won't have any of us following our allies to the grave on the offchance that they last the night. We can return to find any trace of them another time, but we are too few to make inroads to uncharted territories now. We make for Tai'emroth."

It was Sylvire's turn to scowl, "If the artefacts my people carry fall into the Sealed One's hands-" she began, but Ciela interjected.

"I know. Which is why I know that if they have been caught, more enemies than you can possibly imagine will be waiting for us to claim the rest of them before the day is done. Our only chance is to retreat to Tai'emroth to protect the remaining artefacts before the enemy realises we didn't die with Kratos and Aren and the others."

Amber meanwhile was tightening a tourniquet about her lower leg, having been seated on a rock. Gripping the bone shard embedded in her calf, she jerked it free with a stifled gasp and dropped it with shaky hands. Sweating profusely, she began to staunch the wound. The woman was hardy though, and her only response was, “When do we move out?”

"She's right, Lady Sylvire." Natalie crouched beside Amber, frowning as she rested a faintly glowing hand upon the woman to try and give her some pain relief via healing magic. "They have Miss Featherfoot's allies with them, who will know the way to the city."

The words were spoken confidently, but there was a trace of worry in Natalie's expression as she glanced back in the way they had come before shaking her head in dismissal. "No one who left Amarathia with us was unaware of the danger and responsibility that would come from continuing onwards. We owe it to them to get to safety if we can, rather than risk our lives trying to get to people and artefacts that... that might already be lost."

Sylvire looked to Natalie, sighing. "I had hoped that a return to my homeland would not be a return to leaving my allies behind. But so be it. You are right of course."

Raedan, where he had been standing in sombre silence, sighed sadly, "I think we are all tired of leaving people behind, Lady Nasazura. Were that it not such a frequent necessity."

At the rear of the clearing, leaning against one of the trees, Elante scowled at the ground as though it had done him some terrible wrong. It seemed as though this conflict was destined to take everything - first Aeryn, and then the comfort of the friend he had found in Arrow and his other allies. He could not find in himself the strength to hope that they would live.

But he had resolved already to see this through to the end, and not allow his own emotions to interfere with that. He'd grown up very quickly over the last two weeks - even in the first assault on the Academy and during his abduction by Nyx there had been an almost story-like progression to things, the day had always been saved.

Now there was hardly anyone left to do any saving. He'd have to do it himself. "So what sort of journey are we talking about? Days? Weeks?" he asked, pushing off of the tree and walking towards the rest of the group.

Ciela glanced around the group, mentally assessing the speed at which they could progress. There were only six of them, which meant that travel would be quick, but the supplies they carried were limited. They could be forced to waste time hunting or foraging, a pursuit near futile in a land where 'prey' had all but been wiped out, and even the plantlife often suffered the corruption of the Sealed One.

"At least a week, if we travel quickly. We have supplies for that long, and so any longer than that and we risk starving in the mountains at the mercy of the voidlings," the ranger replied, "So we should set off as soon as the coast is clear. If we're lucky the voidlings will disperse without direction, or - as macabre as it might be to hope for such a thing - have pursued the others instead."

Muttering darkly, Aliana sheathed her weapons and strode angrily away from the group, "I am not so foolish as to defy you all, I do not seek my own death. But I am not pleased with this decision. My brother is out there, and I swore an oath to protect him from harm. I do not break my oaths, but on my own in a strange land, I have no power to keep it alone."

The bard glowered back at Sylvire and Ciela, "If he is dead, he is dead, but if we might have saved him ..." She trailed off, shaking her head bitterly.

Nodding her thanks to Natalie, Amber hobbled to her feet. “You're not the only one with a brother out there. But just remember, they could well be sitting around thinking the same things of us. If they made it, we'll see them again. They have Talos with them, and may well make it back to Tai'Emroth ahead of us. You don't break your oath to keep yourself alive in the meanwhile. Out here, you learn that half of watching out for each other, is making sure you take care of yourself in situations like this, so that you live to see the other again.”

Aliana shook her head, "It brings dishonour to compromise an oath for the sake of personal safety. Perhaps you are right, but to risk that our inaction might lead to my brother's death where action could have intervened is a dishonour nonetheless. As I said, I seek not my own death, I have no intention of striding out to face the horde alone, but I am unconvinced that we lack the resources to do anything to help them now we have regrouped."

The bard turned away again, "But a decision has been made by our leaders. I will abide by it, and may the consequences be on all our heads one way or another. I do not wish to suppose my own honour to take precedence to a majority decision, nor the wisdom of those who call this land their home."

Sylvire looked after Aliana with a pang of regret that the woman had been dragged into this conflict against her will, "I am more than certain that Arrow and the others possess the capability to survive our absence." she said simply, noticing Amber's hobble and stepping forwards.

"Allow me," she offered, stretching her hand forwards to send a wave of healing magic into the archer's leg to restore it to health.

Amber gave the leg a few tentative steps before nodding approvingly. “Almost like having Nihm here. Thanks.”

Smiling sadly, Raedan nodded, "I hope that she made it. I hope that everyone did, of course, but ... with Aren and Kratos..." the mage grimaced, "I fear that is an overly-ambitious hope to hold."

Amber scowled and jabbed a finger into Raedan's chest. “Talk like that never helped anyone.”

"Hold to your hope, Mr Janse," Natalie interceded, raising an eyebrow at Amber's attempt at optimism. "I cannot say for certain about your allies through lack of experience, but I know that those of the Patronus that they are with are not only resourceful, but powerful in their own right. Together, I'm sure they will have all pulled through."

She managed a half-smile then, realising that she had been letting herself fall into needless worry. Natalie turned toward where the bard stood, facing away from the group itself before thinking that she would rather not accidentally offend the bard's honour. "Sitting here does none of us any good though. Do we have a timeframe for when we can actually begin making our way towards your home, Miss Featherfoot?"

"I can't say precisely. I'll keep an eye on the voidlings and once they've dispersed, we'll make our move." Ciela gave the group a dry glance over, "Lets keep our minds free of 'coulds' and 'mights' for the time being. We can't afford to be distracted from what's actually happening by what could be happening."

The ranger turned then and made her way towards the edge of the clearing, deftly climbing her way up the makeshift barricade of rock and tree to seat herself amongst the branches, giving her a view over the plains.