Ravyn Arcadia Valos's Story

“Ah Gen Chari.” The blue feather winged dragon looked around as he hovered in the sky above the Navus Trade Camp. It wasn’t exploration that brought him here, another of his race had mapped out this world several years ago. Still, things change and new magic and technology appears. He was sure he probably drew some looks but being a trade camp they have had a diverse range of species so odds are he was stared at then forgotten a little while later. He could sense…something powerful below. If he was more adept at discerning flavors of magic he could tell what it was but for now he new it was very powerful and very old. In the oldest of his race he could sense their power and this seemed older. An ancient perhaps? For now he pushed it aside and landed at the edge of the camp.

He had seen pictures and read the notes on the trading camp but it was quite different seeing it in person. So many scarab like giant insects walking around their camp. It was quite a sight. The source of the powerful aura was close. With someone of that much power, he decided to observe for the time being and of course see what’s up for trade.

It was a little while before he spotted something that caught his eye. A glowing silver ring inlaid with a green emerald. There was a tag below it calling it a Chameleon Ring and with a price of two Dead Patched gold coins. A price much higher than any ring would be worth in his eyes. 

“Two Dead Patched coins?” Ravyn asked and received a nod in return. He pulled out his currency pouch checked it’s contents. True he had the coins to pay for them but he wouldn’t let himself get ripped off. He pulled out a crystal clear diamond looking gem. “This. Is a Solarian Fire Diamond.” Ravyn held it in his hand and a fire like glow was at the center. It was crystalized magic shaped into a fist sized diamond. One that size held a large amount of magical essence.

The merchant looked over the gem and countered. “That gem and one Dead coin.”

“Still too high. That gem and five high quality gems.” The dragon pulled out five gems. Two diamonds, a sapphire, a ruby, and an emerald. All of which were very high quality.

The merchant checked each one. “Bah. Take it.” He handed him the ring and gathered the gems.

“Thank you.” Ravyn gave the merchant a bow and left the tent.

The moment he left he got a big wave of power that drew his attention to a male human and a female feline. He didn’t immediately attribute the power to the human, it could just as easily come from the feline. For now he decided to follow and observe the pair. He did get close enough to hear their conversation even if it was on the rude side. Hopefully they were friendly and would be so after they discovered him.

"Well, just wanted to see how you were doing, and to tell you that you were giving off quite a bit of power. If you wanted to approach someone with stealth...well, it wouldn't have gone too well." He stated. "You had a lot of eyes looking for you, but now ... hm ... not a whole lot, but there's at least a few people watching us now. But if this nose of mine is correct, they're just ... curious, for now."

Sam had to sigh internally, he had hoped to slip in and out of this market unnoticed, but Alexia's presence wasn't exactly a good thing to leave be. "Also, I believe I owed ya some of this from the bet I lost last time we played." He said, reaching into a bag and pulled out three cans of cherry Pepsi and another chocolate bar. Several decades ago, he had met up with Valen in a market, and it was a good reunion, all things considered.

As they enjoyed some good, a large army laid siege to the city, intent on taking it by force. One thing led to another, and Sam was introduced to Alexia. Well, by introduced, he saw the conditions needed to change into Alexia, and the carnage that followed was, considerable. Alexia certainly had more physical strength than most creatures he had seen or fought. So it went without saying that he'd rather not have Alexia get jumped in the middle of a large market. Her destructive power was considerable, and anyone with enough wits would notice, but it would take more wits for them to realize that she was way out of their league.

He let his eyes run across the many faces in the crowd, and he saw several sets of eyes that could potentially be looking at them, but without using magic it'd be difficult to determine if they were actually looking at them or at something near them, and he didn't want to draw any more attention than they already did. Still, he was glad he was able to calm Alexia down, though it did cost him some pristine chocolate, still holding the rest of the chocolate bar out for her to take.

"So... if my guess is correct, you're here to research into your little 'pest' problem?" He asked. Sam had known Alexia, or rather Valen before the shatter. While he was a decent guy, Sam recalled him having a temper, and that wasn't lost in the cataclysm. Still, some traits carried over into Alexia, one of them being a temper. "They have been getting more active lately, at least that's what I've heard from merchants and traders."

Sam had no love for countries similar to where the crusaders come from, given the fact that his former home country turned into one. So if Alexia wanted to stir up some trouble with them, he'd most likely help her if he accepted it. "I just got off from a hunt, so I'd be more than happy to help if you'd like it."

So the male human was named Sam and the feline was Alexia. The dragon took his eyes off of the strange looking pair and focused on an array of soft fabrics at the table in front of him. He wondered if some could be enchanted and used back home. While his eyes were focused off of the pair, his right ear was turned towards them and was able to overhear their conversation. Yes he knew it was a rude thing to do but on other occasions it helped him learn more facts about other worlds than straight up asking those worlds inhabitants.

“You had a lot of eyes looking for you…” The male human said. “…but there’s at least a few people watching now.” The dragon hoped he was stealthy enough to not be counted but wasn’t sure. Experience has taught him that just because they don’t see you now doesn’t mean they haven’t.

It also seemed that this pair were old friends though neither appeared that old. Though with all the magic out there that doesn’t really mean anything.

“…pest problem?” The male mentioned. What possible pest problem could bother someone with as much power as the feline had inside her. The only thing he could think of would be a true dragon or those crusaders. Some of his race that had encountered them reported back that, while they would take no for an answer, they could be annoyingly persistent.

At the mention of the… pests being more active, he really hoped that the pests weren’t true dragons. Crusaders he could avoid. True dragons… While he was lucky enough to never have run into one, others of his kind weren’t as fortunate. The ones that survived to return back home told of actively being hunted upon sight. One even mentioned the dragon insulting them for being wannabe dragons and cheap imitations.

Not wanting to be too obvious by staying in one place for too long, Ravyn stepped away from the cloth table and walked past the pair. His eyes never focused on then but one ear was constantly pointed in their direction. A table nearby showing various pieces of tech caught his eye and he stopped in front of it. One good thing is it was at the table next to theirs.

Keeping the occasional eye on the two Eduard found his way over to a wall and leaned on it, taking a quick swig from his flask. The coppery taste filled his mouth with it's metallic tinge. It was blood.

When the woman produced a letter, handing it to her companion to brief him on some seemingly sensitive information, Eduard turned and performed an arcane gesture. He kept his body between him and them for the purposes of obscuring the spell. He knew their attention was drawn down to the letter so they were less likely to look up and spot his behavior.


With a few motions and a whisper under his breath the blood which ran down his throat started to run hot as though it were burning. It was a brief but intense moment as the blood he had drank was consumed to fuel the spell's effect. He could feel his mind start to buzz as his eyes dilated briefly. With a sharp breath he let the feeling overcome him. It passed just as quickly as it came and the spell was done.

A pastiche of colors filled his vision. He could now see the aura's of the various living entities that were currently visible. Their emotions, the types of creatures they were, the nature of the magic they possessed, all of it was now bared freely to him to an extent.


He could now see details which had hidden themselves, details in the form of interpretive color patterns. To a novice it would be difficult to discern specifics but he knew a great deal on the field of reading auras, magical and otherwise.

For example he could pick out who among the crowd were interested in this particular ancient he was keeping an eye out for. Intent belied a particular direction in which one's |Sight| leaned. Of particular note a dragonkin had some interest in them as well as the rather indiscreet crusaders set up in the middle of this camp. They weren't subtle as they talked among themselves, a couple going away to relay some information. Given how their intent was on her he could easily put two and two together. Despite their efforts they had drawn unwelcome attention.


To him it seemed the letter might be related to the nature of the scene as it possessed powerful magic. The nature of the magic used was quite typical crusader work though more powerful than the few letters he's seen. The crusaders he managed to claim one from were most reluctant to surrender it, hence why they now call the soil in some desolate world their final home.

After a swig of that water the woman's aura dimmed, leveling out to the state a regular ancient would rest at. Still, the crusaders were looking for someone and if the two didn't move soon the crusaders would find that someone.

Not that Eduard cared really. He was more just curious really.

"A couple eyes are locked on us..." Sam said quietly, his voice reduced to a whisper that was just loud enough for Alexia to hear. Over the long years, Sam had acquired a sixth sense of sorts, mainly when people were watching him. However, it wasn't something that could be used at will or accurately even, but it was just a sharpened sense from his human side that 300 years of wandering in the as a nobody helped with. He sniffed the air and growled lowly "And... with magic... blood magic no less, or at least one who uses it... dangerous..."

Sam had fought many people over the years, and had gotten a smell for most of them. Blood magic wasn't difficult to sniff out given the fact it required blood to work. Sam continued speaking in a whisper that only Alexia could hear "I assume you don't want to make a scene still, but we need to move to a different area to single out the people watching us." He considered the possibility of sniffing them out, but given the sensitive nature of Alexia's task, he didn't want to put that in jeopardy. "We'll circle around the crusaders, best case scenario we lose them, worst case they follow but we should be able to find out which ones are watching."

Alexia and Sam began to make their way through the crowd at slightly hurried pace, making sure not to stand out, but going quick enough so that anyone who followed would stand out. Sam reached into a magic deck on his belt, a defense deck in case he had need for a certain spell card. Alexia would need to act as bait, but if they were still being followed, the card would give them the element of surprise they needed while being discrete. Sam started to speak again in a whisper only Alexia could hear "Well, the only way I'd get into the Z city would be me to act as your slave. Wouldn't be a far stretch, might even make the crusaders jealous. That's up to you though, not sure how it would fit into the plan you may have had there." When he said jealous, he was referring to the fact he'd 'have' a position at their goddesses side, and Sam thought Alexia might like that extra little jab.

Males were only allowed to roam free in Zenos in certain areas of the city, and even then they were required to have special collars that would track them, control them with pain, as well as supply other functions to better serve the female masters. If Sam was to assist Alexia in her business there, the only logical option was to pose as her slave. Otherwise, sneaking himself in would be a rather large amount of trouble, and getting caught in a death trap like that city wouldn't bode well for his lifespan, for whatever is left of it.

‘Damn.’ He cursed mentally. With all the noise of the market he could no longer hear them. Even with his ears it was too loud to hear their whispers. Risking a glance at the pair he wondered if he has been discovered. It seemed to him that they didn’t see him but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t sense him. While he couldn’t hear their voices, he did hear the low growl and wondered what caused it. Maybe they did notice him. Or they could have noticed someone else spying on them. If it was at him he hoped he could tell and how that he means them no harm. Scythe on his back not withstanding.

While he didn’t hear anymore of their conversation, he did see them make their way through the crowd. Ravyn followed them and kept a little distance, stopping periodically to give the impression of looking at various wares. He considered using the new ring he got but the possibility of bumping into people and drawing attention kept the ring in his bag.

Through out his observation of the powerful feline and her male friend, he passed by a member of the crowed that had the scent of blood on them. Not something like a relatively new wound but something… darker. Like they specialized in blood magic. The feeling made his feathers poof out as though he touched a live wire. It took a few seconds for them to settle back down. While no schools of magic are forbidden by his race, very few try that path. He could count on one hand the number that have tried it. They eventually give it up for being too gruesome. Whoever this user is he’s… an avid user. For now he wanted to avoid this person and crossed to the other side of the market to do so.

As he followed it became clear they were headed for the grav train station. Apparently they were leaving for another world and the male was taking on the appearance of a bodyguard or possibly a servant.

Ravyn moved close enough to overhear their destination and car choice. Once they paid and left he quickly dropped a couple gems on the counter and bought a matching ticket. As he watched the pair head towards the rear car and once they boarded, followed behind. The dragon did note the amount of guardians and wondered how often they had trouble makers. Not wanting to appear too hostile, he took his scythe in his hand and muttered a command in his native language. The blade appeared to liquify and be absorbed into the shaft. Once complete it looked like an ornate mage’s staff. Satisfied, he put it on his back and boarded the train.

There was only one room remaining so hiding himself from the human and feline was no longer possible. Still, he wasn’t sure he was discovered and could play off being the explorer he is.

“Hello.” The dragon smiled and waved to Alexia and Sam. He was pleasantly surprised to find the room empty save for Sam and Alexia so he took a seat across from them. He leaned his staff against the wall and pulled out his Explorer’s map. The screen lit up focusing on the current world with various notes. Some from him and some from others. All of which were in his language. A few movements of his finger and a note mentioning the chameleon ring was added. He kept his attention on the map while his ears were casually turned towards the pair.

Alas, they begun on their way like so.

What drew him to them, then? Were it mere curiosity he'd of simply let them be for he has more tangible leads to pursue. The leak of power from the cat woman was indeed impressive. The attention from the crusaders of the sixth order was also interesting.

Her resemblence to the statues these orders had erected of a female cat girl goddess was not overlooked either.


He could tell that the man with her as well as another in the crowd were alerted to him in one manner or another. No matter he thought. It will be no skin off my nose as I'll be passing through soon. I had best not draw too much attention in the meanwhile.

Seeing as how the two were looking to their heels for any suspicious pursuers he opted not to follow them but rather he followed after the crusaders who were in tow. He stayed well enough back that he was quite unseen to his main interest for the time being. He could tell the crusaders weren't looking out for tailers as they had developed a sense of tunnel vision.


Eventually they all arrived at the grav-train station. No matter what distances could be held there was not a lot to obfuscate behind while stuck in a lineup at the ticket booth. Seeing as how he noticed a humanoid's reaction to his magic's presence earlier he opted to let his enchantment drop, the active blood magic spell silently dismissed from being.

Eventually he got his ticket. He had noticed the cat woman and her companion head on down to the back car of the train so he opted to purchase a ticket for a seat there for himself. He was lucky to score the last ticket for that particular car.


Upon approaching the entrance he was cut off by a crusader who had apparantly taken a ticket of her own to that particular car. She was armored and equipped lighter than the more formidable looking women among their ranks, herself being slightly shorter than him, however she was still geared for combat all the same.

Keeping up the appearance of paying no mind he filed on board no differently because of this. Due to the other seats being taken it seemed this crusader was a bit seperated from the rest. This became all the more evident when they both approached what appeared to be their room. The lady stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing just who she was sharing a compartment with. It wasn't a complete revelation but it was with enough concern to warrant a pause.


Eduard had to catch himself to stop from colliding into the young woman ahead of him as she had stopped quite suddenly. He stood, looking mildly bored as he waited for her to continue into their compartment. He was far from bored by this but he wanted to give off a much more regular impression to any who might be looking. Faking normalcy was a skill he's been honing since the day he was born.

Sam waited quietly until the train started moving, looking out the window as they massive market started to roll by. When the blue dragon gave a wave, he knew he was at least one of the people following them, given the fact that he had seen a glimpse of him in the market, since he was rather hard to forget given his form. However, he couldn't smell any sort of malicious intent off him, it being more or less curiosity from what he could tell. He quietly took a careful sniff, and knew right then that the blood user was in the room, and he knew it was the last man in given that he didn't smell anything until the man walked in. He kept a calm composure while not making any body language that he realized that he knew who was following them.

Sam yawned some as he took out a chocolate bar, unwrapping to cover the fact he carved the number '2' into it before handing it to Alexia, along with a soda. "May as well enjoy a nice snack along the way." He said, making sure the number 2 was out of sight of everyone else on board. Sam saw the recognition in her eyes but didn't say anything as he watched her chew the food down slowly. Sam took a sip of his own soda as he looked out the window, but made sure to keep in mind the scents that entered his nose. The two 'suspects' he had listed had not changed, but now there was a third scent that was growing curious.

He casually ran his eyes across the box car, and saw that the young Crusader that had entered before the last passenger was looking in their direction, but she was trying to make it not so obvious. Sam didn't believe that she was pursuing them to begin with, as she hesitated to enter the car when she saw it was an even mix of males and females.

He could only hope that she remained in her seat, and didn't cause any more trouble than they were already potentially in. He pulled out his old pre-shatter phone, having long since turned airplane mode on to save energy, as well as having deleted numerous apps that would only have purpose if he were in the old world. He plugged in an earphone into his left ear and started up a song before, looking at the window. However he wasn't looking through it, he focused on the reflection to keep an eye on the other passengers. As he watched, he kept shifting his eyes from the three people of interest. From what he could tell, the dragon and the blood user weren't going to make their move any time soon. However the crusader's glances started to become more and more obvious. Whether the woman just had intuition, some spell, or perhaps she caught a glance at Alexia's face from some angle they didn't quite plan on. However, he needed a way to tell Alexia without tipping off the anyone listening.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you wanted three silver coins, not two." he stated in a calm manner, reaching into his pocket and pulled out three silver coins before placing them in Alexia's hands, making sure they made eye contact to make sure she knew the three coins had meaning.

Alexia nodded lightly at her companion's words, knowing very much what Sam was going on about for now trying to ignore all others for as long as she could, or fake it at the very least, her hood hiding her eyes in shadows exceptionally well, clearly an enchantment to provide shadows over her. Of course she couldn't hide forever though as she took the three silver coins. Her tail, her large four digit hands, her feet all gave away that she was definitely a cat, her black and blue fur making it easy to see that she had some resemblance to the Great Goddess even when she covered up so much of herself.

She just spoke quietly in a little bit of Japanese that he had learned from watching so many anime, the words very rough and slow though as she turned to look out the window, now counting seconds in her head. 

Although her words were very very rough, Sam understood them well enough. He slowly turned straight to the crusader. "Miss, I hate to bother you, but your constant heavy stare is bothering my employer. She does not like being..." Sam started, still playing up the bodyguard angle as Alexia moved her tail a bit, tightening her tail around his wrist, making it seem like she was agitated, but Sam could feel the bracelet she was clipping onto his wrist, able to feel the gentle tingle of an electrical protection spell slowly spreading over him without alerting anyone.

Before he could even finish his words though, the crusader turned her full attention to him and snapped loudly at him. "Quiet Male!" She stated standing up now. “You will know your place and only speak when spoken to.” The elvish crusader stated firmly, hand already on her blade. “You there... Miss... could I ask that you remove your hood.” The crusader stated, her voice showing some respect now and even a kindness that showed none of the anger she showed at Sam mere seconds ago.

Alexia just looked away a bit more, giving a small shake of her head. She just needed another minute for them to pass the boundary field that surrounded one of the Great Chasms, a piece of land where there were no trade camps, and much more importantly, the Navus would not hunt others for causing a scene, doubly so if it could be called self defense in some shape or another.

“Please Miss, remove your hood. I can sense a greatness about you. I wish to see how well the goddess has bestowed her image upon you. You may be destined as her personal emissary. Just image all the good you could do.” The crusader started, Alexia's grip on Sam's hand with her tail only get tighter as a sharp anger built up within the feline, starting to first just hurt Sam's hand a bit as the crusader took a few steps closer. “Please Miss, let me see the gifts that the Goddess has given you. Think all of all the glory and honor you can bring in the of the Goddess.” She asked again, Alexia just shaking her head again, trying to control herself.

“Ma'am... it is in your best interests to leave my employer alone.” Sam repeated firmly now, only for the crusader to once again return her hand to her blade.

“Male...I will not say this again. One more word for you and you will know your place as less then dirt before the might of a woman. It is with the glory, protection, and grand personal favor of the Goddess herself that let's me hold myself high, and just because you are too lowly to understand this does not excuse the fact that you breath because we women allow it, the Favor of the Goddess granting us true rights and privilege.” The crusader stated, Alexia's firm grip with her tail on Sam's hand clearly staying his own actions for now.

Alexia just kept staring out the window, only to grin as the train moved over the boundary at last, her forcibly kept calm face suddenly going into something a kin to a slasher smile for a brief second, her new dark facial expression showing for just a second reflected off the window unable to hold herself back now, her power flowing again.

Just as she was turning to face the crusader, the door opened up, another batch of crusaders from various orders were out in the large hallway of the train. “You say you may have found the true emissary of the Goddess Crusader Xena? You have never named another to be such, and if you have indeed found her without naming any false prophets, you know the value this holds for both our Order and yourself.” One of them asked, clearly the commander of the unit belonging to the 6th Crusader Order, who this crusader served.

“I have... but she has not let me seen her face yet. I do sense great power from.... from... fr...” She stated having turned and looked at the other crusaders, only to stop a bit, blood starting to slowly dribble from her mouth suddenly.

In a quick flash, and clear show of powerful technique, Alexia has moved behind the crusader and plunged one of her short spears right through the back of the crusader's armor, into her lung and out the other side of her chest just barely.

Alexia just pulled back her hood, letting the other crusaders see her full face for a few as she leaned her head over the first crusader's shoulder. “You have no right to speak of honor and glory using my name, and certainly not for personal gain.” She whispered into the elf's ear, her aura showing again, but visibly this time, Alexia's free hand pulling out a spell-card and invoking its magic, changing her outfit for a set of leather armor now, two large quivers on her hips, along with a few magic pouches, her hoodie and sweatpants now stored away.

The rest of the crusaders were all just entirely stunned for a few, the other few passengers in the room clearly not moving either as Alexia thrust the body of the elf forward, knocking all the rest of the crusader's back against the wall, except one of them who just backed up and started. “G-goddess... what have we done... why do you f-forsake us?” The leopard girl asked, only to have the throat cut in a quick motion, Alexia's claws red with blood at her side again, four large gashes on the leopard girl's neck nearly decapitating her.

“Why do they always have to piss me off...” She grumbled, before turning back to the compartment. “You all have two options here... one... make mention of the so called goddess and die, slowly. She is no god, nor do I give them my favor. Option two... forget you saw anything here. I don't give a shit what you do or tell them, where you go or anything, just fuck this image of a goddess...” Alexia stated, a surge of ice appearing in her hand, only to flash freeze the pile of crusaders as she threw another short spear through them into the wall. “If you're really intent to help me... then let's go... I think I may have just of lost my temper and alerted every crusader on the train and then some to my presence...” Alexia stated, her words clearly aimed at Sam, looking right at him before she turned and opened the door the rear car's balcony.

“It may be best if we transit between worlds as quickly as possible... before too many of these bumbling arrogant louts and pig-headed shit stains find us.” She stated as she walked out of the car onto the balcony, already seeing several people who could sense power looking at the train as best they could. "That chasm connects to a dessert world right?" She called back looking at hte chasm that they were near, the small hill having a large tear in it right through the middle, the glow of a void light coming off it of lightly.

Ravyn’s ears kept their focus on the human and the feline. It helped that the room on the train was quiet, it allowed him to hear everything. One ear turned towards the opened door and once again he couldn’t keep his feathers from floofing up at the blood mage. Thankfully they went down rather quickly. He wasn’t too happy to see a crusader and could tell the pair weren’t happy about it either.

When he noticed Sam hand a bar of chocolate and a soda to Alexia. He was tempted to ask if either of them would be willing to sell but decided against it. For now he would remain quiet and listen. Ravyn did notice the curious looks the crusader was giving the feline. He wondered if she knew her but with how much Alexia was avoiding them, he didn’t think it was friendly on the cat’s part.

He put it out of his mind when Sam pulled out a device he hadn’t seen before. It had a screen obviously and looked quite old. Something pre-shatter maybe? The dragon had heard of those that survived the shattering and gained incredible abilities. Was he one? With them so familiar, was she one as well? Maybe that was why the crusaders were after her.

The dragon looked away for a moment at the blood mage and the crusader. This car was full of interesting people. His focus turned back to the human when he heard music coming from the wire going to his ear. Try as hard as he could he couldn’t resist asking about the device and the music. His question had to wait as Sam turned his attention to the crusader and politely asked that she stop staring at Alexia. He was interrupted by her angry reply basically telling the human male to shut up.

It annoyed Ravyn that the crusaders had such disdain for the male gender. Even though he was both, and some of his race that had interacted with them on rare occasions that were both, were treated as bad. If not worse for being part female. There was such hatred for non females, it was no wonder his race avoided them as much as possible.

It started going downhill rather quickly. Each time Sam tried to reason with her, her hand went straight to her sword. He had a feeling that if there wasn’t an audience she would strike the human down to get him to shut up. Her tone shifted quite easily between extremely rude towards the male to sugary sweet towards Alexia.

As he listened, the crusader revealed that she thought the feline was an avatar of their goddess. Alexia did have enough power to pass as one and, from the rumors his kind had collected, looked similar enough to where he could see where she would think that. He hoped it would end without violence but their fanaticism to their goddess was too great and the odds were high a fight would occur.

If he thought she would actually listen to him, he would have tried to get her to stop as well. But that could just make things worse.

“Ma’am… it is in your best interests to leave my employer alone.” Sam’s next warning, which turned out to be the last one offered, was spat on and her hand went back to her sword. Her long winded reply proved how deluded they actually were. Males were less than dirt, only fit to be slaves and breeding studs. How disappointing that there were those out there that thought like this. Females weren’t supposed to rule over males nor were males supposed to rule over females. They were meant to rule equally. At least that’s how his race does it as well as the other races they get along with best.

Once the train passed the boundary, his ears immediately flattened against his head at the sight of the feline’s face. It was, to keep it simple, damned scary. He was beyond glad it wasn’t directed at him. If Alexia was this avatar of theirs or, hell the goddess herself even, she wanted nothing to do with them. The look on her face was akin to murderous hatred. To be honest it made him like her more that she hated them.

It seemed like she would end this conflict quickly until more burst into the room. “You say you may have found the true emissary of the Goddess Crusader Xena? You have never named another to be such, and if you have indeed found her without naming any false prophets, you know the value this holds for both our Order and yourself.” Just when he thought this could end up being a longer battle than expected, in the blink of an eye he looked at the female crusader with a spear sticking out of her back.

He didn’t even see Alexia move. One second she was seated then ‘poof’ appeared behind the crusader Xena with a short spear piercing the crusader’s body. Alexia also answered one question, she admitted she was their goddess and hated the very idea.

Events went quickly from there. Alexia was a sight to see in a fight. She was quick, very efficient and a damn scary fighter. He in no way wanted her as an enemy. He knew he stood no chance against her. The leopard girl was quickly dispatched in a shower of blood. Ravyn didn’t spare a glance at the blood mage, he didn’t want to know what he thought of it all.

Just when he thought she would spare the rest if they agreed to not mention anything that happened, she froze them solid, nice bit of elemental control by the way, and threw a spear through them. Most impressive.

Once the fighting was over and calm fell back on the pair, they decided it would be a good idea to depart the train. After the power that was unleashed, it would be highly unlikely other crusaders weren’t alerted to her presence.

As they left the room, Ravyn grabbed his staff and followed them out. They were already at the end of their conversation when he approached “Please, may I join you?” He asked the pair. “Being part male and having an elemental affinity that could create ice, I think staying wouldn’t be healthy for me. I’d be happy to trade for your temporary companionship if you wish. I think I could be useful and I’d help out however I could. Even if you went after more crusaders.”

His fingers were laced, his legs crossed. He wore a dark smirk on his face. Things were quite splendid, all told.

At first it started slow. He could tell from their rather refrained behaviour and the odd way they dropped subjects of topic that there was more than meets the eye going on.

Th crusader picked up on the cat person's energy quite well. She poked and prodded the woman, trying to make her reveal herself whilst belittling her companion. He had no word to add to this exchange, he simply sat and watched on with a bemused expression. He could feel the tension building like the crisp feel of winter forming it's first snowflake. One might say it was only a matter of breaking the ice.


Thankfully their little back and forth was interrupted by the arrival of the crusader girl's comrades. Their talk of the feline's potential service was cut quite short with a fast and duly warranted impalement through the woman's chest and body armor. For many the motions of the hooded engager would of been far too fast to follow but he could keep track of her movements sufficiently. He was well versed with techniques, knowing a number of his own. Her use of techniques seemed to act in place of magic for her as he watched her rend a anthropomorph's neck before using her technique to freeze the remainder of crusaders solid. At that point given the process of crystallization shattering them was more or less redundant as all that was left to thaw out were their dead bodies.

He stood, paying little mind to the dragonkin who was visibly unnerved by his presence, and strolled on down the car to the scene of the carnage. With the ends of his fingers pressed together he looked over her work, analyzing the mess with his crimson red eyes. "I give it a seven out of ten."


He rated the woman's performance. She was fast and effective however she paid little care towards bringing her foes suffering. Her means were simple yet boring, a means to an end rather than a true display of carnage at it's purest.

Seeing as how they were quite likely suspicious of his being a Hemomancer he spared not a second longer on his old charade. Going over to the flung body of her first victim he grasped the body by the back of it's neck, lifting it up and pressing the corpse against a wall.

"Crimsome Regus, Mortiferous Myst"


He uttered his dark magic, tracing lines with ritualized precision using his index upon the now deceased woman's chest. He could feel the cooling blood in her dead veins animate as he finished his incantation. The arms of the body lifted into position, outstretched against the wall. From his sleeve he produced a simple dagger and with a flick of the wrist he cut down the veins on both arms with the same ease an artist paints on a canvas. As the skin opened up blood started running out along the walls, flowing sideways instead of obeying gravity's laws. They shifted and ebbed like tendrils, eventually hardening against the wall.

As Eduard let the body go the blood held it fast against the wall by it's arms. The blood had formed long fleshy vines which clung to the wall with coagulants. The blood from the wound in the center of the body's chest help up the torso while the vines held the arms. Now that the body was in place he could arm it.


Waving his hand to the side and bringing his index and middle finger to the base of his thumb the blood could be visibly seen churning in the hole left by the hooded feline. The gesture was a preset magical trigger set by him, one of the more customizable aspects of casting. It was always wise to never make the gesture something the caster might make without intending to.

From the corpse up against the wall a red mist started to pour forth from the open wound in the chest. His spell had made the body generate a red mist from it's blood, rather quickly starting to fill the car with it. This way anyone who'd come in would be immediately exposed to the blood, liable to breath it in which is exactly what he wanted. He'd infect the intruders's lungs with corrupting blood which will allow him to directly tap into their blood too. The wonderful part was that since the effect wasn't inherently harmful he could pick and choose just who he wanted to harm and how.


With that set up he turned his attention inward. With a brief series of incantations he enhanced himself with improved physical ability and a number of magical defenses. He made note to protect himself against elemental ice given the company.

Speaking of company he turned to see if he'd drawn any particular amount of attention from the others. Given the number of crusaders on board he imagined he wouldn't take too much priority away from that despite his less than welcoming preparations. He didn't care the slightest as to how they thought of him but less enemies in his immediate vicinity meant less complications. She may of started the blood bath but he was more than happy enough to finish it.

"I presume you'll be getting off before the intended stop. It'll be a few minutes before we're clear of the chasm so even with stones ready to throw I'd ask you stow judgement until we're clear of these zealots first."


With his request pending he turned back to the entrance to their car from the rest of the train. He proceeded over to the anthropomorph who's throat was rent. With a fluid motion of his hands he extracted the blood from the open wound without needing to so much as even touch it. Before him hovered a ball of swirling blood. Extending a finger, the other hand kept still to maintain the blood's stability, he extended a tendril of fluid blood and started painting a Hemomantic rune upon the wall adjacent the door. He did very much the same on the wall opposite to the rune.

This was the Runes of Magic Draining, a set of runes which drains if not outright strips the magic from those who stand between the runes. He placed these as a trap for those coming in so they'd have no arcane protection to bar him from afflicting them most horribly.

He could of set up more magic and turn this whole car into a living death trap but he was fairly certain there was no time for that. Combat was impending.

"Well, didn't roll a nat 20 on persuasion." Sam growled some, raising his hand up. One of the crusaders that had just entered through door at the end of the hall, she was engulfed in a thin layer of blue energy before her neck bent at an unnatural angle and thrown out before the door slammed shut by the same blue energy. He quickly tripped the lock on the door and crushed it, firmly sealing the door in place that would buy them some time.

"Yeah, should give us plenty of breathing room." Sam said, pulling out one of his daggers since a longsword wouldn't be the best choice for close combat like this. He also pulled out his Glock 19, quickly twirling off the silencer and stowed it away. He saw the dragon and blood user approach them, and kept his guard up, but didn't attack. When the dragon asked as well as the blood mage, he blinked some. Given their current situation, staying here would be rather unwise for them to do. "Well, I personally don't have any complaints, but it's up to my employer." he stated.

As he spoke, there was pounding on the door. Through the small window, they could see the crusaders outside trying to force their way in. They had a few seconds before the female warriors decided to use magic. "Well we need to hold them off until we cross the chasm either way." The banging became louder and louder until it finally burst open. However, before the door hit the ground, Sam warped out of existence for a brief moment before appearing next to the door, quickly slitting the throat of a crusader that burst through. Right as the first one fell flat on her face, another entered, but Sam quickly dispatched her with a bullet through her neck. Thankfully the crusaders weren't armored like tanks, making it that much easier to slip small blades and bullets through the openings.

There was a rush of air behind him before he quickly ducked down out of instinct. A silver blade swung across where his head was, but he quickly slammed his back against the mage. He felt the crush of bones, gasp for air and cry of pain. He swiftly turned around and slipped his knife into her throat. His suspicions were somewhat correct, judging from the intense scent of magic coming off of her, but wore light armor and carried a sword rather than a staff, so he could only assume she was a warrior mage of some kind. He let her body fall to the floor before looking too Alexia "Quite the fan club you got here!" he laughed some. Truth be told, he could eliminate a lot of the crusaders with either his magic or abilities, however he didn't want to risk damaging the train, especially since they were about to cross the chasm. "Just remember, if this train stops in the middle of the chasm, we're either fucked or as closed to fucked as you can get. So for all our sake, don't go crazy. We have four people here who can tear apart this train on their own... now we just gotta hope the crusaders have the same mindset." He sighed as he heard another crusader start to stomp through the door.

Alexia's first and foremost concerns laid with herself at the moment, paying only little attention to the others there for the most part, if still keeping her ears open for select words. The few spears that she had launched out from Rain already vanishing and returning to the quivers on her hips as she looked over the rear platform, the balcony of the train.

Behind her, she could hear Sam and at least one other talking turning to see some kind of blue dragon like creature asking to come, as well as seeing a blood mage hard at work, starting to see the shadows of being a Person of Death around them as the group had been so wonderfully named imprinting magical blood runes in the middle of the car, making use of the corpses already.

“So... you two are inviting yourselves to my side are we?” She asked hissing a bit. “Fine... you can run away from this mess with me. This does not mean that I accept you at all. And like I said before... mention anything of that retarded Goddess ideology to me and you will die. I am still restraining myself right now.” She warned, only for something to jump up from the ground, a few more crusaders with air magics letting them jump onto the train from the side.

“Okay you all... I'm going to make this clear. I know that it will take two minutes for this train to enter that giant hole over there...” Alexia started, still facing away from the group, only for one of the younger crusaders, seeing the corpses of their comrades and just acting first, not even taking into account who their assailant could be.

“You... you will pay for killing out sisters!” The dwarf, while still small screamed loudly enough for everyone last few cars of the train to hear, charged forward giving a great swing of her hammer, only for Alexia to side step, the dwarf easily turning on the spot and going for a second swing, an upward one to try and aim for the dead center of her target's chest, Alexia catching the hammer in its upward strike, stopping the hammer, only for its magical properties to strike out at her, hundreds of windy blades assaulting her, a sort of death of a thousand small cuts like magics trying to assault her. This only barely worked though cutting up her armor, and while some blood spilling from the cat girl as she was forced back a few steps, covering her body as pieces of her simple leather armor were cut away from her chest, she was still able to just ignore the weak attack against her.

It was at this point that the crusaders, even the dwarf girl realized who the cat girl resembled so much, the older two crusaders in the batch of five screaming out, trying to get the dwarf to stop, but it was too late.

Alexia forcibly help the top of her chest piece up with her hand, her anger showing in full now. The train was slowly and making its turn toward the hill passing through a series of magi-tech rings that would boost the gravity effect the train had to keep all of the passenger's feet in the right place as it started the massive fall through the chasm.

Like before Alexia just dashed forward, another spear in hand, this time a strong electrical charge over the spear as she plunged it right down through the dwarf's head, the spear acting like a very strong and violent electrical chair for the girl, making her suffer a bit before finally frying her brain and making her heart explode inside her chest.

The other crusader's just looked on, only to quickly knee, all of the begging forgiveness of the goddess through her gifted emissary, only one actually calling Alexia the goddess herself. She just hissed again, and loudly in anger, four spears thrown in anger impaling each of them and sending them all off the train, the three who referred to her as an emissary of the goddess getting iced over with powerful ice based techniques, the one who had the nerve to call her the goddess becoming a living lightning rod was she was forcibly thrown back.

Alexia just looked up through the car, able to see plenty of other crusaders trying to barge through the door on the far end of the car from the bulk of the train trying to get in. She just hissed a bit more, still holding her chest piece on, before pulling out another spell-card, her real armor this time. With a flash of light, Alexia now stood in a large red trench coat, bloody red with large shoulder pads being the bulk of her armor, but the coat was opened around her chest, revealing her shorts and sarashi bandages over her chest as well. Many parts of the armor were also covered in some kind of strange writing, a weird and dark, almost tainted and evil looking written dialect that seemed to be almost crazy in and of itself. “So Sam... finished my Dead Coat... Think I'll finally stopped getting hit on at the fucking bars by bullshit idiots who think that little catgirl is too fucking cute to not try to get into bed now?” She growled a bit, uncaring who heard as she looked over, another minute before they would cross the barrier, looking up to see some crusaders trying to get at them by walking along the top of the train car.

“Okay here's how this works you two. You want to follow, here's what I am doing. Once we get into the chasm a good way, maybe a minute or two in, we're jumping off. We're going to out race that train and get the other side first, at which point we make our way to the next near chasm that doesn't lead to a Crusader World and then we go our separate ways unless you can prove to me you intend to go to war to fuck up the crusader's entire way of life. Because if there is one thing that they have done... its fucking piss me off.” She stated firmly, letting her aura slowly change to match the look of her new armor now, before turning to look over the back of the train, revealing a massive bleached bone white twin spiral symbol, a giant Marker Symbol from one of her more favored games before the shattering-event.

"I'd add a few skulls from different species to your waist or something, it'd really add a nice touch." He laughed with a nod. Sam quickly resealed the door before they crossed into the chasm, now all of their abilities were useless for now, even his guns were now reduced to their base functionality, but it'd be more than enough to keep the crusaders off. He quickly switched to his dragon bone bow and knocked an arrow. "Name's Sam, nice to meet ya both, I'm just a tag along on Alexia's little war of rage. So I kinda am technically her employee, but believe me when I say she really doesn't need a bodyguard....also, I finally realized where the markings on your coat are from. Nice touch. Any chance you still got a working copy of the trilogy?" He asked, hearing the crusaders starting to bang on the door once more, a fresh round of them coming out.

Thankfully, now that they were in the chasm, they'd have a harder time getting through the do, but that didn't mean they wouldn't get through. Sam pulled back an arrow and carefully aimed, currently using a dragon bone arrow given the fact that he needed to get through metal armor. He released the string before the arrow slipped through the window, cries of anger echoing through their car as one of the crusaders fell. He would prefer to use one of his guns in this fight, but the chasm prevented anything above simple weapons from working. However, this is one of the primary reasons he owned the bow, in the case he was caught in such a situation.

Sam continued to fire arrow after arrow through the window until someone pressed a tower shield against the opening. He growled some, without the enchantments that would normally work on the bow, he wouldn't be able to pierce a thick wall of tempered metal. By now, about a minute had passed since they passed into the chasm as they all backed up to the balcony on the end of the train. "Alright, just give the signal and we'll hop off this crazy train." Sam stated, the banging from the door growing louder and louder.

The door burst open as the crusaders all gave battle cries, a couple were cut short as arrows pierced their necks, Sam making sure to focus on the exposed areas in their armor. "Sooooo Alexia, any chance I can get a raise after this?" He chuckled some, a crusader launching several bolts from a crossbow at Sam, but he quickly dodged before they dug themselves into the walls of the hallway, as well as breaking a few windows. He continued firing arrow after arrow at the ever growing force of crusaders. While he wasn't anywhere near Vex's top archers, he could hold his own in 'normal' situations. "Alexia, remind me to bill your fan club for making me use so many arrows. Those things aren't cheap to commission ya know?" he sighed.

Ravyn could hear the words of the blood mage and shivered as he tried to ignore them. Though he had to admit he had an interesting sense of humor, though he would have given the feline a higher rating. Hearing some of the magic he was working on, he was glad he left the room when he did. Whatever was going on he didn’t want to see it.

As Ravyn watched the crusaders try to bash their way in, a silvery and liquid like metal began covering him. It originated from various spots, namely wings, feet, arms, and head. In a very short time the liquid appearing metal solidified. It had a faint blue tint and covered the dragon from head to toe. The once soft feathers on his head, wings, and tail were now razor sharp and could cut through pretty much anything and even some enchanted metals. Even his claws looked sharper than before.

“Persistent aren’t they?” His voice had a synthetic quality to it as though the armor was speaking for him. He kept his wings close to his body and his tail still. It wouldn’t be good to accidentally harm his allies. “After we’re safe, I’d love to hear how this all started.” As he finished the door was busted in and fell to the ground. He watched Sam vanish and reappear next to the door frame and slit the throat of the first one through the door then shoot the next. Sam was not someone to be an enemy of. Neither was Alexia. The current batch didn’t last long against his speed and weapons.

"Just remember, if this train stops in the middle of the chasm, we're either fucked or as closed to fucked as you can get. So for all our sake, don't go crazy. We have four people here who can tear apart this train on their own... now we just gotta hope the crusaders have the same mindset." Ravyn heard Sam say to the three of them. He did have a point, if the train broke down the fight would last way longer. “I’ll keep that in mind.” The dragon replied.

In the lull of the battle, he listened to Alexia’s words. One being not to mention the goddess stuff. On that note he decided to ask Sam about it when out of ear shot of the dangerous feline. But the good thing is he wouldn’t be turned away. Alexia’s plan was rudely interrupted by yet another group of crusaders, This time with a female dwarf in the lead. The dwarf put up an impressive, if futile, fight. Even wielding an enchanted hammer, so like a dwarf. It was a pity though it damaged the feline’s clothes. It only served to enrage her more. It didn’t help that they recognized her as their goddess.

The dwarf didn’t last long as the electrified spear was plunged into the dwarf’s head. The female twitched as she was electrocuted. He almost laughed then the rest kneeled before “their goddess” to beg for forgiveness. Four spears thrown by their goddess ended their begging.

“So Sam... finished my Dead Coat... Think I'll finally stopped getting hit on at the fucking bars by bullshit idiots who think that little catgirl is too fucking cute to not try to get into bed now?” Alexia’s words made him wince at the thought of anyone foolish enough to try to get her into bed. He had a feeling that if they did live, they were probably left without one of their favorite body parts.

A pity, it seemed like he wasn’t going to get any attacks in. Oh well. Being around the pair it would only be a matter of time.

Ravyn listened to her plan. It was pretty simple. Jump off, go to a chasm that goes to a non crusader world, split up or stay and help make the crusaders rue the day they worshipped her as their goddess. “I’ll join you. I have a feeling it will be quite a learning experience.” As he spoke, his ear caught the sound of crusaders on top of the train. He took his staff and touched the blue gem at the base to the roof of the car. At first nothing happened then ice and frost quickly spread across it, covering the inside and outside in solid slippery ice. The ice covered the door leading to the rest of the train. The one at the back was still usable. “I think I can be of assistance.” By now the blood mage finished his spells and joined the trio. “Let me know if you need a ride. I only warn you, no using your blood magic on me or I hope you can fly as well. If either of you need me to carry you two I can. None of you look…that…” He paused at the bone white spiral symbol. “What is that? I don’t think I’ve seen that before.”

“Hello Sam. I’m Ravyn Arcadia Valos. It’s nice to meet you.” The armor on his hand liquified and vanished as he offered his hand for him to shake. “And you are Alexia. It is very interesting to meet you both.” After he introduced himself he listened to Sam chat with the feline. What trilogy was he referring to he wondered. A question for later. What crusaders didn’t fall off from him coating the roof with a sheet of ice, Sam expertly picked off with his arrows. He couldn’t help but laugh at the comment about billing the crusaders for the arrows. The look on their faces if he actually did that would be a sight to see. “So what are your homeworlds out of curiosity?” Ravyn asked while they waited for the best time to jump.

While their car had yet to enter the chasm, a location where magic was null, he started putting his mind to figuring out how he was going to spend the next few minutes passing through it. His recollection of the properties that chasms possess is that when one enters their gravity is pulled to the exit, focusing anything entering on falling through until it emerges into normal space again. While the train was designed to ferry people safely through it didn't mean it was the only means of crossing a chasm. Falling would get people across just fine so long as they had a means of managing the landing.

Which he could do just fine. He just needed to prepare a body to take care of his fall past the chasm.


“Okay here's how this works you two. You want to follow, here's what I am doing. Once we get into the chasm a good way, maybe a minute or two in, we're jumping off. We're going to out race that train and get the other side first, at which point we make our way to the next near chasm that doesn't lead to a Crusader World and then we go our separate ways unless you can prove to me you intend to go to war to fuck up the crusader's entire way of life. Because if there is one thing that they have done... its fucking piss me off.”

"Fair enough. I'll get to making my way across." He casually replied, only half-listening to what she had to say. For the most part he generally tuned out most of what everyone was saying as it was by and large irrelevant to him. He knew what he was doing, he didn't need to be told as such by his current company.


His interest quickly waned in the ongoing conflict as it seemed the two were most focused on executing foes quickly. It was boring, dispatching foes simply as a means to an end. He found it mildly amusing that the two might find some of her methods brutal. Perhaps effective in it's own right but brutal? Far from it.

He picked up the dead body of a large crusader slain by Sam and took it out to the back balcony. He wasn't going to be long, most certainly not long enough to enter the chasm before he was done.


With his knife he engraved runes on the dead body, a handy way of getting a spell to go off without taking time to verbally and physically cast it. Finished with that he simply carved open the torso, cracking open the ribs with his enhanced strength and removing the organs from within. With a level of confidence bought with much practice he paid little to no mind to the meat he was tossing into the landscape fading below them. When it came to operating on bodies he was skilled enough to not concern himself with minute details, handling all the specifics on instinct. With the body hollowed out it was going to serve nicely as his vessel once out of the chasm. The broken ribs provided nice little handles to hold onto as well.

He waited at the back, looking over the side to the front of the train with an impatient frown as he chasm started to close in. With the three handling them he was fairly sure the crusaders would be of little inconvenience before he was ready to dive in, body under arm.

Alexia cared little for the others as she just watched the train pass through the chasm entrance, the light of Gen Chari fading quickly as the cyan blue ethereal shine took effect over the train. She could hear the sounds of combat behind her, but wasn't too interested with it, just making sure that no one followed after them right away.

After a few seconds during which nothing else could be seen jumping down after them, Alexia turned and just in time too, side stepping a great sword, a few of the crusaders having clawed feet to step past Ravyn's ice on the top of the car. More were coming as well as she flat out decked gnoll crusader who dared to strike her, the canine's body crashing hard into the back of the train, already breaking a few ribs from Alexia's demonic strength, before being kicked clean off the back of the train screaming and howling out as she started to vanish in the lights behind left behind compared to the train's rapid decent through the void.

Alexia took a few to look over the gnoll's weapon, almost as big as she was, before jumping up and grabbing the top of the train, digging her claws into the ceiling a bit to keep her footing herself.

There before her were at least a dozen crusaders, Alexia just slowly raising the blade out to the side with one arm, a partial show of strength, but mostly just to get a feel for how heavy the weapon was, deciding if it she could throw it accurately without her techniques or if was better to just use the broad end more as a club and knock everyone out of her way.

Already through, as usual, her presence was having something of an effect on a few crusaders, some of them looking over her and having to look twice or more just to see who it was there standing before them.

“The Goddess you so highly praise is angry... enjoy her wraith.” She stated before charging forward, her hard foot falls, cracking Ravyn's ice so she wouldn't slip sounding nicely as she quickly made her way along the roof, her foot falls followed but a quick scream as once again, a crusader was thrown from the train and fell behind.

A few of the crusaders doubted Alexia's words though, and didn't seem phased right away by the black and blue feline in front of them, and quickly moved to try and kill or capture her, only to be met with her powerful resistance, one swinging a heavy headed staff down, two more at the crusader's side with great axes trying to attack from the left and right.

Alexia just used her new sword to bounce the staff back up though, before getting right in their faces, out of way of the ax heads, and giving a full swing of the swing of the sword through all of them, cutting the first one in half completely, and digging the blade heavily and almost all the through the second one before it got stuck, letting go of the sword and taking up an ax as all three of the crusaders were thrown off the train as well.

Very few crusaders were even close to her equal as she looked over the next group of crusaders who were all backing away some now. “Come closer...” She hissed a bit. “I'm still angry.” She stated firmly, before dashing forward, now entirely over Ravyn's icy patch and no longer worried about slipping, giving massive downward swing of the ax, a few crusaders falling on their own now from her attack, trying to evade but with no where near enough room, others just tripping over themselves in fear to fall off.

A loud crash sounded though regardless, Alexia having dug the ax clean into the top of the next car, only three crusaders left standing from the dozen or so that had been there. She just gave her dark smile again as she moved past the embedded ax and dared them to step forward.

“Do you dare stand in my way?” She hissed a bit, one of the remaining three quickly jumping back and over the side of the train, grabbing the side and going back into one of the windows that they must have come out of in the first place. “At least one of you were smart.” She stated before charging forward, using her claws this time and slashing hard at them, constantly forcing them back a bit, before going for a very sudden low kick that knocked them both off the train leaving Alexia a perfect platform to run down and build up speed. “You move or you get left behind!” Alexia shouted out very loudly announcing that she was ready to run and get off the train now.

Although not as quickly as before, she easily dashed down the rest of the train, building up speed over the 20 some cars before reaching the engine, easily jumping the entire length of the engine to give herself a starting leap, landing on the very edge and tip of the engine care, and with one last mighty kick off, took off like a rocket, easily out speeding the grav-train.

Alexia knew that it would be a few hours now in free fall, just looking ahead of her as she fell, making sure to keep her arms and legs close to her to keep her speed. Once again, the letter from Mira Juneborn flowed through her head. It was the letter after that had really sparked her “desire” to do something, her need to admit she had no other choice if she wanted things to change. Either way now though, it looked like war was coming at her hand, and as she fell, she couldn't care less about any crusaders who got in her way. At first, it would be information gathering, checking her facts, and then she would march on Zenos. The sooner, the better, but in the end, Zenos would just be the first step. There were hundreds of crusader controlled worlds after all, but Zenos was among the biggest of their known capitals.

As she thought through, another name rose up in her mind. Brea Ever-Tongue, supposed leader of another order, but one that didn't think that she had straight up caused the shattering-event, one who wanted to speak with the goddess and learn the truth if the rumors were true. Alexia couldn't help but think that perhaps Brea would be a good second stop on her own march to put an end the crusader. Zenos would clearly be first, an example of sorts in way or another, to try and stop any more Crusades from taking more worlds, but perhaps Brea would be willing to help spread the truth of Alexia.

For Alexia so lost deep in her thoughts though, she hardly noticed the others there behind her a short distance, only the bright red glow of the ruby lights caught her attention, she was nearing the end of the void and fast, she needed to get ready to land, and refocused herself for now.

It didn’t offend him when none of the others introduced themselves. Now wasn’t really the best time with a bunch of crazy crusaders trying to attack them. It was a good thing Alexia chose to ignore them as a few snuck by his ice trap. Thankfully the vastly powerful feline early took care of them. Ravyn’s ice magic ceased when they entered the chasm so he put his staff back on his back. The ice stopped spreading when they passed into the void but it would still take a while to melt. Especially around the connecting door that had a thick coating.

Ravyn turned in time to see Alexia pull herself on top of the train car. Not that she needed it but he decided to follow just in case. His armored claws dug into the train car as he climbed up like a hot knife through butter. It took only moments to climb up and watch Alexia take on the ones that didn’t slip off.

He would have melted the ice for her but she was strong enough to break the ice with her feet. Knowing he would be in the way if he jumped in to help, the dragon decided to wait and watch her work. Every move thus far he kept in his mind to be added to his “interesting people” section of his map. He knew his race would like to hear what the crusader’s goddess was really like, how powerful she is, and how much she hates being their goddess.

No matter what weapon the feline uses, she’s deadly with each one. Sword, staff, ax, she appeared to be a pro using it. Though unarmed she is still deadly. One after another went down to her attacks. A couple were cut in half, others were thrown off, or dispatched in other grisly ways. As she moved past his ice patch, he followed. The ice didn’t stop him or hinder him at all. His feet held firm as though he was walking over normal ground. He couldn’t help but laugh at how she taunted them. It even seemed to get one to turn tail and get back on the train.

“You move or you get left behind!” Alexia said to him and the others. Before he could say anything, she bolted ahead running over the roof of the train to build up speed then with a powerful kick, jumped off. Not wanting to be left behind, Ravyn ran forward too. His foot claws bored holes with each step he took.

As his speed increased, his form changed. He grew bigger, longer, and went to all fours as his speed increased. His wings grew much longer and a second smaller set grew below them. The staff on his back melded into the armor that effortlessly adapted to his new form. While his speed didn’t reach that of Alexia’s, but, with his wings, was able to get fairly close. “WEEE!!!!” Ravyn laughed and cried out as he dove into the abyss after the feline.

The now feral form dragon wasn’t close enough to any of the others to chat so he went over the events of the day in his mind. He has had adventures before but none quite as exciting as this. The only one that compares was when he explored some very interesting ruins. It ended up being a very worthwhile trip as well. He spared a look behind him and saw the other two members of Alexia’s band falling behind him.

What an interesting group he joined. A powerful feline worshipped as the crusader’s goddess. A male human with some surprises as well who is a friend of the feline’s. And… a blood mage. The only one of the group he didn’t want to be around with his dark magic. For now he would avoid being close to him at least until he learns more about him. He became lost in his thoughts long enough that he could see the ruby lights signifying the end was approaching. His wings spread wide to begin slowing his descent.

As Alexia got on top of the roof, Sam fell back to the rear of the train while Alexia started tearing crusaders limb from limb. Sam retreated to the back of the train while firing off arrow after arrow until he was at the back. By then, the crusaders were trying to bulldoze their way to him. Not wanting to waste all his arrow as well as not fall behind, he grabbed the edge of the roof and pulled them up. He ran alongside Ravyn while they took off after Alexia. He growled as wings sprouted out of his back, propelling him far forward, making leaps of 30ft rapidly while sticking close to the train. He drew his two daggers before charging into a group of crusaders that formed to block their path. As the front one thrusted their spear at him, he quickly parried and rushed in, slitting her throat. Just as he did so, another crusader tried to bring her war axe down on his spine, but he quickly dodged and shoved his knife through the bottom of her jaw.

He kept charging however, shoving his way through the group and even pushed a few over the sides before he continued charging. He saw Alexia further ahead of him, and picked up the pace until he launched himself ahead of the train. Once he was in free fall, he kept pushing himself faster and faster until he was beside Alexia and Ravyn “Ok so, chances are we’re gonna get a nice welcoming when we get there. Do you want to run or fight?” He stated. He saw the red light coming up, and readied himself to make sure when he landed he didn’t wind up a nice red spot on the stone of the station. Thanks to his power, he could cancel out a lot of damage from physical damage. He could probably even give a semi-decent sparing match with Alexia, but that wasn’t something he wanted to test just yet, especially since she was considerably angry at how her plans were thrown out the window.
In all honesty, Sam knew what he was getting himself into, and he wanted to give it a shot. While the empire Alexia was after wasn’t the same one that screwed him over the first time, it would definitely give a nice outlet for some old anger.

“Run, get out as quickly as possible and without being seen. I still need information. After we get out, we’ll cross another chasm start over from there.”

“Gotcha. In that case, let me quiet our landing then.” As soon as they crossed the exit, Sam put up the barrier and surrounded his body in a blue glow.

Watching the fight he saw the three pretty much take the fight to the rooftops. Seeing as he was in no shape to take the whole train on himself right exactly right now he got up on top of the train, swinging up onto the roof quite deftly. Despite his thin frame he was quite physically capable. One doesn't learn as much Blood Magic as he has without taking a look at improving himself at some point. Even if the means to acquire his fine build was magical the result is wholly natural, at least enough to count in a chasm. If magical creatures could pass through the chasm unharmed then he could maintain changes made to the physical form through magic prior to the trip.

Atop the frozen roof of the grav train a number of crusaders had made their way up. The three others seemed to make short work of the enemies in their way, the feline woman leading the attack as they carved a path to the front of the train.


One by one they leapt from the front of the train towards the exit. The cat woman used pure force to propel herself down while the other two donned wings to lift off and descend with. The one had shifted into a dragonkin form wholly, shedding it's more anthropomorphic qualities to take a more animalistic shape. Hardly surprising given the fellow's former appearance.

With that Eduard ran forth, following in the path carved by the supposed goddess of this strange crusade. Despite his fleetness he was the slowest of the three, barred from magic which would of simplified matters greatly. Regardless he leapt from the front, plunging at a standard rate for a person to fall.


As the others were well out of speaking range given the wind's constant howling past creating significant interfering noise he simply focused on his aim, the end of the tunnel. Tucked under his arm he still carried the dead body he was going to use once past the chasm. It's body had been hollowed out to provide a suitable vessel to carry himself within. With some time until he arrived he set his focus to what was to come.

The woman had spoke of her fight with her own worshipers. She was quite keen to declare outright war on them, a matter he had little objection towards. While he wasn't committed to her cause he could see some benefit in the wreckage it could produce. He saw some great opportunities to take advantage of. His interest was not in simple profit nor in thwarting their overarching plots. His main interest was the opportunity to do something he had never done before. Something he had been planning to do for some time.


The end was near. He braced for the feeling of his magic to resume. He wore a dark smile as he knew as soon as the train exited the chasm his enchantments therein would resume, flooding the cars with a red mist and some runes to strip their defenses away. It pleased him to know that soon his work would prove a menace to the station this train stops at.