Amalthea Oprah's Story

(( Thundergod please go see the OOC ))

Aslan Portegar

He had observed the group discuss together a way of finding the flag and possibly avoiding traps. A good idea came up from a boy apparently called Erin. Bonds that could sniff things out good. Aslan glanced over at Babur who was playing with a butterfly. . . They were so different from each other and seeing Babur be so gentle even though he was a Nemean Lion always seemed to surprise him.
Yeah, Babur won't be any help tracking down traps, he'll just get distracted by the flowers, Aslan thought to himself.

When he looked closer at the group he realized that someone wasn't there, someone he had a lot of respect for. Aubrey. He scanned the zone to try and see her so that he could get a little closer in case she was in any sort of danger. Then Suren walked over to him.
Ah, yes, she owes me something after having lost the match, Aslan grinned to himself but did not show it on his face.

"Aslan, you want to win this, right? Come with us, better to go with someone you know, rather than a stranger, make up your mind now, because we need to move now."

"Don't go putting your panties in a knot," Aslan laughed, "I've done this survival training several times and there's one thing I, know it's that being in a group is your best chance of reaching your goal unharmed."

He then followed behind the group with Babur who pranced behind.

Amalthea Oprah

Stress was rising inside of her so Cerberus had no choice but to let her grip his neck fur as hard as she could to sooth herself. Although it helped Amalthea, it severely wounded Cerberus to the point where you could see tears in his eyes. Cerberus then turned his attention to Erin's plan; "Okay! Who's bonds are good at tracking? I've got one.... er, two. We'll have them lead us so we don't run into any traps. Doesn't mean this is gonna be a walk in the park either."

Amalthea let him start sniffing around with the other Bonds and then she noticed a boy walking after than everyone else with a hound leading him. It was impressive but then he fell into a dug in trap in the ground. Amalthea let out a small yelp then ran over to the hole int he ground.
"Are you okay?" She yelled down and noticed the boy trying to get out with his. . . TWO Bonds!

Amalthea was astonished but then she shook her head and called out for help. This was a very good example for her to not get separated from the group, or anyone else for that matter. Cerberus came over when she called and since he was very large if he jumped into the hole the boy and his Bonds could climb onto his back and then get out by grabbing onto Amalthea's hand. Cerberus did as so: "Move aside boy, I'm coming down!"

He jumped down and then told the boy to climb up his back and grab onto Amalthea's hand.

"Hey! The boy who I don't know his name, yeah, you, the one in the ditch!" Amalthea called out to the boy, "Grab my hand!"

Rue Tyryl

“The map is okay but it seems to neglect important features. So for those of us with a flying bond, I’d like to request that you try and fly up to see if you can spot any key land features or instruct us of the terrain ahead" Luca's voice called over the din of the students. Even with Erin's assertive voice trying to gain some semblance of order wasn't enough. It seemed with Luca, there was a calmer effect than earlier.

Rue whirled around to face him, happy that he was near. She never looked away as he spoke, then from over his shoulder she spotted a horrifying creature behind him. For a single moment her breath caught in her chest and her eyes widened. Never one to scream, she watched the creature follow Luca as he walked towards them. After a moment, Rue figured out it was his bond then, and the reason why he didn't show the thing during class was known to her.

However, as she stared at it, she realized she wasn't all that terrified of it. She was sure the bond would never harm anyone there unless Luca allowed him to, and that much she was sure would never happen. Her eyes took in the skeletal face that resembled an overly large vultures head, the long beak coming to a sharp point at the end. Eyeless sockets stared outwards, the head sitting on a rather thin neck that stretched down to the robes that hung limply on its skeletal body. The blue cloth seemed to ripple unnaturally in the otherwise windless forest. The arms were long and thin, sickly almost ending with long sharpened claws instead of fingers.

Having examined the creature entirely, she concluded that it was most likely a demon bond, something she'd never seen before. Rue found him to be fascinating to look at after her initial shock wore off. She wondered idly what kind of skills or powers the bond had? The teleportation that she'd experienced earlier from the classroom to the cafeteria must have been one of the skills offered.

After a moment Rue pulled herself back to reality and she turned to Snow nodding her head upwards indicating she wanted her bond to take to the sky. In a powerful leap off her shoulder that had her hair flung all around her face, Snow took off and was above the canopy of trees in no time. Rue stood there then, her eyes not really looking at anyone but her focus was Luca who happened to be right in front of her.

"How's it look?" She asked after a moment.

"The flag is quite a ways out, in a clearing to the south. The problem is getting there. The trees are all different heights which tells me there are plenty of hills to get over... there was a pause in Snow's report, "Oh, and apparently there's a nice river too that looks fun to cross."

Rue's eyebrows came down in irritation, "Fun for who? You? Jeez, Snow...

"That's all that I can tell you from up here. Lots of hills, a river and the flag is in a clearing. I can't do much for traps. Leave that to Nemesis, he should be pretty good at that."

"Let's hope so," Rue muttered to herself as she let go of her concentration and turned to Luca, "Snow says there are plenty of hills to get over and a river before we reach the flag. The flags in a clearing area south of here."

Luca M. Feygor

A grin formed at the corner of his lips as he noticed Rue and Snow reacting instantly to his request. As he observed them, Snow opened her wings from her perch over Rue’s shoulder and took to the skies above the tree line, her brilliantly streamlined form quickly shrinking before disappearing completely from his sights. He blinked after a moment as Rue turned to him, a look of success holding over her features. As he stared at her he realised Rue’s graceful figure had a calming effect on him, even with disquieting the presence of Blue Horror close by. Why did she trust him so simply?

"Snow says there are plenty of hills to get over and a river before we reach the flag. The flags in a clearing area south of here," She informed him, her voice breaking his reverie.

“Excellent work” He replied to her, smiling in gratitude, "And as promised previously... my bond, Blue Horror."

Without waiting for her response he glanced at the rest, “You heard Rue everyone,” he announced, both to ensure they were all aware and to indicate they should get moving, "Flag lies in the south, expect steep inclines and uneven ground. Who knows what else the teachers have prepared..."

Abruptly, Aslan’s boisterous laughter cut across the clearing, causing his brows to sink into a frown as he regarded the blueblood with irritation. Simultaneously, one of the other girls chose to stampede into the forests then, riding into the thick foliage on the back of a giant creature. Their combined actions only compounded to his worries as Luca sighed with helplessness in the face of all this.

"Don't go putting your panties in a knot. I've done this survival training several times and there's one thing I know, it's that being in a group is your best chance of reaching your goal unharmed."

“That’s a too little vague to go off friend. Mind expanding on the details so we can try anticipating what else lies ahe…” Luca stopped short as they all heard a cry for help.

He rushed over to investigate and was immediately greeted by the sight of Samuel in a spike trap, but what stopped him dead was the intimidatingly large presence of the other girl's bond. A cerberus judging by the number of fearsome jaws he counted. Damn, can't we all just have more normal bonds? he thought, carefully dodging past the gaze of each head in order to approach the hole. Looking down, Luca spotted the feisty boy struggling to support himself out a hole and for a moment, Luca wondered just how he’d avoided getting impaled.

“Impulsive like last time i see” Luca smirked finally, clearly enjoying the view from above.

Sammy

Sammy was shocked to see the girl and her huge bond now sitting in the ditch with him, trying to save him. He was about to accept, but then he remembered his predicament. Wait, I can't just take her help! What will it make me look like? The guy who can't even dig himself out of a ditch? He mulled over on it for a few seconds, weighting his pride and the goal. He eventually chose the latter. "Oh, alright." Sammy quickly grabbed his two bonds in both arms and took the girls hand, where they easily got out. Must be nice having such a big ol bond... He let out a small grumble, but it wasn't like he really regretted his bonds lack of real physical strength. But he would have liked them to be a bit stronger...

He jumped off the large beast and put down his shocked bonds. "Um, thanks, I guess... Name's Samuel Yesil."

((OOC: Okay, I'm only gonna say this once, and I'm not trying to be mean here, but : OOC chat should be in the OOC area... >.> It's why it's called OOC... Unless of course it's absolutely necessary to post in activity. Anyhow, Thunder, you should really get in the habit of checking OOC before you look at the activity, just a tip. Ok... onto posting... like you're supposed to....))


Rue Tyryl

The startled cry off in the distance caught a lot of students attention, including Luca's. Rue followed him as he went to the source of the cry and spotted a fairly large hole in the ground. Down in it was Samuel and his two bonds desperately trying to get out. Another student and her bond went down to help them get out. Rue watched as Samuel tried to figure out what he was going to do. Finally he chose to accept the help and soon was out of the hole unharmed. Rue was surprised that he'd made it out without a scratch. If it had been her, she'd probably be dead by now.

Rue smirked as she heard Luca's comment about Samuel being impulsive. Her laugh didn't last long though, a short chuckle was all and then she was quiet. She clammed up in the presence of others, especially this boy whom she had had a crush on for some time. Her tiny shell of resolve cracked and she felt her limbs shaking slightly from the nerves that were trickling through. However, with Luca near by, she didn't seem to be quite as nervous as before.

"Poor Samuel, how'd he get down there?" Snow asked. Rue couldn't see her bond as the phoenix was still above the canopy.

"Not sure," Rue responded.

"At least the Cerberus got him out. I'd hate to be stuck down there..."

Rue nodded as she watched Samuel thank the girl and offer his name. His two bonds looked to be in a state of shock. Poor things, probably didn't even know what the heck happened to them. Her lips pulled into a frown as she tried to think of something to say to the boy. Nothing came to mind, though, and she knew she wouldn't have the courage to speak to him anyway.

Looking to Luca, she thought about how easy it was to talk to him than anyone else. Not to mention he was nice to look at. He seemed to keep her a little more focused than usual. That is, when he wasn't throwing her off on purpose. She was coming to realize that he enjoyed startling her, or putting her in an position where it took her a moment to answer.

"Maybe he just likes watching you're face go all red," Snow offered.

"Oh whatever!" she hissed under her breath, her eyes shooting upwards as she directed her glare to the unseen Snow. Through her connection she could tell the bird was laughing at her.

Grabbing a lock of white hair, she twisted it around in her finger as her gaze returned to Luca. After a moment, she spoke up needing something to do to keep her mind off of him as best she could, "Would you like me to send Snow through the forest ahead of us?" She asked him while gazing at him.

Luca M. Feygor

"Would you like me to send Snow through the forest ahead of us?"

Luca turned to the source of the question and found Rue staring at him, her emerald eyes startling him like always. As she spoke he noticed her finger curling the locks in her hair, a habit which indicated something was troubling her. Certainly she seemed more reserved now than she’d been in class earlier, her chuckle at his earlier joke dieing down so fast he’d hesitate to call it that. Luca hummed as he considered her proposal, his fingers scratching the end of his chin. Thinking clearly in the forests was proving futile thanks to the constant buzz of creepy crawlies irritating him at every turn. This environment in contrast to the city was stark to say the least.

“I think it should be alright to call her back. We’ve got more than enough bonds to track for us, so we might as well share the responsibility,” Luca returned, grinning at Rue. “Besides, it’ll be boring for me without your constant verbal debates with Snow”

“Acting tough, like usual,” Blue’s rumbling voice was almost lost in the gathering thunderstorm as he towered over Rue from behind. Now that the storm had become more intense, the wind was carrying the demon's robes and buffeting it around more than usual. “Are you two friends?”

“Mind your own business Blue,” Luca's lips let slip the venom which coated over the bond’s name.

He strode nonchalantly over to a tree then and slapped a yellow notepad paper against the hard bark. “We’ll use these as an indicator just in case. Going around in circles in a forest is a common mistake I hear,” Explaining what he was doing to her before gesturing with an open palm to the green foliage ahead. “Let’s get moving anyway, i hate bad weather”

Rue Tyryl

Her eyebrow arched as the creature that dwarfed her from behind spoke and he responded in kind, but his voice was thick with acid that made her shiver. Her voice was lost to her for a moment as Luca moved to a nearby tree and put a piece of paper on it. The bright yellow was a brilliant contrast to the stark brown of the forest. From the canopy above, Snow came diving back down, opening her wings at the last moment to land on Rue's shoulder and fluff her white feathers as the wind began to pick up. It was cold to say the least, not something that Rue was going to enjoy very much.

"If I fly low, I can scout ahead of us a ways, but not for very long," Snow said as she rubbed her face against Rue's cheek.

"Don't worry about it," Rue replied reaching up and stroking the birds beak. Her smile returned then as she recalled what Luca said. So, she kept things entertaining for him? Well, it was better than bothering him all the time. For that she laughed lightly as the wind gave a harsh blow through the trees.

“Let’s get moving anyway, I hate bad weather,” Luca called out and started walking south. Rue fell in step behind him with her brother matching Luca's stride and Suren right with him. Turning slightly, Rue looked to see if anyone else was following them. She was sure that Aslan and a few other students would as the boy had clearly stated that it was a better idea to stay in a group.

Turning back to face the way they were going, she spotted the black form of Nemesis rushing forward and putting his nose to the ground as he started scouting out the area ahead of him. In response to this, Erin started directing them on where to step. Traps already? Jeez, Rue thought to herself.

"They did say that we'd be tested," Snow said as she cleaned her feathers.

"Yeah, that's not helping."

"Oh, sorry... Well, look at the bright side. You have Luca."

"Oh will you stop with that!" Rue said sharply, trying to keep her voice down.

"What!? I didn't do anything, I'm just saying. Seem's like he likes you."

Her green eyes narrowed and Snow gave a slight squeak that sounded half like laughter and half like fear. The hill they walked on started to incline, forcing Rue to lean forwards heavily and push herself up the hill. Her small size meant not a lot of weight had to be pulled, but with the wind rushing through the trees, she didn't have a lot of body weight to keep her steady. She wobbled easily in the growing storm, Snow's wings expanded and put up a shield to try to ease the troublesome wind. It worked for the most part, but Snow couldn't keep it up for very long, so she had to settle with doing it at intervals.

Rue soon fell a little ways behind, but she could still see Erin and Luca ahead of her. Nemesis was lost to her though, but Erin's voice could still be heard. Snow opened her wings to block the wind again and Rue started to climb a bit faster to try to catch up. It didn't take long for her to lose her breath and she was soon struggling to keep the air in her lungs, no thanks to the damn wind storm.

"All hell... this is... ridiculous," Rue panted as she continued the climb.

"You could ask for a lift," Snow poked in slyly.

"Oh you did not just say that," Rue would have continued with the idea, but as she took another step something twisted around her ankle. In the next instant she was pulled to the ground and the trap that was triggered dragged her off the path and into the woods. Snow gave a sharp scream while Rue only gasped in shock. She hit the ground hard and felt as if she'd hit every stick in the universe while she was dragged. Her fingers tried to grab something to hold onto but the storm was making it impossible to do so and in the process her fingers were only getting torn up.

When she finally stopped, her leg was still twisted up in the trap against a very large tree. Rolling over, Rue tried to get an idea as to where she'd gone. If anything she was sure she could follow her drag marks back to the trail. It took some doing, but she managed to get the backpack off and open it. Inside was a knife that she pulled out and unsheathed. As she made to pull herself forward she felt a sharp sting through the side of her abdomen and immediately fell back.

"Don't! Don't, you're going to make it worse," Snow's voice was clipped as she felt the burning of the wound as well. Rue winced then as her mind registered that she'd cut herself pretty deep. The white cloth of her shirt was stained red and she gingerly lifted it to see the damage. Pieces of sharp sticks were stuck to her so she brushed them away, leaving tiny little cuts that were nothing compared to the deep gash she'd received from something else while being dragged.

"Damnit..." she cursed softly and lay back against the forest floor and tried to think of a way to free herself before the woods became darker.

Erin Tyryl

"Another one here," Nemesis announced to him as the dire wolf kept his nose to the ground and stepped around yet another trap. Erin knew that it was impossible to miss every trap there was, so he too was trying to keep an eye out on the ground and had even called out a few that his bond had missed. Nemesis was slowly moving forwards, his nose twitching a million miles a minute as he sniffed out what he could. The wind was making it difficult, and the wolf told him so plenty of times.

"Look out here," Erin called pointing to the spot and stepping away from it. The wind was getting stronger, and the forest was growing darker. Nemesis' eyes were beginning to glow as he went from his day vision to his hereditary night vision. Behind him was the tall boy that Rue had been talking to, his bond was a creature the likes Erin had never seen before. If they weren't in the situation they were in, he would have asked the young man about the bond as he was highly interested in such a bond.

They were reaching the top of the hill, Nemesis lifted his nose off the ground and sniffed the air then which put Erin on edge. Behind them a sharp, shrill, screech pierced the air and both him and his bond whirled around. His gaze looked immediately for his sister, whose white hair he couldn't see in the growing gloom. The huge black dire wolf bolted passed him then just as the boy next to him shouted into the dark.

The call of his sisters name made his heart twist sickeningly. The boy and him looked at each other for a moment and Erin felt himself rooted to the spot even as his bond darted off into the darkness. Rue's friend closed his eyes and seemed to try to concentrate on doing something but after a few moments nothing happened and he looked more than a little disappointed at the results.

“Rue’s brother right? Can your bond find Rue? I’ll lend you my assistance in finding her. I can’t track, but I am the fastest courier around,” he offered before facing the others, “The rest of you should keep on moving, but stick together. I’ll be able to rejoin the groups once we find her.”

Erin nodded then and reached out to grasp the boys shoulder in reassurance, "Way ahead of ya, man. Nemesis can find her," he said his tone unwavering. What he didn't voice was his deep concern for what had happened to his sister. Was she hurt? Or worse... he didn't want to think about it. He turned to Suren then and took her hand in his, "Keep going, we'll catch up. Keep Kivuli on the look out for traps. Be careful!" He said, his gaze never leaving hers. Erin wasted no time then and started back down the hill sideways to keep his balance. In the gloom, he could barely make out the paw prints of his giant bond as the wolf had sprinted back down the hill.

"Here!" Nemesis called to him along with a loud barking to help Erin find where the wolf was. When he came into view of the black dire wolf, he knelt down and looked around. Nemesis had his nose to the ground as he sniffed the air.

"Come on, what happened?" Erin urged his bond.

The wolfs ears twitched this way and that, turning to catch the slightest sounds in the forest, sounds that Erin could never hear. His yellow glowing eyes made him look all the more dangerous. Nemesis didn't answer, only started towards the foliage of the trees next to them. Erin stood and waited knowing that his bond was going to find her. Moving into the trees, the sounds of sticks and branches cracking underfoot marked their advance forward. Part way through, the dire wolf lifted his head suddenly, snapping to attention. His ears came forward and he sniffed the air.

Erin witnessed a transformation that he'd only seen once in his life from his bond. The wolf lowered his head, eyes narrowing and growing a darker yellow, the ears pulled back and the hair all along his back stood. Another moment and the hair that stood soon had spikes shooting out from his back and the wolf seemed to grow larger. The sound of the change was sickening, making Erin grimace but watch in awe at his bond. A deep guttural growl issued from the back of Nemesis' throat and then he took off at a dead run, out distancing them in a matter of seconds.

His breath caught for a moment then he turned to Rue's friend, "Can you follow him with that courier service of yours?"

Rue Tyryl

"Where are you Snow? Are you hurt?"

"I'm alright, but your moving is making it hard for me to come to you. Stop making it hurt..." Snow whimpered.

"I'm sorry, but I can't just wait here, it's getting too dark! I have to cut loose from this," Rue replied and curled upwards again trying to reach with the knife to the vine that held her to the tree. The wound was burning with each upwards push she gave to reach the vine. She'd managed to nick the cursed trap a couple of times, but the twisted rope was strong and held fast. Panting she fell back again on her back, the knife having barely scratched it once more. Anger coursed through her and she pulled and kicked with her leg trying to make the rope snap by sheer force.

"Damnit!" she cried out loud. The darkness was making her nervous and she felt the sickening feeling of fear starting to work its way into her chest. She took a deep breath to try to steady herself and get back to work at being freed so she could get back with Luca and the others. At the thought of Luca, she felt her chest clench. Had they even noticed she was gone? The fear became icy cold and she had to struggle to keep from freezing up entirely.

A sharp sound in the darkness caught her attention and did nothing to stem her growing nerves. Burnt orange eyes glowed in the darkness as something came out of the brush towards her. The twigs that that thing stepped on cracked as it lowered its head and approached her with a growl. Had the giant wolf not looked so menacing and evil she would have thought it to be Nemesis right away. Her heart slammed in her chest.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," her voice trembled, "Traps and over grown creatures! What is this? Boot camp!"

From the other side of the forest from where she had been dragged, a sharp growling bark echoed and from the gloom a sleek black figure broke from the bushes and crashed head long into the other wolf that was nearly twice its size. Rue realized it was Nemesis and her heart lifted, but she was now fearful for the bond and her brother.

"Erin!" she screamed as loud as she could hopeful that he could hear her.

Amalthea Oprah

Some people came but Amalthea had already gotten the boy out of the ditch and Cerberus had come out as well. Amalthea lied back on her hands and took a deep breath then saw the two Bonds of the boy sitting next to him. She was a Misfit with a Blueblood type of Bond so she wasn't amazed for very long to see a person with two Bonds.

"Um, thanks, I guess... Name's Samuel Yesil."

"I'm Amalthea Oprah, but the one you should really thank is Cerberus," Amalthea said.

Everyone started walking out into the forest so she got onto her feet and held a hand out to Samuel to help him up. She started walking next to Cerberus who sniffed the air and alerted once there was a near by trap, Ama was so afraid and started realizing that she had a certain fear of darkness because she wouldn't let go of Cerberus' pelt.

Aslan Portegar

A whole commotion started when a girl cried out for help. He recognized her as Amalthea, the loud mouthed Misfit that never seemed to know her place. Aslan didn't want to follow everyone else until he saw Aubrey descend on Bren's back. Her presence made him feel more assured that everything would be okay and it made him more concerned about everything going on so he decided to go see what was going on when Amalthea called out.

Amalthea was able to get the boy out of the ditch without a problem thanks to her large Bond which Aslan had never understood why she had such a majestic Bond. After the save, everyone started walking out into the woods and spotting traps. Aslan just followed behind but stayed close to Aubrey. Babur ran ahead staying with Bren and sometimes would find a trap.

"Are you alright?" Aslan asked Aubrey in between the shouting calls of people warning there was a trap.

He walked with his arms crossed over his chest and his head high with his eyes always on the alert for whatever could come out because he knew that the traps weren't the most dangerous part of capturing the flag. A rustle in the bushes was what caught Alsan's attention and also Babur's who immediately halted his playing with flowers or insects. There was something so Aslan took his knife out of the bag and held firmly next to his thigh ready to counter attack if needed.

A huge creature that he recognized as a Behemoth came out and started snapping it's teeth at everyone. Aslan never imagined that they would be forced to face a Behemoth so soon. Berach was being too harsh.

"Get together!" He called out, "He likes to take down the one separated from the group!"

Luca M. Feygor

Luca was startled by a glowing white figure that shifted into his sights the second they returned. If not for the red stain across her waist, he may well have mistaken Rue for an angel as she plopped her supple figure down in front of him, her fierce green eyes enchanting his own and drawing them to her face. Unlike his, they showed none of the exhaustion he felt, despite all the trails she’d endured. Watching her, Rue’s expressions were a blur to him, too fast for his weary eyes to analyse as he blinked at her in some half-daze.

"Luca!" Rue’s sharp tone was enough to make him cringe like the sudden alarm of his morning call, "You scared me! Don't do that," She sighed finally, as if releasing all of her fears in one go.

Luca could only listen and shake his head in reply, feeling spoilt by her concern. A small grin formed over the corner of his lips as he scoffed in amazement at her bustling energy, its origins a mystery to him much like her thoughts then. That quiet shell she’d developed earlier seemed all but forgotten now too. Of course their troubles weren’t entirely concluded yet.

“I scared you?” Luca managed at last, glancing at the backs of the Nemesis and Erin as they departed. He gave Rue a look of pure incredulity then, arching an eyebrow at her as his carefully constructed facade began to re-establish itself. “Maybe next time you’ll reconsider hunting giant wolves for sport then?”

His eyes fell on the red stain of her dress, keenly aware of the danger it presented. Luca had experienced countless scuffles in the past, so it went without saying he knew what to anticipate next. Without further notice, Luca picked himself up of the ground and gazed sternly down at Rue. “Now, if you’ve quite satisfied your curiosity for stepping into traps today, we need to tend to your wound and bandage it to stop the bleeding. You’ll have to remove your shirt so I can clean it,” He paused then and glanced around briefly as if he’d remembered something, “Hayley looked injured also so we’ll have to check up on her.”

Abruptly, Luca’s head snapped up as he heard something ominous over the raging storm. The foreboding crack of splintering wood and crashing trees was followed by the desperate twittering of birds as flocks of the creatures fled from their disrupted nests. Slowly, the monstrous creature lumbered into view, its impossible size seemingly blotting out the sun behind it as its bestial gaze regarded them with a ravenous hunger.

“Get together! He likes to take down the one separated from the group!" Aslan yelled.

Luca cursed and swivelled on his feet instantly, they didn't have time to feel tired now. He wrapped his arms around Rue’s tender frame, careful to avoid her wounds as he lifted her off the floor. “You know, when i said i'd help you earlier, this isn't exactly what i had in mind," he teased.

Hayley limped holding onto James as the group moved. James' shoulder was hurt by the slash that smaller wolf had given him and that meant hayley recieved the same blow. except because of its massive size she had a big gash from behind her neck over her left shoulder and reached down to her stomach. She was loosing blood but couldn't stop moving, she had to keep up with everyone. James basically carried her and kept her upright the whole time until a sudden cry of warning rang out and a massive creature started growling at them. Hayley was slightly behind everyone by only about 2 yards but that was enough to have her and james singled out.

The Behemoth pushed James away causing Hayley to fall onto the ground in front of the beast. The behemoth looked at james then her then the others and opened its mouth to take a bite out of her, when suddenly James lunged and tackled the Behemoth away from the group. She screamed scared and to hurt to move anymore. She could feel the wound slowly but slowly heal itself but it was James who had the rapid healing abilities hayley only had a tiny bit. And the healing powers sure weren't working fast enough to help her since James kept getting hurt.

Hayley screamed in pain and called out, "Someone help James! Please!" She started crying frightened and then felt a small cut on her neck realizing she'd been digging her nails into her neck as she was curled up on the ground covering her head.

Sammy

Sammy watched in awe as the giant beast thundered towards them. His bonds were visibly scared; Dodge in particular knew that this wouldn't be pretty. God dammit, all my bonds are good for are telling me when to run... But, although Sammy was just as scared as his bonds, he couldn't show it. His overblown pride wouldn't let him be scared. "Heh, big ol' bastard ain't it..." With saying that, he followed Aslan's instructions and went with the rest, when he heard a blood-chilling scream. A very familiar scream. He turned to see a wounded Haley curled in a defensive feeble position, while her bond was feebly wrestling with the monstrosity.

The next thing Sammy knew, he was doing something idiotic. Running away from the safety of the group, he quickly scooped up a few fairly sized stones and started to pointlessly fling them at the Behemoth. The hell am I doing... He knew this was stupid, but there's some things a man must do even when the odds are completely and utterly stacked against you, and Sammy wasn't planning on becoming a hypocrite anytime soon. "Hey you fat bastard! You damn coward! Fighting the outlier!" Unfortunately, his taunts had no visible effect. Shit, now what do I- At that moment, he caught a red blur at the corner of his eyes. He looked up at the monster and saw Dodge standing on top of the beast's gargantuan head. Dodge then quickly made it to the monsters face, and jammed his paw into the creature's eye. Although the damage was minimal, it was enough to cause the Behemoth to stagger back away from James. "Yes! Atta boy!" But just as Sammy said that, the Behemoth swung his arm over his face and smashed Dodge down onto the ground near Sammy. Sammy, all at once, felt the bone-crushing power of the monster's punch and fell backwards near a tree. "Well, *cough*, that's a start..."

Aslan Portegar

Aslan kept Aubrey behind him as well as most of the people. But there was one person who hadn't made it to the group, a purple haired girl and her Bond who was being attacked by the Behemoth. Before Aslan could react Samuel went in to try and save her but he just made things a bit tougher for everyone.
"Babur!" Aslan called out to his Bond who immediately responded by pouncing onto the creature that was twice his size.

Aslan had read stories of the Behemoth creature, a powerful earth entity that used to serve gods. He looked over his shoulder to observe the group there were only a few that seemed to be able to have some actual fighting power and there was one that didn't even have a Bond (Luca).
Aslan's attention then turned to a boy that had appeared out of the forest his dire wolf Bond was fast and efficient so it gave him enough time to get to the purple haired girl and Samuel. Babur was still attacking the creature along with the dire wolf then Aslan sheathed his knife and turned to the group.

"Suren! We're going to need your Bond's fire power," Aslan said, "Amalthea, your Cerberus can withstand fire and he's the biggest bond here so he's going to hold down the Behemoth as Suren's Bond burns it. If anything goes wrong, we all fight!"

Aslan waited for their agreement while he called the boy (Erin) back, "Come back! We've got a plan!"

Amalthea Oprah

She was scared out of her pants, her legs shook like leaves in a tempest and her head seemed to be spinning. The monster was enormous and she was so small. The only creature that could almost equal the Behemoth in size was Cerberus but he didn't jump in to fight right away. He wasn't afraid but he knew that Amalthea was so he stayed by her side like he always would. It was annoying and yet very good for Ama to have Cerberus be such a childish Bond when situations are simple but become extremely mature when things get tough.

When She saw Samuel jump in to save the girl and her Bond she suddenly felt a spark inside of her light a fiery flame telling her to suck in her strength and mope later. She got onto her feet and let go of Cerberus' fur. She knew that she had to be strong and not be the little girl crying and getting in everyone's way so she looked at Aslan and nodded when he told her to let Cerberus go and fight.
"You be careful," she said to her Bond.

You too.

The only thing they had to wait for was for Erin to come back with Samuel and Hayley.

Luca M. Feygor

As he picked her up and ran, he felt both her discomfort and warmth. Her voice of protest was just loud enough for him to catch over the cacophony of chaos, "I can help myself, Oh... oh," Rue’s silky voice trailed off softly as she finally relented.

“Hey, at least support some of your own weight, carrying you is tough,” he remarked even though she was as light as a feather.

Despite the imminent danger, Rue’s innocent attempts to hide her emotions still managed to bend his lips into a genuine smile of amusement. The shades of red on her face where getting brighter by the second as he carried her between his arms, making her look as if she’d turn into a tomato at any moment. She clearly found the idea of him carrying her embarrassing but he allowed himself to relish the fact. That should at least keep her awake for the time being, Luca thought as his eyes flashed back to her wound and risk of blood loss.

He set her down gently as they reached the far side of the conflict, releasing his supportive grip from underneath her knees and neck. “Look, try to stay still to prevent the bleeding,” Luca informed her as he took of his neck tie. Quickly, his hands wrapped the fabric around her wound before tying it all together firmly.

Luca straightened slightly, feeling uneasy in the face of the behemoth. He watched as Erin returned with Nemesis and the two leapt in without hesitation, attacking at the things tendons. The behemoth was too large to outrun, especially now they had injured. Luca felt like an ant next to the monster as it brought its fist crashing downwards, chasing after the black blur that was Nemesis and shattering the earth with the force of each impact.

"Suren! We're going to need your Bond's fire power, Amalthea, your Cerberus can withstand fire and he's the biggest bond here so he's going to hold down the Behemoth as Suren's Bond burns it. If anything goes wrong, we all fight!"

“Hold on Aslan. Look around us,” Luca said as a figure of speech, “I hope you have a plan to control that fire, or this forest is going up like a tinderbox”

Rue Tyryl

She knew he was enjoying her discomfort, something that happened often around him especially when he did it on purpose so she tried her best to keep it to a minimum, which didn't help with how close he was. Finally he set her down and took off his tie while instructing her to keep still. She'd all but forgotten about the wound the moment he'd lifted her into his arms. Rue was sure all the blood had rushed to her face and was the only thing keeping her from passing out. As he tied it around her waist, she winced slightly at the pressure and a slow, dull ache took over. She wasn't sure what was worse, his having her right in his arms and not feeling a damn thing wound wise, or having the tie around her to keep her from bleeding out and feeling the pain.

Luca stood and turned to face the gigantic creature that had decided to take its cue and attack them. Rue's eyes blurred slightly as she looked to the beast, her body was starting to feel the toll of the deep cut. With her face returning to its smooth white color, she felt a little dizzy, but didn't let it show. Snow bounced up to her then, having been rescued by her brother who was now fighting the beast. Rue watched with bated breath, her heart skipping a beat as she witnessed Nemesis thrown and Erin double over from the impact. Her brother dropped to his knees and glared up at the creature as the dire wolf quickly got back up and rushed in again. Even from where she sat she could hear his deep voice yelling orders at Nemesis.

"Left! Drop down... Now, Nemesis!"

The wolf was nothing but a blur as he followed every command that Erin shouted out. She knew what they were doing, her brother was watching where Nemesis could go and directing him as such so the creature was at a loss on where to attack. In blind rage the thing had begun swinging wildly around at the wolf as he nimbly dodged. Only a few times did the behemoth catch the black streak of fur and manage to toss it. It was those times that had Rue cringing as her eyes flicked back to her brother who reflected each hit.

Aslan shouted out orders then too, calling for Suren's bond to attack with fire. Rue's eyes shifted to Luca as he responded to that order almost immediately. The forest was a tinderbox, Rue could tell by all the dry leaves and sticks lying around. Then her eyes settled on Snow who lifted her head and looked back at Rue. Turning, she tried to get Luca's attention but moving around made her head swim and she felt weaker by the second. Damnit all, why now?

"Luca," she called, not sure if she was loud enough. Rue got herself up halfway before falling backwards, the forest and everyone around her going white for a few moments and the noises dimming down to nearly nothing at all. She didn't even realize she'd collapsed completely on the ground until Snow's face was right next to her. Blinking she managed to pull herself out of the danger zone and took a shallow breath. Tired....

"Don't sleep. You can't sleep."

"Tired, Snow," she managed to reply, her earlier thoughts nearly gone. It was hard to concentrate. Why had she wanted Luca's attention in the first place?

"Something about me and the fire, I couldn't quite understand either. Does that help?" Snow asked gently as she brushed her face across Rue's.

"Yes... the fire. Luca," she called again not sure if he was anywhere near as her concentration was slipping, "Snow. Snow can do it."

Her eyes felt heavy, and a chill shook her as she lay there. The dull pounding pain was probably the only thing keeping her attention, but even that was fading. She took another breath and tried to keep her eyes opened, "Tired... it's cold, Luca," she said.

"Stay awake, Rue," Snow pressed, flapping her wings in agitation.

"Luca..."

Luca M. Feygor

"Luca,"

Rue’s voice was stretched thin as it she called out to him. Head spinning, Luca peeled his eyes away from the behemoth, bending down to face Rue once more. To his relief Snow had returned again, the bond drawing close to Rue and seemingly caressing her cheeks with its wings. Although she was deathly pale, Luca could read alarm as Rue struggled to remember something vital.

“What is it Rue?” Luca responded hastily, concern dressing his features. How much blood had she lost? Not much time had passed but the wound had been left open for a while now, it was impossible to say.

"Yes... the fire. Luca, Snow. Snow can do it." Rue mumbled, her concentration evidently waning as her head lolled. Luca’s eyes narrowed in the direction of the feathered bond, uncertain about her idea. "Tired... it's cold, Luca,"

Luca could feel desperation hang in the air, a cold staleness which lingered over every student, the trademark prelude to panic. “Let me wake her up Snow.” Abruptly, he grabbed Rue's head in an attempt to focus her attention, clicking his fingers in front of her dazed eyes. "Explain yourself first Rue! Wake up!"

"Luca..."

“Damn,” Luca murmured. His pragmatic reasoning took over in an attempt to determine which method would be most effective in waking her, “It’s not going to count for anything if you fall asleep on me.” He leaned in close, admiring her full lips for a moment before locking his onto hers. Wake up. He willed.

Erin Tyryl

"Don't worry, She'll be fine. Now, lets get the flag," Suren said to him, her bright eyes looking right into his. Erin gave her a small smile and allowed her to help him to his feet. One arm was draped over her shoulder as they started the climb up the hill. It wasn't long before the sound of the storming wind drowned out the cries of the stuck behemoth behind them. As they topped the hill, Erin covered his eyes with his arm to try to see down into the valley. The wind was whipping through the trees at an increasingly violent speed.

Dirt was being tossed up into the air and thrown around to create a kind of tornado like effect in the wilderness. It was hard to see through the ferocious storm, but Erin squinted his eyes and could barely make out an area that looked like it was calm beyond the storm. Raising an eyebrow he tried to figure out why that would be. Slowly, he started down the hill with Suren as his support. Next to them Rue lay unconscious across Kivuli and right next to her the tall boy whom she called Luca was watching over her intently.

"I think the boy is intrigued by her. Seem's like she's made quite the friend," Nemesis said as he slowly padded behind them. The wolf had a slight limp to his step as he walked, each time he stepped, there was a sharp pain through his leg and right across his side that also burned through Erin. He did his best to keep that from showing on his face as Suren held him up, but it was hard as they made their way down the slope.

Though it seemed like forever, they got down to the valley in no time and once there, the storm seemed to be at its strongest. Erin pulled Suren closer to him and turned her around so that he could shield her as best he could from the wind storm and the dirt that was being thrown around at high speeds. He could feel the sand cutting into his exposed skin as he stood there.

"I think... I think I see a bond on the other side," Erin called out, trying to get either Suren's or Luca's attention through the wind. Nemesis pushed forward, his head lowered and ears pulled back as he trod up as close as he could to the barrier.

"There is a bond there, I can sense them. You've got to be kidding me," Nemesis growled.

"What?"

"Who ever it is, they're doing this on purpose."

"Son of a ...." his curse word was lost to the wind as it took his breath. His eyes narrowed as he glared at the dirt wall of wind. Rue stirred slightly on Kivuli, her green eyes cracking open for a moment before shutting closed. She gave a groan and shifted on the hell hounds back to try to shield herself from the harsh storm. Erin walked with Suren crushed against his chest. He put his body between the wind and both the girls as he looked to Luca.

"Anyway you can get us in there?" He asked, tossing his head to the side, directing towards the only calm area that was being controlled by some bond on the other side. He was hopeful that Luca had the strength to do it, but if he didn't Erin was going to find a way. He didn't want to put Luca in danger if he hadn't regained enough strength.

"I can force my way in," Nemesis said, his voice filled with anger. The dire wolf was obviously pissed off that one of the students was doing this on purpose. Did they even realize how dangerous it was in the first place? Then to go and make things worse, Nemesis growled, baring his teeth and the hair all along his back stood once more, though he didn't transform.

"Hold that thought, furball. You're too injured to try something like that. Maybe Snow can shield us or something with her ice. All we need is just enough to get to the other side."

Nemesis looked over his shoulder at his human bond, then tipped his large head down in a short nod. Slowly, the wolf backed away from the wall and settled close to Kivuli.

Erin looked back to Luca, "If you can't, don't try to push it. I'll see if Snow's able to create a shield for us. All we need is long enough to get passed the wall and kick whoever's ass is on the other side," he said, his tone sharp and cold. Erin wasn't enjoying himself at all and if it weren't for his sister being in the most danger, he probably wouldn't have been so pissed off.

Aslan Portegar

Obviously, everything went down the drain with his burning plan because Suren's Bond was afraid of making it smell too much and attract unwanted attention. What in the hell could be attracted by burning Behemoth flesh? They already smelled like shit.

Aslan let go of the idea then looked over at Amalthea who hadn't moved from where she was because she only observed her Bond, Cerberus, biting down on the Behemoth with all three heads. Erin was caught in a tornado wind current that was moving fast toward Aslan and Amalthea. Rue was on the floor circled by Luca, Suren and two wolf Bonds. Chaos was the first and only word Aslan used to define the situation but things started getting on the bright side. With both Babur and Cerberus attacking the beast they were able to make it bleed enough for it to fall to the ground and no longer move.

The Behemoth was defeated, there was no use in killing it because it was apparently surrendering. Now Aslna had to get out of the wind current and try to find a way out, "Aubrey! Where are you!"

The wind was so strong that Aslan was deaf to all sound and blinded by the rising dust. He was only able to make out what Erin said, "If you can't, don't try to push it. I'll see if Snow's able to create a shield for us. All we need is long enough to get passed the wall and kick whoever's ass is on the other side."

"Then make it happen!" Shouted Aslan.

Luca M. Feygor

Luca could feel the wild wind buffeting against his body and restricting his movements as the group drew ever closer to their objective. When the air current grew violent, Luca began pacing in front of Kivuli and Rue in an attempt to act as a shield. The loud whistling caused by the air rushing past his ears was close to overwhelming at this stage. Yet ironically as they reached the end of the valley’s slope, the area looked peaceful on the other side, almost resembling the eye of a hurricane.

"Anyway you can get us in there?" Erin pitched with a low growl towards the center. In response Luca could only shrug at first. The winds were too strong to use any of his usual methods of teleportation. Any piece of paper he’d placed or attempt to fly would be consumed and lost to the chaotic storm in an instant.

"If you can't, don't try to push it. I'll see if Snow's able to create a shield for us. All we need is long enough to get passed the wall and kick whoever's ass is on the other side." Erin’s final sentence had a murderous edge to it as Luca saw impatience crawling into his features.

"Then make it happen!" Aslan screamed over the howling wind.

“I can manage, but energy isn’t the issue friend,” He said eventually. Luca pulled out his yellow notepad and thumbed over each page. The effect created a soft sound akin to rubbing something over sand paper, but more remarkable was that each page had a different drawing on it, “My bond’s ability has conditions. It requires me to swap positions with an inanimate object I’ve come into contact with before. Certainly I could get us across if we had something heavier to throw, but with my notepads and the survival tools they gave us, I don’t see that happening. Anything I’d place would be lost to the wind.”

Erin Tyryl

Aslan yelled over the wind to Erin, ordering him to 'make it happen'. Erin, however, only shot the boy a murderous glare. This was Snow he was talking about and Rue had already used up a lot of the birds energy earlier to save them from the behemoth. He bit back the acid reply and only turned to look at Luca who had began to reply to his earlier question.

“I can manage, but energy isn’t the issue friend, my bond’s ability has conditions. It requires me to swap positions with an inanimate object I’ve come into contact with before. Certainly I could get us across if we had something heavier to throw, but with my notepads and the survival tools they gave us, I don’t see that happening. Anything I’d place would be lost to the wind.”

His lips turned into a frown as he held Suren against him and tried to block as much of the gale force winds from his sister and her. He looked down at Snow who was perched up on top of Rue, huddled down against the girls back as they stood there. Snow looked up at him, cocking her pretty white head off to the side. Rue shifted again, coming awake once more. It was probably the wind that kept waking her even though she must have been dead tired.

"I can make it through," Nemesis said once more. Erin shook his head, disagreeing immediately with the wolf who heaved a heavy sigh and gave a slight glare at his human bond.

"If I could throw something over there, you can transport us right?" Erin confirmed, his voice shouting to be heard over the winds. His eyes searched the ground. Even a good sized rock would be enough to do that, but the winds were so strong Erin doubted that he could get it far enough in to make a difference. The last thing he wanted was for Luca to transport them to the strongest point of the winds and get them both killed. Softly, he cursed to himself as he couldn't see anything close to what he had in mind.

"Shit," he hugged Suren closer trying to figure out what to do. He really didn't want to have Snow use up any more energy to cast a shield large enough for them, but it was looking to be their only option. He glanced down at the bird again and she lifted herself up off of Rue's back and fluttered her wings lightly.

"You can probably take that as a 'yes'. She'll do what's needing to be done," Nemesis offered. Having been around Snow for so long, the bond had a way of communicating with her that Erin had never been able to understand.

"Snow, if you can't, don't. We'll find another way."

The bird narrowed her eyes and shook her head. Erin wasn't sure how many students she could shield, but he was going to guess it was only going to be the four of them. Meaning Luca, Rue, Suren and himself, bonds not included. With a flash of her white wings, she opened up and her body glowed a bright white, the dry ice of her power expanding into a shimmering blue bubble all around them. Once the bubble closed, the sound of the wind dropped tremendously and the air stilled inside. Erin took a deep breath and looked to their destination.

He let go of Suren and tapped Kivuli on her shoulder, careful of her flames, "Straight in Kivuli. Let's go crash the party, I've had quite enough of this," he said and started walking towards the center of the storm. The wind crashed against the shield and Erin kept a watchful eye on Snow who had her eyes closed as she concentrated. He didn't know how much longer she was going to last, but he hoped she could make it all the way in.

Halfway towards the calm, he could see Snow's shield shimmering as she struggled to keep it up. Erin tapped Kivuli's shoulder in urgency, trying to get her to move faster. He didn't know if it would help as Snow would probably have to concentrate harder, but at least it would be over sooner rather than later. They finally broke through to the other side just as Snow's icy bubble cracked and shattered. Shards of the shield shot passed them and Erin pulled Suren through the last portion of the wind storm, catching several pieces of the sharp ice across his arm and shoulder.

"You alright?" He asked her, eyeing her over to see if she was hurt anywhere, though she looked to be alright. Then he lifted his eyes to the large bond flying in the center of the area, guarding the flag. Seated up on the bond was a dark haired girl who seemed to be utterly enjoying herself. To which, Erin sent a cold stare. His jaw set firmly and he stepped around Suren to yell up to her.

"Hey! What the hell is this all about? You realize that this damn forest is dangerous enough without your meddling? Are you trying to kill us all?" he shouted up to her. Nemesis growled deeply, lowering his head as his fur bristled, ready for a fight. Erin felt the rush of adrenaline as he anticipated a long and very hard battle ahead of them.