Elementals: The Black Beast (IC, Sign-ups only)

[Zarkenis Ultima]

As he walked through the trail in the woods, Tristan continued whistling to himself, a tune that he'd never heard before in his life soon forming, though he didn't think much of it, content with following the path of dirt and trees laid out before him. If he continued walking at a good pace, the ice artist figured, then he should be able to find Aldraniri and the river soon enough, so for now, he simply whistled as he thought of some things. Some things like, for example, how, even though he had been through a lot of life-threatening situations and less than desirable moments, he had, all in all, enjoyed the past several days. He felt stronger, for one. Better at fighting. More skillful with his magic. Less... Afraid of everything. Those experiences sure had helped him built some character, or whatever, the youth guessed. He also had some good times with his fellow Elementals, and of course, he'd found Lisoette. A wide smile spread across his face as he thought of her, wondering where she was right now.

But he was distracted from this when he heard a voice not far. It sounded like Aldraniri's voice, talking about... Whatever a 'phoenix' was. And he also heard the flow of water. Knowing he'd arrived to where he was headed, the Ice Elemental hastened his pace somewhat, quickly reaching Aldraniri and the river in the midst of the former's conversation with his horse. It was an odd thing, conversing with animals, but he figured it wasn't the strangest habit he had seen in Gallians, and Tristan didn't understand much of what he was talking about either way, so he simply thought nothing of it.

"Oh, not very long, I just arrived. Why?" The Elemental said, before approaching the river and looking at it. "Is this clean?"

[Constaniana]

"I suppose you have a point..." Kroisoto replied, unsure of what else to say. Flacht's particular strain of Southemen accent was immensely different from Charlie's melodic inflection, and much more difficult to understand, but the nobleman had attained a decent grasp of it by now. What he didn't have much of a grasp of was a decent knowledge about much else about her. They had pried her name from her, but not much else. Why she had been kidnapped, what her life was like before, what her favourite colour was...all these things and more were naught but enigmas. Kroie heard Trish's dress rustling and glanced over to see her approaching him. He cocked his head curiously as sue produced a roll of parchment and unfurled it, revealing a very strange drawing.

"What...did you make this? Or did someone give it to you?" Kroisoto looked at Trish inquisitively, making a hand gesture of scribbling on the parchment. Why in the world would she have a drawing of some heathen ritual? She hadn't been involved in it, had she?

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Trish stood patiently next to Kroisoto as she waited for the nobleman to answer her question in some form or another. Soon enough he spoke up, though his words meant very little to her still, as she was not yet very knowledgeable regarding Gallish, the language of these people she found herself traveling with. She did, however, understand what his gesture had meant to convey, and she nodded at him as she pointed at herself, confirming that she did make it. Afterwards, thinking of what else to do, she handed him the drawing for a moment, remembering what she had done with the Bishop back at the Cathedral. Taking out the kaleidoscope Eric gave her, she covered her eyes and then made a broad gesture, before pointing at the strange little object and giving it to Kroisoto as well, hoping he would understand that she meant the drawing was something she saw in a vision.

[Constaniana]

"I was just, well, wondering how long you me conversing with a horse...talking a lot with animals tends to be seen as a weird thing. But I suppose you wouldn't know that, really..." Aldraniri replied, scratching his hair a bit, "Aye, the water seems clean enough. None too filled with fish, though," the boy answered, reeling in his line and laying back on the grass.

"What were the fish like back where you came from? Or horses?" Aldraniri asked.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Tristan turned to Aldraniri upon hearing him answer his first question, giving him a puzzled look. Was talking to animals really that weird among Gallians? He had to admit he really hadn't seen many people do it during his journeys, but compared to some of the stuff Gallians did do, it hardly seemed abnormal or strange. Indeed, he wouldn't know that, and so the Ice Elemental shrugged in response.

Aldraniri's second answer, however, was something that pleased him, and so, smiling, he took off his boots and sat down next to the stream, taking his canteen and dipping it into the water in order to fill it up once again, as the Nature Elemental had left it empty a few minutes earlier.

"Fish?" Tristan asked, thinking. "Oh, the litte water things? There weren't a lot of them inland, but near the shores there were lots of black and white walking birds that ate them. They were fun to watch. I didn't really get to take a close look at the fish, though. Those animals ate them too quickly for me to look at them, and even when I was on the ship to Gallia... Well, sailors are very similar to walking birds, now that I think about it." The Ice Elemental said, noticing that the canteen was full. Satisfied, he closed it and placed it aside, before taking off his shirt and similarly placing it aside. Into the stream he then went, glad to be inside cleansing water for the first time in a while.

"There weren't horses either. The closest things were just those big white roar-roars, but those scared me a lot back then. Horses don't, because they seem nice, but I guess that after going through an Inferno, a horse isn't going to scare me very much anyway." He continued, finishing his answer.

[Minroz]

The Sahranjjite siblings were bushed, needless to say. From dealing with the Watchtower mayhem and an escape with their companions three weeks ago, they also decided to rest and chat with their newfound friends. The two had been observing their companion’s discussions, absorbing the information they understood into their minds in order to ascertain for the next course of actions. Nevertheless, both Temujin and Aisha agreed it’s better to lay low and keep finding Aldry’s friend, out of their altruistic souls. They weren't going to give up, nor willing to turn back on their promise to help.

Now, Temujin was making a specially-brewed tea from their Sahranjjite homeland, the fire which warmed up the kettle is courtesy of his foster sister. Tea was for everyone if they felt like it.

“Aiya, it’s been three week ever since we pulled the stunt.” Aisha pointed out the obvious to remind the others about their attempted infiltration of the Watchtower lab and afterwards. “Just to be sure, where are we going to exactly? I don’t think we can stay around here forever otherwise these Watchtower fools or any of their hired swords will surely try to catch up with us.”

“Aisha-jie, even so, we shouldn’t dwell too much about it. Even with magic, it will take our pursuers a long while to reach us. Safe to say, we shouldn’t lose sleep while thinking about it.” Temujin chirped in, trying to be an optimist despite his evident shyness.

“I suppose so, little brother.” The teenage maiden sighs. Part of her mind wanted to slap his head silly for his naïveté but she couldn’t for some reason. Her heart (her hormones as well) beat whenever she thought about him.

When Aisha saw Temujin was feeding breadcrumbs to a group of birds, the black-haired girl inwardly smiled; it reminded her of the time he got surrounded by the flock of sparrows and cats when they were children, oddly enough Temujin is an animal magnet. It nevertheless warmed her heart. They were things she loved about her little brother. He was a kind soul, who was gentle to any living beings, his strong sense of justice to right the wrong-doings and ultimately his willingness to help others - regardless of who they are including strangers. These were the traits made Aisha fall in love with her foster brother.

“What the hell I’m thinking? A brother and sister shouldn’t be doing this, it’s wrong! Engaging in such…acts with him of all people, gods, what’s wrong with me?” she thought shamefully to herself. Aisha looked up to the skies with the contemplative stare. “But…can I?”

Her stares seemed to ask the heavens themselves why they must play a cruel joke on her.

[Constaniana]

"You...saw it from far away?" Kroisoto asked, trying to interpret this more complicated gesture from Trish. It looked like she was holding a spyglass in her hand; Kroie hadn't thought she would have possession of such a thing or knowledge of how to use it. He glanced through it for a few moments, realizing it was a kaleidoscope instead, and the Aurennian began getting a somewhat better idea of what Trish was trying tell him. "You saw it...oddly? Oh! Like a vision!" Kroisoto frowned. Visions of strange magic rituals did not bode particularly well.

The scion of Auregen turned his head in the direction of the smell of curious tea, beginning to walk over in that direction, "I was intending on retuning to Auregen, before my father begins to think I could have died, or still remain in the custody of those who attacked my family's country manor. I'm not sure how far north we've gone, though..." Kroisoto trailed off as he heard the sound of twigs snapping. The sound built for a few moments, until a pair of giant black birds burst into the clearing from the forest.

They looked like shaggy black owls, standing eight feet tall. Their beaks were long and jagged, and their eyes were murky amber pits. An unnatural smell emanated from them, and they were looking at the group with mad malevolence. Screeches went forth, breaking the morning peace, and they attacked; one towards sleeping Erosen, and another towards Kroisoto, Aisha and Temujin. The Aurennian blasted it back with some water magic, but the demented bird continued on relentlessly.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Trish waited for Kroisoto to react to her gestures, wondering if he knew something useful after all or if she had merely been wasting her time, but rather than give her a definite answer, one that was understandable for her, he simply continued speaking strange words. When he finally said the word vision, she nodded energically, confirming that it was indeed a vision, remembering that such was the word that the Bishop had used to describe her experience three weeks earlier, at the Cathedral. She hoped that, if he understood what she was trying to tell him, he would think of some response for her.

However, instead of that, he seemed to be intrigued by the smell of something one of the strange people was brewing. It annoyed her quite a bit, as she understood that, indeed, she had mostly just wasted her time with that. Sighing, she sat down next to the fire once again.

And then, suddenly, two large creatures flew into the clearing. They looked like the small flying beasts that she could see in the skies of Gallia from time to time, but black, and much stranger. More than scared or disgusted, the girl was curious, but that did not mean she couldn't understand the intent of these monsters, and so, seeing one of them head towards the sleeping plantman, she casually ordered Theris to stand protectively in front of where he was lying, in the perfect position to defend him if the bird decided to attack, but not quite doing anything other than stand there. Trish, herself, merely stood up, grabbing Fenrirtusk from the ground and holding it firmly as she observed the black birds intently.

[Kassaran]

It was strange, his mind was empty. Blank. it was the first time he'd slept in a long time, but suddenly something began to tug at the nothingness, a sound, a whispering. Deep and low, but indistinguishable from the general point of origin, which was what? his eyes snapped open to see the Gorillach standing over him, and he instinctively rolled out from under it, only to find himself rolling towards the feet of a very large, very dark, and from his own experience looking at such animals, a very hungry bird which towered over him. Rolling again out of instinct as a massive talon sunk into the ground where his head had been but a moment sooner, he found himself on his feet, low to the ground, and with his hand extended out to his side.

"Alright, you want to fight, let's fight." leaping forward,, he let himself remember the time before he had corrupted himself, when he had still fought with his hands, but this time something felt different, and looking down he could see slight streaks of what looked like a dark mist forming around his hands like condensation as he moved through the air towards the large creature.

[Ameriganastan]

Eric simply sat there, taking a few puffs from his hash pipe.

"Man, this stuff kicked in faster than normal. It's making me see giant bird monster things. That's what I get for buying from a guy with 7 fingers and a fork in his pocket."

He leaned back against a tree.

"I'm willing to share by the way."

[The Grey Wolf]

Flacht eyes darted up at the skies, gazing at the flying creatures that reminded her of owls. "Och come on!" she gritted her teeth, jumping up from her seat, channeling the irritation and confusion within her and sending a fireball at one of the fowl. "Wha be ye gaun dae, lean thare?" she asked the others, before hurling another fireball at one of the birds. "Help me fell tae bluidy things."

The static sound seemed to appear in her head once more, causing Flacht to yelp, stopping her from her task. Clutching at her head, the southerner muttered obscene curses from her homeland, a number of which were easily discernible in common tongue. Memories resurfaced. A house burning down, someone hitting her wrist with a yardstick, a charred bed and body, and the horrible burn she left on the face of another girl who had been in the orphanage with her.

They had been friends, been together through thick and thin, and Flacht lost her temper for one second and destroyed everything she had ever known. The sound of the sizzling flesh, the horrible burn, the manager of the orphanage walking in on the sight. She was a good woman, she didn't need to see it. All Flacht could do was run.

"Bluidy hecklebirnie," she muttered.

[Constaniana]

Tristan turned to Aldraniri upon hearing him answer his first question, giving him a puzzled look. Was talking to animals really that weird among Gallians? He had to admit he really hadn't seen many people do it during his journeys, but compared to some of the stuff Gallians did do, it hardly seemed abnormal or strange. Indeed, he wouldn't know that, and so the Ice Elemental shrugged in response.

Aldraniri's second answer, however, was something that pleased him, and so, smiling, he took off his boots and sat down next to the stream, taking his canteen and dipping it into the water in order to fill it up once again, as the Nature Elemental had left it empty a few minutes earlier.

"Fish?" Tristan asked, thinking. "Oh, the litte water things? There weren't a lot of them inland, but near the shores there were lots of black and white walking birds that ate them. They were fun to watch. I didn't really get to take a close look at the fish, though. Those animals ate them too quickly for me to look at them, and even when I was on the ship to Gallia... Well, sailors are very similar to walking birds, now that I think about it." The Ice Elemental said, noticing that the canteen was full. Satisfied, he closed it and placed it aside, before taking off his shirt and similarly placing it aside. Into the stream he then went, glad to be inside cleansing water for the first time in a while.

"There weren't horses either. The closest things were just those big white roar-roars, but those scared me a lot back then. Horses don't, because they seem nice, but I guess that after going through an Inferno, a horse isn't going to scare me very much anyway." He continued, finishing his answer.

"Aye, I suppose the spawn of Tenaembra are a lot more frightening than any Galllian horse..." said Aldraniri, before smirking a bit, "Unless the spawn has blonde hair, eh?"

The mention of Lisoette made Aldraniri's thoughts turn away from more questions about Tristan's frigid homeland and the fauna it possessed towards thinking about the night in graveyard when he had gotten in the middle of Richard and Alselia's fight. He was strongly reconsidering his initial judgement of her as evil now. Yes, she was a Daemonness, but Lisoette had taught them all by now that a Daemonness wasn't necessarily wicked. Granted, that was only one hellborn, and he hadn't seen a good Daemonne yet, but it wasn't too ludicrous to think there could be other good individuals in Lisoette's species, especially with how Richard had mentioned some people believing Daemonnes had free will and feelings. Of course, Aldraniri was now of the opinion that they certainly had free will and emotion and all the rest of it, as he couldn't see what good it would do an evil god having a servant of his run away and go about with people who were wrecking his things.

So if there was the chance that Alselia was good, why would Richard have been fighting her? They obviously knew each other, and Alselia had said how Richard had been causing trouble of some sort, and Richard had generally been shifty about what he was doing in that graveyard anyways, not to mention them both saying he reminded them of someone...bloody hell, why was everything complicated now? He hadn't wanted any of this. Aldraniri just wanted to find Heilaga and go home, even if Master Jarnsmon would be utterly livid with him and tanned his hide for running away. Aldraniri had never bargained for getting involved in a secret war with a cult and political intrigue at the federal level whenever he had daydreamed about going on grand adventures in more peaceful, dull days.

"What do you want to do when all this madness is over, Tristan?" Aldraniri asked his fellow Elemental, breaking the silence between the two of them. An echo of an odd screech filtered through the leaves of the trees, and Aldraniri's horse perked his ears up in concern.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

"That's true..." Tristan nodded, smiling a bit. If he had to be completely honest, it wasn't entirely true. She did scare him a little back at the Inferno when she had wounded Aldraniri and was fighting so many Watchtower cultists at once, and she already had blonde hair back then. But that didn't last very long, anyway, and she didn't scare him now, not at all. In fact, he found that he felt happier when she was around, though he wasn't quite sure why. He didn't really bother questioning it, though, and merely enjoyed it. She seemed to like being around him as well, as evidenced by the time they spent together in the cultist base, which was nice. Following those thoughts, the Ice Elemental briefly wondered where she was, having been reminded by Aldraniri's comment that he hadn't seen her at all that morning, except for when she walked out of the tent and quickly went into the woods.

Upon hearing Aldraniri's next question, though, the ice artist's smile was replaced by a thoughtful expression. "After all this...?" He said, wondering for a few moments before speaking up once again. "Well... I... don't know. I wasn't doing much before it began, so I'm not sure what will change when it's over... I guess I could continue traveling through Gallia, or go to that other huge island that's supposedly across the sea from here, or I might..." He spoke, before trailing off and falling silent, thinking on what he had been about to say. Go back? Was it worth it? Was there anything worthwhile left for him up there? He didn't know this, but at least for the time being, he knew he had no desire to go back. "Nevermind." He added quickly afterwards. "I... might try to... how do you say? Settle down? I might try to do that, but I'm not sure. I do know I'd like to stay with Lis, though." He concluded, smiling once again as he finished that last sentence, and briefly he wondered if she did know what she wanted to do after all of this.

However, amidst his thoughts, Tristan happened to glance at Aldraniri's pallfrey. "Your horse seems concerned." He told his fellow Elemental.

[Constaniana]

One of the strange birds looked at the former gorillach for a few moments in confusion, warily spreading its wings and letting out another hoarse squawk. However, Erosen soon exposed himself, and it commenced trying to attack the corrupted Elemental. Something about the smell of the pale thing's blood was driving the monster wild. Ero-san's fist collided with his foe, but he was then promptly smacked back by a flap of its wing. As for the other avian monster, it managed to avoid the first fireball, but had its ragged tail feathers singed by the second.

"Eric, stop trying to peddle your immoral drugs and...well, I would say help us fight, but I'm not sure how much use you'd be against foes like this with that knee of yours," Kroisoto remarked, before the bird that had attacked Erosen turned its attention to him, and attacked. The blueblood slashed at it with its sword, and once again the bird screeched, which seemed to be quite the habit its kind had. Where in the world did these two fiends come from? Are there more of them lurking about in these woods? Such a thought troubled Kroisoto immensely, due to Charlie, Aldraniri, Lisoette and Tristan all being off somewhere out of sight.

Aldraniri glanced at his horse, frowning as his mood dampened. "Aye, he looks miffed about something..." The Northemen fell silent as he heard more angry animal noises coming from the direction of their camp-site, "Something doesn't sound right...maybe we should head back to camp to see if everything is all right," He stood up and flipped his scarf back over his shoulder before walking over towards the trail back into the woods he had taken to get to the stream. However, he stopped and looked at Tristan as his stallion walked over to his rider, "Now, I'm not too smart about this sort of thing, but if you feel that way about Lisoette then you should just go ahead and tell her how you feel and all that sort of thing while you still can. It's better than being stuck with the regret of what could have been if she goes without warning." With that said, Aldraniri headed into the trees, horse following his footsteps, hoping to find his way back to camp as quickly as he could.

[Ameriganastan]

Eric yawned and took another puff from his pipe. And a few seconds later, a knife came shooting from his direction, lodging itself in the bird monster things eye.

"You best watch what you say about my usefulness in combat, sonny. You aren't too old to get a sound whipping. I could kill that feathered twin of your mother from where I'm sitting. I can throw Belle Lame like she was a lightweight knife."

"That's a lie, Eric.

"Oh, shut up. They don't know that."

He stood from his seat, knocking on the tree.

"Come and get me, big bird."

[Minroz]

Hearing the screeches, the Sahranjjites jolted themselves to attention at where the noise came from. Temujin stopped cooking his tea while Aisha drawn out her sword. When they see the demented birds, their expression went in disbelieving horror as if they witnessed an abomination. The black-haired warrior gestures her brother to get behind her.

[“Get behind me, Temu! Use your wind drove that thing away from us!”] Aisha shouted as she swings her sword at the monster bird. Her sword conjures huge streams of fire at it. She can see her fire attacks hit the giant bird.

[“Alright!”] Temujin does so. He quickly thrusts his palms forward, conjuring huge torrents of wind, sending the bird away. The two rose to defend themselves from this crow-like monstrosity who came to attack them.

[“By the heavens above, what kind of foul sorcery is this!?”] Aisha swore angrily, realising the monster isn’t given up on attacking them as she sees it returning back. Temujin stepped in, swinging his staff to conjure a blast of wind at the bird.

[“Be careful, big sister!”] He urges. [“We have not found its weakness. But we’ll find out soon enough.”]

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Tristan nodded at Aldraniri when he suggested to go back and make sure everything was alright, and moved out of the stream, using cold mists to dry himself before donning his shirt and picking up his canteen, wondering what was going on back there and what those strange noises were all about. However, the comment his fellow Elemental made afterwards left the artist rather confused. "Um, what do you mean? I'm fairly sure she knows I like being around her. It isn't very hard to tell. And anyway, where is she going to go?" Tristan asked, confused. She had told him she had to hide her horns from most people in the world, except for him, so he didn't really know where else she was going to go. He wasn't worried about that, either, since he had plenty of reasons to believe she liked being around him as well.

"You Gallians have really strange concerns." The white-haired Elemental commented as he followed Aldraniri through the woods.


Trish, meanwhile, had simply been observing the bird beasts all along. Strange creatures, they were, and if a Gallian saw them as such, then the silent girl from the cold northern islands even more so. She observed them carefully, even as Erosen, Kroisoto and the others fought them fiercely. She had done what she could to protect her servant but now he seemed eager to jump into the fray and there was little she could do to prevent that, so she simply let him be. However, eventually, she figured that the danger of losing these companions that had proven so useful was a risk it was not convenient to take, not to mention the fact that, though they were quite interesting creatures, these birds were teaching her nothing new, and anything she could learn from them, she could likely learn from them even if they were dead. It was with this in mind that she held up Fenrirtusk, conjuring large spikes of ice from the ground. None of them hit the birds, but that was not their purpose. With a command, the frozen beast Theris took one of the spikes into its hands and hurled it at one of the birds, attempting to strike it down.

[Constaniana]

The monster who had an eye stabbed by Eric went to oblige the old soldier's request, but was cut short by Temujin's wind magic knocking it back. The combination of magic and knife put it in so much pain that it was unable to focus on the ice spike Theris tossed, which promptly impaled the twisted bird through the chest. Kroisoto took another slash at the remaining creature, but it evaded the blade. Master Aurenheim continued trying to land an attack, but this monster seemed more nimble than its comrade.

---

Aldraniri chuckled a little as the two Elementals emerged from the woods back on to the main trail back to camp. "I suppose from an outsider perspective like yours we really do..." Before he could say anything further, a large black mass whooshed by them, heading towards the camp as well. "...what in the world was that?" Aldry wondered aloud, before something else swiftly passed the two, although this time it looked like someone on horseback in blue, "Come on Tristan, let's hurry up and get back," the Northemen said, mounting his horse and galloping off.

---

The monstrous owl had succeeded in evading every attack so far, much to Kroie's vexation. It opened its beak wide and let out another screech, as if it was taunting Kroisoto. In a moment, the nobleman tossed his sword to the ground, and conjured a torrent of water, blasting it into the open mouth of the abomination.

"Just shut up and die," Kroie growled, intent on drowning his foe on dry land. Such was his focus upon the fell owl that he failed to detect a third winged abomination rushing in, moments away from clawing him in the back.

"BLUE VOLT LANCE ACCEL!" Another aristocratic voice cried, before there was an electric crackle. Kroisoto turned from the drowning monster in time to see its would-be rescuer have a spear coated in bright blue lightning burst through its midsection. The blueblood's phobia kicked in again, as he began hyperventilating and trembling, taking a few steps backwards before falling down, looking up in terror at what he thought was some thunder demon. The third monster fell to the dirt, still twitching for a few moments from the remaining tiny blue sparks that coursed through its corrupted flesh.

A man on a white horse rode into camp, and he appeared every bit aristocratic as he sounded. His platinum blonde hair flowed down to just above his shoulders; he had a well-polished silvery cuirass on over a royal blue coat with white epaulettes, and fine black riding boots on his feet. The tall rider dismounted and walked over towards Kroisoto, casually pulling the spear from the cooked corpse.

"Kroisoto? What are you doing here?" He asked, not getting a response, "Kroisoto? Kroisoto! Oh, not this flashback bother again," The man complained, snapping his fingers a few times until the black-haired youth snapped out of his stupor.

"Mum...what? What happened? How did you get here, Percy?" Kroisoto asked, still panting a little as he looked around in confusion. He glanced at Aldraniri as he rode into camp, looking as equally confused as him.

"Who the hell are you?" Aldraniri asked the blonde man, who chuckled a little.

"Ah, introductions. I am Sir Peorshine Bismarke Tordric Van Aurenheim, firstborn of His Grace, Lord Bismarke Van Aurenheim, Duke of Auregen," the blonde man replied, bowing slightly.

[Ameriganastan]

One could almost hear Eric snarl from his spot near the tree. He flopped back down, taking an angry puff from his pipe.

"Just like a noble. Finish the work real warriors were doing, so he doesn't risk getting any blood on his shiny armor."

Eric had a distinct distaste for nobility. His time in the army had seen to that.

"What brings inbred flotsam like you so far from your whores and dinner parties? Get bored sending actual soldiers to their deaths?"

[Escalan Corps-Star Island]

Not having many large trees in the areas the party had previously passed through had saddened Estrada, as they were his favourite places to sleep. He carried a length of rope with his other possessions, and it was an easy enough task to sling a hammock from a properly situated branch. Ever since his withdrawal from Erilhall into the forest, he'd been enjoying far more rest and was in a generally better mood as a result.

Unfortunately, he was still plagued with unpleasant dreams. Ever since he had joined Aldraniri on his harebrained quest, Estrada's thoughts had turned increasingly homeward, something foreign to him. In about a decade of walking up and down northern Gallia, never once had the Calainite ever felt distinctly homesick. And even now, it was less a longing for the shores of Averlán proper that disturbed his rest as it was memories of the life he had led– particularly with his brother. Ever since the Invasion, his more bubbly personality had given way to the more sombre mannerisms he now held. At some point along the road to Castillacai, passing the blackened timbers of ruined hamlets, perhaps something had snapped within him. It wasn't just losing his brother and hero, either: seeing their existence threatened by Daemonnic forces just laid the black heart of the world open. Dal Calain was so. . . unhurried, as far as he could remember: none of the rapid, industrious labour that characterised the Continent ever marked the lives of the fishermen he had grown up with.

But where the events of the last month had truly struck home more than anything else was Aldry's discovery of his own latent Elemental abilities. Seeing the idealistic youth become– well, a fighter and a bit more of a man– led him to question the circumstances regarding the manifestation of his own abilities. Perhaps the risk of death brought it out, since he himself had almost drowned before fusing the bottom of his boat back together and burning his hand, not to mention losing his catch. But what puzzled the man most was why in Caelstion's name he was even a blueblood in the first place. There didn't seem to be a unifying factor amongst his companions, something that had led identifiably to their reception of their abilities. On some level, each of them just seemed inseparable from their status as an Elemental– even Aldry, who after three weeks seemed as though he had known the power for his entire life.

Sleeping, or trying to, is all fine and well until your friends get attacked by giant carnivorous birds. Then it becomes a heartless, implicit profession of jackassery. Estrada, like any other self-respecting life form, didn't like the idea of coming off that way, so he tried to untangle himself from the hammock as fast as he could one he heard the noises from below. Unfortunately, things didn't work out, and so Estrada ended up dangling by one foot from a rope, shirtless, as Kroisoto's elder brother rolled in with the mediæval equivalent of a Mercedes and spouted his mouthful of a name. Estrada grinned and waved, hoping to save face or at least impress the females with his abs of steel– which are of course a given for someone who, in addition to being a stud, also happened to be a metal Elemental. Who was hanging by one foot from a tree.

Naturally, his typical abysmal luck kicked in and he was brained by his shield as it came dislodged from his pack. He scowled at it, then returned his attention to the cocky nobleman.

[Agritum]

The monster who had an eye stabbed by Eric went to oblige the old soldier's request, but was cut short by Temujin's wind magic knocking it back. The combination of magic and knife put it in so much pain that it was unable to focus on the ice spike Theris tossed, which promptly impaled the twisted bird through the chest. Kroisoto took another slash at the remaining creature, but it evaded the blade. Master Aurenheim continued trying to land an attack, but this monster seemed more nimble than its comrade.

---

Aldraniri chuckled a little as the two Elementals emerged from the woods back on to the main trail back to camp. "I suppose from an outsider perspective like yours we really do..." Before he could say anything further, a large black mass whooshed by them, heading towards the camp as well. "...what in the world was that?" Aldry wondered aloud, before something else swiftly passed the two, although this time it looked like someone on horseback in blue, "Come on Tristan, let's hurry up and get back," the Northemen said, mounting his horse and galloping off.

---

The monstrous owl had succeeded in evading every attack so far, much to Kroie's vexation. It opened its beak wide and let out another screech, as if it was taunting Kroisoto. In a moment, the nobleman tossed his sword to the ground, and conjured a torrent of water, blasting it into the open mouth of the abomination.

"Just shut up and die," Kroie growled, intent on drowning his foe on dry land. Such was his focus upon the fell owl that he failed to detect a third winged abomination rushing in, moments away from clawing him in the back.

"BLUE VOLT LANCE ACCEL!" Another aristocratic voice cried, before there was an electric crackle. Kroisoto turned from the drowning monster in time to see its would-be rescuer have a spear coated in bright blue lightning burst through its midsection. The blueblood's phobia kicked in again, as he began hyperventilating and trembling, taking a few steps backwards before falling down, looking up in terror at what he thought was some thunder demon. The third monster fell to the dirt, still twitching for a few moments from the remaining tiny blue sparks that coursed through its corrupted flesh.

A man on a white horse rode into camp, and he appeared every bit aristocratic as he sounded. His platinum blonde hair flowed down to just above his shoulders; he had a well-polished silvery cuirass on over a royal blue coat with white epaulettes, and fine black riding boots on his feet. The tall rider dismounted and walked over towards Kroisoto, casually pulling the spear from the cooked corpse.

"Kroisoto? What are you doing here?" He asked, not getting a response, "Kroisoto? Kroisoto! Oh, not this flashback bother again," The man complained, snapping his fingers a few times until the black-haired youth snapped out of his stupor.

"Mum...what? What happened? How did you get here, Percy?" Kroisoto asked, still panting a little as he looked around in confusion. He glanced at Aldraniri as he rode into camp, looking as equally confused as him.

"Who the hell are you?" Aldraniri asked the blonde man, who chuckled a little.

"Ah, introductions. I am Sir Peorshine Bismarke Tordric Van Aurenheim, firstborn of His Grace, Lord Bismarke Van Aurenheim, Duke of Auregen," the blonde man replied, bowing slightly.

"Oh, a relative of Kroisoto? And another member of House Aurenheim? Greatly interesting!" Charlie chimed, emerging from the thick forest foliage. She quickly curtsied to the mounted nobleman, before resuming to speak.

"Nice to meet you, anyways. I'm Charlie Kones, traveling companion of your relative Kroisoto. May I know what's the exact grade of familial relationship between you and him?" she said, while starting to scribble a family tree on her notebook.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Trish looked at the fallen beasts around her, pleased with the outcome of her attack, even if she had only taken one of them down. Naturally, she was certain she would have been able to take down the others if necessary, but she didn't expect to have to do so. Her companions had to have some use, after all. In that regard, she was pleased with them as well, though letting them know was the very last thing on her mind, not to mention they most likely wouldn't understand her either way. Thus, she decided to tend to other matters first. Waving Fenrirtusk once, she caused the ice spikes to shatter and dissolve, leaving the terrain just as it was before she had worked her magic. Mostly. She spared a glance at the newcomer, but quickly dismissed him as another barbarian and simply climbed up onto Theris' back once again, sitting down and observing the others.


Tristan nodded idly at Aldraniri's words when all of the sudden he saw the mass of darkness rush past him and his fellow Elemental, heading in the direction of the others. He immediately grew concerned, as masses of darkness were not usually something good. Something else soon passed by them as well, though this time it was different. Either way, he knew that it was best if they returned to the camp quickly, and when Aldraniri said just as much, the Ice Elemental nodded at him. The redhead quickly climbed up on his mount and continued heading towards the camp, but Tristan, having no mount like that, had to rely on himself to get back quickly, and so he began skating back to where the others were, a trail of ice appearing before him and allowing to continue swiftly.

Finally, he made it back just in time to hear Aldraniri questioning someone who appeared to be the stranger who had passed them on their way back.

"So, I take it he's someone important?" Tristan asked as he slid into the clearing, the inertia he carried delivering him next to the others until he stopped, the path of ice stopping along with him and disappearing shortly afterwards. He looked down, and saw right in front of him the corpse of one of the black flying beasts that had attacked the group at the campsite not too long ago.

"Ah... What happened here?" He wondered out loud, walking past the creature and looking around. He wanted to see if Lisoette had returned yet, but he didn't see her anywhere. He walked up to Theris and looked up at Trish, making a gesture that the two had agreed meant 'pointy ears', but the other Ice Elemental simply shrugged.

The two were momentarily distracted by the noise of Estrada's shield hitting the man and then falling to the ground, and looked in his direction only to notice him hanging from a tree. Trish merely glanced at him with mild curiosity, while Tristan chuckled a bit. Receiving Fenrirtusk from the white-haired girl, the ice artist walked over to the Metal Elemental and used the divine weapon to cut the rope that bound him to the tree, allowing him to fall to the ground.

"Are you alright, Estrada?" He asked with some concern.

Trish, meanwhile, had Theris advance towards one of the fallen dark beasts and then jumped down, leaning closer to it in order to examine it.

[Constaniana]

Peorshine ignored Eric's insult and the old man in general. Instead, the nobleman looked at Estrada's antics with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. Aldraniri, being a teenage boy, burst out laughing. While Kroisoto also chuckled a tad, he was predictably more interested in Charlie coming back into camp. The unwonted shy gaze Kroie was giving Charlie did not escape the notice of the Aurennian knight. Hm, mere travelling companion? Doubtful, he thought, before giving a verbal reply to the Southemen lass.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Kones. Kroisoto is my adopted brother, to be exact, conveniently rounding off the number of children Lord Bismarke and Lady Isobel of Auregen have to ten," Peorshine explained, continuing to glance about at the odd followers his youngest brother had accumulated. An attractive, intellectual-sounding Southemen girl, an Albrian dressed as if he wanted to be a knight but was too poor for it, a pair of Ice Elementals with their own personal monster, the clumsy tanned man, two obvious Sahranjjites, a surly old man, a grumpy-looking blonde, a sickly barbarian of some sort...and a girl wearing a bonnet that he had no impression of yet, as Lisoette came back into the camp as well. She eagerly ran up to Tristan, initially ignorant of Peorshine's presence before she stopped and looked at him in confusion. Perhaps she's the skater's wench? Peorshine thought, before his sibling addressed him once again.

"How...badly was my kidnapping taken back home?" The question noticeably dampened the mood. The knight looked down at the dirt for a few moments.

"Well, Father's been livid for a month, the papers have been frothing with conspiracies about the Federal Council, Lord Kreigen, heretic cults, pirates, foreign agents..." Peorshine sighed, shutting his eyes and rubbing his temples in frustration. Unbeknownst to those around him, he was sensing magic in his surroundings. He was already aware of Kroie's Water magic, had seen the white-haired boy using Ice magic to skate, and assumed the white-haired girl he had gestured to also possessed that chilly element, but he was curious about whether any of his brother's oddball companions were Elementals. In his mind Peorshine saw the lines of silver flowing through the shirtless one, the greyish-green in Charlie and the foreigner with eyeglasses, red in two of the other girls...now, the last three were quite interesting. The barbarian had specks of dark green, though they were exceedingly murky. The hat-girl had bands of pale yellow bordering black, and the armoured redhead had mostly red, but there was a hint of black too. Peorshine made a mental note to investigate these associates of Kroie's, when Aldraniri spoke to him again.

"Eric's got a point. What are you doing out here?" The youth asked, to which Peorshine chuckled.

"Hunting, you could say," the knight answered.

"Bringing down stags with Zægriunđ seems a tad excessive, " said Kroisoto, looking at his brother's magic spear.

"No no, of a different sort. Things like that were what we were first tracking," Percy elaborated, pointing to the dead owl monsters as more riders entered the camp. They were clad in a similar manner to the eldest son of House Aurenheim, though their armament included longbows.

"My lord, you should refrain from charging off in such a manner," said one of the Aurennian cavalrymen. He looked a decade or two older than Peorshine, with some wrinkles on his forehead and a brown moustache.

"Yes, yes, you've told plenty of times Sir Byusund. You wouldn't happen to have the special trophy, would you?" Peorshine replied.

"Yes, my lord. Tis still in my saddlebag," the senior knight said, a hint of resignation in his voice. He rooted around for several moments, before pulling out a large grey bundle and tossing it down to Percy. Kroie's brother gleefully unfurled the bundle and held it aloft, which turned out to be a hastily rolled up banner. There were a few seconds of silence before the PC's discerned what they were looking at: a Watchtower flag. The edges of the standard had been charred and torn, but the tower sigil in the centre remained, leaving little doubt as to what this flag represented.

"Father suspected these Watchtower heretics might have had some connection with your kidnapping, and his informants had deduced there was a cell operating somewhat near to Auregen. Their trail became very blatant once we started hearing mention of unnatural creatures roaming the woods near Beldabbey, and we succeeded in tracking them to their little nest. They had fortified themselves, even going to the bother of getting an old surplus demi-culverin. Not that it did the fools much good, since they launched but a single shot before we were upon them and storming their bizarre lair," Peorshine said with pride.

"We're near Beldabbey?" said Kroisoto, looking surprised.

"We certainly are, and Auregen too. Why do you sound so surprised about the fact? You weren't having trouble with directions again, were you?" The elder brother remarked, smirking some.

[Ameriganastan]

"So a noble just pops out of the woods, finds us and just happens to have a Watchtower flag and stories about his supposed hunts..."

Eric fiddled with his knife with his free hand, still casting glares in his direction.

"How do we know you aren't working for those guys, huh? It wouldn't be out of character for overstuffed louts like you to be working for bad people."

[Kassaran]

Erosen whom had made his way to the edge of the clearing by the time he had realized his mistake, had been standing just below another tree and upon seeing the riders enter the encampment had the strangest feeling of all, as though something was holding his arms in place by his side, and then the thought came upon him hide it from them. A mere second later and the dark mist on his fists was dissipating into the air as the riders began giving their introductions and was all but imperceptible from the rest of the morning shadow cast by the large tree behind him. It was strange, as though a peace now came upon him that he hadn't felt for a while and he looked on at the noble sight of the elder prince (as he so identified -and Kroisoto verified himself to be) now speaking with his little brother. Looking around, he figured that these new riders following in the initial grouping were hardly a threat, so he left the comfort of his shade to approach the two brothers, however, he stopped mid-stride as he heard Eric speak. It was almost sad that somehow this man had been the very same to provide him with his current outfit, but given how well it looked now it didn't matter so he turned and spoke to the old man," It would be out of character for a noble family such as these... Aurelheim was it? Such as these folks here. Elemental blood is hereditary, and so as much as the younger Prince whom has been in our presence here for so long is an Elemental, should we not also conclude that so is the older one?"

Turning, the darkling gave yet another out of character movement, not quite sure why, or how he was doing what he was doing," Master Aurelheim, I apologize for our older friend's suspicions upon your party, we mean nothing by it save for our own conquest against the same organization. I ask that you excuse his outburst."

A deep bow with both hands to his side as he did so, and likewise as he did, the necklace, the same which usually sat below his shirt, came loose, caught up in the folds of the collar of his cloak, and fell out onto the ground. A brief moment of surprise and suddenly he was on the ground trying to quickly pick up the pendant which had tried to escape him, and grasping it firmly, he lifted it and draped its lanyard around his head letting it settle onto his neck before moving to tuck it away into his shirt again.