Rethyn Jadgarus's Story

As the house shook, everyone was scrambling in different directions, "Tristan where are you going..." Alauric asked as he saw his son race for the stairs. "Soran and Kilia, they are upstairs." Alauric nodded and soon followed his son. "Why are they upstairs alone..." Alauric kind of mumbled to himself.

Jonathan heard the noises and summoning his swords, he ran straight for where he knew Kilia would be, he approached the door carefully and counted to three as he leaped in. "Kilia! Soran! Are you okay?!" He shouted as he got in a ready stance. "Kilia!?"

Tristan got to the door second, and looked inside. All he saw was Kilia and the goddess, something didn't really feel right. "Where's Soran?" He threw his weight against the door and it cracked opened. Grayson had been next door, but it seemed like something had blocked him from getting out of the training room. Tristan looked around the room frantically almost, his eyes settled on the goddess and Kilia, "Where the fuck did you take Soran." He was working on something in his magic system while he was watching her.

Peter was stuck in the room as Grayson was in. He was trying to bust down the door. "I can't feel him Grayson!!! Something took him! Something took Soran!! Something took my Seer" Peter shouted in near borderline panic, he felt almost close to losing his mind at that exact moment.

Grayson put his hands on Peter's shoulder's, "Calm down boy...you will not do him any good by panicking." Grayson didn't have a good feeling about this, there had been more then one god to appear, he could feel the one next door. Something else was the in the house...why didn't it show itself though, "we got to get the door open." The handle wasn't working...what the hell was wrong with the freaking door.

The Goddess turned around slightly at the sound of people getting into the room. Her lips twisted up into a wicked smile, "Oh... you must be the blondes lover. How unfortunate for you," she cooed at him, "He is going to be enjoying the company of Oni and a few others very soon, dear little Seer. While here..." she turned around fully and with a flick of her hand Kilia suddenly stood up. Her beautiful blue gaze was dull now, glazed over and unfocused. She wobbled as she stood as if she wasn't quite supposed to be on her own two feet.

"Do you like her? I do. She is beautiful," the Goddess said, her words sultry as she spoke, "Here, play with her for a while, wont you?"

Kilia's frame suddenly straightened and she moved towards them with amazing speed. Her fingers opened and swirling around her hand was a mix of crackling static and black mist. The concoction was sure to be deadly if touched. Her target was the closest person to her.

Jonathan's eyes widened as he moved out of the way of her strike. "No..no. NO!!!" Jonathan cried out as he got in a ready stance. "What'd you do to her?!?" He angrily shouted as his eyes flashed Its Emerald anger. His mind was racing, how to save Kilia, attack this goddess, then find a way to get Soran back. His mind raced but one thought repeated. "The Silver Knight spell." he thought. It could give him the edge needed to prevail in this battle. "Either that or a Giant 400 foot lizard steps on everyone right now." Jonathan realized that wasn't his own thought.

"Sorry! Thought something along the lines of that would help!" Damian shouted.

Peter in the meantime was trying to calm down from the apparent shock he's been going through. "Door won't open?? How to open the door then..." Peter said almost sounding distant but he felt almost lost in some shape or form.

With a small whispering crack, Rethyn appeared in front of Tristan blade drawn. With his free left hand he placed it on the center of Tristan's chest in preparation to wisp them off just in case. With one quick glance, Rethyn looked over Tristan for injuries before looking darkly in the direction of Kilia.

"Don't hurt her you idiot! I'll deal with her!" Jonathan shouted as he knew he probably had no choice but to use the spell he thought. Dismissing his blades he quickly opened up his system and began to quickly draw out the Basis he knew would put together the spell he had in mind. "This might shut down my system for a day, but I must save Kilia." Jonathan thought as he managed to get the spell halfway done.

The Goddess waved her fingers around as she made Kilia dance to her rhythm. The little Seer skittered between all of them, her first target was Jonathan whom had dodged her attack. Swiftly turning on her heel she headed for Tristan and Rethyn, the magic still swirling around her fingers as she outstretched her hand to touch the boy who stood in front of his Seer. The crackling of the power was just enough to be heard. Slowly it spread upwards from her fingers to her elbow.

"Just so you know. That magic of mine... is a double edged sword. Don't figure it out in time and it covers her completely, she'll die," the Goddess sang from her corner whilst laughing, "Too bad for you all," her gaze shifted over to the red haired boy, "Oh my, you look utterly shocked. Whats the matter little Seer? Is this just too much for you?"

Jonathan could only growl his inhuman growl as he finished the last part of his spell. He has to save Kilia swiftly, no. He MUST save her. He slid the spell off the pad and it hovered in the air before entering in Jonathan's Body. It slowly started to glow as he readied to fight again.

Tristan narrowed his eyes, "Rethyn, get me on the other side of her."

Jumping back into Tristan to avoid the outstretched hand of Kilia, Rethyn nodded at Tristan's request as they both flashed instantaneously to the other side of Kilia. Still in front of Tristan with his blade held up, Rethyn stood guard over his seer with gritted teeth and bags under his eyes.

Tristan was about to pull a trick out of his spell pad, one that he actually owed to Kilia in its making. The spell hit the air and formed a cage hovering in the air, yet it didn't come down yet. He had to make it wasn't going to trap Kilia inside with the goddess. He needed to separate the two, yet he hadn't an idea on the how yet.

Turning the Goddess looked over to Tristan and his Guardian. She grinned at them, "And what might you be planning?" she hissed and with her free hand she lowered it to her side. Her fingers her curled around something invisible and she lunged forward at the two of them. The only thing that made it apparent that she was wielding a weapon of any sort was the dark hue that curled around her hands. It was sickly looking, and probably far more dangerous than it looked to be as she swung it at the Guardian.

Tristan ducked, and rolled hoping that Rethyn could hold her off for a second, a second spell flew off his pad as he was trying to piece together a distraction

Bringing both hands to his blade, Rethyn did his best to intercept the coming swing of the unseen weapon. At first, as Rethyn heard the familiar sound of clashing blades he though he had blocked it. But with a sharp pain to his side he soon realized he had only blocked some of whatever it was. With a quick glance to his right he saw his own opened flesh as the weapon had come in just above his left kidney. Closing one eye and dipping his head in pain, Rethyn did his best to hold the line.

"Rethyn," Tristan shouted as he saw the wounded guardian, he through the second spell in the air. It looked like a mirror, a giant one at that...it landed underneath the goddess' feet. He moved to step in front of his guardian, "Hold on, okay. The mirror reflected the magic the goddess was using back on to her.

A silver armored fist suddenly swung at the Goddess, whether the hit connected or not didn't matter as the bearer of the gauntlet back flipped out of the fray. The individual landed on his feet, wearing armor that looked almost comprised of Silver plates. Underneath the plates seemed to be a scaly underclothing comprised of black. But what seemed more devastating was it's helmet adorning the individual's head. It seemed to be like the rest of the armor, a beautiful crafted silver, with the intricate carvings of similar designs on his blades. The Helm had a concealing visor upon it, hiding the user's face.

The Silver Knight breathed heavily, in between breaths were almost inhuman growls, it glowered at both the Goddess and Kilia, whilst trying to find a way to save the latter, he would try and fight the former. He let loose an inhuman war cry that almost seemed to be mixed with the growls, almost as if it was meant to be a roar.

He drew a Claymore blade that didn't seem to be anything like the two hand in a half blades, It was just Silver with only a Distinguishing mark at near the Hilt. The Silver Knight was ready for Battle.

"Cute," she said softly as she glanced down to the mirror beneath her feet, "You think quickly," she commented to Tristan. Turning her blade around she slammed it down into the mirror, shattering it into a thousand pieces. Glancing back up at them, she smiled, "Oh look, its up to her shoulder now. Perhaps I should add that it does hurt her... will you fight harder now? This is so boring for me," she added as she turned to face the Guardian dressed up in silver armor.

"And you, well. Don't you look serious? Entertain me wont you?" she said as she flipped her weapon -whatever it was- around in a large arc in preparation for him.

Tristan grinned, "Don't you know breaking mirrors brings you bad luck," he hissed at her. The pieces suddenly took flight, surrounding the person that broke it. Sharp edges swirled around the goddess

Rethyn winced in pain as the blade was removed from him. Bringing his left hand from the hilt he held it over his newly gained wound. As the wound continued to bleed he felt the warmth of his blood move to the top of his left leg.

The Silver Knight only growled, saying almost no words except what could be told by his body gestures. He gestured to Kilia then at the Goddess, as if telling her to free her or face some form of Consequence and force her to do so. At her ready stance he only roared in acceptance of the challenge. He got into his own ready stance, lifting his own sword up to his concealed face, but if you look carefully at the side of the blade facing outward, one could see Jonathan's face, twisted into some form of harsh sneer, he looked no longer the charming gentleman underneath his armor. His eyes were a deep emerald, almost focused on fighting the enemy. He was a monster now, a monster that wants to fight monsters.

The Goddess glanced around her body as the mirror that she had shattered was suddenly floating around her body. A frown pulled at her lips. The sharpened pieces of glass presented no real threat to her other than being an annoyance.
Ignoring that, she returned her attention to the boy in silver armor. With a grin she motioned for him to attack her, "What are you waiting for my dear Guardian? Certainly not for your precious little Seer to die a very slow and painful death right? Oh look at that, its covering her side now. Best not touch her, it may hurt too," she said with a wicked grin. Her free hand moved towards the other Guardian whom she had wounded and Kilia obeyed, rushing towards Rethyn without a second thought.

Something popped into Tristan's mind, it was a wild idea, again his magic system came alive. He was working on something that he actually kinda thought about a few days ago. He focused on Kilia, or more on her magic pad, the spell worked like a virus...more of a computer virus. It hit Kilia, but it wouldn't cause any pain. It would effect her magic system though, almost making it short-circuit. It also like a virus attached to anything controlling her and effected it. Tristan noticed the direction of Kilia's attack, and there went that wall again. Only this time much more effective at protecting against spells and other attacks. "I really do got to think of a better barrier," he mumbled. This wall had its own defenses as spikes presided on its outside.

The Silver Knight Growled and seemed to speak. He would sound like Jonathan, but it would seem to have some sort of growling backdrop. "No, only for thou to make the first move." The silver knight growled out as he rushed at the Goddess and sliced towards her in as he tried to nick her own side. "I won't let you, or your Master win!!" The Silver Knight roared his inhuman cry again, as if the man inside the armor was dancing with something very dangerous in his own mind.

Meanwhile Peter heard the Inhuman roars from the room. "Holy crap, it's him. The Silver Knight." Peter said in fear, he then turned to Grayson. "The guy's a nightmare to bad people, Drug Lords, Serial Killers, you name it, he either wasted them or beat them to a pulp. If he's here, in this house, we are either very grateful, or we are screwed..." Peter started shaking in a slight fear went up his spine.

Grayson quirked an eyebrow at Peter, and heard pounding on the door, "That must be Alauric, the other god must have done this, kinda have a feeling he was warned or something about certain people." He was thinking Criea...she must have something to do with this, as well as her master. That didn't bode well for Soran. "Peter watch that door, if anything comes through that isn't Alauric or someone we know, fry its ass." Grayson was working with his magic system and sat on the floor. He needed a few minutes to do this the right way.

Peter stood back yet did as Grayson had ordered him too. But he had that sinking feeling Creia had something to do with this new attack. He started to get extremely angry. Very angry indeed.

Rethyn pulled in air as he quickly glanced around. Their main foe had lost her attention on him as she had to focus on whatever the hell was attacking her. Taking this into his mind, Rethyn stepped back as he allowed the shadows to cloak him as he seemingly vanished from combat. However, the young man had forgotten the blood dripping from his body as occasionally droplets of blood would be seen striking the floor from the air. He had become unseen, but not undetectable in this moment of combat.

Moving past Tristan, Rethyn's eyes locked upon the Goddess as he awaited the moment to come in. With his blade in his right hand he couldn't help but feel a little light headed from the strike upon him from earlier. He wasn't going to let it get in the way, he couldn't afford to.

Raising up her sword, "Oh my, did I finally get you to be serious?" she asked as she blocked the strike to her throat and moved backwards. All the while she manipulated Kilia in the meantime. The young Seer hit the wall, most likely done on purpose, and stumbled backwards, cuts forming across her small frame. Moving the Seer around the blockade that kept her from the red haired Seer, she pushed Kilia to attack yet again. The dark magic was down to her thigh now, curling around her small frame almost like a blanket.

"Well... I do believe things are getting rather dangerous for me. You see, I can be anywhere and she will still continue to rampage, isn't that nice?" the Goddess said as she swung her blade at the man in silver armor. Kilia, in the meantime, opened up her magic system to prepare to heal herself. As soon as she created the spell to heal herself the system went haywire and seemingly exploded on her. The Goddess, in the middle of her taunt, screamed. Kilia collapsed as if she were a rag doll just tossed to the side and the Goddess seemingly freaked out.

Her magic exploded and the invisible sword disappeared as she stumbled backwards.

The van ride home had been slightly on the quiet side. Victor had done his best with healing Soran, and Sina, but what really worried Alauric was that the healer was very quiet. Alauric glanced at Rethyn who was sitting next to him in the passager seat. He had questions, but it looked like he would have to wait for answers.

Rethyn quietly pulled off his vest as for a moment he reached to the inside of it and pulled out a small framed picture. Looking downwards at it, the half-bare Rethyn looked over the picture for a moment before leaning back in his seat.
Several times Rethyn glances around the van. There were two new faces, but he didn't say anything to them. However upon catching Alauric's glance, Rethyn begun to take out his ear piece as he said to him. "Something on your mind?"

Alauric sort of smiled, "I was wondering, what you heard if anything, that is..." he couldn't even look back at the seer lying down covered in the horrible cuts. "I don't even know how to describe that, what were those fucking gods doing to him."
"They were harvesting us." Sina cut in. "They were cutting into him and using his blood as a source of energy."

Alauric glanced at the new seer, even if he was open-minded, this sort of threw him for a loop. "Harvesting..." Alauric paused, "because of the magic system...that is fucked up." He had never heard of such a thing, now the gods were just being sick. He sighed, "I guess I should introduce myself, Alauric Belvedere," he said to Sina. "This is Rethyn, he is my son's guardian, the small healer back there with you is Victor.

Sina made a small laugh as she said. "I was just going to ask if blue eyes there was your son! Hi, I am Sina Virye! It's a pleasure to meet you guys. If I may ask who's he?" Sina lightly poked in the direction of Soran.

Alauric knew who she was talking about, "Soran, Soran Reigailia, he is a member of one of the seer families."
"So are you guys a team or something? Back while I fleeing Japan it was like every Seer and Guardian duo for themselves." Sina asked as she brought an index finger to the side of her mouth.

"Um," Alauric started, "team...family, kinda got all mixed together. Its a rather long story."

"Well, I'll fight for you guys!" Sina said beaming at them. "I kinda owe you now don't I?"

Rethyn begun to stare out the window again as he grew worried he would see the suited man again. His eyes drew heavier by the minute and he knew he needed rest badly. He was self-aware he was seeing things.

Alauric smiled slightly to himself, he couldn't help it, he was starting to like the girl. She was at least enthusiastic about helping out. He had to wonder what the other's would think. Another seer from another place, it was a little different. He pulled into the final road that was heading to where they were going.


Soran

The voice came again. This time it told it him that the woman had his back. He shivered.

~

He bounced slightly, and groaned. Hands were on his frame, they were hot, really hot. Or maybe he was just really cold. He couldn't tell. The sharp motion made him wince, a gasping intake of air filtered between his teeth. Both hands curled in on a strange material that was beneath him. It was cool and hard, perhaps it was leather. Once again, Soran couldn't tell.

~

Voices were around him. Several of them. The burning was still there, but some of it had faded away. He still felt cold, and shivered as he lay there. Then he was hot, extremely hot and he moaned, panting slightly. Moving a bit, he felt hands holding him in place. His heart skipped a beat and his breathing grew erratic. What the hell was he up on anyway? And there was a loud sound coming from somewhere to his left.
"Tristan...."

~

Opening his gaze slightly he could only make out blurry shapes. Nothing made sense. Where was he? Where were the Gods? It was dark around him. Shifting slightly he moved his head which had been propped up on something rather warm. He shivered yet again. When was he going to stop being so cold? He didn't know and also knew that he had been scorching hot at one point too.
Looking to his right he caught the blurry outline of someone whom he was laying on the lap of, shifting his gaze down he noted another figure on his other side, light filling one part of the air next to them. Soran moaned, slightly unnerved but unsure as to why exactly. Then everything went dark again.

~

He felt someone holding him, lifting him, he winced, heaving a breath out from tight lungs. There was light from somewhere, but he couldn't tell what it was for. He tried to get the strength to move, to free himself from the arms that held him, but all he could manage was a slight motion upwards that caused an intense amount of pain to flood him. A sharp cry echoed from his lips in his ears and he fell limp in the hold. Soft sounds of pain filled his ears, almost drowning out anything else until he heard a louder yell, a frantic cry from somewhere.

Voices once again filled his ears, but he couldn't piece it all together. They were jumbled to him. Besides, he didn't want to focus. If he focused... things would happen. He couldn't pin point the noise at all, he didn't know who was talking and he was trying to listen but he couldn't.

"Tri...stan," he muttered again, a string of incomprehensible words followed, but the ones most apparent were the red haired Seer's name. Until he fell unconscious again.

The Silver Knight saw Kilia go down, seemingly almost free from the influence of the Goddess then saw the Goddess in a sudden moment of weakness. Readying his sword he slowly walked up to the goddess, dragging its point across the floor, making a scraping sound and making the sword spark as he stalked towards her like a triumphant carnivore about to make the kill, growling in sweet satisfaction.

"Wait," Tristan shouted, not knowing if he could reach the human inside that piece of armor, "We need her alive, she needs to tell where Soran is..."

The Silver Knight turned to glare at Tristan before turning to the Goddess. "Stay Back you fools. This Kill is Mine!" He said in his growling voice. "She is a vestige of evil and will pay for her Crimes, and if you want her alive, I suppose MAIMING is the only satisfaction I shall have!!" At the last word he uttered came out as a Growl as he roared again and raised his sword and aimed for the Goddess's shoulder to impale her And thrusted forward, Roaring all the way. "But it won't matter either way if I Maim her or Kill her!!!"

Still within the shadows, Rethyn stood behind the goddess. He held his hand open like a knife as he held his other hand over his wound. He had put away his sword at the request of Tristan. If they needed her alive then so be it.

Coming from the shadows, Rethyn sidestepped away from the goddess as he narrowly avoided being impaled himself by the Knight's blade. Wincing in pain, he cursed as he failed to extract the goddess before the Knight got too close. Stumbling off in the direction of Tristan he at least took comfort in the protection of his Seer. "Tristan..." He said quietly as he moved towards his Seer.

"Rethyn," a look of concern sat on Tristan's face, as he looked at others wound.

Walking past Tristan to a nearby wall, Rethyn pushed his back against it as he slid down into a sitting position. Within his clear eyes anger could be seen to be seething. With a drop of his sword Rethyn brought his hand to his face as he puffed out a tired breath. Awaiting the next move his team took he sat there breathing slowly.

The sword went through her shoulder and she screamed. With the strange virus that attacked the magic system that Kilia had, she was thrown off and unable to protect herself from the oncoming attack. They slammed into the wall right behind her. Pinned there, she growled as she struggled, still feeling the virus coursing through her veins. Just beneath the skin, there were tendrils of black spreading from her neck down her frame. Cursing she struggled against the sword that pinned her, "What did you do?" she spat in anger, "You will all die! Slowly and painfully!" She laughed then, "At least one of you will go through the most excruciating, slow death possible," she said as she reached up and tried to tug the blade away from her shoulder.

The Silver Knight only glared at the Goddess. "Release her." He growled as he raised his free hand and moved it above the outline of her body and stopped right at her neck and began to clasp it. "Now. Or I'll crush your pathetic, corrupt neck." His eyes flashed it's gleaming emerald gaze as he said it, showing his seriousness. "Then answer the questions given." His Claymore refused to budge all throughout his statement, as it was embedded in the wall as well.

The Goddess coughed a bit as the fingers clasped over her throat, " She is... already.... free, idiot Guardian," the woman gasped. Her lips twisted up into a wicked smile as she gripped his wrist as well as the blade that held her pinned there, "Foolish human. You insist on continuing with me when she is in danger right now. Or do you wish for her death? If I were you, I would be paying more attention to the little girl than to me," she hissed with her grin playing wide on her face. The black distortion of her skin continued to spread and she winced slightly from the strange virus.

The Silver Knight realized Kilia was still injured from the dark magic and he slowly let go of the goddess, but he gave her a resounding backhanded slap as he left her pinned with his Claymore as he studied the black distortion carefully. Slowly one of his gauntlets began to glow with light as he carefully waved his hand over Kilia's body, sending a light coursing down her body to try and combat the black distortion. "Kilia..." The Silver Knight growled as he said this, not helping that his voice sounded horrible, as deep down under all the armor, He was still Jonathan. "If you saw me like this during all that, I'm sorry."

The goddess laughed as she watched the display though her present situation wasn't any better. Halfway through her laugh she coughed, hard, "Damn that boy," she cursed as she looked over to Tristan, "I hope that little blonde lover of yours," she coughed as the black distortion began to take over her face slightly, "I hope he suffers three times the pain," she hissed between her teeth as she doubled over from the strange magic that Tristan had invoked.

Tristan looked at the goddess with such an intense hatred, "Tell me where he is, bitch. I will make you suffer all you wish upon him and more." Tristan was trying to battle with the order to just finish her, but he needed to know where Soran was, he doubted she would tell him though. Oni would be a worse person to betray then anyone of them. That actually gave him an idea, "Or maybe I should send you back to him, defeated such as you are, is he as forgiving...for a defeat. I will make it quick and painless, first with extracting that virus coursing through your veins. It will only get worse the more you delay."

Her lips twisted into a wicked grin as she set her gaze upon Tristan. Tilting her head to the side, she only stared at him for a while, "Well, someone is fairly smart. You're right, Oni would be one not to betray. But I think you underestimate him. Even if I should return without having defeated you, he would not punish me, or kill me. He has other plans, other things that he wishes to do."

The tired Rethyn glanced up for a moment as his bagged eyes caught the goddess as he said. "Just shut the fuck up." Looking back down he shook his head for a moment before placing his blade back into his hand. "I'll start removing your fingers one by one if you don't answer the questions asked."

"So scary," she mocked, "Idiot little Guardian. You really have no clue as to what is going on around you. Try all you want, I won't tell you where the blonde Seer is. Have fun trying to find him, perhaps you should listen for screaming," she licked her lip as she grinned at them, leaning forward against the blade that held her pinned to the wall. Her fingers opened at her side. With a quick flick, she sent a flash of dark misty power at Tristan.

The Silver Knight straightened and only turned to Glower at the goddess, calculating at what he should do next, it would not be long but he had to either make his final blow against her or simply change back, which puts everyone in danger.

With a flicker, Rethyn appeared behind Tristan as he shoved him out of the way of the mist. As it almost struck him Rethyn's eyes went wide as he hit the ground next to Tristan. Feeling a sharp pain at his side he said. "I'm getting real tired of this shit."

Tristan cursed, mostly because he saw his own guardian get more hurt, he pushed himself off the ground. "Rethyn...damnit." He wasn't angry at the guardian, he was angry at the goddess. This was going in a bad direction...yet he hadn't a clue how to actually turn it around, nor did he really want to.

"Permission to rip her eyeballs from her skull?" Rethyn asked darkly as he glared at the goddess from the floor. He wanted nothing more than to kill the goddess, but he felt like if he were to take the kill the man in armor would rage at him. The honor of the kill belonged to that man and that man alone.

The Goddess lifted her head up, smiling wildly as she watched Rethyn and Tristan, "You have one very loyal Guardian, Seer. Would it pain you to see him go against you? Maybe even try to kill you?" she uttered as she weaved her fingers again. The air seemed to shimmer and the pulse of magic was now directed at Rethyn instead of Tristan with the sole intent to control him just as she had done to Kilia moments ago.

Tristan watched slightly in horror, but his feet were moving to try and protect the guardian on the floor. "Move," was his one order. He slide slightly getting there and was on his knees trying to get the other out of the way. He decided that he had enough of the goddess, he would find Soran his own way.

Rethyn knew the moment the wavelengths hit him he wouldn't be able to teleport out of the way in time. However, upon seeing Tristan trying to move him Rethyn growled angrily at his Seer. Brining his heel to the center of Tristan's chest he pushed his Seer back as he yelled to his Seer. "Better me than you! Stop trying to prot-.."

Rethyn became static as emotion wiped from his face and his left hand removed itself from covering his wound. With arms limply by his side he looked like he was being held up by a stick impaled through him. His head drouped downwards as he was now under the influence of the goddess.

Tristan shook his head as he couldn't believe Rethyn kicked him out of the way. He watched as he was slowly taken over by the goddess. Ok this wasn't good, he knew that Rethyn was injured, but if the goddess has access to his teleport powers there was no way he would be quick enough. Yet...he had forgotten about his cage in the air. He didn't want to harm the guardian, but he needed to keep him out of the way. He would need to modify it, his fingers went to his pad and was working fast. He could have really used Grayson on this one.

He kept his eyes on both guardian and goddess, and while trying to protect himself from one, he actually thought it would be fun to torment the other. His modification was done, he was wasn't going to wait for an attack. He let the cage fall over Rethyn, hoping it would catch them both off guard.

The cage fell, encasing Rethyn inside and the Goddess lifted an eyebrow at the result. Her lips flickered between a sneer and her grin. Obviously she didn't like that turn of events. With a huff, she waved her fingers, drawing circles in the air as she watched Rethyn. He didn't have a magic system per say... he was different. The Goddess frowned now, clearly irritated about something as she worked her magic around Rethyn's frame. She could feel he could do something, but getting hold of it was slightly different than getting a hold of Kilia's powers through her magic system. Finally, she realized what it was.

"Oh... how interesting," she muttered to herself, her grin returning, "This will be fun."

"Yeah...fun," Tristan wasn't looking worried for some reason. "Why don't you leave him alone, he isn't going anywhere." His hoped that his modification held up...nothing like a spell completely collasping on you to get you really in trouble. This one wouldn't allow anything but long distance transport. Which really would't work to the goddess advantage, as she would have to figure out distance and other stuff.

Her eyes narrowed at him. The Goddess returned her attention to Rethyn as she swirled her hand around again. Rethyn's frame faded out slightly, then returned still standing in the same spot. She grit her teeth angrily and tried again only to have the same result.

He looked at the silver knight just standing there, "Hey you got another weapon in that hunk of junk you are wearing."

Jonathan smiled under his helmet as the Silver Knight spoke in his voice. "An enhanced version of my other weapons. Grave is more finished then the wings of freedom twin swords are." As he said this The Silver knight summoned a Smith and Wesson .44 Magnum Revolver. "Ya feel lucky?" he growled his words. "I dont have much time to shoot...tell me where to do so."

"Yeah, aim it at her fucking head," he was making one last thing on his pad, and it would probably be his last for the night the fact that he wasn't creating bigger spells was sort of apparent with how easily they were defeated before. The virus one luckily was something he had been working on, but even that wasn't to its fullest potential. This one...god he hoped that it wasn't going to completely backfire on him.

The Silver took aim at the Goddess's head and seemed to glare once more, as he uttered several words before pulling the trigger. "This is for my Seer's Mother." He growled as his finger pulled the trigger. The shot fired. After he fired, the spell began to deactivate, each silver plate of armor slowly began to vanish. When the last plate vanished Jonathan was standing, garbed still in the slowly disentegrating scaley underarmor clothing as his regular clothes appeared underneath said underarmor. He gave out one last Inhuman roar before the underarmor vanished completely.

Jonathan then fell on his knees and started dry heaving.

As the gun fired Tristan let loose something a little odd. It looked liked a box used for christmas gifts, he shoved it underneath the goddess. And the lid popped off, and a pair of hands popped out. They grabbed onto the goddess holding her in place.

The sword faded as the armor faded from the one protector. Released from the pinning sword, she started forward, her eyes flashing dangerously. That was until she heard the sound of something popping open beneath her feet. Glancing down she ground her teeth as a pair of white hands grabbed onto her. They were surprisingly strong and in the next instant something passed through the center of her forehead. The Goddess froze. It took maybe a few seconds, perhaps a minute, but her body cracked, starting from the dark hole in the center of her forehead. Then it shattered with a powerful explosion outwards. Her hold on Rethyn gave way at the same time, the cracking sound of her power releasing from her body in one go was deafening and the house shuddered violently one last time.

The God that had been outside to try to distract felt the dispersion of the other and stopped his attack immediately. He faded away, leaving the house in an eerie silence for a moment.

Tristan's cage disappeared a second later, as Tristan was now breathing hard. He looked over at Jonathan, "Breath dude, can't have you fainting on me," well he was sort of expecting something of that nature, especially since he figured whatever spell that was that the other created took lots of energy.

Funny enough on the words "fainting on me" Rethyn dropped from blood loss over the course of the fight. However, thankfully enough he pushed himself back up to his hands and knees as he moved back to sit on his heels. With his left hand he covered his wound once again as he closed his eyes and opened his mouth in pain.

Jonathan breathed almost in a shallow way his face started to look extremely pale as if he was sick. "Used...too much energy whilst in that state." Jonathan gasped out. "Where is Peter and everyone else, need help with Kilia. Body..feeling sick."

Grayson was mediating as Alauric finally got the door open, it must have something to do with the weaken goddess next door, he glanced at Peter and then at Grayson, "Peter I am going to need some help. We are going to have to do some triage up here, can't really move anyone just yet. I need my first aid kit, lots of water, Julianna can help you, just hurry please." He was trying to distract the boy at the moment from his own feelings, He needed to keep him busy, god knows he was going to have enough trouble with Tristan.

Peter only nodded his head, he was possibly still in shock from the fact Soran was taken, and had grown slightly afraid from hearing the inhuman roars of the Silver Knight. How did he get there? Last time he heard about him in the recent news he was in another city, so what divine prank sent him here? He only started to walk past Alauric, not saying a word when he heard another roar from the Knight. He rushed past the door, only catching a small glimpse of the next door's scene, and saw him, his heart grew fearful as he ran. "Julianna!" He shouted in fear, "Quick help me!! First Aid Kits, Tons of water! Help me get them! Now!" He then suddenly realized he saw Kilia, Tristan, and Rethyn with the Silver Knight. "Where's Robin?" He wondered aloud, his shock unable to put two and two together at the moment.


After Peter left Grayson opened his eyes and sighed, "Damnit, I had him...but that god that is with him must have some good senses...a third sense or something because he blocked me. I am going to need Tristan for this." He turned and looked at Alauric, and he wasn't one to miss the pained expression now present on the seer's face, "It’s not your fault, don't stand there and blame yourself." Alauric shook his head, "I don't know if I can do this, these attacks keep getting worse. This one was well planned, they knew who to target, Kilia would be the most threatening to them. I think Soran was taken for revenge of some sort, from what I gathered from the attack by Criea...I am almost tempted to get everyone out of this house and hide while we train. We need an advantage at one point in this battle."

Grayson looked at him, "You mean up to the mountains don't you."

"I can't say anything positive at the moment, we got people next door that need help, I am going to need to help with it."

Grayson nodded and got to his feet, he didn't say anything else to the other and walked out the door.

Julianna was walking up the stairs as the two adults exited and returned to the other room. She had already been found by Peter and had been rushing around trying to gather as much as possible. She gasped slightly as she entered the room, but her first attention turned to Kilia. "Tristan...wheeze later, need some help." Tristan though had turned his attention to his guardian, trying to stop the bleeding as best he could. There was almost to much blood loss. Grayson stepped over and was weaving a spell to stop the bleeding from the inside. His healing powers weren't as good as Kilia's, but it would help in the long run.

Peter rushed into the room with as much as he could carry as well and looked around darting his eyes. "Jonathan?! Where were you, I only saw the Silver Knight doing your dirty work!"

Jonathan only laughed bitterly as he dry heaved again. "Idiot. I am the Silver Knight." Jonathan replied. He then tried to help Julianna with Kilia as best as he could.

"Wait....what?" Peter replIed. "Never mind that, where is Soran!?"

Moving to his feet shakily, Rethyn mumbled a "Thank you." to Grayson, Tristan and Julianna. He had no idea if all three had helped him or not, but he felt that was best to thank all of them anyway.

Twisting over to face Jonathan the baggy eye'd Rethyn barked at him in anger. "And you, shut the hell up! How dare you call me an idiot when I was merely guarding my Seer! I just saw a fucking ghost and I don't need your shit!"

Dropping back to his knees Rethyn growled in frustration and anger at his wound. He wanted to smack himself now in admitting what he had seen the previous night. It wasn't something he had wanted to share, but anger had gotten the best of him.

Jonathan chuckled. "My sympathies Rethyn. I see the ghost of my Ancestor all the time. No offense though but he didn't mention you." He coughed slightly.


"That's not what I fucking meant!" Rethyn roared at Jonathan from his knees.

Alauric shook his head, "You two that is enough, you aren't helping us by arguing, Grayson can he be moved." He was indicating Rethyn, Grayson nodded, "Tristan help me with him," Tristan got under one shoulder as Grayson had the other. And the started moving him out of the room. Julianna was looking at the puncture wounds on Kilia, "Some of those look deep,"

Alauric turned his attention to the other seer, and looked at Peter to finally answer his question, "We well get him back, I promise ok, we got to look after them first."

Peter's face turned to disbelief, anger, and upset all at the same time. "He has to be here..He's gotta be!" Peter shouted as he started shaking as He pulled his hood over his face to keep anyone from seeing his tears flow.

"Will she be okay though and can we bandage them?" Jonathan asked almost in a weak tone and coughed again. He clearly did not feel well.

"Yes, we will do what we can," Alauric answered for his daughter, "I know an ex-seer who is still a pretty good healer. He owes me one, and will be here shortly."

"Good..." Jonathan said as he suddenly fainted from exhaustion. He felt totally and completely drained of energy and he had begun to feel the world around him spinning around him.

"Soran,"

The map faded again in the training room, "Tristan you aren't concentrating, that is the third time," Grayson was in the opposite corner this spell wasn't working as well as it usually would..Grayson sighed and decided to use another method.
"Tristan I know...this is hard for you, but if you want to get Soran back you must not think the worst." Tristan looked at the guardian, it was apparent that his eyes were red probably from crying earlier, but really trying not anyone see him.
"I am sorry Grayson, I am trying to be strong, I just keep thinking I am hearing him scream... or something." He probably needed rest too, but he wasn't thinking about even trying to go to bed. "Ok, I will do it this time," he took a deep breath and let it out.

Tristan threw his map up again, it was an aerial view of the entire area. "Ok...lets see, we will try with Soran first," Grayson said, he was trying to get a hold on Soran's aura...yet he couldn't quite reach it. He kinda expected that. "I get buildings...probably abandoned. Maybe a warehouse..." Alauric who had been standing there was studying the map. He had left the healer in with Rethyn first, because he had been the most seriously injured. "Well if we backtrack to where we first saw them...Tristan zoom in slightly, on that area..." Tristan didn't need any more direction, and the devastated area popped up. "Ok move south slowly," Alauric said, it had to be the direction the gods were taking, or at least it was his best guess.
"Well that didn't help, there are several areas with abandoned warehouses, Grayson try again in these three areas." Grayson had been watching and nodded, "Hmm, well I am not getting Soran...but I feel another seer."

Alauric blinked, "do you think its the god...or another seer." Grayson concentrated harder..."No definitely another seer." Alauric silently cursed, what the hell did that mean another seer. "Ok well we will go with that," he said because he couldn't think of what else to do with that information.

---

Eyes jolted open. Sitting up in his bed, Rethyn reached quickly to his side as he felt dull pain. Upon contact, he felt bandages at his side. His wound felt closed under the bandages, but at the same time not completely healed. EIther way it was going to be a new scar without the help of Kilia, but that wasn't important.

Moving from his bed, Rethyn quickly slid on a black tank top and soon after replaced his blood stained pants with a pair of black cargo shorts. Lastly Rethyn reached for a pair of socks from the drawer and a pair of tan boots. As he tightened them he'd ocasioanlly feel a slight bit of flashing pain. Doing his best to ignore it he headed for the door of his room.
His door opened before he got to it, standing there was an extremely short man, probably not more then 4 feet tall. "Ah, you are up and about...good sign," he said as he stopped at the doorway. "Nasty cut you got there, how does it feel, probably not very good, you need another heal before you leave."

Rethyn looked down at the man with a tilted head. Had he had died? Who was the imp? Mentally shaking the thought from his mind, he did his best to be polite to the man as he said to him "Are you sure? I feel fine." He wasn't exactly telling the truth, but at the same time he didn't feel like he had the time. The others would need him, especially Tristan.
"Fine...you feel fine, heard that before, not really believing you, but its your body, " the healer looked up at the other...I mean he actually had to crane his neck. "I always get lost in this house, where is the girl seer's room."

"Sir, it's just a little down the hall and to the left I believe. I'm not exactly positive myself." Rethyn lied as when he first got here masked he teleported into just about every room he knew. It would just sound weird if he explained it like that. At the time he was scouting out the place. Looking back now he felt rather awkward at the thought of what he was doing.
"So, can I go?" Rethyn asked slowly.

"Down, left...and gosh don't call me sir, it makes me feel old. I...well who am I to stop you from going, Could probably kick you in the shin..oh why did I say that, haha forget it. Don't mind me, just going on my way." The healer turned in the opposite direction of where Rethyn told him to go. "This way..not its the other way...like I said getting lost."
He moved rather quickly for one as short as him as he walked away from Rethyn.

Shaking his head in just general confusion of that man's being, Rethyn turned the opposite way as he headed in the direction of the training room. Every once in a while he'd find himself stumbling, but overall he had vastly improved from his condition from before. In his mind he couldn't stop thinking about his Seer. He could feel the torment within Tristan and in turn it was coming to eat at him.

With a small click Rethyn walked into the training room. Locking his gaze onto Tristan and Tristan only he slowly walked over to his Seer. Through everything he no longer cared that people like Grayson could see him without his mask, he no longer cared about people seeing him.

Wrapping his right arm under Tristan's right arm he hooked it up as he embraced his Seer to comfort him. "Hey Tristan...I know I am not the best person to really talk to..But I'll listen."

Lowering himself to the ground and leaning a little into his Seer, Rethyn placed his face at the back of Tristan's neck as he waited in silence. The loss of Soran for the moment must of been killing Tristan. Breathing out a gentle breath of air Rethyn said to Tristan. "I believe in you, we'll bring him back."

When the training room door opened Tristan had not only been surprised that Rethyn walked through it but had this look in his eye that Tristan had never seen. What surprised him more was the embrace, but it actually felt nice to be comforted in such a way. "Thanks Rethyn, that means alot to me," Tristan said to him, wiping away an absentminded tear that rolled down his face.
After what seemed like a long moment, Rethyn gently moved away from Tristan. As he got up though he went to ruffle Tristan's hair a little before moving over to the far wall and sliding down it into the sitting position. "So, any news?" He asked quietly.
A small chuckle could be heard before Rethyn's question was answered. "We have narrowed it down to a certain area, but the exact building is still a mystery," this was coming from Grayson who was kinda in shock by the scene he just witnessed. The chuckle had been because of the expression he had on his face a moment ago.

---

Julianna had been sitting in with Kilia since the attack, trying to make sure she wasn't going to bleed from any of the wounds that occurred. Jonathan was also present but his state of being was starting to frighten Julianna, he didn't look well at all.
The door opened and popped in the healer...all four feet of him, "Well, this room looks promising, people are actually present," he said to no one in particular. Julianna turned and smiled, "Oh thank goodness, Master Lee, I was wondering where you were," she said as she moved aside for him. "Hmm, this one looks familiar, oh she has her mother's nose. Funny I could never look Yve in the eyes...oh nevermind that wasn't very nice of me." The healer opened up his magic system and a white light expelled over Kilia, what took Kilia slightly longer was done in a matter of moments with Master Lee, "she's got the healer's touch, I can tell. Kinda nice to be able to help one of my own."

Jonathan stirred as he heard talking. He slowly opened his eyes feverishly to see someone looking at Kilia and using magic on her. He tried to stand up to fulfill his futy as a guardian but he falls back onto the chair, beginning to feel cold all of a sudden. He didn't like this feeling. Not at all. "Kilia..." he croaked out pitifully.

It was warm again. It had been so cold for so long and Kilia was sure she had fallen into an ice box or frozen over. She hadn't ever felt so cold before. It was starting to worry her that she may never feel the warmth again. However, it washed over her like a tidal wave and she was relieved in the feeling. It felt amazing to have heat once again scorch her skin. It even seemed to loosen her lungs as she took a deep breath.

With a soft mumble, she cracked open her eyes. Everything was blurry for a while and she had to blink several times to see properly. Finally, when she could make out the faces that hovered over her she took a deep breath and hummed softly, "Hi..." she said feeling overly tired even though she had been in darkness for quite some time.

It seemed like that hi got a chuckle from the small healer, "Hi yourself, back from the darkness I see. Hmm, everything should heal fine." He had slightly turned to look over at Jonathan, "Hmm that one looks sick...catch a cold or something." Julianna only shook her head, as she figured it was much more than a cold. "I am sure my father will want to see you, Master Lee, would you like to come upstairs," she asked as she walked to the door. She hadn't noticed the healer go over to Jonathan, and poke him in the shoulder, "hey you need some healing."

Jonathan felt his touch, the touch felt warm. Too warm. He yelled out in alarm of the touch. "Don't! The touch!!! It burns!!!" He shouts in surprise.

Master Lee jumped back slightly, "Don't get your panties in a bunch, young man." He went to his healing pad, but something was off and he felt like he shouldn't heal the boy. "Ah...must be love," he exclaimed, "ok well, I can't do much about that," he produced a small red pill though, "This should help, not instant but at least he might be able to talk coherently." He left the pill on the table by the chair. It would actually start to smell in a second, smell like something the boy would love to eat, whatever that was for the moment.

"Ok lets go...I think these two need a moment alone or something." Julianna rolled her eyes and led him out of the room.

Jonathan looked at the pill at the scent, and with one quivering hand he grasped It and downed the pill. "Dumbapples...." He said to himself. Shivering again he rested where he sat. Ever watchful on Kilia. He smiled weakly at how helpless he was and thought how stupid he was in using his greatest spell.

Kilia shifted around and slowly sat up. Stretching, she looked over to Jonathan and immediately came off the bed. Stumbling from the sudden movement, her head swam terribly and she ended up landing on his lap rather heavily. With a groan she reached up and pushed the loose strands of hair that had fallen into her face, up and away. Looking up at him, she straightened and reached out for his face, "Robin... Hey, Robin..." she called and then swiped at her magic system.

The pad opened, but it was completely blank. Her heart skipped a beat, "Reset... Reset?! Why... what happened.... crap," she muttered to herself as she tried frantically to recall the basis for her two most prominent spells. Taking a moment, she closed her eyes, breathed and then reopened them to stare hard at the pad. Gritting her teeth, she touched the pad with her fingers and started drawing.

It took her considerably longer than it normally would, but when she was satisfied, she dragged it of the pad and dropped it over Jonathan's frame. It glowed bright blue this time.

Jonathan only smiled at the woman on his lap. "Hey babe, you feeling okay?" He asked her weakly yet with a strong tone in his voice. "Oh...Magic blank....stupid...ginger...hehe." Jonathan realized then that something was terribly wrong with him. "Crud...I should not insult him...he saved you... whilst my rage nearly devoured me...like a snake."

Kilia looked up at him. At first she giggled lightly, "Hi, I'm alright," she answered his first question. As he continued she couldn't help but laugh, "Far better than you apparently. You need to sleep. You are so low on energy," she said. A frown pulled at her lips as he continued. She wasn't sure what he was talking about but after he slept and he was in a much better condition she would ask him. But that would all come later. Shaking her head a bit she examined him via the new spell she had just created. The blue glow highlighted his body nicely for her. Nothing was wrong with him, persay. Only that his energy was insanely low. For him to be even awake and talking was a miracle, well partially talking that was. Jonathan wasn't making any sense to her in the least.

Shaking her head again, she stood up in front of him, "Hey, go to sleep alright? I will bring you tea later. Right now, sleep. I have to go see the others. I promise I will be right back though," she told him and planted a kiss on his forehead before heading for the door. She was going to have to ask Tristan how to share energy later.

Jonathan smiled. "Okay Babe, I'll sleep." He said as his eyes started pulling shut. "Kilia.. I love you." He called out before sleep finally claimed him. What filled his dreams, no one ever knew. Only that they were good.

She paused in the doorway and smiled warmly at him, "Yeah, I know. I love you too," she whispered back and left after closing the door. She rushed down the hall and hurried to find the others.

---

The Rescue:

Peter silently walked into the training room silently. He could see Alauric gazing at the Map and Grayson and Tristan concentrating their magic. He also spotted Rethyn nearby. He only sighed and sat on the floor where he stood. "Any luck yet fellas?" He asked intently, his mind almost fixated on finding his lost Seer. "Still cannot believe Robin is that Vigilante known as the Silver Knight. He's too nice to be that guy." He muttered to himself.

The discussion upstairs had probably taken a turn for the more interesting. Grayson didn’t think they could get any closer then the area of five buildings they were currently looking. Even that could have trigged something, so any closer would definitely alarm the gods. “Yet that leaves five buildings, and searching through all of those will certainly cause alarm,” the comment went up from Alauric as he looked one person to the next.

"Question." Peter asked, "why not use me for better narrowing them down further?" he thought it was a pretty good question to ask. But then again it might have not. He was just desperate to get Soran back as soon as possible.

"Because Peter, I need you for something else," Alauric said, "You and Tristan..." he kinda knew he was going to get a rather dark look from his own son, but he was doing what he thought would get the best result. "And I know while you both have personal reasons to rescue Soran, I can't send you in there with your own agendas."

"Wait a minute!" Peter said in protest. "As far as I know, our potentially strongest dude is half wasted due to to how much energy the idiot used to become that... thing! And we can't entirely trust him if he enters that state again! I've seen and heard about The Silver Knight on the news! Jonathan Grey is dangerous now that he's shown us his true colors. I'd say it puts his status as a Guardian into question."

Tristan glared at Peter, "Peter, you weren't in the room with us during the fight, and while I know you think you have some clue at what your talking about, Jonathan and that spell he used have nothing to do with each other. And no one can question who gets chosen as guardian. I trust Jonathan still, and I will leave it at that."

Peter could only stop and stare at Tristan. "I'm sorry. I should not insult him. I'm sure if he did not use that spell, we'd either have less people in the room or more injured. But my point is I only have one agenda right now. I want my Seer back." He said, sounding almost more collected and thought out his words carefully.

Alauric glanced at Peter, "Well there is more to this plan then just the rescue...and probably should just let it out now. We are leaving this house, we need someplace where the gods won't find us so quickly. We need the time to actually train and get better and not only get attacked and have to take the time to heal. So that kinda means we need to cover our tracks."

He turned to Rethyn, "Rethyn will be doing the actually rescue, so if you aren't hundred percent...you need to actually be truthful because we all need you to be"

"It doesn't matter if I am not at one-hundred percent. We're getting him back. He'd do the same for any of us." Rethyn said from the corner.

Tristan spoke up again, "I kinda had an idea about how to narrow it down even more to the one specific building other then trying to search all five. It is a rather hair-brained idea, mostly because I don’t know if it will work or not. I was thinking on trying to hack into Soran’s magic pad. Yet because I know he is probably better at hacking than I am, he probably has really good protection on his system." Tristan was pretty sure this wasn't going to work in the first place, or even if it should work, hacking into another seer's pad...well that was frowned upon among the families. He was pretty sure his father wouldn't let him do it.

Especially since the last time...didn't go so well. "Tristan, I thought we agreed that you would never try that again. Especially after you accidentally cast a spell and froze a whole room full of important people."

Tristan sighed...yeah there was that and he didn't want to accidently cast anything that would get Soran into more trouble.

Kilia, who had entered some time after was seated with he legs crossed under her, listening to their conversation. She could tell Tristan was haggard, worn and stressed. She was as well, but she couldn't imagine how he was feeling. If Jonathan were to have been taken from her she would be in the same state as he was. Even so, she was surprised that he was even doing this much coherently... or semi-coherently. The earlier comment about Jonathan had her stunned and confused, thus the reason she hadn't said anything. Tristan, though, spoke for her.

With a sigh she glanced between them all. She didn't have any ideas at all about how they were going to find Soran and so instead she started chewing on her lip, a terrible bad habit when she was trying to think of something. Upon Tristan's mention of hacking into Soran's magic system she recalled her own being reset and glanced over to him, "Tristan... my magic system was reset. I don't have the slightest clue as to what happened to it or how to fix it," she knew it wasn't the topic, but couldn't help to mention it.

"Maybe you can look at it later?" she offered. Perhaps it would help to keep him occupied once they figured out how they were going to get Soran back. She knew the boy was going to be tearing his hair out as they waited. In the mean time, she continued to nibble at her lower lip, her thoughts scrambling as she tried to figure something out to at least help.

"What about..." she stopped, humming slightly to herself as an eyebrow drew down and she gazed at the floor for a moment, "What about the Gods power? Didn't he share that spell or system with you guys?"

Now three people looked at her, Tristan actually spoke up first, "He was still working on it, and while I could try to use it...there were still some kinks I think." He looked at Grayson, who seemed to be pondering something, "Maybe we don't need the system per say...those three gods are all mega-powerful. It shouldn't be that hard to figure out where most of the power is concentrated in the area. However I think targeted Oni himself...would be to risky, and I am while I could pick out Criea pretty easy...I think its that third one I need to concentrate on."

"What if we tried to do this quietly?" Rethyn asked again from the corner. "I don't know if we want to risk Soran's life by getting into direct combat with them. If Jonathan is indeed our potentially strongest member we should fight without him at the front lines."

Alauric looked at Rethyn, "To be perfectly honest, I don't want to get into a fight with them at all. That is why I am choosing you, you have the potential to get in and out as quick as possible without causing that much attention."

Rethyn nodded to Alauric in agreement. "I'd feel comfortable in this plan. I don't want to risk anyone else."

"So, going back to the beginning, cause I need you guys to listen to this," Alauric was looking at everyone. "Like I said we are leaving the house, that means everyone has something to do in helping. We only take what is absolutely necessary from our belongings. Rethyn I will give you specific instructions later on."

Rethyn nodded to Alauric as he briefly glanced at everyone in the room for a moment before looking back. "Yes sir."

"Kilia," he turned to the pink-haired seer, "I am going to need to know you are safe first and foremost. You and Jonathan are going to go with Master Lee, he will take you to the retreat."

On those words the healer walked in with Julianna, who looked like the little guy talked her ear off the entire time. "Oh did I hear my name, just in time, thanks miss...I was rather hungry after all the healing this morning." He glanced around the room and he eyes were upon Kilia, "Oh...the young healer, yes she is looking better, definitely more color to her face. I am Victor, Victor Lee. Most who aren't so formal call me Uncle Vic."

"Victor Lee?" Kilia turned to face him, holding herself up on her hands as she was twisted at her waist. Her eyes grew bright, "Mother... mentioned your name a few times," she said softly, "You're... the healer right? Victor Lee was a healer that my Mother spoke about. She often said that he was the best healer she had known. And... also that I should have taken lessons from you," she blushed at this but shook her head a bit to clear it -though that didn't work very well- but she continued to watch him with an almost 'awe struck' look in her gaze. He's... smaller than I imagined... she thought to herself with a tilt of her head.

Victor slightly blushed, "Such a compliment coming from you." He continued, "Alauric thought I could be of some help, and spoke about a healer with great potential and some good skills. So I agreed to become your trainer."

Tristan looked at Kilia, "You mentioned your pad...I am sorry about that, completely my fault. I will fix it, promise." Tristan had been sort of distracted, but he had heard her. Actually he had slightly blushed, and let the conversation continued as to not draw attention to the fact that he had given it a virus, a fact that Kilia might not be to happy about.

Alauric had let the conversation slip again, "Ok, well back to the plan. Grayson can work on the pinpointing the building, but like I said we need to cover our tracks. That is where you two come in," he was looking at Tristan and Peter. "Going to cause a distraction in a way so tracing us won't be so easy."

"Such as?" Peter replied at the moment he heard distraction. He half wondered what to do to make it happen.

"With these," Alauric was holding a small canister, and Tristan spoke up, "Aura bombs," he looked liked he sort of understood. "So we are going to cause a trail that leads away from where we are actually going. Just in case any try to follow."

Alauric looked at Peter, "You do have a car right."

"Aye that I do." Peter replied. "And Its a great car. Hate to see it get blown up."

Tristan slightly chuckled, "I hope we don't have to worry about that, but yeah blown up car wouldn't be good. Ah, so we are dropping those, and running like hell. So where are we going to drop them"

Peter smirked. "So its a false trail essentially. A Diversion. I'm down with that." he wondered when would he do this.

"First we find the building...then we make the preparations to leave, the we perform the rescue and diversion almost at the same time." Alauric kinda wondered if that actually sounded like it would work. "We have two hours until sunrise. I would like not have to do the rescue during the day, So one hour to make preparations and another to go get Soran back,"

Damian was listening from his usual eavesdropping and he looked at Kilia and didn't say anything, his look said It all. What about Jonathan? Should he be wakened for being told what Is going on? Where are they even going? "Let's ask Jonny boy." He only stated. "You talk to him, I'll get his stuff." and with that the ghost vanished from the room.

"It's a well thought out plan. " Rethyn said with a little nod. "It was better than the idea I had in mind. So, what do you need me to do?" Rethyn said without breaking his gaze from Alauric.

"Rethyn, I actually like to talk to you alone," Alauric said, "Just met me downstairs in my study." Tristan looked at his father for a second, "Go ahead I am fine," he just wanted to let the other know he didn't have to worry about him. He was going to be busy as it was and didn't want to interfere with his father's plan.

"Right." Rethyn placed his hand at his side as he slow and quietly rose to his feet. A light string came from his side but he was getting use to it. With the previous knowledge of where Alauric's office was located he begun to leave the room to head down to the office.

"Okay, guys lets get this done," Alauric said. It was an indication that whatever they needed to do to perpare it was now the time for them to go do it. Grayson was still sitting there, musing over his pad, he needed to make some adjustments before he could actually pinpoint the exact location. Tristan got up from his position and stretched, "Peter, I think I got an idea for where to put those aura bombs, when you are done with your packing, just met me in my room."

Peter nodded as he hurried to his room to begin packing.

Kilia briefly glanced up to Damian and though she acknowledged him, she didn't say anything outwardly. Once they were told to get things done, Kilia stood up and went to her room where Jonathan was still sleeping. She allowed him to sleep for a while longer and she started packing a few essential things. Mostly her clothes, a brush and bathroom things. Once she had it all in a bag that she found in the closet of the room, she went over to Jonathan and tapped his shoulder.

"Hey, I know you're tired but you have to wake up now. I'll give you that tea in a few minutes. We have to go though. Head downstairs with me okay? Damian is getting your things, I'm sure he's already got it all together. Come on," she said and dragged at his arm to help him stand up. She would get her bag later, but she wanted to have Jonathan down and ready to go. They didn't have much time after all.

Jonathan groaned as he got up. "Alright. I'm hurrying. I can finally ride ya on my motorcycle." he said with a groggy chuckle. He let her lead him downstairs. "Tell me, where are we going? Why so early in the morning?" he didnt feel like opening his eyes at the moment, only listen and walk slightly uneven.

"Got his stuff, good thing the Idiot doesn't have much in terms of belongings." Damian said slinging the bag over Jonathan's shoulder.

Kilia shook her head, a bit of smile on her lips, "No, you're not driving. Not like that, honey. You are going to ride with Alauric and Grayson. We are leaving very soon. We're going to another house, I don't know where, only that we can't stay in this house anymore. The Gods keep finding it," she explained and once they were down the steps, she had him sit down near the front door, "Here, stay here. I'll get you that tea now," she said and pecked his cheek with her lips.

Jonathan smiled and nodded his head. "Okay dear." was all he could muster.

"Jeez, you were in your armor longer then last time ya used that spell. New Record!!" Damian shouted with slight glee. "Once you get conditioned enough we can figure out the rest of how to finally get me to cross over."

Alauric and Rethyn

Alauric soon followed Rethyn in to his office. He looked at the other, "Are you sure you are good to go first of all."

"I'm entirely sure sir." Rethyn said in response as he folded his arms low across his chest. With a slight tilt of his head he asked Alauric. "So, why did you need to take me away from the others to brief me? Shouldn't they be aware of what I am doing?"

Rethyn had an idea of why Alauric was doing this, but he didn't want to bring it forth. It must of been the kind of information that would bring the group down. Or at least that's what came to Rethyn's mind. What else could it have possibly been?

"There are three things, the first being the most important, I need you to promise me this, no matter what you see or hear, that there is to be no altercation with the gods themselves. It was the other reason that I chose, despite everything, I think you can put aside your personal feelings the best when you know you need to. I know you care...you care because of my son and I thank you for that."

Rethyn gave a slow nod to Alauric as he listened to the man. Before speaking he took in a breath and closed his eyes for a moment. "There will be none." He finally said after a short moment of silence. "Can I ask you something?" He breathed.

Alauric nodded, "What would you like to ask?"

With a close of his eyes he took a risk as he spoke the words. "Can I have permission to depart a bit early. I need to go somewhere before I go to my infiltration point."

Alauric was curious, but decided if the other was asking it must have been important to him, "I am fine with that, I will have to give you coordinates first for your extraction point. That I think I can show you after Grayson gets done."

"There is another item though, when we were searching earlier, Grayson said he felt another seer, this one not being the god though. If you should be able to rescue this person also, I rather not leave them there for the gods to torture, but only if the occusion should arise. Soran is your first priority."

"I'll get them both." Rethyn merely said. He was not going to let a life suffer. By staying in this home so many lifes were lost within the city. One extra life wouldn't even be able to put a dent in all of the lives he could of saved, but it was something. "Was the Seer's guardian sensed as well?"

"No," Alauric answered, "Its possible that they are alone," he was going to leave it at that,

"Okay." Rethyn replied quickly.

"The last thing is...to come back safe, you are important to us."

"I don't know about that, but I appreciate it sir."

Alauric chuckled, "well at least you are honest. Um...wait, I just thought of something." He opened a drawer in his desk, and pulled out an couple of ear pieces. "These aren't as good as Soran's, but they still work, it clips around your ear and the button to turn in on is in the back. However I wouldn't turn it on until you are ready for extraction, just to be on the safe side. You then can speak into it and hear"

Rethyn extended a hand for the device. "Interesting." As he took it in his hand he glanced over it for a little while before looking back to Alauric. "I'll be honest with you sir you won't be hearing from me if things go well."

Alauric looked at him, "Then I look forward from not hearing from you."

Rethyn puffed out a short laugh as he gave a small smile. "I'll be off then as soon as I get those coordinates. Thank you for trusting in my ability."

Whap!

With a small clapping like sound Rethyn's heels struck the sidewalk as he dropped down a short distance from where he exited the teleport. The area around the young man was desolate as the destruction of the city had seemed aged. There was no longer fresh smoke in the air, the last breaths of the city had ceased. Many of the buildings were down and were opened in the destruction.

With each step Rethyn took he heard echos as the sound would beat through the buildings and the area around him. He knew where he was as he saw the familiar street signs leading to the areas he wanted to hit before heading back to the extraction point.

First, the caved in home down the street of which he use to call home was his first priority. As he stepped forward he felt heavy. As he glanced to the right he saw children running, as they kicked around a soccer ball. With a shake of his head they were gone. Refusing to look back in that direction the young man approached the door.

Exhaling a long drawn out breath Rethyn reached for the door handle, it was locked however. With a firm twist of the handle however he could literally feel the weakened door and it's lock breaking under his grip. With a firm shove of the shoulder the wood of the door chipped and broke at the shove of his weight.

He was in. Standing in the darkness of his old home he begun moving around where he could. The damage to the home had blocked off so many rooms that he knew he wouldn't be able to access them. That including his own room as he passed by it. Shaking his head with slight frustration he moved to the main living room. There it was, the object of which he had came for.


Crack!

Rethyn's attire had changed. Now at the extraction point the young man was wearing what appeared to be a black Kevlar vest over his black tank top. Upon the vest it read "Police" upon it. Along with the vest he had seemed to have obtained a few metallic objects of which looked like cylinders.

Stepping off into the shadows, Rethyn masked his presence as begun taking as much weight as possible from his steps. Climbing over rubble and fallen signs Rethyn drew in closer.

Bamf!

Still within the shadows, Rethyn teleported a little ways up as he had spotted a hole in the target building. Standing at the edge of the open spot, Rethyn wrapped his left arm around a devastated piece of rebar of which was sticking out of the concrete.

Kneeling down he closed his eyes briefly as he could hear voices echoing off the walls from the floor down below him.

"That's one...two...and three..." Rethyn thought to himself as he remembered the number of gods of which were briefed to him. Below him he heard the three of them exchanging words. With that he knew he was in the right place.

Now all he needed was that distraction. With a quick glance to the flash grenades he had looted from the police station he at least had a back up plan if things went bad.


~~~~~~

"Please..." Soran moaned, crying again as Valyn was knelt next to him once more. He had lost track of time, had lost track of what day it was. It felt like months to him. "Don't... Sto-" his words ended in screams. The knife had cut into old wounds, making them deeper or larger. Soran was sweating profusely, bloody and breaking down. Valyn continued for a while longer before two of the Gods entered the room. The blonde Seer had completely forgotten about the other woman in the room, too lost in his own pain to notice much of anything now. The knife pulled away and he went limp, panting heavily and struggling to stay awake.

"Valyn," Oni's voice was sharp slightly irritated as well. Something was wrong.

The red eyed God stood up slowly, "What is it?"

"The energy. It's not doing much, is it."

Valyn was silent for some time before the golden knife faded away and he crossed his arms, "It was only a test, Oni. It gave some energy, more than we've gotten before."

"Yes, but now it's fading again."

"Probably because he's dying," Criea snapped, tilting her head as she regarded them both.

"No, that shouldn't have an affect. His energy is still connected to his magic system and it's slow."

"Greed will get you no where, Oni."

The God possessed Seer smiled at Valyn, "Perhaps. Still, the power flow should have increased, but it did not. Change tactics. Do something about it Valyn. If we are to take power from these idiotic mortals than it should be proficient."

"What, squimesh from the blood, Oni?" Criea asked as she moved and inspected the half conscious boy hanging from the single peice of golden twine holding him against the wall.

"Hardly, but it is messy, don't you think? My concern is getting the power we need quickly. This... this isn't quick." Oni motioned his hand towards Soran a frown on the girls lips.

"No, but it's been the only thing so far that works," Valyn countered, "If I tried that again it will kill him."

"He wouldn't even survive a single touch from it now," Criea huffed, rolling her shoulders as she moved away from Soran.

"You have that one," Oni said looking to the other Seer still tied up in the golden twine across the room. Valyn glanced to her briefly and shrugged.

"I will have to perfect it."

"You bitch.." Sina said angrily from the other side of the room. Within her eyes burned a hatred of the goddess. She didn't understand, why didn't she just kill them? Most other gods by now would have either taken over them or killed them. Why wouldn't she just pick one already?

Oni looked over to the other Seer, "Interesting. I think you have the wrong term there Seer. I may be in a woman's body, but I am definitely not one," the voice grated.

Valyn turned slowly to Sina and narrowed his red eyes. His fingers stretched out and started to curl in, but Oni waved his hand, getting the other Gods attention. With a shake of his head, long black hair flipping across the shoulders, he clicked his tongue a bit as he moved the Seer's body towards Sina. Kneeling down, he reached out and took hold of the girls chin.

"I suggest taking into account where you are at, little Seer. You are now our source of power, as is the boy. With both of you, we can gather as much of it as we want. It's those magic systems you have. The systems are connected via energy to the user and also electrically. Your society is pulsing with electricity. Everything is connected. As a God, we cannot touch the connection, but in this state," he glanced down to the Seer's body he was occupying, "We can collect it very easily. Granted it's taken us a little while to figure out how your systems work, but now that we have," he grinned at her, "Gathering the power we need from two very strong Seers makes our war a lot easier. You see, I'm not the only God that's trying to keep his station. I am trying to gain more power to control other Gods. In order to do that, I need you, and him, and the other Seers. Of course, other Gods keep getting in the way as they are much too stupid to think things through as I have."

Tilting Sina's head a bit, Oni regarded her for a moment, "Just think, you are now our eternal source for power. Well... that is if you don't die from exertion. But I'll be sure to have Valyn be careful about that. After all, his touch is definitely more violent than that blade of his, wouldn't you agree?" Oni grinned as he released her and walked back to the other two. With a flick of his hand he motioned for them to follow him.

"Come, we have things to do and energy to disperse to the others. What little of it we have," he growled in annoyance, "Get rid of that ridiculous spell, Valyn. It's not working anyway."

The red eyed God turned to face both of them and snapped his fingers. The golden twine around Soran's wrist faded with Valyn's departure. With that one, the twine around Sina was gone as well. Turning around, Valyn followed after the other two and walked towards the opposite wall before disappearing.

Sina said nothing as she glared furiously at the god. Sure, there were many insults she wanted to spew at him, but her attention had been drawn to Soran of whom she feared wasn't going to last much longer if they kept focusing on only him. She wanted to plead to them to go after her for a while. At least give him rest.

As they disappeared she looked to the boy and called to him. "Hey! Stay with me alright?!" She had started to look panicked as she feared he was becoming lost in all of the pain. Just looking at the horror of what they had done to him made her a little watery at the eye. The cuts had become so deep.

Stumbling over to the boy, Sina begun to rip the left arm of her shirt off as she drew closer to Soran. She needed to stop the bleeding as the wound was deep. She knew it wasn't going to help much, but she couldn't just let him bleed on the floor like those monsters.

Cuffing her hands into the armpits of Soran, Sina pulled the boy onto her lap as she started trying to tie the makeshift bandage around the re-opened wound of Soran. As she did her best to tie it tightly she knew it wasn't going to save him, but it was soemthing.

Sina tried to wave a hand in front of the boys face. "Say something, are you with me kid?"

Breathing was hard, everything burned and he wanted nothing more than to slip into a sweet dreamless sleep. He was about to when hands pulled at him, dragged him from the wall and he was suddenly lying down. He couldn't concentrate though, unsure of what was up and what was down. The voice of the girl from earlier pulled at his conscious but he only mumbled a little bit, head lulling from one side to the other. If anything was apparent it was a soft, whisper of a name, though he muttered other words as well but nothing as coherent.

Sina was not exactly sure which words the boy murmured but she could of sworn she heard him say "Tristan." With a close of her eyes she sighed as she feared this was near the end. She had a feeling if he took any more of this kind of abuse his mind would shatter.

Sina had begun to cry as she curled down and hugged the boy. She felt horrid for him, she didn't know what she could do for him. She felt helpless, she hated it, she hated the gods.

"Why..why." She sobbed "Damn it..."

Suddenly without even a chance to register a hand swiftly curled itself over her mouth. She felt for a moment her feet were no longer on solid ground as the familiar feeling of a drop on a roller coaster came upon her.

As the feeling of the drop left she realized she was longer in the location she once was. Twisting around she quickly caught glimps of a boy with solid blue eyes and no irises. In panic she tried pushing at him to get off her.

Rethyn didn't even budge as he placed down first her then Soran. Flicking his eye around the area he was unable to teleport both of them straight to where they needed to be. He was taking in deep breaths as he needed a moment before he could go again.

Sina's mouth hung open as she looked around their new scenery. They had left the dark warehouse to only go into another half collasped building. Twisting over to the new boy she siad. "What? The hell was that?!"

Panting a few more times, Rethyn held up his index finger to her then brought it to his mouth. After a short moment he lunged for both Soran on the ground and the highly confused Sina. "Wait, what the hell are you-"

"Doing". Sina looked around in confusion again as now Soran had been moved from the ground to now cradles in Rethyn's right arm. She tried speaking again, but Rethyn brought an index finger to her lips as he seemed to say to himself.

"Alauric, I've extracted them. Do not let Tristan see Soran. Soran needs medical attention now. I repeat, I've extracted them. Do not let Tristan see Soran and give Soran medical attention right now."

Sina glanced at Rethyn's armor for a moment as she read it she tilted her head at him. "What're you fucking magical police man?!"

Rethyn seemed to ignore Sina as he knelt down and begun to look over the injuries of Soran. Gritting his teeth for a moment he looked to Sina as he said "Hold him." Sina blinked in confusion as she moved in to take hold of the boy.

Stepping back, Rethyn reached for the sleevless tank top under his armor as he begun to tug at it. Eventually he ripped it as he too made yet another makeshift bandage for Soran. While watching him Sina just looked like a confused puppy. "Wrap it around some of his other injuries." Rethyn ordered as he walked over to a nearby wall and sat against it.

Giving up on asking the boy questions Sina obeyed as she neatly ripped apart Rethyn's old shirt and made several bandages for Soran. However after a long moment she felt she had to ask one thing. "What're we going to do now?"

"Wait." Rethyn replied.

Sighing, Sina nodded as she got to work add more bandages to Soran's wounded body. Around the deeper wounds she wrapped layers of bandages to stop the bleeding. "This isn't going to be enough!" She called to Rethyn.

"I know." Rethyn said calmly.

Finally the ear piece crackled, but only Rethyn could hear it, "Rethyn this is Alauric, we are on our way. Healer on board, be there in five minutes."

"Keep Tristan away." Rethyn repeated himself to Alauric.

Sighing Rethyn dropped his hand from his ear piece to his side as he stared absently into the distance. He was tired, ever since the party night that's all thought about in the back of his mind. "It's almost over." Rethyn thought to himself.

His eyes shot open as his gaze caught a suited man leering out at him through a half shattered window. Looking at Rethyn he merely made a gun with his hand and said into Rethyn's mind. "Bang! No it's not."

The man faded from view.

Sina in turn had taken a protective grasp over Soran as she held onto him tightly. She didn't know what was going on, but she had high hopes for the best as she whispered to Soran. "Hey, I told you I had your back."

Kilia felt her breath stolen from her lips as she set eyes upon the house that they drove up to. Her and Jonathan were taken there first upon Alauric's order with Victor. The large vehicle pulled up to the house and then down into a driveway that she didn't even see. The hummer drove into the underground garage and she was still awe struck as she watched the car pull in and park. Holy... Wow.... she couldn't think straight. She was going to have to tell Alauric that he was probably the coolest person she'd ever met. For some reason she was beginning to think 'super spy' and quickly pushed it out of her head with a bit of a giggle.

Getting out of the large vehicle -which she honestly couldn't even begin to imagine would suit such a small man- she helped Jonathan who was still slightly delerious with his fatigue. Unable to get a hold of Tristan to ask if there was a way to share energy, she was going to have to wait and just let her Guardian regain it on his own. Looking around the large garage she went around the car with Jonathan in hand.

"Um... Mister- uh, Uncle Vic?" she called, "Where... how do we... get out of here?"

The healer hopped out of the vechicle and yawned, "There is a small elevator over there, it opens to the kitchen."

Turning, she located the elevator where he had motioned, "Ah... of course," she muttered to herself and took Jonathan there. If the garage and outside of the house had put her in a state of awe, the inside had her jaw hitting the floor, "Beautiful..." she said to herself. She had never been to a place such as this. Once she got Jonathan comfortable she heard the roar of an engine outside and went to the front of the house. The enormous windows gave her a beautiful view of the woods around them and the driveway of which there was a van. Someone hopped out, and moved quickly to the house. She finally recognized it as Alauric.

She didn't even have a chance to say anything to him for he went straight for Victor and with a few short words, they were gone. Kilia's heart pounded hard in her chest as she watched the Van turn and drive quickly back down the road they had come up. Leaning against the window sill, her mind whirled around thoughts of Soran. Was he okay? Had Rethyn got him? Did something happen during the rescue? She bit her lip, as she leaned there, deep in thought and unsure of what to do. Finally, after nearly driving herself crazy with questions and 'what ifs' she went to check on Jonathan.

"Hey, you," she whispered softly, "Just lay here and relax," she muttered though she was pretty sure he was already asleep. Brushing her fingers through his hair, she got up and busied herself with trying to figure out the kitchen. That was a feat in and of itself. Trying to find cups, tea bags, even the microwave for heating the water was a challenge. That or maybe she was just nervous. Finally getting the cup of water heated and a tea bag steeping, she was about to bring it out to her Guardian when the door opened again.

This time she froze in fear and shock. Alauric had returned and with him, Victor, Rethyn and Soran. A girl was with them as well, but Kilia wasn't looking at the new girl. Her eyes were locked on Soran's body that looked as if he'd been drenched in red liquid. Setting the cup down before she dropped it completely, she ran from the kitchen and dropped down next to them, "Oh... God! What happened? Alauric!" She cried, her voice shaking as she quickly pulled her magic system opened.

It looked like most of his wounds had been taken care of, some of the deeper ones looking to have been healed but not completely. She tried to work quickly to bring up her system to see the actual extent of his injuries as well as trying not to completely freak out. He was so pale and just with a touch, his skin was cold. She muttered to herself as she drew out the spell. It took her a while and it wasn't even all that good when she dropped it over his body. The blue light flooded Soran's body and he was starting to mumble to. Kilia was trying not to cry as she listened to the blonde Seer's half coherent words.

"He.... His energy... it's so low... dangerously low. I... can heal the wounds, but I..." she shook her head, tears falling now.

The sound of another car pulling in was heard. Peter stepped out of the car and saw the retreat and whistled. "Neat." Was all he could say as he walked to the front door. He hoped everyone was being happy at the moment of having made it and for now not under the enemy radar.

He opened the door. "Folks I am back! Hug me-eh?" His joy was seen at first but then a stunned look at Soran changed his mood completely. "Soran!" He shouted as he rushed towards him. "Little buddy! Can you hear me?! What happened, who did this to you!?!" His yellow eyes flickered angrily to the people in the room and fell upon a stranger. "Did you do this Lass?! I'll ensure your pain and suffering under the Dullahan when I dump the bucket of-ack!!! Ow! My shoulder!!!"

"Mind your manners and let me the heck sleep." was all the groggy, annoyed Jonathan said as he let go of Peter's shoulder. "Don't mind him. He's harmless." As he said that he groggily walked back to where Kilia left him.

Sina at first begun to fold her arms at Peter, but then was quickly taken over by a giggle as Jonathan struck Peter. "Heh, harmless. He's like a puppy." Before looking back to Peter she glanced over to the groggy Jonathan as he walked off. "Someone's grumpy eh? Hello there, I'm Sina."

Extending a hand out for Peter to take, she politely smiled at the boy.

"Peter O'Cyrus, guardian to that lad over there." he said pointing to Soran before just shaking the woman's hand before getting up from his seated position due to Jonathan's actions. "The other guy isn't grumpy. Just sleepy. He didn't get much sleep and his energy Is low."

Folding her arms behind her back she leaned a little forward as she spoke to Peter some more. "Cute accent you got there. And I take it you must be energetic one."

Placing her arm again behind her back, Sina swung back and for a little as she would lean on her left foot then her right. "So...where can a girl get some food around here-"

Kilia, who nearly snapped at Peter with his outburst, turned to Victor, "We can't leave him here," she said, still trying to contain her crying. Ignoring the introductions behind her, she shifted around near Soran, "I... I need, water, and bandages," she
continued while sniffing and wiping at her face, "I also need to know how to transfer energy. He can't... This is too much," Looking up to Alauric and Grayson she bit her lip, "Can you, help me?"

Rubbing her hand to the back of her neck, Sina's smile vanished as she said to Peter "I guess duty calls."

Alauric nodded, "Guys if you want to continue please do it elsewhere, so we can get the healers some room." He nodded to Grayson who helped carry Soran to one of the rooms. Victor followed still quiet, "So many cuts...something strange cutting him too."

"I'm no healer lass, I would only get in the way." Peter said glumly as he walked to the nearest chair to sit and try to keep himself calm.

Sina gave Peter a small frown as she picked up on his glumness. With her hands still folded behind her back she slowly walked behind his seat before she reached out and rubbed at Peters neck. "Hey now, it's okay. I'm sure he'll be alright. He's a tough little kid from when I met him. Besides, once I get my magic system back up I won't let this happen again. We're on a team now."

Peter suddenly sat up straight in slight surprise. "Wait a minute!" he shouted as he jumped from the chair completely. "I barely even know you so until i know ye will not shank me don't be touching me in sensitive areas!"
Sina giggled at Peters reaction as she held both of her hands up to the side of her face. "Heh, sorry, I must of pintched a nerve." With a fold of her arms behind her back again she started to casually walk off as she hummed a song to herself. "See you around Peter O'Cyrus." she hummed.

"Not on my head.." he muttered, flushing red. The last thing he needed was a total stranger comforting him. He wanted to save that for a friend, though he had few friends, or a girlfriend, which he had none save for a slight crush that almost seemed to be out of nerves alone. Sighing, Peter sat back down and buried his face in his hands. "I'm hopeless."

Kilia followed after Grayson and Alauric as they moved Soran to a different room. She was looking at her pad mostly as she tried to d to come up with a healing spell that would do most of the cuts all at once as to save time and hopefully give him a chance. Occasionally she wiped at her eyes that would become blurry with water and make it hard to see her spell. How she made it to the room without tripping on anything was a miracle in and of itself though. The little pink haired Seer wasn't the most graceful after all.

Once in the room, she knelt down next to Soran's body one hand reaching out to grip his wrist with her slender fingers, "Soran... come on, help me out okay," she muttered to him. Looking over to Victor and the other two, she shook her head a bit, "This is going to be very hard. Uncle Vic...." she let out a heavy sigh.

"Oh god.. Tristan! Where is he? He can't come in this room," she startled, looking up at Alauric in shock, "He can't. N-not until I finish... Maybe not even after that... I don't know... Oh... What are we going to do," she shook her hand hovering over her spell as if she wasn't sure she wanted to drag it off and put it over the blonde's body.

Victor shook his head, "This is going to be long process, Miss Kilia, but I don't want to put you in danger, tell me when you have had enough." Alauric moved off to the side and watched the both of them, he didn't need either one of them collasping. He knew that Tristan didn't need to see this, and was sort of glad that the boy had not arrived yet. There was some small hope it would still be awhile until he did.

Kilia nodded, "Yes... okay," she straightened as she had been slouching a bit earlier. Taking a few deep breathes, she seemed to get a hold of herself and dragged off the spell. The room erupted in golden light as the spell was different from her normal ones. Soran's eyebrow twitched slightly as the wounds started to close. The smaller cuts went faster than the larger ones. As that one started to fade out, she worked on another one, preparing it as quickly as possible, "I still need water and cloths, please," she said over her shoulder as she got ready to drop the next spell over him.

"Mine." Rethyn claimed to himself as he plopped down on one of the beds in the other room. As soon as he hit the bed he quickly removed the vest and his cargo pants as he tucked himself under the covers and passed out. Two nights sleeplessness and the man had had enough of it. In his right hand he brought the framed picture of his family to his chest as he dozed off into darkness.

Grayson nodded and moved to get the things that Kilia requested. While passing the others, "I did bring some chicken with me, so if anyone is hungry, sorry I didn't get a chance to say that eariler."

Inside the room, Victor pulled a blue spell from his pad, it seemed to pentrate Soran's wounds on a deeper level, he couldn't leave the boy with so many scars. He was just hoping it wasn't painful. The next spell, would only add to Kilia's, however it would make it so she didn't spend as much energy and it would take less time.

Once Kilia finished, she drew the spell over Soran's frame and released it. The room glowed again and she noticed that it went faster. Glancing up to Victor with wide eyes, she didn't ask the question that was apparent in her gaze. Instead she turned back to Soran and watched as he flinched slightly and gave a soft moan. The wounds were closing faster, and many of them weren't leaving a mark on his pale skin like they normally would have. She was almost lost in awe at Victor's display of skill and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"I was so worried... With so many cuts... I wasn't going to be able to heal them without scars remaining," she said and looked over to Victor again. Her spell faded out as she reached over and took the ex-Seer's hand in hers, "Thank you."

Victor smiled at her, "Some scars can not be healed, but the physical ones we can at least do something about, you will learn."

Victor sort of stood there, "It seems that maybe I need to take a break, I am getting too old for some things."

Kilia nodded as she turned back to her pad, "Alright. I can handle this. I will keep going," she said and concentrated on another spell to go for the deeper, longer cuts that laced his body. Those ones she was going to have to do one at at time with careful attention to the muscle and blood flow. If she didn't do it right, he would most likely be unable to move. Her eyes narrowed as she worked carefully. She started from his chest, the worst of them there and few really bad ones on both legs. This will be all night... probably into the morning too... she thought to herself.

The room, from then on would suddenly flash in a bright golden color as Kilia worked.

Alauric watched silently, tired but he needed to make sure Kilia wasn't going to push herself. Grayson came back in with the materials she needed and left silently afterwards.

---

Grayson walked back out in the living room, "If you guys aren't doing anything, we still have things to get organized. Peter, you can go and find Soran's things and Rethyn's things and bring them up." He walked into the kitchen and found the new seer. He observed very carefully for a second, judging her aura. She seemed to be strong, but it seemed to have three levels almost. He realized he was staring, He cleared his thoart and found the tea that Kilia was working on before the others entered.

He concluded that it must have been for Jonathan and put it back in the microwave to heat it up again.

Peter only nodded as he got up and got to work with putting the aforementioned things in rooms. That still didn't stop him from being glum.

In the meantime Jonathan was asleep, dreaming good yet also dreamed bad dreams. In one dream he felt haunted by the ghosts of Yve and his best friend, he felt their stare as of they were disappointed in him. That use of the Silver Knight made both him and Kilia vulnerable. He shook in his sleep, before finally bolting upright. "I'm Sorry!" he yelled out before panting and finally looking at his surroundings. "Where...the fel???"

He looked around in worry. "KilIa??" He called out, hoping nothing bad had happened, he didn't know where he even was. He began to be afriad.


After the teasing of Peter, Sina had quickly slipped off to the homes kitchen as she was terribly hungry after being locked away for those nights. As she slurped down the last of her noodles her eyes caught the eyes of the staring Grayson. A sly smile played upon her eyes as she broke eye contact from Grayson for a moment. "Meow." She purred under her breath.

Her eyes were gleaming as she went to place the bowl at the sink. In the back of her mind she was dancing as she felt like she had just ended up in the plot of one of her favorite rather girly comics.

Grayson didn't look at Sina again, he however heard the shout of the other and walked out of the kitchen without a word. He knocked on the door of Jonathan's room, "Jonathan, its just me Grayson, Kilia is busy but I brought you some tea."

Jonathan looked at the door carefully. "When will she get back to me? And where are we?" He looked around again trying to figure out where he was.

"We are at Alauric's mountain retreat," Grayson answered, "do you mind if I come in, so I don't have to shout through the door."

"Enter." he said.

Grayson entered the door, and placed the tea on the table, "How are you feeling," he asked.

"Feel slightly recharged. If not fully rested. I hate using that spell." He said with a sigh. "But I had no choice. Everyone was in danger. I'm only regretting the fact I exposed myself and endangered my sanity."

Grayson listened to Jonathan, "I have expanded my energy during battle, I understand that sometimes it is necessary, sometimes we don't have a choice in the matter, don't let it make you second guess yourself. You did what you thought was right."

Jonathan only nodded. "May I have that Tea now please?" He asked. He thought about getting up but decided against it.

Grayson nodded and handed the tea to Jonathan, "Kilia will return, she is healing Soran at the moment. She has help so she won't be expanding all her energy. Just rest."

Nodding Jonathan downed the cup before lying down. He was unsure if he will sleep again. He hoped he would.

Grayson left the guardian to rest and closed the door.

It was rather late in the evening perhaps even past midnight before the engine of the motorcycle could be heard. Tristan turned it off outside because it would have been rather loud inside the garage and he was trying to wake as few people possible as it was. He stretched and yawned and looked up to the house. He was really dreaded this moment, really wishing he knew what to expect. He knew the rescue went well, his father had let him know that at least, but left any other details vague. He walked his bike into the garage and put next to the van. He step it seemed like his heart beat faster, he actually wondered if he would find anyone awake.

The elevator ride to the kitchen had him slightly on the jumpy side. Yet he heard his stomach growl rather loudly before he exited. He had to eat something or he was really going just to pass out. He raided the fridge and sat down at the kitchen counter to eat.

Solid blue eyes carried light throughout the room as Rethyn arose from his bed. By the side of his bed someone had moved his vest and his old cargo pants. Suddenly Rethyn's eyes went wide as he swatted his hand around looking for his family picture. However to his relief he spotted it on top of a shelf in the room. Smiling to himself Rethyn said quietly.

"Thank you."

After a few moments of changing Rethyn now wore a black v-neck and a pair of jeans. Just as he was about to leave the room however his eyes caught something. Shaking his head he threw it from his mind as he went to the door.

With a growling stomach Rethyn entered the kitchen a few moments later as he chose to walk there instead of teleporting for once. To his surprise he heard another stomach growl back. Looking up, Rethyn saw his seer.

"Tristan." Rethyn murmured at his Seer.

Tristan looked up at his name, "Rethyn," he said in return, "its good to see you in one piece." He continued eating avoiding the bigger questions in his head.

Rethyn seemed to feel the aura as he merely said to Tristan. "The same to you." Turning on his heel, Rethyn begun to do his own fridge raid as he found an several fruits and some leftovers from the previous home. "Did you just get in?" Rethyn asked evenly.

"Yes," came the short reply, Tristan wasn't even looking up at the other. He was now just pushing around the chips on his plate. He thought he wanted them, but now found them to be a bother for some reason.

Rethyn wasn't facing Tristan as he ate his own food. As he brought a hard boiled egg to his mouth he waited for a moment to chew before asking his seer. "Would you care to stay up with me? I'm not going to sleep this night."

Tristan slightly smiled, "I think I am going to crash in the living room. If you want to find a place to sit in there, I would be ok with that." He had to find a couple hours of sleep, and it would probably help if the other was nearby. He was still avoiding the questions, he felt bad the first thing out of his mouth wasn't how is Soran...he just couldn't get the words to come to his mouth.

"If you're going to sleep, why not just go and take my bed." Rethyn said countering the idea of crashing in the living room. "I'm not going to be needing it this night."

Tristan shook his head, "I don't think I really want to sleep in a bed just yet, I rather have the couch." He didn't know the exact reasoning behind his statement, but it was just how he felt.

Rethyn wanted the bite the words from his mind that were trying to escape. He knew they would anyways as they pushed at his lips. He didn't want to hurt Tristan, but he knew that nobody else would step up and say what needed to be said. "Don't go and see him tonight." Rethyn said to Tristan sternly.

Tristan looked up at the other, he was having trouble forming a sentence to really even begin saying what he wanted to say. "I can barely even ask about him..." Tristan started and realized that his eyes started to tear up. "I can't sleep, I am only eating so I won't faint, I can't even think clearly, Rethyn seeing him would be like ripping my insides out right now. I knew it was going to be bad. I've imagined it in the worst possible ways. All I want to know he is in this house and he is safe."

"He is, I got him out of there." Rethyn said quietly. "He's here, and he's receiving the best support we can give. He will make it. However, I will not sugarcoat this. He suffered." Through the dark, Rethyn's eyes never broke contact as their glow remained on Tristan.

Tristan sighed, he knew the other suffered, he could feel it in those hours after the attack. His mind played out the worst of scenarios and all he could hear was the other screaming. Tristan still had nightmares from that time with Criea, but this had made it worse. "Thank you," was what Tristan said finally, "I knew at least you would be honest with me, and frankly I don't need sugarcoated, I need to know how to help him best and telling me what I didn't need to know won't help. Right now, I just need to lay down, try not to think for a minute or two."

Rethyn slowly nodded at Tristan as he said cryptically to his Seer. "There's no need to thank me Tristan, I am here to protect you and I shall always do what I believe is best for you. However, a day will come where I won't be here to protect you. And when that day comes I hope you will have the strength." Turning on his heels to start his rounds of the house Rethyn finished with. "You already know how to help him best, it saved me from myself. It can save him." As Rethyn reached just outside of the living room he looked back to his seer as he finished with. "I will be wondering these halls if you can't sleep. Feel free to join me if you'd wish."

Tristan nodded at the other by didn't say anything. He put the dishes into he sink. And found the couch, he took off his shoes and grabbed the blanket that was on the arm of the couch. He curled up there facing the windows that looked out to the front. He eyes finally did close at one point, but who knows if he truly ever fell into a deep sleep.


The cabin house was unlike the previous house in many ways to Rethyn, however, the most noticeable so far was every step made a creak in the house. In the longer of the hallways the creaks would echo making each step feel like two. It became hard to tell if it was just him in the hall or there were more.

Within the darkness of the hall Rethyn stopped in his tracks. There it was again, movement. It was the same feeling he felt when he had awoken. With a quick glance to his right he found his eyes locked upon and old family picture of the Belvedere's out in the front of their cabin home. However, it wasn't exactly the focus of the picture of which caught Rethyn's attention as he watched a figure in the backround of the picture rock on an old style rocking chair.

It stood out as everyone else in the picture remained motionless. As Rethyn peered closer he begun to shake. A suited man stood from the rocking chair as he smiled and waved at Rethyn silently. It was unsettling in the least as the man continued to wave for what seemed like the longest moment.

"Hi Rethyn."

Rethyn furrowed his eyebrows, at the suited man. It wasn't him, it couldn't be him.

"Rethyn.. It’s almost time!"

From the painting each of the family members begun to drizzle blood from their eyes. Stepping back, Rethyn watched with an open mouth as the blood went from the painting to the floor.

He began to feel trapped within the hallway as he inched further down it away from the bloodying picture. However, again he froze he heard something against the glass of the window. It sounded like a overly soaked wet rag wiping against the window. Freezing his eyes upon the location he couldn't process what he saw.

A large black eyeless dog stood up against the glass as it merely licked the window over and over again. Blood droplets leaked from its sockets as the dog merely looked in Rethyn's direction.

The painting called to Rethyn "Ready to come home yet?"

Turning away from the dog and marching back the way he came, Rethyn refused to look at the painting as he passed by it. Or any of the paintings in general as he passed by each. With each step away the painting's calls became louder and louder until they hit the level of screams.

Ducking into a nearby bathroom, Rethyn stepped into the shower fully clothed and pulled the curtains back over as he sat shaking alone.

The restless night in the empty bathtub did not Rethyn too well as he found himself awaking in the middle of the day. As he rubbed at his head he hoped to himself that none had stumbled upon him there throughout their day. Thankfully he assumed they did not as they would have woke him.

It ate at him again. He needed to go, he needed to get himself from the house. Just the thought of another night like that made him feel his stomach go for a loop. The eyeless dog and the moving bloody pictures had got him. He knew what he needed in the back of his mind, now he just needed to get it.

Arising from the tub the young man furrowed his brows as he walked past the window above the sink. Someone had found him that night as he found the words "Weirdo" upon his head in sharpie.

Pushing out a grunt of annoyance, Rethyn begun to wash his face to scrub off the sharpie markings. The bags under his eyes were apparent as was the headache of which rested upon the side of his head just above his ears.

After a quick travel back to his room through teleportation, Rethyn had removed his shirt and slipped on the Kevlar vest of which he found liking to these days. Over the vest he threw on a brown jacket and didn't bother changing his pants as he headed for the main room downstairs.

"Rethyn!" Kilia called, catching sight of him as she turned around after having talked to Tristan, "Soran is awake," she offered. Bitting at her lip she wasn't sure how to continue. Her eyes were puffy again and red, but she had seemed to have stopped crying finally, "I... don't know if you want to go see him, but I told Tristan already. Soran was asking."

By the stairs, Rethyn found his blade out of place as it was leaning upon the wall at the bottom of the stairs. Taking it by the strap, Rethyn slung it over his shoulder before giving Kilia a little move of the head. "Kilia." He said in reponse. Pausing for a moment he listened to her before waving a hand of dismissal. "I'll let those two catch up for a while, right now they need each other most."

Glancing past Kilia to the door, Rethyn begun to walk towards it as he said to her. "If the others ask, I'm heading out for a bit."

Her eyes widened, "W-what? Wait... Rethyn... where are you going? We just got here... and we just got Soran back... what are you going to be doing?" Kilia asked the string of questions rapidly as she went after him, her hand reaching out to grab his forearm between her slender fingers.

Stopping in his tracks he thought about pulling his arm away from her, but chose not to as he turned his head to face her. "It's just a quick errend I need to do, I am coming back." He performed a mental sigh as his eyes looked back towards the door.

The tiny Seer eyed him carefully, nibling at her lower lip before she released a sigh, "Where are you going? And why alone of all things? I can't just let you leave you know... I-I mean I know you're plenty capable... but what would Tristan say? Or Alauric or Grayson even. I mean... We're all supposed to stick together right?" She glanced about the room. With another sigh she took a step forward so that she was right next to him, "I'm going with you."

"It'll take longer if you tag along." Rethyn said as he glanced over to her. His tone sounded icy with each word. "I'm just going to a store to pick up a few things. It's not something to get all worked up about."

Kilia flinched slightly by his rebuttle. His voice was icy and she wasn't sure what to make of it. For a moment she just stood there, staring at him. What was he leaving for, exactly? Certainly her offering to go with him if it were just to the 'store' wasn't enough to have him so cold in response to her. An eyebrow came down as she regarded him steadily, "Well... I want a few things from the store as well," she gave him a smile, "You wouldn't mind would you? I'll be quick I promise."

Jonathan was walking down the hall, trying to register the scenery. He walked into the main room and noticed Kilia with Rethyn. Rethyn seemed to want to go somewhere on his own again and Kilia was either trying to tag along or make him tell where. He cleared his throat to try and make himself known.

Rethyn had stuck both of his hands in his jacket pockets as he closed his eyes for a moment. She was rather persistant, and now Jonathan had made an appearance as well. Releasing a small puff of a sigh, Rethyn looked away for a moment as he debated with himself. After what seemed like an strangely long moment, the young man twisted his neck to look back at Kilia and Jonathan in turn as he said. "Very well."

Through the sunlight the bags under his eyes were apparent as the light of the sun leaked through the windows at the side of the door. He wasn't happy about this, he had wanted to go alone. He didn't want them to see, but now he had been placed into a corner.

"Robin," Kilia beamed, "I hope you're feeling well. We're going to the store," she said though at the word 'store' her gaze flickered back to Rethyn before returning to Jonathan. Releasing the boy's arm, she smiled brightly at her Guardian as she was ready to follow Rethyn out the door, "I'm going with him. I hope that's alright."

Jonathan eyed Rethyn carefully. "And what If you got captured or possessed? What if the store is not what he has In mind? What if Vic needs your help? Or Rethyn, what if you got into more then what you bargained for and endanger Kilia in the process?"

He said it whilst not breaking his gaze on Rethyn. His emerald eyes piercing into the other guardian.

"Jonathan..." Kilia's tone turned to disappointed as she frowned at him. Switching to his full name was probably a sure sign that she was berating him in some way, "I'll be alright, he's a good fighter. If you're so worried, then come with," she said her last words a bit stronger than before. She nodded her head to the door even, "I'm not letting him go alone."

Giving Jonathan only a look of annoyance, Rethyn reached up as he pintched the skin between his eyes. "Neither of you need to come along. I am built for this, if I move on my own I'll be back before you know it." He was growing frustrated with the two of them. Rolling his eyes under closed lids, Rethyn thought to himself.

"Should of just teleported."


Jonathan sighed, "Why do they always use Jonathan when they're mad?" He asked to himself. Jonathan looks at Kilia, then Rethyn carefully. "I've a feeling there is more to this then should be delved, with a hint of personal matter." Jonathan said. "So before anything, The truth. Now Rethyn. Where are you going and why?"

Rethyn had enough. Looking between Jonathan and Kilia he glared at the both of them in frustration. His tiredness had gotten the better of him as his fuse had gone short. As if growling each word Rethyn said to the both of them. "I'm leaving, I'll be back soon. Do not follow me."

With that there was the sound of Rethyn teleport as he didn't bother even masking the sound of in even a little. With his departure he left behind a loud crack!

"Store my eye, where's my motorcycle? He couldn't have gone far."

Wincing, Kilia rubbed at her ear, "We're not going to find him now. Why'd you have to go and be so mean like that? I had him agreeing that I could go but you pushed him to say," she pouted at her Guardian, eyes narrowed at him in slight frustration, "Seriously, can't you not be so forceful about things?"

Jonathan looked at Kilia in a hurt fashion. "Fine I get it," he sighed. "First fully energized thing i do and it's being an idiot, though being an idiot is what drained me in the first place. I really have to tone the spell down in some way. But it might cause the cool-down to be longer..." Jonathan realized he was more angry at himself again otherwise the rant he had wouldn't have happened out loud.

He flushed red in embarrassment. He then sighed. "I'm sorry.." he muttered as he turned to look around the retreat some more to get orientated.

With a heavy sigh and a shake of her head, Kilia put her hands on her hips and looked down at the floor whilst kicking at the carpet with one foot. When she looked up, she only shrugged a bit, "It's alright. It's just that now I don't have the slightest clue as to where he went. He could have gone anywhere," she heaved a heavy sigh again and looked to the door, "I can only hope that he'll come back like he promised. Tristan is going to be angry that he left... well... maybe not angry but definitely worried. If it's not one thing its another these days. First Soran... now Rethyn leaving... Granted Soran was taken against his will..." Kilia nibbled on her lip again and reached up to run her fingers through her hair.

"Maybe we can ask Grayson to see if he can't track him... though I think that spell is only for Seers."

Jonathan smirked at Kilia. "I think a bit of me is rubbing off on ya." he commented to her as he turned to her and leaned against the wall. "Cause you said a phrase of mine and gave out an excellent idea." he crossed his arms and waited for a reply.

"You, rubbing off on me?" Kilia answered, an eyebrow lifting. Was he? She wasn't sure. Maybe. With a shrug she smiled at him, "Well lets go see where Grayson is then, shall we?" Reaching out she grabbed up Jonathan's hand and started working her way through the house to try to find the man.

Grayson was out in the back, finding a quiet moment to work on some protection spells for the house. Covering their tracks was one thing, but being unprepared wasn't something that Grayson took lightly. It wouldn't be a barrier like around the house, it would just be something to detect unwanted guests.

The door opened swiftly and Kilia's voice filled the air, "Ah! There he is!" she announced loudly, "Grayson! We need you!" she rushed outside with her Guardian in tow wether he wanted it or not. Stopping just short of the other Guardian she puffed a bit as she had been running around the house in search of him, "We... need to find Rethyn! He sort of just... left."

---

Wap!

As Rethyn landed upon the ground he felt his boots contact gravel as he heard the fimiliar sound. The gravel continued on ahead of him as a path with rocks on both sides indicating the path through the mountain's woods. With each step the Guardian heard the gravel move beneath his steps.

Rethyn knew where he was, he had spotted this path before he dozed off in the car. The lonely trail eventually lead back to the road of which they had traveled on. He knew he was about a mile outside of the town, but he knew it wouldn't be wise to teleport in. He needed the strength to teleport the whole way back.

From memory he saw nobody on the streets of the town as they had passed by it. Many of the older styled shops seemed closed or locked up. They had most likely heard of the attack on the city below and either locked themselves up or left town.

Stopping just off the path where the road met it, Rethyn paused for a moment as he heard the quiet song of which was the forest. However, it was quickly ruined by the sounds of crows as they snapped Rethyn back into attention. Ever since the past two nights his eyes felt heavy, but when he would close them he'd never sleep.

Another crow begun, and with that Rethyn quickly shook his head as he tried to focus up. After what seemed like a long moment the young man spotted the sign and begun the long walk.

As Rethyn walked he would pass by people every so often, they would glance in his direction but not stare necessarily. Two boys were playing a 3d version of two robots fighting each other. The source coming from what looked like the pads that Tristan had in his house.

Rethyn truly did feel like an outsider, but so far the experience he was having was far better than that of the people who had first caught glance at him after his revival. The looks of fear he had gained through wearing his gas mask were not ones so easily forgotten.

Stepping to the corner of the street of the town, Rethyn spotted a store by the name of "Ray's Pharmaceuticals". Tilting his head a little at the name, Rethyn quietly sighed before taking his hand to the door and letting himself in.

As Rethyn stepped through the sensors a little very old school sounding bell went off. Before him the interior of the the store was rather tiny as there was only one real spot that could be called a shelf and it was behind the cashier.

The man at the cashier was reading a gadget that looked like an updated version of a kindle. This one actually projected a book, and when the pages turned he would have to touch them with his finger first. He looked up at the bell though and noticed Rethyn, "Can I help you young man."

Rethyn who was unsure of the actual name of the product merely said. "Sleeping problems." to the cashier. He sounded disconnected as his eyes weren't focused on the cashier, but upon what he thought he saw in the room. He watched two blue-eyed children playfully tackle each other before he shook it from his mind.

"Sorry." Rethyn said as he re-focused his eyes onto the Cashier.

"Yeah...don't we all have them," the man said in response, "just joking with ya." He pulled down a box from on of the shelves, "This is the strongest thing I can give ya, without a prescription. The doc's actually not in town at the moment though, I heard about one of the young wives giving birth..." he stopped and laughed. "Sorry, habit, you live in a small town, you'd make up any excuse just to talk to a person. So where you staying."

Rethyn truly did not want to respond too much to the man, but he understood he needed to. He didn't want the locals raising brows at him or assuming anything was off with who he was or the place he was saying. Biting back his truth face and emotions, Rethyn pulled out the fake smile he had been practicing during his off time. Bringing a little up-neatness to his tone he said.

"I'm just staying a few miles up the road. I'm staying with a few college friends of mine at his old man's place. It's quite lovely out here I gotta say."

"And slow as hell..." Rethyn thought silently.

The man smiled, almost as if he understood what Rethyn was thinking. "Quite lovely yes...and probably boring to you city folk. Well hear you go," he had put the box in a bag. "So, how ya paying for this," he asked.

"Do you enjoy hunting?" Rethyn asked casually as he rubbed at his eyes with his right hand. He had not brought cash along with him so he knew he was going to have to do a little work. He hoped the man would take the bait.

The cashier was looking at him, "I use to," he said, "Can't much move around like when I was young."

"What would you say if I could bring you a deer? If you hold onto those pills for me I'll promise you a deer. Fresh."

The man tilted his head in a manner to show his curiosity. "So just what are you using to hunt with."

Rethyn eyed his sword slung over his back. With a fake smile and a raise of the left brow, Rethyn had dived into his new role as he said in a cocky voice "Care to wager?"

This made the cashier chuckle, "You tell me the wager first then I will tell you if I am wagering." He sort of wondered if the young boy took him for some backwoods dimwit, but he wasn't going to say that outloud.

"Alright, listen up. So what I am going to do for you is bring you back a deer. As you can see all I got is my sword here. If I bring and clean this deer, you will give me those pills you got there. " Rethyn again did his best to play the part of the cashless college student to much success. Well, at least that's what he thought as he eyed the man again with his fake grin.

The cashier just sort of grinned at him, "ok son, you got yourself a wager, but I got a condition. You got yourself until noon tomorrow, just don't come knocking on the store door tonight, cause you won't get an answer."

"Very well, you have yourself a deal." Rethyn said as he forced his hand to to shake the cashiers. "I think you will be impressed sir!"

"I will be the judge of that," he grinned at the other.

Giving the cashier a little fake salute with the middle and index finger, Rethyn turned on his heels and left the shop. The moment he went out those doors his grin quickly died as he dropped the act. The task of killing the deer was not going to be the challenge, the challenge was going to be surviving the night.

Soran and Tristan
"That was... beautiful, Tristan," Soran said. They had returned to the house a bit ago and were in his room once again. He enjoyed the escapade outside and had actually fell asleep on Tristan after they had lunch. The grass had been so comfortable, especially after.... that. Soran blushed a bit and looked to the floor, "T-thank you. Uh..." he shifted about a moment as he tried to clear the memory, though he didn't really want to. It had been a long walk and though he was tired, he was dirty from the grass and dirt.

"Think I will shower," he said softly and looked around for a clean shirt and jeans. Once he found what he wanted, he gave a small smile to Tristan and left the room, pausing only briefly to look up and down the hall before heading to the bathroom. He paused, standing at the doorway of the darkened room. His fingers just barely brushing the door. He frowned a bit as he stood there and then called for Tristan.

"Tristan...?" he hated having to depend on the red head for almost everything but he was trying. For some reason though, he still couldn't get himself to enter a darkened room without Tristan. He was starting to get better and moving around with out Tristan for short periods of time. Soran was hopeful that he could start to get back to how he normally was, but it was slow going. The only thing he worried about was if he upset Tristan because of his heavy dependance on the red haired Seer.

Tristan was about to turn to go take a shower of his own when he heard his name. He looked down the hallway at the other seer standing, "Soran, you called me." He started to walk in that direction not really sure what the other wanted at the moment.

"T-the... light," he muttered, cursing himself slightly and feeling a flash of anger for a brief moment that he bit down on, "Sorry..."

A smile passed on Tristan's face as walked to the bathroom and turned the light on, "You know this would be easier if you just let me join you," he teased but he wasn't being completely serious. He sort of felt like the other needed some time alone to collect his thoughts. It had been a long morning, and many things had happened.

"T-Tristan!" Soran stuttered, his face growing red as he watched the boy turn on the light for him, "B-but then... we... wouldn't... shower..." he avoided eye contact as much as possible as he shifted there next to the door. It was a tease in it's own right as he was referring to Tristan's earlier comment next to the waterfall. On the other hand, Soran also wasn't quite ready for that just yet anyway. Each shower he had taken on his own -or with Tristan just outside the door- had been spent with his fingers tracing the scars and shaking terribly. He hadn't wanted the other Seer to see them. Sure Tristan had probably seen some of them, but Soran didn't want him to be standing there where he could concentrate on the pale white lashes.

There weren't many scars, which he was very thankful for due to Kilia's healing and someone everyone called Victor or Uncle Vic. But to Soran, there was still enough to be... ugly in his own eyes. In honestly, the little blonde Seer was afraid of what he might see in Tristan's eyes should the boy see the scars fully without something to distract him from them. He frowned to himself as he stared at the bathroom floor.

"Thanks," he muttered, "I'll... be quick," he said and slipped into the room while gently pushing on Tristan's back to get him to leave.

Tristan didn't say anything in return to Soran, something in Soran's voice held him back. He turned to go back to the other bathroom but looked back once, with worry in his eyes. He was going to make his own shower really quick, just because of the nagging feeling back in his own mind.

The water turned on, filling the room with a sharp sound and Soran held his hand under the water until it ran warm enough for him. Removing his clothes, he slipped into the water, wincing slightly at it touched him. Biting his lip he forced himself to drench his hair and then just stood there, both hands against the wall as the water ran over him. Taking several slow breathes, he reminded himself that Tristan was just down the hall, that he was in a safe house and no where else.

The start of his shower was fine, with the usual cringing every now and then. It wasn't until the soap was washing out of his hair and accidentally got into his eye that things went south. He washed out his eye, hissing to himself in irritation and pain at the slight burning. Once he got it all out, he rubbed at the eye and was staring down at the bottom of the shower when the water ran red. His heart lurched and he gasped. The water itself from the shower wasn't red as he looked up at it in shock.

His gaze went down to his lithe frame and he shouted. The old scars were bleeding, at least in his minds eye they were. He stumbled back and hit the wall of the shower before he crashed down onto the bottom of the tub, the water still pelting him which now turned sharp and painful. Soran screamed then, a sharp, loud sound that echoed in the room, making him cringe even more. Once he started screaming, he couldn't stop. His fingers batted at the water as if he were trying to fend it off from hitting him, but failing miserably because to him it wasn't water.

The door burst open, and Tristan was standing there breathing hard, "Soran," Tristan had finished probably in record time. He first turned the water off, "Soran...stop everything is ok." He attempted to take hold on the others hands without hurting him more.

He didn't hear Tristan at first, too caught up in the illusion that the water was attacking him. Then it shut off and the burning left him. Tristan came into view, and his heart skipped a beat, then he felt hands around his and he shouted again. It took him a moment to realize that it wasn't a God in front of him but the other Seer. His breathing was heavy as he lay in the tub, eyes wide in fear.

"Don't!" he screamed at first, but the God's face faded away leaving him panting and fearful as he looked around. "Tristan..." he gasped, "Don't look, please," he curled in on himself as he spoke, trying to get him to look away.

Tristan almost let go when Soran screamed 'don't'. That made his heart lurch, it however what was said next that made him gasp a little. "Soran...don't look..I." he stopped and let go. He figured out why exactly the other didn't want him to look. "Soran, please, let me see if you are hurt anywhere."

Soran shook his head, beginning to cry as he refused to move, "No... don't... bloody... so... painful... ugly," he muttered the words, not really making any sense as he shook, "Afraid... I don't... Can't.... Tristan," he pulled both hands to his head, tangling his fingers in his blonde hair. Each breath shook, they were short and slightly faster than a moment ago.

"It's not real Soran," Tristan said in almost a whisper, but Tristan looked hurt, as he couldn't believe the other would actually think he was that shallow. "You are not ugly...," Tristan sighed wondering if there was any use in saying those words. Soran was going to fight him on that...he knew it. "I don't care about the fucking scars, I care about you, I love you. I hate seeing you like this."

"Tristan... Tristan, help me," he rocked slightly as he cried, "I can't... I'm so sorry... I can't," his next words had turned into a growl as he stopped rocking, his fingers curling tight into his hair, "Won't go away. It won't go away, it doesn't leave me alone. I hate this..." his fingers released his hair and he slowly titled his head back, his green eyes sharp and he glared at the other end of the tub. He ground his teeth for a moment before his fingers unconsciously scratched at his arm, right over one of the scars, seemingly digging at it and making it red.

And then the anger was gone almost as quickly as it had peaked. Releasing a sigh, he seemed to slump against the tub. He looked over to Tristan and shook his head a bit, "What's wrong with me?" he asked softly as he reached out a hand to Tristan, his fingers trembling slightly.

Tristan stood there, slightly scared, he didn't know whether to help or not to. His fingers clenched and unclenched several times. "It will go away," he said...almost adding he promised, but that sounded like a lie even to his own ears. He couldn't promise such a thing, all he could do is hope. It was the anger...what could he do about the anger he saw. Nothing came to mind at the moment, because that was when Soran looked at him, and asked that question of his. "I...," he looked away for a second as if to figure out what he was going to say. He took the others hand, and kissed it before the words came out of his mouth.
"I wish I could take it all away from you," he finally came out with.

Soran shifted, stretching out his other hand he grabbed onto Tristan, "Don't. I don't wish that. This... what happened. No one..." he shook his head, tears falling once again, "No one, Tristan. Especially you. Shouldn't have to go through that," he moved around so that he was kneeling and then stood up slowly so that he could wrap his arms around Tristan like an anchor, "I'm sorry. I love you too. More than you know," he answered in return.

It was about then that a bell rang throughout the house. Soran froze for a moment, "What.... was that? It's.... late...."

Tristan just held on to the other as he spoke, knowing the other needed this moment. The reply was lost as he heard the bell too, "That is the door bell, but you are right it is late." Tristan realized that now his clothes were slightly wet, but he didn't mind, and he smiled at Soran as he lifted him out of the tub and put him on the carpet. "Would you like to see, or go back to your room." he asked. He grabbed the towel behind him to give to the other, "either way...getting dressed might be a good idea."
Tristan kept the last comment to himself...but as the blush came to his face it was apparent where his mind had went. He turned away hoping Soran wasn't going to see it.

Soran nodded slightly, realizing too that he'd just clung onto Tristan without any clothes on, "C-clothes would be nice, yes. I'm really tired too, so I don't know," he thought for a moment as he took the towel and wrapped himself with it, "Sure. I guess we can see who it is," he said slowly. The house hadn't shuddered and there was no violent noises. Besides... since when did Gods knock?

He picked up the clothes and handed them to Soran, "I will leave you alone for a second, but I am going to be right outside the door."

---

As the door bell rang a second time, Grayson came from another room and went to the door. His look was curious but guarded. He glanced to the window next to the door, but the figure had positioned themselves out of view. So he cautiously opened the door.

The door opened and she took a quick breath. Hitting the door she leaned in on one hand, "Grayson!" her voice was clipped one hand gripping her side. River stood at the door, panting slightly and her gaze flicking around the darkness rapidly, "Grayson, where is Alauric?! Quickly."

Grayson's eyes widen, "River," he gasped, "let me help you," he widen the door opening, "Alauric," he called knowing the other wasn't that far away. He let River lean on him as they went inside. Alauric came out from the room nearby and he also stopped in his tracks, "Dear God, River, what happened." He steps were quick as he helped his guardian with the other to the nearby couch.

"Grayson go get Victor and Kilia," he said to the guardian.

"Alauric," she reached out and gripped his arm in her fingers, "This is getting bad. Worse than we've seen it," she started, speaking rapidly despite the wound that was bleeding between her fingers, "Their war isn't staying on the other plain as it used to. They're starting to use our world as their battlefield. She came," River hissed, "Eveylyn," her lip trembled slightly, eyes growing soft with a painful memory, "Tray... Derrik, Leo..." she shook her head, "I barely managed..." she laughed sourly as she removed her hand a bit only to quickly cover it as more blood seemed to seep from the loss of pressure, "As you can see. Things are changing... quickly."

"River...save your strength for me please...we have two good healers, they can help...I can't...I can't...," Alauric was slowly losing it. He couldn't let her die too, this would make things worst for Soran...oh god, he couldn't let the boy see his mom like this.

Grayson had vanished and found Kilia in the kitchen. But it was the smaller healer that came in first, "River..." Victor exclaimed, "you, are always getting yourself into some kind of trouble." He started working on his pad, smiling all the same as he did.

River looked over to Victor as she heard his voice. Her fingers patted Alauric's arm, "Fine. I'm fine... Just... a tiny scratch, right?" she smiled a bit a cough filling her lungs and she cleared her throat as she took deep breathes to settle herself. At Victor's words of her always getting into trouble she smiled again, a light dancing in her eyes that spoke of mischief. The same light that often danced in her own son's eyes at times, or used to anyway.

She tilted her head as she leaned back against the couch, "Victor. It's been a while. Just like old times isn't it? Grateful you're here, just like last time. Don't know how I could have survived without your help. But you know me," she gave a soft laugh, "Trouble just seems to follow."

Another sound filled the room and the soft padding of feet could be heard as Kilia rushed into the room, Grayson soon to follow, "I... heard! What happened? Who is this!? Oh god..." Kilia's gaze settled on the wound and she quickly rushed over, dropping to her knees next to the woman's leg and peering at the wound.

Alauric spoke first, "This is Soran's mother Kilia, River Reigailia," he said trying to keep his emotions to himself. "Grayson," he said to look at his guardian...an unspoken conversation went on between them and Grayson nodded. He then disappeared in the direction of Soran's room, hoping to find Tristan there.

Victor's spell then erupted from his pad and distracted Alauric from saying any more.

Jonathan was walking into the main room after putting on his usual attire and saw the scene. "By the Seven pointed star, what happened here?" Jonathan gasped out as he walked to stand next to Alauric. In the meanwhile Peter walked up cradling his arm from the sprain he gave it.

"Hey Kilia? I sprained my arm punching a dummy, can you-Holy mother of! Mrs. Re-Ow!" Peter jumped up and down clutching his foot. "What the heck Grey!?"

"Peter you, Rethyn and myself might go on a nature walk." Jonathan said calmly trying hard not to imply what his mind was thinking.

"Jonathan!" Kilia called, her voice sharp as she glanced over her shoulder, "Always.... I swear I'm going to pound into your head how to be a little less blunt," she said with a sigh. Oh how she loved the man, but he did drive her crazy every now and then. That man didn't know the word 'subtle'. Turning back, she watched Victor's spell cover River and the healing process started.

Kilia opened her own pad and worked on her own spell to help, increasing the quick repair of the woman's deep injury in her side.
River slowly pulled her hand away and the blood seemed to have slowed down considerably. Kilia worked on her own spell as River started talking again, "Soran. How is he, Alauric?" she asked as Kilia paused briefly, her gaze growing wide for a moment before she quickly busied herself with finishing the spell. She swallowed dryly hoping that Alauric would answer that and no one else.

Alauric glanced at River, his tongue tied for a second, "You know I could never hide anything from you even if I tried, he is...well something happened. We had our own troubles with the gods, you ran into Eveylyn and we had Oni..." he paused just thinking about what he just said. The implications of that statement sent a shiver down his spine. "He was kidnapped...they did..." he looked around the room. Not everyone there knew what had truly happened to Soran, it was to hard even for Alauric to wrap his mind around.

River's lips pressed together in a tight line as she gazed up at Alauric with wide eyes. Kilia clenched her teeth as she finished and put the spell over the woman's wound to help finish it. River's fingers curled into fists as she started shaking, "Soran... my baby..." she stood suddenly, latching onto Alauric tightly, her fingers holding his arms, "What happened to him!? Alauric, what happened to my son?!" her voice was loud, sharp and filled with rage and fear.

"Yipe..." Peter said weakly. "Mrs. Reigalia, please calm yourself, He's safe and alright." He looked at Jonathan to give his protest on going and then to Alauric for support.

Jonathan sighed and walked to the door.

River's gaze shifted to Peter, "Calm? You're asking me to be calm?" she turned on him, "He might be safe, but he's not alright! I can tell already just by looking at Alauric! You're his Guardian, damnit! Don't you dare lie to me! Why is Alauric even having to tell me this?! Why did that happen in the first place? What did you do to allow it to happen!" she shrilled.

Alauric decided to try to save Peter for the moment, "River...the boy isn't to blame, if you want to blame anyone then blame me. I should have done something sooner...moved them sooner. I was working out plans, figuring things out, I didn't know the gods would try something like that." Again the feelings of being a failure came back to Alauric, first it was with Kilia's mom...and he couldn't help but glance at the girl. "He will be alright, we are all trying to help him, and care for him. please...understand that."

The light steps of Sina could be heard as her shoes tapped her way into the room. With a tilt of the head she tried to understand what was going on. Many names were being thrown around of which she did not know, but it seemed like serious business was at hand. Folding her arms she placed upon her face a kind look as she observed the scene.

"Alauric," Peter said to try and get him to share the blame but fell silent as he rubbed his sprained arm. But His eyes felt guilty and Sad at the same time, but he tried to hold his head high, with a determined look on his face that was asking for his share of the blame,. remembering Sina's words. He won't let himself be stamped out.

River trembled as she turned her gaze back to Alauric. One hand had remained on his arm and she tightened her hold, "Alauric," she breathed. For a moment she looked as if she were going to strike him, but she didn't. Her eyes filled with tears slowly, "I told you... I told you, to take care of him. What happened to that?" she swayed slightly as she took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut tightly, "I asked you, to keep him safe... Alauric!" she leaned on him heavily as her fist trembled and hit his chest without power behind the strike. She was crying now, "What happened to my baby? What happened to him? Tell me! I'm his mother! I deserve to know!"

Alauric sighed, "I will let you know everything...everything that has happened. I am trying my hardest...I swear that to you River. Sit, and I will start from the beginning," It took a little while, but Alauric really started from the beginning, from the moment he left the Reigalia house to the moment she came to the door. He didn't leave many details out, there were a few that he decided to let Soran tell his own mother. He concluded with what Sina shared with him, about what the gods were doing. This fact he hadn't really give to the others, only a few knew.

Having been told to sit, River listened, cried and held her head in both hands, "God... That... I can't even," she shook her head slowly as she took deep breathes. Her face had gone pale white, which worried Kilia who had stayed on the floor, trying hard not to cry herself. It was too much to take in and listen to again. Reaching up, she took hold of River's hand who startled and glanced down at the girl.

River shook her head as she bit her lip again, "What the hell... just because they wanted energy. Because of that they... my poor baby," she clenched her fist around Kilia's hand, shaking, "Fuck," she whispered the word, not really one to curse like that. When she looked up again, her gaze rested on Alauric, "This won't go without punishment. I'll skin the one that did that to him," she snapped heavily.

"You will have to get in line for that," a voice came from behind the group. Alauric turned and saw his son standing there. He glanced around Tristan and was hoping not to see the blonde seer there as well. Somehow Tristan must have convinced Soran to go to bed, or something instead of coming out here and stayed awhile just to make sure he was really sleeping. When Grayson had told him who it was and told him that she had been hurt, Tristan knew it wasn't a good idea for Soran to see her, especially after the episode in the bathroom. Yet he couldn't squash his own curiosity and the fact that he really wanted to met the lady. He asked Grayson to keep watch, and other said he would stand guard next to Soran's door.

"Tristan!" Kilia breathed and stood up. She too was looking for Soran, of whom she didn't see.

At first River looked utterly pissed, but then she softened a bit and sighed, "So you're 'Tristan' then. I'm happy to finally meet you, my son had your name on his lips for a few days a while ago," she watched him for a long while, seemingly 'sizing him up' as she sat there. With a lifted eyebrow she smirked at him, "I suppose I could share, it's only fair. But only if you promise as well."

Tristan gave her a grin, "I've already made my promises, but I will give you one as well, I promise the god who did that to him will pay very dearly for what he did to your son."

River stared for a while longer before she smiled and looked to Alauric, "Your son. I like him," her smile faded then and turned to a frown, "Where is he? Or..." she took a breath, "I suppose I can wait till morning."

Jonathan watched the scene between Tristan and River. A silent tear escaped his face as he silently walked out the front door And stepped off the front steps, wanting to ponder his next move.

Tristan looked at the ground for a second, "he is sleeping at the moment, morning would be better. And it is a pleasure to finally meet you too Ms Reigalia." Alauric looked at Tristan a small smile on his face as well, "River, I shall have a room prepared..."

With a slight nod, she acknowledged Alauric's word, "We have a lot to talk about it seems. Honestly, I wasn't expecting to be thrown back into the fight like this... But. I suppose it's for the better," she said, "Till the morning then."

Kilia sighed as she entered the kitchen having finished helping Victor with all the healing. Opening the refrigerator, she got a bottle of water and seated herself as she opened it and took a long drink. Tired was definitely an understatement for the young Seer. She twisted the bottle in her hands as she tried to get rid of the headache by relaxing. Finally, she pulled up the icy water and put the plastic against her forehead with a heave of air leaving her chest.

"Here," Rivers voice came from behind her as the woman also entered the kitchen. Dropped upon the table was two little orange pills. Kilia looked at them for a moment, unsure as to what they were. River, seating herself across from the pink haired girl, smiled, "Pain killers. It'll help, a little anyway."

"Thanks," she said and took them into her mouth. With a deep gulp of water, she winced slightly as she got a bit of a brain freeze from the icy water.

"How's Grayson?"

"Should be fine, Victor healed him. I healed the other two," Kilia answered as she leaned back, closed the bottle and put it on her forehead again. So much healing in the last few hours... it was really taking a toll again.

"Kilia," River's voice was soft.

The girl shifted and looked over to the woman with long blonde hair, "Yeah?"

"You... did you heal my son too?"

Kilia closed her eyes tightly, "Yes. But... Victor did the most for him. I'm still learning."

River smiled, "That's enough to know," she said as if she had been worried of the answer. After a while, the woman tapped her finger on the table, "I'm going to drag that man in here by the ears, I swear."

"Who?"

"Alauric."

Kilia giggled at that.

"You aren't my mother, River," Alauric's voice came from behind her. He looked tired as well, but his day was far from over. He still wanted to go down to the town and look at the damage...and if there were survivors. They would need some help. Ray's body had been moved out of the middle of the front yard, Alauric had the idea to actually bury next to Ray's wife, that was in the cematary down the mountain. He hoped he could get his son to help him out. Maybe while River and Soran finally got their reunion, and maybe Rethyn would like to join the on the excursion as well.

"What is it," he asked her, as he sat at the table also.

River bent back so that she could look at Alauric upsidedown as she tilted her head backwards. She flashed him a small grin, "Seems like I'm the only adult when it comes to you," she shot back lightly. However, she noticed his weariness and gave a bit of a frown as he sat down next to them. Leaning forward, River put her head in one hand as she took a breath.

"We didn't get a chance to talk properly last night and I was in a bit of a rush at the time. Simply put, they," her head moved in the direction of Kilia to tell Alauric of whom she was talking of, "Need to start learning faster. With Eveylyn showing up... it's only a matter of time before more Gods follow suit and this whole place is turned into ruins. I have no doubts that other places are beginning to look like a few of our own towns recently. Five small area's have been burned down since you left with Soran. Three of them recently, and their growing closer together."

River shook her head, "Oni is strong, but I think that Eveylyn may just be a bit stronger than he is. Could you imagine the destruction that would happen if those two ever faced each other? You know it will happen. Our job is to keep that sort of thing from happening. I don't know exactly what's going on that's making them move so quickly or so violently... but's definitely something and I don't think it's going to bode well for us at all."

Alauric listened to her, he had the same thoughts. "It would help to know the why's but all we can do is teach them faster, it doesn't really help that we can attacked every time we start to get serious." He looked at Kilia, "but they have great potential, and have survived things they probably shouldn't have." He looked away focusing on the pattern on the table for a second, "and its just my guess...but I think they are competing with each other, who can get the most energy." The thought made him shudder for a second, if that meant them harvesting it the way they did Soran. Alauric felt his stomach turn and he swallowed trying to get rid of the feeling

River glowered at the table, her jaw set tightly as the fingers of her free hand curled in tightly. Kilia had looked away as well, feeling a bit unsettled as she sat there. Silence followed after for a while before River finally spoke again. It looked as if she were trying not to cry as her green eyes had gone red slightly. Looking up to Alauric she gave him a short nod.

"You're right. We'll do all we can to help them. It's the least we can do," she said softly, looking back to Kilia for a moment, "You probably want to go into town? Would you be alright if I stayed here at the house?" she asked, directing her question to him rather than the younger Seer.

"That would be a good idea," he said to her, "I was thinking of asking Tristan to go with me," he said, there were many thoughts running through his head as a way to continue his statement. "He might not like the idea much, but he didn't get injury and I need someone that doesn't need to rest. I would like to get this done as soon as possible." Of course he realized that his statement was sort of strange in as he needed rest like the others. He also wasn't going to mention to River that his guardian wasn't very happy with him at the moment.

He was looking for a means to escape for just a little while, before having to come back and face that man.

Kilia took a deep breath, eyes widening just a bit as she watched Alauric. He was going to go into town? With Tristan? Would that be alright? She didn't say anything though. Maybe with River there it would be okay, and it wasn't like they were going to be gone for days or anything. She felt a skip in her chest as she fingered the cold water bottle. If anything, she supposed she could always ask Victor to put Soran to sleep until Tristan returned. Kilia bit her lip gently... but... would that make him upset with them? She didn't know.

"Alright, besides, I want to see Soran. I know he's been with Tristan for a long time, but I need some time with him too."

"Um..." Kilia's voice was very soft.

"What is it?" River asked shifting her gaze to the younger Seer.

"It's... just... Well," she looked over to Alauric as she tired to form her words, "H-he's..." Kilia fumbled, unable to really say anything. She looked down to the table instead, her lips pulling into a frown.

River sighed, "It's fine. He's my son. I'll be alright with him," she looked over to Alauric, "You better hurry if you want to make it back before it's too dark."

Alauric watched Kilia, he understood, Soran was different. He just hoped that River would really be ok with him. Yet he couldn't help but think that maybe having her here would be good for Soran. "Alright, I will be gone shortly."

---

As the battle raged outside that morning, Tristan's first concern had been for Soran. He had also been anxious for any news and if anyone had been hurt...which he was given a very brief report by his eldest sister. She had left out stuff he figured, but mostly it was that everyone was ok. It trying to figure out a way to distract Soran from the noises, he had let him listen to music, music in which he really liked. He could tell that maybe it helped, but he also had to wonder if the other was a bit anxious in not knowing what was going on.

He heard voices outside Soran's doorway and he looked over at the other, who still had his headphones on. He still had to wonder if the blonde seer was going to be mad at him for not telling his mother was here. He just didn't know how to say it. This morning didn't present itself as a oppuritunity. He looked at the door as someone knocked on it.

He gave a smile to Soran as he got up and walked over to it to open it up. He opened it a little and saw his father standing there. "Dad?," he said and then he saw River standing next to the other.

When the loud noises began Soran had just about freaked out. As it was he had started to hyperventalate as he pressed his back into the wall and curled into a ball as best he could, fingers clutching his ears as he tried to get rid of the noise. Tristan was quick though and soon he had music in his ears, a thankful respite to the sharp, painful noises outside. It took him a while, but he finally relaxed, his body loosening again and he was lying on the bed as he had been before the attack. The music had nearly put him back to sleep.

Then Tristan moved and his gaze opened with the loss of someone sitting beside him. The boy smiled and Soran returned it, watching as the red head opened the door. He couldn't hear the words as the music was still playing. He was pretty sure Tristan had put it on a loop of some sort because some of the songs he recalled having already listened to. The little blonde didn't mind though, he liked this kind of music. Giving a stretch and a soft sound as he did so, he sat up slowly and yawned, running his fingers through his hair.

River gave a soft smile to Tristan, "Tristan. Is Soran in here?" she knew it was a rather redundant question, but still felt the need to ask anyway. She certainly didn't want to be pushy.

Tristan returned her smile, "Yes he is," he answered, "I know you want to see him, you guys seemed to have survived whatever that was outside." Alauric shook his head in reply, "Tristan, I do need your help, it seems the god attacked the town first...I would like you to come with me."

Tristan looked at his father and frowned, "He attacked the town...crap." It was a rather toned down response from Tristan, but he was trying not to get angry at the moment. He looked back at Soran for a second, debating really on how to do this. Should he prepare the other first, or just let River come in, she was his mother...Tristan scratched his head for a second trying to get his thoughts together. This was sort of awkward and he didn't want to make River angry with him. "Do you mind if I have a second alone with him first?"

River lifted an eyebrow and glanced over to Alauric briefly. It only took her a moment and she shrugged, "Sure, I guess."

Tristan gave her a grin, and closed the door but not all the way. He left it open a crack, cause he didn't want to be totally rude...anyways he didn't want her to think he was hiding something.

He walked back over to Soran and motioned for him to take his headphones off.

With a curious look, Soran took out the earplugs and rubbed at his ears briefly before glancing around. The loud noises had stopped, "What's up? Something wrong? What about those... noises?" he asked, his voice growing softer at the last question and his lips pulling into a frown. Curiosity won over on that end, but he was pretty sure he didn't really want to know what had happened a while ago.

"Its over now," was all Tristan said to his last question, "and everyone is ok, Soran there is someone who wants to see you outside, and person that I think you will be happy in seeing." Tristan chuckled, he wasn't doing a good job at this, "oh and my Dad is out there too, he needs help my help with something." He sighed slightly getting flustered with himself, "so yeah."

Soran's eyes narrowed a bit, "Who is it?" he asked, voice shaking just slightly. He didn't like strangers. He was only just getting used to Sina being around. Another new person? Who was this person? Were they... safe? His fingers plucked at the sheets nervously. When Tristan said his father needed his help, Soran took a deep breath to try to steady himself.

"You're... going? You'll be back, right?" he asked, a slight tremble through his limbs starting to invade his control.

In the hall, River, who could hear the two boys, took a sharp breath and lifted her hand to her mouth to keep quiet. Her eyes grew soft as they watered and her face flushed a bit as she fought to stay composed. The boy's words... sounded nothing like how Soran usually was.

"Soran," Tristan said, "you know I will be back...and you already know this person, she is going to stay with you." As much as he just wanted to wrap Soran in his arms, he couldn't actually perform the task for various reasons. He decided that he couldn't hold back on this anymore. He walked back and opened the door so it was wide enough for the other to see who it was.

River, shocked at the sudden opening of the door, quickly cleared her throat and rubbed at her eyes. Soran sat on the bed, his own gaze following after Tristan. His green eyes were sharp at first, worry filled at who it might be standing on the other side of the door. But then he took in a loud gasp as he looked upon his mother. River moved slowly, stepping into the room as her son sat there, his eyes wide in shock.

"M-mom..." he breathed.

"Hey baby," she tilted her head a bit as she walked in, a smile on her lips.

Soran's fingers clenched the sheets and he let out a sort of strange breath of air as he started crying, "Momma," he repeated.

River nodded. Looking over her shoulder to Tristan and Alauric she only gave a slight nod to them, "Thank you," she mouthed and walked over to Soran. Kneeling down in front of him she slowly reached out to him. Soran flinched slightly, making her pause. River looked up at her son, startled that he would move away from her like that.

"S-sorry," he responded and reached out to her with trembling hands. River waited, her heart in her throat. Nothing could have prepared her for this. His hands briefly touched her cheeks, pulled away and then wrapped around her neck as he fell on her. He trembled and she wrapped her arms around him, unable to say anything as he cried hard into her shoulder. It took her a moment, but she finally rocked slightly, running her fingers through his hair.

"I'm here, baby. Relax, relax," she cooed softly.

Tristan stood there for a second, happy and sad at the same time, he walked silently over to the door and closed it behind him softly as he looked at his father. "Let's do this quickly," he said, "so what really happened outside."

"Ah the usual, oversized egostical god...," Alauric answered, "I think your guardian may be well enough, go see if he can come with us. I think he may want to help bury Ray."

"Ray...," Tristan stopped for a second, "that shit head of a god killed Ray, man...I liked that guy, he taught me, of all people, how to fish."

Alauric sort of chuckled, "Not very successfully," Tristan rolled his eyes, "well no, but he still tried. I will go see if I can find Rethyn and ask him to help."

Bamf!

Rethyn did little to cover the sound of his teleport as he appeared at the door. Within his right hand he was sliding his sword back into its sheath and with his left he loosely held Ray's old knife.

The young mans eyes looked hollow again as he glanced over to Tristan from a distance. His moral had seemlying dropped yet again as the thought of Ray's death bothered him. Even though Rethyn had brought people death and seen it, Ray's went under the armor of Rethyn's mental defense. The words of the God of Death had seeked into his mind. He knew he wasn't even close to Ray as a person, but he was the first to die so soon after hearing those words.

Tristan heard the sound of Rethyn's teleport, and looked at him from down the hallway. As he moved closer, his worry got a little bigger, he hated that expression on Rethyn's face. "How are you feeling, we are going down there, put to rest the guy whose hunting knife you are holding, would you like to help."

Glancing over the hunting knife briefly Rethyn tried to not make too much eye contact as he knew his Seer was reading into him fairly well. They may not have been the most talkative Guardian Seer combo, but Rethyn knew that they had an understanding of each other.

After quite the long pause Rethyn said. "Yeah, I'm ready whenever."
(Post end here)

---

The town:

Alauric surveyed the destruction the god had done to the town at the bottom of the mountain. “I can’t believe this fucking shit,” he had known these people. The house had been in his family for generations, and he had spent many summers up here, as well as his kids. The house and these people became his second family almost, when he lost most of his own. Some of the town had survived though, some of it was still standing, "We need to see if there are any survivors. Just be on your guard."

Tristan nodded and looked at one particular messy looking house. Was it to much to hope for any survivors here, he looked back down the street, he decided it was as good a way to go then any. He had to hold onto the little hope he felt anyways. He looked at his guardian again, glad he was there in a way, "Rethyn," he started, "I am sorry I haven't been around much...I just wanted you to know that."

Rethyn had been quietly scanning the area with quick glances as he heard Tristan. The hallowed eye boy in response to Tristan's words shook his head slowly. "You had responsibilities..I understand you needed to do what you've done. That's all there is to it."

Gripped in Rethyn's left hand was the knife of Ray. Unsure of what to do with it, Rethyn chose to keep it near for the scan of the town. With the assumption of Ray loving his town, Rethyn assumed the man would want his knife to be used for the good of the town.

Tristan nodded, but found he still felt something was off, he had to wonder if he asked that one question if he get a honest answer. He thought he would give it a try, yet before he did he kneeled picking up a silver pad and brushing off the debris. He looked around as if trying to find something else. "This fucking sucks," he said under his breath, "why do humans have to suffer in this war as well." He sort of knew the answer to that, but still the words slipped from his mouth.

He looked at the pad and held it there for a second before getting back up and continue walking as he listened for anything that sounded like people. The silence in this moment, made him more aware of the other walking next to him. "Rethyn, so how has everything been going with you."

Tristan glanced at a smoldering fire nearby as he thought he saw something, but then he realized it was a bird...a crow to be more exact. The bird cawed at him, sending a shiver down his spine, he always hated crows for some reason.

"More importantly how're you my Seer?" Rethyn responded as he seemed to avoid the question. Glancing at the crow, Rethyn starred at it absently for a moment as he stopped moving. Through the young man's eyes he saw countless being staring at him through the windows. No expressions, they were like the shades in the afterlife as they were just blank slates.

With a shake of his head they vanished. Looking back to Tristan, Rethyn was not surprised the boy hadn't shown any signs. As he watched Tristan shudder at the crow, he wondered briefly how his Seer had been holding up. A little stab of emotion hit Rethyn as he realized how absent he had been to his Seer.

Tristan looked at Rethyn, knowng he was avoiding the question. "I am...," he looked down, he didn't really know how to answer that question. Or more precise he actually hadn't been thinking about himself lately. He would do what he needed to daily to actually get by. He slightly shook his head, "I am ok," he said finally.

As the both of them turned another street corner, Rethyn mentally grabbed hold of the fact it took Tristan a little while to answer the question. In the hopes of keeping the subject off of himself, Rethyn decided to take the offensive in the questions.

"No honest person who is okay takes that long to say it."

Looking to his Seer with slightly raised eyebrows, Rethyn felt selfish as he knew he did care for his Seer, but at the same time he knew that this was for himself. He felt a small weight at the bottom of his throat as he knew he was scared to talk about himself.

Tristan chuckled, "no...no honest person is, but no honest person also avoids actually talking about himself too." He looked farther down the street to see what was ahead, "I think the doctor's house is up there, maybe there is someone there."

Rethyn sighed lightly "Caught me there." After speaking he tried to force a light chuckle, but his eyes gave off his inner feelings more than he'd like to share. After the finish of the poorly played chuckle, Rethyn looked down as he said. "Doubt it, he would of left the moment he could."

Tristan glanced at Rethyn, just to catch enough emotion to make him worry anymore. "Perhaps," was all he answered. Of course he knew small town people he thought, the doctor would have stuck around to help anyone he could, if he wasn't killed in the first place.

"We will go see, it's a good place to start."

Rethyn nodded as he followed along his Seer. He did his best to not hold his gaze anywhere for too long as he'd see the same blank slates of people staring at him. Without even noticing he begun to cling at the knife a bit tighter as his hand shook.

When they got down the street, the doctor's house wasn't as damaged as some of the other's. "Probably should go inside, just to see what we can find," he said as he walked to the front door. He found it ajar, and it creaked open as he pushed on it. "Hello," he called, "anyone here," the call echoed through the house.

He walked into the hallway and looked at the rooms there. The breakfast table still had food on it, someone had made pancakes that morning. "You know...I always kinda wondered what it would feel like...if there was something like an end of days or something like that." It was a strange comment, but finding the house like that made him feel strange.

"If things keep going this way, I wouldn't be surprised if that idea became a reality." Rethyn spoke as he looked to Tristan. The room still had the aroma of the smell of breakfast, none of them could have seen it coming. The monster of a God of which could of done a lot worse than Ray.

Glancing away from Tristan, Rethyn looked to one of the chairs where he thought he saw someoe for a minute before they fadded away. Narrowing his eyes a little at the leather chair he asked Tristan. "When you go places does it ever feel like a pressence has been there for so long that it never fades even when gone?"

It was his turn to ask an odd question it seemed as he glanced back to his Seer.

"Sometimes," he said honestly, but it was more like memories flashing before his eyes then anything. He decided he needed to go farther inside the house to see if he could find any clues. He saw another door open and peaked into the room. "Hmm, now that is interesting," he stepped inside and found himself staring at a map of the area. Maps weren't really used anymore, so he studied it to figure out what the symbols meant. His fingers found the town, and followed the trail to the house. He went back to the town, "There seems to an old mine...not really sure what they use to mine here." It would however be a really good place to hide for awhile.

Following Tristan around the house, he took into notice this house had been one of the least damaged homes of the town. It had a neat look to it as if even though it were inhabitied everything was up for display. The home felt like a model home in a way.

As Tristan entered into a room and looked upon a map, Rethyn found himself gazing off into the area of which was the city they left. A part of him wondered if it only had gotten worse there or did the Gods move on? Troubling thoughts went through his mind as Death had found him so easily, how easy would it be for the other gods to find the Seers.

In response to Tristan, Rethyn nodded. "I agree, for those who could not use their homes that place would make the most sense. However, I don't think we should go poking our heads there. I have a bad feeling about it."

Tristan turned and looked at his guardian, words seemed to fail him in that moment. He didn't know how to respond to the other, he made sense in a way, about maybe it would be dangerous, but Tristan wondered if he could explain why he had a bad feeling. Did Rethyn know something he didn't...

"TRISTAN," he heard his father yelling from outside and he went back to the front door. It seemed Alauric had better luck than them, standing next to him was a couple and what appeared to be their two sons.

"Dad where did you find them," Tristan said as he walked back down the way toward his father, "They were hiding in their basement, didn't really know what had attacked."

Walking behind Tristan, Rethyn glanced at the boys for a moment. If fear was a liquid they'd be dripping in it as Rethyn saw one of them put his face into Alauric's leg as he trimbled against him.

Rethyn silently looked to Tristan.

Tristan saw the boy clinging to his father, and a memory flashed inside his head. He understood that kind of fear, when a god attacked and all you saw was the destruction afterwards. He looked away trying to hide his thoughts from his father mostly. "Anyone else," he finally asked.

Alauric shook his head, "I am going back up to the pharmacy to see if I can't get them some food or something and other supplies." Tristan wanted to ask what was going to happen to them after that, the way his father was moving there seemed to be a plan in his mind.

"I wonder what he's going to do with them." Rethyn asked bluntly. Rethyn did not speak it, but in the back of his mind he begun to worry about the children. Orphans were the last thing he wanted them to be in this world. With all of the Gods, and in-fighting going on right now it would be horrid. Not to mention if they were Seers...

Rethyn stopped himself as he didn't want to think about it.

Tristan looked at Rethyn, "I am sure he got something in mind, it seems like he always does." Tristan answered, he looked back at the doctor's house. "I guess we should be making our way back, we still got to do something with Ray, Dad mentioned burying him next to his wife in the cemetary." Ray's wife was the one of the reasons Ray knew about the gods, she had been a guardian at one point in her life. It was after her seer died that she moved away from the city into this small town that no one knew her. She fell in love with Ray. It was at this thought that Tristan sort of smiled, she got a second chance...but what if something ever happened to him. What would his own guardian do, he looked at Rethyn, he really needed to know for some reason. But how could he ask such a question.

Tristan had to hold off on that question when he heard a dog bark nearby. This one seemed to be stuck in one spot and barking in alarm. Tristan approached the young dog slowly...hoping that Rethyn wouldn't interfer, or suddenly pop out of the picture. "Hey, I am not going to hurt you," he said softly. The dog seemed to sniff his hands, then put his head underneath Tristan's hand. Tristan looked around, trying to spy why the dog was barking in alarm. Then he heard it, a coughing of sorts, and the dog started to bark again. He spied a downed tree limb...oh god. He started toward it but had trouble moving it. "Rethyn help me."

Rethyn had stayed a little back as Tristan had moved for the dog. After his encounter with the eyeless dog a little fear had grown. He dreaded that all dogs would be seen to him like that. After what seemed like a long moment, Rethyn moved out of the home and approached Tristan whom was petting the dog. Looking at it as calmly as possible, Rethyn let out a breath of relief as the dog looked normal.

Completely zoned out by the dog, Rethyn jumped as Tristan's words cut in "Rethyn help me"

Darting his eyes to his Seer, Rethyn moved his hand to the hilt of his blade. "I'm here Tristan!" He called to him.

Tristan looked up at his guardian, struggling with the tree limb, "with the branch you idiot...," ok that was Tristan's fault but for some reason he just felt like calling the other an idiot. He sort of grined so it would appear like a joke. "There a celler door here, holds the town's emergency food supply."

He had completely forgotten about it until then,

Narrowing his eyes a little at Tristan he wanted to smack the Seer upside the head. With the grin Rethyn raised a brow to Tristan as he moved towards the boy. "I don't know, maybe I don't know how to process the thought of helping you." He said sarcasticlly as he walked past Tristan towards the branch.

Bending down at the knees Rethyn tried to lift the branch. It was much heavier than expected. With a grunt and a bit of a struggle, Rethyn was able to get the branch moving as he dragged it to the right. With each step, Rethyn heard the leaves of the branch shake as he moved it.

After dropping the tree down and placing his hands together, Rethyn looked back to Tristan.

"There."

As the branch moved, Tristan helped the guardian until the door was free. It was still closed and before he could touch it, it came open on its own. "Now you out there, you friend or foe..."

Tristan smirked slighlty

"Are you sure you are alright Tristan?" Rethyn said quietly as he moved over to the door. He was not sure of what was going through his Seer's mind, but he had an idea as he knew the question was being moved closer and closer.

"I am fine Rethyn," he said to the guardian. An older gentleman stepped out of the celler, "Tristan...well its good to see you son." Tristan took the old man's hand and shook it slightly, "Rethyn, this is the doctor, whose house we sort of just raided, sorry about that we were hoping to find a clue as to where you went."

"Sorry...why are you sorry, you came to rescue us didn't you." Tristan smiled slightly and looked down inside the celler, "How many," was his question. "As many as I could before that stupid being decided to go up to the pharmacy...I know he took Ray." The doctor shook his head in silence for a second. "Yeah, my father is up at the pharmacy, he will be happy to know there are more alive."

"Rethyn, lets go, we need to go tell him."

Rethyn nodded in response to Tristan as he reached out to place his hand upon Tristan's shoulder. However after a moment he seemed to change his mind as he begun to turn away to walk back in the direction of the pharmacy.

Tristan nodded and followed his guardian. After reaching the pharmacy, and telling his dad, the older seer seemed to be relieved. The doctor soon followed with a good amount of the town folk, and it gave Tristan a bigger sense of hope. The discussion of where they would go was the only thing that many couldn't agree on. Maybe had lived in the mountain for their entire lives and didn't want to leave. So they decided to give it a couple of days and decide as a town.

They helped bury Ray in the cemetary next to his wife. Many of the survivors had something kind or funny to say, but one could tell that the pharmacy owner was loved, by the time it was starting to get dark and they got back to the vechical both father and son were tired. "Lets go home," Alauric said

---

Soran and River

Soran had clung to River for a very long time. He was lost in a wash of relief that his mother was there as well as sadness. He was afraid to tell her, to tell her anything at all and he couldn't help but cry like a small child. River held him close though, her soft voice whispering to him as she rocked gently much like she used to when he was smaller. It hadn't even occured to him that she'd moved. Now sitting up on the bed, he was laying on her, hiccuping slightly as she ran her fingers through his hair in a gentle, calming way that only a mother could.

"Hey baby, you okay now?"

He nodded slightly, sniffing and trying to calm his shuddering breathing. He couldn't quite speak yet, but he was getting there. Soran felt her nod and she continued her slight motion. Shifting a bit she moved with him so that it was comfortable. He sniffed, gave a slight cough and took a deep breath which seemed to calm his breathing even more.

"I'm sorry, Momma," he whispered slightly.

"Why?"

"B-because... I... cried on you..." he replied.

River laughed, "So? Don't worry about that, I don't care. I care about you and if you're alright. 'K?'

Soran nodded again, swallowing thickly. They were silent for a while longer, Soran breathing deeply as he drank in his mothers presence. He was trying to remember the last time that his mother had held him like this. His father had always tried to keep them separate because of his dislike for the fact that River always seemed to give Soran 'special' treatment. He frowned a bit. Those were memories he didn't want. However, upon thinking about that, he was now curious as to why she was there in the first place.

"Momma, why did you come here?" he asked, moving so he could look up at her but still use her shoulder as his pillow.

Her face took on a pained look and she shook her head a bit, "Later. I will tell you later. Just know that I am here right now and I plan to be here for a while longer. Is that alright?"

Soran watched her for a while before giving a slight nod, "Okay."

River seemed to be thankful that he didn't press the issue. Silence stretched again, but he didn't seem to care. River moved once more and released a sigh, "You're heavier now." she said, a bit of a laugh to her voice.

"I'm a lot bigger than I used to be."

River giggled at that, "Yes. You've grown, a lot. You're becoming an adult now. Sometimes I feel sad that I don't have my little baby running around like a wild animal anymore."

Soran blushed, "I wasn't... wild!"

River laughed again, "Oh yes you were. I had to chase you around the house plenty of times. Sometimes you weren't even wearing clothes. I called you my naked little runaway."

"M-mom!" Soran complained, eyes wide as his face grew bright red. He was so glad Tristan wasn't in the room still.

"There it is," she laughed as she brushed his blonde locks out of eyes, "That look. I was waiting for that. You are still here, just a little... buried. But that's alright baby. Don't worry, I will help you," she whispered as she leaned forward and kissed his forehead gently.

He frowned and after she kissed him, he buried his head into her shoulder again. He felt her head against his as she moved and hugged him closer. He didn't say anything, but he supposed he didn't have to as she began speaking again.

"It's alright. There's no need to say anything to me, okay? I love you, my sweet little baby. I always have and I always will. We will get through this, you and I both. Okay? I know you are strong. You always have been. It's going to take a little time, but you can do it. I know you can and I know you will," her voice was heavy with emotion, shaking slightly as she tried her best not to cry. Her voice was just barely on the edge of harsh, but they were powerful at the same time.

Soran nodded, feeling his throat closing again. He didn't speak, fearful that if he opened his mouth he would cry again. It felt like he did nothing but cry these days, and often. The worst part was that he couldn't help it. As much as he didn't want to and as much as he didn't want to put it upon Tristan to suffer through it, he couldn't help it.

"And there is someone else that will help you. Tell me about him, I want to know," she said softly. He could feel her smile though he couldn't see it.

Soran bit his lip as he lay on her, hiding his face from view, "T-Tristan?"

"Mhmm, Alauric's son. The handsome red head. I met him the other night. Of course, the last time I saw him was when he was a tiny little thing, just like you. It was quite a shock to see how he'd grown."

"U-um... h-he's... amazing," he managed to say.

River laughed, "Just that? Just amazing. I know you have more to say than that. It has been a while since we've talked about boyfriends, come on. Tell me," she said as she moved yet again. Her shoulder lifted, pushing Soran into a better position as she leaned against the wall and crossed her legs that were stretched out across the bed.

"M-mom..." he moaned and then heaved a sigh. She wasn't going to let it go. Besides... maybe it was good to talk a little bit about him, especially when he wasn't there. It would be less embarassing, "Fine. He's... really amazing. We like the same music, games and he always has something interesting to show me. His magic system is really cool, I never know what he's going to pull off that pad," he smiled a little bit, "Though I can totally kick his ass at hacking."

River laughed and Soran continued, "He can get pretty creative when he needs to. He say's he's not good at thinking on his feet, but I think he is. Sometime's... no... all the time, he's faster than I am. I love listening to him. He has a nice voice and it's really funny when he stumbles. Especially when he blushes, it's cute."

"Shh, I won't tell him you said he's cute," River said as she laughed a bit, raising one finger to her lips as she winked down at her son.

Soran smiled a bit more, "Yeah. He would probably get embarrassed. It's really hard to do that though. He can embarass me really easily though. It's not fair. But that's okay, because I like it. Momma... I... I am really in love with him. Like... I can't even describe it. I don't know what I would do without him. He doesn't know. He doesn't realize how much he anchors me. Especially now."

River sighed lightly, her fingers starting their trail through his hair again, "I know baby. I know what you mean. I'm glad he is someone so close to you. I know he's going to take care of you. He treasures you, I can tell." Moving, Soran's mother twisted around a bit and looked at the clock next to the bed. She hummed softly, "They should be back very soon now. Are you hungry baby? I will make something for you, one of your favorites."

"Really?"

"Of course. Are you ready? Good to come with me?"

Soran lay for a moment, thinking. It was a bit different as he was always with Tristan whenever he moved about the house. Yet, his mothers warmth was soothing in a way. He looked up at her, "Yeah. Thanks Momma. I love you."

"I love you too, now lets go see if there's spagehtti for you," she said with a smile.

After returning from town, the two seers decided to take a shower before filling in the others in what they found, neither one of them knowing what had a occurred before they left. Grayson had been resting still and Victor was in his own room.

Tristan was on his way back out to the kitchen when a strange sight of Kilia running around met his eyes. What the heck is she doing he thought to himself.

Kilia moved from one room to the other, opening doors rapidly. She had finished healing the two boys hours ago and had gone to do some things of her own, mainly rest and get rid of her pounding headache that was threatening to make her sleep. She hated the weariness that came afterwards, the headaches, the feeling that she was going to passout. Then again, Kilia had a tendency to overdo things. She wasn't quite refined enough yet with her magic skills like Uncle Vic was to make the most of her energies. So, she had gone to get water, ate, even took a short nap and then showered.

Now, she couldn't find either Jonathan or Peter and she was starting to worry. Had someone snatched them? Had something happened to them but no one heard it? She couldn't figure it out. So as she went, she was suddenly opening doors very quickly and they were banging on the walls, which she didn't notice until about the fifth time and she realized that she was probably scaring a certain blonde haired Seer. Quickly she stopped this and quickly went to where she had heard River and Soran a bit ago in the kitchen.

"J-Jonathan and Peter... they're gone!" She said quickly, trying to keep the panic from her voice, but failing miserably. What happened?

"Yeah. Kilia, they left after the battle." Rethyn said as he had sat down upon one of the many comfortable chairs of which were in the living room. With his head turned he was looking at Kilia from where she stood in the kitchen. His expression remained blank as he looked to her.

Extending a hand out, he moved it to signal Kilia to move to a nearby seat. The room wasn't well light and outside it had grown dark. From within the darkness only the hollow eyes seemed to luminate through towards Kilia.

"L-left..." she breathed, "They... left? Just... up and gone? Why?" Kilia asked, her voice shaking just a bit. Why would they leave? They were Guardian's, they... they couldn't just... leave. Her heart lurched as she stood there, staring at Rethyn in return. His eyes seemed to glow as it was starting to get dark and the lights in the kitchen hadn't grown strong enough yet to block out the dim gloom.

Through the shadows Rethyn slowly nodded at Kilia. "Jonathan grew frustrated from the battle and was convinced we were all that was holding him back from "true power". Like a stray, Peter followed him in turn."

Lifting a glass of water to his mouth, Rethyn sipped it slowly as he was quite not sure what to do. Kilia would not of taken the news well either way, and nobody else seemed to want to break it. It may as well be him.

"W-what..." once again her words were nothing more than air slightly formed to make a sound. Her heart skipped a beat and then a sharp pain followed. Her fingers reached up and curled over the spot as she swayed slightly. Reaching out she took hold of the doorway, her eyes closing shut tightly as she felt a burn. Maybe she would take that seat now. Moving slowly she was making her way to the place that Rethyn had offered for her when Soran's voice slowly made it to her.

"Left... left... he left. Why? Why?" What started off as soft, slowly turned louder and his tone darkened. Kilia, completely caught off guard turned to the little blonde that was at the other end of the table. His food completely forgotten, he was glaring at the table with a look of such rage that it made her blood run cold.

"The fuck would he leave for!? I thought he was here to help me, to protect me when those Gods come calling! Who the hell does he think he is to just up and leave like this!? And he never even said a word to me, I haven't seen my Guardian in days! The hell is wrong with him!" Soran's voice was near screaming now as his fist hit the table, making the wood tremble and the silverware along it jump, "He left me again! Where the hell was he when Valyn was there? Why wasn't he there!?"

Running feet could be heard coming from the hallway, Tristan had been making his way to the kitchen anyways to talk to River and Soran and he heard Soran's yelling. He had never heard Soran like that before, not even when he was mad at Tristan before. He stopped at the enterance of the kitchen, trying to figure out what was going on, "Soran," yet his voice was only a whisper compared to the to the others. He turned to Rethyn, his head tilted in question, what had happened.

"Soran!" River called and moved around the kitchen to get to her son. Kilia stood with both hands over her lips as she was in utter shock. Never once had Soran blamed anyone for what had happened, or if things went wrong, he never blamed anyone. Where was this anger coming from?

"Why!" He screamed, "What is he planning?! To leave me at the mercy of those fucking Gods?!"

"Soran!" Kilia yelled finally along with River's voice that was trying to calm him. He hit the table again, a kind of raging growl at the back of his throat filling the air. Everything trembled, and Kilia could have sworn she felt a spike of energy course through the room as well.

The truth of which went through Rethyn's lips started out cold, but upon Soran's reaction he said. "That's exactly what he was planning Soran. He didn't care about you, he cared about power. " Rethyn paused for moment as he saw the vibrations of the room climb through his water. "I can't promise you the return of your guardian, but I can tell you that as long as you stay here I will do my best to carry the weight they left behind."

Hollow eyes locked onto Soran as Rethyn stood up. Rethyn then spoke quietly to Soran as if he was both trying to warn the boy and make him realize he was in the room.

"Soran."

Just like the few times before, his rage had spiked, but this time he had acted out on it. He shook, shuddered violently even as his fists clenched tightly on the table. His gaze shifted to Kilia who had yelled at him and she paused in mid step to go to him, River hadn't even dared to approach her own son as she was far too shocked at the display. He turned to Rethyn then, grinding his teeth as the other boy stood up. His words hadn't made it any better, if only to fuel the fire that was still raging. He couldn't quite understand why exactly he was so utterly pissed off, but he knew he was taking it out on someone that probably shouldn've have been taken out on.

Still, he couldn't help the feeling of betrayal. The sense of loss, back-stabbed. The word echoed and he clenched his teeth harder, breathing faster as he sat there, his fists shaking as he tried desperately to control himself. Rethyn continued though, his words cutting through the air to reach him. Soran gave a slight moan as he sat there, closing his eyes tightly. He started to lean forward, his breaths heaving in and out of his chest as he slowly shifted forwards.

Tristan was really confused, if he had figured right two guardians had left. He could understand that feeling, he almost thought he was going to face it in the past. He glanced at Rethyn...his words seemed really harsh for some reason. Was he trying to help or do something else? "Soran please, just calm down," he was almost at the point of begging. The anger in the other was hurting him, he took the step forward that no one else even dared. He didn't care if Soran hurt him, he just wanted the anger to end.

Finally, he let out an enraged scream, his fist hitting the table a third time, harder than the first and Kilia was sure he'd broken it, or at least bruised it very badly. She gasped at the sound of the table rocking from the hit and his scream. Looking to the people in the room she tried to plead with them via her gaze, help him... she was at a loss of what to do at that moment and could only stand in frozen fear.

Rethyn raised a hand to Kilia as suddenly-

Wap!

Rethyn suddenly appeared behind Soran as he roughly grabbed him again. With the quick words "Be right back." to Kilia and River there was another loud crackle as both the boys vanished. In their wake a little black smoke seemed to be left behind signaling Rethyn's emotions towards the situation.

From behind Soran the cabin looked much smaller as they both fell from two miles up in the air. However, from positioning Rethyn had what would seem like a death lock grip on the back of Soran's head as kept Soran in front of him during the fall. The wind howled as they picked up speed with every second they spent in the air. As the rocketed closer the howling of wind almost became deafening as they drew closer.

Tristan looked completely shocked at the disappearance of his guardian and Soran. What the fucking hell was that anyways, what was the guardian thinking if he was actually thinking at all. So where the hell had the other taken him...Tristan only thought was to run out the back door.

The feel of the boys hands on him made him jump. He hadn't been expecting to be touched and he would have fought back violently except he found that in the next instant, he was no longer in that room. Immediately his heart lurched and he was sent back to that abandoned warehouse, the golden knife, the face of the God and his horrid screams filled with agony.

He did feel, though, the arms of the boy wrapped around him tightly, holding him in place and right after, the feel of air cutting past them. It roared in his ears, making him cringe in terror. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think, and couldn’t do anything. Finally he found his voice and let out a strangled cry. His fingers dug into Rethyn, clinging to him, "Stop... stop... stop!" he cried, closing his eyes tightly as he buried his face in the boys chest, trying to breath properly even though he wanted nothing more than to scream.

As if it were a bad dream everything stopped just before the two of them were to splatter on the roof of the cabin. With a carefully placed teleportation, Rethyn had put Soran's life before his eyes, and placed them on top of the roof of the cabin.

Latching onto the front of Soran's shirt, Rethyn pulled the boy away from him as he begun to preach to the boy. "Dying is easy Soran. Every breath you take someone breaths there last. Within your eyes I see you. I feel like I see everyone these days." Shaking Soran slightly Rethyn continued. "And it's not by this flesh I see you, I see the you under the skin."

There was a pause, Rethyn's breaths drew in longer and more forced before he started again. "I was the one who pulled you out of there Soran. And I saw myself in your eyes. Not even a year ago I was just like you. And you know where I was a year ago? Dead Soran. Dying is easy, but the afterlife isn't. I was there for fifteen years of the kind of torture of which changes you. To survive I've done horrid things in that asylum they call the "afterlife"."

Pausing again, Rethyn looked over Soran with the darkest of looks. Leaning in to whisper to Soran's ear Rethyn said "I lived in a world where the warden would build your own perfect life and then smash it just when you were most happy. Then he'd start over and watch you smash another life he created for you because you couldn't trust anyone."

"I know you've been through hell, but you have family and people left who would die again for you. I would die in an instant so you could tell the God of Death that he'd have to wait."

Throwing Soran away from him, Rethyn pointed to the woods as he spoke loudly to the boy. "You don't see them, I do! When you're brought back the God simply does not wait for you to come back! He's made plans..."

Placing a hand over his face, Rethyn did his best to try to control himself as he begun to deepen his breaths. "Do you see?!" He finished with. In his own mind he felt he made sense, but he feared he just spoke madness to Soran.

Glancing back at the boy, he awaited him.

Panting, Soran hadn't opened his eye as he thought for sure he was going to die. Then he felt fingers latch into the front of his shirt and drag him off of Rethyn's chest that he'd been clinging too desperately. He opened his eyes now, fear clouding his mind as Rethyn started talking to him. Shaking, tears were streaming down his face as he stared at the other boy, white as a sheet. No color graced his features as he sat there. The words took a while to sink in.

He was shaken slightly and he blinked, his mouth opening as his lips trembled slightly, a soft sound trying to escape him as all he could do was huddle there. Rethyn's words about dragging him out of the concrete building made his gaze widen. He hadn't known that. Of course, he hadn't been conscious either. The next words hit him hard as well. Rethyn had died? But... then... how was he, sitting right there? He couldn't get the words out of his throat as he stared in fear at Rethyn, still trembling from the fall.

The boy leaned forward and whispered to him then. He felt tears falling even more as he listened. He had certainly felt that the life he had woken up to after such an ordeal was nothing but an illusion, however he soon realized that hadn't been the case. His heart slammed in his chest as he knelt there. He didn't know what to think, or what to say. It was hard to even breathe still. He managed only one word after Rethyn had told him that the people around him would die for him, and that even the dark haired Guardian would do so too.

Looking at the boy, his breath hardly whispered out Rethyn's name.

Then Rethyn threw him backwards, shocking him even more. Catching himself just barely by both hands, he was leaned backwards, his eyes wide as he watched Rethyn. Confusion was clear on his face as he sat there. What did this all mean? Why had Rethyn dropped him in mid air and then settled them on the roof? Was this... mean to make him feel better? Or meant to make him see something? Because if it was the former, it certainly hadn't worked. If anything, Soran was now afraid of heights of all things.

"S-see... what... Rethyn..." he managed between short gasps, "The God of Death? Waiting for what? What do you mean? Why the hell did you drop me!?" he countered, a flash of anger before he quickly contained it.

"Look around you Soran! What do you see?!" Rethyn barked. "In that instance if you had died everything you loved would be gone! In the afterlife all of this would never be seen the same. I see the same fear I had within my eyes through yours. The world beyond this one is tougher, more horrid! If you don't put your fear behind you it will kill you and those you love."

Rethyn paused for a moment as he coughed slightly. "The God of Death is someone you never want to see. You'll know when you see him. I see him everywhere...I'll do whatever it takes so none of you will have to meet him."

Rethyn felt the same solution he had come to before race throgh his mind. He then heard Kilia's words in turn. Bringing his hands to the side of his head, Rethyn looked crazed as he stared off into the woods. Faceless beings watched him, they were whispering.

"Your eyes are like mine, I can see you see your fears everywhere you go Soran...Everywhere..."

Sitting down Rethyn went silent as he stared off into the distance. It was as if he went into overdrive and shut down. Every so often he would only merely blink between the now almost silent rises and falls of his chest.

Even though it took him a moment to figure out where the heck they were, his heart stopped when he saw them on the roof. It was probably good for Rethyn that he didn't see the entire display of...stupidness.

"Rethyn..." Soran breathed slowly. Fear... he sees fear. Of course it's fear... he thought, trying to keep up with the boy though his heart was pounding and he felt frozen to the spot. He wasn't sure what Rethyn was talking about, his voice sounded off though. But the one thing that did stick was the mention of fear.

Fear had frozen the blonde.

Fear had crept into his very soul, dragging him down into dark depths that he'd never been to before.

Fear was hurting those around him.

He clenched his teeth as he squeezed his eyes shut. The shock of the fall still stuck with him, but he was feeling something else now too. It wasn't anger, it wasn't quite fear, but... realization? Maybe. He wasn't sure just yet. When Rethyn stopped moving and just stared off into the darkness, he worried. Leaning forward slowly, careful of his own actions, he breifly touched Rethyn. The touch didn't burn. It shouldn't burn... Tristan would tell me that I'm sure he figured as he tried to get the boys attention.

"Rethyn... a-are you okay?"

There was no answer. Shit. Now he was stuck up on the roof. With no way down. His heart hammered in his chest. He swallowed dryly as he felt that familiar tug of fear trying to freeze him. Shaking slightly he sat there staring at Rethyn for a while. The boy wasn't going to move, and thus Soran was stuck, with only himself to get out of the situation. He glanced around quickly and spotted Tristan.

"Tristan!" he called, leaning forward and slipping slightly. He gasped a bit and quickly caught himself, his legs stretching out to stop from going farther on the roof top. His boots had enough grip to catch on the shingles. He took a deep breath, let it out slowly and returned his gaze to the boy on the ground, "Tristan... Uh... yeah," he wasn't sure what to say or how to relay to the boy that his guardian had just gone into robot mode and 'turned off'. He glanced over to Rethyn again, "He's um.... broken..." he said and then sort of chuckled as he was referring to the boy as a mechanical object that had stopped working.

It was only slightly funny. Slightly.

He's broken is that what the other just said, Tristan actually thought it fit better than it should have. "Rethyn," he called, "what in the hell are you doing." Ok maybe that wasn't the best response. Tristan was just going to have to come up with something, yet it seemed like his mind just ran out of ideas.

Rope...ladder...but the freaking roof was to high for that, he looked at the windows, damn the other couldn't have landed near one of those. He glanced at his magic pad, did he have anything useful...oh wait.

He hurried as fast as he could as he needed to actually modify what he wanted. A slingshot appeared in his hand, and he aimed it toward his guardian, "Ok maybe this will wake him up," The first object to launch from the slingshot was a water balloon, but as it went toward the other, it just got bigger and bigger. As it hit him it would explode into shower of water.

Soran's gaze grew wide as he watched Tristan design something on his pad and then in his hands appeared a sling shot. He shot something that the blonde Seer couldn't quite see until it got closer. It was a large balloon of sorts and Soran lifted an eyebrow. He wasn't sure but... was that supposed to do something? He hoped so because he wasn't getting down without Rethyn, or maybe some well crafted spell of sorts. He bit his lip as he looked down to Tristan.

"I hope that works!" he called, cringing slightly as the balloon got larger. Whatever was in it was sure to go everywhere and Soran was definitely in range of it as well, though it probably hit Rethyn with more than Soran.

As the balloon smacked Rethyn on the side of the head. Rethyn closed his left eye and blinked twice with his right. The blackness had gone away and like a reboot, Rethyn stood up soaked. Below him was a little circle of a wet spot of which the rest of the water had gone.

Before glancing over to Soran, Rethyn shook his head as he offered the boy a hand. "Come on, let's go."

Slowly, Soran watched as Rethyn seemed to completely snap out of his trance when the water sprayed across him. Some of it exploded onto him too, but not nearly as bad as the other boy. It had completely drenched him. Reaching out his hand, Rethyn called to him. Standing up gingerly, Soran took hold of the boys hand with a nod, "Okay."

Crack!

With another quick teleport, the two of them had landed next to Tristan. In silence Rethyn then released the hand for Soran before turning to slink away. With tired eyes and a lowered head, the young man started to step off into the house. In his wake there were drops of water from his clothing.

The sky looked lovely that night as each of the stars were visible without the lights of the city to hide them. The moon this night was larger as it loomed over the cabin brightly. It even revealed many of the shadowy spots of the night of which on most nights one could not see.

Soran blanched slightly, wincing at the teleport. That was going to take some time to get used to again. He stood there silently though, watching as Rethyn walked slowly back into the house. Looking to Tristan after the boy disappeared into the house, he reached out and took the red haired Seer's hand gingerly, "Tristan... h-hey..." he could only manage before he moved and wrapped his arms around the other's waist, putting his face in Tristan's chest. He breathed deeply.

Tristan watched his guardian come to life again and finally decide to teleport off the roof. As the two landed he sighed in relief, he watched his guardian move into the house, and decided he save the conversation for later as to what the other was doing up there. He looked at Soran as the other took his hand and wrapped his arms around him. "Hey yourself," he said with a smile and held the other. "You ok," was all he could ask, he knew that it wasn't the best question, but it was the first one that came to mind.

It took him a moment, but Soran finally answered, his head nodding slowly, "Y-yeah.... strangely enough. I mean... he terrified me at first but... I-I don't know. I guess... he sort of helped... Kind of. I'm still slightly confused but. I think I know what he was trying to do," Soran said, trying to explain how he was feeling and knowing that it wasn't happening. The most important part was that he was actually okay. Shaking, sure, but... okay.

Tristan smiled, "I am glad to hear that," or at least he thought he was. He was still sort of scared though, wondering what that anger was from before, was it completely gone. "Good, now I am hungry, I swore I smelled spaghetti in there."

~~~Rethyn, Sina, and Kilia~~~

Shooting around the house, Rethyn made his way back to the chair he had sat in before. He was trembling a little as he sat in the darkness. At first he thought he was alone as he merely went back to his glass of water, but with the sound of Sina's light voice Rethyn turned a little to see her in the corner of the room within her own seat.

"Sup weirdo."

Closing his eyes, Rethyn didn't want to deal with her as he finished his glass of water. Doing his best to remove the thoughts swirling through him and the idea of Sina's teasing he didn't respond to her.

"You goin' to respond or am I just going to have to go mess with your stuff? Weirdo."

There was no avoiding her. With a open of his eyes, Rethyn looked hollowly as he said in response.

"Hello. Useless."

With a clinch of her teeth, Sina barked back to Rethyn,

"Excuse me?!"

"You heard me. If you're going to call me weird I can at least call you what you are. And you have been utterly useless. "

Sina scoffed at Rethyn as she stood and folded her arms at him. "I was protecting Tristan's sisters weirdo."

"As I was too useless." Rethyn replied.

Like a child, Sina responded with. "Ugh! Everyone else around this house is so great then there's you!" Stomping off out of the room Sina's last words were. "Not only are you a weirdo, but you're also a jerk!"

Thanking the air of her departure, Rethyn merely glanced down to the floor as he felt sick. Why had he lost control? Was it Soran's anger which triggered it? Was it just his eyes, or was it just himself.

Burying his face into his hands, Rethyn rubbed at his eyes a little before removing them from his face as laying back into the chair. He did his best to not look at the pictures on the wall as he feared they'd move again. He didn't want to focus on anything for too long for the fear of it had set in.

Kilia, having been curious as to what happened between Rethyn and Soran, had paced the house until she heard someone coming into the house again. Dinner had moved to the table, River having finished making the spagehtti. The young pink haired Seer didn't feel like eating though, too nervous and distracted by thought to settle herself.

Moving in the direction of the noise she'd heard, she by passed Sina who looked irritated. Lifting an eyebrow, she watched the other girl storm down the hall. Entering the kitchen, Kilia spotted Rethyn seated there and gingerly made her way over to him. Drawing out a chair, she sat across from him and was silent for a while as she tried to figure out what she wanted to say.

"R-Rethyn... is... everything okay?" she asked slowly.

Speaking steadliy, Rethyn looked forward as he said to Kilia. "Are you alright, you seem nervous." He was dodging again, upon his response he tried to flip the conversation away from him and onto Kilia. He couldn't help but fear he'd said too much to Soran. He had let himself out and now someone in the world knew almost everything about him. He felt even worse knowing it wasn't even his own Seer who knew of him that way, but his Seer's lover instead.

"Are you hungry?" Rethyn asked as he stood from his seat. Maybe around the table in company she wouldn't have the curage to figure him out. Hopefully neither would Soran as he wouldn't bring it up around his mother or Tristan.

Hopefully.

Kilia stood with him, followed him to where the pot was full of the decadent italian food, "I'm fine," she told him and stood right next to him with her back to the table, "I'm... not very hungry right now... But... I'm worried about you. You suddenly disappeared with Soran. You're both alright... right? You can... at least tell me that. You trust me, right? At least let me know that you're okay," she said softly. She wasn't trying to push, but she was gently prodding to get him to say something.

"I could be better Kilia." Rethyn said quietly as he tried to keep his voice from the others ears. "I would never seriously hurt Soren. I only told him what I felt was needed." Rethyn finished as he went to pull his noodles from the pot. "And why do you keep asking if I trust you? I told you before I'd rather myself die than any of you so you wouldn't..." Rethyn trailed off as he looked to his noodles.

Kilia frowned, "Don't say that," she whispered softly, fingers reaching out to wrap around his arm, "I get cold when you say that. Because I know that you mean it, and you would let it happen. Don't you remember what I told you the other night? You are strong. But you are stronger with us standing at your side. I know you want to protect us, but... we want to protect you to. I know you wouldn't hurt him either. You wouldn't hurt any of us," Kilia said softly. She leaned her forehead on his shoulder lightly, "I just want you both to be okay."

"Would you like to patrol with me tonight?" Rethyn asked quietly as he looked down to the hand of Kilia. Her hand felt warm to him as he was still rather damp from his Seer's water balloon attack on him from before.

She then placed her forehead upon his shoulder. For the first time he had come back he felt the warmth of a blush on his face as his eyes moved to her quickly before darting back to the noodles.

"Patrol?" she repeated the word and removed her head from his shoulder. She wasn't sure what that meant, but since he was asking... Maybe she would find out more about him if she was allowed to do so. She smiled sweetly at him, "Sure. It sounds interesting."

"Thank you Kilia." The blush upon his face had not died yet and because of it he didn't make eye contact as he did his best to hide it. He had begun to shiver from his clothing and he begun to silently tell himself that he would have to change after he ate.

Later that Night

With folded arms over his sheath, Rethyn stood in the living room with closed eyes. This was where they had planned to meet for that night. At first he thought he heard someone’s steps, but refused to open his eyes just incase it was something like that one night. The eyeless dog licking the glass of the window was more than enough to flood the memories of a bad night. He held back a shudder to the best of his ability as he remembered the crimson leaving the socket of the dogs eyes.

Kilia moved through the darkness, slightly out of place as she couldn't see very well and then found herself in the living room finally. Spotting the form of Rethyn she walked over to him and with one hand behind her back, a smile on her face, reached out and tapped his shoulder as he seemed to be sleeping.

"Rethyn," she called softly, keeping her voice low in the house.

Rethyn slightly jolted from the tap, but quickly regained himself once he heard the voice of Kilia. Turning to her slowly he opened his eyes as he saw her through the darkness. This night he had chosen not to wear shoes as he merely wore a sleeveless shirt covered over by a soft black jacket with a little bit of what seemed to be fur on the hood. And a pair of simple cargo shorts of which already had gained a small hole at the end of the left leg.

"Kilia." Rethyn said quietly in return.

Beaming at him, she straightened, "I always wondered what it was you did at night," she said with a small giggle, "I feel.. kinda special being allowed to follow you around," she said, one finger scraching at her cheek as she looked around the room. Kilia was certainly glad for the darkness, she could feel her cheeks going slightly red. Dressed in a black shirt that opened at the shoulders with long sleeves down to her wrists, a short skirt with shorts underneath and shoes to match, she rocked back and forth as she waited, "So! Where to first?" she asked, all sorts of energy bubbling through her, which was unusual seeing as she wasn't a night owl to begin with.

"...Thank you for coming along." Rethyn said softly. He was thankful that she came along as even though he didn't exactly explain why he needed her she came along anyways. It brought a warmness within him of which he caught inside of himself. It confused him, but he tried his best not to question it. It was nice, it felt so much better than the other things of which jabbed at him throughout the day.

"I usually move to the training rooms first then just the general downstairs before I start going up. I then repeat."

Kilia nodded a bit, "Ah. Pretty simple," she said with a smile, "So... why do you do it alone, Rethyn? You've always done this, haven't you?"

"Well, I am not exactly fond of Kilia." Rethyn said as he begun to walk in the direction of the training rooms. "Ever since I joined up with you guys, it just became my thing."

Kilia followed him, matching his stride as best she could, "Oh. You never did it before then? So," she lifted an eyebrow as she looked up at him, her hands curling together in front of her as they walked, "So why do you do it now?"

Rethyn paused as he looked into the training room, from within he saw nothing. Speaking quietly he said in response to Kilia as he turned back to face her. "I do it now because I worry about you, and everyone else."

"You worry about us?" she asked, and then gave a small laugh, "See, I knew you did. You're always acting like you don't like us, and you do things alone so often. But I had a feeling there was more to it than just that," reaching out she wrapped her fingers around his forearm as they bypassed the training room, "People think that they're good at hiding things. I think that maybe I've gotten a little bit better and reading a few things. Or maybe you're just slipping," she teased a bit with a laugh, "In any case," her tone grew a bit more serious, "I'm glad to hear it."

"I do things alone because there are things out there I don't want you all to face." Rethyn said a little defensively as a light blush crawled up on his face in the darkness. He had not expected the sudden touch of Kilia and along with her touch felt a warmness crawl within him.

"I know I am slipping..." Rethyn said quietly as he knew Kilia was teasing, but he knew it was true.

Kilia walked with him, her fingers still wrapped around his forearm, "I think that you try to do too much on your own. I also think that you don't give us enough credit. Especially Tristan. Together, you and him could be extremely powerful. Who knows what you both could do if you both started working together." Kilia gave a bit of a shrug, "I've been wondering, too... do you have a magic system, Rethyn? I know... little strange to ask," she said as she glanced around the hall.

Glancing down the hall as well, Rethyn's blush had faded as he truly did think over the aspects of his connection with his Seer. She was right. He knew that he needed to stop trying to protect Tristan so much, but work with him instead. However, a bit of him growled at the idea as he struggled with it.

As they reached the stairs, Rethyn finally answered the second question as he said weakly. "No, I do not have one."

Kilia looked up to him briefly, her content features fading for a moment as she grew a bit worried, "Well, that's okay. I sort of didn't think so, after all you teleport around so much and I've never seen you open the system. Sorry to ask such a strange question," she said, "I just thought that... if you did you and Tristan would be a deadly pair. Not that you wouldn't be still... but... uh..." she fumbled around for words and finally decided on an awkward silence for a while.

"Do you like being a Guardian, Rethyn?"

"Don't worry about it Kilia, I know what you mean." Rethyn then paused as he listened to Kilia's voice. He did not believe she knew, but he could clearly see her in the dark and with his solid sky blue eyes he would watch her closely as she would speak. After what seemed like an even longer moment, Rethyn finally answered her question.

"For a duty I never expected I do like it...It gives me a purpose. Without it, I wouldn't know what to do. I don't believe there is anyone left who cares for a guy who died fifteen years ago."

Reaching the end of the stairs, Rethyn stopped as he looked to her silently. His eyes had held that hollow look of which bore into KIlia as he himself showed little to none other signs of body language.

Kilia frowned, "Oh Rethyn. Then what does that make us? You know we care, don't you? You're special to us, you always have been," she said softly. She never removed her gaze from his eyes as they stopped at the end of the stairs. His beautiful eyes... she always found them so captivating. She smiled, "We care. I care too. Doesn't that mean something for you?"

Rethyn felt a smile pull at his lips. "Sorry, it's just in the past I felt I was merely the expendable one of the group.." He paused for a moment as he closed his eyes and breathed lighly once before opening his eyes again. "It does Kilia...I..thank you." Other words wanted to pull their way out, but for now he had lowered his gaze a tad bit more.

A light blush started pushing its way upon his face as he couldn't help it. He wanted to say more, but words weren't exactly working for him in the moment. He froze.

Kilia hummed a bit as she tilted her head, "What is it, Rethyn?" she had a feeling he wanted to say something to her.

"Thank you for being so accepting of me...I know I come off as a bit off...and." Rethyn felt himself begin to ramble a little to the girl as he tried to find his footing. She had managed to slip past his defenses and break him down with just her mere smile and gaze. In the past he always knew she was cute, but never this cute.

A long moment of silence seemed to pass as Rethyn found himself locked in place. The smile he had let out earlier had been replaced by a little of uncertainity. Without even realizing it he had leaned in closer to Kilia. As a blush crawled up his face so did the warmness resonating within him.

Inches from her face he found his eyes gazing into her sky blue ones through the darkness. For a moment he paused as he felt the uncertainty of his actions. With his hands at his sides he from yet again.

Kilia shook her head a bit as he said he was a bit 'off'. She didn't think he was off at all. He was just fine the way he was, sweet and kind in his own way even if he tried to come off cold and uncaring. Kilia giggled a bit to herself. As they stood there, she suddenly found him getting rather close and she watched him curiously. He got close to her, close enough for her to feel the gentle caress of his breath against her face.

Kilia was mesmerized by his gaze. She had always thought those eyes of his were rather good looking, attractive even. If she hadn't been infatuated with Jonathan for a while, she probably would have fallen for him first. As it was though, she had a feeling that she'd had a stronger connection to him. When Rethyn saved Soran from the concrete during the earthquake, having taken a blow to his head and breaking his mask... she was worried, scared even for him. It was also the first time that she'd seen his eyes. Kilia remembered having commented on it, telling him that he was cute, or adorable like that.

Following after that, she'd spoken to him in the kitchen of the new house, worried yet again. Kilia remembered how he felt when she held him, though he didn't hold her in return, she could feel his strong heart, warm body and with a kiss to his cheek... maybe that had been the spark. Or maybe it had been a bit sooner. Love was wierd like that.

So, when he came close to her, gazing at her, she couldn't help the little breath of startlement, her cheeks growing red as well, though it was hard to tell in the dark. Her heart thrummed a little harder and she trembled slightly. It was only a few more inches... a few more inches and she find out what it was like to kiss him. She bit her lip, hesitant to try. With a small intake of breath, she leaned forward and gently gave him a kiss. Nothing hard, or passionate or anything like that. A soft touch, like testing the water. She hoped to god that was what he wanted...

A small smile played upon Rethyn's lips as he smiled against hers during this kiss. Slowly his hands moved to her sides before one gently slid to her back. The blush upon his face seemed to partially fade as he returned the kiss to Kilia. With it he understood the warm from within of which she gave.

Closing his eyes, Rethyn finished the kiss as he wrapped his arms around her gently. Leaning his forehead against hers he could feel her heart pounding between breaths. With a tiny smile it was okay as his heart too was beating strongly against his chest. His blush had completely faded off from his face as he could feel the light tickling of Kilia's breath as it contacted him.

After a long moment Rethyn lowered his arms and stepped back as he opened his eyes to gaze at Kilia. With a gentle smile he remember how she had spoken to him the first time he removed his mask. The kindness she had supplied him was enough to escape himself and begin his first steps into his new life. He wanted to give her something more, but in his mind he did not know what. Then like a slap the thought hit him roughly as he murmured.

"Answers."

The embrace was gentle and warm. She wrapped her own arms around his waist, though she really wasn't all that big and could only get her fingers to curl around her wrists where-as his arms had nearly engulfed her small size. It was nice to just stand there, letting him hold her and no words needed. She breathed deeply. He smelled nice. With a soft hum to herself she was about to nestle closer to him when he pulled away a bit. There it was again, that small smile. She gave a soft laugh and smiled in return, unable to help it.

Of course, his next words had her utterly confused. Tilting her head a bit, she said, "Eh?" softly, arching an eyebrow as she stared at him, her smile still in place. If at all possible, little question marks might have popped up around her head as well...

"Uh..." In that moment Rethyn realized how odd he sounded. With a quick regain of his footing, Rethyn asked Kilia quietly.

"I know you still have questions...If there are any left I am willing to answer."

"Oh... Um," she blushed a bit as she reached up and tucked a strand of long pink hair behind her ear, "Uh... your... magic system. How come you don't have it? I mean, you were revived, right? Shouldn't you have it?"

"I..uh never had one..." Rethyn replied as he looked down briefly before meeting his gaze with hers again. "The power is a part of me..I am not sure how to explain..uh.." Rethyn shook his head as he awaited the next question. If it was the one he expected...he was going to have to answer everything.

"Oh, that's interesting. Makes you more mysterious," she said with a giggle and a wiggle of her fingers for added affect, with a smile she stood with one hand on her hip as she thought to herself. She had recalled having a thousand question's before, but... at the moment it was actually rather hard to ask any of them. The reason for that was because simply.. She’d forgotten. It was the kiss... Yes, totally blaming it on that.

"Um... This... thing with the God of Death... why is he after you? Is he just mad that you... were revived somehow?"

"...After?...Sweetie that's a interesting choice of words." The voice hissed to Kilia from down the hall. Through the moonlight a suited man could be seen in the light as he sat upon the window frame. With his right hand he adjusted his solid red tie while with his left hand he seemed to pet something within the darkness.

Rethyn's eyes went wide as he kept himself from turning his head. Within his mind he told himself over and over again that he wasn't there. It was another trick and trap to get under his skin. He begun to shake as he grasped at Kila to pull her towards him. With quiet whispers he said.

"Don't look."

Kilia sucked in a sharp breath. Words tossed across the hall in an acidic tone from a voice that she'd never heard before. Her gaze grew wide and as she was about to turn around, Rethyn suddenly grabbed her and held her tightly against him, prohibiting her from turning as her face was buried against his chest and shoulder. Her breathing was short.

"Rethyn..." she said, a bit of a higher pitch to her tone than usual as he told her not to look, "Rethyn... what is that?" her voice was shaky, but as she felt him trembling, she worried. What was going on? Kilia's fingers curled into his shirt tightly as she was crushed against him, "Are you okay?"

"Rethyn...oh come on let me meet her. You know? It's kind of like when you show the girlfriend to your parents for the first time. Well not exactly, but I am the closest thing to a dad in this new life eh?" Death then chuckled at Rethyn's silent trembling before he continued on with. "After? No, I'm just giving him some tough love. I can't have him be soft now...Why kill what you helped bring back?"

"Helped... bring back..." Kilia whispered softly. She couldn't turn, but she did raise her voice a bit, a sharp snap to it that usually wasn't there, "Leave him alone," she said as she reached behind Rethyn and her hand swiped at the air. The soft glow of her magic system came up and her fingers touched the pad, but she couldn't see what she was drawing out. She was trying to make some sort of shield, a protective barrier that she was going to throw on Rethyn. She could only hope that it would work. All the while her voice whispered to Rethyn, "Don't listen, ignore it. He doesn't know anything. You're just fine, trust me."

"But girl, I am speaking to you now not him. What you seek to know is why Rethyn has no magic system? Because the power he processes is the gift I bestowed upon him when I helped bring him back...That foolish girl tried to revive him, but like every other bastard and whore in the past would of failed. I gave just a push of help and look what happened." Chuckling slightly at the barrier he had no intent of attacking Death turned away as he finished with.

"He's even in my image when I was but a mortal..Kazar may of had black hair like he does now, but when he was in my world he was a blonde...Well heh just go look at the picture he has under his pillow...He's not who he was at all in life. Rethyn wasn't even his original name."

Reaching his hand into one of the dogs opened eye sockets, Death begun to write something upon the window with the crimson of blood. It looked to be an array of numbers of which could be entered into a magic system. "This is my number...contact me when you're done with games...Ta ta."

Wamp!

As if it were the same power of Rethyn, Death vanished in a puff of smoke. The sound was similar to Rethyn's but distinctly different in sound as through all of Rethyn's teleport there wasn't a sound quite like that. The sound was quite loud this time too as it carried throughout the house.

Upon the window the blood dripped a little, but still the numbers were visible. As Death had left, Rethyn released Kilia as he looked down in silence. Death had broken out the information not in the way Rethyn wanted to give it. It was the truth and it stung the blue eyed boy as he begun to turn away from Kilia. She would see him as a monster now, and as the fear settled in he started to believe it.

"Rethyn!" Kilia called, her voice nearing a shout, but not one of anger, out of fear. Her fingers were still curled on her magic system. Her other hand reached out, snatching his hand and dragging him back as best she could. She moved too, stepping up next to him and pressed the power against his chest. It was probably a little late, but she also wanted to see what it would do. Golden light streamed across his frame, like little tendrils that pulsed and curled together in intricate designs. He glowed like that for a bit. Kilia tilted her head as she watched it, slightly mesmerized by how it twisted along his body.

"Hmm... not sure what that is really, but I think it's a protection spell. Looks cool," she said with a shrug. Then looking up at him, she frowned, "Why did you try to walk away? I don't care what he said. It doesn't matter to me, it won't matter to anyone else. So what, you had blonde hair once. You look better with black. I don't care what your name was before. You're Rethyn to me and I like you just the way you are now. There's nothing wrong with you, and there's nothing wrong with any of that past stuff. I'm sure something happened. I won't ask, it's not my place. But... the important thing now, you're here. Don't lose face simply because of a few words."

She said, and as she spoke, her fingers curled in his hand that she'd grabbed and her other hand reached up to brush across his face.

As the golden light faded from him, Rethyn quickly begun to look around him as he saw many of the the shadows lose that extra layer of darkness, he saw the picture at the end of the hall stop dancing, and lastly he felt a warmness within his head. With a momentary close of his eyes he felt soothed.

Opening his eyes he stared at Kilia as she spoke to him. She may not of known what she just had done with that spell of hers, but she had just driven from his minds the hallucinations of which had plagued him since his return to the living. With no response, Rethyn lunged forward as he pulled Kilia into a tight embrace. Turning his head he then kissed her twice on the cheek. He felt the warmness of her hands upon his face and smiled to her as he said.

"Thank you..."

Kilia was startled as he lunged at her, pulling her up tight. Her breath was lost to her as he bear hugged her. Then she felt his lips against her cheek and she blushed furiously. Still, she smiled warmly as he whispered words towards her, his thanks made her giggle a bit, "I didn't do anything," she said softly. Shifting her hand from his face, her fingers went through his hair and then wrapped up neatly along his neck as she pulled herself into his hug, happy for the warmth.

"I'll always be here to help you, okay? Me, and everyone else. I promise you. You're not alone," she said softly. The darkness of the hall stayed just like that, with only the silver light of the moon to illuminate them just barely. Kilia enjoyed the embrace. Maybe she could hold him again like that soon, the thought made her smile even more as she released a soft sigh of contentment.

---

Following Morning

"Found her," Cryio's voice was soft as he moved forward through the trees. It had been a long trip, and it had taken a lot of time and extra power that he didn't think he possessed, but it finally payed off. Deriea sighed, she stretched up, pulling at her limbs as her fingers interlaced and rose up over her head, her back curling backwards a bit.

"Finally," she muttered, "Shall we greet the mortals?"

Cryio turned to her slightly, "You shouldn't call them mortals."

"Why not? That's what they are."

"They won't like it," he said bluntly.

Deriea rolled her eyes, "You're certainly loads of fun," she retorted, "Fine what should I call them? Humans? Lesser-beings? Skeletons with skin draped on them?"

"Deriea."

"Fine, fine, I won't do any of that. What's the girls name?"

"Kilia."

"And?"

Cryio shrugged, "Just, 'Kilia'. It's this house," he said, coming to an abrupt halt and Deriea almost running into him. Cursing to herself, she moved to the side of him and stared at the beautiful looking cabin. She gave a soft scoff.

"Seriously, what's with mortals and building such ridiculous things that will never last?"

"I find it pleasing."

"That's because you're strange. And an idiot," she returned, "Well, call her. We really don't have all day."

Cryio turned to her and for a moment she thought he may have smiled, but that might have just been her own weariness dragging on her. She lifted an eyebrow as he stepped forward, walking right through the barrier. Deriea followed and both God's halted right outside the house, waiting.

Deriea sighed heavily, "Idiot," she muttered. Her hand outstretched over the dirt at her feet. The small rocks and dust started to move little by little. Her hand lifted up slowly and the fingers curled in. The ground shifted, a slight roll bucked under her feet and then she directed it towards the house. It rumbled as it went and hit the front door, just short of knocking it off it's hinges. With a bit of a grin, she released the power and crossed her arms with a sort of proud look on her face.

Inside the house if anything a collective moan went up...again, this was happening again. Alauric was in the living room when something hit the front door...well that was a little odd. He scratched his head and decided to go see what was out front. He stared out the windows, and found two gods out there...but they were just standing there as if they were waiting. "I kinda wonder if I go away they will disappear," he mumbled to himself.

Sina watched from a window as she saw the two gods move closer to the home. She had heard the alarm and was on edge, but at the same time nobody seemed to be doing anything so she found herself hesitating to do anything. "If they wanted a fight they would have already right?" Sina asked herself quietly.

Deriea looked to Cryio, "I don't think that worked. Should I try again?"

He shook his head at her, "You will only anger them."

She quirked an eyebrow at him, "What? I just knocked. A simple greeting. A 'hello' if you will."

Cryio sighed.

The rumble that rocked the house just a bit and had drawn everyones attention, had Kilia rushing for the door, heart pounding, "What's happened? What's going on?" She asked quickly, coming up next to Alauric. She had yet to look directly outside yet though.

Following her, was Soran. A slight bit timid, but definitely not huddled in a corner, he peeked around the corner, biting his lower lip, "Alauric?" he called, and took a tentative step into the main hallway.

Alauric was about to answer Kilia, when he heard Soran's voice also, he got a smile on his face with that sound of his name. "Just two gods out there...but they aren't attacking,,,and something hit the door...like a rather loud knock or something." He couldn't figure it out.

"Oh well, if they aren't attacking, I say let’s go back to bed..." he turned from the windows and started in that direction. He saw something that made him more scared than the two gods, "I am just kidding...geeze don't look at me like that."

Grayson was standing there, his expression was extremely stony when he looked at his seer.

"N-not attacking?" Soran repeated, clearly confused.

Kilia, on the other hand whirled around and threw opened the door. Soran gave a sharp cry as she did that. The pink haired Seer laid eyes upon the two Gods now and though she didn't know the woman, she knew she could never forget the face of the one that she had befriened those many years ago. Her lips broke into a wide smile as she drew in a breath and raced out the door, down the steps and across the yard.

Soran moved into the hall, rushing to the door where he stopped, "Kilia!" he yelled, fear in his voice.

Alauric turned as Kilia opened the door, now that was unexpected, he too then went to the open door. "Why do I get the feeling..." he stopped, and tilted his head, he wasn't really sure what to think.

Tristan now stood in the living room, as he looked at the pink-haired girl running down the steps toward the two gods, he squinted his eyes and looked again. "You know maybe I am crazy or something...but I think she knows one of those gods."

"Cryio!!" Kilia called as she sprinted across the yard. Though she threw her arms around the God's neck, the tall God did not return the hug, but did allow her to hang on him. He even bent down a bit for the short girl to do so.

"Kilia. You've grown."

"Yes. It's been a really long time. I was... worried about you," she replied. Then gasped slightly. Quickly releasing Cryio, she took a step back, realizing that everyone in that house had just witnessed her hugging a God. Glancing over her shoulder, she tried to find the words to explain, but faltered as she stood there.

Cryio reached out and patted the top of her head gently, "It is alright. We can explain just fine. I am happy to see you."

"Sure he is," Deriea added with a roll of her eyes, " 'Happy face'.... 'Sad face'.... 'Angry face'," all the while she kept her own facial features exactly the same as she imitated Cryio, "I swear, if it wasn't as clear as day what emotion you were feeling I would have never guessed," her voice was sarcastic.

Alauric had finally walked out the front door and was sitting on the top step, Tristan eyed his father as he now stood next to Soran, "oh what a great and fearless leader he is," he said in his own sarcastic tone. He watched the interaction between the god and Kilia, ok so he wasn't crazy, but what did it mean exactly for them. Was this just a visit, or were they here to actually help?

"I... I can't.... is this... really happening?" Soran stuttered as he leaned against the door, one hand reaching out to tangle with Tristans. He watched in confusion, not sure how to respond.

Kilia smiled, "Uh... yeah. Cryio, I'm sure you know everyone here, so no need for that, but uh... who is this?"

"Deriea."

"Oh. Hello."

"Hi morta- I mean, Kilia."

Kilia arched an eyebrow, then laughed a bit, "I know this may sound odd, but um... why exactly are you here?"

Deriea grinned at Kilia then and waved her hand from one side to the other, "Well you know. Strolling about is just one of those things that us Gods enjoy doing. Not to mention getting into fights with other God's, deciding to help out a group of mortals along the way," with a faked smile she looked at Kilia and then to Cryio, "Of course all of that was this idiots idea," her smile faded as she jabbed at Cryio.

Tristan looked at Soran, "Well you know Kilia...is an oddball," he grinned slightly, "she attracts the strangest friends. but yes its happening...but did she just say they were here to help us?" Alauric had heard the same thing, it was all getting a little to weird for him and he sighed.

"Wait... help? What are you talking about..." Kilia repeated, utterly confused.

Deriea rolled her eyes yet again and sighed as she put both hands on her hips, "You heard right, mortal. Cryio managed to convince me that you needed some help. Not to mention he's been worried for quite some time. Not that you could ever tell of course..." she gave the other God a horrid glare before she looked back to Kilia and smiled sweetly, "So here we are. Besides, don't you think you might need a bit of a... hand? Nothing like having a God back you up in a fight. Makes a statement don't you think? Especially me, I can make one hell of a statement."

"Deriea."

"What?! Jeez, you really are a buzz kill, Cryio. What the hell are you a god of again? Because it certainly isn't emotion," she glowered back at him, "Learn to feel the mood you idiot."

Kilia looked between the two, confused at first but then she started laughing. The woman named Deriea had a fiery temper, and one sharp tongue to add to it, but she was comical in her own way. This could be fun the young pink haired Seer thought to herself as she giggled, "Well, since you're here, why not come inside?"

"Uh..." Deriea looked at the house wearily, "That.. might be a bad idea in my case, girly. If you like that house, I think I'll stay outside."

"She'll destroy it," Cryio answered smoothly and in a matter of factly sort of tone.

Deriea turned her narrowed eyes to Cryio, "It's not like I would do it on purpose!"

Cryio shrugged lightly as he watched Kilia who had taken to laughing again, "O-oh... Okay... I get it," she said between giggles, "Then, we'll stay outside. You can come closer though, I don't want to shout across the yard," she said and turned to start back to where the others lingered on the porch of the home. Cryio followed her without a word while Deriea looked on hesitantly. Finally with a soft growl and string of mumbled curses to herself, the other god followed after. Stopping just short of the house, Kilia smiled at the group.

"Uh... So... this is Cryio. I... um, met him when I was very little. He's.... a good god," she said, not sure how well this was going to go over.

Alauric watched the three approach, and listened to Kilia, "Good god," he repeated, though it sort of sounded like he was saying it differently. "Kilia...um...," he didn't know where to start. Tristan stepped out of the doorway, "What he is trying to say is do you trust them Kilia," he remember her telling stories of her 'pretend friend' when she was little. He sounded like a cool person back then, to a kid, but to really put a actually face to the friend...and the fact that he was a god. Tristan had to ask the question that first came to his mind. He was also worried about the blond seer behind him. He rather thought he reaction would be different.

"A 'good god'?" Soran repeated, his voice turning slightly acidic, his green eyes narrowing dangerously.

Kilia quickly raised up her hands, "It's fine! It's fine, it's okay! He's not going to do anything, I promise you. And she won't either. If she's with Cryio, then it's alright."

"What's wrong with the mortal?" Deriea asked, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow as she regarded Soran's standoffish attitude to the situation.

Kilia turned to look at the goddess, "He's... that's a long story. He just doesn't trust Gods. For a good reason. But I can promise you, I trust these ones. Do you trust me, Soran? Tristan?"

Tristan looked back, he understood why Soran reacted like that. "It’s not that we don't trust you Kilia, you know that, it’s just going to take some getting used to, but I am all for them helping, we certainity could use it." Alauric looked at his son, maybe it was the right thing to do to stay out of this decision, they needed to start making some on their own anyways.

"And well," Tristan continued, "think of the circumstances now, how some of us are less protected, don't forgot about that Kilia. Maybe we could get them to make a oath or something," he slightly smiled at the thought, it was a rather funny notion to get a god to promise anything.

"I will protect her," Cryio said, his gaze watching Kilia steadily.

Kilia turned to look at him, "Cryio..."

"I recall giving you a promise many years ago. I'm sorry that I left you without fulfilling that. But I can now, and I will."

Kilia nibbled at her lip. She remembered that promise. He'd told her that he would protect her from other gods, no matter what. Then a few years after that, he'd disappeared. She had a thousand questions about that, but figured they could talk later. Looking to Deriea she tilted her head. Tristan had a very good point, and in the case of Soran, something should be said to try to settle him on this idea. Kilia was also happy that the blonde Seer hadn't flown off the handle. Though his anger was definitely something new to deal with, it seemed that most times he knew it was there and did what he could to subdue it. Hell, she was even surprised to see him at the front door, facing two Gods. It made her wonder what Rethyn did specifically to get him out of that shell of his.

Deriea nodded, "I won't harm you either. If it makes anything any better, he's the God of Life, and I'm the Goddess of Earth. I can't exist without this place, and since he's the god of Life, he has a sort of... what do you say. Soft spot for mortals. I suppose I do too," she said the last bit softly and looked off into the trees.

Tristan slighty tilted his head, what exactly does a god of life do,

"So what are your powers," he said looking at the tall male god. Seriously the guy was taller then he was, would have made a good basketball player if he was mortal, he offhandly wanted to ask him if he knew how to play. What the heck...Tristan had moved past the acceptance stage and had in mind to ask the guy to play a game of 1 on 1 or something like that.

Cryio looked up to the red haired Seer. He looked back to Kilia, almost as if he didn't understand what Tristan was asking. Kilia only smiled and waited. It took the God a moment, but he finally seemed to figure it out, "Life. Creating it. Keeping it."

Kilia giggled, turning she looked at Tristan, "Basically he means healing. He's... a great healer. Without anything living, more specifically humans, Cryio doesn't exist. Anything that has to do with healing, medicines, healing plant life... all that kinds of stuff, he creates it and keeps it going. He has all sorts of knowledge on that. Which, through him, we learn. Healers like myself and Victor become capable of doing those things, because he creates it." Kilia was beaming as she explained, hopefully her explanation was understood, because she honestly didn't know any other way of saying it. Also, she was saying it this way because when she had asked Cryio when she was small, this was the answer he taught her.

"Life..." Soran repeated. He moved a bit closer to Tristan, though his acidic tone had long since left him, "I've never heard of that before."

"A lot of god's aren't heard of, mortal," Deriea said, shrugging her shoulders a bit, "And a lot of gods are forgotten over time. A lot who shouldn't be forgotten."

Tristan glanced at Deriea, he had to agree with her on that point. Yet how long has it been like this, their world this way. Every generation had different seers, "I've never heard of it either, and you are right many gods aren't heard of, unfortunely we only get to know the ones who want to hurt us. It shouldn't be that way either."

Tristan was countering her point with one of his own, one that he thought was valid.

Deriea lifted an eyebrow as she regarded Tristan, "Smart mortal. Yes, it does seem that you unfortunately only meet the ones that wish to harm. Those of us that are left that you consider 'good' are few and far between. A lot of us aren't powerful enough to stand up to the others and many times end up being devoured by other Gods because of their impeccable appetite for 'more power'," she hissed the last words, "And so the lesser gods are taken care of first. Which in turn, makes them fighters in a war they never wanted to be in anyway, but in order to survive, they're forced to after human's who have the purest of energy.

"Which slowly builds up in turn and now... here you have your war and it all leads up to where you're standing right now. All because a couple of Gods many many millenia ago started fighting over a simple 'title'. The 'God of Gods'. Whoever holds that title, holds the most power, and controls the other Gods, and essentially controls everything else in the living universe. Quite the powerful seat, don't you think?"

Tristan smirked, but her statement led to more questions, some of which he didn't want to ask in front of some of the others standing there. Humans have the purest energy...that didn't make any sense to him, in comparing a human with a god shouldn't it be the other way.

He looked confused and decided he would let it go for now. He looked at the pink-haired seer, "Well they are your guests Kilia, even though where they are going to stay is a mystery."

Deriea laughed, loudly, "Silly mortal! Unlike you, we don't need a place to stay, or a place to sleep or anything like that. I prefer the outside anyway, and Cryio... is just Cryio. He's strange... he'll probably just stand over there through the night when you strange mortals need to sleep," she said waving her hand over to some random corner of the property, "Besides. It would be easier for us to catch any stray gods that may be around looking for a quick shot at killing any of you."

Soran's fingers tightened around Tristans, a slight shaking vibrating his limbs as he listened to her. The blonde Seer managed to keep most of his fear at bay, but he still couldn't quite help reaching out to the taller boy for a sense of comfort. Clearing his throat, he looked up at Tristan, "Are we sure about this?" he whispered.

Tristan turned and smiled at Soran, "We will talk about inside, let Kilia catch up with her friend." He didn't really know how to actually answer that question nor was he hundred sure about it in the first place."Dad," he said to the guy who was still sitting on the steps. "Hmm, what," Tristan rolled his eyes, had the man actually been napping while sitting there. "Oh, so we inviting the gods to stay...well why the hell not." Alauric mumbled mostly to himself. The older seer was having a hard time with the idea, but like he thought before, he wasn't going to be a part of the situation.

Alauric went back into the house, only to come outside again a second later, "I forgot I had something to do," he went past the gods and Kilia. Tristan had to wonder if the guy was becoming senile...not that he should be old enough for that. "We will talk later," Tristan said to the others out there.

Kilia lifted an eyebrow as Alauric went inside and then immediately came right back out and walked past them. She watched him go, curious as to what was going on, but then shrugged as she turned back to Cryio. She smiled at him, "It's been so long. Shall we walk and talk?"

The god nodded his head and turned to start towards the edge of the property and walk through the trees with Kilia at his side. The pink haired Seer started rambling and it seemed the God didn't mind in the least as he listened to her. Deriea sighed heavily before glancing up to Tristan and Soran, "Uh... yeah. I'll just... be over there. I suppose letting them catch up is fine... but really, we should be getting you all ready," she huffed a bit then turned and went to where she'd indicated.

Soran, still very confused watched it all happen before he reached up and rubbed at his head, "This is... awkward... And what's up with your dad? Maybe you should go talk to him?" Soran asked as he looked up at Tristan. He frowned a bit as he rested his hand against Tristan's chest for a moment. Stretching up, he wrapped his arms around the boys shoulders and pulled himself up so that he could kiss the other quickly on his lips, "I'm hungry. I'm going to go eat. What are you gonna do?"

"Eating sounds good," he said as he held the other close, he was about to go for a tease when he heard a clearing of a throat behind him. He looked back and saw Grayson standing there, "Sorry to interrupt, where is your father," Tristan almost lost it right there as he realized now why his father was in such a hurry to leave, "He went that way...like something spooked him." Grayson nodded, "So we have guests, well at least maybe now we can get down to actually training with them around."

Grayson turned back into the house, and Tristan chuckled, "My dad is running away from his guardian," he whispered to Soran, "he is afraid of being berated for his behavior during the last battle."

Soran nodded, "I would be afraid too... Grayson scares me for sure...." he replied just as softly hoping that the older Guardian wouldn't hear him.

Tristan shook his head, "I suppose we should go tell the others about what is going on, even though I am curious about what everyone's thoughts are going to be." Tristan had to think they were doing the right thing, but still why was he doubting the decision now.

Soran nodded a bit, "Yeah. You're right. I wonder how well this is going to go over. I know that Kilia seems to trust him.. but... but what of that other Goddess... I-I don't know Tristan." Soran closed his eyes tightly and took in a deep breath to try to settle himself. With a soft sound against his lips, he heaved a sigh, "Ugh, I don't know. Let’s eat first. Then we'll talk. Figure things out with everyone over breakfast."

The morning Rethyn had remained hidden in the shadows as he watched over the turn of events. The night eye was always tired early in the morning as he had usually stayed up the previous night walking about the house patrolling while the other Guardians and Seers took their rest.

This morning, Rethyn was confused. He didn't know what was stranger, helpful gods or the fact that Kilia could still function with the same lack of hours of sleep as himself. With a gentle sigh, Rethyn teleported with a soft poof from his outdoor perch to his favorite chair within the living room. With a light yawn the man held his sheathed sword against his body as he begun to doze off in the chair.

Passing by Rethyn, Sina was half tempted to try to snatch the sword Rethyn had been cuddling with in his sleep. With a roll of her eyes she brought upon a smile as she moved into the kitchen. She was very curious to hear about what had gone down while she glanced through the window at her team.

"Good morning all~!" Sina said as she stretched her arms out with a higher pitched yawn.

Tristan was coming back inside with the blond seer to grab something to eat, and to discuss what had just happened with the others. He glanced over at his guardian and shook his head slightly. He looked up as he saw Sina and smiled, "Good morning," he said as he went into the kitchen and raided the fridge. He really thought he would love some bacon at the moment, but it seems they ate the last of it at some point. "French toast anyone," he said. As he started to get out the incrediates, he had to make a mental note as to ask what they were going to do about food if the towns people moved on

"Hell yeah!" Sina said with a raise of her hand. "However, let me make it for you two. You're both too cute." Sina said commandingly as she pointed at the both of them. Within her mind she begun to picture herself as their waitress upon their morning date. The thought brought a little blush under her eyes as she brought her hands to the side of her face. With closed eyes the swooning girl seemed to lose focus as she daydreamed.

"Um..." Soran paused as he stood next to Tristan, "I think we lost her," he said and then rolled his eyes, "I'm so glad your sisters aren't like this," he commented and moved into the kitchen, "While she's too busy... daydreaming" he said and then blushed a bit he joined the taller boy, "I'll help you make breakfast. French toast sounds amazing," he said with a smile. It would also be a great distraction. He didn't want to know what was currently tumbling through Sina's mind at that moment. Yup... he was definitely sure he was much better off not knowing.

Tristan turned and was about to comment, but just watching the girl made him turn back around and blush a little himself. He really hoped it disappeared when Soran came and stood beside him, "Yeah, definitely need a distraction from crazy girl over there," he took out the eggs and the bread and handed it to Soran. "And who’s to say my sisters aren't like that, they just aren't like that in front of people."

Snapping back into attention Sina lifted up a hand as she said in a saddened voice. "W-wait...ohhh you guys are so mean." Dropping her head in defeat she marched over to the table and laid her chin on her folded hands as she sulked quietly to herself.

"So, they're closet fan girls?" Soran asked with a short laugh as he broke open the eggs into a small pan and used a fork to break the yolk. As he whisked that with the fork, he shook his head, "I don't want to find any weird like stories or something from any of them, especially her," he said moving his head in the direction of Sina.

"Weird stories?" River's voice broke into the room and Soran felt his face grow brilliantly red.

"M-momma!" he stuttered in surprise.

River grinned, "I have some really awesome stories that I could share. How about it? Want to hear some, Tristan?"

"Mom! Mom, no... no that's bad, that's bad, don't!" he moved, dropping the fork and tried to put his hand over her mouth while she laughed and fought him back, getting his hands down at his sides and hugging him to keep him there.

"Hmm... which one should I start with."

Tristan started to comment on the fan girl thing, but started cracking up when River came into the kitchen. Oh man Soran's face was priceless and Tristan laughed some more when she offered to tell her own stories, he couldn't offer up a suggestion because he was laughing so hard. Soran was going to kill him later, he was sure of it.

River stumbled a bit as she struggled with her son, laughing slightly, "Oh! I have the perfect one."

"Mom!" he screeched and then yelled at Tristan, "And why are you laughing!!?"

"Oh hush, it's not that bad. So," she turned her attention to Tristan, "He must have been about nine or ten, I don't remember exactly, but he was in trouble. I told him to stay in his room until he had calmed down or something. Anyway, it was about this time he was practicing with his magic system. He wasn't very good at it, but he definitely tried. I'm not sure where it went wrong, but I was sitting in the living room and I heard this horrid scream. So I went running up the stairs. When I opened the door, he had summoned a giant teddy bear into the room. I wasn't sure what the teddy bear was for, but it had him upside down by one leg and was shaking him like a little jar.

"He was crying, terrified of the darn thing. When I asked him later after I got rid of it, why the bear was there, he told me that he'd wanted to try to have the bear give me a hug in apology for whatever it was. But it turned into an evil bear and, his words exactly, "Tried to eat me." I don't think it was trying to eat him, I think it was trying to figure out how to hug him but he was too small at the time."

"Mom...." Soran moaned. Okay, maybe that one wasn't too bad, but then River chuckled and he knew that laugh. Which made him struggle even more.

"Which of course isn't as bad as his running away from me when it was bath time. I swear this child was an escape artist. I'd get him stripped down from his clothes, turn to start the water, and when I turned back not a second later, he was gone. Full blown naked, running around the house like a wild monkey."

"Mom!!!"

Tristan stood there and listened, ok the bear story was slightly funny, but Tristan found it cute. As soon as River said bath time, Tristan couldn't hold it in and started laughing again. He couldn't help it...oh man he was certainly glad his dad wasn't in the room. Alauric would be sure as to try to top that story. That thought calmed the laughter slightly, and he tried to calm himself down. Yet he knew if he said anything, he was going to be in big trouble, so Tristan decided to be smart and let someone else do it for him

On the other hand Sina had dropped to the floor as she giggled relentlessly at the story. "T-that's adorable!" She cried out as little tears escaped her eyes. Kicking her legs with her giggles she looked like a turtle of which had been put on its back.

"Mom!" Soran shrilled, his face a brilliant red color that he knew wasn't going to go away for some time. Laughing she released him and he put on a pout as he turned back to the food, "Traitor," he shot to Tristan, then stuck out his tongue to his boyfriend. River giggled even more.

Tristan gave the blond a look, kinda like don't stick your tongue out at me for no good reason. "Yeah, yeah...," he turned and went back to breakfast too, "It seems we have some guests out there, one Kilia knows well. Two gods so to speak." Ok there is was out in the open for everyone to here


"Who you calling a traitor? He's supposed to agree to listen to stories. I have more!"

"No! Nope! We're good! No more! All good, Momma, we're going to eat breakfast civily, and without interruption. Or I'm going to drag Tristan and myself to the room and we will eat there where you can't tell him any more stories!" Soran said, trying to overpower his mothers voice. He shot a deadly look to Tristan and reached out and poked the boy in his ribs, "You're gonna get it later."

River smiled, "Two gods?" she asked. If nobody was doing anything drastic like fighting... she was obviously curious and confused to say the least.

Sina shot up as she darted her eyes to Soran. "Seriously little guy, why are there two gods outside?" She cocked her head at Soran as she looked to the boy in sheer confusion. Back in Japan every god was a killer, it was strange to see two not willing to strike them down the moment they were found.

Soran turned red again, "L-little! I'm... I'm not little," he said with a pout on his face, a slight puffing of his cheeks and then turned back to the food, "As for the gods... well, I think one of them knows Kilia. They seem to be... kinda close. Or something. The other one... says she's with Cryio. I don't know. It's strange. I still haven't... quite wrapped my head around it," he heaved a sigh, "I don't know."

Tristan looked at Soran, "They offered to help is what's more, help us in this fight we find ourselves in." He turned back to River, "I know that I haved formed opinions about gods based on my experiences with them, but I've never had two gods come up and say they wanted to help in any way. Kilia asked us to trust her, so whatever happens after this, I will take responiblity for."

"Just cause you're little doesn't mean you're not cute Soran-san~!" Sina chimed in before looking back to Tristan with a shrug. " I trust you guys on this. It's kept me alive so far." With a stretch and a rise to her feet she returned to her seat. With a glance over to Rethyn in the living room she called to him.

"Yo! Blue eyes lazy ass, get up!"

"C-cute!?" Soran stuttered... this Japanese woman was really throwing him off, she was strange. He wasn't sure he could keep up with her. The only one who'd ever called him cute aside from his own mother was Tristan. Honestly, Tristan was the only one allowed to call him cute. He blushed furiously as the food was beginning to finish up. It was almost ready to be put on the table. River was busying herself with the plates as well. Soran gave a sigh.

"I think I give up..."

Tristan chuckled slightly and whisper to the boy, "Hey don't give up, anyways she isn't wrong, you are cute." Tristan moved rather quickly away from the other, not really wanted to get hit or anything. The poke in the ribs had been enough. "Yo...didn't I ask you to leave my guardian alone, he sleeps during the day, protects you at night."

A light blush grew under Sina's eyes as her mind started to wonder again. Dazing off to her daydreaming yet again Sina begun to picture Rethyn as something he clearly wasn't. Literal stars in her eyes weren't far from the truth as she gazed over to Rethyn. "He's totally a vampire knight..." She said quietly under her breath.

"Are the Japanese all like this?" Soran asked, he watched her with a lifted eyebrow. Shaking his head a bit, he deftly maneuvered around the star struck girl and brought the plate of hot food to the table and seated himself.

"Just the uber-silly fan girls," Tristan mumbled, "will you stop with the daydreaming and sit down and eat."

"I don't know will you spoon feed me Tristan-kun~" Sina said in return with a stick out of her tongue at him with a wink. "Heh, alright let's eat a good breakfast."

Spoon feed Tristan thought, now he was the one daydreaming of dumping a whole pot of oatmeal on top of the girls head. Maybe he would make oatmeal tomorow....at least it would give him a good laugh.

"Aww...don't give me that look. I'm just teasing you a little Tristan." Sina said with a gentle smile to the boy.

"H-hey..." Soran tried, but then rolled his eyes and grabbed some of the food. He put some on Tristan's plate and set it next to him before grabbing some of his own, "There. Now... I think after breakfast we should... seriously talk to those... um... Gods," he said, trying to turn the conversation to be a bit more serious and definitely a lot less about him and Tristan and Sina's daydreaming.

River seated herself as well, "I want to meet them myself. I'm interested to see a 'good god'. Never heard of that one before."

"Me either," Soran muttered under his breath, his green gaze narrowing at his food briefly. Taking up his fork he stabbed at the food and then proceeded to eat more gently after the vicious attack on the french toast.

Tristan sat down and picked up the syrup and poured a little on the french toast, "Sounds good to me," he agreed. He wondered if his father would have returned by then, he had to come back anyways. He had to wonder was there something he was missing in that whole thing. Grayson didn't just seem to be mad, he shrugged his shoulders and took a bite to eat also.

"So...Tristan." Sina said before pausing to chomp down on a piece of toast. "How did you sister you know...meet gods?"

Tristan choked a little on the bite he was eating, "Kilia isn't my sister," he said and tried to chew the rest of the food before answering the rest of the question, "And she said she knew Cryio when she was a little girl." She must have been really little, yet he had to wonder, how did she get away with being his friend with a mom like hers.

Tristan looked a little guilty, he shouldn't have thought that thought, but he still wondered.

"Tristan-kun, you really should learn to chew on your food. Or I am going to have to teach you~!" Sina said with a little giggle before glancing over to Soran. "Or Soran...maybe you should show him how..." She said with a little wink as she placed her chin over her laced hands with a small smile. She had no shame as River was not too far off from her as she flirted with next to no filter in her words.

"O-oye... Th-that's... I-I'm... Not going to do that... W-why..." Soran muttered, stuttering as he was absolutely embarrassed by Sina's actions. This breakfast plan wasn't going as he had planned it... He took a bite of food and tried to focus on eating rather than what she was saying. That girl... she really had no 'off' switch, did she? An idea popped into his head then... Maybe he could make an off switch... wouldn't that be awesome! He giggled a bit.

Tristan looked at his plate for a second, really trying not to blush at Sina's words. He sighed, she was really annoying, even though he knew she was just joking around with them. Yet he had lost his appetite for some reason. "I guess I should go check on Kilia," he said quietly. He got up and put his plate in the sink. Before he walked out of the kitchen, he grabbed some water from the fridge. "Excuse me guys," he said even though he has already moved away from the table.

Shrugging at Tristan's actions, Sina glanced over to Soran as she asked him. "So..what's going on in this neck of the woods? What's making you giggle so much?" Closing her eyes she sat back in her seat a little as she added in. "That was an amazing breakfast by the way~"

Soran watched, almost with a horrified look, as Tristan left him alone with Sina. Well, not really alone, but his mother wasn't all that great of help either. The one and only person who could have saved him from further embarrassment had just walked right out the door. He looked back between Sina and River. His mother was seemingly ignoring what was going on, lost in her own world, but with a sly little smile on her face. Soran swallowed... hard.

"Uh... I-I... don't know what you mean..." he said quickly and took another bite of food so he wouldn't have to talk to her and further encourage her antics. All the while he was thinking up ways of repaying Tristan for 1) laughing at him in the kitchen while cooking breakfast, and 2) leaving him alone with the creepy fan-girl from Japan who was apparently obsessed with... with... Soran blushed furiously as he couldn't quite finish that thought.

Outside, Kilia was happily babbling away to her friend, Cryio. Catching him up on everything that he'd missed since he'd mysteriously disappeared. It didn't take her long to finish, mostly because she skipped a lot of details that she didn't think were important. He walked beside her as they moved through the trees just on the edge of the property. Cryio walked with a refined sort of grace, hardly making a sound, while Kilia on the other hand crumpled leaves, broke twigs and brushed through the bushes without a care.

"And... well after that, we had to leave the other house and ended up here. Victor and I healed Soran, but it took a really long time and a lot of energy. He's been sort of... different after that but I think he's getting better. His smile is coming back, which is good. Oh, and Rethyn did something the other night, I don't know what happened, but I think Soran isn't... Um... afraid as much? I don't know. Rethyn won't tell me what he did," Kilia shrugged lightly.

"I'm sorry."

Looking up, Kilia eyed Cryio with a look of confusion, "Why? You didn't do anything wrong."

"I could have prevented it."

"How?"

"If I had not left you."

"Why did you leave, Cryio?" Kilia asked, genuinely curious at to the reason.

"You were threatened."

Kilia felt her heart freeze for a moment, "Threatened?"

"Yes."

She took a deep breath. Threatened... probably by another god. But why would they threaten me? she thought as she strode beside him. Cryio wasn't one for many words and he certainly didn't elaborate when he probably should. Maybe he thought it was obvious. Kilia sighed a bit, her gaze flicking around the flora as they walked and then back up to him. When she was smaller, she thought that he was a giant. He was still really tall. Taller than Tristan even, which she'd always thought was impossible.

He caught her staring at him, and offered her a very small smile in return. It was his look of contentment, a flash of 'human' happiness as he called it. He only showed it to her though. She returned it, brighter and more happy than she'd been in a while.

"I would like to see the boy."

She lifted an eyebrow, "Soran?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Cryio stopped and Kilia had to back track a few steps because of his sudden halt. He stared at the ground for a very long time, "His anger. It is unnatural."

Kilia's breathing seemed to increase, "U-unnatural... how?" she barely muttered the words.

"I want to see him."

Kilia nodded slowly, "A-alright... I will.... try to convince him and Tristan."

Cryio gave a small nod and turned to head back up towards the house where Deriea was. The goddess had stretched herself out across the yard, basking in a ray of sunlight that had filtered through the trees. As they approached the house, Kilia spotted Tristan exiting. Cryio went to stand near Deriea who opened one eye to look up at him before closing it again. If Kilia didn't know any better, she would have thought the goddess to be sleeping. Going up to Tristan she gave him a small smile.

Tristan returned her smile as he watched the god and goddess, it still felt a little strange having them here. "All caught up," he said to Kilia, knowing if she had anything important maybe she would share. Tristan watched the goddess laying on the grass, it seemed to be a very human like thing for her to be doing there.

Kilia nodded, "Yeah. He's... really easy to talk to," she laughed a bit, "Mostly because he doesn't say anything in return... Uh.. anyway. I wanted to ask you something. Cryio says he wants to see Soran. D-do... do you think that'll be alright?"

Tristan looked at her for a second, "Do you know why he wants to see him, or what he intends to do?" he asked with an uneasy tone. He concerns was for Soran of course, but he wanted to know what was going to happen.

Kilia blushed a bit, "I... don't know what he wants to do, but I can guarantee it's not going to be bad. He said that Soran's anger was... unnatural," her voice lowered just in case the blonde Seer had followed his boyfriend from the house. A quick glance around him told her that Soran was still inside. She shook her head, "To be honest, I think I agree with Cryio. You may have missed it but... when he was so angry the night before... something... happened. It’s hard to explain, but I felt this strange... energy from him. We should really let Cryio take a look, he could probably fix it."

Tristan glanced down, he had to agree with Kilia on her point, Soran's anger was unnatural. Tristan had been trying to convince himself that maybe it was just that Soran didn't think it was fair what he went through. Yet even in that Tristan had a hard time, Soran wasn't that selfish. "We will see what Soran says, that is the best answer I can give you." He wasn't going to be the one to decide this for the other, Soran had to make that choice for himself.

Kilia nodded, "Okay," she breathed. She hoped they could convince him. Looking back over to the two gods, she watched them for a moment before returning her gaze to Tristan, "What do you think? About them? I mean, I know you're putting your trust in me on this one, and I really appreciate that, but... what are your thoughts? Personally... I think we could use a God on our side. Hopefully that'll turn the tables."

"Any help is a plus," Tristan said, "but like I said it’s going to take some getting used to and I still would like to ask some questions," he had to find out if they could tell them anything about the war and what was going on. Yet he was ready for no answers to those questions, he still had to wonder how far these two gods were going to go in their betrayal.

Nodding, she saw his reasons, and his hesitation as well. All of which she could agree on. Even for Kilia, she was a bit startled at their sudden appearance. Though she knew Cryio and trusted him completely, she was uneasy about the woman. Kilia had always thought that there were good gods out there, had that optimism for a long while, but up until recently, her thoughts had been changing. Ever since the incident with Soran, she'd felt a sort of slight hatred, anger and aversion to the gods. Kilia could definitely say she didn't like them all that much.

"Well, why don't you go ask and I will go see about talking to Soran, or should I wait and let you ask him?"

Tristan thought about her question, "You ask him first, you know the god better, maybe you can convince him." Tristan didn't want the blonde to depend on him for any sort of answer. Kilia could probably calm his fears about what was going to happen a little better anyways. "Maybe you can save him from the fan-girl in the kitchen as well, she is relentless with her...silliness."

Tilting her head a bit, she stared at Tristan, "Fan-girl?" she repeated and then laughed a bit, "Okay. I'll do what I can. I shouldn't be too long. Go on, Cryio doesn't bite, I promise," she beamed and scurried off into the house.

Tristan quirked an eyebrow for a second, he had never meet a god who did bite, that would be weird. He chuckled knowing what she meant. He looked back into the house for a second, most likely thinking of the living room and his sleeping guardian. He sighed, he let the fellow keep sleeping, he had to trust Kilia on this.

He walked off the porch and onto the yard, slowly approaching the two there, now what there a proper greeting when trying to start a conversation with a god or goddess. Usually it had some curse words in it, and he shook his head, "Kilia said I might be able to ask you guys some questions, do you mind." Ok being polite...that worked.

Cryio turned to Tristan and though he didn't say anything, it looked as if he were waiting. Deriea on the other hand opened one eye again and sighed as she sat up. Turning around, she put her hands on her ankles as she sat there on the ground, "Well, she would be right. Though I doubt you'd get many answers out of him. But anyway. What's on your mind, mortal?"

Tristan had to figure out where he wanted to start, he centered on a thought, "You said that there was this battle for supreme ruler of the gods...what does that have to do with them wanting our energy."

As expected, Cryio didn't answer. Instead, Deriea took a deep breath and stood up. Brushing herself off she put her hands on her hips, "This might get confusing... and I really hate to have to explain this a few times, but what the heck. Here we go," she said, mostly to herself. For a moment she just stood there staring at Tristan. Reaching up, she tapped her lip, a thoughtful expression crossing her face as she looked to be trying to figure out something. Finally she started speaking.

"Alright, well, good a place as any I suppose," Reaching out she gently touched his chest, right over his heart, "Humans have something we do not. You call it a 'soul', we call it pure energy. God's do not possess a soul, we have no need for one. We live forever, and have power of our own. We exist through the creation of energy, which is through you, and through this planet. This world has a soul, it's created by you, and the living things around you," she removed her hand, "The seat of which I spoke of a little while ago is a title, 'God of Gods'. The gods have power over every aspect of life, some that you may not even realize exists.

"We get our power from the stray energy that overflows from this world. It is only enough to sustain us and keep us comfortable and allows us to do what we need to. For example, Cryio's ability to create life. Without the energy to do so, things would die. When they die, he loses power, and if everything dies, he ceases to exist. As it used to be, it's a constant cycle of loss and regaining. Much like how you run around during the day, and at night you sleep to replenish.

"Your souls are pure. All of that energy bundled up in a tiny body. Not excess... not scraps, not anything else. That is the strongest energy we could ever attain. It's done in a few ways. The most common is for a god to kill a human, and as the soul is released, the energy is absorbed by the god. Now, as you're society has grown and expanded technologically, that makes things more complicated. Your magic system is directly tied to your energy, which in turn is tied to your soul. Because of this, if a god simply kills a human, they do not recieve all of the potential energy because a lot of that energy is within your magic system. It's become so engrained into your lives that if you were to be taken away from your magic system, you would all die. Unless you've died before and were somehow brought back," Deriea glanced towards the house, "That's completely different and we won't go into that because then it's going to get really confusing. I don't want to lose you here.

"So, in order to get all of that precious energy that a god wants, they have to possess a Seer, the only beings whose bodies are strong enough to hold a god's power entirely without bursting into flames, or exploding or something along those lines. Dragging energy from a human they've killed is much easier as it comes directly to the magic system and into the God. From there, the god inhabiting the Seer and direct the energy they've gained to other Gods that are not possessing a Seer. Follow me so far?"

Tristan nodded, but didn't say anything, some of it like the last part he knew already, but to think that the magic system was tied to his soul, why did that frighten him. Also having a soul meant that one had free-will so to speak, to do good and bad with themselves as they saw fit. Tristan really didn't think there was such a thing as a pure soul, unless it was a child who was still innocent in the ways of the world. Maybe it was a good thing, seers went through their first possession at the age of 20.

"So they are trying to figure out new ways to collect the energy without possessing the seer." It was the gist of what he got from his father and the 'harvesting' method they were using on Soran. He hadn't missed the comment she made about dying and coming back to life and the fact that she glanced back up at the house. Tristan had a feeling he knew who she was talking about, even though he was really the only one who hadn't actually been told. He was going to have go about it in a round-about way he guessed, and maybe Kilia could help him out.

"You could say that. After all, there aren't many Seers to possess. Only a handful of you all around the world. Now. With that understanding of energy, we have to come back to the seat of 'God of Gods'. Currently Oni possesses that title. It means that he can do whatever he wants with the energy that is around him. He can destroy gods, he can destroy worlds, he can recreate the universe as he sees fit. Unfortunately for him, he's not the only one vying for that position. There are many others. Eveylyn is another one, a more powerful goddess that is someone you should be utterly terrified of," Deriea's eyes narrowed at him as her lips pulled into a frown, "You think Oni is bad... you haven't tasted power yet.

"But that's beside the point. The only reason he hasn't destroyed everything yet is because he's unable to. Odd I know, but it's true. He's just not strong enough to harness all of that power, so in a way I suppose we could be thankful that it's him holding that title and no one else. If Eveylyn were to kill him and take that title, then we are all dead, I guarantee it. I suppose now you're wondering how Oni got into that position in the first place. Some say one thing, others another, but the point of the matter is, he tricked his way into it. Whether he assassinated the previous God or not doesn't really matter. He got close one way or another, the God died, and now he has the seat of power. Which quite frankly has pissed off many Gods all over.

"Also, a fun fact for you mortal," she grinned as she leaned in, "You can't kill a god. Destroy, maim, send away... sure. But kill? Impossible. Only another god can do so. How many have you fought so far? Do you know their names?"

He stared at her, and while he would probably disagree with caring how Oni got the seat of power, he could help but be slightly scared with her fun fact. He really ought to explain to her that a fun fact was supposed to be fun in the first place.

"Only a few have given names, others have not," he said trying to figure out if her question had been serious. He looked at Cryrio...with being a god of life was he even capable of killing anything. Even another god, as much as he wanted to know, he wasn't going to ask, he really thought the question rude anyways.

"So what happened in those other countries, did the fighting get so bad that they completely destroyed everything."

Deriea crossed her arms, "Well, you probably won't be seeing those gods any time soon, but know that probably in a few years, once their energies have returned to a sufficient amount.. They’ll be back, and with a vengeance. It's kind of how all of this came to play. A couple of gods came down, tried to take some energy to overpower another God, and well, the Seers doing their jobs, and stepped in. Thinking they'd 'killed' those gods, they moved on. A few years later, those gods came knocking again, this time revenge in mind. There you go, a war on all sides, so to speak. Not to mention an overpowering drive to possess a Seer, especially in recent years with your technology the way it is." She gave a sigh.

"As to the other countries, well as I'm sure the one has told you," she directed her gaze to the house again, "Many places have fallen. Ruins, if you're lucky, completely razed to the ground. Leveled, nothing left. Remember, I said 'a handful of gods' are after that seat of power. Not just Eveylyn and Oni. A handful, mortal. The fighting is going to get extreme. You're in for one hell of a ride, Seer. Are you ready for it?"

Tristan glanced at her before looking away, he knew firsthand about the vengeance of a god. That god came knocking too early in Tristan's life. He sighed, "No," he said to be completely honest, "but we are willing to learn."

Deriea's face alighted, "You, mortal, are a very smart man. Good. I was going to be afraid if you told me that 'yes' you were ready. At least you're not ignorant, you'll live longer," she beamed at him. Crossing her arms, tilting her head up a bit, she still smiled at him, "Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s get started!"